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.
Juka knew very well how to make friends. If they weren't enchanged by his looks and personality (hard to believe that they couldn't be but there really was no accounting for taste in some people) then they were surely to be hooked by his undeniable generosity. And what could be more generous than offering to buy a cute mutant girl and her paperclip octupus a serving of sweet delicous ice cream? Clearly nothing.
Juka followed his new friend for ever, Maxine, one step behind her as she lead the way to the ice cream booth, only looking behind them once to see the little paperclip creature trudging along behind them. If he wasn't completely mistaken he might even say that it looked like it was...sulking? Now there was an obersvation he never thought he would have to make. A sulking animated paperclip octopus. Would wonders never cease. "Um, he doesn't want anything does he?" Juka asked, pointing behind them. What did paperclip octopi eat anyway? If they ate at all. There really was so much to learn.
After listening to Maxine order her cold delicous treat, approving whole heartedly of her definitve choices, Juka prepared himself to order as well. Until, that is, he felt something strange. Something in the pocket of his dress. Trying to escape. He blinked confusedly, quite certain that he did not have anything in his pocket that was alive and able to move. All he had was a pen and a small packet of sticky notes. One never knew when such things might be needed, after all.
Confusion mounting (even the ice cream vendor was giving him strange looks by now), Juka opened the pocket of his dress and, before he could react, his purple inked pen came flying out. It flew several circles around his head, looking quite agitated (could pens even look agitated?) before settling upon Maxine's shoulder. Once again Juka blinked and then proceeded to wibble. How was he supposed to react now?
"I guess if I was unconcious or something I'd probably just splatter all along the ground," Juka answered. It struck him as an odd direction for the conversation to go, but at least he was conversing and not just remaining alone with his brooding thoughts. That was most certainly a step in the right direction. "But otherwise I can just make sure I don't hit the ground. Its like levitation or something." Strange how he had never had to explain how his power worked before.
"You seem to be doing just fine conversing with me." Juka tried to be as supportive as possible. It seemed that, perhaps, helping others, even in such a small way, might be part of the healing process. He knew it wouldn't help his body but his mind had been shattered just as much as his body and it was more inclined to be unlikely to heal on its own. If he could only do something to prove his worth, if he could find someone that was worth proving it too, then perhaps he could start the emotional healing process.
"Don't feel bad about being a mutant." Juka wished he could give Alexander a supportive hug; something he would have done at any other time. Unfortunately his bubble made that rather impossible. "What we do makes us special, its nothing to be ashamed of. And you have to think about your eyes as the price for your powers, whatever they might be. Nothing comes for free and I'm sure if you consider all that they've given you, its worth that price right?" His words were for Alexander, to help him come to terms with what he was and he was taking the chance in assuming they were true. But, Juka realized, they were also words for himself. Given all that his powers had gifted him with, was it so bad to be trapped in his bubble for a while? Even with the pain of his injury? Eventually he must surely find a way out, maybe once he was healed and then it would all be worth it. It was a relief to come to that realization and he smiled encouragingly at Alexander.
"I was attacked by someone," Juka answered sadly. "It was someone I thought was a friend. She was...trying to kill a human and I tried to stop her. It didn't work out so well for me." It was a difficult subject to speak about so he changed it after giving the most brief explanation he could. "And you most assuredly need not feel shy about commenting on my dress. After all, I do my best to look fabulous so what's the use of no one notices?" He grinned and curtsied, although the curtsy was somewhat stiff given the pain of his wound. For that moment, at least, he felt almost like his old self again.
In a distance way Juka remained aware of the battle going on around him. On some level he knew there was still a monster out there trying to kill everyone and he knew that there were a dozen mutants trying to stop the monster, most of them children. He heard the the screams and commands of battle and saw those dealing damage to the monster and the monster dealing damage to them. But he wasn't truly conscious of what was happening around him, his entire focus had tunnelled to one person, the Mirror he believed to be Aura. Her suffering for what she had done to him and so many others was all that mattered. And he was the only one who could stop her.
