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 Pharoah Dynasty
An ancient sorceress is on a quest to bring her long-lost warrior-king to the modern era in a bid for global domination. Can the heroes of the modern world stop her before all is lost?
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.
A cold breeze whistled through the open balcony of the rooftop loft. It was chilling, but truth be told, the room was plenty hot to start. Things balanced out.
A tall man stood looking out onto the city, pulling on his casual cloth Kimono whilst skillfully avoiding stubbing his lit cigarette or burning his clothes. He took a long drag, holding the butt in his mouth as he tied his belt before grabbing it once more, and looking back to the taller woman on the bed. "You had fun." The corners of his lips curled up just a little as he stepped out further to get a good look at the still busy city streets.
"I cannot say it was not a good way to start the night for me as well. You are exceptional." He gathered his long sword, which never seemed to stay out of hands reach, even over the last few hours of exercise, and tucked it into his belt, before tying in the short sword as well. Another long drag found his cigarette as its end. He twisted out the coal into a nearby ashtray, and dashed it in before turning toward the exit to the rather high end loft.
"I will be down stairs, if you wish to come find me."
Stepping down from the loft area, a few flights of stairs, and then through a door, he was suddenly in a much different setting, surrounded by loud music and the occasional whooping from a gathered crowd of people. A show was on. He found his reserved booth for a seat, and ordered his usual, hot sake. A good conquest always got him in the mood to relax and throw a few back. Raijin leaned back in his seat, and soaked in the atmosphere for a while.
Maybe later he would go out and about and get himself into trouble. For now, it was time to wind down.
The euphoric feeling that always came after a particularly nice roll in the hay was one to let linger and thoroughly enjoy. While her partner got up and dressed, preparing to leave like he normally did, she lounged in bed with all the grace of a lazy, content cat. His compliment earned a smile, but no comment. They both knew how great the other was and she wasn't normally one to brag about such things.
"Catch you later, hon~"
She offered a short wave and then went right back to lounging, after draining the rest of her water and grabbing up her phone. A nap was in order, she felt. It was her day off after all and she didn't have any other plans. After checking her numerous social media accounts she dropped her phone in her lavish, silky sheets and settled in for a well deserved nap.
... less than a minute later her phone chimed. A text message.
Leah cracked and eye back open and fumbled for the device, unlocking it with her thumb and looking to see who'd texted her.
Em? She was supposed to be downstairs dancing. The message just read 'Call me, it's urgent'
That got her attention. Leah sat up, still nude from her previous activities, and slid out of bed as she tapped the call button and put the phone to her ear.
It rang once, before Em picked up. "Leah? Can you come down? Misty's ex is here and he's being a pill again. She doesn't want to have him thrown out and cause a scene, but he's trying to like... grab her off the stage and stuff and capitalizing her attention from all the other patrons."
Her eyes rolled, but not at Em. "I'm on my way, hon. Keep Steve updated in case he tries anything."
... Hadn't they banned him? She was sure they had. Then again he really hadn't every done anything worth being banned, even if she really really wanted to. He was just desperate and clingy and didn't know how to let go, apparently.
She pulled a short t-shirt on, didn't bother with a bra, and dig some short shorts out of her dresser. Leah didn't waste time with shoes as she marched out of her room with her phone in hand, hair a little messy but her makeup still immaculate. It didn't take long for her to descend from her room into the heart of the club, and she was immersed with lights and music and the smell of various perfumes.
The tall woman made her way over to the stage she knew Misty was supposed to be dancing on tonight, where she stopped outside of the throng of low seats the surrounded it so she would fold her arms and watch the spectacle that was Harvey, the ex, as he threw crisp 100's up on the stage at a very flustered Misty.
The green haired woman clearly wasn't happy with him, but was doing a fine job of not showing it.
When Misty spotted her Leah smiled and waved at the woman to come to her. One short text to the DJ later and he announced Misty's departure and cut the music to that platform, lowering the lights a little while another dancer was shuffled around to come fill that spot.
