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.
It was a dark and cool night at the Infirmary at the school for gifted youngsters, not a sound echoed throughout the entire mansion, with the exception of one thing. A low dragging sound that was quite and barely audible to anyone in the immediate vicitinity, quite, being something Emerald Lupin didn’t do to often. However, this time was very much of an exception primarily due to the fact that she didn’t want anyone to know that she had a few wounds she really needed to take care off. The young wolf girl managed to drag herself over to a cot and flop herself onto it in order to get a better view of her injuries in the pale light of a florescent lamp she had turned on.
Upon further examination Emerald realized her legs were burnt from the lovely attack from the Vigilante mutant hunters she had just faced. They decided to use kitchenware against her and they got several good hits in on her while she was beating one of their comrades senseless. In fact, he was the one who shot her in the shoulder with a freaking hand gun and the bullet was now lodged in there. She was glad she pummeled the crap out of that guy, it was totally worth getting second degree burns on her legs even if it made it hard for her to walk, The burns were pretty large and blister filled.
The first manner of business the wolf girl had to attend to was getting the bullet out of her shoulder. She took a pair of tweezers from the medical cart she pulled over and preceded to dig it into the wound and rip out the lodged bullet. Emerald bit her lip in pain just as she began to bandage up the wound firmly, yet sloppily as best as she could to get the bleeding to stop. The pain was brief and not excruciating because…well Emerald had been shot, a lot in her lifetime and well it didn’t exactly bring her the same pain as it used to.
Emerald smiled lightly to herself as she then proceeded to wrap cold wrappings around her burnt up skin on her legs, trying not to cringe when she felt tremors of cold rack through her body. She used her water manipulation ability to take some cold water from the sink and place it onto the wrappings of towels again, her body adjusting to the feeling on her legs a lot easier now. That was the thing about cold water, it was easily adjustable once it reached her body and she got used to it.
Once all bandaged up and ready to go the wolf girl laughed out loud lightly, holding the bullet she extracted from her shoulder in her hand.
“56 times a bullet has been inside my body and I’m still not dead!” She grinned wolfishly. She was saying this quietly to herself, not knowing if anyone else in the infirmary could hear her. “I fought a group of 15 mutant hunters and I get out of there with a bullet wound and second degree burns, while they get most of their teammates pummeled or beaten senseless. Not bad for a Vigilantes nights work.”
There was a dim light coming from under the Infirmary's door. This was unusual. Not the fact that there was a light; the Infirmary did get its fair share of night traffic, and the DocProf occasionally stayed up late, particularly if there were missions afield. The unusual thing was that it was a dim light. If the DocProf was in there, then all the Infirmary lights would be on and blazing. This light was a mere lightning of the carpet just under the door; barely noticeable, except that the hallway itself was dark, and Slate had been looking down to begin with.
He had been in the library, reading. The third time his eyes closed involuntarily, he had realized the cause: he was tired. Therefore, even though the book was good--it was an encyclopedia of Greek legends--he had decided to go back to their room, and sleep. As mentioned, it was rather dark. Slate had already tripped once over a snag in the carpet, further back along the hall--his gaze was down, in a futile attempt to stop a repeat of that undignified arm-flailing. The dim light had stood out as one of the few things he could actually see.
Soon after he saw it, the faintest sound of laughter reached his ears, as well as a low mumble that may have been a voice. Curiously, he pushed open the door.
By the dim florescent light inside, Slate saw a young girl. Perhaps a year younger than his own eighteen, in fact. Her red hair was wild, and she seemed rather more muscular than your average teenager. Slate was struck with the disconcerting impression that she could take him in a fight. It was a silly thought, however, and he ignored it.
She appeared to be applying her own bandages. She seemed familiar to Slate--perhaps from one of the various War Room meetings that he and Calley had attended, perhaps from simply around the Mansion halls--but he could not immediately put a name to the face. She was no one they had been formally introduced to, that much was certain. Slate took a step closer, letting the door shut behind him.
"Would you like me to get the DocProf for you?" He asked, quite simply. "Or would you rather avoid him, right now?" The DocProf's healing came with the ability to see how a wound was inflicted, in the first place--there was more than a few people who avoided him when they were injured, for that very reason. "I... I could also attempt to heal you, if you wish. Though I am not certain it would work." He had only succeeded at healing another once. It did no good to avoid practicing it, however, particularly when an opportunity was sitting directly in front of him, smelling slightly of burned flesh.
