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.
Reap took the entire easel down with her when she tripped. She hit the ground with a squeak and got jabbed in the back and side by the ends of the easel. She would be bruised tomorrow. “Ow…” She moaned as she struggled to untangle herself but she only succeeded in getting a splinter from the wood. She heard a ‘here’ and automatically reached out her hand to take the offered one. She was surprised that anyone offered to help but then she didn’t look like a homeless person today. She had showered. She had on a fresh set of clothes. It must be nice to be treated like this all the time instead of being soundly ignored.
As Reap pulled herself up to her feet, she realized that the hand she held was green. It nearly matched the color of her own skin, although, her own skin was more a leafy color and this was more alien. “Tha…” Reap started to say but then he called her ‘green’. She ripped her hand out of the green man’s hand and shoved both her hands deep into her pockets. “I’m fine,” She hissed, “Don’t call me that…”
Reap paused in front of a store filled with the flashing screens of iPads and Macbooks. These were not strange things to her but it had been years since she stood close enough to touch one. She could hear the excited chatter of teenagers just inside the door as they pointed out the newest models to one another and mused over whether or not their parents would buy them it. She felt her face fall into a frown and tasted bile in the back of her throat. Reap might have been one of them once but she was homeless now. A shower and a new set of clothes didn’t change that.
Reap left that store behind her and passed another store. This one was all done up in pink and it had an alarming number of lacy items in the window. It took her a long time to realize what they were. Bras. When her parents abandoned her, she only had the one training bra and it had broken long ago. She didn’t bother to replace it. Bras didn’t keep her warm at night plus she did not have much reason to don one. She didn’t have the meat on her bones for that.
Reap was beginning to think that this was a mistake. She didn’t know what she had been thinking. She had no place at the mall. She should be holding her money close not spending it on things she didn’t need. She had just decided to look for an exit when shouting startled her. Big heads? Goofy face? She could just make out the words but not sense of them. She located the source soon enough and startled almost worse than she had at the shouting. A shocking green-faced and bodied mutant was the source.
Reap might be a mutant but she wasn’t a visible mutant…at least not yet. She shuddered and rubbed her green palms together before shoving them back in her pockets. She wished someone could just tell her whether or not she would wake up like that one day. Sometimes when she woke in the morning she would spend a long time just staring at her palms trying to discern whether or not the green was creeping up forearms too.
Gloves.
That is what she wanted to buy. Gloves that she could pull up to her elbow to hide the green skin entirely. She could buy those and still have some money to spare. With that purpose in mind, Reap started to walk back in the direction of the stores but someone bumped into her with all their shopping and she tripped right into the green mutant's easel.
Reap lingered on the edge of a group of men and women waiting at a day laborer pickup point. She picked up a smattering of Spanish she recognized and other languages she didn’t. She typically avoided these kinds of places because of the risk of ICE agents running people down. Reap could get caught up in the net in the process. She risked it today because in the months since Euphoria vanished she had scraped by with dumpster food and the occasional charity. She felt like she was moving backwards and the dream she had with Euphoria of an apartment and a proper job were getting further out of reach.
Reap felt like she had been waiting all day for a job when a woman pulled up in a flashy car. Reap expected to be overlooked as she had before but the woman called out to her. She walked over to the passenger side window which the woman rolled down.
“What’s your name?” She asked.
“Reap.”
“Reap?” The woman repeated looking confused.
“It’s a nickname…” Reap explained.
“Oh,” The woman asked, “Well, I am having a party tonight and I need someone to help me out. I’ve left it all to the last moment so I need to go gather shopping for all my supplies. What I need from you is to get the house cleaned so that my guests don’t know what a slob I am…”
“I can do that,” Reap agreed.
“Great! Hop in!”
Reap was whisked away to a nice neighborhood with a line of expensive-looking brownstones. The woman was so polite and friendly that Reap found herself relaxing in spite of herself.
“I will be back in about four hours,” The woman explained as she got Reap the cleaning supplies. “There’s stuff for sandwiches in fridge…help yourself to them and water, tea…anything you want.” She took a glance over Reap’s appearance, noted that she wasn’t exactly clean herself. “If you want you can take a shower in the downstairs bathroom before you clean it…and you can throw your stuff in the laundry. You can call me from the home phone if you need anything.” She bid Reap goodbye and hurried out the door.
For a second, she considered stealing everything in sight but then she felt ashamed for the thought after the woman’s kindness. Reap decided to start with getting in the shower (something she hadn’t experienced in years). She knew she couldn’t spend all day in their but it felt so luxurious. After the shower, she threw her clothes in the laundry (the woman had left her out yoga pants and t-shirt to change into). She then made herself a sandwich.
