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.
It was a crisp and cold December evening and Chris was at a complete loss. He'd been walking around the streets for hours, it was dark outside and he'd mangaed to loose his map. But how was anybody supposed to find anything in this town?! Chris was definitely not a city kid, but he started to suspect that the people who had named the streets after numbers had done so with a sole, sadistic purpose - to make newcomers as confused as possible.
Chris had arrived by bus the evening before, had gotten assaulted and barely managed to hide behind some thrash cans, and then realized he was utterly lost and had no idea from where the bus to Xavier's Sister School went. He'd slept on a hot air exhaust in an alley, just like a hobo. Then he'd spent the day wandering around hoping he somehow would stumble over the wished-for bus stop, but no such luck. He'd even asked people for directions, being extremely cautious and ready to run away if the person he talked with made a sudden move. Most of the people appeared to be just as cautious against him, but no-one knew the directions.
He was starting to get tired. He wasn't fazed by the cold, but he felt fatigued, light-headed and very, very hungry. He had money, but somehow he doubted that any restaurant would approve if he entered and asked if he could buy a raw fish or a chicken. Speaking of chickens... in front of him he could see something that reminded him very much of a pigeon. He squinted towards it, and yes - it was a pigeon indeed, and it appeared to be hurt. One of the wings was dragging in street. He quickly glanced around in the dark alley, but no-one who would mind was there. It wouldn't really hurt, would it? After all, it was just natural selection. The poor thing wouldn't live long anyway. He started to walk casually toward it, trying not to alarm it. But the injury must had sharpened the pigeon's natural instincts or he was dealing with a very careful bird, because the pigeon cooeed warily and then started to trip the other way. Chris quickened his pace and so did the pigeon, its head comically bobbing faster and faster. Then it made a turn around the corner. "You can try to flee, but it's no use" Chris said aloud and entered the new alley too. Then he frowned. The pigeon was gone. But how could it have disappeared so fast? It couldn't have... unless it was hiding. Man, it was a very smart bird. He noticed a big container and a couple of thrash cans and started to walk slowly towards them. He wasn't going to be outsmarted by a bird. "Are we trying to hide now?" he said softly, speaking to the bird. He guessed it wasn't that normal to talk to birds, but it wasn't like he had anyone else to talk to.
Then he heard a scraping noise on the other side of the container. He walked towards it, then he quickly jumped around it to prevent the pigeon from escaping while he yelled "Gotcha!!" with a triumphant voice. Then he froze. Curled up with her back against the container wasn't the bird, but a very small girl. She couldn't have been more than five or six, with a look of absolute horror in her eyes. The eyes seemed to grow bigger and bigger until they dominated her entire, pale face. Behind him, the pigeon quickly moved out from its shelter behind the thrash cans and tripped away as fast as it short legs could carry it. Blast. He opened his mouth to say something apologizing to the girl, but before he could say a word she started to scream. It was a terrified, piercing scream that made Chris clasp his hands over the place were his ears had been. Double blast.
Posted by vampyremage on Dec 17, 2009 15:11:25 GMT -6
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Pluto and Garrett. Those were the two names that ran inexorbly through Meld's mind. Pluto, who had been so kind to her and had been the first to show her that she was more than just what her mutations made her. He had been the first person to see Meld the person rather than just Meld the mutant. And then there was Garrett who thought so much like she did and who had given her the miraculous gift of touch. How could she ever thank him properly for such a gift? And to know that both of them seemed to like her and want to be more than simply the friends that she liked to think that they were. It was a difficult thing to properly grasp, especially for someone like Meld who wasn't used to dealing with emotional dillemas.
Eventually Meld's confused thoughts drove her from the Mansion and into the city. She couldn't properly think, forced to remain stationary in her room, or even given the whole of the Mansion to roam freely in. Always in times of distress she went into the city or into Central Park to wander and be alone with her thoughts, thinking until things somehow managed to work themselves out within her own head. Eventually she would go back, but not until she had managed to come to some sort of decision, whatever that might be. She wasn't the sort to deal with with indecision and thus felt that she had not choice but to come to terms with her emotions. Not only wasn't it healthy for her, but it wasn't fair to either Garrett of Pluto either.
