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.
Posted by Liz Sundance on Sept 16, 2021 18:52:21 GMT -6
X-Men
Metazoa
Chartreuse
Straight
949
9
May 15, 2024 20:04:41 GMT -6
Zek
Elizabeth’s mind danced like a spider building a web for creatures it was not large enough to hunt. Where did she even begin? But it was possible to do, right?
His tattoos were the cause. At first Liz dismissed his use of the term curse as mere poetry and metaphorical language, the same way many people described mutations, genetic trends, or even strings of bad luck. However, there was no way shifting, changing tattoos that crawled across his body and glowed--suddenly Liz realized a correlation between the tattoos glowing and Hercules clearly exerting his powers-- was a result of bad luck. Not even genetics.
Liz had known many mutants with unusual powers. She’d even attended a seminar on mutant genetic versatility and gene expression once. The general scientific conclusion based on observations of thousands of mutants was that mutations had a single niche. You didn’t have cat-people who could teleport any more than you had deep sea whales with giant butterfly wings. Even when mutants evolved new abilities, they still tended to be linked to the original manifestations. You might have cat-people who could turn themselves into multiple cats, or a teleporter who can phase themselves through walls or into other dimensions. Specializations.
But you didn’t have enormous strength, durability, a remarkable capacity for rapid cellular regeneration, the ability to vanish and reappear (especially at someone else’s will), and have glowing, shifting tattoos that move across your body. Granted, Hercules did say a witch did the tattoos. She vaguely recalled a mutant who could brand people with tattoos that did...something. Some kind of compulsion or whatever. Could that be what was going on here? An external mutation permanently impacting Hercules?
That still didn’t explain the “transportation between planes” thing, which Liz still hadn’t gotten a clear answer about. The inconsistencies heavily supported the theory that Hercules was lying. But then again, he had actions that backed up his words. She’d seen his physical feats and had witnessed himself vanishing. From several sets of eyes and ears, actually. It was always possible that illusions had been cast on her instead, but there had been too many people at the bank and the mansion for each one to be impacted and perceived exactly the same thing.
His word choice was perplexing as well. He spoke of gods, prophets, and witches, yet at the same time he was fully aware of mutants. Was it a style shift in referring to mutants by different names based on different periods in history, as a subtle conversational cue that what he spoke of happened so long ago? His seeming immortality was an ability that she hadn’t been able to witness of course, although his knowledge didn’t throw up red flags for her yet.
He was just...confusing.
And fascinating.
Liz caught herself only half listening, her eyes still intent even though her mind was a million miles away in a room full of strings and thumbtacks, building a gossamer web of pointless prattle. From what she was gleaning, Hercules had mostly been lambasting Jason of the Argonauts.
Embarrassed that she hadn’t been paying attention, Liz threw her mind into everything she could focus on and hoped none of the things he’d mentioned had been truly important and that she could fake a conversation about them. “So, just because a woman can charm an animal, that makes her a witch, huh?” she arched an eyebrow and smiled playfully.
“To old friends and allies,” she said more seriously, raising her glass of water before taking a drink as well. She knew what it was like requiring the support of others. It was the only way she’d escaped adolescence with her sanity intact.
“So how old were you when you ‘became a god’?” she asked. She liked his turn of phrase for it, even if she’d never describe one’s x-gene activation in such over-the-top terms.
Posted by Hercules on Sept 17, 2021 5:06:42 GMT -6
Mystic
422
10
May 4, 2024 6:46:59 GMT -6
The god was caught off guard at the comment and raised an eyebrow. ”That’s what we used to call those who were skilled in spells and potions.” Hercules said trying to recall what deity Madea worshipped. The more he thought about it the more he tried to ignore it. He knew who she was. She was the one who had cursed him.
”Do you create elixers and potions along with charming animals?” he chuckled, ”A witch was a proffession in our time. A healer of sorts. They are form a balance.” he said before leaning forward in his chair a bit, ”Just because you can charm me doesn’t mean you are a witch.” he didn’t sense the flow of magic around her. He might have also called himself and animal with that statement.
”Here, here!” he said toasting. He two raised the glass and took a sip from his water. The god lowered his glass goblet and set it on the table and leaned back in his chair.