Yes, he suspected that she would want to keep the DocProf out of this.
Posted by rainewater on Nov 29, 2008 11:39:11 GMT -6
Guest
ooc; entering as per request
IC:
Raina had just finished digging things out to set up for her party tomorrow when it dawned on her that Doc Prof probably hadn't checked his email today. He could so easily become enthralled with a project or a person that he could at times be unreachable. Since he hadn't r.s.v.ped Raina thought it might be a bit hurtful if he were to stumble on to the party thinking he hadn't been invited so she had decided to seek him out!
Obviously the first place to check was the infirmary. So she has trotted off down the hall with a plate of snacks too- since when he was enthralled he didn't often eat properly. Upon reaching the infirmary she saw that the door was ajar with faint light casting on the floor and voices coming from inside.
She paused and waited, if he was with someone it wouldn't be polite to just barge in.
At first Emerald froze when she had heard a voice, thinking it was docprof come to scold her, something she was not exactly in the mood for at the moment. She had a really long and rough day and the last thing she needed was the healer to be scolding her for being reckless again. The wolf girl looked up only to see a male not much older than she was standing there. She arched a brow at him, not knowing that they had another healer besides docprof in the mansion.
”Sure, go ahead and try to heal me, that’s fine. I rather not get Docprof in on this one; he will probably yell at me again for being reckless and give me the whole lecture about how my actions can get me killed one of these days.” Emerald rolled her eyes a little bit at that. “Hell, I have already been close to death too many times on missions with the X men and that’s when I wasn’t being reckless! What’s a few more gonna do, besides piss on the grim reaper”
The wolf girl laughed lightly, her tail wagging back and forth a little as she looked over at Slate. She Sized him up a in her head, just in case if she needed to fight him one of these days. He seemed to be a formidable opponent, but with her new method of fighting as opposed to her ‘namby pamby X men Method’ she could really beat anyone of any size. However, this was just her opinion, but it was partially true. Emerald had always been required to restrain herself while she was working with Tricity on Previous missions, she was not supposed to permanently damage anyone, but that was then and this is now, now she fought like she was a feral animal Or some sort of Deadly dancer, every move being a possible killing blow. Nowadays, it wasn’t exactly wise to cross Emerald Lupin.
“Oh, the Names Emerald Lupin and I remember you from one of the meetings, your name is Slate right?” She asked with and arched brow that was when a scent hit her that was rather familiar and friendly to her. The wolf girl wondered if Raina had missed her in her long Absence. “You can come in Raina; I can smell you and your reluctance for coming in all the way in here.”
>> "Sure, go ahead and try to heal me, that’s fine. I rather not get Docprof in on this one; he will probably yell at me again for being reckless and give me the whole lecture about how my actions can get me killed one of these days. Hell, I have already been close to death too many times on missions with the X men and that’s when I wasn’t being reckless! What’s a few more gonna do, besides piss on the grim reaper.”
The young woman seemed perfectly candid about the subject of her own death. Something about that tone put Slate's back up, and narrowed his eyes to baby blue slits. He took a step closer to the woman, bringing himself to the side of her bed and slightly within her personal space.
"Do not speak like that," he commanded. "Never speak like that. Your life has value. Never weigh it lightly." He did not know the girl well, but one thing seemed clear to him: that grim reaper she was pissing on was herself. His stern commands, and his balled fists, may not have been the wisest idea: they were nearly matched for height, but his own scrawny build was nothing to match her obvious athleticism, or her clear inclination to bring injury upon herself.
>> “Oh, the name's Emerald Lupin and I remember you from one of the meetings, your name is Slate right?”
Her obvious athleticism, and that name: he recognized that name. As he did, the memories clicked: Emerald Lupin, the young lady who had been advocating the death of zealots and the principles of revenge quite fiercely in the X-Men meeting that had occurred a few months ago, before Tricity's return. Her tail was wagging as she spoke. Wagging.
>> “You can come in Raina; I can smell you and your reluctance for coming in all the way in here.”
Slate did not really pay attention to her call for Raina to enter; he had not been aware that Raina was outside the door at all. His entire attention was focused on that tail. That cheerful tail.
