The X-men run missions and work together with the NYPD, striving to maintain a peaceful balance between humans and mutants. When it comes to a fight, they won't back down from protecting those who need their help.
Haven presents itself as a humanitarian organization for activists, leaders, and high society, yet mutants are the secret leaders working to protect and serve their kind. Behind the scenes they bring their goals into reality.
From the time when mutants became known to the world, SUPER was founded as a black-ops division of the CIA in an attempt to classify, observe, and learn more about this new and rising threat.
The Syndicate works to help bring mutantkind to the forefront of the world. They work from the shadows, a beacon of hope for mutants, but a bane to mankind. With their guiding hand, humanity will finally find extinction.
Since the existence of mutants was first revealed in the nineties, the world has become a changed place. Whether they're genetic misfits or the next stage in humanity's evolution, there's no denying their growing numbers, especially in hubs like New York City. The NYPD has a division devoted to mutant related crimes. Super-powered vigilantes help to maintain the peace. Those who style themselves as Homo Superior work to tear society apart for rebuilding in their own image.
MRO is an intermediate to advanced writing level original character, original plot X-Men RPG. We've been open and active since October of 2005. You can play as a mutant, human, or Adapted— one of the rare humans who nullify mutant powers by their very existence. Goodies, baddies, and neutrals are all welcome.
Short Term Plots:Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
The Fountain of Youth
A chemical serum has been released that's shaving a few years off of the population. In some cases, found to be temporary, and in others...?
MRO MOVES WITH CURRENT TIME: What month and year it is now in real life, it's the same for MRO, too.
Fuegogrande: "Fuegogrande" player of The Ranger, Ion, Rhia, and Null
Neopolitan: "Aly" player of Rebecca Grey, Stephanie Graves, Marisol Cervantes, Vanessa Bookman, Chrysanthemum Van Hart, Sabine Sang, Eupraxia
Ongoing Plots
Magic and Mystics
After the events of the 2020 Harvest Moon and the following Winter Solstice, magic has started manifesting in the MROvere! With the efforts of the Welldrinker Cult, people are being converted into Mystics, a species of people genetically disposed to be great conduits for magical energy.
The Welldrinker Cult
A shadowy group is gaining power, drawing in people who are curious, vulnerable, or malicious, and turning them into Mystics. They are recruiting people into their ranks to spread the influence of magic in the world, but for what end goal?
Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
Adapteds
What if the human race began to adapt to the mutant threat? What if the human race changed ever so subtly... without the x-gene.
Atlanteans
The lost city of Atlantis has been found! Refugees from this undersea mutant dystopia have started to filter in to New York as citizens and businessfolk. You may make one as a player character of run into one on the street.
Got a plot in mind?
MRO plots are player-created the Mods facilitate and organize the big ones, but we get the ideas from you. Do you have a plot in mind, and want to know whether it needs Mod approval? Check out our plot guidelines.
About a week had passed before she felt like she was ready to leave her apartment again. She'd spent much of that time selfishly sponging up the time of her partner, absorbing as many cuddles as she could before she needed to get back to reality.
One thing had been on her mind the whole time though. Zaid. She knew where he was, and that he was safe, which helped to minimalism the yearning she had to go see him from 'intense' to 'tickling'. Still, without his number in her new phone she had no way to contact him that didn't involve directly calling the school and asking for him. She didn't want to do that to either of them.
The day she chose to visit was overcast to match her mood. She was nervous about seeing him, finding out what had been done to him, all of the sordid details. She'd dressed in a comfortable long sweater, loose jeans that were easy to move in, and made sure her had her new phone in her purse for when they met.
The ride over to the school grew more and more nerve wreaking the closer she got. All she could focus on was the promise she had ultimately failed in keeping. That she wouldn't let them take him again.
What kind of friend was she?
Would he even want to see her again?
Her nerves were well frayed by the time they arrived, and her familiarity with the school helped as she and Erik made it inside and out of a light dusting of rain started to fall. It didn't take much time to track down someone who could help her figure out where Zaid was staying.
