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.
Posted by Noel on Dec 20, 2019 10:13:46 GMT -6
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To the Ranger's plan she could only agree. Controlling was the government's middle name, but this was a lot to process and they were expected to do it and do it under far too controlled terms. "We'll play it by ear."
Noel trailed the Ranger through security which involved a special line and a special paper full of permissions, a special search and a special waiting period in which Noel tried and failed not to hear too much from too many people. Only, the normo security line was just behind them and far, far too many people "forgot" or otherwise were fibbing about what they were trying to take in through security. She felt like she was going to throw up and looking at the many screens around had only made it worse. So she shrugged off any attempts by Ranger to talk and she diverted her entire focus into a few pamphlets. Once they were allowed to move on, she used some of her petty cash to grab a diet drink from one of the stores in order to wash her mouth out.
Being a psychic in a crowd was terrible. Situations like this just made Noel constantly aware of the fact that there was no off switch to her power.
They had to go through security. There had been too much done ahead of time for them not to, it would have been suspicious. But once they were through there was a hell of a lot less anyone could do to stop them. They would know where they went, sure. Security cameras were everywhere, sure, but had their keepers wanted to stop Noel and the Ranger, they would have already had to have been inside of security, having jumped all those same hoops that Noel and Ranger had.
Security was lax going from an airplane to a train. They'd already gone through security so there was no need for a second check at this location. They simply paid cash for a one way ticket out on the next train and got on. Everything was quick enough that Noel felt pretty comfortable that they wouldn't be followed in person. There were still more hurdles, but that was a major one, freshly cleared.
They could get off at any stop from here to Arkansas where the trainline ended. Their handlers would have to look at them all since not even Ranger or Noel knew their final destination just yet. The midwest was their oyster.
Noel rubbed her forehead with the flat of her hand and did her best to stay totally within the confines of her own seat. They were almost out. Almost to a place where she didn't have to run on orange alert while feeling like complete and utter crap. And even worse, even deeper was the fear just barely kept at arm's length.
"I don't know where to go. Choose a stop?" She passed over the pamphlets that had gotten her through security, informational about the train line they were on, points of transfer, time estimates... there was a lot should anyone care to read it all. If they transferred, they could go all the way to the West coast. If they just followed the train to the end of the line, that would dump them in Arkansas sometime late tomorrow. Trains didn't go nearly as fast as airplanes, but they did apparently have wifi and plugs for their laptops. Nifty.
Posted by Noel on Dec 19, 2019 23:04:21 GMT -6
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"A compromise then."
They got to send in someone they trusted to look for a few items they specified beforehand. That was tricky since neither of them was entirely sure what or where they should be looking. Ranger seemed to have more of an idea what he should look for.
That was how they came to be in a chauffeured car, each holding a duffle bag packed by one of the Ranger's guys.
It had all been processed and rummaged through by their employers to be sure Haven hadn't bugged them or sent anything deadly that wasn't asked for. Noel and all of everyone handling the packed bags came to realize that Ranger's guy had done his boss a solid by packing only the raciest underwear for Noel. Or did Noel just always dress in underwear like that now? Fantastic. She turned red all over and prayed for a giant life-destroying meteor that never came.
They allowed Ranger and Noel weapons, though the Ranger had asked for (or maybe just owned) more. And the dogs had been temporarily rehomed for the duration of their vacation. Even the Ranger's business was suspended or passed off or something. Noel hadn't been paying the closest attention since that apparently had nothing to do with her.
Her ill-feelings persisted. Her head, her stomach, her everything. When Noel placed a memory block, she could often feel it. She might think of something and run right up to the edge of it when it was fresh. Like a big boulder, it would block her way. She could choose to back off or smash right through.
Right now, Noel had her eyes closed and she was trying to think of any memory she had around the scenes in the photos: The Fordasaurus, as the Ranger called it. The photo of her carrying the Ranger on her shoulders. Noel in a hospital room, cuffed to the gurney and glaring daggers. The Ranger in fatigues.
