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.
Gosh! Five months already! Time certainly flew when she wasn't paying attention to it.
"Well, you look wonderful!" Pregnant women were often very insecure about the ways that their bodies were changing and in her practice, it was common to wiggle in as many compliments as she could to help relieve some of that mental stress. Becca, from what she knew of her, might not have needed it per say, but it couldn't hurt any, right?
"Oh, lordy. I had known that there were a lot of cases of that.. but it sounds like the school got hit pretty hard?" She tried to avoid a bit of the tension that came along with all of the people afflicted by the de-aging by chuckling slightly and swinging her feet in the water. "I do not envy you. Teenage hormones are one of the worse things to deal with, I feel."
The Greek smiled pleasantly at the woman, lifting a hand to smooth her gloved fingers over Sloths scales. The snakes were having a blast now that they were free of the constricting braid, although they were all trying and failing to get into the hot water.
"I'm a bit nervous, to be honest. I am not used to such lively festivities. The kinds of charities I usually attend are very reserved and a bit... stuffy." She.. just wasn't going to mention the ones Carol used to sucker her into going to that involved auctioning off dates with people.
"Oh! Feel free to pet them, dear. They certainly do love it when people talk to them and pet them. Just be careful with Sloth. It tends to cling a bit." The big white snake in question licked his tongue out at being called out like that. It was true, but still!
She was blushing a bit, but couldn't figure out if it was from the hot tub, the environment, or the usual fluster that came with people touching her serpents. Instead of focusing on it, she just smiled and held up one of her gloved hands to wiggle her fingers. "It is okay, as much as I would love to feel your little one kick it's safer in this environment to keep my hands to myself. I would never want to inadvertently hurt you if the heat made one of my gloves break." It was a good thing she'd thought to bring a backup stare, too, since she hadn't realized there would be water involved in this excursion.
"How is Gawain handling everything?"
She jumped a bit as someone else abruptly joined them and blinked wide orange eyes at the new face. "O-oh... no, of course not!" Her surprise didn't last long and soon she was all smiles again. It was a party, after all, so of course others would probably pop in to socialize. She'd forgotten having been so focused on Becca.
"P..punchy one??" He'd been punched?! She'd been about to turn, but then he introduced himself formally and the urge to reciprocate won over her curiosity about his comment. Maybe it was slang? She didn't understand half of what kids these days were saying.
"It is nice to meet you, Michael! I am Andrea." She pulled Sloth back as it tried to slither closer to investigate the new face. Really, she probably should have put them all back in their braid, but... it was a paaarty! She just needed to keep a close eye on the big one so it didn't latch onto anyone and put them both in an awkward situation-
Passing by one of the many hot tubs-- she still couldn't get over the hot tubs-- the Greek spotted a somewhat familiar head of fiery copper. Was that...? It was, wasn't it! She hesitated briefly before making her way over to the woman. It had been a while since she had been back to the school without some task in mind to take up her time... She knew many faces there, but Ms. Grey's face was a very familiar one. The poor woman had been subjected to trying to teach her ex-husbands delinquent daughter for a few years, after all.
"Ms. Grey?" Andrea smiled politely, adjusting her grip on her clutch purse as she paused by the edge of the water. Huh... she hadn't really thought this through, had she? Was she just going to stand there awkwardly while trying to talk to the woman? It would be weird to take her shoes off, wouldn't it?
... actually, that sounded like a fantastic idea!
disregarding her dress or the strappy sandals she had been wearing, she bent to begin un-stapping them so she could settle herself on the edge of the tub and let her legs dangle in the hot water.
"Goodness, look at you!" She was both genuinely surprised at the sight of her and in more way than one. She was larger in regards to the baby since the last time Andy had fleetingly seen her, and also suuuper buff. The Greek was kinda jealous, actually. She doubted she'd ever be able to achieve such a defined muscular structure even if she tried! "How far along are you now?"
It didn't even register as weird that she was now sitting on slightly wet ground in a fancy-ish dress with her shoes and purse abandoned to one side. In fact, she had half a mind to unbraid her hair and let the snakes loose too. They did so love warm environments. Hm.. no, that seemed like a good idea too, actually. Let the serpents stretch for a bit!
She set about delicately unweaving all of her wiggling snakes from their large braid as she beamed at the redhead. "How are you doing, Becca? Are you enjoying the action so far?"