Meld lost track of exactly how long she spent in the city; hours at least. The one thing that never failed to allow Meld to work through her problems was training, either her martial arts or more effective use of her flesh melds. This particular day, as she walked, she practiced using the sight of her tail, a feature still new enough so that her control wasn't absolute. As she walked she momentarily blinked her human eyes closed just long enough to blink her tail eye open and gain a snapshot of what was happening around her. She payed no attention to the looks and whispers she got from the humans around her. They didn't matter.
At least, they didn't matter until the little girl started to scream. Meld swore under hear breath. She didn't blame the child for the way it reacted, but rather the child's parents for teaching it to fear mutants. It was an atrocity and she wished she could do violence upon the parents of the unfortunate youth. Unfortunatly she knew she couldn't. In the long run it would run counter to her cause and her cause was everything.
At first Meld assumed that the child was screaming because of her. It wouldn't be the first time and, in all likelihood, it wouldn't be the last either. But the child's eyes didn't appear to be focused on her and, following the child's gaze she spotted another mutant, just as visible as herself,not far away and he seemed to have a horrified expressin on his face. With a baleful look directed at the many adult humans around the child, not knowing which one was its parent, she tried to reassure the strange grey skinned mutant. "Its not your fault." Such simple words. She shouldn't even have to say them because no mutant should have to feel that the fear and loathing of humans was their fault. Especially when the human was no more than a child.
As the child continued to scream, Chris started to feel more and more panicked. He quickly looked around, and saw that humans further down the street was turning their head towards them. This wasn't good. His plan had been to silently snatch the pigeon and sneak off into a darker alley with it - no-one would notice. Screaming little girls tended to attract a lot of attention, and attention was something Chris was trying to avoid.
So what was he gonna do? He could run away, but then he would just look guilty. What if someone called the police? It would just be great if he started his new life in the city with a charge for assault or something. The only other option was to try to calm the girl, but that wouldn't be easy. Chris had actually never talked to a kid before, he'd only seen them on TV. What is a girl her age doing here alone, anyway?! he thought frantically, and a mental picture entered his head uninvited. He had grew up in the woods of Wisconsin, after all, his grandfather had warned him about black bears. He'd never encontered one, but one special fact about them stuck to his mind - the she bear would go to extreme measures if she thought her cubs were being threatened. He'd have to calm her down fast before Mother Bear showed up. "Schhh, shush, it's okay," he said, trying to keep his voice calm and assuring. It wasn't an easy feature since all his instincts were screaming to him to get the hell outta there, but at least he was trying. He lifted his index finger toward his lips in the international "shush"-gesture, but the sight of his webbed hand made the girl scream even higher (an achievement he'd previously deemed to be impossible).
Okay, so calming the kid was out of the picture. He'd have to scram, before... >>"Its not your fault." He turned around quickly, alarmed at the new voice. Then his jaw dropped. Chris's visual defect made his sight blurry to a varying degree when he was on land, but even he could see that the woman before him clearly wasn't your everyday human. Her clothes were dark and her hair was black and spiked, and she was a couple of inches taller than he was, but that didn't make her very unusual. What made her unusual was her right arm, which appeared to be entirely crafted out of metal, and had some kind of shield and multiple sharp blades attached to it. And she had some kind of metal tail; the tail had blades too and seemed to be as much of a weapon as the arm was. She'd have to be a mutant, unless she was a human with very high-technological artificial limbs, and somehow he didn't think that was the case. He opened his mouth to say something and then shut it again, not really knowing what to say. This was the first other mutant he'd ever encountered (if she was a mutant) and he was comletely fazed.
The girl finally shut up; when encountered with both a scary-looking mutant and a woman with intimidating, bladed metal body parts, she got too afraid to scream anymore. Chris told himself to snap out of it and finally managed to say: "Well, actually it is my fault... I mean, if I was a kid I would probably freak myself out, or something. But I wasn't planning to scare her, I swear!" As he spoke, he couldn't help looking at the woman's arm and tail. Now he noticed that her legs ended in fierce-looking metal claws, too.
Posted by vampyremage on Dec 18, 2009 13:45:12 GMT -6
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When Meld spoke the child noticed her and stilled, her screams quieting. It was, however, a silence grown out of terror rather than peace. Meld's tail twitched. Why did humans insist upon growing hatred in their children? Why did they have to promote fear and loathing of mutants when it would be far better for everyone involvoed if they could only promote acceptance and working together instead? The harsh realities of the world disgusted her and the knowledge that that child was as much a victim of human discrimination as any mutant was. That child was an innocent, though it wouldn't be innocent long. What a shame.