Slate attempted to slap his hand down on top of that tail, to pin it to the infirmary bed. He turned a glaring stare at the young woman, his face now quite close to her own.
"No not," he repeated, "disrespect your own life." Thoughts of healing her were gone, for the moment: perhaps it was best that she nurse her injuries. Let the pain limit the stupidity of her actions.
"How were you injured?" He demanded, suspecting that the answer did not involve overwhelming innocence on her end. He had heard of people who sought death. He had never thought that they would look so young. How many scars was she hiding?
A low deep snarl escaped the wolf girls throat, her teeth baring a little at him. He thought she disrespected her life? It was a miracle in itself that she was even alive after all the damn things she had been through. She was a survivor, always was and always will be, no mater what.
"First off, Dont ever, Ever do that." The wolf girl snarled at him, attempting to free her tail that was now underneath his hand.
Now onto greater matters, figuring out how the hell she was gonna tell him how she was injured. There were several options on what she could do, she could tell him none of his damn buisness or she could tell him the truth. Wait a second she had to finish her first train of thought with second and third! Emerald cursed herself mentally for her attention span going off into five different directions at once, she had to many things on her mind today anyways.
"Second off, I respect my life damn it I just happen to get into a lot of bad situations I dont ask for. Did I ask to be put in the camps, nope, did I ask to be rammed off the road by the Church of Humanity? Nope! Along with that and a bunch of other crap I have a habit of getting mixed up into dangerous situations. If Anything I'm a surivor a survivior of the camps of these nutjobs of...."
There was a pause the wolf girl trailing off, getting a far off look in her eyes before she shook her head a little blocking the oncomming slew of bad memories. She quickly changed the subject to her injury
" The reason I got injured was a group of mutant hating bastards were attacking a family of scaled mutants, I couldn't stand to sit there and watch like all the other gawkers so I went in there and Beat the living daylights out of one that shot me when I rushed in and with my high pain tolerance for certain things I kinda blocked out the fact i was being hit by the other to in the legs with scalding Kitchen wear. When I realized it I went over beat the crap out of the other ones and then I came home"
Emerald sighed deeply, her arms crossing over her chest. She pulled her jacket closer to her body self concisely, reveling in the feel of security the thing gave her. It Blocked all the scars that could be revealed if she took it off, and for that she was thankful for. The Only visible scar was the vague line across her neck from the collars at the camps.
Posted by rainewater on Nov 30, 2008 11:36:01 GMT -6
Guest
"uh." Said Raina taking a step back hearing Emmy's voice and the voice of someone else. "You sure...?" she cautiously opened the door the rest of the way unsure of what she was entering in on and not exactly feeling welcome despite the invitiation.
She stood for a minute with her platter of food looking in on the two teens and letting her eyes fill up with the scenario. "-I was looking for Doc. Prof." she stammered. She'd hung out with Emmy a few times, but hanging out with Emmy was like hanging out with a loaded gun. You weren't sure when it was going to go off... and though she'd like to consider Emmy a friend she most definently didn't want on her bad side.
"You look a mess Em." she said with a "tisk tisk." as she entered the rest of the room and crossed over as casually as she could to brush Em's hair out of her eyes. "I suppose you were just explaining about whatever truck ran you over?" again, wasn't aware how close to the truth she was.
"Well I wont bother you, I'm looking for Doc Prof I was going to give him some samples of the food Im serving tomorrow night... oh... you guys know about tomorrow night right?" her eyes travelled to Slate as she searched in her blank mind for a name but nothing was coming up. Some teacher/greeter she was! "Be sure to check your e-mails and mailboxes dowstairs. I'd love to see you." she set the tray down on the examining table next to Emmy. "You all hungry?"
OOC: Feel free to finish your responce slate before aknowledging Raina
The snarling girl tried to jerk her tail away; Slate let her do it, retracting his hand with slight distaste. He did not even know why. Only, was that snarl supposed to scare him? She was a woman, younger even than him. Muscular, yes. Feral, yes. But injured also, and most likely with a bark louder than her bite. What was she going to do, after all--bite him? Even if her social graces failed that completely, he was a healer. Let the puppy do her worst.
>> "Second off, I respect my life damn it I just happen to get into a lot of bad situations I dont ask for. Did I ask to be put in the camps, nope, did I ask to be rammed off the road by the Church of Humanity? Nope! Along with that and a bunch of other crap I have a habit of getting mixed up into dangerous situations. If Anything I'm a surivor a survivior of the camps of these nutjobs of...."