After parting from Erik with a nervous kiss and much hand wringing, she found herself outside of Zaid's door. The knowledge that Erik was there, just a shout away, certainly helped with some of the nerves.
She lifted a hand and rapped her knuckles on the door. "Zaid...?" She paused, listening to see if she could hear anything from the other side of the door.
Zaid was doing his best to be invisible today. While he never fought when Jude had to leave, he couldn't help how miserable he felt following it. Sure, he did his best to practically scoot the other man away with insistence he would be fine, knowing both of them couldn't have their jobs fall apart during this, especially went it was Jude's coworkers who had helped rescue him. But there was a emptiness in the room that was hard to fill, and more than once Zaid curled up with a blanket and tried to lock Jude's scent into the room. Would he ever admit how reliant he felt having a comforting smell around right now? Nope. But some days, he was a little more bunny and a little less human, today being one of those days.
He had managed to wrangle a surprising number of blankets into the room and decided he was going to build his own personal warren. If he tunneled deep enough inside them, the world would eventually go away. He had...an emotional week. He met a kid who was nice and complimented him and made him feel like a big brother, and he met an evil spawn of Satan who drew a knife on him, and proceeded to pick at his vulnerable emotions and stomp on them. The later seemed to drown out any upward progress he thought he had. Liability she had called him. Well, it was true. He was here, living off someone else's food and shelter, while his job was in jeopardy and he could lose his apartment. Basically, the world as he knew it was falling apart around him.
What did you do when you were a bunny and there was nothing you could do to fix things? Hide. That was exactly what you did.
Zaid was somewhere near the back of his blanket tunnel when the knock came at his door. He froze, uncertain who it would be, considering Jude wouldn't have knocked. Then he heard the voice. Andrea. Stars! She found him!
Zaid popped his head free of the tunnel and his ears brushed the bottom of the top bunk bed. Clumsily, he extracted himself and almost fell to reach the door in time. Trying not to let his hand shake, he pulled it open.
All the breathe left him at once. "It is you." He practically fell into her arms, locking her into a death hug, wriggly snakes and all. He probably had the worst bed hair in the world, but he didn't care. She was safe, and she was here, and she was safe.
The door jerked open and... there he was, bunny ears and all.
Tears instantly jumped into her eyes and she threw her arms around him with as much strength as she could muster. "It is me." Was her quiet reply. She tried not to make too much of a show of crying on him, which she most certainly was doing.
With a sniffle, she pulled back just enough so that she could give him a once over, before glancing off down the hall. "Can.. we go inside?" she tried to shuffle them that way, still refusing to let the boy go fully.
Once they were inside and away from prying eyes, her mask slipped a little and her legs were suddenly a bit wobbly. She cling to Zaid like a lifeline, struggling to think of what to say first.
"I am so, so happy to see you again!"
Lord, it felt like all of the water in her body was coming right out her eyeballs. She tried to find somewhere where she could sit, before she ended up on the floor in a weepy mess.
"I was so worried, but my phone-- and then the hospital-... I.."
Her mask broke completely. Shattered into a million little pieces.
"I'm so sorry! I let them take you, and I.. I promised-" It ended with a hiccup. She pressed a hand over her mouth to try and stop anymore from coming out.
Had Zaid been holding it together this week? He hadn't felt that way but once Andrea came inside it was like everything came falling apart. She was crying, he was crying. He didn't know when the tears started really, maybe it was when she started apologizing. He felt stricken, hopeless. He sank to the floor next to her, uncertain if he should hold her hand, or arm, or hug her, or if he should just run away again. In some ways he was doing a damn good impression of Jude, lost for which action to take until his own emotions overflowed.
"You're...sorry? Andrea, if I had been tougher, or if I hadn't been a liability, maybe you wouldn't have been taken! If I knew how to fight back then, or if I had gotten help faster..." his voice cracked with all the emotions he had tried to hold in. He pressed his face to his knees, body shaking.