Some people had drinks, including something not alcoholic as she assumed what Becca had chosen. Should she also have a drink?
Eh, why not? It was a party, after all! Maybe after a nice discussion though.
Andy became aware that something was up when she noticed there was a bit more whispering going on than was normal and from the fact that some of the older nurses seemed to be giggling a lot behind their hands.
... What was she not aware of yet?
She had half a mind to hunt one of the more talkative ones down to find out but ran into Carol first. The sheer energy from the woman was enough to distract her, coupled with a new story about her latest date with Greek History guy. By the time Carol's story wound down and Andy was ready to pounce on her with questions, the cat woman flipped it in a different direction and skirted away, and Andy was left walking herself toward the break room more confused than ever.
What, had someone dropped off muffins again? Had that been a dig at her appetite? Carol certainly seemed the type to-
oh.
Stupified for a moment, she stood off to the side of the doorway as people milled in and out, rushing in to snag food while they had a chance and then hurrying off to their tasks again. Woah! She hadn't been expecting a whole layout of food like that! It took a moment of eyeballing everything from the doorway before she spotted Erik and her heart virtually exploded right then.
Of course he would surprise her like this, and while doing something so genuinely kind at the same time!
Heading in, she skirted around the room to him and threw her arms around him in a tight hug. She didn't care if people were looking, either! "You wonderful man you!" She at least kept her voice down a bit so as to not draw all of the attention their way.
"How did you manage to keep Carol from uttering a single word of this to me?" She spotted the bag with her name on it and clutched at him all the more tightly.
She might have blushed just a tiny bit. After all was said and done she didn't feel like anything special. A lot of people in her field were like that though. She just did what came naturally to her, sometimes within the lines, sometimes just a tiny bit outside of them...
Really, in a way, she and Elliot weren't terribly different. Both trying to do good, both having a hard time recognizing it. Or at least that's how it felt, currently.
"Weird ears?" She could only imagine. It seemed too impolite to try and inquire further what 'weird ears' were when she had snakes on her head and they were both very green. The Greek covered her lips with her fingers due to his short story. Cheated on by his ex with a rock?
She was sure there was a pun in there somewhere, but it felt entirely inappropriate to try and crack a joke right then.
"Well... I'm certainly happy that you have Kenzie now. You two seem to work so well together." Andrea smiled and leaned on the counter as sloth poked his head up over the lip to try and catch a scent on the air.
"You should have her over again sometime soon! A dinner or a movie night, maybe?"
It was nice having people around her again who weren't in a terrible place health-wise or at the end of their lives. Elliot and Kenzie were truly gems to be around, and getting to see their dynamic in person was sometimes the highlight of her week.
... Jeez, she still sounded terribly desperate for human contact, didn't she?
If she were honest with herself, the prospect of returning to work was a daunting one. She wasn't looking forward to seeing hospital beds so soon after having gotten out of one.
Then again, she was looking forward to seeing her coworker's faces again and catching with the various patients she hadn't been able to speak to for a few weeks now. Maybe it was the idea that she wouldn't be around Erik 24 hours a day that was really what weighed so heavily on her heart.
She had a job to do though, and so she bound her snakes back like usual, dug her scrubs out of the clean laundry, and gathered everything she would need for her first shift back. It was a light-duty one, considering what she had been through. Nobody expected her to be at 100% just yet, and she was thankful for that. She would still give it her all, but... for once she wasn't going to argue for more.
"Andrea!" Nancy, a very lovely middle-aged woman with fantastic smile lines, spotted her the second she walked in to put her things away. The Greek was caught slightly off guard by the surprise hug the woman bestowed upon her but didn't resist it. She embraced it, even. Perhaps her ordeal had pushed her just a bit closer to some of the staff she had grown so familiar with over the years.
"I'm so glad to see you back! Are you really feeling up to it, though? I don't want you pushing yourself at all." There was genuine concern there, and it filled her with warmth.
"I am fine, truly! I would not push myself unnecessarily... more importantly, how is your daughter doing? Did the birth go smoothly?"
The two of them chatted for a bit about various things she had missed while away, and Nancy gifted her with a new lanyard the team had gotten her as a get well gift, as well as a cute little flower pin. "Because we didn't want to floor your place with real ones." She joked.
By the time Andy was making her rounds, checking charts, and administering meds and fluids to the few rooms she had to for the first couple of hours, she was comfortable.