By the time the woman got home, Reap had scrubbed the entire house within an inch of its life and not only that her plethora of dead plants were suddenly looking a lot more lifelike. The woman was extremely pleased and in addition to giving thirty bucks, she packed her up some food, let her keep the clothes, and offered to give her a ride back.
“No, thank you so much, I can make my way from here…” Reap said.
“No, thank you! You are a lifesaver, Reap! And I don’t know how you managed to un-murder my plants!”
Reap wisely said nothing to that other than a hesitant smile. She left the brownstone with thirty bucks in her pocket and that felt like fortune to her. Usually, she would head straight to the supermarket and buy all the food she could, but she had a bag full of fresh, non-dumpster food from the woman so she didn’t even need to do that. She felt clean too…like she could almost blend in with all the non-homeless people. What did non-homeless people spend their money on?
This question inevitably brought her to a busy mall in the area and it quickly overwhelmed her. All the people, all the stuff, she had no idea where to start. She looked like a doe-eyed girl in the big city for the first time, even though she had been camped out in NYC for a while now.
With her eyes covered, Reap couldn’t see what unfolded between the men but when she heard what to her sounded like an inhumane roar of ‘SCREW OFF’, she squeaked like a terrified mouse and turned tail. She abandoned her measly pile of things (the only possessions she had in the world) and the precious food she had collected. She just ran away.
Reap couldn’t bear to face the fight nor the things it reminded her of and she couldn’t risk being part of some kind of mutant brawl in the middle of Central Park. She was small, painfully skinny, and fast but she couldn’t run for long. She didn’t have that kind of endurance. She collapsed near a tree halfway across the park.
Reap thought she might throw up or faint or both as she put her head between her knees and tried to catch her breath. She felt drained, far more drained than a mad sprint would warrant. She felt something bounce off the top of her head and she peeled her head off her knees to see a bright red, ripened apple. Confused, she reached forward to pick it up but before she could grab it, she felt a second object bounce off her head. Another apple. In horror, she looked up and saw that the tree she had her back up against her going into full bloom. Apples were ripening right there on the branches and falling onto the ground.
Reap looked out in the direction she had come from to see with horror that she had left an easily followable trail. A yellow brick road made entirely of dandelions that ended right at her feet. “Stop…” Reap whimpered as she tried to rein in her powers. She slumped onto the ground pale and weak as her powers fizzled out. The evidence did not just wilt into nothing though and Reap was too exhausted to get up and away.
Reap flinched when Gemma promised that what she wanted to say had nothing to do with religion. She unconsciously reached down to the rosary she kept in her pocket. She had long since given up on finding any hope in religion. She had always thought she was a child of God until her mutant powers manifested her mutant power and she realized that she was actually the child of something else entirely.
The name of Xavier’s stirred some recognition in Reap. She couldn’t remember where she heard about it though. Was it a name she heard mentioned after she arrived in New York City? Had she heard about it in school? The last time she had attended school consistently though was years ago. Nothing she learned there mattered to her now. Reap had more immediate concerns to worry about. Who cared about history, even mutant history, when you weren’t sure about where your next meal would come from?
Even if she didn’t remember the significance of Xavier’s, Reap knew what Gemma’s description sounded like. A foster home. “No, no,” Reap said as she raised one hand with an aggressive fist (the other was too busy holding holding onto the pizza box, “I won’t go back. I won’t ever go back to a home. Never. I can take care of myself. Now, stay away from me!”
Reap tried to access her power but even with a belly full of food, she couldn’t seem to find them so she settled for the fist as she backed away and once she felt that she got far enough away, she spun on her hell and hurried further down the back alley as she kept glancing over her shoulder to make sure that she wasn’t being followed.
Reap nodded in agreement as she stuffed another piece of pizza in her mouth. Her stomach probably wouldn’t be able to take much more but she was bound and determined to keep everything down. There was nothing worse than finally getting a full belly only to throw it all up again.
Reap could feel the woman’s eyes on her and she felt obligated to say something. So, with a mouth full of food, she gargled out, “Glad this isn’t one of those weird vegan pizzas…” Unfortunately, the longest sentence she had said of yet, was immediately followed by her clamming up when the woman…Gemma was the name she gave…promised her that she would not get her in trouble with the authorities then proceeded to ask about her living situation. She stopped eating and flipped the lid of the box closed. She did not want to make eye contact and did not want to answer that question.
Reap swallowed the bite that was still hanging out in her mouth then picked up the pizza box and held it close to her chest. She wasn’t willing to relinquish that even if she wanted out of this conversation. “Thanks for the pizza,” Reap said, “I should be leaving.”