The far-off look in her eyes was not impressing the Italian teenager. His baby blue eyes narrowed even further, if that was possible. Was she recalling further traumas in her list? How quaint.
>> " The reason I got injured was a group of mutant hating bastards were attacking a family of scaled mutants, I couldn't stand to sit there and watch like all the other gawkers so I went in there and Beat the living daylights out of one that shot me when I rushed in and with my high pain tolerance for certain things I kinda blocked out the fact i was being hit by the other to in the legs with scalding Kitchen wear. When I realized it I went over beat the crap out of the other ones and then I came home"
Slate was still in her face. He leaned in closer. "Do you know what you remind me of, Miss Lupin? The little girl who called wolf, except that your wolves are real. Yes, they are in your field, eating your sheep. Yes, it is a terrible thing. Have you ever considered putting up a fence? If one unfortunate thing after another occurs to you, then it may be time to evaluate how your own actions put you in the path of those disasters, instead of yipping about them after the fact like a stepped-on Chihuahua. Or is that going too far? Have I crossed a line? Do you have a traumatic past and a history of family abuse you would like to recount? Do you consider your past an excuse for the risks you run now? If there was a entire group of 'mutant hating bastards', then pick up your X-Men communicator, and call the rest of the team. We would not have been there for the beginning of the brawl, but we would have been there well before the end. We would have noticed that you... that you were being scalded with kitchenware."
Now she was sighing, and crossing her arms in a self-hug; if anything, this show of self-contained consolation made Slate even angrier.
>> "Anything Else you want to know?"
"Yes, in fact. Is there anything," Slate raised up one hand in a fist, and aimed a light knock at the top of her head, under that wild red hair, "in there?" Knock knock. He nearly expected the sound to be hollow.
>> "uh."
The Mansion music teacher chose that eloquent moment to enter.
>> "You sure...?"
Eloquent, indeed.
>> "-I was looking for Doc. Prof."
Slate turned to face her as the woman stammered, his gaze cold; not for her, but for the moronic canine on the bed behind him.
>> "You look a mess Em. I suppose you were just explaining about whatever truck ran you over? ....Well I wont bother you, I'm looking for Doc Prof I was going to give him some samples of the food Im serving tomorrow night... oh... you guys know about tomorrow night right?"
Slate did not respond to this question, with so much as a blink. Some teacher she was. He and Calley were not in her classes; they had only briefly met her at the X-Men gathering Tricity called to order, and from that, she would know this body as 'Calley'.
>> "Be sure to check your e-mails and mailboxes dowstairs. I'd love to see you. You all hungry?"
And now she was setting down food. Was the girl hungry, indeed. Slate picked up the tray. Picked it up, and calmly dumped its pleasantly odorous contents into a trashcan next to the bed. His gaze was still cold, and still on Raina. Now, however, it was all for her.
"Some teacher," he repeated his earlier thought; "Miss Lupin is injured before you, and you joke. She has clearly chosen this unpleasant hour to come to the infirmary to avoid the DocProf's authority, and you invite her to a party. She smells like burned flesh, and you put party treats in front of her. She is a young woman who clearly needs discipline from an authority figure. Will you do it? Or do you not have it in you, Music Teacher?"
Slate was fully awake, now. Awake, and judgmental. He also did not particularly care for music; some of it was pleasant enough, but most of it was just so much unnecessary noise.
Now, Emerald Lupin was a young woman with a rather bad temper, one that was extremly hard to keep in check. She could deal with his comments, but just the way he said them, such a condesending way that brought way to many unwanted memories. The wolf girl glared at him, her dark blue eyes focussing on him, taking deep breathes in order to keep herself restrained. Keeping herself restrained was by no means an easy task especially in this situation she was in right now. Not only had he insulted her, but he insulted everything she stood for and everything she did. He had no idea who he was messing with, he had no damn idea. Emerald had managed to bite back the snarl that was forming on her lips when Raina came in, the older woman having a calming effect on her when she brushed her hair. A small smile crept across the wolf girls face, glad that she had someone around here that didnt think she wasnt a total jerk.