Nothing rang a bell. She didn’t run into a block. There was just... nothing. She could imagine the scenes, give them a bit of life and a guess at story just because she had seen the images, but the reality of the situation was that she had no memory of any of it. Like it had never happened, or hadn’t happened yet.
"We're here."
Noel opened her eyes to see the hustle and bustle of an airport.
"Where are we going?" The driver turned and passed over their tickets. Minnesota? She hadn't even packed a coat...
Posted by Noel on Dec 19, 2019 18:47:03 GMT -6
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Her eyebrows went up and stayed up. Why was Noel not at all surprised that the Ranger walked around in (basically) his birthday suit just as comfortably as he walked around in a wedding suit? Maybe it fit the whole not-giving-a-care attitude. He had danced through stitches with only bourbon (or turpentine, she wasn't sure which) to get him through last time they'd met. He wasn't afraid of anything, it seemed.
While the Ranger went to poke his nose anywhere and everywhere, Noel went to the temporary looking nurse station to make sure no one was freaking out over the finger clip (they weren't) and to see if they had any spare clothes (they freshly laundered the clothes Ranger came in with). Noel balanced a set of boots in one hand and tossed the shirt at the Ranger as she passed back into the room where he'd woken. She left the boots and everything else there. He could dress. Then they could talk their way out.
---
"...I think it'd be best if you took some time to decompress. That's all."
Noel had her arms folded around her file folder and was in conversation with the gnome-faced man, the first and most in charge person that she seemed allowed to speak with. They were really, very careful.
"Our whole lives are in that building— Phones. Wallets. Identification. You can't think it's too dangerous just to find a dog-sitter, can you?" She was trying every tac she could to get them to let her back into her apartment, but so far it was no dice.
"We can handle some of that." He assured her. "It really is that serious. Until we know the extent of whatever triggered all this, you can't go back."
Posted by Noel on Dec 19, 2019 10:29:06 GMT -6
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She felt sick. Maybe it was the smell of the place. Or how careful everyone had been. Maybe it was the shock of losing... or gaining ten years. Or maybe the drugs. Or all of it. Whatever it was, Noel wanted out. She wanted to be safe enough to relax and have time enough to poke at the mental blocks in her head, as there were many...
"Wait." She didn't get up, but she did put her hand on his abdomen, near the scar, and hoped it would be enough to give him pause. If he wanted to go, she literally could not stop him. But she hoped they still had enough trust that he would give her a chance first.
"If you start swinging, you'll have to fight them all to get out. I don't know a lot, but I do know they're not lying, or they know not to lie to my face, anyway." Noel reclaimed her hand. She didn't remember their conversations from the wedding perfectly, but she remembered enough. He had experience working with governmental agencies. He should know how the red tape gets stickier the more you fought it. "Right now we're not prisoners. They want us to go to a safehouse and lay low. All I'm suggesting is that we find a... safer house. If they want to let us walk out of here, we should let them. Don't do anything to jeopardize that."
In other words, don't start a fight. Which was probably the whole reason they'd let her wake up first, to convince him of exactly that. Though, she hoped they wouldn't expect a jailbreak and deviation from the plans they'd laid out. If they did, they'd probably have assigned more security, right?
Noel stood and gathered up the file she'd been given. Haven was their target and they'd managed to get into the organization's security forces and in their confidence, according to the file. They could worry about that later, supposedly they had time to go on vacation together and that was their cover for now.
Posted by Noel on Dec 18, 2019 20:49:59 GMT -6
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She could see the calculations going on behind his eyes and, had their positions been reversed, she might have done worse than just throwing the little medical doodad across the room. Still, she was tense for her own reasons as well as echoing his tension. Not really understanding her partner's motivations was torturous. She wanted to cling to him and trust him because he was the only life raft of recognition in the room. At the same time, that felt like a trap somehow.
She was glad to see him taking it all in, but also taking it all seriously.
> "Last I saw you was… A couple weeks back? At the Jang Hyun weddin’.”
She scooted her chair closer and turned to face Ranger and the back wall. He had eyes for the door and he'd said he was okay. For now she was willing to trust that in order to hide her half of the conversation better.