"Mutants are not something to be afraid of," Meld told the child, keeping her voice calm and even. She didn't want to scare the child off, she wanted to show the child, through actions as much as her words she wanted to show the child that mutants were not monsters and perhaps halt the cycle of discrimination. "We're not so different than you are some of us just look a little different and can do a few extra things that you can't." She didn't have much experience with children and didn't know if she was saying the right things to this child or not. Moving her tail above her head and keeping the blades on it closed, she opened her ruby tail eye to look at the child and smiled down at her, hoping the action didn't look threatening.
"Well, actually it is my fault... I mean, if I was a kid I would probably freak myself out, or something. But I wasn't planning to scare her, I swear!"
Meld turned her attention back to the grey skinned stranger an shook her head sadly. "It isn't your faut at all. You can't help what you are any more than I can or any more than she can," she gestured towards the cowing child. "Nor should you have to feel ashamed of what you are." Meld extended a clawed hand to the stranger. "I'm Meld."
>>"Mutants are not something to be afraid of. We're not so different than you are some of us just look a little different and can do a few extra things that you can't." The little girl still looked afraid, but the womans words, her calm voice and her smile actually seemed to work. The child didn't look terrified anymore, and when the mutant lifted her tail over her head she followed it with cautious yet curious eyes. And what the other mutant said actually made sense... pity that so few choose to see it from that point of view. Back home they hadn't even tried to look past Chris's differences; it wasn't his fault that he never felt comfortable in the presence of humans. It wasn't he who had thrown the first rock, and in Chris's case this wasn't figuratively speaking.
>>"It isn't your faut at all. You can't help what you are any more than I can or any more than she can. Nor should you have to feel ashamed of what you are," the mutant said and offered him her hand. >>"I'm Meld." Chris looked at her hand for a moment, not really sure how to react. He had never shaken anyone's hand before, and Meld's clawed metal hand didn't really appear to be beginner-friendly. But it would be very rude not to, so he slowly extended his hand and deliberately shook hers, careful not to torn his webbing on her blades. "Christopher Berg. Uhm, Chris. Hi," he mumbled. Then he extracted his hand before any bloodshed could take its place and looked up at Meld's face. He was pretty short-sighted, so earlier he hadn't gotten a good look at her face. Now he could see that she was heavily pierced, a fact that he found kind of fascinating; she also had some kind of scar on the left side of her face. Despite the scar, he thought she looked kind of... you know. Pretty. And there seemed to be something weird with her left eye, it had an artificial look over it. Chris was curious about it, but he still felt very uncomfortable at the same time. The time he'd talked to women could be counted on his fingers (and he only had eight of those) so it was a bit overwhelming to suddenly stand here and talk with one who didn't look at him with disgust.
He turned his gaze toward the girl beside the container instead, and noticed with surprise that she appeared to be even less freaked than before. She had stood up and looked at the two mutants curiously. Maybe it was because of the handshake: seeing two mutants perform a ritual that most humans performed almost every day unconsciously maybe had made them appear even less alien. Chris could barely believe it. The girl who had been screaming on the top of her lungs just a moment ago actually appeared to be inquisitive. If the rest of humanity had been as adaptable as this girl... well, he guessed all of the conflicts between humans and mutants would have been easy to solve. "Is that your special power?" he asked Meld in a low voice and gestured toward the girl with a thumb. "Like, some kind of kid-whisperer?" The girl didn't seem to understand what he was saying, so she frowned. Then she turned toward Meld. "You're not going to hurt me?" she said in a small girl voice. It was part question, part statement.
Posted by vampyremage on Dec 19, 2009 17:39:29 GMT -6
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Amazingly the child actually seemed to be listening to Meld and as she blinked at the girl she didn't seem nearly as frightened as she first had. Children that young truly were amazing creatures, open minded in a way that adults never could be and still retaining that innocence that was so fragile and lasted for such a short amount of time. Adults could really learn something from children like that little girl. But, of course, they wouldn't. They were too intent upon their own lives and too stubborn in their own views and, if Meld were honest with herself, she would admit that she was, at times, just as stubborn as the humans she fought against every day.
