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.
Blue watched, eyes judgmental and as sharp as ever. It was...actually kind of cool seeing things in cat vision, but he would not be distracted. He had to keep the apartment from burning down. If things were going to burn, they would burn on his terms!
While he waited, his paw twitched once on the couch, then again. He felt the uncomfortable need to kneeeed. The spot wasn't comfy. It needed to be softer. He flexed his paws a few times, then froze.
He needed out of this body.
Blue marched to the kitchen and moved to where he could watch Juniper. Juniper and the chicken. Juniper in the oh dear god she had a knife.....
She could phase, but what if she dropped it? Blue wondered if he needed to step back. He gave a unhappy mew.
Blue wanted to say he understood. He hated the way Juniper looked, a flicker of guilt mixing with her pain and discomfort. He wanted to tell her it was okay she left, but there was a wall in his chest, a layer of cement that seemed to cover his throat and stop him from speaking, breathing.
"You never seemed like the staying still sort, darlin'. So I shouldn't have felt surprised."
The words sounded more like a whisper than he meant them to. But he wasn't angry. If anything, he almost sounded sad. He knew what it was like to not be missed, to vanish without a trace and have the freeing sensation that no one would follow him. He could imagine there was an appeal to her when she left and just vanished for awhile.
Why should he, and Blueberry, and anything here matter?
He never had a parent that would have fixed his wounds. Never had a friend that would have checked if he was injured. Not until now, not until Juniper fell into his life. The flirting and the fire seemed to fade, but it left this discomfort, and he hated it. When she moved to leave, Blue didn't stop her.
"I'm glad you're sticking around, at least for now. Cat's a pain when you're gone...and we need groceries."
When Blue was a child, he remembered reading the Oz books. It took longer than it would have for most people, given he hid any reading from his father who would have loved another reason to torment him. But he was bored, and reading offered as much of an escape as anything at that age. Plus, it was less risky than trying to leave the house.
One book was the most popular to typical culture: The Wizard of Oz. Blue remembered the appeal of the story when he read it, crammed into his closet, still sporting a busted lip, and thinking about the characters as he tried to lick away the taste of iron that still lingered from the cut. The characters all had their own desires and they seemed simple and relatable: a brain, courage, a heart.
Blue never felt like he lacked courage. He was always on fire, the flames the light that helped him read even in his closet or under his bed. Those flames served as a deterant to most people, keeping them away. He had a dad who hated him, but Blue knew it was only a matter of time before he was strong enough to deal with that. Courage, he was fine with.
A brain he had too. He was smart but had little use for it. What good was a brain if it wouldn’t get you anywhere? He didn’t care about school, didn’t care about a career, didn’t care about anything but leaving this town. Actually, it was the caring he felt he was missing.
If Blue felt he could relate to anything, it was the feeling of not having a heart.
There were stories he read about serial killers. Murderers, thieves. They all shared the same element of a lack of empathy, a lack of caring. Blue understood that. He knew how it felt for things to just not matter anymore. Every time he was struck, everytime someone mocked him, it was easier not to care, or to just feel angry.
“Is Blue your real name?”
“Your mutation is so useless. What’s the use of fire when you can’t burn anything!”
It was easier not to care, not to feel what those words wanted to do. It was easier to avoid pain by not feeling anything. He didn’t feel heat, or cold, so why should he feel sad, or happy? Just, nothing. If he could feel nothing, he was safe.
When Blue thought of the stories, he wondered what made the Tin Man want to care. When you had no heart you were stronger. He saw the Tim Man as better before the wizard got to him. Blue felt having a heart was something he was missing, but it would be a curse to ever gain.
As he grew older, this mindset continued. If he didn’t grow attached to people he could leave when he wanted. If he didn’t care he could hit someone without remorse. His soul grew darker, a void as he shut out the emotions he didn’t feel. It grew strong enough he could kill without blinking. He was empty and the word could burn, and he would dance on the ashes.