"The Hyuns celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary this year. That wedding was just a few weeks ago for me, for you. But for everyone else ten years have passed." She turned to watch someone walk past out of her peripheral vision in case he needed a moment for that bomb to finish exploding. Ten years was a lot of life to lose, and yet... "You look real good for your age don't you think?"
He'd asked about the file so she passed it over. It was her profile, some photos of them individually and together, his profile, a very sparse outline of the last ten years (some of which sounded rather unbelievable- alternate universes?), and their original mission brief which started, apparently, 3 or 4 years ago. They'd been at this a long, long time. Apparently.
"Look closely." She tapped a photo of the Ranger lifting a gigantic black pick up truck in the snow. Noel was hanging out the window, and both their faces were visible. They were older, more like the ten missing years she might have guessed she'd see on herself. But she didn't quite look like that now.
"Any new scars? Or missing ones? Or... I don't know. It just doesn't add up. It's not the whole story." Noel wasn't missing any scars that she could think of, but she was certainly missing a hell of a lot of tattoos. Tattoos were supposed to be permanent. That was the entire point of them. The fact that they were now gone...
Posted by Noel on Dec 18, 2019 16:34:54 GMT -6
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He jerked like he was a marinette and someone else was holding the strings. A part of her thought that maybe she should take his hand. Be, like, a comfort or something. But she hardly knew the guy, despite everything they had supposedly gone through together.
Plus, the file she held said he'd accidentally smashed a couple things no human should plausibly be able to smash. So. Touching was not exactly a safe activity for now.
"You're safe." Was the only truth she could say. She hadn't exactly been given their exact GPS, nor had she asked. "Yeah. It's me, Noel. You- we both went through a rather large memory wipe. It's going to take a few sleep cycles to settle into a new normal." She pat him on the leg through the flimsy cotton blanket. That seemed safe enough. Nothing in the notes about growing leg spikes or whatever.
"I- I only know what I know." Which sounded stupider outside her head than it had when it was still inside. She kicked herself and started again. "You and I are partners. We were undercover, but it's possible that cover got blown. While we figure figure things out we need to lay low." The people here had offered up a couple locations, but Noel couldn't put her finger on it exactly... something about all this was more messed up than usual.
She scooted her chair closer. "Are you okay? Because, right now I'm not entirely sure who to trust. Besides you, I don't recognize a single person in this whole outfit. Do you...?" Yeah, she had lost memories before and she was used to working blind, but this was... so blind. Usually there was something, but this time there was only the Ranger. A near stranger she'd come to trust, but they'd only worked together once.
Posted by Noel on Dec 18, 2019 12:24:33 GMT -6
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"Welcome back. Do you... remember where you are?"
Noel's heart was pounding so hard that it threatened to choke her. Her arms were secured tightly to the arms of her chair and she couldn't remember where she was. When she was. But she did know who she was and what she could do. So that was a good start.
"No." The man speaking was gray-haired and kindly looking with a bulbous nose that screamed "gnome." The room was bare, an office space or impromptu interrogation space. That had to be it. They were trying to get something from her and she'd nuked it away. She tried to calm herself, physically breathing slower and forcing her shoulders out of their tense knot. "You aren't going to get any answers from me so whatever this is, it's a complete waste of time."
"On the contrary, Miss Gage. We're here to help you. We gave you a mild sedative as a precaution. Please listen, I'm told you can taste the truth of things. You will know the moment I speak an untruth?"
She looked at him for a long moment before nodding. The man began.
He was calm and non-threatening as he pointed out the site of her injection. They were here to help her and her partner recover after nearly becoming compromised. They were years deep into an undercover operation in the secretive mutant stronghold of Haven. This was news to Noel, but it didn't taste like a lie. Something had gone amiss, they didn't know what, and Noel had done some quick mental maneuvering to get them out. They were asking her and her partner to lay low while they assessed the damage. Perhaps they could return to their mission, but they wouldn't risk it until they knew for sure. To further complicate things, when she and her partner came to neither had remembered that they even had a mission.