She was about to respond that she would gladly go to the party when Slate spoke again in that damn tone of his. Not only that but he had casually thrown away the party samples the wolf girl was gonna take, something that only a crazy person would do. Fury ignited in the female, fury that breed deep down within her subconciess and everything, everything from the past few days, from the camps and even from her screwed up childhood in the labs all came out in a several seconds.
First, her right hand grew about 10 times its normal size, covered in red and black fur with dagger like claws comming out of her fingers. It was a rather painful experience but her anger overwhelmed everything at the moment.
Next, The wolf girl swung a punch with all of her emotions all locked up inside it. The main emotion was unbridled anger and fury that was boiling through her veins, right into the fist. Her fist connected with his chest and most likely sent him skidding away from her.
"ENOUGH!" She roared at him, as she slammed her fist into him.
After she had done so, her hand didnt morph back but instead she smiled grimly at Raina, a wolvish grin on her face. "Sorry Miss Raina but I had to take my anger out somehow."
Posted by rainewater on Dec 1, 2008 20:12:22 GMT -6
Guest
"Someone needs an attitude adjustment. If it weren't for us incompetent teachers Tricity wouldn't have the means to house you here" remarked Raina staring at the boy who just dumped her food into the trash. "Emerald is very good at taking care of her own wounds." she pushed the last of Emeralds hair our of her face and reached for an alcohol swab. "In fact..." she started. "Sometimes Emerald learns a little bit of a lesson about rushing into things when she has to clean herself up afterwards, right Emmy?" she winked at Emerald. The wolf girl could be rash and impulsive but she wasn't stupid either. Having to sit and clean out all these wounds by herself would be something she'd remember the next time she got angry. "...and sometimes it's nice to have a little help." satisfied she stood back looking at Emerald's face that was now free of blood.
Emerald however didn't seem to let the young boy's comments flow over so easily. Before Raina could make another move Emerald thwaped him in the chest with a partially transformed hand.
"Sorry Miss Raina but I had to take my anger out somehow."
Raina couldn't help but step back. Though she respected Emmy and tried her best to be the young wolfs friend... Raina was a bit afraid of her. She had such raw power. But this also made Raina pity her. Knowing how hard it was for her brother Naveed to control his power helped Raina learn to be empathetic towards mutants like Emmy. Emmy didn't choose to be this way, and she tried to grow and learn restraint but much of her impulsiveness and quick-to-act motions were a direct result of her mutation. She had so much ferral energy she had to store away that when pushed to her limits one couldn do nothing less but expect Emmy to explode.
Emmy reminded her of a black lab. When she had enough to do, Emmy could burn energy better than the rest. Routine trainings and missions helped with that. Just like a lab would play ball and have walks, by the end of the day it was a less hyper animal like Emmy was a less angry individual. But push a dog too far and it could become fierce acting on pure instincts to survive. After her life Em's instincts were just below the surface and she was constantly fighting them.
You had to pity someone like Emerald. Raina herself was controlled by her emotions. They made her irrational, irresonsible, and impulsive. But unlike Emerald , Raina couldn't really hurt anyone while in the state- she'd proven it to herself while in the camps. Emerald pushed too far wasnt Emerald anymore. She was a beast. That was to be pitied. Her humanity lost when her mutation took over.
"That's enough Emerald." said Raina softly. "No matter how irritating, you must aknowledge that this young man wouldn't still be in this room if there was not a genuine concern." she was using an assertive teacher voice and trying her best to be brave and stand tall- she hoped Emerald could appreciate it and step down.
"Let's finish getting you cleaned up, or we'll both have the burdon of a Doc Prof lecture." she added crossing the room to get some sterile goss and coming back to wrap Emerald's arms. "There's a few healers here. You should heal pretty fast any way but we may want to look some up."
She raised an eyebrow to the young man. Was that his power? A healer? She searched her thoughts and couln't remember. She felt bad Emmy had sent him flying and didn't agree with it... but she wasn't about to push Emerald in the state she was in. Besides, it might not be the worst thing in the world for the young man to learn Emerald's limits.
"Our past is never an excuse for the present." remarked Raina to them both. "but it would be a fool who chooses to ignore the influence it has. You have good days and bad days..." she thought a moment. "The trick is to not let the bad days get the best of us. And it's a trick that it is. Takes a while to learn" that was all she was going to say on that.