Juka sped towards his target, weapons spiralling around him. He would stop her this time, he had to stop her. The world outside his tunnel of perception passed in a blur and with every second he moved closer to his target. Odd that she had yet to put her aura up, having clearly spotted him. Odder still that she had yet to form a pink aura blade. His shattered mind decided she must have been wounded during the battle, it was the only logical explanation for her lack of visible powers.
“HEY! Bubbles!”
An unfamiliar voice called out to him and, for just an instant, Juka stopped and looked around. Was there danger he wasn't aware of? Had his sworn enemy done something hideous? Or perhaps the lack of her aura was some sort of evil ploy to try and trick him and the voice he heard was trying to warn him of such. Yes, that must be it.
Properly warned, Juka continued speeding towards Mirror Aura with a newfound awareness. He was prepared for anything. The two anvils and one of the branches he continued spinning protectively around himself. Upon getting within 10 feet of his target, the second branch he sent out towards her his/her head, intending to knock her out cold.
There was something sweet and endeering about Alexander's social awkwardness. Even with Juka's new, darker view of the world and his newfound distrust of people, he found it difficult not to want to trust the boy. He offered him a tentative smile. "Don't worry, even if I did jump I'd just sort of float gently to the ground. I'm not sure I'd be able to kill myself that way even if I wanted to." And despeite everything that had happened to him recently, he wasn't sure that he wanted to die just then. He wanted to punish Aura for what she had done, both for his own sake and for the sake of the countless people she had killed. That and, despite the current difficulties that his power was giving him, he did want to learn more about what it could not do.
"You're not a dork," Juka said with a soft laugh. He felt the urge to comfort him and it was an unfamiliar sensation. He knew that in his entire life he had been a selfish creature and, if he was rarely mean to others, he also didn't much care to help them either. But his encounter with Aura had, it seemed, changed him even more than he thought.
"Oh, I know there are those around here in worse shape than me," Juka agreed. "And its not really that bad, I guess. I mean, I can still function pretty much normally." He demonstrated by sending out a tendril and bubbling a rock. He then retracted the tendril, bringing the rock inside the confines of his main bubble. "And I can float wherever I want to. I'm just not used to the way that everyone stares at me like I'm some kind of freak." Much to his horror he felt tears brimming up to the surface as a pround sense of self-pitty washed over him, but managed to suppress them.
"What you've become?" Juka asked, changing the subject to one that was much safer. "What have you become? You look normal to me. And I'm not usually a loner," Juka said with a dramatic sigh. "Its just the last week..."
For a second time Juka laughed softly, a laugh of genuine amusement and bereft of anything resembling cruelty. "Oh I don't think you're crazy at all, or super weird for that matter. I mean come on, you are talking to a guy floating in a bubble wearing a dress right?" He tried to cheer of Alexander. It didn't seem right that such a sweet person should feel so bad about himself. "And I just came out here to think. When I'm feeling particularly meloncholy and don't want to deal with the world I go floating. You'd be surprised at the peace of mind you can find way up here."
Juka listened to everything Shana had to say about Aura, replaying the scene with her over in his head. Mutant supremist. Yes, that sounded right to him. But to say that she didn't know what she was doing, no matter how young she might have been, that couldn't be possible could it? One couldn't commit acts like that and be completely unaware of their personal evil could they? It might have been fair to say that her circumstances forged her and thus her actions and beliefs weren't entirely her fault, but Juka wasn't nearly ready to release her of responsibility. Some actions could be mediated by circumstances, but actions like that, actions so callous and so evil, it didn't matter the circumstances. To kill someone was evil, no matter the reasons why. No one had the right to deciede who got to live and who got to die.
"She knew what she was doing," Juka disagreed steelily. He was now feeling certain that somehow his bubble was preventing the painkillers from working. "But she was a mutant supremist. If I hadn't stepped in she would have..." he had to stop speaking and forcibly suppress the images of her murders from playing through his head once again. "If I hadn't stepped in she woudl have kept killing, I know she would have. And she may even have continued killing after I left. How can anyone do things like that?" He felt like a lost little child.
"Thank you both from the bottom of my heart for staying with me," Juka told them both, managing a weak but authentic smile. "I would love to come to your room, Kasumi dear. Much better than this dreary place. Although I think it might be a little difficult to do my makeup since I'm stuck in a bubble." It was said with a wry smirk.