"If it was as high stress a situation as it sounds like, it makes sense. Sometimes my abilities can trigger just from that."
They had sedated them both and separated them, hoping to recover at least the human side of their operation, if not salvage the entire thing.
---
Out of everyone here, she remembered the Ranger the most. Everything was quite jumbled. Apparently she had some giant bear-dogs now, and technology had jumped from the first iphone to now having biometric credentials being a normal thing. Weirdest of all, when she looked in the mirror, she saw exactly what she expected to see. It was almost like she'd time traveled here from 2009. Or been cryogenically frozen back then. But, apparently people in Haven would know them. And her power set would give them an easy excuse on their confusion if they happened not to recognize anyone.
Noel took a seat next to the gurney where they'd sedated the Ranger. She stole glances at the man while she both read their files and waited for him to wake up. This was some serious sci-fi looking stuff. No diodes or beeping monitor, they monitored all his vitals just through a small fingertip clamp. This was all going to take some getting used to...
Posted by Noel on Jun 8, 2018 22:14:46 GMT -6
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Daily? A mix of chill and thrill ran up through her chest. Daily was totally outside the realm of her expectations. Daily was… wait, more than once a day? They didn't even always see one another every day now!
He kissed her on the eye, forcing her to close it first. It also kept her from thinking too far in any direction. 5,000 was a lot. How many had they tested? What was her accuracy rate so far? She made a sort of snort, sort of giggle and hated the noise, but she could in no way blame him for tricking it out of her. She tried for a short while to chase his lip around, but when he started cheating by rubbing his scruff against her smooth cheek that was the last giggle straw.
She got a good grip on his shirt good and pulled him back around.
Where was that remote?
”And she’s been on the show forever, it’s gonna be really hard to fill her shoes.”
Ah! Michael dove when he saw a corner of it peeking from beneath a cushion.
“Yeah-yeah.” Ugh. Ross was so annoying. Michael brought the control around, trigger finger poised at the ready. “Help me out here, when you come out of the "brain transplant," you are going to be her?”
At that he did hesitate.
“Yes, but in Drake Remoray’s body.” He snorted along with the laugh track. “Why is this so hard for you to get? I thought you were a scientist!” The screen disappeared to black and—
—and Noel felt a hand at the small of her back. She groaned in frustration, her hand still being balled in his shirt let her know it hadn’t been that long, but she was still disoriented. One second she’s watching TV, the next moment she may as well have been on fire. ”I’m not doing very good.”
Posted by Noel on May 16, 2018 20:59:40 GMT -6
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An "experience" was an understatement. There was something niggling her about the whole thing, but whoever Lori was, Noel didn't ever really get a good look at her in Michael's memory, considering that at the time that the memory was made, he was her.
"I'm not even going to ask how that happened." Instead she sipped her coffee and worked on being in the here and now so that she could let it go. The less consequential it was, the more likely she was to overwrite that memory and forget the whole thing.
Still. There was that something at the edge of what she could remember.
The Ranger had a decent compromise on letting her see the first time they met. Go for it. Then pull back. That way she started somewhere safe. Of course that would be easier if she knew where she was going in the first place. Noel kind of knew. There were ninja scars, after all.
Michael pulled her close and leaned in closer while spouting off a string of what seemed like random words at first, but the ninja gave it away. Their first meeting.
She saw herself. A younger Noel that looked, somehow, freer.
"Try lying now."
His mind was quick on the uptake and the words came easily, almost as if he'd pre-prepared them.
"Nashville produces the best music." And that almost hurt him to even say it. Michael could feel his own mouth twisting up and he couldn't even taste lies like Noel.
She made an absurd face and then accidentally snorted her drink. Noel could feel the grin in his memory spreading across Michael's face.
To see herself. Laughing. That was jarring enough to remember she wasn't supposed to be there. She was supposed to be here. Now free of his memory, she was a lot more present. Noel fumbled to set her coffee aside and twisted her hands up in his hair. What counted as a kiss? How long would she be free? Noel pulled away to pepper the edges of his mouth and cheekbones with kisses while she wrapped herself around him. He was a treasure back then and even now.