If Em and the boy insisted on fighting Raina was prepared to freeze them in place to 'cool off' if she needed to.
Several things became apparent rather quickly, about all three people in the room.
Emerald. Emerald Lupin was a young woman like many young women; she had poor impulse control and a temper she thought herself alone in bearing. Her violent past had no doubt contributed to her current view that violence was an acceptable recourse. In the X-Men meeting months ago, she had advocated zealot killings with all but posters and club t-shirts; now, she returned his verbal points with a physical assault. Violence was a part of who she thought she was. It was a much more dangerous affliction than having violence actually be natural. Violence was natural to a cat or a sparrow or a wolf or a rabbit: any animal that actually lived day-to-day with the reality of death knew violence, participated in violence, but also knew when to refrain from violence. Emerald. Emerald Lupin: not a wild animal, but a teenage girl, who wrapped violence around herself like some wrapped security blankets.
Raina. The sort of teacher who preferred her students to address her by her first name, he assumed; at least, he did not think he had ever heard her last spoken by anyone. Just Raina. A teacher, but not an authority figure. An X-Men, but not a moral pillar. A woman, but not an adult; or at least, her frequent giggling fits in this serious situation certainly brought to mind a schoolgirl more than a mature role model. The sort of person who wanted to be everyone's friend, no doubt. The sort of person who was clearly willing to compromise their own beliefs and manner to do so. She had vocally opposed Emerald's violent views in the comforts of the War Room's chairs, but now that she was witnessing the aftermath of those actions, she was doing nothing but making excuses for the girl. A hypocrite with a weak sense of her own beliefs; if he dissected her, he suspected he would find jelly and yellow cartilage were her spine should be. Raina. Just Raina.
Caleb Swartz. Slate. He would not compromise his own beliefs. He did not care if anyone in particular was his friend. He did not use past violence as a free invitation to present and future violence, either. Caleb Swartz. Slate.
When he picked himself up off of the floor, he was already healed. He had been facing Raina when the wolf girl had punched him; therefore, she had punched him in the back. A 'sucker punch', he believed they were called. His first words were not for the red headed young woman. He turned to the music teacher, who had been pleasantly rambling away her intelligence while he had been on the floor. Since he did not think she had known he was a healer, he could not help but lower her still further in his mind. That punch had been powerful. If he had not been a healer, he would not have been standing back up again. The woman would have been rambling to an unconscious and grievously injured student while she nursed the ego of the delinquent who had done it.
How very like her.
Slate leveled a cold blue gaze her way, and spoke. "I hope your music lessons are very good," he stated simply. This seemed less petty than what he would have liked to say: I have respect for teachers, but not for you. I hope your music lessons are very good, because your authority and wisdom are clearly leeches upon the private donors that support this school. With that neutrally worded hope, the woman was dismissed. She would have to show herself possessing of some trait worthy of discourse before he would address her again. Slate had a basic respect for all people. It was quite possible to rise to great heights on that scale: witness Neena, and Katrina. Raina was the first to fall so far down that scale that he could not even see her anymore.
He turned to the wolf girl. Speeches clearly were not working. Perhaps simplicity was in order.
"What did you learn from your wounds tonight?" He asked concisely. A question that would cut to the heart of the music teacher's primary argument, he suspected. Unless, of course, the young woman could not or would not answer. That would be an answer in and of itself, really.
With Raina’s response to her outburst Emerald let out a long sigh, knowing the older woman was right to a certain extent. She shouldn’t react like that every time someone annoyed her, but it was just in her nature to do so. Emerald knew that she was’nt like other girls that went to Xaviers school, she didn’t worry about boys, or what she looked like or even parties that she was going to, what Emerald worried about was far greater than that in her opinion. The wolf girl always worried about survival, no matter how well she was hidden or how safe she was she always believed that someone was out there that could hurt her or her family.