Reap did not immediately recognize that the ‘hello there miss’ was directed at her. People did not usually address her as ‘miss’. The names people usually called her were not so flattering. She often felt like people didn’t even see her as human anymore…which she guessed she technically wasn’t…but she didn’t think that feeling was known only to mutant homeless. Not that she could verify with any human homeless…the two groups generally didn’t comingle.
Reap jumped when she saw a hand dip into the water and she realized that the man had been talking to her. She almost slipped off the edge of the fountain but managed to balance herself at the last moment. She promptly scooted several spaces away…leaving a dirty trail in the water after her. The man was…introducing himself…she thought but she wasn’t really listening. Her eyes were wide and fixated on the wolf-thing next to him.
Reap shuddered when…he?...waved at her. It wasn’t so much that she was repulsed by his appearance but rather that she thought of her own. Did he just wake up like that one day or did it start slow? Some hair here and there until it eventually grew to cover his entire body? Would she wake up like that one morning? With the green that had once been limited to only her palms all over her body? Reap shoved her hands into her pocket. The seeds that she always stashed in there immediately stuck to her wet hands and she grimaced but couldn’t bear to pull them out again.
Reap decided that three people at the fountain was two too many. She swung her legs back out and stood up (still awkwardly keeping her hands in her pocket). She eyed the clothes she had peeled off and the bag of hard-won food, still sitting unfortunately close to the two…men? She stole another glance of their faces and finally keyed into their conversation. She immediately bristled as they so casually joked about hibernating in the winter. It was all good for people like them. They had a place to hibernate in. She had seen people nearly freeze to death on New York City’s streets. The New York winters almost made her miss the streets of Atlanta back when she was young…well, younger…and dumb. She honestly didn’t know how she had made it through that first year…especially given what she had learned in the time since.
Before Reap could grab her things and leave though, three men approached. A long-repressed memory surfaced of a parking lot. Her mother. Her brother. The screaming. The exploding fruit and vegetables. “No, no, no,” She muttered as she stumbled backwards and pulled her hands out of her pocket to cover her eyes from a sight that was half now and half then. She needed to get out of here. She couldn’t do this. Not again.
Reap had never had good control over her powers. They were simply inaccessible to her most days. Others days she could manage tiny little sprouts of growth. And still others days they came exploding out of her. Today was one of those days. Whether it was the fact that she’d had a decent night sleep, several consistent meals, the warm sun, the resurgence of stressful memories from the night her powers manifested, or a combination of all of that, she used her powers for the first time in weeks without meaning to.
The seeds, which were still sticking to her wet hands when she withdrew them from her pockets, were bursting into growth with loud pops like there were dozens of snap bangs being thrown onto the ground at once. The sprouted seeds were beginning to grow stems and leaves…and soon were dropping from her hands because they were too heavy to stick. The fledgling plants that had dropped to ground didn’t stop growing but their growth did slow now that Reap wasn’t in direct contact with them.
Posted by Reap on Mar 21, 2019 21:00:44 GMT -6
Tempest likes this
Zeta Mutant
Who has time for that?
Solo. Always.
14
3
May 25, 2019 20:13:32 GMT -6
Frankenstein
Reap usually never spent the night in Central Park even though parks were an inherently good place to sleep. There were trees. Grass. Benches. Quiet. However, like so many other things in this city, no one wanted a bunch of homeless people hanging around. Police officers and security guards would patrol the park after a certain point in the night and would turf people out of their sleeping spots. For an older person, this wasn’t the end of the world but for her it could mean Social Services.
Last night though, it had gotten unseasonably chilly. After several hours of shivering on the sidewalk by some dumpsters, Reap got up and stole into Central Park. It would be warmer there in the grass. She crawled beneath a bush like a badger going to burrow and fell asleep. She woke with a start in the early dawn, completely surprised that she had been able to sleep the whole night through without being bothered. She couldn’t remember the last time that happened.
It was early but there were a few people dotted here and there. The really keen joggers and people in fancy outfits…she thought she heard Chruch bells in the distance. Sunday? That would explain the outfits. She waited until she thought it was safe then crawled out of her hidey hole. She gathered up her things. There wasn’t much aside from a sleeping bag and a backpack but she had scored rather big outside a supermarket the other day. In her possession, she had a six pack of cranberry juice and a bag filled with pastries. They had been tossed out because they were a day past expiration. It felt like a veritable feast to her. With the pizza a few days ago and now this, Reap was feeling more alive than she had in a while.
And the sun was out!
It made her feel better and hopeful that the bitter New York winter was over. Reap meandered over to a fountain and sat down the edge so she could dip her hand in. Cold but refreshing. Reap never really got to bathe and she was suddenly overcome with the desire to. She was sure she reeked even though she couldn’t smell it anymore. She stripped off as many layers as she could then pushed up her remaining sleeves and rolled her pants up to her knees. She swung her feet into the fountain then dipped her hands in so she could splash her face and wash the grime off.