"How-" His stubble was prickly on the sensitive skin of her lips. "-much-" But she didn't mind the stubble. "-practice-" It was just another texture to explore and appreciate. "-you think?"
Posted by Noel on May 11, 2018 11:23:48 GMT -6
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Yes! Practice! Practice was the diversion that they needed, really. Noel watched as Michael was distracted from even the most basic of functions by just the mention of practice. So. That meant he needed more practice too, right?
Wrong. He wanted to go back and make Noel turn colors again.
> ”What were y’ gunna ask? Did I what?”
A-yep. There it was. The whole conflicting emotional rush of processing a memory that wasn't her and was totally outside of her comfort zone.
"You were a lady. For a minute there." Noel sipped her coffee as something tickled at the back of her brain. Seeing Michael see himself or his body help adjust "his" bra... It was just mind boggling. Plus it brought up so, sooooo many questions. That brief glimpse she'd had didn't really feel as wrong as she felt about it. Noel was a lady. She often wore those terrible things called bras. But. To get it from somebody else. And to see him adjusting it in a memory that felt like her. Add in whatever rush of emotion that had cemented it in Michael's memory...
She cleared her throat because she didn't have enough memory around the glimpse to know the full picture. She'd shut that absorption down as soon as it'd shocked and confused ehr.
So! It was time to move on!
"I should go back to the first time we met. See it from your side." Wouldn't that be interesting? To see old Noel? Or not at all. Wasn't that what she was really trying to practice? Shutting it down before she got anything at all?
"Ah. I'm sorry. I'm thinking about what to plunder next when I should be thinking about... not." She finished lamely because the truth was, she was interested in all the things that were in Michael's head. And now she had permission and opportunity.
Posted by Noel on Apr 27, 2018 22:56:17 GMT -6
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What didn't he understand about unfair?
"I wasn't done." But she really, really should be. On first kiss, she'd wandered into a memory that only raised more questions and worse, it was interesting. She wanted go back for seconds and thirds. And on seconds, she hit an entirely different memory that confused and embarrassed her.
Her kissing him was more in her comfort zone. She was used to being in charge of when and where lip-touching happened. And for how long. It wasn’t quite that way with this dynamic. He could step back to not dribble hot coffee on himself. She could go back for thirds, not because she hadn’t found what she’d wanted, but because she wanted something more than just a memory.
”You’ve had more than your share of interestin’. Did you…? I, uh--”
Hooo boy. Noel mopped her face with her hand and tried to figure out what she was trying to say. Coffee. Coffee was going to help unlock that morning brain.
”Mutants lead strange lives. I know that. In my head.” She frowned and dragged her cup over to give it a smell. Scent was one of the strongest memory triggers and she was worried that she had lost some of Maxwell’s memories of his grandmother. She had given Noel some level-headed advice by way of Maxwell’s memories.
”Honey, if you can’t be good, be careful.” and ”Don't be a chickensh*t – tell people how you really feel.” were both pretty good. Not at all as good as ”If you don’t want to be doing it 10 years from now, don’t start.”
Was this really the best path?
”I think I need some more practice.” She watched him over the rim of her cup.
Posted by Noel on Apr 21, 2018 12:37:45 GMT -6
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He would have to find the time. It was hard being someone that people relied on and stuff. Noel tried to avoid all that responsibility and as a result, her days were mostly her own. Which... maybe did get a little lonely. Usually she'd fill that with work. Which would then preclude her social life. It was easiest to live the job, but easy wasn't always best.
"Let me know when you know." As if, between the two of them, he would be the one to forget that part.
> ”Oh, I can keep things interestin’.”
That earned a snort. "Clearly you don't know--" his own history? Ah. But he did, Armadillo house and trucks and all. And he didn't care enough to not tempt fate with another kiss. Michael had his lips on hers and with the counter between them that was about all they could reach.
And thinking on lips made Noel start down some history she was actively going to try to avoid in Michael's memory. She shut that down but not before she'd seen a few things that were more interesting than Carter's Creek. She couldn't hold his dating history against him, but it was tempting.