Tarin was willing to let Juka dance with his goddess. Oh happy day. Juka grinned with boundless joy, barely restraining the urge to clap his hands together for the sheer happiness of it. "Oh you sweet, wonderful man Tarin," he accepted the offered hand exuberantly, "you truly are worthy of the deific woman you have found yourself. I am Juka Miami and I thank you from the bottem of my heart for allowing me this dance with your angelic wife."
Spinning to face Lee and still grinning like a little child on Christmas morning, Juka got down on one knee before Lee and offered his hand to her. "Oh my sweetness Lee, would you be so kind as to accept this one dance from myself, your most unworthy servent?"
A dance wasn't quite was Juka had originally had in mind, of course. No, he had been hoping for far more than a dance. But she had her prince all ready and didn't seem inclined to gain a princess as well and so he would be content with what he could get. If a dance was all that was offered him, a dance he would surely accept. He would never disgrace either Lee or her prince Tarin by doing anything inappropriate. Well, at least not unless she asked very nicely and he had Tarin's express permission but he didn't see that happen. All the more unfortunate and surely a loss for them.
Juka hadn't been expecting anyone to show up on the roof with him. Even in a place like the Mansion in which mutants were common, those who could fly were rather rare. He knew of his sweet Ghosty of course and perhaps his Master Kitty could be said to be able to fly as well, but aside from that he had yet to meet anyone. That's why he was so started when another man showed up on the roof with him and began speaking.
Juka jumped in startlement within he bubble as the stranger spoke. He turned aound and blinked, trying for a moment to make sense of the wordse being spoken at him. His mind had been 100 miles away and as such it took a moment for the words to register and reorganize themselves in coherent manner. The old Juka would have grinningly bowed and introduced himself eagerly, making a spectacle of it all. The new Juka didn't know how to react. The man looked harmless enough and around the same age as he himself was, but then so had Aura, hadn't she? How did one tell if someone was willing to try and kill you?
"I'm not going to jump," Juka replied with a hesatent smile, a smile that didn't quite feel natural upon his face. He wondered if he woudl ever be able to smile easily again. His innocence had been stolen and he didn't think something like that could ever be returned. Still, the stranger lived at the Mansion and he had yet to meet anyone at the Mansion who meant him harm so it couldn't hurt to be nice to him, could it?
"Its all right. I can accept that your not a good conversation starter if you can accept that I haven't really been myself lately." Juka tried another smile, this one feeling almost like it belonged there. It was a start. "I'm Juka Miami," he introduced himself, "I'd shake your hand but I haven't quite figured out how to escape my bubble." There was a note of irony in his voice. "What brings you up here?"
Juka's life was over. In every way that mattered it was over. He was still in pain from Aura's vicious attack nearly a week ago but that wasn't even the worst part. The pain had almost become part of his person by this point, he had learned to function with it. Yes, it would have been so much easier had he been able to take something to help ease it or even to be able to rest in order to block it out of his mind if only for a few hourse, but even being denied those things he was managing to deal, even though he didn't think that it would have been possible at first.
No, the worst thing by far was the fact that he was trapped within his blasted bubble. Now, Juka had never thought that there would ever come a time when he would disparage his precious gift. It had done very well by him, allowing him to float pretty much wherever he wanted to, the ultimate freedom from the stresses of society, and ensuring that he never got cold or wet while within in. Not only that, but he never had to worry about heavy lifting because his bubbles would just lift things for him. But now that he was trapped in his bubble, that freedom had become a prison.
The problem was that Juka couldn't leave the Mansion. Not that he was really in any condition to do so at the moment anyway, being that he still had a gaping wound in his chest that was only just beginning to heal, but that wasn't the point. The point was that if he did leave peope would stare at him and although he was used to people staring at him, it was normally because he was a beautiful man in a dress. There was a difference between stares of adoration and bemused admiration and the stares that said 'you are a freak.' Those he wasn't used to and those he wasn't sure that he could deal with.