As Meld shook Chris' hand she was careful not to accidentally cause her claws to dig into his sensitive flesh. It was a constant concern, ensuring that she didn't accidentally damage those people she came in contact with daily, made difficult due to the fact that physical touch was forever beyond her capability. Or so she had thought before meeting Garrett, but she forced that thought out of her mind. She may have come into the city to work things out in her own mind as pertained to Garrett and Pluto, but now that she had met this mutant stranger she knew she had more important things to consider. And, if his unsurety was any indication, he could likely use her assistance. It was a sad reality that so many mutants shared such lack of confidence and she blamed the discriminations of humans for that.
"A pleasure to meet you Chris," Meld replied with confidence. "And no, my special power is not that of a kid-whisperer." She laughed good naterdly, something that she had been doing unusually often as of late. "Of course I'm not going to hurt you," Meld returned her attention back towards the child. "What would make you think such a thing?" She kept her voice neutral and as non-threatening as possible.
The girl had dark brown hair in two pigtails, a dark blue winter coat and a backpack with Hello Kitty on. She turned her little face toward Meld and earnestly answered Meld's question. "My mum says mutants can't control themselves, that they're dan-gerous. She says... she says..." The girl's face wrinkled a little with concentration as she quoted straight out of her memory. "'A normal honest person don't dare go to the work anymore 'cause you don't know when them terro... terrorro... terrorists are going to blow the whole street up.' She also said that they should wear collars like they used to, but I don't know what she means with that." The girl looked questioningly at the two mutants.
Chris remembered the Mutant Registration Law - it hadn't really affected him that much, but he'd heard about the riots and the atrocities in the camps and was glad that it all was over. Anyway, Meld maybe hadn't been as lucky as him, so he quickly changed the subject. "Well, as Meld here said, we're not going to hurt you. We're not out of control." The girl just looked at him a bit sullenly. "You jumped out in front of me and screamed 'gotcha!'" she reminded him in a sour voice. Chris shamefacedly scratched his chin and looked away. He'd been hoping this wouldn't come up. "I... I was actually looking for someone else... I didn't know you were there. Sorry." he mumbled. The girl looked as if she was about to answer, but another scream cut through the air before she'd opened her mouth. "Jennifer!!" Chris quickly turned toward the source of the sound and saw a short woman in her 30's who were running toward them. She had the same brown hair as the girl before them and big dark eyes and probably would have had a pretty face if her features had not been twisted by horror and disgust. So quickly that even Chris was surprised she moved in between the girl and the two mutants - her shoulders were hunched and her feet were positioned so that she'd have good balance; it was clearly a defensive position. "And what in God's name do you think you're doing with my daughter?!" she spit out. Chris couldn't remember when he'd seen anyone as furious, and he instinctively lifted up his arms in a protective gesture and took two steps back. "We, uh, ah, we're not... nuh-nothing," he stuttered.
Posted by vampyremage on Dec 21, 2009 11:06:50 GMT -6
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"Of course mutants can control themselves," Meld explained to the little girl. This was what she should be doing, helping to educat the public about mutants in an honest and unjudgementary way. Surely that was the first step in getting mutants their proper place in the world? And children like this one were surely the ones to help in that eventual happening, children that were actually willing to listen to reason. "Most of us are only violent when defending ourselves, we don't want to hurt anyone. Just like a human carries a gun for self defence, we have our powers. Just in case." Because for every little girl willing to listn to reason, there were a dozen biggoted brutes who would not only judge but also attack without provocation and if humans were permitted their self defence weapons, should not mutants be granted the same privaledge? "We want to be safe to walk the streets just as much as you do."
As the little girl's mother showed up and began yelling at the two of them, Meld felt the almost unresistable urge to raise her tail and plunge her blades into the woman's throat. It was her fault and the fault of humans like her that mutants held the position in the world that they did and that mutants were as hated and feared as they were. Knowing the damage that such an act would cause in the minds of not only the little girl but also the many humans around, however, she restrained herself. For many reasons she knew that she wasn't the best choice for the education of humans, not the least of which was the news stories about her. She was a well known infamous mutant and, if most of the deaths she was known for were done in self defence, that didn't matter to the humans were were so intent on hatred. She was a warrior, not a peace maker or an educator and she couldn't help but think, not for the first time, that this was the reason the X's and O's should learn to work together, with the X Men educating and the Orderlings doing the dirty work. But it wasn't going to happen today and in the meantime she had to figure out an approrpriate way to deal with the little girl's mother.