"J-Jude had to come rescue me, and we haven't even been on two dates. H-he brought me here because it was safe, and even one of the kids here went after me. And she said it was my fault other people have to come save me because I'm not t-tough enough to do it on my own." he wanted to reach for her, but he also wanted to run away. He never wanted to hide so much in his life. "And all I kept thinking was how right she was. You never should have had to be distracted trying to protect me."
His words brought her out of her self pity haze. Once more, just like when they had been taken, anger sprang to a boil in her gut. She was so at a loss for words that she wasn't able to even think coherently until after he was done.
Sucking in a breath through her nose, she reached out to grab both of his cheeks and turn him to face her again.
"Zaid... I can say many of the same things." She was trying to be calm. Trying not to yell at him just how wrong he was, or let anger over whoever had told him all those horrible things cloud her words. "Does that also not make me a liability?" Her dislike of that word was practically dripping from her voice.
She frowned at him, before trying to get her legs out from under her so she could pull him over onto her lap. "I have said many of the same things to myself. What if I had just been stronger? What if I had done something, anything differently?"
She wanted to run her fingers through his hair, not unlike how a mother would calm down an upset child. "This is all my fault to begin with, if I had only listened when you wanted us to run.." She wiped at her cheeks with the sleeve of her sweater.
"I do not want to hear you say those things every again, you hear me? I could hear you fighting to prevent us from being taken. I saw you try to stop that man from hurting me. Zaid, you are strong! So, so much stronger than you give yourself credit for."
She paused, trying to fight off another wave of tears. "I didn't save myself... I was found and saved much like you. We were in a situation that was just too far above our capabilities, that's all."
Zaid had heard many things since he was taken, but Andrea managed to say some of the most forceful. Maybe it was because she was the only one there who saw what happened, who knew he tried. He felt his body shake but he met her gaze, ears dropping. "But, your snakes, and they even used the collar on you..." She shut down the self-doubt that had built with all the maternal rage someone could muster. He felt like a weight was lifted, sinking into her hug.
"Even if we ran, it may not have changed anything. At least...at least Jude was able to track the plates this way. If we ran, what if we missed the chance for even that?"
Strong. It was like she unknowingly picked the one word he felt was too large to ever live up to right now. His hand twisted to touch his back, feeling the scar through his shirt. "I don't feel very strong anymore. It's like, all it takes is the wrong noise, the wrong smell, the wrong thought, and it all comes back," he whispered.
He wasn't sure how he felt knowing she had been rescued, like him. He rubbed a hand across his eyes, trying to get his voice even. "Who...who found you? I talked to Jude, and they didn't have leads, and Ghost called people with the police, and eventually I just knew you were safe." He couldn't imagine someone more capable than Andrea. She had a nest of snakes on her head after all. And he had seen her fight. If the collar hadn't come he wondered if it would have ended differently.
His nose quivered slightly, and he looked at her, squinting at her hair. Something was different. "Andrea...is someone...missing?" He asked, wondering if he should even mention it.
"My snakes only get me so far. I am not a fighter, even if I tried to be..."
She had never been the best at comforting people, hardly even at comforting herself, but she would try her hardest to make him feel better. "With what we went through, what you went through, lingering trauma is common. It's natural, even for those stronger than us. It might last a while, but with time and the right kind of therapy, it will fade." She knew from personal experience that it would fade.
"I will be right here with you through it. I promise I will not leave your side again."
She tried to think back to the day she had been rescued, and how she would best explain it without divulging any secrets. "I... I do not know who rescued me. I was barely conscious as it was, and then then suddenly someone was there to save me and the people.." She trailed off a little, shuddering despite herself. Violence, in any capacity, was not her strong suit.
She attempted to move on. She lifted a hand, the same one with only slight bandaging, and touched where her stolen snake used to sit.
"Avarice..." She attempted a smile, but it was very clearly an empty gesture just to try and lighten the mood. "It was stolen from me." She said simply. The slight cut above her eyes, while pretty much fully healed, was still a little visible with a slight redness.