A little tired, but comfortable.
She'd be lying to herself if she denied wanting to check in with Erik, well before her first break was due. She had just grown so used to talking with him as often as she wished that the relative quiet in some of her rooms was starting to get to her a little.
When events popped up around the city that called for money to be spent or donated in order to help someone, or in this case, a growing group of people, Andrea typically wanted to know. She wasn't the best at keeping up with those things all on her own, seeing as she did have a very demanding job, but the group of people she worked with on the side- other volunteers who sometimes thew events like these themselves- were much better at finding charitable events to throw her at.
When Lisa had told her that she had heard of an auction through the grapevine benefiting the sudden surge of de-aged people that had popped up all over the city; some of whom she had personally tried to help through the confusion when they appeared confused and disoriented in hospitals; she had been all too ready to jump on it. Lisa had sent her an email with key information that she had skimmed through while preparing, which... well, she was regretting not reading a bit more closely.
Everyone... was wearing swimwear.
Well, almost everyone. There were a few who weren't, but the overwhelming majority was, and that made the poor Greek feel like she'd shown up to a costume party without a costume. Or, was it going to a party with a costume, while everyone else wasn't wearing one? American movie tropes were hard to grasp sometimes, still.
Lingering off to one side with a cup of juice, while she tried to come up with a plausible reason for not being in a bathing suit, she glanced around at the other faces packed inside the room.
Honestly, she probably should have tried to convince someone else to go to this auction instead. There were so many teenagers. So many kids. She was used to having to put on a mature face while at events like this. She was completely out of her element.
"Get a grip, Gordon. You just need to buy a few things for the auction and then you can slip away." Hm. Muttering to herself in a corner was probably not going to help things along.
"Behave yourselves, children." Her hair, filled with many black scaled snakes of all lengths and sizes, shifted slightly on its own as she spoke to them, patting the largest of her serpents with the non-drink holding hand. She had loosely pulled them back into a braid... everyone but Sloth. The large snake was draped around her shoulders like a scarf and matched the white, conservative dress she had on.
Sighing slightly, the Greek headed out from her spot. Maybe going off to look at the various items up or auction would make it easier. Maybe if she didn't look at all of the hot tubs around she wouldn't feel like such a doofus.
"Mhm." She nodded slightly at him and her blush deepened. She'd been keeping it a secret for a while now. "I, um.. was a bit embarrassed by it, I suppose. Not because you were doing it, but because I didn't know how to broach the subject." He'd been affectionate to the snakes long before they had become a thing, after all.
"Please don't stop? They will get moody, I'm sure. We share a lingering connection when it comes to feelings." She smiled back and held back a yawn. Even if she was excited to be cuddling with him, she couldn't shake the sleepiness entirely.
One of her hands left his to reach up and press the hand on her cheek in a little more snugly. "I know how you feel.." Hearing it from his mouth though was always so... overwhelming. To think someone could miss her that much again?
"But we are together again, and there is no need to miss me anymore." She inched forward to press a gentle kiss against his lips.
"I'm saving all the fun for when you stop bleeding on my floor." Juniper quipped back, attempting to tickle one of his ears like the brat she was.
Andrea smiled at the two of them, thankful for Juniper who was trying her best to keep her friend awake. Once she had permission it didn't take long to wipe down the outside of the wound with an iodine swab to prep for her treatment,
She picked up her blade again and answered the question Juniper had asked. "Almost anything. It can heal things like this quickly. Stab wounds, gun shot wounds, etcetera. I've even managed to successfully reattach a limb once."
She carefully sliced a shallow cut into the meat of one finger, wincing slightly at the pain. The blade was discarded back to the towel, and she reached for the syringe as blood started pooling in her palm. It didn't take much blood to start the healing process.
"This pinch just a bit, but should start to immediately feel better." Using her gloved hand, she held the skin around his wound gently as she pushed the needle in and pressed down on the plunger. The moment her blood mingled with is the wound started to heal. It would feel warm, perhaps a tiny bit warmer than usual, and would possibly tingle a little as the injured tissue started to knit itself back together. Andrea was able to pull the needle out quickly, no worse than getting a shot in an already sore arm. She let the remainder of the blood in the barrel of the syringe drip out onto the surface of the wound. It was already healing by the time she set the needle down and reached for something to clean her finger with, as well as a new glove.