Meld turned her baleful gaze towards the woman, her voice going utterly cold and hard. It might not be approrpriate for her to respond with violence in this situation, but she knew just how intimidating she could be when she wanted to, without even the slightest overt threat. Meld spun her tail towards the woman and opened and closed her clawed hands. "We weren't the ones that left your daughter unattended where any predator on the street could take advantage of her." She put all the ice into her voice that she could manage. Her disdain of the woman was completely impersonal and scathing. Hatred was far to personal a word. "And while we're talking about your parenting skills or lack there of, we weren't the ones to preach hatred to such an innocent mind. We weren't the ones to propogate the cycle of fear." She stared hard at the woman, daring her voicelessly to meet her eyes and hold her gaze.
Posted by arrowatch on Dec 21, 2009 18:34:02 GMT -6
Guest
Pertaining to the mindset of a normal person faced with a mutant, one must realize that even a mundane person is of utmost danger to someone. Need it be discrimination to fear mutants? You must remember, the Nazi's were not mutants. Serial Killers need not be mutants. To the original question, I say no. It need not be discrimination to fear the multi-colored man with the spikes sticking out of his body. But if he appears to have no hostile intentions and is otherwise a law-abiding person, it is discrimination to hate him. Just keep your balloons clear. -Dr. Alexander Rothchild, excerpt All Men are no longer Created Equal, a brief look at the psychology of Mutant and Mundane humans in Western Civilization
Anthony had lost Dilbert. But a few days under his care, the pigeon had been acosted by children, tossed out of 3 bars, and been injured by a cat. It had been no wonder the pigeon had flown the coop. Or, rather, ran, since his wing was still injured. He had taken to putting Dilbert in a wicker cage and taking him to his sessions at the Dojo. Still dressed in the white plain practice shorts and t-shirt, carrying his practice sticks, hair pulled back into a pony tail, Anthony had taken off after the renegade bird. Noah might never forgive me if I don't find him.
Anthony had just spotted dilbert sprinting out of an alley flapping and coo-ing like a bird possessed, when he heard the scream. He scooped up Dilbert, who was apparently not in the mood to be disagreeable, and put his back to the corner of the alley. He heard someone mumbling something, and then heard something vaguely heavy at the other end of the alley as well. Fearing rhinoceri or worse, he put one stick in the edge of his shorts and tucked Dilbert into the crook of his elbow. He did a couple of shallow breathing exercises and focused himself for whatever might come... except a screaming mother getting into the alley before he did. She had clearly been quite close by, since only a moment or two had passed since the scream.
She was shorter then he, not a hard feat, and was apparently ready for rhino as well. She had her feet planted squarely on the ground, and shouted something or other about her daughter. Not in fear, but hostility.
She didn't notice you there, so I imagine she's quite flustered. And with no nose at all, you smell horrible. Like armpits and wet dog with a hint of cheap cologne. Anthony glared at Dilbert, but had no one to blame but himself. He was fairly sure that Dilbert couldn't talk, since Dilbert only said what Anthony was already thinking. But it helped to have a focal point for his ire.
Athony glanced around the corner and saw a grey guy and a mini-gundam standing in the alleyway, and pulled back. There was what might be a girl askance of the alien and the mega-zo-... What? Why was there an angry female robot and an Asgard in the alley? Anthony mentally reviewed what he had seen, and when he had it sorted out in his head, he held Dilbert around the corner for a second for confirmation.
What I saw, you twittering rat, was a very pretty, very scary woman with claws and a tail made of metal, and a grey man of dubious pedigree. Possibly alien, possibly he is a mutant with no hair and grey skin and big eyes. Which do you think is more likely, Sherlock?
Anthony nodded as he got the image straight in his head. He listened a little more closely. "We weren't the ones that left your daughter unattended where any predator on the street could take advantage of her. And while we're talking about your parenting skills or lack there of, we weren't the ones to preach hatred to such an innocent mind. We weren't the ones to propagate the cycle of fear."
Anthony, ever the defender of vaguely pretty brunettes, which this mother was, stepped around the corner with a little bit of a swagger, bird in the left arm, the other arm crooked up so the hand rest on his neck, stick angled down across the left shoulder.