The female hadn’t been getting a lot of sleep and her over protectiveness of her little sister made her seem like a bully, however, she rather be safe than sorry. Ruby didn’t really mind it, the little one was always so worried about her though that it made the wolf girls heart melt in love for her baby sister. Emerald had always been protective of the little girl ever since her parents had first allowed holding her when she was a tiny little baby, she was s small and helpless,
Emerald couldn’t help but feel that she needed to protect her at all costs. This was one of the reasons that she was often out so long, searching, watching, waiting for someone to just mention the man that ruined the girls happy childhood all those years ago. Emerald was watching out for Ruby because she knew Fusionist was back and she knew that if that bastard was going for anyone first, it would be her baby sister far before her, because little Ruby was excellent leverage against her big sister in order for him to do what he wanted her to do
The wolf girls past had always effected her present and future and it most likely always would. It was the reason that she was the way she was, how she couldn’t trust anyone very easily, ‘never trust anyone, they could be trying to kill you’ it was one of those lessons that had been burned upon her tender six year old mind and had transferred over to her now seventeen year old one.
Now, however, she had to deal with the fact that slate was standing infront of her, speaking in that damn condescending way that he was speaking to her in before. The wolf side of her brain screamed in absolute rage and wanted her to punch him again, but she showed more restraint than that. The Female remembered that Raina was right there and the older woman had for some reason managed to calm the wolf girl down, making her much easier to handle. Emerald really liked Raina and didn’t want her to be disappointed in her for her lack of restraint.
”Yes I learned something Slate, I learned that you are not the best person to talk to when Im in a somewhat of a bad mood. Because its likely I will hit you and get in trouble with my good teacher friends.” The wolf girl responded calmly, “I have also learned that you are also a real condescending jerk that has the clear scent of someone who thinks he just knows everything in the world. Also, You smell strongly like that Cat guy calley, which makes me wonder why a nice guy like him is hanging out with someone like you. However, you were still kind enough to actually come in here and ask to heal me so You aren’t to bad of a person if you look deep down in yourself.”
See, the wolf girl never was the ‘let them down easy’ type of person more of the ‘tell them like it was person. Or in other words, she was blunt and too the point.
Emerald looked up at Raina with a small smile. “Why is it that you are one of the only people that can hold me back from punching someone? Maybe that means you are a better teacher than you think you are?”
Posted by rainewater on Dec 4, 2008 9:50:42 GMT -6
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Raina raised an eyebrow. Was that his name? Slate? The name Calley rang a bell too but honestly she couldn't place the face. Looking at the boy a little longer she felt unsure. He did look a little familiar. She resolved to look up his file or something later- it was pathetic that she still didn't know who all the students were.
Emerald's responce to Slade caught her off guard and it was all she could do not to laugh out loud and keep a neutral face. Slate had hit Em on the head with his observations of her to a degree, but Em was pretty good at hitting right back.
"Well it's always good to know who to avoid when you're upset..." she started. "but it was really nice of Slate to offer to heal you." so he was a healer. Interesting.
Emerald seemed exhausted and getting upset probably wasn't helping things as much as it was putting more emotional strain on her and setting up anyone who got in her path for a beating. Raina thought it would be best to get her some food and insist she go to bed.
“Why is it that you are one of the only people that can hold me back from punching someone? Maybe that means you are a better teacher than you think you are?”
Raina thought a moment on that, Probably because I tread so lightly around her she thought to herself but didn't say out loud. Emerald scared Raina, but that didn't mean Raina didn't want to help her. Establishing herself as somewhat of a makeshift guidence councellor at the school until her degree was fully finished meant Raina tended to have a stronger bleeding heart towards girls like Em than most. It gave her patience, empathy, and understanding.
"I don't know how good a teacher I am..." she laughed. "Since I haven't been able to have a full class yet!" it was true, music only happened once a week and the majority of the time Raina was either councelling students in academics and career choices etc or doing administrative things for the new members. Between all the upsets latley her class had been cancelled more than once. "But maybe we'll get a musical in there somewhere!"
She was glad Emerald like her as a teacher. Raina really believed that music and art could act as a release for mutants, especially those with such physicial mutations. If she could hook Em long enough she knew it would help her release some energy and anxiety.
"You should come tomorrow Emerald, it would be good for you to meet some of the new students. You should bring Ruby too. I haven't seen her in a while." her eyes drifted to the clock. "But for now... we should get you some food and we should both get to bed" she looked to Slate. "All three of us rather."
As expected, the wolf girl had summarily demonstrated how very little she had learned during her violent acts this evening; as expected, the music teacher did not seem to fully grasp this. As to this line:
>> "...However, you were still kind enough to actually come in here and ask to heal me so You aren’t to bad of a person if you look deep down in yourself.”