"And that is that. It will take just a bit for all of the internal bit so sew themselves back together, but you should be right as rain after that." Once her hands were clean she fished out her flashlight again and aimed it toward his head injury. Careful fingers reached out to gently feel around it. "This will be bright; I'm going to check your pupils."
She shined the light in his eyes, and was satisfied with a proper dilation response. "No concussion. The sleepiness is more than likely just from the blood loss." She fished out a notepad from her bag and a pen.
"He will need Green leafy veggies, red meat, and some rice added to his diet for the next few days, at the very least. Fruit juice high in vitamin C will also help him make a swift recovery." She handed the paper to Juniper after tearing it out of her pad, and started putting all of her things away.
"You should try to rest for a few days at the very least. Get lots of sleep and drink lots of water."
Orange eyes flicked from the stab wound to the bump on his head and she made a mental note to check it later. Concussions were a concern, but for now the bleeding wound was still a priority.
"Take a deep breath in for me, please." She was pressing on the tissue around the wound gently, and seemed to be pleased with what she was seeing. When he breathed in as deeply as he could she was equally happy to see that no air bubbles tried to escape from the wound.
"Looks as though you got lucky tonight, my friend. The blade seems to have missed any vital organs, or your lung for that matter." The tension that she had been carrying rolled off of her a little, since he would be fine for the most part. Sleepy and sluggish from blood loss, but fine after her treatment.
"I'm going to assume that neither of you are squeamish since you've both reacted well for the most part, but I will warn you that the treatment i'm about to administer will involve more blood." She gaze turned back to Blue. "With your permission, that is."
She pulled a packaged, fresh scalpel from her bag and peeled one of her gloves off. She held the hand out of reach of the both of them. "Under no circumstances are either of you to touch this hand. I cannot heal the damage that would do to you."
Once she was sure the message got through, she started unwrapping the thin blade.
"That wound of yours is deep enough that with out a thorough cleaning it will likely get infected after it is stitched shut. That would require a hospital visit, but since i'm sure that would involve many more questions I doubt that is an option you will likely want to go with." She tried not to fiddle with the blade, as that might seem threatening. "Instead, I propose that you allow me to use a facet of my power to close your wound. It should heal in a matter of minutes for a cut like that, and we won't have to worry about infections or anything healing funny. My blood has a special property that allows me to use it to heal wounds such as yours. I have paperwork to prove my blood is clean as well, if you are concerned."
She fished out a clean syringe while she waited, unwrapping the needle from its sterile package and setting about fixing all the parts together. She laid everything out on a clean towel that Juniper had provided.
"Woah." The teen in question supplied, "That's pretty wicked. Does it heal anything?"
The Greek twisted to look at Juniper for an answer, while she gathered the rest of her supplies out. She probably wouldn't need transfusion for the wound, it was probably deep but thin in width. Not the wound you would get from a kitchen knife, so... a street knife more than likely. That makes things a bit easier. Clean blades went in easy, sure, but they hardly ever tore up the insides on the way back out. It was the serrated ones that really made her job hard.
"About 30 minutes since he showed up at my door. I don't know any more than that." Juniper supplied, peering curiously into Andrea's bag full of medical supplies.
"I'll have to assume the worst then." She turned back to the boy, and her smile was a little more genuine, even if it was her work face. "I'm going to have to look at your wound for a moment, so do try and keep control of your flames. I do not wish to end up in the ER myself tonight with burns. I can knock you out if you would rather be out for the stitches, too."
That caught Juniper's attention. She spared a wide eyed look at the woman, before it flicked to Blue and she shrugged.
She reached out to feel for a pulse at his wrist, checking it against her watch for a moment. Muttering something under her breath to herself, she set his writ back where she had found it and reached out to peel the soaked rag away from his wound.
"Juniper, be a dear and get me some clean rags, please?"
The rate of blood loss was slowing, but.. that could be a good, or bad thing.
"This will hurt. Are you ready for a little pain?" She frowned at him, while pulling out a small flashlight and clicking it on. She needed to press on the wound a bit to make sure that only blood was coming out, and no other liquids. If the blade had nicked an organ, or intestines, she might see other bits pop out with the blood. It was a good sign that the rag was just red, with no random bits of things on it.
Juniper trotted back over with fresh towels in her hands, concern written on her face. "Are just stitches not a thing?"