The short green haired woman hurried past her in eight inch heels. "You're a life saver, Leah! Tell Em thanks for me!"
Protocol was, in scenarios where the dancers felt uncomfortable, or a patron was juts a tad too focused on one of them, for that dancer to make a swift escape into the back room. There, they would be able to wait it out for a bit until things died down a bit, the person was removed or left, or they were distracted somewhere else.
Harvey shuffled out of his booth at record speed, clearly intent on following his ex. Leah stepped out and blocked him, and he bumped solidly into her chest instead.
"Harvey! My apologies, I didn't see you there. It's been a while since I last saw you in here!"
Leah offered the kindest smile she could, despite how annoyed she was, and stood solidly in his way. Harvey was quite a bit shorter than her- most people were, but at 5'6 she towered over him. He tried to peek around her to see where Misty had gone.
"Oh, are you looking for someone?" She dropped the smile, replacing it with a disappointed frown instead. "Don't tell me you came back to see Misty, Harv. You know full well she has a restraining order against you. You're not supposed to be bothering her.
"Leah, I just- Can you- JEN, WAIT- Can you just move, Leah? I don't want to hurt you."
Both of her perfect brows lifted and after a moment she laughed at him.
"Why... I don't think you could, Harv, but that's beside the point here. Jen doesn't want to talk to you. You need to leave her alone. You're only going to get your self in trouble by doing this."
He kept trying to side step her, and she kept stepping back into his path, all while keeping calm and frowning down at him.
"Damnit, I don't have time for this, Leah! Get out of my way!"
He turned, gestured at someone, and two large, beefy men stood from the booth he had been in and headed their way.
Leah sighed, but continued to stand her ground. "... You really need to get yourself into therapy, Harvey. This is unhealthy."
Raijin was gaving a good time. The green haired girl was dancing. He liked that one. Maybe a potential future tickmark? He tended to be picky, though. His second drink arrived before he noticed something was a bit off. First off, some guy kept reaching for her, an throwing money about.
That wasn't so unusual in a place like this, but her subtle reactions weren't the type most often associated with having money thrown at you. He was good at reading those sort of things; it came with years of mental war with people he planned to kill. You learned to watch someone, know when they are planning to attack, run... when they are in fight or flight.
She was.
He leaned back, and took a sip of his drink. Wasn't any of his damn business, and the guy didn't look like he would be a good fight, either. People with a lot of money rarely were.
The ronin leaned on his hand and watched boredly as the predictable appearance of Leah on the scene began to sort things out. He absolutely stared at her posterior as she made her way down the stairs. As were the green haired dancer was the type to make her way on and off of his potential conquest list, the tall woman had landed square on it the first time he'd seen her. Yes, that was it. Force of personality, presence. It got him going.
These thoughts were getting him riled up. Resting time was over. He stood up abruptly, just as two rather large men did the same not too far off.
Ohhh... hello friends. As they started to make their way toward Leah and the man with the cash, Raijin approached from behind, throwing his arms around each of the two men's shoulders. "Hello my new friends! You two look like... you are headed for a party! May I join?" He smiled widely, the scent of rice wine playing heavily on his breath.
His swords were peace tied, one of the few concessions he'd made to get into this place the many times he'd visited. Looking at these men, he was fairly certain they weren't worth of the blades anyway.
She was still effectively blocking Harvey from getting past her, not that he could have gotten to Misty anyway. Once employees were in the back there were safety measures in place to keep non-enployees from getting back there.
"Really, hon? You hired muscle for this... whatever this is? That's a new low."
She didn't like the look of the two men, but ultimately it didn't seem to matter. Her face lit up brilliantly as soon as she spotted Raijin striding up behind them.
"You need to move, Leah, or i'll have them make you move. What goes on between me and Jen is none of your-"
"Hands off Buddy!" One of the muslce men reacted poorly to having some random guy touch him, and tried to throw the arm off.
"Right! So! Lets take this outside!" Leah explained, snaking an arm out as Harvey turned to see what was going on behind him. She got him in a headlock and he struggled for a moment, honestly surprised at how strong she was. She started dragging him physically out of the room to prevent any more patrons from getting distracted by the commotion.