He started to feel happy when things burned. Happy when people suffered. Happy living his own life and forcing his own path. Like a machine swinging out, striking anything that got too close. He was free, so free, and loved it.
But then, a complication arrived.
This complication drank too much, and laughed loud. She was reckless, like a breeze that danced from place to place. When he tried to burn her, she slipped away like some ethereal creature, and continued to dance just outside his grasp. She flickered much like a little flame, and Blue found himself drawn to the light she offered, as if she gave the same energy a real fire would give.
For awhile, he tricked him mind to thinking the attraction was physical. After all, the enemies with benefits sort of idea was fitting. If she got too close, he could scare her away with his dangerous attitude. She had seen him kill. She knew he could burn her anytime if he felt like it, all it took was a well timed spark. He burnt her sometimes in the early days, and the apartment had little marks from his temper.
But, time changed things. They fought thugs together. He killed for her. She rescued him. They got a cat. He wasn’t sure when this girl he treated as simply a means to have a roof over his head had become necessary to him. When she left, he wanted to follow, and found himself brooding in an empty room every time she vanished and left him behind.
He played a guitar again in those days, just to hear music in the apartment again. He could never sing like she did, but a few cords here and there almost made him feel like he was closer. The light was almost in reach, the flame who kept getting away from him. This little spark that almost felt like warmth, something in his tin chest.
One day, she left again, and he was sitting on a sofa with a computer and a kitten, and an empty apartment. She had gone and danced out of reach one more tile. There was a painful but almost comforting ache when he thought of how he wanted her back next to him.
Then, he knew why the Tin Man asked the wizard for a heart.
Blue didn't know why her surprise was, well, surprising. Maybe it was her confusion over the actual bandage that seemed unusual. But, then she asked what it was. Blue had never thought of a butterfly closure as unusual, but maybe it was something you tended to use when you harmed yourself more seriously. Blue did not phase like Juniper, and as such, he couldn't always escape the incoming attacks. Like a knife that had almost killed him not so long ago...
"Butterfly. Pretty normal for a cut like that. Deeper ones I'm more keen to just super glue. Guess you normal come out on top of your fights," he mused.
That felt reassuring. Why it felt reassuring, he didn't know. Maybe less danger to watch for? No, he would always be on the lookout for danger. He was getting a headache, and moved to sit back on his spot on the cough, Blueberry torn between following and staying with Juniper.
"So, you staying around this time?" He asked, voice managing to stay even now.
He threw a towel at her. Blue had a moment of what a normal person would have taken for sheepishness but it vanished in the empty cave where all his emotions seemed to drown. He had other emotions there. The feeling of abandonment when she hadn’t returned. The grief over the dang cat who used to live here. But rage always stayed on top. It was easy to be angry. Angry was natural for him, as natural as burning things around him.
Blue started to get her water, but a bit of steam and he abandoned the bowl he tried getting. She was making smudging makes all over her face. He waited.There was blood, so he he returned to the bowl, and dabbed at it. Damn....he couldn’t sense temperature! Uh, heat...heat was energy....he didn’t feel much energy so it must be cool? ”Uh, here. You need to clean it.”
He got another towel, wet it, then held it out. No steam. He finally had the flames back under control. Blueberry took this chance and hopped onto the counter then batted at the little box where Blue stored his food. Blue tossed him a few little kibbles then returned to helping Juniper.
”Stop talking.” he could have said a lot to the apologies. His eyes flashed once when she mentioned being drunk and passed out somewhere, but he didn’t say anything. That was her choice, even if he thought she was trying to do the more straight and narrow thing. Heck, even he was committing less arson... But she was upset, and that led to drinking. For now, she just needed help. He managed to clean the cut and fished out a butterfly closure to secure the wound on her eye. There was a speed to his actions that showed he fixed up more than enough wounds in his day. He had lots of fights. Not all of them he could roast his way out of.