”32 by your standards.” he said, age and time no longer had any effect on him. They were things he knew about but they were different then they were to Elizabeth and the other mortals he had come to know. ”I always was blessed with strength and durability. When I finally ascended to god-hood I was blessed by my father and the others of the pantheon. I glowed differnelty back then. More of a golden light instead of” he activated his glow to show off, the skin under his clothing glowed and a few tattoos on his neck lit up and shifted about before he turned it off.
”I stopped being affected by time after that. Wounds healed almost instantly and my power increased a thousand fold. I could move mountains.” he said boasting now, ”I was even tricked by Atlas to ‘hold the world’.” he said chuckling. His inflection would probably raise more questions. The god knew he was impressive but this was a date. He wanted to know more about the woman before him.
”Tell me Elizabeth, when did you first learn you could control animals?”
Posted by Liz Sundance on Sept 22, 2021 19:16:58 GMT -6
X-Men
Metazoa
Chartreuse
Straight
949
9
May 15, 2024 20:04:41 GMT -6
Zek
The blonde’s smile turned thoughtful. Interesting. A woman capable of...spells and potions….as well as controlling animals? Then Hercules’s counter-question sparked recognition in her. “In fact I do,” she said. She was a high school science teacher. The amount of times she had mixed together various chemicals and formulae to produce different reactions was ridiculous. Not to mention that one time she and several classmates in college had concocted their own recipe of moonshine. She hadn’t partaken, but it was still a novel skill to possess.
And apparently that made her a witch. Ah well, she’d been called worse things. And one more of the strong man’s mysteries was solved. Mutants with scientific backgrounds, or the ancient world’s equivalent.
Heat rose in Elizabeth’s cheeks as Hercules declared she wasn’t a witch even though she could...oh. She connected the dots and caught what he said. She also caught what he didn’t say. My, was it starting to get hot in there?
Liz drank more cool, refreshing water real quick-like and opened a channel to the rats she could still feel. Their blatant curiosity and savvy nosiness helped drown out a few of the other things she was feeling and she was able to laugh politely along with Hercules’s words. “My, my, it seems my powers just continue to evolve,” she said merrily.
“Thirty-two…?” she repeated before she caught herself. She frowned. That sounded wrong. Like, it wasn’t impossible that a person’s x-gene could remain dormant all throughout adolescence and into adulthood - it was rare that it took thirty years, but not unheard of - but still, if his powers had activated then….when combined with his general appearance and approximate age….the stories….maybe he really was a…
Oh he was good. She mastered her expression and cool acknowledgement spread across her face with a smirk. Well played, sir.
The expression froze then. Like it usually did when someone asked about her manifestation story.
A smile carved its way across her face, even if it never reached her eyes. “I was twelve,” she said, inflections coming out crooked and odd. “My little sister died in a crash. I….I went out of my mind.” Flashes of the event swarmed her thoughts and the old scars opened up, but her smile was adamant. That wasn’t conversation for a date. Was it? No. Right?
“So how on Earth could you ‘hold up the world’?” she asked swiftly. “I mean, where exactly were you standing to get that kind of leverage?” Let’s talk about stories. Things that didn’t happen. Things we could escape into.
Posted by Hercules on Sept 23, 2021 5:16:51 GMT -6
Mystic
422
10
May 4, 2024 6:46:59 GMT -6
The god agreed and nodded his head at her repeating his age, ”Yes, I might look a little older but that is only because I enjoy being out in the sun.” he said matter of factly. It was in fact one of his favorite things about this plane of existence. Feeling the sun on your body as it rises and then cools as it sets.
”I.... I’m sorry Elizabeth. I didn’t know.” he started to cry for her for a moment. It was sad, to be so young and have experienced a loss like that. The god didn’t lose his wife or his son till he ascended even then his tears could have drowned the world. ”Apologies.” he wanted to know more about her sister but kept the questions to himself for now. This was supposed to be a joyous occasion. Such topics should be avoided on a date.
This was the one that he had the hardest time with. Atlas not only held the world up but he heard everything from everyone. Literally holding everything on his shoulders. It was also the most difficult to explain. ”With Great strength!” he said glad for the topic change but also sad when he thought about Atlas still holding his burden alone frozen in place and time.
”The burden I shared was only for a time and no, it wasn’t me just holding up the sky preventing it from crashing into the earth and wiping out everything to make way for something else. That part was easy, it was the other aspect of his curse that was the problem I dealt with. While one held up the sky you could also hear everything, feel everything from everyone and everything. Hopes, dreams, the kindness to a stranger the love for a child or a spouse. While some of it was tolerable you also felt everything else. Fear, anger, greed. I could hear everything, feel everything, and while it was only for a week if I hadn’t ascended at that point I fear I would have lost my mind. I thought an eternity had passed feeling all that love and loss from every living being on the planet. It was then I was relieved from his burden. Atlas had enough time to recover.” he sighed.
