The X-men run missions and work together with the NYPD, striving to maintain a peaceful balance between humans and mutants. When it comes to a fight, they won't back down from protecting those who need their help.
Haven presents itself as a humanitarian organization for activists, leaders, and high society, yet mutants are the secret leaders working to protect and serve their kind. Behind the scenes they bring their goals into reality.
From the time when mutants became known to the world, SUPER was founded as a black-ops division of the CIA in an attempt to classify, observe, and learn more about this new and rising threat.
The Syndicate works to help bring mutantkind to the forefront of the world. They work from the shadows, a beacon of hope for mutants, but a bane to mankind. With their guiding hand, humanity will finally find extinction.
Since the existence of mutants was first revealed in the nineties, the world has become a changed place. Whether they're genetic misfits or the next stage in humanity's evolution, there's no denying their growing numbers, especially in hubs like New York City. The NYPD has a division devoted to mutant related crimes. Super-powered vigilantes help to maintain the peace. Those who style themselves as Homo Superior work to tear society apart for rebuilding in their own image.
MRO is an intermediate to advanced writing level original character, original plot X-Men RPG. We've been open and active since October of 2005. You can play as a mutant, human, or Adapted— one of the rare humans who nullify mutant powers by their very existence. Goodies, baddies, and neutrals are all welcome.
Short Term Plots:Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
The Fountain of Youth
A chemical serum has been released that's shaving a few years off of the population. In some cases, found to be temporary, and in others...?
MRO MOVES WITH CURRENT TIME: What month and year it is now in real life, it's the same for MRO, too.
Fuegogrande: "Fuegogrande" player of The Ranger, Ion, Rhia, and Null
Neopolitan: "Aly" player of Rebecca Grey, Stephanie Graves, Marisol Cervantes, Vanessa Bookman, Chrysanthemum Van Hart, Sabine Sang, Eupraxia
Ongoing Plots
Magic and Mystics
After the events of the 2020 Harvest Moon and the following Winter Solstice, magic has started manifesting in the MROvere! With the efforts of the Welldrinker Cult, people are being converted into Mystics, a species of people genetically disposed to be great conduits for magical energy.
The Welldrinker Cult
A shadowy group is gaining power, drawing in people who are curious, vulnerable, or malicious, and turning them into Mystics. They are recruiting people into their ranks to spread the influence of magic in the world, but for what end goal?
Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
Adapteds
What if the human race began to adapt to the mutant threat? What if the human race changed ever so subtly... without the x-gene.
Atlanteans
The lost city of Atlantis has been found! Refugees from this undersea mutant dystopia have started to filter in to New York as citizens and businessfolk. You may make one as a player character of run into one on the street.
Got a plot in mind?
MRO plots are player-created the Mods facilitate and organize the big ones, but we get the ideas from you. Do you have a plot in mind, and want to know whether it needs Mod approval? Check out our plot guidelines.
Posted by Kaitlyn Faust on Jul 27, 2011 22:55:12 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
866
13
Jul 17, 2017 23:56:20 GMT -6
Kaitlyn bolted upright, staring wide-eyed into the darkness. It took her a second to realize that she was still in her bed at the Sanctuary. She wasn't back at her old home with her father. She wasn't getting shot at by an invincible madwoman in the zoo. All of that was just a bad dream. She was safe. Shaken, but safe.
This wouldn't make going back to sleep any easier for her, though.
Once again, she considered waking Lori up and telling her about her bad dreams. Once again, she shot the idea down almost immediately. Even if Lori was her mother now, (and she saw the adoption papers, so it had to be true) this wasn't how she was used to dealing with bad dreams. She dealt with bad dreams by keeping them to herself and hoping that they'd just stop one day. That's how healthy, sensible people dealt with these kinds of issues.
If Kaitlyn was going to have trouble sleeping, she decided she would go hang out in the rec room until she was tired again. Maybe she could have the TV to herself, if nobody else was there.