Reap ignored the people passing by just as she was ignored by them. It wasn’t until she caught something strange out of the corner of her eye that she looked up. A wolf? No. A person? Covered in hair. She stared for a moment then looked back down at her lap and her green palms. She had seen such visible mutations before…mutants who so visibly stood out found themselves homeless as often as not…but to see one so confidently walking around with someone normal looking…it was strange to Reap. She folded her arms around her knees so that she didn’t have to look at her palms any longer. ‘I should get gloves…’ Reap thought to herself.
“Nothing,” Reap repeated as if that word did not have any connotation in her vocabulary. She looked down at her feet then back up at Gemma. She met the woman’s eyes and decided that when she said nothing she meant nothing. Reap gave a barely imperceptible nod of her head to show her acceptance of the generosity. She started to step forward as soon as the woman said that she would leave the pizza box on the broken chair but then froze as the woman said the word mutant.
Reap tried to backtrack over what the woman had just said. She had been so focused on pizza that she tuned the rest out. Something about canceling mutant powers. How did the woman know she was a mutant? Other than her whole posture which now read like she had been caught red-handed. Wait…canceling mutant powers? Did that mean she was a mutant? It was so hard to tell sometimes. Further down the line of her thoughts, she wondered where that gift had been when her own powers manifested. No one would ever see or know about such a power…not like hers that had come exploding out of her.
Reap considered just running away at this point but she didn’t really have much to fear from someone who could cancel powers. Hungry canceled her powers well enough on its own. The thought of abandoning the pizza made her want to cry though. It just smelt so good. Reap darted forward to grab the box. If the woman was quick, she would be able to see a brief exposure of Reap’s palms while she reached out to take the box. There were some bruises and scrapes (from banging her hands on the lock) but the most important details were their color. Green.
Reap scurried backwards several paces then not able to contain herself a moment longer, she flipped open the box and grabbed a slice of pizza then stuffed as much of it into her mouth at once as she could. She barely chewed it into a swallow-able size before it disappeared down her throat and she was onto the next bite. Her stomach immediately protested the sudden onslaught of food when it had been empty for days but that didn’t stop Reap from stuffing her face. Realizing that the woman must just be watching her guzzling, she looked up for a fraction of a second then said through a mouthful, “It’s good…” Before returning to shoveling the next slice in.
Reap frowned when the woman claimed that she had no intention of getting her into trouble. It might be sincere but it might not be. She might be trying to stall her long enough for the authorities to arrive. That could be disastrous for Reap. She would rather starve then be arrested because being arrested at her age meant she would be dumped with the Social Services by morning. However, it could also be that this woman leaned more to the Good Samaritan type. That could be just as bad. It would start with questions like ‘where are your parents’ and ‘do you have somewhere to stay’…and it would end up in the same place.
"I tripped…” Reap lied when the woman brought up the banging. “Banged up my hand a little. It’s nothing.” She took another step back even though the woman didn’t appear to try to be getting closer. She stuffed her hands in her pocket to prevent the woman from taking a closer look at her hands. She didn’t want anyone to see them…not because of the bruising and scraps…but the green that had started to appear on her palms. She didn’t want anyone to see that. She didn’t even want to see it.
Reap’s suspicion deepened when the woman offered her some of the pizza she carried. In her world, no one got or gave anything for free. Unless you were Euphoria but she duped people into giving her things with her power so that didn’t count. Her suspicion warred with her hunger and the standoffish demeanor she assumed was somewhat ruined by the audible grumble of her stomach. “What do you want for it?” Reap asked at length.
Reap felt a crushing sense of hopelessness bear down on her. She was a mutant who couldn’t use her powers. A teenager with no friends or family. A kid who had no home. No future. No livelihood. She couldn’t even be sure how old she was. Fifteen? Sixteen? She kept track of seasons for obvious reasons but days or months? She couldn’t say with any certainty. Reap wasn’t sure she could survive being on her own again. She had relied on Euphoria for so much…
Overwhelmed by her own feelings of despair, Reap didn’t notice that someone else had entered the alley until she spoke. She gave a start of surprise and scrambled to her feet, but in the process, her sleeping bag slipped from her shoulder and revealed more of her face. She took a step back and hurriedly pulled the sleeping bag back around herself. She looked up at the woman, her gaze automatically, hungrily, drawn to the pizza boxes, then immediately back down at her feet. She was too scared to look for long. Was this a Good Samaritan type? An employee from the restaurant come to chase her off?