The DJ, Oliver, cranked the music up a bit higher and the dancers currently on stage did their best to draw all of the attention back to them. It wasn't horribly unusual to see someone getting kicked out of a strip club, after all.
Leah happily dragged Harvey with her past the front, past the back rooms, and to a locked exit at the very back. Out into the alley behind the tall stretch of buidings she went, harvey tripping and flailing along with her. She released him with a slight shove and let him stumble a few steps away and collect himself.
"That's assult, Leah! I'll sue!"
She laughed at him again and let her hands settle on her hips. "That so, hon? Which one of my lawyers do you want the number of, huh?"
The one on his left didn't take too kindly to being touched. So many people with such touchy feelings about being touchy feely in this country. The big man tried to toss him off, and before he knew it he found himself on the ground, the victim of a prefectly executed Judo throw.
Dusting himself off, Raijin leaned down and placed a hand on the man's shoulder. "Oy oy oy! Looks like yeh had a bit of a fall... Too much to drink, friend?"
The other muscle man turned toward them, trying to work out exactly what happened as the first one tried to recover from the shock of being flung to the floor so forcefully. Rai looked up to see Leah bouncing the man out the back door. Eh, she'd be fine. He seemed like a push over.
He reached down to help the man up, who pushed him off again, warranting a grab of the wrist and a downward pull and sent his jaw into the ground firmly. Goon number two had a better idea that they were being attacked by now. He went for a haymaker, and Raijin stepped into the wide strike, placing his shoulder against the man's armpit, and leaning forward while grabbing the arm and leaning forward to assist his momentum in throwing him into his friend.
"Hmmmm, both of you can't hold your liquor!" He stated firmly as he crossed his arms. The first one was climbing to his feet with the help of his friend. Rai was already bored of this. These guys were disappointing. He started walking toward the back door.
Maybe Leah was having more fun? He strode through the club, following her path, and poking his head out to see what he would see. He didn't way too much mind to the two slighly beat up men following him back. He would deal with them soon enough.
Harvey wasn't looking so good. He was red and sweat-slicked, and clearly itching for a fight... but he was also very slim and very short. He shifted on his feet with a sort of nervous energy she had never seen from him before and tucked his hands in his pockets.
Leah, who was still blocking the door from him, noticed this and grew a little cautious.
"You need to get out of my way, Leah... I don't want to h-...hurt you, but I will. I need to talk to Jen!"
Leah crossed her arms and planted her feet. She'd rather die than give in and potentially get one of her girls hurt. They already had enough shit to real with in their lives, they didn't need it dogging them to work, too.
"No. You need to leave, Harv. Right now."
She wasn't aware of what was going on inside, but she could imagine well enough. She didn't have to worry too much. If things got too out of hand there were plenty of security guards to take care of it.
Harvey wasn't looking so good though. Did he have some sort of medical condition Misty had never mentioned? She'd never seen him so red in the face before and it looked like he was swelling a little-
.... ohgoodgod.
He wasn't swelling. He was GROWING!
She took a little step back, bumped into the closed door, and steadied herself on it.
She hadn't been aware that Harvey was a mutant. Jen has talked about him quite a but when they were together... and he was supposedly just a fairly wealthy, somewhat clingy human that spoiled her rotten in return for any kind of affection.
Jen had never mentioned that he had a habit of growing to 12ft and turning purple.
"...Harvey..." She tried to play it cautious with him, "...Don't do anything drastic here, we're just having a conversati-"
"MOVE!" His lord, rumbly voice almost shook the walls around them. He reeled an arm back and then sent it flying her way.
She didn't bother dodging, even though it was reflective by nature. The full force of his backhand hit her ward full force, where it was absorbed, and the newly visible shield shattered. The power behind the attack sent a ripple of force through the air all around, rattling the door behind her for a moment.