* * *
SCARY MOVIE NIGHT, read the sign taped to the doors of the rec room. A roar of laughter came from within. Kaitlyn could make out somebody yelling, "He looks just like you, Victor!"
"Most handsome man in the whole movie," replied another, likely Victor himself. More laughter soon followed.
Kaitlyn knew she wasn't welcome in there. The first scary movie she saw at the Sanctuary, "Alien," was doomed to be her last, and with good reason. That scene with the chest-burster made her blow up the couch. After she saw the full-grown alien itself, they had to replace the TV. And give several other residents medical attention. It wasn't pretty.
Maybe she could find something good to read in the library?
After navigating a veritable maze of dimly lit hallways, she reached her destination. The lights were off inside the library, and the light that came in through the windows wasn't even enough to let the Orderling navigate without running into a bookshelf, much less read. Kaitlyn didn't know how to turn the lights back on. She did, however, know where the librarians kept emergency flashlights for when something knocked out power to the Sanctuary. She felt her way through the dark room, then ducked behind the librarians' desk and started rummaging through its drawers.
...You've heard stories about me? Don't listen to them! It's safe to sit next to me, really!
Once again that night Aurion wiggled his head and tail, twitched his feet and hands, as he lay down trying to sleep. He had at first started out on the bed, it had seemed comfortable enough to him when he had first tested it out, but as the night progressed it felt too odd to sleep on something so alien, so....human. Once moved to the floor he curled up as he normally did, tucking the fin of his tail under his body as he slept. Or tried to sleep.
It had been like this since he had come to the Sanctuary and gotten his own room. His first night, or morning depending on who you asked, he had slept almost instantly and easily at the foot of Lydia's bed on the floor. Maybe that had been because of their run, his two days of hunger with no food, then suddenly being more full than he was use to, and meeting Lydia, a mutant, like himself, all rolled together. Maybe that's why he had slept so well that first time, even if he hadn't slept long.
He knew what he was doing now wasn't easy and it went against his normal sleeping pattern. Aurion was almost always awake at night, moving around, stalking someone or something for food, and trying to find a safe place, or places, to sleep during the day. This whole 'sleep at night' thing was foreign to his body, but not his mind. Most people did just that, hid in their 'safe' little houses and enclosed worlds when the sun went down, fearing what lurked in the dark. He knew why, he had felt it for a while too. It was an old fear, something inherent in all humans. The darkness and shadows hid, sheltered, and protected the predators and monsters that longed to snatch a claw out and steal their lives and futures away forever.
Yes he had remembered that well when he had first taken to the streets, sewers, back alleys and other unsavory places within the city. For a long while he had been too nervous to sleep at night, too afraid. To this day Aurion could not remember when that had changed, but he could say why he stopped being afraid and embraced the shadows, the darkness that humans unconsciously fled from; Aurion realized he was the predator, he was the monster they were afraid of, the shadows and darkness of night were his home. When he realized this, he embraced it as easily as a fish takes to water.
If that also meant that it was less likely to encounter people, at least sober people, and stay safer as a result, so be it. So he had spent years with a reversed sleep schedule, sleep during the day, awake at night. Now he was trying to change that around. As he had guessed, most people, mutants, his people, slept at night and were awake during the day. This set him apart from them and he was eager to know them, or at least to have the ability to know them. He still had not seen anyone as blatantly disfigured as he was, but that was alright with him, he was different, unique, special, even among mutants.
~~~~~~
Aurion's eyes snapped instantly when he heard footsteps go past his door in the hall. His yellow eyes caught what little light there was in the room and reflected it around and made his eyes glow in the dark room. He hadn't slept long at all and not well either. He let out a rumbling sigh as he stretched his body out while at the same time flexed most of his muscles, it would have looked odd, awkward and stiff if anyone had seen him, but damn it felt good.
