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.
Should Sebastian expect company? "I believe so. And wash your hands, please. I know you wear gloves, but he seems to have a keen sense of smell when it comes to blood." Her smile resumed and she shrugged to the listening Hunter. No harm, no foul. It was simply an attribute of Hunter's that Maya would rather accommodate rather than test.
"See you soon." She clicked off the phone without saying goodbye. They were two blocks away. It would take them no time to get there.
"Would you care to join me, Mister Hunter? He'll be expecting us shortly." She wouldn't strong arm him into it since neither party seemed super enthusiastic, but she would not take a polite refusal. He would have to come up with a pretty good reason for Maya to let him off the hook.
She offered the vampire her thin, pale arm. Whether she escorted him or he escorted her made no difference as long as he did not need a snack on the way home.
Besides. She needed to go home to put away her flowers before they began to wilt.
He was really going to do this. Hunter, a man who had spent four centuries killing, was going to meet Sebastian, a man who probably spent millennia healing. The last time they had met Hunter had nearly killed Sebastian, and vice versa. And now, almost two years later, they were going to meet again. What could possibly go wrong?
Hunter took the proffered arm and let Maya lead him on towards the home she shared with Sebastian. He’d almost killed her two days ago. And her son, and everyone else in the store. Now she was leading him to her home. Maya really was one of the few truly good people in the world. How many like here had he callously killed for sport? He wasn’t even sure he had the right to ask for Sebastian’s help, or accept it if the old unicorn offered.
Posted by Sebastian on Jun 1, 2010 22:19:37 GMT -6
Beta Mutant
730
0
May 18, 2013 11:53:12 GMT -6
Holy underworld and all the spirits that were trapped there for eternity, but he was with Ghost right now. What was he supposed to do? The vampire could snap her neck just as fast as he could say “please”. Should he prepare to fight him? Should he offer him food? Not the blood kind, of course... blood.
He had to clean up. Bless Maya for giving his something more constructive to do than wear a track in the floor with pacing. The clinic was sterile, but a pair of soiled gloves rested in the garbage can and he had used a needle that morning, as well. It took less than a minute to remove those items to the dumpster in the alleyway next to the clinic. It took another two minutes to wash his own hands as thoroughly as possible. Twice. Up to the elbows.
He thought the wait would take the rest of eternity, but within moments of drying his hands the bell on the door jangled, just as cheerfully as it would for anyone.
The unicorn man was frozen, petrified not of the man who escorted his wife as properly as any gentleman should a lady, but of what he could do to that lady. Maya seemed happily oblivious to the danger she was in, like the flowers she held had been oblivious to the sheers that had beheaded them.
“Maya,” his voice was strained with worry twisted up with relief. She was alright, but for how long? “...Hunter,” he acknowledged the younger immortal. He tried hard to keep any threatening tones out of his voice. The vampire had his wife, therefore he had all the power in this situation. He could speak first.
Oblivious wasn't a bad place to be. And neither was the arm of a vampire. Hunter was a perfect gentleman now that she wasn't bleeding. He didn't seem to have any urge to make her bleed either. Not bad for a blood drinker.
The walk was short spent in kind company and courtesy.
It only got weird when she pushed open the door and Sebastian was crazy tense. She hadn't been married to the man that long, but she had never seen him that worked up about anything beyond Romanian captivity.
Maya excused herself from the vampire's grip with a polite dip.
"I'll just get a vase for these."
So maybe they hadn't left on the best of terms and they needed to have a man moment to work things out. Men often required these awkward moments, in her experience. Some sort of testosterone thing.
The walk there with Maya had been pleasant. However all he could think of was how Sebastian would react. Maya mentioned that they worked at a clinic so he steeled himself in case there was blood. She’d phoned a head though so Sebastian should clean up. That last thing he’d want to do was send Hunter into a blood frenzy.
Sebastian was clearly not happy he was here. Hunter wasn’t surprised all things considered. When Maya excused herself to go and put the flowers in water he hoped that her no longer being right next to him would calm Sebastian a little.
“Firstly I want to apologise,” he began, “I regret both the circumstances of our last meeting and my actions there.” He was sincere and hoped Sebastian would believe him. If not and Sebastian just wanted him to leave then he would walk away and not bother him again for all time.