Maybe that's why the two of them became friends so easily. Neither of them wanted to be fighters. Zaid still regarded Andrea as fierce in her own way, but it usually came when she was protecting someone she cared about. In some ways, that had been the same for Jude too. Heck, even a rabbit would take on a snake if it meant keeping their young safe. Although, he was rather fond of Andrea's snakes now. Maybe it was a poor analogy to think about with their friendship.
Zaid made a gesture when she started to talk, realizing maybe the details of how they were collected were not important. "It's fine, you don't have to explain. I, sort of know how that goes. I'm just glad they found you. I'm grateful." He clasped her hand with his and squeezed slightly to reassure her, careful not to press anywhere she seemed injured. Some secrets weren't there to cause pain, and were okay.
They were friends, but their connections were still very different. She used to be here with the X's and he was connected to Jude, and some of the less x approved activities behind them. He touched her head then hugged her, knowing nothing he could really say would convey how he wanted to help, and how he knew he wasn't much help.
"I know it could have been worse. And yet, I know how I would feel if someone told me it could have been worse. It...I thought, losing my parents would be the worst thing I ever felt. But being afraid I lost you, and then..." He gulped, and sat back again. His own injuries had mostly healed, except for the scars. He thought about what she said regarding therapy, and his ears dropped.
"I...I don't know how I could talk to someone about it. The idea of therapy just sounds like someone forcing me to admit it happened. Th....they had me in a cage Andrea. And the....there were rabbits, everywhere. And t....the smell. What therapist is going to understand how that feels? That understands how it feels to be part animal, and be treated like an animal..." He said he didn't want to talk, but then the words rushed out. His eyes glazed over as the images came back, like hundreds of eyes were watching him, waiting. He ran a hand across an old burn on his arm, old bruises, trying to shake free. He was trembling again. He wasn't crying, there was only fear.
She grimaced slightly. It wasn't so much that she didn't want to tell him what had happened, she just... wasn't ready to deal with it yet. She wasn't sure if that was selfish in light of things, but at the same time she didn't want to minimize what he had gone through with her own problems.
Maybe that was the wrong approach, though.
She gripped his hand a little tighter when he mentioned losing her, and how it sort-of related to losing his parents. Her heart felt for him. "I'm so sorry that you had to wait this long to hear from me. I should have tried to find you sooner." All she wanted to do was hug him and try to shoo the pain away, but she resisted the urge to be clingy.
She breathed out slowly through her nose, listening to his worries about therapy and what it could do for him. She wasn't going to push him into anything if he wasn't fully on board, hell, she had been in his shoes years ago with the exact same mentality.
"Sometimes it can take a bit to find someone who is a right fit to help you with what you are going through. It took me a few years to find someone who was able to help me process my own trauma..." She trailed off, forcing a smile as she considered what she was about to do. There was no taking it back once it was out, even if it was, to a degree, public knowledge.
"...Years ago I was attacked by a man in a church." She started, petting sloth nervously. "I had witness him murder someone, so he tried to kill me to keep me from telling anyone. He... he was a shifter of some sort. Different parts of him became different animals... I tried to hide, to run, to fight, but nothing worked. He was so much stronger than me; I didn't stand a chance."
It was odd reflecting back on it. How the very thought still sent a chill up her spine, and yet... she was disconnected to it to a degree. "I am still very sure that he was going to eat me. He had this large, horrible lion head and..." She reached up to touch where one of her snakes had been removed. At the hospital they had removed the length of snake that was effectively dead. It was always weird being able to feel the absence of them.
"I barely escaped with my life, purely on a fluke because he apparently wanted to see my last moments with my glasses off. They never caught him, he's probably still out there somewhere." Shaking herself out of the memories, she refocused on Zaid.
"I didn't want to talk or think about it at first, but the nightmares disrupted my sleep and I could no longer be by myself. I...I am still afraid of the dark, to a degree. It took me years to admit that I needed help, or I would continue to live a half life. All of my own doing."
She managed a determined smile and reached for his hands again. "The point I am trying to get at is for you to not let this rule over you. Don't let those people who did those horrible things win. You have a wonderful boyfriend to enjoy, you have so much potential. Even if you don't end up going to a professional for help, seek it from those that you do trust. You are too strong to let weak men who must put others down to justify how broken they are consume you."
