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.
Will didn't exactly know what Quin would be expected to do, but tried to follow what she was saying about what tomorrow might bring for her and her work. Quin explained that the senator she was working for was out of the city. But that there was plenty of staff (Quin included), that would be able to take of anything that needed doing. Whatever that was. Apparently that was what the call tomorrow was likely to be about. Hopefully more of just a call to make sure everyone was okay and planning for the next few days, rather than anything to pile more trouble onto Quin.
It's not like she'd be asked to go into the thick of things to do... Law... stuff..? Will wasn't quite sure exactly what Quin -did- for the Senator, after all.
There was also a bit of concern about the loss of the laptop. Will hadn't even thought about the potential for anything confidential or the like on the laptop. He'd thought it was a personal laptop or maybe a school laptop. Certainly -important- information on it, but not like that. However, it did sound like Quin wasn't too concerned. Proper protocols and all.
Before the call could shift the mood, Quin was already joking with Will, saying she'd get his help to hold her phone for the call if they were under any sort of lockdown. "Ah," Will teased back with a little grin. "Look at me, climbing the ladder. Intern to the intern of the Senator."
Quin was up and moving to close the curtains on the window now that the second episode was over. It would be a relief to get the light cut down on. He would be able to stop feeling like he needed to squint against the sunlight streaming into the apartment. Pretty view though. Will did take the chance to peek out the window from where he sat. Wasn't a great view of The Park from there, but the skyline was still pretty striking.
Will -was- a little surprised that she'd gotten up to close the curtains though. After seeing Quin throw around everything from meeples to zipties to seat cushions, he'd have thought she'd just wave her hand and it'd be done. Maybe she was pretty tapped out? She'd done a lot today. Or maybe the curtains were something she couldn't effect? It wasn't like he was an expert on textiles, or had a list of things Quin could and couldn't manipulate. Could be too that it was tricky to move things without ruining it, those game pieces in the cafe were never going to be the same, after all.
"It's weird. With everything happening, you'd think it's look different out there, but it's the same sunset as always." Will commented as Quin peered out over the park as she worked at the curtains.
Posted by Quincy Archer on Sept 17, 2024 11:21:43 GMT -6
Haven
Asset of Haven
[color=buttercup]
1,062
66
Sept 20, 2024 22:41:06 GMT -6
Jules
”I already know you make good coffee and I swear that’s all I did for the first six months.” Quin said with a shake of her head, ”And pick up dry cleaning, and run errands…they taught me how to do everything else as we went.” Things were better now, but there were still days when Quin felt like more of a personal assistant than a political intern. It was what it was though and all things indicated that Quin was incredibly lucky with her boss because Zselyke was a legitimately decent person. That was not the case for everyone in the Senate. ”So you’re more than qualified.”
Over at the window Quin had pulled the first curtain shut. They were heavy damask and blocked a ton of light and heat, the downside was that they were heavy and took a bit of pulling to get the metal rings they were hung from to slide across the mounted curtain rod.
Will spoke and Quin turned to him and nodded, then turned back to look down at the park. Things did seem more quiet than they had been earlier, but that could have just been the illusion of the park and the space immediately around Haven.
”It is kind of weird…” Quin said, “But what hasn’t been weird today?” Hell, the fact that they were here and having this conversation was weird if Quin really thought about it. In context maybe not, but out of context…probably.
“And it is pretty average all things considered, a few more clouds, a little cooler outside…then it would be impressive.”
Still, the light was brightly shining inside the window and Quin grabbed the other side of the curtains and pulled it shut. In the absence of the natural light it was now significantly darker in the apartment but that was a bit of a relief at the moment.
“Want anything?” Quin asked as she moved to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge.
"If I'm internin' for you, guess I'll need to figure out how to brew a good cup of tea too, no?" Will joked back after Quin explained that for the first few months that she felt more like a gopher rather an intern proper. Made and fetched coffee, picked up dry cleaning... mostly was sent out on errands that just required a body, rather than someone with her particular skills... but that she -had- been taught everything she needed along the way. And it sounded like she was being treated like a proper intern these days. Hence the laptop and the phone call, Will assumed.
The room grew darker, and Will was able to relax. Hadn't realized how bright the sun coming in was, and it was almost like pressure was suddenly released as the room was plunged into relative darkness. Not -dark- per se, especially with the glow of the TV, but enough that it suddenly seemed a lot cozier and quieter. Peaceful, even.