“I am not doing anything…” Reap insisted, immediately jumping to the defensive, because she assumed the woman would go to the offensive. “I’m leaving now…I don’t want any trouble.” She started to take a few steps backwards to prove her point.
I am so excited to have my first character approved and ready for business. I've started an open thread for Reap here. Reap is going to be pretty hostile and distrustful towards everyone so I apologize for her behavior in advance! I don't have any set plans for what her future might look like so she is far game for any of the factions rolling about. I hear from the Discord chat that there is a shadowy government agency that might be interested in a homeless mutant teenager. XD
Posted by Reap on Mar 15, 2019 21:47:19 GMT -6
Gemma Taylor likes this
Zeta Mutant
Who has time for that?
Solo. Always.
14
3
May 25, 2019 20:13:32 GMT -6
Frankenstein
Reap walked with her eyes focused down on the pavement. She knew where she was going but she did not actually have to look where she was going in the crowded street. People parted around her like the Red Sea around Moses. She knew it was because how she looked and smelled, although, her own nose had grown immune to it and she couldn’t even remember the last time she looked in a mirror. It was better that way though. The matted hair, the dirt encrusted hands and face, and the filthy old unzipped sleeping bag wrapped around her shoulder like a jacket didn’t encourage anyone to look closer. For that she could be grateful, Reap didn’t want any Good Samaritan type to see how young she really was and take it upon themselves to alert the authorities.
Reap saw her goal on the next block. SottoCassa Pizzeria. A popular joint. Always packed with people. Not that Reap had ever been inside it but she had been on the outside looking in on a number of occasions. Mostly with Euphoria. Euphoria used to induce such a feeling of goodwill in the patrons that they would give them their leftovers on their way out. Reap could remember the time they had been given a vegan pizza and how they laughed over the crazy things people with money did to pizza. Reap didn’t think she would ever laugh like that again and she certainly couldn’t charm people into giving her free pizza like Euphoria could.
Reap stole into the back alley behind the restaurant. She would never usually risk coming here at this busy time of day but her stomach was gnawing a hole in itself. She couldn’t remember the last day she had eaten. It was a lot harder to come by food without Euphoria. Reap spotted the pizzeria’s dumpster and approached it. It had been a long time since she had to dumpster dive for food. She used to do it all the time back in Atlanta before she got picked up by Social Services and met Euphoria in the foster home.
Reap took a breath then tried to flip open the lid only to realize she couldn’t. She looked closer and saw that the dumpster was sealed by a lock. She felt a surge of anger. This dumpster was full of things people didn’t want. Things that had been thrown away but still they felt possessive enough over the things they didn’t want to prevent anyone from taking them. Reap felt her stomach grumbling and she slammed her fists against the lock, cutting and bruising her hands in the process.
“No…” She whimpered as she leaned her head against the dumpster…whether it was in her head or wafting from inside the restaurant she could swear she smelt the pizza. Just out of reach. Reap was going to turn away when she remembered that she still had one thing she could try. Reap reached into her pocket and picked out a seed. She eyed the lock then pushed the seed into the keyhole. She tried to concentrate. Tried to feel the energy of the seed waiting to sprout and push it out of its shell. If she could get it to pop with enough force…
Reap couldn’t do it though. She was too tired and too hungry. She couldn’t make her power work.
“Useless,” Reap muttered to herself as she slumped down against the opposite side of the alley wall. If she couldn’t even make a seed pop, something she usually could do without trouble, then there was no hope of trying to get one of the seeds to bear fruit for her to eat.
Posted by Reap on Mar 15, 2019 21:31:21 GMT -6
Tempest likes this
Zeta Mutant
Who has time for that?
Solo. Always.
14
3
May 25, 2019 20:13:32 GMT -6
Frankenstein
Individual
Character's full name: Freya Wilson Alias/ Nickname/ Code name: Reap Gender: Female Age: 15 Date of Birth: 03/21/2003 Birthplace/ Home/ Place of origin: Birmingham, Alabama Nationality: American Ethnicity/ Cultural Heritage: African American
Appearance
Hair color and style: Dark Brown and Curly Skin Tone: Brown Eye Color: Brown Height: 5’6” Build: Extremely Underweight Visible mutation: None originally. Subtle hints of green are beginning to appear on her palms and soles. Scars/ Tattoos/ Piercings: Pierced Nose and Ears (courtesy of her friend Euphoria). Other features: A slight Southern accent.
Everyday clothing style: Reap has very few clothes and the ones she does have are holey and grubby. They consist mostly of T-shirts, sweats, and a single pair of much abused jeans. Uniform: None Sleepwear: The same types of clothes she wears in the day. Miscellaneous clothing: One of Reap’s few possession is the rosary she received from her parents after her first communion. She always carries it with her, even though she doesn’t use it to pray anymore.