”The arrogance of youth had inspired me to challenge the titan and he was all but happy to teach this foolish deity a lesson.” he leaned forward a bit and then heard a crack of the chair under his weight and fell slightly as the chair collapsed under him. Hercules recovered by performing a slight squat. ”Apologies.” he said as he stood up and looked down to the chair.
Posted by Liz Sundance on Sept 26, 2021 8:08:35 GMT -6
X-Men
Metazoa
Chartreuse
Straight
949
9
May 15, 2024 20:04:41 GMT -6
Zek
Elizabeth accepted Hercules’s apology with a faint sadness flecking her smile. She’d explain more another time, perhaps. Just not here, not now. It was a topic she was used to discussing or avoiding - one inevitably got asked about when their powers emerged when it was identified that you were a mutant. It’s why Liz no longer cried when asked. One reason, at least. She flicked her fingers in a warding gesture, to abate any guilt for bringing it up. She’d started it, after all, by asking him about his power origins. And he couldn’t have known.
Who was she to judge another for curiosity? It was how one learned, how one connected.
Her ruby-red lips twitched up in a pleased smile at Hercules’s instant response. That was on her, she’d set him up for that moment of self-congratulatory praise. As if he needed any more of a boost to his ego. However it never felt like Hercules was bragging. If anyone was strong enough to hold up the world, it was easy to believe he qualified. She’d seen his muscles.
And then the smile faded.
The blonde returned her mostly empty glass to the table and leaned forward, resting her chin on interlaced fingers as her elbows propped her up. That description.... “You know what it’s like then,” she said quietly, her eyes fixed on his sparkling green hues. “The glory and the madness of it all.”
True, Elizabeth had never been in tune with the mindscape of the entire world, and for most of her life had only been in contact with the feelings animals had, but as a teenager that alone had been enough to send her into constant spirals of misery and pain. Even now as an adult, it took sheer mental effort to fully block out the minds around her, and they were everywhere.
“It’s joyous indeed that you were able to make it through the experience.” She wasn’t hiding anything behind a mask. The rats outside stilled, pigeons on the restaurant’s roof ceased their squabbling and strutting, lulled into dark reflection. A woman walking her dog just on the other side of the window started snapping her fingers to get the labrador to start walking again, instead of standing there with its listless stare.
The sound of self-destructing furniture snapped her out of her minor reverie and she laughed. The dog barked and surged forward with a leap. The rats went back to inspecting a small hole they’d found. The pigeons picked up their jockeying around for better positions on the building’s ledges. “They don’t make chairs like they used to, hmmm?” she asked, extending a hand to the other chair on Hercules’s side of the table. “Fortunately, you have a spare.” Mirth bubbled around in her voice, the event a most welcome refreshment.
Posted by Hercules on Sept 26, 2021 10:48:50 GMT -6
Mystic
422
10
May 4, 2024 6:46:59 GMT -6
The god’s face turned a little red when he looked from the pieces of chair that were on the ground. A massive hand scratched the back of his head as he bowed his head in response to the other chair. ”Let’s hope this one is a little sturdier than this one.” Hercules bent down and gathered the pieces of the broken chair and put them in a nice pile for him to clean up later. It wasn’t the restaurants fault that they didn’t build chairs that could rival his weight.
”While it did take me some time to recover from the weight of the world I’m glad I learned from it. I learned not to challenge titans after that. Even gods have their limits.” even if he was able to push past his not all gods were as strong as he. ”It was a good opportunity for me, it also showed me how cruel the gods can be.” he sighed and grabbed the other chair and put it on top of the pile of broken furniture then sat back down. This time there was no ‘creaking’ from the chair. It seemed this one had the power to support the god.
”I take it you can hear them then?” he asked looking through the window to the dog who leapt and started barking. The god could just barely hear him over the noise of the restaurant and the city outside. ”Are they simple as mortals?” he asked knowing how that sounded. The god didn’t exactly view himself as one anymore and while he still had a lot of similar thoughts and feelings he often didn’t act upon them. He was to protect them, all of them meaning he often sacrificed his needs for others. Something that not all mortals were capable of. They were flawed and that was why Hercules felt duty bound to help them.