There was a clock in the room, but he hadn't yet gotten use to looking at it or paying it any attention. So when he wanted to see the time and find out how long he had slept it took him a moment longer than it probably should have, to find it. A short park of a laugh, "Heh." It had only been a few hours since he had laid down. 'Hell,' He thought to himself, 'this sucks.'
He padded up to his door and carefully opened it, made sure to get his tail out of the way before letting it shut. He had learned that lesson quickly and easily. Unconsciously he glanced at his fin and could feel where the door had pinched it. That had brought tears to Aurion's eyes and a loud 'yelp!' from his mouth. He had almost busted down the door to get his tail free, but he didn't. It would have been faster, but probably not good.
Aurion considered both directions of the hall where his room was, trying to decide where to go. He knew nothing would happen if he stayed in his room, so he might as well do something. He had briefly thought of going outside and finding some sport there, but decided against it just in case someone followed him back to the Sanctuary. He hadn't done much exploring of the different areas of Sanctuary, he had mostly been trying to get his barrings and remember how to get around.
'Not tonight,' He said to himself. He decided to let his mind wander as he padded down the halls. He would end up wherever he ended up.
~~~~~
At some point his mind had returned to him from it's wanderings and locked onto something he didn't know about. When he realized his was no longer absent minded, he was standing in the doorway of a room that he should have recognized instantly. It's a sad thing he didn't, at least not right away, having only been inside a library a handful of times or less. If his nose wasn't so deformed and his sense of smell so diminished he would easily have been able to smell the paper in the air, books laden with hundreds of thousands of pages, their smell lingering in the air, mixing with the binding glue and leather covers.
Yes he should have known, should have been able to smell it, but he couldn't. He did feel something though. Like a light pressure from the room. It could have been his imagination, but once he got a good look inside he could put a word on the room, 'Library'. He remembered reading books when he was younger. 'Goosebumps', 'Animorphs', 'Boxcar Children'. He hadn't picked up a book in years. Aurion took a few tentative steps towards and into the library. The pressure seemed to wash over him, embrace him, but it wasn't oppressive, it was the pressure of knowledge, of understanding, that's what he believed at least. But in reality it was probably just the way the central air worked in the giant room.
He moved slowly inside the place, sometimes on his legs, sometimes on three or four limbs, but he always tried to keep an eye on his tail and keep it from knocking anything over. It didn't take long for him to spy a book laying on a table. Someone had obviously been too lazy to put it back, but as Aurion walked up to it he saw the title, 'The Hork-Bajir Chronicles'. He was sure the book was left out just for him. He crouched as he reached the table, sitting back on his legs, while slowly and carefully using one clawed finger to open the cover and begin reading.
Posted by Kaitlyn Faust on Jul 28, 2011 11:40:37 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
866
13
Jul 17, 2017 23:56:20 GMT -6
Tape... pens... paper... books... torn-up books... glue... stapler... staple remover... flashlight! Katilyn snatched the flashlight out of the desk and tried to turn it on. After a few clicks, she had light! Now, she could go out and find something good to read. And she was going to do just that. But...
Okay, it wasn't like Kaitlyn had never seen a weird-looking mutant before. She saw them every day! There was this one guy, right, whose head was always on fire. There was a giant red guy who had like eight identical twins. And there was Meld, who looked like somebody had replaced some parts of her body with sharp, pointy metal parts. And as weird as they looked, they were all nice people. If there was ever a little girl who accepted and understood this kind of thing, it was her.
But the library is kind of an eerie place at night, especially when you don't have low-light vision to help you out. And she was already a little shaken from her bad dreams. And she would have been surprised if she'd shone her flashlight over there and found anythingone standing on that table.
And, yeesh, this guy looked more like one of those monsters from Alien than anything else. He didn't even look like a person! For all Kaitlyn knew, that thing was going to jump out and eat her!
...Okay, that sounded a little bit insensitive.