She didn't notice Rajin peeking out, and he was lucky her shield had blocked the hit or it might have slammed the door shut on his head a moment ago.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me-" He was pulling his other arm back to throw it at her again. She fully threw herself out of the way as he did so. He missed her, but the poor door took the brunt of the damage and caved inward like it was made out of aluminum.
Hopefully, the swordsman had dodged it in time.
Meanwhile, the two bodyguards had stopped momentarily to pull little pillboxes from their pockets, swallow one mystery pill each, and then tossed the empty boxes away.
A moment later one of them completely burst into flames. His clothes incinerated on contact, and he left burning footprints in his wake as he started off after Raijin again. The other grew six-bladed arms, sprouted multiple eyes, and his legs bent backward unnaturally. He let out a horror beast shriek, leaped onto the ceiling, and started crawling after his flaming partner.
Out in the alley, Harvey turned toward Leah, who was backing slowly down the middle of it with her hands up, trying to draw him away from the club and all the people inside.
"This isn't how someone typically goes about trying to get someone to get back with them, Harvey! Have you thought about trying roses and a card?!"
She narrowly danced out of the way of a large fist as it came down at her, and pulled a few very artful back flips to safety.
"WHY WONT SHE LOOOOVE MEEEEE?" Harvey wailed, and punched the wall beside him, cracking the brick and leaving an indent.
... She was super thankful that was not the wall to Hexes and Ho's.
Things were apparently going a bit dicey for Leah as well. By the time he poked his head in, she was being struck by him, her ward being dismissed by the powerful blow. This wasn't good. His swords were still peace tied. He started fiddling at the tie as the man swung again. He spotted the strike's trajectory, and ducked his head back out the door, stepping back with his hands on his weapons as the metal bent in.
His eyes glinted with a hint of thrill as he realized there was a powerful opponent on the other side of that door. He hurried with the Peace ties again, hearing the wail of despair from the giant and rolling his eyes as the room was suddenly illuminated by flame.
There was a burning man walking down the hall. His grin widened. A crawling man covered in bladed arms skittered across the ceiling. His booming laugh rang through the hall and out the door. "YYYEES! COME AT ME!"
His blades were free. He drew both of them in a flash, and immediately stepped forward toward the burning man, pausing as he saw him rear back with his arms and prepare some sort of attack. Quickly he drew out his seal with his longsword, and placed up his lightning barrier.
With a blast, he was thrown out through the dented door, barrier shattering and taking the heat and most of the percussion along with it. Rolling to his feet alongside the fallen, and now twisted door, Raijin Guffawed, wiping blood from his brow as he slid to the side of the door, out of view of the flaming man as he sent another gout of flames into the alley.
"Takai-Chan, Try not to die, I will deal with this first!" The blade monster came out first, crawling out of the now open door and heading up the wall. Raijin kept an eye on him, drawing out a new seal and placing it over head for now.
The flame man was out next, and Raijin didn't waste time as he rounded the corner, allowing blade monster to jump down and strike his sheild while he dove forward and low under a burst of flame to come up with his blade and lop off a burning hand at the wrist.
A scream of pain echoed from the alley as he rolled past again, coming to his feet as the injured man's flames expanded out in all directions. He wasn't controlling them any longer, too busy falling to his knees and clutching his stump. Meanwhile the blade monster was recovering on the ground after striking his seal and getting a shock in response.
The Ronin had a precious moment to switch grips on his short sword, and spear it toward the pained flaming man.
THUK! His screams were suddenly quieted as a length of steel sunk into the side of his head, and his flames went out as he slumped to the ground.
The creature launched itself at him and there was a stream of clanks and clinks as he blocked, stepped back, and kept the many whirling blades at parrying range. "Yes! Come at me with the ferocity of a beast! One moment Takai-Chan! I will be there soon!"
There was a whole lot of commotion coming from behind Harvey, not that she could see it. He'd grown so wide that he almost blocked the whole damn alley.
She did hear the explosion and caught a glimpse of the door exploding out, but had to dive out of the way before she could give it much mind. Harvey was still trying to squish her. She did spot a glimpse of Raijin as he entered the fray, and she felt instant relief at him being there. He was fully capable in things like this, whereas she was not.