This was, in fact, the first time he had even been outside the Mansion doors during daylight since his injury, even if they only brought him out to the Mansion grounds and no further. At least the Mansion residence didn't judge him or at least not in any hurtful way, he supposed because they understood. That, and there were even more weird things to be seen than a mere man in a bubble.
It was good to be outside once again, Juka decided, even as he felt more than a little anxiety at the prospect. The world, so Aura and her actions had shown him, was not the happy friendly place he had always imagined it to be. No, it was filled with horror and hatred and discrimanation and violence and he still hadn't come to terms with that. So he took this tiny baby step outsdie of the haven of the Mansion and went out to the Mansion grounds, in view of the city street and floated up to the Mansion roof. There he remained, hovering above the rooftop and looking at the world far below him. With a dramatic sigh, he wondered if he would ever see the good side of life again or if there even truly was a good side of life to see. Perhaps it had all been an illusion.
Juka continued shrieking as the tenticle closed tighter around his ankle. Terror consumed him and he coudln't think straight. Images of Aura nad his fight with the pink aura'd teenager flashed through is mind, images of her pink aura blade plunging itself deep into his shoulder. He remembered the pain of it, pain that he could gain no reprieve from, either through the oblivion of sleep or the panacea of drugs. And this pain, caused by this horrible, monstrous, clay creature that was so different from Aura herself, was so alike to the pain he had felt before. Sometime during the moments that he was held captive by the monster, tenticle squeezing and trying to break his ankle, his flaming torches went out. He didn't even notice. As his vision flickered in and out of reality, the past and present converging and mixing within his own mind, he maintained his desperate grip upon his 2 anvils and 2 branches. It was the only way he could survive, the only way he could defend himself. he couldn't let her blade hit him or his insides would be shredded. He couldn't let another tenticle touch him or his bones would be shattered.
And then Juka found himself on the ground, or rather floating just above the ground, as the tentacle that had been crushing his leg suddenly let go and he fell. He wasn't sure what had happened to cause it to do so, only that the pain in his ankle had dissipated to a dull ache to accompany the ache that remained within his chest and shoulder. But the threat wasn't over was it? She was still out there, she was still stalking him. If he didn't act now she would try to kill him again and once again he would be consumed by the pain and the terror of near death. He couldn't let that happen, wouldn't let that happen. She had won last time and he was forced to flee, well this time woudl be different. She had to be stopped and there was no one to stop her but him.
Juka hovered into the air another few feet, looking around, trying to spot his enemy, his eyes temporarily blind to the giant tentacled cthulu monster. His vision remained trapped in the past and the overwhelming urge to defeat Aura at all costs came over him. The first person he spotted was Cafas, a friend and not Aura. In fact, he was unconscious and, in his shattered mind, it was Aura who had caused his fate and Aura who must pay the price. The second person he spotted was a stranger on a horse and that stranger became Aura and that horse became yet another victim, a creature she had curely enslaved against its will. Clearly her evils would never end, not unless he was there to stop them.
"Its time you suffered like you made me suffer," Juka yelled at the Aura of his mind. "Its time you learned that you can't just kill people for no reason. Humans are people too and I have to stop you." He charged the man, anvils and branches rotating around his head as he did so. He had no thought of the safety of others, especially not the poor horse and no conception that who he was attacking was Mirror and not Aura. The trauma of the pain that the Cthulu monster had caused him had triggered a relapse into the past and once again he was fighting with the one who had almost killed him.
Juka turned his eyes away from Carrick as he dressed, respecting his modesty even if he really didn't understand it. Humans were such funny creatures, even angelic bird humans. It seemed a little pointless to be so worried about a little thing like how much you showed to the world, but to each their own.
”D-D-Do you t-t-t-hink there i-is- Hot –Co-Co-Co?”
Juka smirked, his amusement rising all the more. Feathered Carrick might be, but his bubbles were clearly still superior. He never had to worry about the cold, after all. Or the wet or the snow for that matter. It just went to prove that, even if he didn't look like an angel and even if he couldn't transform (and he was still determined to learn that little trick) he was still as close to perfection as was possible. Without a doubt. But, since his little angel gryphon was so sweet and had a beauty uniquely his own, Juka took pitty on him. It wasn't his fault that he wasn't Juka Miami, after all. No one but he was.