Weird, weird, weird. Quin had said that it was weird that things were normal outside, but that something being weird was almost normal with the way things had been today. The day was... average, ordinary, normal... At least as far as the weather went. And yet virtually everything in the day had been weird. So did that make the weather being normal make it weird, therefore making it normal?
His head hurt.
Well, his head hurt from the chunk of hair he was missing, and the little nicks in his scalp from Rocky, but trying to keep up with what was normal and what was weird today was an impossible task. He was just going to put everything into the same pile and call it all a weird day.
"Water would be nice. Think I inhaled like a pound of dust back at the cafe." Will replied to Quin's offer. Even without the need for the drink, he probably would have said the same, if only to get something to fidget with. Whether it was just a nervous tic, or something to distract his senses, he wasn't sure, but he tended to prefer to keep his hands busy.
Posted by Quincy Archer on Sept 17, 2024 13:52:52 GMT -6
Haven
Asset of Haven
[color=buttercup]
1,062
66
Sept 20, 2024 22:41:06 GMT -6
Jules
“I’ve got high hopes for you kid…” Quin said in response to Will saying in order to be a proper intern he’d have to learn to brew tea. She didn’t point out that the proper term would have been to steep the tea. There was no need to be pedantic.
The curtains were pulled now, the apartment was far more comfortable, and Quin was making her way to the kitchen for that water. Will wanted some too so Quin snagged a second bottle from the shelf wincing just a bit at the way the reaching tweaked her sore side. This was getting just plain obnoxious. If Quin knew one thing about herself it was that she did not have the patience for being hurt. Bruised ribs were like bruised anything else though, right? They’d be much better in the morning.
Making her way back to the couch, Quin offered Will the bottle of water and almost sat back down but stopped when a thought occurred to her. Taking a quick detour to the bathroom Quin snagged the bottle of ibuprofen she’d gotten out earlier and promised to share then back to the living room she went, placing it on the table. ”Before I forget.” she said simply, sitting back down.
Spending a few moments getting herself situated, Quin took the cap off her water bottle and took a drink, “So…” she said, glancing over at Will. “What now?”
A cold bottle of water and painkillers, and all hand delivered too? Talk about being taken care of. Or at least it almost felt like being pampered after the absurdity of the day. Nothing like life and death to make you appreciate the little things. Will saved his words for when Quin had returned and taken a seat again, giving her a grateful nod. "Thanks. I'm sure I'll need 'em by morning, if not before." He said, twisting the cap off his own bottle of water to take a slow drink.
“So… What now?”
That was definitely a question. Will's eyes drifted briefly to the window, now hidden behind the curtain, to the TV, paused and ready for episode 3 of the show they'd (mostly) been watching, to the silent phone beside him and back to Quin, as though he was trying to pick a thing to comment on or grasp at to help answer that simple, complex question. What indeed?
"I... Pff.." Will scoffed, letting out air like a balloon that was deflating, giving a shake of his head in defeated confusion. "Guess we're just... waiting? T'see how much normal gets put back by tomorrow?" It was strange to think about how much had been changed all at once from normal to not... Though, considering he'd learned today that normal also included actual, real, gosh darned magic, he wasn't quite sure where to put 'normal' anymore.
"Hey, did you know magic was a thing?" Will asked Quin with a curious look, leaning forward a bit. "Because I seem to be learnin' an awful lot today, but I really didn't expect -that- to be a thing." Sure, in a vacuum, magic didn't seem all that absurd or strange standing beside mutant powers. He -was- sitting beside someone who could turn game pieces into silly putty with her mind. But he'd grown up knowing mutant abilities were a thing, he'd -lived- with his own. Magic? Magic was silly words and prestidigitation and misdirection... Or young adult fiction book, maybe one turned into a summer blockbuster movie. "Feels like somethin' I would have liked to have been told about earlier."
Posted by Quincy Archer on Sept 17, 2024 19:36:41 GMT -6
Haven
Asset of Haven
[color=buttercup]
1,062
66
Sept 20, 2024 22:41:06 GMT -6
Jules
Will seemed to be right there with Quin as far as being at a loss for what to do next was concerned. The current options were pretty scant and waiting for tomorrow to see what was up was really the only realistic option at this point.