"And she isn't the one being freaking terrifying in an alley way." His bravado fell flat when he actually got a look at the woman. Giant clawed feet. Big clawed hand. Razor tail. She could be absolutely gorgeous if she wasn't a slasher flick nightmare. Anthony swallowed and continued, though with none of the bellow and bluster he had just had.
"Children are notoriously hard to control. Um, and even when they have the best intentions, children don't realize it and will do anything they feel like doing. No disrespect, ma'm. I mean Miss. I mean... don't kill me?" Anthony shut up as his throat constricted. Dilbert filled in his part of the rant with coos, his birdy eyes locked on the alien. Or rather... Fish man? Webbed feet, long and almost reverse joint looking, limited digits on hands, webbed. Big eyes, little to no nose to speak of. Probably fish. Not going to give up hope on the alien part, either.
The fur on his neck, arms, and legs were standing on edge and he felt more like a bottle brush then a fearsome martial artist defending the damsel. Probably a good reason for that...
Chris couldn't say which one was the angrier - the woman seemed to be both frightened and furious, but Meld had some kind of cold fury that was really scary to watch. When Meld mentioned her doubts about the woman's parenting skill a faint blush appeared on the mother's pale cheeks, but it was matched by an angry spark in her eyes. She backed away a few steps, just to put some space between herself and Meld, and gripped her daughter's shoulders hard. >>"And she isn't the one being freaking terrifying in an alley way." Chris quickly turned around toward the source of the voice, and had to squint to be sure of what he saw entering the alley. It was a tall man who was wearing dark clothes, but he was covered in something that had a close resemblance to black fur. It probably was, Chris realized. And since he couldn't hink of a reason for a normal human to wear a fur costume he realized that the new man must have been a mutant. And then he noticed that the furry man was carrying something that bore a close resemblence to Chris's lost supper. It probably was, and Chris felt a bit disappointed that the other mutant had caught it. It wasn't the right situation to feel disappointed over such mundane things, but Chris was hungry. >>"Children are notoriously hard to control. Um, and even when they have the best intentions, children don't realize it and will do anything they feel like doing. No disrespect, ma'm. I mean Miss. I mean... don't kill me?" Well, it seemed that Chris and the humans weren't the only ones who were intimidated by Meld's appearance.
The mother stared at the new arrival with a mix of shock and disgust. Then she muttered something that sounded a bit like "God, this place is crawling with them." Her girl, Jennifer, stared at the furry mutant in wide-eyed amazement and then hugged her mother's leg hesitantly. "Mum, it's okay, they say they didn't -" The woman seemed to snap back and realized that the important thing here wasn't the new mutant; the important thing was that the female mutant had dared to suggest that she was a bad mother. "I don't ever want my parenting questioned by your kind ever again!" the woman sneered at Meld, filling the words with intense hatred. "I'm trying to keep my daughter out of harm's way, I'm protecting her from dangerous people, I'm learning her to avoid people that are dangerous... I would be an irresponsible mother if I didn't. But I guess your kind wouldn't understand that. You people shouldn't even be allowed to -" She quickly closed her mouth before she said something actually offensive, but it was still twisting around the corners of her mouth like the words were just waiting to jump out and loudly announce their message to the whole world.
Oh man. Chris had heard that people in the big apple generally were more accepting against mutants, but he'd also heard that the town had it's own share of Haters. He'd hoped it would take some time before he'd encounter one, but he guessed there would be no such luck. On the other hand, he had to admit that the woman had bravado - even though she thought that mutants were dangerous and out of control she dared to say stuff like this straight to their faces, even though they were three against one and her daughter was there too. She must have guessed that the people who were standing on the side looking when the drama unfolded would help her if the mutants decided to attack.
Posted by vampyremage on Dec 21, 2009 20:03:55 GMT -6
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Meld saw the anger building in the mother's face as she continued speaking but, quite frankly, didn't much care. So she was indignant that someone would question her parenting skills, so what. Not only did she clearly deserved to be questioned and probably something more severe, but compared to the daily indignities that Meld had to suffer for the mere fact of being a mutant, this woman felt nothing. Meld was only telling her a little bit of truth, a truth that she plainly needed to hear and no one had yet told her.