Kaitlyn couldn't help it if she got a little scared when she saw that guy crouched on the table over there. What was he doing up there, anyway? Didn't he know he could startle someone like that? And she didn't exactly scream when she saw him. She merely...
Yeah... she screamed. And her mutation set itself off. The next thing she knew, her flashlight was completely destroyed. The table that guy had been crouched on was sent flying. Most of the other tables and chairs nearby were knocked over, as well as several bookshelves, which acted like dominoes and fell over on other bookshelves. This was going to be difficult to clean up.
And she had gone so long without an accident, too. This was all pretty embarrassing.
Once she realized what had just happened, and her ears had stopped ringing, she called out, "Sorry! Are you okay?" In that light, there was really no way for her to tell.
...You've heard stories about me? Don't listen to them! It's safe to sit next to me, really!
It was very easy to notice the light when it turned on. With Aurion's night-vision he could easily make out a little girl, but he paid her no mind as he looked back to the book. He picked up where he had left off after re-reading the line above just to make sure and get the rhythm again. Normally, out in the city, he would have ducked and ran to find a place to hide. Perhaps it was the Sanctuary and being there put him at ease, maybe it was because he was in a library and she was a little girl, but more likely it was the book he was reading. She posed no immediate threat to his reading.
It was hard to read when the girls flashlight put a spotlight on him. He looked up to stare the girl in the eyes. His pupils closed until they were just slits, his eyes reflecting light and glowed. Aurion did not do anything to stop the girls reaction especially when his lip curled up in annoyance, showing his long fang-like teeth, which also gleamed in the light. He hadn't realized, or noticed his tail had raised up and curled towards the girl, fin stiff and hard as the end twitched back and forth.
Her scream was quite loud and took him by surprise, mostly. His face went slack-jawed as the table came up and its edge smashed into mouth hard enough to crack one of his teeth. Aurion felt the tooth crack down his jaw and into his skull. His vision went white for a moment from the pain. Without knowing he had also been flung into the air he had instinctively begun to orient himself to land safely on his feet.
The only problem he encountered was how high and far he had been flung by the blast. Instead of being close to the floor he was a few feet in the air and his back crashed into the bookshelf that had been behind him. He sat on his rump, something he hardly ever did, it was quite uncomfortable, slightly stunned as the bookshelf rocked back then forward and fell on top of him. He felt books pound down atop his head before the shelf engulfed him. "Gah!" He yelled into the bookshelf forcing him to double up, his head between his knees.
He heard the girl apologize, but it was muffled, he couldn't really make out what else she said, his head was still ringing a bit. He moved his fingers and toes, then his tail to see if they worked. Besides the busing from the impact and fall his tail was fine and it seemed his digits worked fine. He began to wiggle his arms and legs as best he could with the weight of the bookshelf on his back pressing him down.
With inspections done he pushed with his back as best he could to give him room to place his feet under him. Pushing he was able to free his arms, legs and tail, even though he was still hunched over. He got a firm grip on a few of the shelves and used every muscle in his body the heave the shelf up and away from him. The shelf shattered and splintered against the wall thunderously.
Aurion stood surrounded by fallen books, he kicked one out of the way before his head swam and his balance failed him. He dropped low to the ground, crouched lower than he ever did and used his tail to help hold him up. "Ow!" He said loudly before spitting his broken tooth at the girl.
Posted by Kaitlyn Faust on Jul 28, 2011 23:10:05 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
866
13
Jul 17, 2017 23:56:20 GMT -6
Kaitlyn stared at the mutant's silhouette for a while. He just picked up a bookshelf and threw it like it was nothing. Even though he was probably hurt, he seemed to be doing pretty well, all things considered. There's one problem out of the way.