”You have a beautiful laugh by the way.” he said chuckling. ”It’s infectious.”
Posted by Liz Sundance on Sept 30, 2021 21:39:30 GMT -6
X-Men
Metazoa
Chartreuse
Straight
949
9
May 15, 2024 20:04:41 GMT -6
Zek
Now it was Elizabeth’s turn to blush, even as she watched the brawny man organize the chaos of chair parts into a pile. She didn’t get such compliments often and definitely not from someone so….transparent, so free with them. It didn’t feel like they were mere words to Hercules, just a means to an end or casual words wasted on everyone. “Thank you,” she said, a flippant rejoinder dying on her tongue as she dipped her head in acknowledgement.
He had a wonderful laugh as well. She could almost feel its resonance in her bones. “My apologies though, I neglected to take into account the worthiness of chairs when choosing a restaurant,” she said, tipping her glass just enough to pour out a small libation onto the tablecloth. “Still, it brought glory to its people for the weight it too was fated to bear.”
Liz’s smile came and went as she went on. “Yes, I can hear them. In my mind, if not my ears,” she said, placing a hand on a temple and absently smoothing a lock of hair away from her face. “I feel them always, everything they feel. Much of what they think. Some of what they want. Sometimes their experiences. Often whether I wish to or not.”
Her gaze shifted out the window to follow Hercules’s. “They can be so simple,” she said at length. She turned her head to look at Hercules thoughtfully. She’d realized what she’d said just a moment too late. Ah well, there were worse things to be called and considered than an immortal. “One could also say that mortals….and immortals….can be just as complex as beasts.”
“At times their priorities are the same as ours. Nourishment, protection, companionship. Other times they can’t be bothered. There’s no such thing as awkwardness among animals. It can bring a certain...parsimony. So many things in life do not truly matter, except that we declare them to be so. But to most animals, such things are no more material than dust in the wind.”
Her eyes glimmered, flecks of longing dancing with sadness, the consequence of walking in the minds of myriads of creatures so unlike herself.
She put her hands on the table and idly toyed with a cloth napkin. “You said the gods could be cruel, and that they had limits,” Liz said, picking at an errant thread. “I thought you were one of them. Did you not know this to be true, before your...ascension?”
”It is quiet alright.” Hercules said holding up a hand with a sincere smile. Most mortals never took his weight into account when choosing anything. They just saw him as massive. As they should! He was after all but that also meant that he’d forever have to fight doorframes and chairs for mortals. A burden he was fine with so as long as he got to see his charges grow and adapt.
”So you two are cursed then.” he nodded somberly and then nodded his head folding his arms and stretching the heck out of his clothing. One could almost hear a few threads break. ”It was fortuitous we met then.” he nodded his head again. The god listened to her describe the needs and wants of the critters she could hear and feel. It saddened the god to see her burdened with so much that when he saw her eyes he started to cry.
”I have seen empires rise and fall, so much so I often tire from seeing petty squabbles and people acting selfishly. Children grow old and die, loved ones meeting for the first time... All is dust in the wind. It is rare that there are ones and things to stand the test of time. It’s why I have deemed my purpose to protect you mortals. Life is so short as it is. You all need protecting so you can enjoy every moment of it.” he said truthfully.
”I always knew I was destined for something more. I could feel it since I was a child. That, I was stronger, sturdier than all those around me. I saw people become frail with age, get injured easily. I never experienced it. By the time I was seven I could lift fully loaded wagons over my head and carry them for miles with ease.” he said truthfully.
”Do you not consider yourself human and think the same thing?” he asked in response to her question noticing the fidgeting of the napkin. ”If anything you know better than I about what humans are capable of. When I was younger I thought the gods could solve problem before them with ease that they were kind and benevolent. It was after the first time out in the water I discovered how cruel they could be. To have let sea serpents, sirens and other beasts roam free. Feasting on man.” he shook his head.
”While I am a god, I still have trouble comparing myself to them. Unlike them I remembered what it was like to be mortal. To fear what comes next. They have never thought of such things. Which is why I have always strived to help protect those that I envy so.” he said reaching for her hand to still the fidgeting.
Elizabeth frowned slightly. “Cursed?” she repeated, cocking her head in consideration. Then she shook it. “No, not at all. Well, to be honest, sometimes it feels like a curse, but not all the time. Not even most of the time.” She gave a small bitter smile. “Of course my teenage self would argue the inverse hypothesis.” But then, she was in a different place than she had been.