Not what it looked like.... Blue’s brain barley registered what he was being told. It looked like blood. It looked like cuts and injuries and pain and he wanted to bust someone else’s face for doing this to Juniper’s.
He felt rage. And that was normal, but the angry twist of coiling emotions still felt unusual. It was the same when she vanished and left him behind, waiting like a wounded animal here in the apartment. He had wondered if they found her, wondered if he should have tracked her... why did he feel betrayed then, and why did he feel pained now?
He...he was not hurt. But when she came home like this, that felt like a knife. He did not like it. He did not like this confusing situation, and how useless it made him feel.
Ice. Of all the damn things in the world she wanted ice. He made it to the freezer in what seemed like two strides from his long legs and yanked it open. The handle sizzled. The air steamed quickly as he tried to turn down his flames. Cool off had a whole new meaning with him right now. He touched an ice tray and it let out steam in a loud hiss. He cussed, and tried to pull his powers back. Reached, hiss.
”First aid kit. And a cloth....” he changed direction and snatched the kit from under the counter, managing not to melt it. He got a clean towel which he almost threw at her face when it started to get hot.
He spent a short amount of time as a cat, the time after with a lot of sulking. Juniper had taunted him significantly for how 'cute' he had been, and how he managed to lose his fire-proof pants. But there was dignity he had to regain. He burned a few Christmas trees out of spite. Did some questionable arson around festive displays. But that wasn't anything unusual. Heck, he even left the more charming decorations intact. He was downright merry if you asked him.
But he had a lot to sort out. A lot in his head. He tried to ignore the sensation of frustration with the second rate killers who had tried to finish them off. He also tried to ignore this whole awkward roommate imbalance he had seemed to find himself in with Juniper. It was just, he didn't keep people around as friends. He didn't stay in one place, or grow attached. But from cat, to attacks, to murdering people for her, to her disappearing, it was hard to ignore they had become a bit, well, complicated.
Seeing her come home injured, that was complicated. And the 9-layers of hell that spawned in his chest that caused the floor to scorch was also complicated.
Don't burn down the apartment, rule number 1!
That was hard to focus on as he pushed the heat closer to his torso so he didn't cause more damage, but his eyes seemed to have a darker blue to them. The heat was real. Blueberry seemed to pause and retreat behind Juniper, disliking just how hot it had become.
"Who hurt you," he hissed, and there was no mistaking the murder in his face.
Juniper arrived, and did what Juniper would do when she saw a cat, and began to coo, and gush, and call him pretty.
Oh hell, was he pretty? Had he been turned into a pretty cat? He would kill that cat when he found them over this. Because of the pretty. Because of the cat. Because of allll of this. There would be a BBQ kitty. No, he would scratch him first. Claw, then flames. Then flames. So many flames.
Blue was impatient as Juniper unlocked the door, because why couldn't she just let them through like normal? Ugh. He resisted doing anything too dramatic while Juniper was carrying things, because that would risk things spilling, and frankly, if she was buying things the traditional way, he wasn't going to waste her money like that. But, he needed to make this clear fast that he was not a cat, he was Blue, and he was not pretty.
He ignored Clyde, ignored Blueberry who was so much bigger here at cat level. When did the kitten get so big? Why was the purr so loud. Ugh. Once Berry realized it was Blue, the kitten was even harder to keep calm. "You're so loud!" he complained. It came out as a meow, and Berry only purred louder. Blue pushed past the kitten and marched to his spot on the couch and jumped up to it. Holy frickity----He almost landed on the back of the couch in an overshot effort to get there. Cat agility. That was...unusual. He slowly loosed the hold his claws had on the fabric and flopped backward onto the spot. Claws. Yeah, those worked. Good to know.
Juniper was wagging food around and the other two cats ran to it. Blue snubbed his nose at the smell. How could they be excited for cold wet mush? Nope. He wouldn't do it. He could just wait for Juniper to cook something more edible.