He called out to her and it was partially covered up by another roar from Harvey. "I'm trying!"
He stopped trying to smash and started trying to scoop her up in an open hand. She turned tail and started running toward the end of the alley.
"Harv, will you please stop?! This is going waaay above and beyond ridiculous now!"
She got her shield back up and turned to see where he was, and one massive purple paw scooped her up. "HARVEY!" Pounding on his hand didn't seem to work while he turned, dipped, and then hucked her up into open air like a baseball.
She didn't even have the breath to do move then let out a surprised cry as she flew, not having expected him to do that. The sheer strength he must have had to send her flying all the way five stories in an arch, where she landed on the roof with a thud.
Her shield absorbed the impact of her landing, leaving her unharmed but winded and more than a little frightened.
... Then the whole building started to shake as Harvey, who was still growing a bit, punched his fists and feet into the brick wall and climbed his way up to her.
"WHYYYDOYOOOUKEEEPGEEETINGIIINMYWAAAAY!?"
He was starting to sound less and less like himself, and it was... sad. Very sad. She'd seen acquaintances use that particular drug before and have bad reactions- like Harvey seemingly was. This new... attitude didn't suit him. He'd always been quiet and shy if a little awkward before. Kinda adorable if she said so herself, and if Jen hadn't been having such a hard time with him and his boundary issues.
Leah scrambled up off the floor and looked around, and when she spotted the door that led to the stairs she made a beeline for it.
... It was locked.
Of course, it was.
She heard Rai shouting from below, heard the pet name he'd given her, and shouted back as loudly as she could.
"Okay!"
She'd be fine... right? Yeah. Totally.
Large purple fingers crested the rooftop, curled over the edge, and the angriest, biggest, most bloodshot eyes she'd ever seen locked onto her.
She was feeling real, honest to goodness fear now. Leah hurried to get another ward up to protect herself. "Harvey, wait! Hold on! Let's talk this out! There's not a reason to resort to viol- UUAAHHH!"
He pulled himself up faster than she thought he was able to, and she threw herself out of the way of his big fist impacting the door behind her. It bent in but remained attached by one hinge.
He'd known fairly early on that Leah was not a fighter. She was not posessing of the killer instinct he looked for in an opponent. What she had instead, was allure, and energy. These were tools more adapted to her trade. His were more adapted to his own.
This was why he was acutely aware that the risk to her life in this instance was severe. He needed to get ot her quickly. Apparently, the big purple man knew this as well, so he threw her onto the roof. "KSUH!" He exclaimed as she sailed through the air. She'd cast a ward, so she would survive, but the big man climbed after her as well.
He had his own opponent to worry about. A steady stream of barely coordinated attacks flew his way, and he deflected them skillfully, dancing around as his foe tried desperately to eviscerate him. "You have strength, and speed, monster!" He'd managed to move the fight in a circle, and back himself into the position he'd been hoping for. The blade monster had no idea he was being drawn in such a way, but it didn't even get a chance to realize before Raijin spin-stepped back, grabbed his short blade from the head of the slumped flamethrower, and parried with it instead of his long sword, using the opening from the first to lop off the arm that had attacked.
Before the creature even came into full relization of the first wound, he blocked three more successive striked and removed a limb each time before cleanly cutting its throat wide open. "But you lack skill, and discipline."
He quickly sheathed both blades and turned to hurry up the fire escape as his opponent sunk to his reversed legs and expired clawing at his destroyed throat.
Leaping up multiple steps at a time, he zigzagged up even as another strike rocked the whole building a little. Time was short. He made it to the top of the escape, and vaulted up the maintenance ladder to the roof as quickly as he could, pulling his longsword and diving forward to drive it into the heel of the now rather large purple man as he reared up for another strike.
He had to get in before Leah was a smear among the roof gravel. While he did so, he had the presence of mind to use his short sword to draw out a sigil as well.