Then it was her turn to listen. Her turn to nearly cry. God, what a sorry date this was turning out to be. You weren’t supposed to broach such topics, were you? They were supposed to talk of minor things, like movies or sports or jobs or...or something.
And Liz would’ve been bored out of her mind.
But this? This was someone who understood.
She fell under his spell as he spoke, even of things she had no reference for. The meaning was clear, and more importantly, the feeling.
She met his eyes with near tears of her own and just listened, drinking in his words and pains. Even if she didn’t agree with all of it. Even if she did. “I had a dream like that once,” she said softly, “Or at least I think it was a dream. I’m not entirely sure if it happened or not. Or if I want it to be a dream or not. But I met a version of me from some future where almost everyone I’d ever known had died. Even I had died, though I still lived on. She….was something horrible. Had seen so much and felt so much, had experienced so much death and decay. She thrived on it even.”
Liz dabbed some moisture from her eye before it could form a tear and ruin some of her mascara. “It scared me. Terrified me. To know that’s someone I can become. She wasn’t human anymore -- she’d left that behind her years before and I....I never want to become like her.” She smiled sadly. “No, Hercules, I am a human. And I choose to be human with every breath I take. Because it would be easy to run away from the pain, the suffering, even the loneliness. I’ve done it before, and not just in a dream of a future.”
She found a thread on her napkin that was ever-so-slightly loose and began picking at it, gently jostling it apart from its comrade. She looked down at it as she spoke. “I have seen what humans can do. I have seen them ruin lives, casually disregard all care and concern for other living beings, I’ve seen them at their cruelest and sociopathic.” Her smile softened and deepend, even as her brown eyes remained glassy and wet. “But I have seen people rising to incredible heights, too. I’ve known people who look like monsters place themselves between evil people and innocents. I have seen them charge into fights just on a chance they can help one person. I have seen them appear, time and time again to rescue people from themselves or others, to counsel and console, to love them and cherish them. To remind them that they are not alone.”
A broad, warm hand suddenly closed on hers and she looked up in surprise, and then in sadness. But it wasn’t a sadness of broken, dead things. It was the sadness born of beauty and accepting the passing of things and memorializing them.
“No, I’m not alright,” she said, warmth breaking through despite the single tear that rolled down her. “And that’s wonderful. Beautiful even. That’s part of being human,” she said. She let go of the napkin and turned her hands upward so she could clasp his in hers. “Perhaps you should consider it yourself. Stop comparing yourself to gods then. Keep remembering what it’s like to be mortal, to be human. You don’t have to be alone either.”
By the end of her recollection of her dream the god started to cry again letting the tears roll down his chiseled cheek bones. She was by his definition as human, mortal as one could be and the fact that she could know and feel so much... it has been so long since he felt such joy that this was who he had chosen to protect. One that had stepped in the realm of immortality but then shunned it for not wanting to lose one’s self.
”I shall consider it.” he agreed his eyes still flowing with tears. He didn’t sob or make any noise. They were tears in silence as he gazed at the remarkable woman before him. The inheritor of Olympus didn’t say what he wanted to in that moment, that the ways of mortals were closed off to him. The little things that made the seconds that passed so quickly were like a blink of an eye to the hulking mound of perfection.
”I will never forget.” he nodded and released her hand. ”This is part of my burden.” he said somberly. ”I might not age as the world around me does but I will never forget this moment. Thank you, Elizabeth. This will be one of my more cherished ones.” he said making a note never to forget this conversation or the look of the blonde before him. Elizabeth, queen of the Lizard- no queen of life.
”It doesn’t hurt to be reminded that I’m not alone.” he smiled warmly the tears no longer flowing. ”It was one of the reasons I but heads with the other gods so much. Most of them chose to forget. It was never something that came easy to me.”
”Is this what dates are like in this era?” he mused, recalling less crying the last time he was courting someone.
Posted by Liz Sundance on Oct 12, 2021 22:52:45 GMT -6
X-Men
Metazoa
Chartreuse
Straight
949
9
May 15, 2024 20:04:41 GMT -6
Zek
Elizabeth met the man’s gaze full-on, her tears a reflection of his own. She was not weeping, she was not wailing. She sat there in silence, her hands on his, the restaurant fading away around them. Even the rats were just faint impressions on her periphery, and they were momentarily crouched under the weight of her mind.