Now, they had other problems to worry about. For instance, the library looked like a hurricane just came through, and one Orderling didn't want it to be identified as Hurricane Kaitlyn. The other mutants were just starting to feel comfortable around her again. They weren't as afraid of her mutation's going off as they used to be; it had been over a month since her last accident. She didn't want that to reset itself. But all of that noise was certain to draw people to the library, and if they found her standing around this mess, everything she had worked for would go down the drain. People would start rumors about her again. They would be afraid of her again.
Maybe, if they both got out of here quickly enough, she could deny all knowledge of this whole situation and keep her reputation intact. In the back of the library, there was a set of doors leading to a rarely used stairwell.
"Uh... we should get outta here. This way."
In one fluid motion, Kaitlyn turned around, gestured for the other mutant to follow, then tripped over an unseen chair and fell flat on her face.
She scrambled to her feet and kept moving, this time much more carefully. "I'm okay."
...You've heard stories about me? Don't listen to them! It's safe to sit next to me, really!
Aurion looked around the now destroyed library when he saw the girl look around. He didn't see anything wrong with the scene. It was just messy with shelves and books everywhere. Oh, and one bookshelf that could used as kindling.
"Uh... we should get outta here. This way."
'Why?' He thought to himself as he looked at her in mild confusion. Only once she had started to move did it occur to him what the issue was. "Oh." He said as he tried to lean forward. It didn't work the first few times. Aurion had to put a bit of effort into it to stand and balance. 'This would be bad if I got caught here. I didn't do it...well, except for the shelf...But who would believe me.'
Aurion hadn't seen her trip and fall, he had been too preoccupied with getting up. "Good." Was all he said as he passed her, clearly seeing the doors she was heading towards. He tried to open the door but could get a good grip on the handle. In frustration he used his tail to balance and he raised one leg and kicked the door open and slipped inside, holding it open with his tail.
When they were both through and clear of the door, he shoved it into place hoping it would stay and that it wouldn't be obvious, at least not right away, that they had exited through the door. "Go where?"
Posted by Kaitlyn Faust on Aug 2, 2011 0:50:10 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
866
13
Jul 17, 2017 23:56:20 GMT -6
Kaitlyn noticed that he was having trouble with the door, and was just about to reach out and help him when he got frustrated and kicked the door in. Finally, in the flickering fluorescent light of the stairway, Kaitlyn got another good look at him. Her eyes lingered on the long, pointed spikes in his mouth that he called 'teeth,' allowing her mind to meander down morbid corridors, considering how those teeth have been used, or might be used in the future.
>>"Go where?"
Has he ever eaten anyone? No, she shouldn't think things like that. That was kind of insensitive. She could just as easily ask something like that about the man with shark teeth who worked in the dining hall, but she knew that he would never do anything like that. Neither would this guy. This guy, who asked her a question a few moments ago while she just stood there and stared at him and thought about how weird he looked.
"Uh... I'm supposed to be sleeping in my room right now. That's a few floors up, and it's not too far from where these stairs let out. We could go hide in there."
Suddenly, she imagined sitting around in close quarters with this guy and almost considered withdrawing the invitation. Not that she had anything against funny-looking mutants. She definitely didn't. This was a place where mutants where supposed to feel at home, without being judged for what they looked like or how much property damage they could cause accidentally on a weekly basis.
Now that Aurion was no longer reading his mind was working as normally as ever. His ears picked up sounds others may have missed, not that they were actually better than anyone else's, but most people tuned a lot of things out that he had not had the luxury of tuning out on the street. His eyes moved and took in everything he saw. He saw this girl, a child really, looking at him without responding to his question for a moment or two. He was sure she was looking him over again, but this time in decent light and without the aspect of surprise or shock to muddle the image she saw.
For just a moment as his eyes were on hers, he thought he caught something, a flicker or flash, a ghost of a thought flitter across her eyes. Before he could register what he might have seen, she answered.
"Uh... I'm supposed to be sleeping in my room right now. That's a few floors up, and it's not too far from where these stairs let out. We could go hide in there."