The Greek shook her head a bit. "Unfortunately until I know if any other organs were affected, I cannot just stitch him up or he might continue bleeding internally."
She had been roused from a much needed nap at work on an over due break, by an unknown number which had turned out to be one of Zaid's friends. The very same friend who had been with him when she had hopped in an Oober and gone to collect the two drunkards, before they could hurt themselves.
The whole ride to Junipers place had been full of awkward snake petting and her gushing about how she had never hit on a Greek Goddess before, while Zaid had been confessing his love to Sloth, who had just wanted to go back to sleep. The whole thing had been awkward and adorable, and she wouldn't have changed it (cept for maybe less drunk pick up lines).
When Juniper had called her and started poorly trying to cover up that either she, or someone she knew, had a stab wound they were dealing with, she knew her break was over. She had already ordered a car to come pick her up, long before the awkward teen had gotten to the part about movies and burning wounds shut.
Work mode immediately kicked in when she saw the drying blood outside the girl's door, and she was already working though what kind of wound she was going to encounter inside. From the volume, as lack of a trail, it wasn't terrible. She would definitely be healing it up with blood, seeing as she got the feeling that neither of the occupants inside would probably be willing to go to a hospital for her to poke around. She wasn't going to take a chance with internal bleeding if this was going to be done in an apartment.
The Greek managed a tired smile at the door opened, and suspicions were proven correct when she failed to see a stab would on the small blonde. There was something on one of her hands that look suspiciously like the shade of gray blood would have, but she withheld a comment.
"I came as quickly as I could. Where is the patient?" She hurried inside, past the girl, and froze mid-step at what she saw. A male, laying on his back on the ground, with... was... was that book on fire? Were those flames blue?! Goodness, how pretty of a color, too.
Ack! She shook herself back into work-mode.
"Gracious me, you are in bad shape." She plopped her bag down, throwing the flap open and shifting around for a new pair of clean gloves. "How long has it been since you were stabbed?"
She didn't seem afraid, and neither did her snakes as the all tried to peek around her shoulders at the sudden new heat source.
Juniper hovered over the Greek's shoulder. Not wanting to get in the way, but also wanting to be close in case moral support, or a fire extinguisher, were needed.
She smiled wryly at no one in particular. "I do not mind, it is awkward... that is all."
She fiddled with a pen that had been left loosely on the counter while she thought about what to say. Well, while they were being honest with each other it really couldn't get much worse, could it?
"I was married to one of the X-men, at one point. The Masochist." Yeesh, even after all these years she still thought that name was so silly.
"He was one of the first faces I met upon coming here, and while he was a bit gruff at first he certainly grew on me. We were together for quite a few years before I ended up back home in Greece and he just... sorta came along with?" She chuckled. "He proposed, both to get me legally back into the states, and also to... well, actually propose. It was pretty sweet.. though, my parents hated him."
Another chuckle as she rolled the pen around absently with a finger. Her parents hated everything she had to do with though, so no surprise there at the time.
"Some pretty bad things happened and I ended up, well... running off I guess. I used to be a bit more reclusive back then and I couldn't handle the situations that had been presented to me. He hadn't done anything wrong on his end, I was simply far to involved in my own mess that I couldn't justify dragging him through it with me anymore."
It was truly a situation she wished to be able to rewind and re-do. She probably would have still ended things, as they had both gone on to lead happier lives in time... but they way she had done it really could have used some work. A lot of work. She knew that quite well now.
"He's remarried now, I believe and with a child I think? I'm very happy for him in that regard. He truly deserves any happiness he can get."
Well... that had been an incredibly vague, simplified version of events. "He is still one of my favorite people, even if I am too much of a coward to try and reconnect with him in any way. Too awkward."
"Trust me, it is a complaint we get often." She chuckled at the idea, her breath ghosting over his skin.
It was impossible for her not to notice the tenseness in his back, or the little sounds she seemed to be able to get out of him unintentionally... for the most part. it was probably just as easy for him to notice how she jerked a little every time he touched her leg, or how she had wriggled a little bit when he started petting the snake. Apparently they were going to play a game of subtly trying to tempt the other until one of them snapped.
The only response his teasing accusation received was a demure giggle while she continued nibbling for a bit. It was exciting, and that in and of itself was as good of a distraction as sleep was. Besides, even if she was super tired, avoiding sleep meant avoiding any more nightmares she knew were lurking around somewhere in her head.