Had Quin known that magic existed before today? Looking over at Will in the slightly dimmer light, she shrugged lightly, ”I heard about what happened at Xavier’s school last year.” she said, ”Some people were saying it was magic but a lot of people assumed it was some kind of X-Men thing…they’re always in one mess or another so it made just as much sense.” Quin’s opinion of the vigilantes was evident in her tone.
Apparently it had been real magic though. It was just another thing about today to add to the mountain of crazy.
Will voiced the thought that he’d have liked to have known about the existence of magic before being blindsided by a 5,000 year old sorceress and Quin nodded empathetically, “It does seem like the sort of thing that you’d want to make people aware of…” she said, then paused thouthfully, “Like, is it like us where it’s just a part of you…or do people learn? I grew up around a lot of people who thought they were witches…but I never saw an inkling of anything really real.”
Quin shook her head, “So I guess after all that the answer is no, I didn’t…not really.”
Will had heard a little about some of the wilder troubles that had happened. People tended to talk about any big events in the city pretty loudly, and a coffee shop was an excellent place for people to gather and chatter. However, like Quin, any mumblings of magic or otherworldly powers, he'd just put down as either exaggeration or the abilities of some mutant. Will couldn't help a small bit of a smirk from tugging at his lips at Quin's tone as show spoke about the X-men though.
However, if what Michael had said earlier was true, whatever happened, and indeed many of the little funny stories he'd overheard and read about might not have been the result of mutant powers, but actual, real magic..?
Quin continued, almost seeming like he was thinking out loud as she asked if magic and the people who used it were like them, if magic was just a part of some people or if it was something that people could learn. She also said she grew up around a lot of people who thought they were, or considered themselves witches, but that Quin had never seen any signs of real magic from them. She finished by telling him that, realistically, no she didn't know that magic had been real any more than Will had.
Will couldn't help but feel a startled for a brief moment when Quin used the phrase 'like us'. It felt odd to be included in the discussion as a mutant so... casually? She did say that he didn't have to be careful around her, but it was by far not something he was used to.
He recovered quickly though, commenting on what Quin had said. He'd sort of been wondering the same. Movies and books sort of went both ways with that, or even blended it a bit, some people having a knack but everyone could learn. "Hope it's not something you can just pick up. Telling me I could be waving a wand and cleaning my apartment with a little tornado or something if I'd just known the right people?" Will gave a scoff and a little laugh, though there was a bit of bitterness behind the joke. If it was something that you learn, it felt a bit like getting all of the positive bits of being a mutant without the stigma. And if it -did- come with some kind of prejudice, well... It was an active choice.
On the other hand, if it -wasn't- a choice, it didn't really make them all that different from mutants, did it? Just they'd managed to keep a little quieter. Maybe magic didn't show up in a blood test. Still, if that was the case, wizards and witches still seemed to be a bit luckier than the average person with an X gene.
Posted by Quincy Archer on Sept 18, 2024 15:21:17 GMT -6
Haven
Asset of Haven
[color=buttercup]
1,062
66
Sept 20, 2024 22:41:06 GMT -6
Jules
Surely it wasn’t just something a person could pick up. If that was the case, wouldn’t there be a ton of magic users running around?
Will’s words were light, but Quin thought there might be an undercurrent of something else there and she shook her head, “Surely it isn’t that easy….” she said, “If it was there would be so many more people running around who could do it, right?” she said, looking for the confirmation as much for her own peace of mind as anything else.
Making being a part of everyday life just seemed so…outlandish. Quin wondered if this was what it had been like for humans just discovering that there were mutants. Prejudices aside, it was hard for Quin to wrap her head around magic being different from powers.
Will’s suggestion for magic use had been more practical than fantastical though and Quin huffed out a little laugh.
“I’d use magic to write case briefs for me…” she said to counter Will’s idea of using magic to clean, case briefs were the most tedious thing that she had to do for school and there were so many of them.
Will had mentioned his place though and it made Quin curious, “What’s your place like?” she asked, trying to fill the quiet and the time.
Quin commented on there needing to be something more to using magic than just... practice, otherwise wouldn't there be a lot more magic popping about? Will just nodded an unconvinced agreement. It made -sense-, but the vague something else was a pretty unsatisfying answer. Was it more common than they'd thought, maybe? A good deal of it could be hidden in plain sight at mutant abilities, but you'd think at some point that someone would have noticed actual magic happening around them.