If she cooked something more edible. Crap, he normally cooked. Could she make dinner without him? She had before, but, there were burnt dishes involved. He glanced over at the kitchen, somewhat concerned now.
Blue had been on good behavior since he moved in with Juniper. Or, moved onto her couch, since he had no belongings to really consider it 'moving-in'. But he was on edge given the amount of bodies he had created lately, and bodies tended to attract attention of the police, the authorities, and even several unethical 'organizations' if you weren't careful. Needless to say, Blue was trying to stay under the radar.
Given that he was a walking match, he was not succeeding so well.
Today, he found himself followed by a stray cat, who seemed far too amused by his blue flames. This, in turn, was attracting attention from pedestrians. As the white stray bounced beside him, swatting at the fire, Blue finally turned to glare at it.
"Git outta here! Scat!" He waved at the cat, who surprised him by sitting on it's backside, and glaring at him. The cat had splotches of orange and black, and the glare Blue was given was infuriating. I don't...harm....animals, he reminded himself. But then the cat raised a paw, and took another defiant swat at his flames.
Blue's powers activated. The cat's paw caught on fire. The cat hissed, then...
The world got...bigger?
Blue didn't remember much after that. There was some hissing, what he could have sworn was laughter, his own flailing attempts to run, and ...there was a tail. He had a tail? Why did he have a tail.
It was a good thing he wasn't wearing his only fireproof clothing today, because the loss of pants and shirt would be fine. And he had no belongings to lose. The cat seemed disappointed there was no wallet. Wait, why did the cat want his wallet? Blue got tangled in a shirt as he tried to get answers, and in the end, he found himself sitting outside his apartment door.
Outside Juniper's door.
As a cat. He was a f***ing cat. If he ever found that damn mutant, he would burn it to hell and back.
His tail twitched. Blue hoped Juniper would be home soon. This was not his day.
Blue regarded her with half-lidded eyes. But the fact he was looking, and regarding her, was it's own show of respect. Respect? Did he respect people? Maybe friends. He cared enough to listen, and take note of what she was saying. He knew enough to understand her desire to stay where she had people she wanted to be around.
"That's the difference between vanishing and running. Running is what I did when I was younger. Wasn't a plan, just a direction. But, vanishing...that's where I am now. I...I have somewhere I'm comfortable. But I have people I want to be around. But I make sure the people I don't want around can't find me. We need to make you vanish to the people you don't want..." he closed his eyes again, and leaned back into the couch. A tiny motor was on his head making it hard to think. Somehow he didn't mind.
How do you know so much about this kind of stuff?
Blue opened an eye again. "Darlin', you think someone who's going to pay me to fake an accent is gonna keep someone useless around? People with money know how to be safe, and take care of problems. What we have is...a problem to take care of." He shut his eyes again. Then a devilish smirk spread across his face that most people would find unsettling.
"You don't live like I do without knowin' how to act fast in danger. These aren't the first men I've kill, luv, an' if that bothers you, best come to terms with it now."
Blue's brain was still trying to process the idea of 'costumes', so it took a moment for the music to click. Blue shook his head. "I don't mind your music," was all he said. Someone else may have complimented the singing, or asked her to keep playing, or made a more dramatic statement, but for Blue 'not minding' something was as much as he could compliment in the end. Blueberry butted his head and he blinked, reaching for the kitten. His flames seemed normal again, and the kitten purred and curled against his hand.
"You could talk to the girl, maybe see if we can get wind of how they're taking losing a few men. Some groups will give up after there is a body count, some may get more motivated," he seemed mater of fact about it, then shut his eyes. In his brain he was calculating. For someone who lived on a couch, he still had old resources he could reach out to if it came down to it. Not that he wanted to. He sighed, unhappily.
"And generally, running from problems only works in the short term. I preferred to vanish over running....less energy involved..."