Posted by Zaid on Jan 29, 2020 13:52:52 GMT -6
Jude likes this
Gamma Mutant
2B806E
Jude
316
46
Aug 10, 2021 9:07:35 GMT -6
Mati
Hearing Andrea talk about one of her own experiences drew Zaid back slowly. It was like someone clipped a hook to the back of him and kept him from sinking deeper. Her story was dark, and he could feel the fear that was still there in the memories. Yet, he also heard the way there was distance as she spoke. Like, with enough time, it was possible to work through things. Zaid looked at his hands, still watching them shake. He didn't want to argue with her, but he also was trying to find some understanding to what he was feeling.
"I...I don't know if it's the memories that scare me most. It's...the words. The feeling that I was being attacked by my own fear, my own worries." She caught his hands which stopped the shaking, and he looked up at her, finding nothing but warmth and understanding. Everything still hurt, but she was there, offering support even when she needed it just as much. All the arguments caught caught by her genuine nature. Just like she healed him once before, she was there, chasing back his doubts once again. Sometimes, it was hard to let himself break down in front of Jude, afraid of destroying that relationship before it started. But the friendship here filled the gap, making him feel supported completely.
"I missed you," Zaid whispered, hugging her again. He would have even gone so far as to say he missed the snakes, even Sloth who often wanted to regard him as food.
After a moment of silence Zaid pulled away, swiping a hand across his eyes and swallowing hard. "Have you been by yourself this week? Ghost had people reach out but I only talked to her that once...Oh! I, I met Jude's mom. And...stars, it's been a roller coaster. It's hard to feel horrified and excited about the same thing."
"I've missed you too." The tears were back. She hugged Zaid tightly. Her serpents seemed a little more muted than usual, but while sloth had the chance it slithered against the bunny mutant a little. It was as close to a comforting pat as a snake could get.
"I haven't. Erik has been with me since the moment I woke up in the hospital." The thought brought a warmth to her chest. "He's with me even now, out in the hall somewhere. I... I wanted a bit of privacy for us." She was endlessly grateful for that man. Really.
"I heard that she had filed a report on me." That brought a smile to her face. "I don't have enough words to explain how endlessly grateful I am to have all of you in my life. I will need to reach out to her as soon as I can get her number again. I lost all my contacts when I lost my phone."
With her arms around his back, it was hard not to feel a little bit of the scars. She refrained from asking just yet, seeing as she knew very well what they had looked like.
"Oh? How did you like her? Maya is a wonderful woman." The Greek beamed. She didn't have many people she could consider friends, but ghost was certainly one of them. Albeit a little bit of a long distance friend. "I'm sure she must have just loved you. You share a few interests, I think?"
She sat back a little, "You said Jude rescued you... Tell me, have you two grown closer since then?"
Zaid felt sloth move against him, and didn’t flinch away. Who would have thought a bunny would be happy to see a snake? Maybe they would have a friendship in the long run. He listened as Andrea talked about Erik, happy for her, and a little embarrassed at the same time. It was an incredibly small world that the shirtless man who snooped through his manga collection was now the object of Andrea’s affection.
”I’m glad you’ve had someone. That makes me feel better.”
When she mentioned her phone, Zaid looked a bit depressed, ”I’m not sure when I’ll have a chance to replace mine. I took time off of work, and Layne was understanding, but it’s going to put me behind. I have been borrowing Jude’s phone to reach work, but lost everything else. I don’t even have a new number to give you.” he admitted, feeling sad.
Her hand managed to touch the remaining scars and Zaid tried his hardest not to tremble. She had seen them at their worst, and his only comfort was she didn’t know what the symbol meant. That...that was the biggest burden to carry. The one thing he couldn’t bring himself to talk about yet. He was glad the conversation moved to Ghost, and he smiled, then looked a little sad. ”She’s great! She brought all this food, and didn’t seem to mind Jude and I... and...well, she’s moving I guess. So I won’t see her much after this. But it was nice to be able to talk to someone in Japanese again. I missed that.”