Character
Personality: Reap was once a joyous, sweet child. She did well in school, sang in the Church choir, and volunteered for community projects through her Church. She grew up in a household and Church that took a hardline against mutants so her social circles ran mostly in that vein as well. She didn’t really question this until her own mutant powers manifested.
Having committed the ultimate sin of being a mutant, Reap found herself thrown out on the streets at the age of twelve. She quickly learned just how hard life can be for mutants. There is little left of the once happy child. She is now a bitter teenager who is extremely distrustful of others, humans and mutants alike.
The time she was picked up by social services, her fosterers and case worker described her as antisocial with a tendency to hoard food, blankets, and plastics in her room. She was also prone to angry outbursts and had little interest in school so she has fallen far behind in her academics.
Hobbies/Interests: Reap doesn’t really have the time, energy, or means for hobbies anymore. Before her mutant powers manifested, she used to love helping her mother in the family garden. Her mother used to joke that she was the only kid who inherited her green thumb. Job or part time job and description: None. Reap is a homeless dropout. Fears/phobias/concerns: The things Reap fears are mostly related to her life on the streets. Fear of not finding a safe place to sleep, fear of the cold, fear of being preyed upon by others, fear of not having enough to eat, fear of being arrested, fear of being picked up by social services…but other more deep-seated fears related to her upbringing like she’s going to hell for being a mutant. Special talents: Reap’s survival skills have been honed by extensive trial and error. She knows the best spots to find food, to hide, and to keep warm. She is quick and light on her feet and she seems to have a six sense for when it is time to bail on a situation.
Morality
Good/bad/neutral/other: Reap started out as a good soul but nearly four years on the streets has put her into survival mode. She doesn’t really have the luxury to think about whether her actions are good or bad. She just does what she needs to do.
Mutations Manipulation of plants
Mutation description:
Reap’s manipulation of plants centers around plant growth. She can enhance a plants growth, for example, making a seed sprout or a plant flower. She can technically take a seed and make it grow into a full-fledged flowering plant but this is much harder than simply prompting the plant to enter the next stage of growth. If she concentrates really hard, she can sense plants near her and feel their pulses of energy. Reap hasn’t really noticed this herself but her power works best when there is sun and moisture present. Something she has noticed though and with no small amount of distress, is that the palms of her hands and the soles of her feet have begun to turn green.
Strengths:
Reap does not honestly have the greatest control over powers. On the rare occasion, in extremely stressful situations, she has been able to vastly exceed her everyday power capabilities. She has been able to make hundreds of plants grow at once, manipulate vines and roots to entangle others, and make plants so huge that she can climb them to safety, but this sort of power seems out of reach to her in the everyday. The strength of Reap’s average power is in her capability to make distractions. She can toss a bunch of seeds and make them all sprout with a pop at the same time. It sounds a little like a bunch of snap bangs going off at once which is great at startling people. She has also started to have some growing success with making plants bear fruit for her to eat (but these are generally very small in size like a few cherry tomatoes or grapes).
Weaknesses and Limitations:
Reap can only affect plants within a ten-foot radius of herself. Her power works best when there is a single plant she is trying to affect and when she has direct contact with that plant. She can sustain plant growth only for short bursts and is physically drained after the effort. She cannot create plants from nothing which is why her pockets are always full of seeds. Reap cannot backtrack her plant growth either, which means she can’t reduce a plants growth so the seeds she carries around are a one-use only object and whatever she enhances stays that way unless a natural element causes the plant to wither on its own.
Physical Abilities
General Physical Capabilities: Not strong, but fierce. Reap is the sort of person who goes straight for the eyes, groin, and nose when she is attacked. The preferred option is always to run away if she can though. Fighting Style: Reap never had any formal fight training so if fighting dirty is a style that is hers! Fighting Style Pros/Cons: There aren’t that many pros to Reap’s fighting style other than that people can underestimate a scrawny teenager so she might be able to catch them by surprise with how ferociously she will fight back. The cons are that she can be easily overpowered if she is unable to immediately break an attacker’s hold on her.
History Of Your Character
Reap started her life as Freya Wilson, the youngest and only daughter of Gregory and Cathleen Wilson. She didn’t like to admit it but her four older brothers were right. She was totally the favorite child. Her parents doted upon their “baby girl” but luckily, she didn’t have the sort of personality where that attention went straight to her head. It probably annoyed her brothers even more that she was so sweet to them! The Wilsons were just an average family. Most of their social life revolved around their Catholic church and all the kids attended Catholic school.