"My sweet feathered friend," Juka said with a sad shake of his head. "Of course we must get you inside and get you something warm to drink. I couldn't possibly live with myself if you caught a cold or worse because I kept you out here in the cold."
In an instant Juka's opinion of Maxine shifted in a most posative of directions. Not only did she approve of the plan to seek out ice cream but she took initiative in leading them to a place where ice cream could be gotten. Surely someone who understood all of the many benefits of ice cream, mainly its col delicous flavour, had to be a good person. Evil people simply couldn't apprecite the finer things in life and there was nothing finer than a wondefully sweet ice cream cone.
"You are such a darling wonderful woman," Juka stated, follwing with a happy grin. "Truly you are worthy of both my company and the ice cream which I will generously offer to buy you." It seemed to go without saying that only people worthy of him should be seen in his company. He was uncertain if she qualified for a time, but her respect for cold deserts affirmed her worthyness in most definitive fashion.
Juka never knew that people actually cared for him this deeply. He knew people liked him and often envied him. He knew that they enjoyed seeing him perform and were often shocked by his appearance and his antics. But that someone actually cared what happened to him beyond whatever his next outrageous act happened to be? It was an entirely new experience. Even his darly Jewely had never shown this level of affection towards him, more of an amused tolerance than anything else. These two women, one who he barely knew and the other who he had just met and the depth of caring they showed him, words couldn't properly describe what it meant to him. He had no idea how to show his gratitude and had no idea what he had done to deserve such people in his life. He knew at that moment, however, that he would prove himself worthy of it, no matter what it took. No longer would he be Juka Miami, the visual kei star and physical model of perfection. He would now be something more, something that mattered. Because people thought he mattered.
"I think...she was having fun," Juka tried to put Aura's attitude during the fight into words that made sense. "I don't think she was trying to kill me at all. I think she wanted a challenge and the only reason she attacked me was because I was trying to defend a human. I think if I wasn't a mutant she would have killed me but she left me alive because of what I am. I don't think she hates me at all." It was an odd and puzzling realization. How could one commit such a hanous act against someone they didn't hate? Someone that they, perhaps, even still liked? It didn't make any sense and yet he was fairly certain it was true. "She has to be stopped though. Before she hurts or kills anyone else. She has to be stopped."
Juka took what comfort he could from the two women but it was a bitter comfort at best. "My parents hate me." It was a reality he rarely thought about and one that was painful to face. "They don't even know I'm a mutant and they still hate me. To them I'm a failure. It doesn't matter that I was adored by countless fans and that I was good at what I did, I'm still a failure in their eyes. They sent me here so that their 'problem' would go away. You're lucky to have parents that care."
Juka began bandaging his wound as the doctor suggested he do, binding it tight. He waited for the effects of the pill to kick in but so far there was nothing. Was it supposed to take that long to work? Or was it perhaps yet another result of his newfound power? It would be just his luck that he couldn't even gain the partial reprieve that the painkiller could offer him.
"I don't think I'm able to sleep. I don't think my bubble will let me." He was struck by how ridiculous that sounded, no matter its truth. "But if you could stay with me..." he looked from Shana to Kasumi and back again. "I really don't want to be alone right now."
Juka heard the Cafas' called out advice about heat hurting the creature and wanted to act appropriately. The problem, of course, was how to heat anvils up fast enough and hot enough to actually make a difference? The fact was that, plainly, it couldn't be done, at least by Juka. What could be done, however, was setting pieces of wood on fire and one thing that there was a lot of in Central Park was pieces of wood. Espeically after trees, or at least one tree, had all ready been hurled at the hideos monster.
Juka released 2 of his 4 anvils, letting them crash to the ground to be picked up after the battle was over. He wasn't worried about anyone trying to steal them, after all, who would steal an anvil? And for that matter, who really had the strength to steal an anvil even if they had the inclination? Floating to the shattered remains of the tree, he bubbled 2 thick brances, at the limit of the size he was able to bubble. Taking out a lighter from his pocket, he lit the two branches on fire. Now was the tricky part. He was beginning to have a better understanding of the new limits of his power but he hadn't yet gained much control over it. Hopefully he would be able to suspend the progression of the fuel burning up by the fires long enough for the branches to actually be usefull. Hopefully. Almost immediately he felt the strain of attempting the feat.