Just as Meld was coming to the end of her statement a third mutant appeared, this one with black fur and a vaguely foxlike appearance. Unfortunately this individual butted into their conversation not only with an attempt to defend the human woman but also with a rather disparaging remark directed at Meld, both facts which would have bothered her if not for two things. First, he clearly hadn't seen the entire context of the conversation, somewhat forging him defending the anti-mutant mother and second, the fact that the wind seemed to deflate right out of his sails the moment he got himself a good look at Meld and all of her pointed metal glory. In fact, his plead for her not to kill him at the end of his little speach was downright amusing and, despite herself and her present situation, she had to struggle not to laugh. She succeeded, although barely, and instead opted for an amused smile in his direction.
"Of course I won't kill you," Meld assured him, shaking her head in slight bewilderment. She wasn't any more dangerous than many other mutants, it was just that her dangers were more difficult to hide. "I assure you these are only for self defence." She lifted a bladed metal hand in reference. "You just never know what kind of crazies you might meet on these streets. Its dangerous even to go out any more." Oh the irony and she hoped the human bigot choked on it.
"Lady, just wait until one day you wake up and your precious human daughter turns out to be a mutant. You think I always looked this way? Hah! I looked as human as that little girl over there when I was her age." She glared at the woman who reminded her far to strongly of her own mother. Then, turning her back, she extended her hand towards the furred stranger, hoping that he wasn't too intimidated by her to think that she was trying to attack him or anything like that. "I'm Meld."
Posted by arrowatch on Dec 22, 2009 0:52:36 GMT -6
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"I don't ever want my parenting questioned by your kind ever again! I'm trying to keep my daughter out of harm's way, I'm protecting her from dangerous people, I'm learning her to avoid people that are dangerous... I would be an irresponsible mother if I didn't. But I guess your kind wouldn't understand that. You people shouldn't even be allowed to -"
Anthony grimaced. He could understand, vaguely, where her thoughts came from. Why she held onto them. But he couldn't understand the vitriolic tone, the undercurrent of blind hatred.
And he couldn't allow it to pass, either... but first, proprieties. He listened to the bladed woman speak what she was going to say. No sense in being rude.
"Lady, just wait until one day you wake up and your precious human daughter turns out to be a mutant. You think I always looked this way? Hah! I looked as human as that little girl over there when I was her age. I'm Meld."
Wait, wait, that last part was directed to himself, Anthony decided, and extended his own hand and shook without hesitation after tucking his practice stick in the other side of his trunks. Better to be on the good side of Meld, Blood Goddess, then have a hand anyway.
"I'm Anthony." He turned to the Gray Fish Alien Man of Obvious Anxiety, a lesser known god, and since he was farther away didn't extend a hand. He wasn't sure the poor guy would handle it so well anyway. "Anthony Davids, pleasure to meet you both." He turned to the woman and... Jennifer, if memory served.
"Since your such a superior specimen of fine breeding, you no doubt recognize the name. Anthony Davids, notorious son of the new england Davids-Lee family. As in one of the finest, purest sets of families, regarded by their peers as good and honorable people, on both the Lee and Davids sides. As in I looked an awful lot like she does at her age." His gesturing with a pigeon might not have served to get his point across as he intended, but Meld's comment had struck a chord, and his voice dripped with scorn and righteous fury. "Infact, I was a late bloomer. I was 17, and giving a violin concerto infront of the social elite. I had the closest and most technical medical care, and the mutant gene never even showed up on their initial screenings."
Anthony stopped and stared at the woman, then gave her the full benefit of his smile, his sharp little teeth glittering brightly. Then sighed, and his voice returned to level. By the end of his own little tirade, he had been nearer to genuine rage then he had in a very very long time.
"Your daughter is a precious little girl, and I don't wish the life of a mutant on her, not by a long shot. But if she is, I hope that people like you don't tell her what she should be allowed to. And you had better still love her, because if she is, it's your fault she would be. People are monsters enough, being a mutant doesn't change that at all."
>>“You just never know what kind of crazies you might meet on these streets. Its dangerous even to go out any more." I second that, Chris thought. The woman seemed to register the irony; an annoyed crease in her brow appeared.
>>"Anthony Davids, pleasure to meet you both." Chris nodded toward the new mutant, Anthony. “I’m Chris Berg... hi.” Then the newcomer addressed the human woman again. He spoke in a very classy way; it was obvious that he wasn’t lying when he told them about his heritage. It was obvious to Chris anyway, the woman seemed to be unable to believe that a mutant could come from such a high-class family; and as Anthony spoke the crease in her brow just increased.