There, it was there again he saw, but different from the last. He hadn't taken his eyes off hers. She had invited him to hide in her room, where she was apparently suppose to be sleeping. Aurion thought, maybe imagined, a small shudder or withdrawal from her own words.
He remembered seeing something in the eyes of the man who pointed a shotgun at him just before he pulled the trigger. Aurion had no idea exactly what he had seen, he could never put words to it. There hadn't been time then to think about it. It wasn't the exact same with this girl though. He had moments, what seemed like quite a while to him, to mull it over and around in his thick skull. Disgust? Fear? Revulsion? Loathing? Distrust? Obviously, to him, whatever it was she had thought, or was thinking was positive towards him.
He finally took his eyes from hers, "You room. Safe. I go." Yes it might have been a bit petulant or childish, but even if he didn't know for a fact what she thought, he knew what he saw (or imagined he saw), and wanted her to know he saw. Not to mention she broke one of his teeth. His tongue flickered in and out between his slightly opened lips, through the gap in his teeth.
He had been hit by cars, shot at, beaten, and had other painful things happen to him. And yes, that did help him raise his pain tolerance quite a bit, but really, few things compare to the pain of a tooth not only having to push a dead or useless tooth out and dislodge it, but also to come in behind it cutting its own way into his mouth.
Aurion got slightly annoyed thinking about it. What had he done besides be born with the curse of a mutation that made him look like a twisted nightmarish creature, one that could probably shatter a mirror just by looking at it. SHE was human, like Lydia, without a mutation that put her at odds with the world around her. And she was a child, and children are cruel, even if they don't mean to be. They judge and act on what they see without thinking. They look down at others for stupid reasons.
Aurion's right hand had tightened where it rested, putting small scrapes in the stair it rested on. He let out a slow, hissing breath as his shoulders sagged a bit. 'I'm doing the same thing though aren't I? The exact thing she is. I don't know what she's gone through, I don't know her reasons. Hell, it's possible I'm the most inhuman looking person she's ever seen.' With that though he started moving up the stairs as quietly as he could without being excessively slow. Not an easy thing to do with claw.
Posted by Kaitlyn Faust on Aug 6, 2011 15:03:26 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
866
13
Jul 17, 2017 23:56:20 GMT -6
>> "You room. Safe. I go."
Invitation accepted. Great. If she had trouble sleeping earlier...
No. Stop thinking like that, Kaitlyn mentally rebuked herself. So what if he looked like a horrifying monster that eats people alive in their nightmares? He was a person, too. And she had just knocked him across the library, because he startled her and he looked really creepy. She even screamed at him. He must be feeling really bad right about now. Or, at least, he must have been thinking something really bad about her.
Guilt swelled up in her chest as she made her way past him and up the stairwell. The tiny orderling had to say something, anything, to make it better.
When they finally made it to her floor, she stood on the landing and looked down towards him. "I'm sorry I screamed at you. It's just that... I thought you were someone else." She lied. "And my power just kinda... I can't control it very well. Sorry." She held the door to the hallway open for him as he drew near. "Please don't tell anyone about this."
...You've heard stories about me? Don't listen to them! It's safe to sit next to me, really!
For a short time Aurion thought the girl would follow behind him as they went up the stairs, as if he were going to lead the way. 'Like I know the way, pfft.' He nearly chuckled aloud, but he managed to keep it inside his head. It seemed, at least to him, that his mood tended to swing around often and somewhat abruptly. Offhandedly he wondered if that was a sign of some mental issue he had, maybe he was bipolar or something. Instead of thinking about that any further, he lost the thoughts as the girl moved past him as they reached what seemed to be their destination, or at least to the end of their upward climb of the stairs.
Aurion hadn't really be paying too much attention, still actively trying to stay quiet on the stairs, to notice the girl had stopped and looked down towards him. It was only when he saw her foot, not moving, that he stopped at looked up at her and into her eyes as she spoke. As she did one eyebrow rose, though it couldn't really be seen, and his lower jaw moved down and to the left while his eyes narrowed at her.