Posted by Sebastian on Jun 2, 2010 21:41:59 GMT -6
Beta Mutant
730
0
May 18, 2013 11:53:12 GMT -6
The farther away Maya got from the vampire, the better Sebastian felt. It was only a marginal difference, though. He wouldn't feel a hundred percent at ease so long as the two of them were in the same country, let alone the same building. He much preferred it when Hunter was off leaving a trail of corpses back in Transylvania or wherever he had been the past two years.
Sebastian remained still while slipped out from Hunter's grasp, remained still while she walked away from him, remained still when Hunter didn't disappear after her in a murderous blur. Only the very tip of his tail twitched while the vampire spoke.
The words confused him. Hunter's tone of voice confused him. Even his posture confused him. He was sorry? He was genuinely, truthfully sorry? He wasn't seeking vengeance for past injuries or brutally murdering anyone's wife for fun?
Sebastian stood quietly for a time, letting those words, tones, and actions sink in. It didn't make any sense, unless Hunter needed something that only Sebastian could give him and was putting on an elaborate act of some sort.
“Why are you really here?” His tone was polite, but his words were abrupt.
The vase sat beneath the sink upstairs. Maya took the wooden steps two or three at a time. Sometimes long legs came in handy. Once she unlocked the door to their apartment, she made a bee line for the small kitchen. The vase filled with water and Ghost hummed an oblivious little song.
She filled the kettle too. Just in case Hunter stayed for tea.
Hunter took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Sebastian didn’t believe him. Nor had he relaxed now Maya was further away. Hunter didn’t blame him on either account. With his powers he could incapacitate Sebastian without alerting Maya and then make him watch as he killed her. In the past that would have been a probable reason for why he was here.
“I would be lying if I said that the only reason I have come here is to apologise to you,” Hunter confessed, “But it is my primary one. All I ask is that you hear me out. If after that you want nothing to do with me I’ll leave and you’ll never see me again.” This was the one and only time Hunter would make contact with Sebastian if he didn’t want him to.”
“I have spent the past two years revaluating my life. I went to a monastery I knew of in Tibet. The master there helped me. He changed my psychic abilities and pointed them inward. With effort I can now restrain my abilities and my need for blood. While I still crave for it I no longer need to kill others to live so long as I don’t use my powers,” he explained, “But that hasn’t taken away the desire to feed on people. Two days ago Maya cut herself and the smell of her blood almost pushed me over the edge. She only just managed to lock me away before I lost control.” He paused and hung his head in shame. Truly he was a monster.
“I also had time to look back at my past,” he said after meeting Sebastian’s gaze again. There were tears in his eyes but he remained composed. “And truthfully I am ashamed of the monster I have become. I could blame how I was on any number of things but that doesn’t change what I did. I’m trying to make amends but I’ve done so much evil that I can’t help but feel no matter what I do it will never be enough. How do you live for so long without just giving in and doing what you want?” He also wanted to ask how can you love someone knowing that they will grow old and die while you carry on, forever.
Two days ago had been the day Jude had said a cranky customer had thrown him out of Maya's office. Maya had failed to mention that the customer had been a notorious vampire thirsting after her blood and that she'd only narrowly escaped being eaten alive. Clearly they needed to work on their communication skills. Sebastian clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms where Maya's skin tone permanently stained them, but he let Hunter talk.
He didn't think two years of evaluation, two years of blood drinking was enough to change a man as drastically as Hunter claimed to have been changed. Not a man that had such a long history of murder and bloodshed before that. Two years was barely a blink of an eye for them, a drop in the ocean.
Nor was two minutes enough time for a unicorn man to get used to the idea that someone could change, not even if there were tears shining in the corners of his eyes. Crocodiles could tear up too, he'd heard. He didn't know how to respond to any of that, but the question at the end: that he had a response to.
“I killed one person, long ago. I have no desire ever to do it again. I've found that killing, power, money; none of it really matters in the end. It's loving people that makes living worthwhile.”
"...everybody nice sweaters and teach them how to dance. Let's get rich and build a house on a mountain makin' everybody look like ants from way up there, you and I. You and I." Ingrid Michaelson played a lot at on the XM radio at the store. Ghost alternated between quiet singing and humming. It kept her mind off of the bonding that was no doubt happening down stairs.