This was not what she had planned to do when she came downstairs! If she'd known she was going to get into a physical fight, she would have at least put shoes on!
"Harvey Blueburg, I will ABSOLUTELY tell your mother all about this if you don't knock it off!" Yeah! Hit im' in the pockets, Leah!
He reacted, slightly, as if her words had gotten to him. The big purple form flinched, arm already lifted for another strike. Somewhere deep in there, Harvey was still present, and aware enough for the spoiled rich kid in him to panic at the thought of getting cut off.
Unfortunately, it didn't last long, and while Raijin was hustling up the side of the building to get to her, she was being pressed back into the other edge of the roof.
She glanced down as her heel hit the raised edge that surrounded the top. It pressed into her lower back as Harvey lumbered closer. She noticed, now that he seemed to have stopped growing, that he was easily 20ft tall and his hands were big enough to squish her in one go. He'd puffed out like a giant purple gorilla, including his arms now being longer than the rest of him.
God, M really was a helluva drug. She didn't know why people took it, or any of the other ones for that matter. She'd never felt the need for them in any capacity.
"Harv... look at you. This is really sad, you know? What've you done to yourself, hon? Do you really think Jen would respect this kind of behavior?"
Once more he seemed to pause. He was slowly working through what she had said, and when he reached a conclusion it wasn't one he was happy with. He roared like a wild animal, deep and guttural, and raised both arms over his head. The first downward blow he dealt her shattered her ward, and she wouldn't be fast enough in bringing up another.
But! By the gods above Raijin appeared in all of his glory and a swift stab to the foot distracted the big ape long enough that she was able to swiftly skirt around him and out of danger.
She prepped a ward as she ran, clearly in a panic, and as she came upon Rai she all but jumped on him for a moment in order to press a quick kiss to his cheek and leave her ward on him.
She then hid behind him like the weakling she was. "You're a lifesaver!"
Now all they needed to do was knock Harvey out somehow and wait until the drug wore off! Yay!
His blade sunk in deep, but there was more flesh where that came from, and he was forced to retreat backwards. Not before he was able to give Leah a chance to roll out. She gave him a kiss on the cheek on the way out. That was some movie quality shit right there; who did that in moments when their life was in danger? Ten foot amazon princesses, it seemed.
Still, he gave a short nod as he felt her ward fall into place, and she hurried behind him. Now he was double protected, which was good, because the giant beast spun in place and roared, swinging two giant fists down at them.
He stepped forward, lifting his ward, which the who meaty appendages collided with, sending a shocking jolt through the purple man as it shattered with a bright flash. There was a surprized yelp and then the sound of blade wrending flesh and Raijin stepped in and spun into a series of slashes that removed all of the fingers from one of the giant hands.
In shock, the giant lashed out, smacking into Leah's ward and getting soaked up just as the confident Ronin turned and came down with a slash that lopped off Harvey's thick, muscly arm just after the elbow. Once of momentum changed in a fight like this, it wasn't hard to keep it going.
While the big man reeled back, Raijin stepped in, and past, sending his short sword in between his ribs, and letting it go so he could slash the back of his leg behind the knee to cause the giant to collapse. Now behind him as he labored to breath, the swordsman grasped the blade tightly in both hands, and prepared to swing to behead the hulking figure.
The realization that knocking Harvey out was not on Raijin's list of priorities, Leah ended up standing there with her hand over her nose, and mouth watching stunned as he proceeded to expertly win the battle in just the most beautiful, yet bloody way Leah had ever seen.
This was also a first because she'd never seen bloodshed like this in her life, ever.
She'd gotten in a few scraps herself before, and had witnessed people throw down with fists pretty often just being in a big city like New York. She had also once witnessed a man get gored during the running of the bulls on a trip to Spain with one of her Sugar Daddies. Even that wasn't as graphic and the man had survived!
... She was starting to doubt Harvey would survive this encounter after attacking them.
That was proven quickly when Raijn lifted his sword and with practiced ease cleanly sliced right through the neck of prone, injured Harvey.