Well, Michael had, and probably all the people that they worked with in SUPER. So, maybe magic wasn't completely unknown, but... Wait, were they even supposed to know? Hopefully magic and witches mystics being a thing wasn't on some kind of 'need-to-know' blacklist that was going to get him a visit from people in very nice suits or anything of the like.
The ramifications of knowing things and the far reaching effects of what magic could do and what it meant in the grand scheme of things was decidedly too big of ideas for his already overtaxed brain to deal with and so he was happy when Quin brought up an easier topic to think and talk about. Something mundane.
"My place, eh?" Will asked, some small bit of Canadian linguistics still threaded through his speech. "Well, it's not a broom closet like some people have, but it's not like this either." He gestured broadly to Quin's apartment around them. "It's uh... Kinda sparse, actually." He admitted as he tried to think of how to describe his living arrangement. "You'd think I was a neat freak if you came over." He paused briefly, and gave a little laugh, breaking into a grin. "And I guess I sorta am?" Will admitted sheepishly. "Gotta be though, or I can't relax on the bad days. But, it's like.. 30? 40 minutes from Curse? Like, straight east and a bit south from the cafe. Other side of Central Park from it."
Posted by Quincy Archer on Sept 18, 2024 18:56:39 GMT -6
Haven
Asset of Haven
[color=buttercup]
1,062
66
Sept 20, 2024 22:41:06 GMT -6
Jules
Quin just nodded when Will repeated her question back at her, and was that a hint of an accent that had slipped out there? Cute.
Will’s place sounded pretty typical of New York City, if potentially a bit roomier than a some of the closets that people tried to market as apartments. He said it was nothing like this, but what really was? “There’s a reason I’ve never asked how long I can stay…” Quin interjected softly.
Apparently Will fancied himself a neat freak and pointed out that he had to be or he couldn’t relax on the ‘hard days’. When he was having trouble with his power? Will had mentioned being overstimulated, but had been kind of vague about it.
Location-wise, Will threw out directions and Quin nodded like that meant something to her. She only knew that her apartment faced west because the sun was obnoxious for a while every night. Taking a moment to see if she could reconcile that with what Will had said, Quin eventually gave up.
“So…sparse…and neat…and not a broom closet. Sounds lovely.” Quin teased just a little bit.
“Does it build up on you?” she asked curiously, “All the sensory stuff?”
Quin paused for a minute, “I can hear or feel when I’m around stuff I can mess with. They all have different sounds or feels. That’s how I knew what I had to work with back at the cafe.”
"Yeah, yeah. I'm not much of a painter with words." Will laughed, swiping at the air as if to swat away Quin's teasing, an amused grin on his face in spite of what was supposed to be someone that was annoyed. "I'll give you a tour sometime, assumin' the place is still there by the time all this is done." If his apartment wasn't still there then... Well, that was another thing for the later. Well, he'd been saying bucket, but it was either a swimming pool or just a head, depending on which way you wanted to extend the metaphor.
"Won't be much of one. One bedroom, one bath, and not near so nice a view." Will said, taking a glance over to the curtained windows that he'd been so enamored with since about 3 seconds after stepping into the apartment.
Quin followed up her teasing with a question that took him a bit by surprise, and then he was a little surprised that he was surprised. It was a pretty obvious question for someone to ask once they knew about his mutation, and he -had- sort of brought it up with the way he'd fumbled about explaining his tendency to be overly fastidious.
Will let Quin give her own example, taking the brief pause before she spoke to try and get together what he was going to say in response. She said that she hear, or feel the things around her that would respond to her own mutation. That she knew she had material to work with in the cafe for exactly that reason. That made some amount of sense -- otherwise wouldn't you just be reaching blindly? He wondered if she got any sort of tactile feedback from the stuff she was moving. How much could she feel through a wad of plastic she threw?
Instead of losing himself in that train of thought though, he answered, one hand wavering back and forth as if to say 'yes-and-no'. "I mean, kinda?" Will said, voice raising a bit as though he were asking a question. "Like, some days, like anyone, enough loud music, or itchy clothes or anything is gonna wear you down, right?" Those weren't the bad days though. Those were just bad days. Subtle, but significant difference. "More though just, if I get lax on keepin' my... energy? Power? Whatever it is, down... Things get a little outta hand. Gets too sensitive, like it's blowin' past all my filters." Will fiddled with the water bottle in his hands, squeezing it lightly with the pads of his fingers.