Also getting together a tray for tea was a great diversion. The tea was seeping inside the hot kettle. She had three cups and saucers, sugar lumps and sugar alternative, spoons, short bread biscuits, a bud vase and a few of the flowers from Hunter's bouquet... Oh! Napkins. She added a couple to the tray and then all that was left was to loiter.
But then the tea would get cold...
She waited as long as she could before gathering everything up and making her way down the stairs. The way was narrow and the going was slow. There was no need to rush and spill something.
Sebastian didn’t believe him. Not really a surprise though. Unlike normal people two years is no time at all to Hunter and even less to Sebastian. Could he really have changed this much in such a short space of time? He felt like he was a changed man. No longer did he want to hurt people but to help them. But that didn’t make him suddenly good, did it?
“I could give so many reasons why I became a monster,” he said keeping his voice as level as he could, “But none of them will undo anything I did.” Sebastian said that it was loving people that made living worthwhile. He’d loved Katherine and it had nearly killed him. It had killed so many others.
“How can you love knowing that they’re all going to die?” he asked, blurting the question out. It was something that had to know the answer to. How did Sebastian keep going? How could he just stand and watch as everyone around him withered and died? How could he still bring himself to be close to them knowing that they’d all be torn away in time?
Posted by Sebastian on Jun 12, 2010 13:29:56 GMT -6
Beta Mutant
730
0
May 18, 2013 11:53:12 GMT -6
Sebastian exhaled through his nose. “No, we can't ever undo what we did.” Even after all this time, he still regretted the life he had taken. “A murder doesn't end just one life; it also ends all the infinite lives of their possible descendants: possible doctors, mathematicians, philosophers, artists, kings, playwrights, or the forefather or someone you might someday come to care about very much,” he could have continued, but Hunter didn't need a speech. Changed men didn't need speeches to convince them, and lying manipulative murders wouldn't take them to heart.
Yet, it seemed that Hunter was listening; he was even asking sincere questions. Or blurting them, rather, like an over eager grade school student. The idea of Hunter as a young student and himself as his wise old teacher seemed so preposterous that the unicorn man couldn't help but let his expression soften. It wasn't a smile, but it was a hair closer to one than his previously stone faced glower.
As the old philosophers had done, Sebastian answered a question with a question, “How can you not love?”
Hunter's question had been very revealing, whether he had meant it to or not. A question like that meant one of three things; he had either loved someone and been deeply hurt by their loss, had never loved anyone and was lonely, or was currently falling in love and had no idea what to do about it. No matter which it was, it also meant he was afraid. Afraid of love, of all things. It made Sebastian feel very sorry for him.
“It is true that losing someone you love is painful; there is no worse injury than heartbreak. However, spending a lifetime, or many lifetimes, without loving does more damage to a heart than the death of a loved one ever did. What's more, it is much harder to heal.” Sebastian's crystal blue gaze met Hunter's silver, his expression completely serious. He didn't say it, but the implication was there; Hunter had a lot of healing to do.
“If you have all of eternity to live, time does not seem to be a very precious thing. It is easy to throw away, because you have so much. The passing of years becomes monotonous until you long for the endless cycle to finally stop, because death is the only thing left you haven't experienced and you long for something, anything new.” Sebastian tilted his head to one side thoughtfully, “but, then, you're still young. Maybe you haven't felt that way yet.
“When you love, you cherish life and every precious second you have with that person. Then, when the inevitable time comes that death parts you from them, you will remember them. Forever. The pain, no matter how great, fades with time, but your memories of that person live on and they never truly die so long as you are still alive.”
Sebastian took a breath and watched carefully for the younger immortal's reaction to his words. He was still uncomfortable having him over for a visit with someone he loved so close by and he would not let his guard down, but the man was at least listening, and that had to be worth something.
She couldn't help but overhear. It wasn't eavesdropping when she was trying to bring tea, right? And had hesitated just out of view for a moment... and had hear things... How could she keep from hearing things? She had ears!
When there seemed a natural break in the conversation she took those last few steps. "Anyone care for tea? Please, sit."
What Sebastian had neglected to share, Maya noticed, was that their love have an expiration date. She would likely be one of Sebastian's shorter lived wives with the standings as they were, but they had been over the issue a hundred million times. If there is no way around it then there has to be a way through it. There was no reason to alter her life's habits in the off chance that it would help.