... She felt like she was going to pass out and had to look away and stifle a gasp.
Leah didn't know how to process this. She'd never even had a family member die in all the years she could remember! Her grandmothers was 102 and giving death the finger constantly!
Was she gonna throw up? No, not likely. She wasn't a throw-up-y type person.
She did immediately start crying though. Didn't even really know why. It was just too much for her to mentally handle in the moment.
SWOOSH! With all of the confidence of a clean cut from a man who had done this enough to be supremely good at it, Raijin stepped around the man quickly, grabbing his Wakizashi from his chest as the body fell to the ground. Quickly, he staked the long blade into the gravel, confident it wouldn't lose its impressive edge, and pulled out a cloth from his belt, wiping the blood away from his short sword.
With that tucked away in its Saya, he pulled the Katana and did the same, looking up only to pause as he realized that Leah was weeping. "... Nani... Takai-chan, were you hurt?" He slid the blade into its sheath and walked up to her, giving her a quick look over.
He didn't seem too worried, of course, considering she was still able to stand there, but she wasn't a fighter, and maybe she wasn't accustomed to pain. "He is dead, and will not hurt you any longer." He motioned to the rather large corpse.
It wasn't returning to its former form, so it looked as though... Harvey, was it? Harvey was going to need a very big casket.
Okay, so... she'd seen that sh*t in movies, obviously. Samurai flicks were super popular through various stages of her life, especially in cartoons. So she had of course seen something strikingly similar to this play out before, in a multitude of ways, and from a very early age.
But never in person, on a real live human being.
Raijin seemed to notice her stress and for a moment she was caught off guard that he was even checking her over. The switch from riled up and deadly to calm and concerned would have been a red flag if she didn't already know him... but she did. She'd heard stories about all of his tattoos, the marks on his hip and hand, and various other little things he was comfortable enough to share since she tried not to pry.
She was aware of how dangerous he was, and she had mentally visualized various things with him involved since the day she had met him... but seeing it in the flesh was different. It twisted her guts in a way she hadn't ever experienced before, and she didn't like it.
Funnily enough, it was still pretty easy not to blame him, Rai, for it either. Harvey had attacked first, and from what she had seen earlier in the club the guards he had hired had probably attacked Raijin first as well, once she was out of sight.
"...I'm fine." It was hard to get any power behind her voice, but she tried. Even though it was overwhelming and gross, and... so, so many other things, she didn't want to make this about her. It wasn't about her in the slightest. "I'm not hurt, I've just never seen a.. uh..."
She tore her eyes away from Harvey's body, already trying to organize things in her head for what to do next. She needed to call the police and her lawyer, and probably Harv's parents or their lawyer. Oh lord, she needed to tell Jen at some point.
Her eyes zeroed in on the wounds he had, which seemed to have stopped bleeding but were very visible and raw, and she jumped on that as a distraction to think of something other than the dead man she'd used to know, who'd fallen victim to his own problems.
"Oh hon, you're bleeding! Are you alright?" She stood fully and was rather proud of the fact that she didn't wobble on her feet. "I've got a medical kit in the dressing rooms. Do you want me to clean you up?"
Raijin's expression held firmly in a place of confusion as she stared she was fine, but sounded like a wet noodle in the process. She referred the the body, and be looked back, and then to her again. "Oh! Right! I forgot you are sheltered in some ways. Well, it is better than being the body." He placed a hand up on her shoulder.
It wasn't long, though, before she started fretting about his wounds. He touched the side of his face, where a but was still trickling blood. "Yes, I would be good to get cleaned up. Perhaps in your loft?"
Being honest, an experience like this rarely left him feeling the need to rest. Quite the opposite, it was energizing. He doubted that Leah would understand or in the state of shock she was in, reciprocate, but he found himself feeling frisky after such an experience.
One last glance back at the giant slumped body, and he turned toward the roof access latter. He would assist the more Shaky Leah down if she needed it. Maybe test the waters if she sat down with him to try and clean and bandage his wounds.
He would also have to schedule a tattoo appointment.