No. Can't think about that. But she could turn every kind of red in the meantime.
"That's really unfair." She meant the kiss and the counter between them and everything about a girl liking a boy that made her feel all weak at the knees. Noel had done everything she could to make herself strong and then he came waltzing in to wipe all that away. Coffee and counter be damned, Noel put her hands on his face so she could have seconds, ready to direct her thoughts and then shut them down.
Posted by Noel on Apr 17, 2018 17:53:11 GMT -6
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Michael let the coffee maker know who was the boss. (Hint: it wasn’t Noel.) Despite his early morning display of man-on-coffee violence (and his day job), Michael was one of the most level-headed people she knew. Poking around in his head had only confirmed that. He only beat up people who deserved it. That coffee maker had it coming.
It was good that he remembered the creek she’d brought up, otherwise that’d be an awkward conversation… ”Yeah. I’d love to go to go to Texas some day.” Noel stretched across the countertop and put her elbows down just next to the coffee cups so she could properly monitor their filling.
”New experiences and different experiences are good. Gives me a better chance that something might stick when things are out of normal parameters.” Like ninja. Noel didn’t remember the first time she’d met the Ranger. Not exactly. But she had remembered stitching him up. Nobody else had asked her for such a thing on the job. She didn’t take healing talents. She’d only taken skills that would help defend or protect. Seeing that physical memory on his body was a constant reminder that there’d been ninja. And Michael didn’t want to go to the hospital.
New experiences had their dicey aspects too, but she only had to wake up once per day and get her grounding. Assuming they went to see Carter’s Creek (or whatever feeder creek lead up to it and had that rope swing), that’d be a vacation. No need for her to use her power and no need for her to forget where she was.
Should be safe.
> ”How d’ we keep y’ you in there an’ not… Well, me in there?”
He had some theories, it seemed.
”I can turn it off after it starts up, but If I don’t go in with a plan, there’s no telling where I start in your memory.” She had her own pet theories about how that was decided, but no way to test it since any testing would be implementing a plan…
”I have some memories now, though. My plan is to start with one I already have. Carter’s Creek, maybe. Then it’s your job to remind me that there’s a here and now that’s ehm--” She cleared her throat a touch embarrassed, ”--more interesting.” He only had himself to complete with.
Posted by Noel on Apr 13, 2018 15:23:18 GMT -6
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He laughed. Should their positions have been reversed, she would have too, but given the position she was in now, it was a bit harder to see the funny side of it.
Michael did help by manhandling the monstrous mutts (and suddenly Noel was so, so glad her power didn't work on animals) which allowed Noel to focus on getting her leg back from the covers monster.
"No, not y're welcome! Now if I show up at Ilvermorny the Armadillo house might take me!" Because that was a legitimate concern. Noel made it to her feet and made sure her pants were as up as she was. A little goosing from Revvie and Noel decided bed was not all the appealing anymore so she mosied on out to the kitchen along with the Ranger to see how the coffee thing worked.
Okay. So the accent thing was... she could work on that now that she was aware of it.
"I cain't..." Oh boy. Noel tried again as she leaned across the countertop. "I can't claim Texas when I don't think I've ever been." Paying attention to her words made them come out slower, but Noel didn't want to become Michael. She needed to stay herself.
"And, no offense, but I'd like to be my own person on the inside and not a copy of you." Of course, at this point Noel was pretty much a frankenstein's monster of other people anyway... something about that bothered her and the seed of a headache started sprouting. That coffee had better hurry itself up.
"I went through some of what it was like when you were a kid. I don' have a lotta kid memories from others, I've mostly taken school stuff. Book learnin'." Just thinking about it made her sound a bit more drawly. But climbing trees and hopping fences and loading a .22 were all things that felt like they belonged to her now. Cowboy boots suddenly made sense in that context.
"You remember that dammed up creek? The one with the snakes and the rope swing?" It wasn't a bad place to go visit, mentally. Maybe someday they could go for real.