Time seemed to crawl to a halt. She assumed some of her makeup was running, but she wasn’t terribly concerned. It was so trivial. Like many of her problems from the day’s events - they didn’t really matter in light of her history and Hercules’s. They were submerged in the depths of trials and hardships, baptized by fire, crushed into diamonds.
Her eyes sparkled and her face was the warmth of the sun breaking through the clouds of a mist-ridden morning.
Time began to move at Hercules’s signal. He withdrew his hands and Liz reached for her napkin, carefully dabbing at her eyes again. She smiled softly again. “And I thank you as well, Hercules,” she said with deliberate enunciation. “I do not believe I will so easily forget you, or forget this either.” There were moments in a person’s life when they could feel with assurety that things would not be the same ever again, that they had reached a turning point, a momentous period. This was one of those times.
Liz threw her head back with a sharp laugh, one possibly quite startling to the surrounding restaurant guests, some of which had been furtively stealing glances at the crying couple, as if they were about to watch a horrible break-up. She shook her head and it caused her mane to dance. “No, no, no, no,” she said with fox-like glee. “This is not what dates are supposed to be like at all. Neither party should cry at any point, unless it's a sad movie. Dear me, we’ve rather gone off the rails with this one.” She winked at the hulking man. “But because I like you, I’ll forgive you just this once.”
Posted by Hercules on Oct 13, 2021 14:56:57 GMT -6
Mystic
422
10
May 4, 2024 6:46:59 GMT -6
The giant smiled with his pearly whites and chuckled along with her sudden laughter at the question more because they weren’t watching a sad movie at this point and he wasn’t supposed to cry. ”Oh? So... this is a bad one then?” he raised an eyebrow in response. It would be a first for the god of strength, for how could anyone be disappointed in he? He caught his reflection and almost got distracted by it.
”I shall be on my best behavior then!” he boasted as the waiter approached with their food. The dish did include lamb. His eyes focused on the dishes as they were set in front of each other. Hercules waited a moment as the waiter offered cheese and black pepper confused by the custom. Would it not be simpler to add it into the dish as they made it? The Demi-god locked eyes with Elizabeth not sure what to say before finally accepting the offer.
He had studied fine dining with William, or at least he was corrected for his methods of dining. One of the reasons he enjoyed pizza and hotdogs and all the other New-Yorker food so much, eating with one’s hands was just easier. ”It looks vibrant!” he said studying the plate not sure where to start. Lifting the fork and then the spoon as to not fling pasta sauce everywhere. Rolling some pasta he took a bite and swallowed.
”Fit for the gods.” he said practically swooning as he took another bite making sure not to talk with his mouth full. It was considered rude and many things have been said about the god but he was never rude.
Posted by Liz Sundance on Oct 13, 2021 21:02:20 GMT -6
X-Men
Metazoa
Chartreuse
Straight
949
9
May 15, 2024 20:04:41 GMT -6
Zek
Elizabeth fixed Hercules with a smirk and leaned back in her chair, placing a finger to her lips. “Well, now that you mention it, I think this technically is a bad date. We’ve cried a lot, we’ve discussed religion, and made reference to politics, albeit not current politics.” She started ticking things off her fingers then waved her hands and shrugged. “But I’m still enjoying myself so who cares?” She returned his smile with her own and a sparkle in her eyes.
And then the food arrived! The food! Oh, the aroma was mouth-watering indeed! Some of it even bled through Elizabeth’s psychic walls and activated the salivary glands in the rats outside as well as they suddenly smelled the lamb. But their confusion over why they thought about lamb was overridden by Liz’s expectation and sudden hunger.
“That’s enough,”she said after the waiter grated some cheese a bit. “Thank you.” She didn’t want too much, not to drown out the flavor. Hercules had seemed genuinely confused by the watier’s offer although he adapted readily enough. Maybe he actually was thousands of years old. Or maybe he just wasn’t used to dining in this kind of restaurant. It didn’t matter much though.
Wine was poured and the bottle left beside the table in its special stand, the waiter departing swiftly and elegantly, leaving them alone again. Hercules’s attitude was absolutely infectious. “This smells utterly divine,” she said, closing her eyes and breathing in for a moment.
And perhaps it’s because she wasn’t using all of her senses that she happened to pay attention to the sudden spike of alarm in the rats. Her eyes opened and she started turning her head toward the rats with a frown, which just gave her a perfect viewpoint to see a dark shadow zip across the street outside toward the restaurant.