Faith was a big part of Freya’s life. She sang in the Church choir and volunteered on community projects. She attended bible study every week and helped organize the younger kids at Sunday school. However, there was also a darker side to her involvement with the Church, as she frequently attended anti-mutant protests with her congregation, even though she was really too young to have formulated her own opinion on the matter. Freya had dreams one day of becoming a missionary in some far away country.
All this changed abruptly not long after her twelfth birthday. She was leaving a grocery store with her mom and one of her brothers when three men jumped them. One of the men knocked her brother down and the other two restrained her mother. Freya didn’t know what their intentions were…to mug them or worse…but she remembered screaming and raising her hands. There was a strange feeling like she was pushing something out and suddenly there were multiple burst of sounds, almost like a bunch of snap bangs being thrown on the ground at once, and the attackers froze. The produce her mother and brother had been carrying were exploding but they weren’t just being ripped apart. It was the seeds inside of them that were expanding….growing…right before their very eyes. There were suddenly tons of plants everywhere and Freya not quite understanding reached into her own grocery bag and pulled out strawberries which she began throwing at the attackers. The seeds in the strawberries exploded into new growth and their roots and vines began to wrap around their faces.
The three men began to retreat and Freya ran over to help her mother but for some strange reason her mother was backing away from her and clutching her brother close. She kept yelling at her to stop it and Freya couldn’t figure out what she meant. Freya kept trying to tell her that they needed to call the police but then she realized what her mother was talking about. The parking lot was littered with their produce and all of it was growing. Seeds were growing into flowering plants and dropping fruit or vegetables that then also proceeded to grow right before their eyes. Freya realized then what her mother meant and also simultaneously realized that she couldn’t stop it. She started to cry and her mother decided to rush her and her brother off into the car. They just left everything else behind.
When they got back to the house, Freya still couldn’t stop as her mother tried to rush her into the house. Every foot she put on the lawn caused the grass to shoot up and once she was across the threshold all their household plants began to go into full bloom. Her flabbergasted brothers were sent upstairs while her father and mother had a brief furious argument about what to do. Freya just stood there and cried. This couldn’t be happening…it just couldn’t…she was a good girl! She was. She couldn’t be a…she couldn’t even think it. Eventually her parents came over with a glass of water which they encouraged her to drink to calm down while promising her that everything was going to be alright.
It wasn’t alright though.
When Freya woke up, she was shivering under an underpass. She had no idea where she was or where her family was. She spent the day wandering around lost and calling for her parents. It took her several days to realize that no one was coming back for her. She had been abandoned by her parents. It took an even longer time for her to except that they had abandoned her because she was a mutant. The only thing she had left of her childhood was the rosary she had in her pocket and the clothes on her back.
Freya eventually figured out that she was in Atlanta and this is where her life on the streets began. It was an extremely hard life for young girl on the streets. At first, she was shocked about how people lived on the streets, what they ate, what they drank, how they smelled…but that began to fade with time and desperation. There was a strange hierarchy on the streets. There were human homeless and mutant homeless. The human homeless tended to get more help and had more resources than the mutants but everyone preyed on each other and there were many of nights she feared for her life. For the longest time, Freya’s first display of power was her only. She struggled to make it happen again or in such a grandiose fashion. Honestly, most days she was too hungry to worry about figuring out her power. She often had to resort to thieving to provide herself with even the basic necessities of survival.
About a year after her abandonment, Freya was caught dumpster diving outside pizza joint. The police brought her to social services and she was placed with a family who had a bunch of foster kids. To say this was a step up from being homeless, was a rather optimistic view of the foster system. Her foster parents had no more interest in being parents than the paycheck they got every month. Just like on the streets, the kids preyed on one another with the mutant kids bearing the brunt of the torment. This is where Freya met Euphoria. Freya had never really been friends with a mutant before and Euphoria was the first. She was a couple years older than Freya and had much better control over her power. She could basically induce a sense euphoria in others. She encouraged Freya to practice her abilities and even helped her choose a mutant name: Reap.
Together the girls hatched a plan to escape the foster home and after essentially robbing their foster parents, the two girls hopped trains going North and ended up in New York City. They didn’t have enough money to actually live in New York so they were once again homeless. It was hard…the New York winters were a lot colder than down South…but Reap found it more bearable now that she had Euphoria. The girls would daydream often about what their lives would be like when they had enough money to have their own apartment, the new clothes that they would buy, and the food that they would eat...
It wasn’t exactly easy for two underage girls to find work in New York City and adding the fact that they were both mutants? Their prospects were even worse. Neither of them wanted to end up in the clutches of social services again…so whatever they did had to be under the radar which meant a lot of under the table jobs that took advantage of the fact that neither of them could get real work. When they couldn’t find even those odd jobs, they would resort to pickpocketing or using Euphoria’s powers to charm unsuspecting store owners into giving them free things.