That meant that this air elemental was going to serve the vampire tea.
Sebastian’s words cut right to the heart of it. What kind of monster took lives with no regard for the consequences beyond the immediate? How many people whose lives Hunter had taken had families? And how many families had he killed wholesale ending their lineage in a short burst of bloody violence? What kind of monster was he? A question he had been asking himself a lot lately. One too which he still did not have the answer. Did Sebastian? Would Hunter want to know if he did?
Regardless something Hunter was doing was working. Sebastian’s expression had softened a tad. He was far from thrilled about Hunter being here with his wife nearby but the idea didn’t seem quite so abhorrent.
How could he not love? Steeling yourself and warding your heart off from the world was easier than you would think once you had lost someone so precious to you. Hunter listened intently to Sebastian’s words. It was nice to talk to someone older than him, someone who had more experience. For so long he had been wondering through the ages alone. The monotony of time is what had driven him to try and rule the world. Something to pass the time. Spending that time loving instead would be better for everyone but could he bring himself to do that? Could Hunter Antonescu love again?
His mind strayed to Katrina. She was like a niece to him. But even there he was still keeping his distance, holding a part of himself back. He wouldn’t let himself get too attached because he knew that someday, decades from now, she would die. The idea of losing someone he cared deeply for terrified him more than any threat he’d ever faced.
Hunter was glad of Maya’s interruption with the tea. It gave him a moment to gather his thoughts to try and answer Sebastian. He followed her and took a seat as well as the offered tea. Taking a sip he set it down before answering.
“I don’t know if I can endure another heartbreak,” he said honestly, “it almost drove me insane. Probably did for a time. But I am so very tired of being alone. Where you filled your time with love and life I filled mine with blood and death.”
Images filled his mind of all the lives he’d destroyed. He’d always had a thing for weddings. At the time he’d believed that turning such a joyous into a terrifying one heightened the experience for him but now he was beginning to see the truth. He hated them for the love they had for one another. A love that they freely expressed. He was walking alongside their world, an outsider looking in. Unable to have it himself he made sure others didn’t either. If he couldn’t be happy then no one should.
His head sunk into his hands as his composure failed him, his shoulder shaking from silent sobs. “Kill me,” he begged quietly muttering the words through the sobs over and over again, “Please kill me. Please kill me. Please kill me. Please kill me. Please kill me. Please kill me. Please kill me.”
Posted by Sebastian on Jun 14, 2010 21:45:56 GMT -6
Beta Mutant
730
0
May 18, 2013 11:53:12 GMT -6
His wife would insist on serving a vampire tea. Despite the fact that he had almost killed her forty eight hours ago, despite the fact that he could kill her in an instant if he had a mind to, his wife would serve them tea. It was a preposterously silly and downright dangerous idea, but she would do it anyway. And he would let her. That's who she was and he wasn't about to be the one to tell her no.
The fact that Hunter had looked properly ashamed of himself and had listened with rapt attention through his entire speech helped a little, too. It would take a special kind of cruelty to listen through that then kill someone's wife directly afterwards. That was the reason Sebastian made certain to place himself between his airy bride and the blood drinking immortal.
His smile to his wife as she poured the tea was a little strained. “Be careful. That's hot.” Two separate ideas there.
Hunter was the first to actually try the tea, and the first to speak again once it had been tasted. Sebastian never got around to tasting his. He was on his feet and before he even had a chance to think about it his arm was reaching across the empty space to keep Ghost behind him, just in case she was temped to console him. That would be approximately as safe as consoling a mother grizzly whose cub had just been killed; it was also just the kind of thing he thought Maya might do. Be careful, his arm reminded her.
To Hunter he responded in a level voice, hoping to calm him, “I cannot do what you ask. I know neither poison nor weapon capable of ending an immortal life. Even if I did, I would not use it against you. You have been given something most people never get; a second chance. If you die now, all the changes you say you've made so far would be a waste, all the potential you have for righting what you have wronged would die with you. I cannot do that.
“Dying is an easy way to escape your obligations here,” Sebastian waved his free hand to indicate the world in general, “but do you really want to go on to whatever realm comes after this one with the balance hanging as it is?”