As Juka prepared for a second (and hopefully more successful) the Cthulu monster let out a horrific yell and he found himself cringing in terror. Why had he decided to come here again? Could he really do any good against something like that? Tentacles began twitching and vibrating in the ground, reaching for victims and he found himself thankful to be safely in the air and out of reach. he asked himself again why he was about to do such a foolhardy and idiotic thing as charge the beast and potentially have one of those tenticles cleave him in two. Clearly he must be insane. There was no other logical explanation.
Just as Juka had gathered up enough courage to make his heroic charge a bus came out of nowhere and smashed into the creature. He was never going to get a better chance than this. With a deep breath and yet another mental beratement at his own sanity or lack there of, Juka maneuvered his bubble deftly through the thrashing tentacles that surrounded its face, getting into range to strike at it. With all the force he could muster, the two flaming branches collided with its face simultaneously, followed, an instant later, with the two remaining anvils, resulting in two very satisfycing thwacks. He thought he saw small bits of dried claw fall off his face where the anvils had stuck but couldn't be certain as, a moment later, an unnoticed tentacle wrapped itself around Juka's leg, his bubble providing no protection. He let out a terrified high-pitched scream.
Juka knew that what Shana was saying was true, that his powers were preserving his life. It was just that, at that very moment, he wasn't certain that he wanted his life to be preserved. What was the point of living when the world was that dark and that evil? And what quality of life could he possibly have when he was condemned to be in as much pain as he currently was? He could barely muster a smile in return for her kind words.
"Do you think trying to do the right thing is worth it? When this is the result? Do you think it even makes a difference? She's still out there, still killing. What can I do, what can anyone do, against someone like that?" Despair coloured his words. Through the despair, however, he saw the faintness glimmer of light. Here was Shana, trying to comfort him in his time of greatest need and pain and for no personal benefit of her own. Did that mean that there was some good in the world after all? Something worth fighting for?
And then there was Kasumi, a stranger who had been through the same thing as he had and she had pushed through it. That meant that surely he could as well, couldn't he? "No one can heal me so long as my bubble remains around me. No one can touch me, no one can operate on me effectively. It preserves me but it doesn't help me." Frustration that. That he could live but not be healed. He accepted Kasumi's embrace, the bubble contracting as she wrapped her arms around him compacting. He couldn't feel her physical touch, but the fact that she offered such comfort was enough.
"You don't know what this means to me," he said, his voice breaking. "I don't know what will become of me." At that moment one of the doctor's returned, offering instructions on how Juka might bind his wound so that it would heal properly and avoid infection. Though he was fairly certain that infection was not a risk so long as his bubble remained. He also offered him a pill to help with the pain. Extending a tendril he accepted the pill and moved it into his bubble. Swallowing it he waited for its effects.
"Of course I will certainly go find your close," Juka agreed with an amused smile. He had the good sense not to laugh at the poor kid. Modesty. It was such a funny thing. Why anyone would be embarrassed by something as natural and pure as their own body was beyond him, but it seemed that most people were. Utterly incomprehensible. But then, he supposed, its not like anyone had the physical perfection that Juka himself possessed, so perhaps they were just envious of him and that's why they appeared to be constantly embarrassed. Yes, that must plainly be it. He felt pleased with himself for working out the dilemma.
Juka once again bubbled himself and went floating in the direction the he had seen Carrick run off to just before he shifted. The lost clothes surely couldn't have been that far away, though the searching was complicated by the fact that his bubble was large enough that it made floating through the trees less than ideal and so he floated above them instead, which made spotting clothes far below rather difficult. Out of the corner of his eye, however, he glimpsed a bit of colour and, maneuvering the bubble closer, confirmed that they were indeed the missing clothes. He sent out a couple of tendrils and bubbled them into secondary bubbles, for easy transport back to the clearing.
"I have found the missing clothes," Juka announced grandly, dropping the clothes in front of the naked angel bird. "No need to thank me." He grinned and floated over to Jewel.