It was during one such exchange that everything fell apart. They usually tried to choose stores that were mostly empty aside from the owner but right after Euphoria began inducing feelings of happiness and well-being in the store owner, a couple of men walked into the store. Reap felt her anxiety rise because they were attracting a lot of looks from them…probably because neither her or Euphoria looked or smelt well-kempt enough to be in a store and Euphoria’s power couldn’t extend to all of them at ounce. Reap tried to tell Euphoria that they should leave but they hadn’t eaten for a few days and Euphoria shrugged off her concerns.
Unbeknownst to them, one of the men had called the policebecause he sensed something fishy going. Something mutant.
Reap drifted away from Euphoria towards the back of the store because she felt too much anxiety to stand right next to her. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched. Reap chose the right moment because just then police entered the store and they didn’t come alone. They brought a metabot. Reap stood frozen as she watched the metabot cuff Euphoria and begin repeatedly shocking her. Reap wanted to help. She tried to help but she couldn’t seem to access her powers. It had been too long since she’d last eaten. Too long since she had a decent night’s sleep.
All she could do was run.
She left Euphoria behind.
Reap hasn’t seen Euphoria since and has no idea what happened to her. What’s more, when she returned to their hideout, she found the place had been ransacked. Everything they had been saving was gone. It had happened before but this time with Euphoria gone, Reap feels like she is back where she started. Alone.
Roleplay What’s your OOC alias?: Frankenstein Where did you learn about this site?: Google Magic Do you have any other characters on MRO, if so who: No Sample RP:
Freya sat in the corner of the back bedroom and ran her fingers over the rosary she clutched in her hand. She had done this a thousand times before but she didn’t bother with the words this time. She couldn’t bring herself to. Not in this place. Not with this power. She wondered if God had abandoned her or if she was like Job and her faith was being tested. Freya didn’t think she could be as strong as him. She couldn’t see God in this at all.
The door opened and Freya shrank back against the corner afraid of who had come in. She could hear the yelling out in the hall and didn’t want to become the object of one of the other foster kids rage. Her legs and ribs were already peppered with bruises.
“It’s just me,” Euphoria said as she walked. “Oh no…you aren’t at it again, are you?”
Freya quickly stored her rosary in her pocket. Euphoria could not understand why Freya kept it and honestly, Freya could hardly answer that question herself most days. It just reminded her of a life that would never be hers again. Freya had been lumped in with Euphoria since her first day in the foster home. Apparently, it was standard practice to test kids for the X-gene before their placements with a foster family, something to do with family preferences to only foster none X-gene kids. Euphoria was the only other female mutant in the house. Freya didn’t actually know her real name. She refused to give it. Freya thought it was kind of weird but Euphoria was kind to her and her power made things seem not so terrible.
“It always upsets you so much…” Euphoria said as she came over and put her arm around Freya.
Freya could feel the slight tug on her emotions, a subtle feeling of happiness and wellness settling over her. She knew it was Euphoria’s power but it didn’t bother her to know that it was her emotions being manipulated. It made her feel better.
“I’ve got something for you,” Euphoria said as she pulled several little packets of seeds out of her pocket.
“What’s this for?” Freya asked without reaching out to take the packets.
“Oh, come on,” Euphoria said as she grabbed Freya’s hand and dumped on open packet of tomato seeds into her hand. “I got them from the nursery. The gardener was so overcome with feelings of goodwill he gave them to me for free.”
“What am I supposed to do with them?”
“Freya! Make them grow of course! Use your power!”
“No…I can’t do that…”
“You told me you made hundreds of plants grow when you were attacked in the parking lot! Seeds should be easy.”
“Yeah, and then my parents abandoned me for…for this…” She whipped her hand around to their present circumstances and sent the seeds flying everywhere. “I don’t ever want to use those powers again.”
“Freya…you’re a mutant. This power…it is all you have. The rest of the world won’t forget you have it…why should you?” Euphoria said as gently as she could. She picked up a single seed and put it into Freya’s palm. “Just try.”
Freya looked at the seed and could feel it pulsing in her hand. All she had to do was push. She hesitated for a moment then did it. With a small little pop, like popcorn kernels popping in the microwave, the seed in her hand popped open and began to sprout.
“Woohoo! You did it!” Euphoria exclaimed as she clapped her hands together. “You need a proper mutant name now. We can’t keep calling you Freya!”
Freya dropped the seed from hand and wrapped her hands around her knees. She could feel the rosary burning a hole in her pocket and a bible verse came to mind. She muttered it under her breath.
“What was that?” Euphoria asked.
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Freya quoted loud enough for Euphoria to hear.
“A bit biblical…” Euphoria observed with a soft laugh, “But Reap. I like it.”