Then the window exploded inward.
Liz gasped as chunks of safety glass struck her. She lifted an arm reflexively to shield her face even as she turned her head away, but then a strong hand latched onto her arm and suddenly she was yanked out of her near fall and pulled into a bear hug. Liz blindly slapped around with her other hand and grabbed the first item she could and then she was pulled out the window by the figure, the sound of rushing wind and metal wings pounding along with the beating of her heart.
The ancient hero made note of all the topics that were best to be avoided on dates that would make them bad. Religion? Technically they talked about him and his fellow immortals, they both did indeed cry a bit but it was a normal human emotion so why was it so bad? Then there was his talks of kings. Yeah, he checked all three meaning without realizing the Immortal did make the date a bad one. It was nice though that Elizabeth didn’t seem to care. Now he knew of the topics best avoided for dates in the future.
The god took another bite then almost choked on it as the scene changed rather quickly. He felt it, killing intent. He was in a fight now. He ignored the glass shattering his body alright lighting up under the tight suit. Hercules was never the fastest but he had been in enough brawls in his life with his brother Hermes to know what to look for when someone was faster than you. Hercules blinked and dropped the fork and the remainder of the food with it.
Elizabeth was the clearly the target, for she now was embraced with the woman with poisonous wings. A foe he had already bested rather easily. ”Elizabeth!” Hercules shouted as the two figures vanished back through the window that now scattered the nice clean floors of the restaurant. ”Apologies!” Hercules shouted to the guests and stood while the clothing on his torso ripped itself free from the sudden movement and increase in size as he flexed. The fabric didn't stand a chance.
His eyes were cold now, battle hardened. While he pledged to protect mortals he knew some didn’t deserved to be saved. If the winged woman hurt one hair on Elizabeth's head...
The god stepped over the ledge of the broken window and exited the restaurant his glow brighter than usual given his current state of rage. His cold angry eyes sparkled as he looked up to the woman with metallic wings. ”I will give you one warning before I end you. SET. HER. DOWN. GENTLEY. NOW!” he didn’t need to be polite. The woman was dangerous and he was fond of Elizabeth, he roared and held up his hand for his weapon to be summoned.
Posted by Liz Sundance on Oct 14, 2021 21:32:18 GMT -6
X-Men
Metazoa
Chartreuse
Straight
949
9
May 15, 2024 20:04:41 GMT -6
Zek
Elizabeth didn’t scream. Another difference between who she was and who she had been. Instead she was frantically racing to catch up with what was happening, trying to outpace shock and stun. The first several seconds of any engagement were critical - they could be the difference between life and death.
In the first four seconds since being pulled out of the restaurant, Liz’s captor had already pulled them up about twenty feet in the air. Liz was running out of options quickly.
She could survive a fall from that height. It would be painful and very damaging, but it was survivable. Once on the ground she could reassess her options, find some cover, but first she needed to escape this person’s grip.
In the next second Liz took stock of the person rapidly winging away with her. Clad in leather and wearing a motorcycle helmet, the woman (and it was definitely a woman - Liz was held tight enough against her that it was impossible not to notice) was flying with massive, metallic bronze-like wings. They sliced through the air like helicopter blades.
A second later, Hercules’s bellow roared out into the street, actually stopping a few passing cars from tone alone. It grabbed the woman’s attention too because she rolled in mid-air, and touched down ever so briefly on a three story building across the street.
“Not until Brazen is back on the streets!” she shrieked in a painful, angry voice that made Liz flinch from the intensity, even as she filed the information away. Who was Brazen? This wasn’t about her, was it? This seemed to be about Hercules.
Then something sharp appeared at Liz’s throat. “Chase me and she dies, right here, right now! If Brazen isn’t out within three days, she dies slowly and painfully!” the woman screeched.
Liz moved. She shifted her weight, raised a heel to slam in down on the woman’s foot, but then she was jerked up and away as the woman’s mighty wings beat down and they shot up into the sky.
<<Help me!>> the zoopath cried instinctively, her mind latching on to everything she could feel. She flooded them with her pain and fear as she was ferried away. With every passing second she began adding more psychic layers, curiosity mixed with urgency, promises of food and pleasure. Maternal instinct and empathy. Protectiveness. <<Help me!>>
The flock of pigeons on top of Spinelli’s burst into the air and began beating their way in an impossible-to-miss cloud right on the tail of Liz and her captor.