He could tell, well, thought, she was trying to apologize, but she was lying to him to do it. Covering it up with a falsity that, he guessed, she thought would make him feel better. It didn't. It got on his nerves. "Bulls**t." He said, surprisingly clearly. Clearly enough that it nearly startled him. "No lie. Not dumb."
He pointed to her with one long sharp finger, though he kept it away from her, "You kid. You Human." He pointed to himself, "Monster. You scream." Aurion sighed, all traces of negative emotions and feelings flowing out with the exhaled air. He moved up to the landing and started to move his hand to pat her on the head, but stopped before really making the movement, thinking better of it. "It okay." He tried to smile and gave her his best, friendly, wink. "My fault, alone. Bad tail, wobbly shelf." Whether the smile and wink looked or accomplished what he wanted, he could only hope.
"Why not sleep....ahh...." He looked at her as he passed into the hallway, "What name?"
Posted by Kaitlyn Faust on Aug 15, 2011 0:20:23 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
866
13
Jul 17, 2017 23:56:20 GMT -6
>>"You kid. You Human."
These words hurt. The word 'human' carried a lot of emotional weight around the Sanctuary. Beyond simply lacking an x-gene, it suggested a lack of understanding for the mutant condition, and often even hatred for those who had it. It suggested a class of people who sat at the top of society and, out of fear or loathing, tried to ensure that mutants couldn't join them there. It suggested the type of person who wasn't welcome at the Sanctuary.
Kaitlyn's eyes began to water a little. She looked down at her feet, hoping he wouldn't notice.
>>"It okay."
The girl looked up at him again, and it took a few seconds to realize that he was trying to smile at her. She rubbed her eyes and smiled back, though she still felt pretty bad about herself.
>>"Why not sleep....ahh.... What name?"
"Kaitlyn," she said, closing the door behind them. "And I've been having bad dreams." She kept her voice down as she began to lead him down the hallway.
...You've heard stories about me? Don't listen to them! It's safe to sit next to me, really!
Ok, yeah, now Aurion felt like a complete jerk. An insensitive, morally twisted, disfigured, take-everything-out-on-little-children, jerk. With a capital 'J'. He had wanted her to feel bad about reacting how she did to his appearance, about accidentally breaking his tooth, and mostly for lying to him, but he did want, nor had he intended to make her cry.
'Yeah make a little girl cry dickhead. Big bad Aurion picking on kids, bet you feel great don't you.' 'Shut up, you know I didn't mean to do that. I mean, common....' 'Tell her that moron, not me. . . . Ya know, it's probably a bad sign you're talking AND answering yourself.'
His short mental exchange took no time at all, but it the girl had wiped her eyes and smiled back at him. Maybe she understood him, what he had been trying to say. Maybe she realized he wasn't really mad or upset with her. Where he had previously decided against it, he moved his hand to pat her head gently. If she cringed back from him or any such thing, he'd stop and not hold it against her.
As they moved from the stairwell down the hall he kept looking around them. He tried to listen to everything around him, but he wasn't quite use to how sounds echoed and bounced around the halls yet. He caught himself listening to the slight sound 'Click, click, clickclick' that was being brought back to him from his own footfalls.
Aurion had had his share of bad dreams throughout the years. He had lived a life of nothing but nightmares for years. They were the only things he had seen whenever he went to sleep. He knew a thing or two about them. They. Sucked. Monkeyballs. "What happens dreams Kait-lyn?" He had to force her name slowly out, really making an effort to say it correctly, even if it was a little drawn out. "Nightmares?"
Posted by Kaitlyn Faust on Aug 15, 2011 23:32:48 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
866
13
Jul 17, 2017 23:56:20 GMT -6
When he patted Kaitlyn on the head, she didn't protest.