"Like... Normally a sound that's loud for most people is just loud for me too. I can hear it more but it's not louder, y'know? Bad days it is louder. If that makes sense?" Will paused, trying to come up with a way to explain the rest. "Plus, I can't even tune it out... like when you'd normally get nose blind to a strong perfume, or tune out background noise?" He gave a little shake of his head. "It's all like it just hits for the first time. And it's everything. The scratchy tag on your shirt, the chemical smell in the hallway, the noise outside the window... Yeah, those days are... a lot." Will trailed off, giving her an apologetic smile. He hadn't really meant to vent, but he'd gotten started and it all just sort of kept spilling out.
Posted by Quincy Archer on Sept 18, 2024 22:05:07 GMT -6
Haven
Asset of Haven
[color=buttercup]
1,062
66
Sept 20, 2024 22:41:06 GMT -6
Jules
Quin laughed too at Will’s response to her teasing him about the description he’d given of his apartment. He followed his amused chagrin up with an offer of a tour sometime and Quin nodded her agreement. You could tell a lot about a person by the space they occupied, she thought, but then glanced around her own apartment. It really didn’t say a whole lot about her at all. Quin hadn’t changed a thing in the apartment since she’d moved in several years ago…It hadn’t really seemed like the right thing to do since someone who was a professional had clearly set the place up. Still, there were little things here and there, personal touches that had made the apartment hers.
“Well, I’ve already offered the view here for the low cost of pizza and flash cards.” she said to Will’s comment about the view.
Will looked a bit surprised when Quin asked him more about his powers. She kept forgetting that he’d said that he kept a low profile, and that he didn’t even really tell people that he was a mutant and she cast him an apologetic glance as he started to try to explain and answer the question she had asked.
Quin listened attentively to the explanation, working to wrap her mind around what Will said and the examples he used. She knew what he meant, sometimes the feel of your clothes against your skin, or your hair sticking to your face or neck was too much tactile input under normal circumstances. From what Will was saying it was that, but even more. It also wasn’t something that he could just get used to because it constantly hit at the same intensity. Quin couldn’t exactly imagine what that was like…but she could imagine what it would be like…and yeah that would have been difficult.
“The bad days do sound like a lot…And those days are when you run?” she asked to clarify a bit as Will finished speaking.
Now that he was done Will looked almost apologetic and Quin tilted her head a little, she had asked and wanted to know, ”I’m sorry for prying…” she said a bit bashfully, ”My mouth operates significantly faster than my brain sometimes.” A lot of the time.
Pizza and flashcards for the view huh? Suppose that -was- the general promises that had been set out before.
Speaking of. "The view". Much as he did like it, it was also just an easy excuse to admit he wanted to come back, without having to say it. To be able to be around someone he didn't have to be careful around, as Quin had put it. And maybe most relationships with people don't start with saving one another from... Whatever today had been, but it was still... whatever it was. Friendship? Allies? Comrades? Probably he was just overthinking things.
Will finished what he considered his rambling and venting, and Quin asked him another question while sympathizing with him. Not used to that either. Combination of embarrassment and appreciation. Will gave Quin a small, grateful smile as he answered the question asked. "Yeah. Well, usually try and run before it gets that bad. Sorta builds up before it gets unbearable." Will's hands squeezed and shuffled the bottle in his grasp. "But, y'know, weather doesn't always cooperate, feelin' crummy some days... figure I've got another day or two sometimes and guess wrong." He explained, one hand leaving the water bottle to gesture for emphasis.
As Quin apologized for 'prying' Will shook his head and waved dismissively with his free hand. "Nah. I can always just not say somethin' if it's a bother. It's all good. Sorta nice bein' able to whine about it to someone, honestly." Will grinned, shaking his head.
Pausing to take another drink from the bottle of water, he held onto the cap, fidgeting with it in one hand. Will set the bottle itself carefully between his legs as he spoke. "How 'bout you? You said you could 'feel' the stuff you can use, right?" Will asked. He was pretty such that's what she'd said, feel or hear or something... "Can you sorta feel stuff through the things you're movin' around? Like..." He held up the little plastic cap. "If you were makin' this fly around, if I grabbed it, would y'know?"
Posted by Quincy Archer on Sept 19, 2024 12:13:58 GMT -6
Haven
Asset of Haven
[color=buttercup]
1,062
66
Sept 20, 2024 22:41:06 GMT -6
Jules
Will continued to explain and Quin continued to listen.