She paused her ministrations when he pulled a piece of paper from within her pillow case in order to blink at it for a moment in silence.
... She'd been sleeping on that without even knowing it was there!
For some reason that made it all together more sweet, and she dove back down to cuddle him aggressively again. It was hard to express any further how important those words were, especially right at that moment.
Feeling emboldened, she scrambled up and over him, flopping onto the other side so she could face him as their blankets started to resettle.
"I believed you. You would never lie to me." Andrea wiggled back in, vying to be as close as possible while kicking her greedy snakes to the back. She reached to tangle her hands with his, blushing slightly now that she was facing him. She still couldn't look him directly in the eyes, but his lips were just as fascinating to look at.
"Have I told you that I can feel you petting the snakes?" She mumbled, "Just as if you were touching my skin."
Hugs and nuzzles and kisses were such great distractions from the fact that his sweet sentiments had made her bawl her eyes out only moments prior. Enough to bring a little warmth back to her cheeks and get her feeling a little more normal, if temporarily. "Careful, or that will go to my head and who knows why mischief I will get up to." She was teasing, of course. She hardly thought lazing about and napping as much as possible could count as mischief... though, she supposed that if she tried hard enough she could still manage it with Erik around.
She only pouted slightly when he slipped away, but busied herself with cocooning into her blankets and making enough space for him once he returned. It was terribly adorable watching him wriggle himself in with his snacks in hand, but she didn't comment. She, more than anyone she knew other than him, could understand the nearly constant need to eat.
...She would have to figure out a big meal after another name, perhaps.
The Greek took full advantage on his offered back, snuggling in close and wrapping her arms and legs around him wherever they comfortably fit. If she were honest with herself the fact that they were this close still threw her for a loop sometimes. It was hard to get used to the sudden change so quickly. She was used to snuggling pillows and blankets, after all.
Her serpents took full advantage of that closeness as well to snuggle in wherever they would fit, soaking up his natural heat greedily. They had missed it quite a bit, it seemed. One of them attempted to battle him for his food, but she was too busy nuzzling her face into the back of his neck to care. A few kisses might have ended pressed against whatever skin she found, as she settled in and got comfy.
"I missed this. Even if they had allowed you to cuddle with me in the hospital bed, Stacy and the rest of the crew would have never let us live it down." She giggled quietly. It had been bad enough already with them popping in whenever he had to leave for a bit, to harass her about their relationship and such. Apparently having him carry into the hospital himself and then stay to keep watch over her had earned the attention of most of the nurses she worked with.
The gossip was going to me hell when she was finally in a good enough spot mentally to go back to work. She found herself nibbling on his shoulder gently as she thought about it.
"This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me." Lord, if she thought about it too much she would start crying all over again, and neither of them probably wanted that. She leaned into his arms as much as she could, savoring any forms of affection he chose to bestow upon her while her serpents squiggled out to get in on the hugging themselves.
Her last relationship had been loving, yes... but always strained to a degree. Full of guilt and fear and embarrassment. She had always been more afraid of getting herself in trouble or doing something abnormal to fully enjoy being with her partner back then.
Now though, she had matured to the point where she was confident enough in herself that she didn't need a constant protector. Kidnapping events aside, she could function on her own. Erik's sweetness was something unfamiliar, and honestly overwhelming, and yet she soaked it up as much as she possibly could. The only thing she really felt fear of these days was the possibility that she might not be able to return his sincerity in the same way. She worried that she wasn't as good with words, and tried not to let her unfamiliarity with touching disrupt her showering him with her affection any chance that she got.
Andrea leaned back slightly so she could peck him on the cheek, trying to control herself to only one lest she ruin the moment with wanting to smother him in kisses. She was glad, in a purely selfish way, that he was back to his normal size... if only because it make it easier for her to reach his cheeks without having to climb on him, or fetch a ladder.
"I'm sorry if it's selfish, but will you lay with me?"
She was still so tired. So blasted tired, even though it felt like all she had been doing for the past week was laying around. "I just want to hold you for a little while longer."
She didn't care that she wasn't wearing pants, or what time it was, or anything else for that matter. She was on an emotional roller coaster and was reaching the peak of a hill. She wanted to stew in for a little longer, squeeze all she could out of it, before she was pitched back down the other side.
Gently she tried to tug him along back to the bed, intent on crawling back under those covers and curling up with him for as long as he would give her.