When he asked Kaitlyn about the nightmares, she didn't respond immediately. It wasn't something that she liked talking about. But, in some strange way, she felt like she owed it to him to say something about it. She had just knocked the guy across a room, lied to him, and made him really upset. Perhaps she felt that being honest about this could make things a little better between them.
In the time it took for her to overcome her ambivalence, the duo had reached the door to her room. Kaitlyn held it open for him, lest it suffer the same fate as the door to the library. Hers was one of the more sought-after rooms, because it had a window that overlooked the street from several stories up. Next to her bed, there was a small folding table that she used as a desk, complete with a swivel chair not unlike those by the computers in the library. On the desk lay a jar of pens and pencils, binders that she used for homework assigned by her private tutor, and a handful of comic books that Kaitlyn had already read. They were Spider Man comics. The old Spider Man comics, from before they re-wrote him as a mutant and filled his stories with blunt political messages that either went over Kaitlyn's head or made her upset.
Once the door was securely closed behind them, she spoke: "In the dreams, I'm back where I was before I got here."
Suddenly, she realized that she was letting a strange-looking man who was probably more than twice her age, and whose name she didn't even know, into her room. This was something that generally didn't happen. Even if the Sanctuary felt like her family, and even if they were trying to hide so they wouldn't get in trouble for wrecking the library, she had to admit this was kinda weird.
"What's your name, anyway?"
...You've heard stories about me? Don't listen to them! It's safe to sit next to me, really!
They walked in silence until they had reached and entered Kaitlyn's room. Aurion made sure to pull his tail into the room quickly. Even if she had held it open for him, she, like him, might not realize it was still in the doorway when it closed. He had done that before, it sucked. When they were in her room he looked around it, taking it in. The first thing he noticed was the window and he promptly hunched down onto all fours and stayed low so he couldn't be seen by anyone on the street no matter what. What he did next was find a place where he could put his back to the wall yet keep the whole room in view, especially the door and window. He hoped he wouldn't get into Kaitlyn's way at all as he wrapped his tail under him, curled and laid down.
Aurion was going to say something, but it seemed Kaitlyn realized something he hadn't. "Aurion (Are-E-on)" He said making sure he said it carefully enough that she'd get it, and hopefully not mispronounce it. Seeing as she was the second person to know his name, besides himself obviously, he wouldn't be surprised if she did mess it up. "I nightmares too, past. Sometimes still. I sorry." He said in his halting speech. "Where before here?"
Posted by Kaitlyn Faust on Aug 16, 2011 12:07:03 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
866
13
Jul 17, 2017 23:56:20 GMT -6
Aurion. What a strange name.
Kaitlyn walked around Aurion and shut the blinds on the window, then took a seat in her swivel chair. His speech impediment was starting to bother her a little bit, though she tried not to think about it too much. There were plenty of other people whose mutations gave them trouble speaking. Frankly, Aurion's speech was one of the least bizarre things about him. And, speech impediment or no, she still appreciated the sympathy that his words conveyed.
"Before here I was at my dad's apartment."
She tried to shut out her memories of the place, and for the most part, she succeeded. If nothing else, Kaitlyn was adept at shutting out memories. And thank god. There were a lot more explosions at the Sanctuary before she had acquired this skill.
The clock on the wall said 1:30 AM. Instead of reflecting on her past life, Kaitlyn tried to calculate how long they would have to wait before the other residents stopped looking for them. When incidents like this happened, especially in the middle of the night, a particular group of mutants would investigate the scene of the crime, place bets on who did it, then go searching for the one(s) responsible. It was really all just a game, though; nobody ever got in trouble for the damage they caused. Wagers and investigations like these just helped to generate some excitement, to break up the motony. But Kaitlyn still didn't want anyone to know that she was causing accidents again. Hence the hiding, and keeping Aurion out of the way so he couldn't tell other people.
...You've heard stories about me? Don't listen to them! It's safe to sit next to me, really!