Running was a coping mechanism, but it sounded like it was a little hard for Will to predict when things were going to get bad. It seemed like it built up on him, that things interfered with him getting out and running, or he underestimated how quickly the build up was happening. That led to those bad days or rough times he had mentioned.
Quin had thoughts on that, but stopped short of asking Will if he’d tried to practice or tried other things besides running. That was the part that was sticking in Quin’s head, how did the running help with the overstimulation? Was he literally just running himself ragged until the point where he was too tired to feel much of anything? Surely there was a better option.
Apparently she hadn’t overstepped with her questions and Quin watched as Will fidgeted with the bottle an she nodded, “Well, don’t think I’ll get offended if you tell me to mind my own business either…” she said, her own small smile echoing Will’s grin, “And it’s not whining when something is legitimately difficult Will. I’m glad you told me.”
Will had questions of his own though, and Quin nodded when he asked about her being able to feel things she could manipulate. The rest of his question was a bit more difficult to answer though.
“It’s probably super weird to you that I don’t know whether I can feel or hear something…it’s like…” she paused for a second, closing her eyes and trying to focus on the plastic close by, “It’s like touching a tuning fork? Different frequencies have a different sound and feel at the same time?” she opened her eyes and shook her head, still not completely happy with the description, ”It’s not intense though…it’s just there.” It wasn’t distracting, not like Will was saying.
As for whether she could feel things through the material, Quin shook her head, eyes narrowing slightly in concentration as she stared at the little lid that Will was holding up and pulled with her powers, gently at first, “No, but I can feel the resistance from you holding it.” she said, then pulled much harder so that the cap flew out of his grasp and into the hand she had raised. ”That is what wears me out.” she said, holding it up before tossing it back across the distance between them, ”As far as I can tell, I can’t pick up more than I could carry…give or take.”
“What about you? I gather you haven’t played with limits all that much?”
Indeed, there had to be -some- reason why running himself ragged helped. The only thing Will could think of was it was something metabolic. If he burned enough energy on other things, his body didn't have enough to keep ramping things up for his powers. It was either that or something far stranger, but he didn't have proof of any of it, so he just kept going with what worked.
Of course, it'd be -much- easier if he'd just use the dang mutation once in a while to vent it, but, his own hangups made that tricky as well.
Will tried to come up with a deflection or defense to as Quin said that he wasn't whining, that she was glad he'd told her, explained things to her. Whatever he'd been trying to up with however, lost it's spark before it could even begin and he just gave a quiet, mumbled, "Thanks," instead, forced to accept her kindness. (How dare she?)
Will listened with interest though as Quin started answering the questions he'd asked about her abilities, leaning in a bit as she started explaining about her powers. It was odd to hear someone say they couldn't really say if it was something they felt, or something they heard. That maybe it was a little of both, or something else? Like a tuning fork, both a vibration and a sound all at once.
Will... sort of got that? Maybe? Like when he used his own abilities, it wasn't -quite- seeing or -quite- feeling things, but it was as close as he could get to explaining.
Quin went on to clarify that it didn't distract her really, that it was just sort of there. That was good. Will imagined that if it -was- distracting to have things like that around, Quin would have a hard time. Plastic was in just about everything it seemed. Quin went on to explain she couldn't feel things through the things she controlled exactly, but could feel the resistance people put against it, even yanking the plastic bottle cap out from between his fingers in demonstration. Probably a little like feeling pushing back against something you were holding, he'd guess.
He caught the cap as she tossed it back, taking a look at it before screwing it back onto the water bottle, listening as she explained about what parts of using her powers wore her out, and telling him she seemed to mostly be limited to what she could carry, or at least that's what it seemed.
As for his own limits? Will shook his head. "Not really, no. Not a lot of active participants." He joked lamely, pausing briefly as though that was all he was going to say, before continuing. He -was- safe here, safe with her, he reminded himself. "Have a -bit- of an idea of how far I can tweak things, but..." Dang. It was hard trying to put it into words, especially when he didn't fully understand it himself. "Complicated." Will said, with a bit of a sheepish grin that he couldn't explain things better. "Like... I -think- I know how far I could push it, but, I dunno how the person would take it?" Will said, sounding a bit unsure about the concept of it all. "Too much and y'could end up like one of my bad days, or even worse. Synesthesia an' stuff if things start bleeding over."