Andrea asked about Jude and he blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. ”I, he. I mean. He has been great. I don’t know how he has managed to put up with me this week. You don’t generally go from two dates straight into helping someone through t...this type of situation. I just, I feel like I’ve been a burden...” he looked down at his hands and fiddled with the bottom of the shirt he was wearing. It was a little big for him, as were most the clothing he had been given to use. He missed his apartment and belongings more than ever right now.
Her face started to look a little brown as she blushed slightly, overly aware of the two matching phones she had been able to order as temporary replacements for them. It was embarrassing, and she didn't want to cross any lines. She felt like a fretting mother hen flapping around her chick.
"Um, about that." Her blush deepened as she fished around for them and pulled both of the small touch screen phones out. She grinned sheepishly as she held them up from him to see, and then pressed one into his hands. "I..um.. I was worried that maybe you hadn't gotten one yet, and I haven't gotten a solid replacement either, so I got us matching temporary phones. I... I already put my number in yours." Her cheeks heated up even more. "I hope i'm not being too forward."
The Greek hummed in response to hearing that Ghost was going to be moving. She'd had an inkling, but not the full story. She really didn't keep up with the woman as much as she liked to. "I'm sure you two will probably hear from her all the time. I think she would love to hear how you two are doing."
She settled into her position on the floor a little more comfortably, trying to reach out and snag one of his hands again just as a reminder that she was there with him. "I know how you feel." She chuckled nervously. "I've felt like a lump for the past week. Eric has put up with a surprising amount of me being very clingy."
Her blush darkened at the thought and she fanned herself, before bursting out in a fit of giggles. "If I know anything, though, it is that we could never be a burden on those who love us. You could never be a burden on me, for example."
Posted by Zaid on Jan 30, 2020 0:42:51 GMT -6
Jude likes this
Gamma Mutant
2B806E
Jude
316
46
Aug 10, 2021 9:07:35 GMT -6
Mati
She blushed. Zaid wasn’t sure why at first and the. The phones appeared. He felt his heart wrench into a million directions and he was trying not to cry again. ”Stars... Andrea, I... I’ll pay you back, really. I don’t mind, it would be great to be able to reach you again, but... i ...how can I repay this?” it was a feeling of being grateful beyond words. It was stupid, it was just a phone, but she had thought of him. He hugged her and swiped at his eyes. He was going to look like a raccoon soon from crying so much.
Andrea mentioned Ghost wanting to check in on them, and she commented that you could never be a burden on people who love you.... the combination of the two threatened to short circuit his brain. ”L...love? Maybe you and Erik, and me and you in a family way, but I don’t know... me and Jude...what if he gets tired of me? Or, changes his mind about wanting to date a guy. I mean, he dated girls before, and... this is my first relationship and it’s already a mess. I’m a disaster!” he sounded like a younger boy again panicking about his first crush.
He moved so he was holding his knees sitting in the floor next to her, looking more like a bunny than normal. ”He is so tough, and he has this really awesome mutation and I’m a bunny. Ugh I just, I don’t know what he even sees in me.”
She shook her head. "They weren't expensive. Just think of it as a gift from me, until you can get another of your choosing." Her eyes twinkled for a moment. "How else am I supposed to share off of my juicy relationship gossip with you?"
She waited until he had settled next to her, before leaning her shoulder on him slightly. She didn't want him traipsing off into his own head-space and getting lost in there. "Erik and I certainly are moving a little fast..." She flushed deeply, but wasn't going to elaborate on that. "You and I aren't all that different though. I struggle with insecurities all the time too. I can hardly guess at what he sees in me, but... it's still there."
She nudged him slightly. "Sometimes you just have to stop stressing about it and go with the flow. If he sees all of the same qualities in you that I do, well then, I can't blame him for falling for you. You're kind, and funny, and earnest in your feelings... and it helps that you are absolutely adorable, too." She didn't even mean his ears, really!
"You are one of the most genuine, lovely souls I have ever met. I'm sure Jude can see that too."