Blue was distracted by the music a bit then realized she asked a question. He looked at the cat, the towel, the various strewn supplies near him and felt like he was still in the middle of a very strange dream. ”I....feel confused. Should I expect a white rabbit to appear? Or a tinman? Or is this a musical since you are singing?” he felt one hand reach up and pet Blueberry, then relaxed back into the couch.
What had happened? A truck, cold, something with cooking... he shut his eyes and rubbed his forehead at the flashes of images going in his brain.
”We need to decide what to do about these....incidents” he remarked calmly. It was surprisingly calm considering what they just went through. He could freak out. But he wasn’t. Just, tired.
Fever, broken. Yeah, he felt broken. He heard her mention broth and take off, and he tried to use the super hero towel he claimed as a blanket. He shivered. A cat meowed somewhere near his head and he heard some mention of the green lady. ”That’s like...asking someone what to do when a fire is sick. I don’t think...anyone knows.”
He was angry. He was furious something so petty had worked on him. If he had sat in the cold without trying to free himself would he have been fine? He sat up suddenly, the towel falling as he stared at the door. Protect. There had been danger. He was near Juni, he was keeping her safe. How could he keep her safe if he was sick? He needed to get up, needed to make sure no one could get here. The idea seemed to float at the front of his thinking until he lost energy again and sat back. He coughed, and there were cats by his head and cats in his dreams.
He remembered being encouraged to eat, and then falling asleep again. Eventually Blueberry decided it was safe and curled up on his chest. His breathing went from ragged to normal and his flames had a steady color again.
He woke up with a cat and a towel. Neither seemed to mind that he was holding them.
Blue didn’t know when he fell asleep, or if he ever was fully unconscious. His mind seemed trapped between the delirium of a fever and the emptiness of rest. He felt his powers struggle for the first time since he was a child, hungrily seeking warmth while his body desperately wanted something cold again. His torso and neck were covered in sweat but his own flames seemed dimmer than normal.
He knew enough about his body that he knew he was sick. The overexertion in the cold sapped what energy reserves he had, and his body overcompensated in the process. He managed not to burn the couch, or Juniper, but one of the wash clothes may have been scorched, and he vaguely remembered spotting the super hero towel on the couch and trying to cuddle it. Thankfully, that one also escaped damage.
Juniper was asleep when Blue woke, and curled deeper into the couch. Cold... why was it so cold. He hated knowing what cold felt like now, and felt the closer he got to Juniper the warmer it was. The cats felt warm too. He reached for one, but the heat must have been too much and Blueberry scooted away, and his hand bumped Juniper’s arm instead. He withdrew the heat enough he wouldn’t burn her, but had a feeling it was still uncomfortably warm. ”I don’t feel good....” he complained. What did mutants do when they were sick? Medicine? Doctors? Witch doctors?
Blue shook his head about needing help, and then let her lead the way. He hadn't paid as much attention where they ended up as he wanted to. He was trying just to function again. After a little walking he knew something was off. He was tired, but there was a feeling of cold. He wanted fire, and a shirt, and a blanket, something. He handed Juniper her jacket after a moment, or tried to,
"I...I don't want to burn it." How could he explain how he was feeling? He wanted to throw up all of a sudden. In fact he finally shoved the jacket into her arms so he could find a corner and do just that.
Stomach empty, he struggled the rest of the way back. At some point he felt like she may have helped, and he was distracted by the way his hand was shaking a little. Was he shivering or was he ill? Everything felt off. He couldn't feel the change in his flames still, but if Juniper was close she would have noticed the fluctuation in the heat. There was no steady warmth, just nothing then heat, literal waves of temperature changes as his body tried to reboot itself.
Blueberry mewed when he was inside the apartment and made a beeline for the couch. He crashed onto it, shutting his eyes and realizing how heavy he was breathing. His mutation was unhappy. His body was unhappy. He wanted to sleep it off and hoped it was just a temporary situation.