Slate had but one thing to say. He looked the girl in her dark blue eyes, and replied, "I wish I could say the same for you." Slate did not believe that everyone was good on the inside. Everyone was merely the depth of their morals measured against the weight of their actions. In the X-Men meeting months ago, the girl had shown her morals to be blood-stained. Her actions, at least, were honest to that; it was too bad that her words and thoughts were still trying to rationalize her behaviors. Slate could not help but think she would be accepted in the Order for the same reasons she was argued against in the X-Men.
>> "I don't know how good a teacher I am... Since I haven't been able to have a full class yet! But maybe we'll get a musical in there somewhere!"
The inane laughter and insipid words rolled off of Slate; he did not acknowledge that the music teacher had spoken, by word or gesture or slightest flick of his eyes. Infinity reached in both directions, positive and negative. She truly was exploring the negative end of the number line, as far as his esteem was concerned. Each ill-timed laugh and burst of white noise in the form of small talk only sent her lower. Perhaps that was why the wolf girl liked her: the music teacher was nothing but a little balloon of helium on a thin string. Who did not like balloons? They were such cheerful, useless things.
>> "But for now... we should get you some food and we should both get to bed. All three of us rather."
The music teacher looked to Slate. Slate did not look back. He simply stared at Emerald a moment longer, the anger and distain slowly relaxing from his face. "If you wish to be good, but you do not know how," he said simply, "then you are not alone. But please, do not confuse evil deeds done with justification as being good. Evil concealed is still evil. You are part of the X-Men. Please remember that: it means you are not alone, unless you choose to be. Good night, Emerald Lupin."
Slate turned--his eyes passing over the music teacher as they would have passed over vacant air--and began walking from the infirmary.
“Don’t judge someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes. Some of us have to look out for more than just ourselves.” The wolf girl responded to Slade, her voice even and controlled. No anger was in it, however, it was easy to see she wanted to say or do something more by the way she had dug her hands into the beds sheets.
It took a lot of restraint for Emerald to not get up and tell Slate off, to just get her anger out on the young man for not even letting anything penetrate through that thick skull of his. He just didn’t understand how she worked, he had no idea why she did the things she did, it was just in her nature to fight crime in any way she could. If that meant that she had to take the lives of those who had destroyed others, so be it. What she was doing at the moment was finding leads, trying to find one person, one person that was linked to her past pain and suffering, once she found him, she would be free.
Right after Emerald finished that thought, Ruby came skittering in a worried little tizzy not even noticing the person she passed due ot her worry.. The younger girl’s eyes widened when she saw the state of her older sibling, her fox ears flattening. She wore red PJ’s with little Lightening bolts on them and a Nightcap that covered her big fox ears slightly. In one arm she carried a stuffed Rabbit and the other arm she carried a backpack that smelt a little like dead fish.
“Emmy! What did you do?!” The Fox girl exclaimed worriedly looking at her sister, she felt her ears droop as well as her tail.
Emerald smiled a little at Ruby and shrugged, “Got into a little bit of a spat with some people
“You saved a mutant that was about to be killed didn’t you?”
“….”
“ I knew it.” Ruby sighed with a small smile, she ruffled her older siblings hair a little. “You should stop leaving your backpack out on the desk.”
Emerald grumbled a little at Ruby, however Ruby was ignoring her and turned to Miss Raina. Her little green eyes light up immediately as she unzipped the bag, rummaging through it for a moment before drawing out a bag with ribbons on it.
“Emmy and I have to go see mom and daddy tommrow, though I don’t know how we are gonna explain your wounds,” Ruby glowered at her older sister a little, who didn’t seem to be paying attention, much more interested in the sandwich she had snatched from the bag. It was an all meat sandwhich, almost every kind of meat from under the sun was on it, the sandwich was obviously one of the wolf girl’s favorites judging by the way she tore into it. Ruby smiled a little at her older sister, letting out a slight yawn, cuddling buster beneath her arm. She handed Raina the bag with a small smile. “We are gonna be coming in a little late to your birthday party so maybe you should open your gift now. It should help you…with the whole getting wet transforming thing.”
The Bag was fairly large, and it obviously got a little smushed in the wolf girls backpack. Inside was a pair of green rain boots and a red poncho. The Poncho had little paw prints all over it and the boot had a tiny little beach scene on it.