>>"Your daughter is a precious little girl, and I don't wish the life of a mutant on her, not by a long shot. But if she is, I hope that people like you don't tell her what she should be allowed to. And you had better still love her, because if she is, it's your fault she would be. People are monsters enough, being a mutant doesn't change that at all." Telling the woman that her daughter might be a mutant didn’t really do anything to calm the woman down, and instead she just clung harder to her daughter like she could protect her from any genetic anomaly just by clutching the daughter’s shoulders hard. But it was also obvious that the two mutants had hit a sore toe, or more accurately, a whole sore foot – when she opened her mouth not a word could be heard. “You’re... you’re wrong!” was the intelligent remark she finally managed to utter. “My daughter is not and will never be a... a mutant, and don’t think I don’t thank God every day for making her normal.” Then she turned around and started to march out of the street, dragging her daughter along. Jennifer had a hard time keeping up with her mother, but turned around and gave them a little smile and a wave. It was an apologetical kind of smile, but it was a smile nonetheless. Then they rounded a corner and were gone.
Chris looked after them and then sighed heavily. “Well, I guess there’s hope for humanity yet” he said, but his voice was heavy with cynicism. He thought that even if the girl had shown some genuine signs of curiosity and friendliness it wouldn’t take long for the mother to turn her into a little mutant-hating copy of herself. Then Chris turned toward the both mutants again and said seriously: “Good thing you two talked to her, I guess... I mean, the only way she’d have left me without biting my head off for scaring her daughter would have been if she was allergic to fish or something. Thanks.”
Posted by vampyremage on Dec 22, 2009 13:09:57 GMT -6
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Despite the actions and words of the mother, Meld couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope at the entire situation. The little girl, regardless of the evil that her mother had tried to poison her mind with, had somehow managed to keep an open mind and restrain from the human hatred that was so very common among her own kind. There was still a long way to go before mutants would become accepted, of course, but that little girl was proof that, just maybe, such a future was not so far off as she feared.
In addition to the message of hope that the little girl offered, Meld was equally proud of herself that she hadn't resorted to the violent tactics that she usually used in retialiation of such bigotry and that, in this case at least, words seemed to be enough. She thought Garrett would be proud of her and almost choked at the thought. His approval shouldn't mean anything to her, really, but somehow it did. Then the realization that she only thought of Garrett's approval and not of Pluto's. Did that mean she had finally made up her mind between the two of them? And if she had, would Pluto be able to accept the status of friend only? She hoped so although she wasn't entirley certain that her confusion was at an end.
"You just need to learn to stand up for yourself a little bit," Meld told Chris encouragingly. "There are countless humans out there that will judge you simply because of what you are and she, at least, wasn't one of the violent ones. There might come a time when you'll need to know how to defend yourself. What I said to that woman, about it being dangerous out on the streets for people like us, it wasn't a lie." It wasn't that Meld wanted to encourage violence, just because she embraced it didn't mean that others should. Quite the contrary, she viewed her own role of a warrior for mutant kind to be one which necessitated the eroding of her soul and that wasn't a fate she wished on anyone. But she also didn't want to see the innocent and the weak ones hurt. There was a certain balance that needed to be maintained.
"And thank you very much for backing me up there," Meld turned her attention towards Anthony. "You are much more the diplomat than I am." It was said with an ironic tone and a smirk. She knew very well her strengths and weaknesses and diplomacy just wasn't one of them. "Those fighting for the mutant cause could use more like you who are able to fight with words more than fists and blades."
Posted by arrowatch on Dec 23, 2009 15:31:05 GMT -6
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Anthony listened and nodded at Chris, and agreed with Meld's diagnosis with a nod. Meld turned next to him. "And thank you very much for backing me up there, you are much more the diplomat than I am. Those fighting for the mutant cause could use more like you who are able to fight with words more than fists and blades."
Anthony pondered this, and came up with an appropriate response. He fingered the chain around his neck, and smiled a little. "Revolutions need guns. Rights movements need words. Any group with more of the former is the former, not the latter. Ask yourself which your cause is, and which you'd rather be part of. Me? I don't do revolutions... Though, a girl as good looking as yourself could always change my mind. " Anthony winked at Meld, and turned himself to Chris Berg, Non-alien fish man.
"Now, what's a fearsome shark like you doing scaring little girls, anyway?"