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.
His finger met something, but it wasn't skin. Her eyes shifted over to him and she stood. She was small compared to him, but average height for a human woman back home. "Yes, and no. This is just one of many forms I choose to wear to blend in when I want."
She poked two pointed nails into her own cheeks as her face shifted slightly into a more cutesy, cherub version. "I can be whatever I wish to be."
Her ears perked and she looked back at him as her face shifted back into her original expression. Was that an offer, or a question? "Everyone I have fought in the last week has been booooring." By the time she heard about some interesting mutant causing chaos and got there, someone else had already shown up to stop it. Petty thieves and thugs only went so far in satisfying the natural urge to chase and catch.
A stray finger ended up underfoot, so she batted it around for a moment as drops of rain started to fall.
"... You should probably rescue your writings before the ink bleeds."
As soon as the Ronin launched into action, the Geisha vanished in a swirl of purple energy with a nefarious little giggle. Hiyori watched from the shadows, now in her cat-eared human form, waiting for the man to meet his end.
Only... he wouldn't?
After the punch connected and the man fell in an unconscious, bleeding blubbering mess, she stepped out herself. "Leave him alive to torment later?"
Blood-red eyes landed on his form, and she frowned. Her ears flattened and her tails flicked about angrily. She supposed, if she had to, leaving him maimed was enough for now. Now she felt silly for donning her human guise if it was going to be one knock-out punch and nothing more.
She squatted, poked at the bloodied man with a clawed finger, and huffed. "..Dasai.." Seemed like a waste of time to her, but she wouldn't question someone else's idea of fun right now.
Well... it wasn't like there still wasn't plenty of time to find someone else to take out her new, simmering aggression on. Her plan for a nap had been sidelined, and she was going to be hungry either way. Maybe it was time to wander off and find another target.
"Hai~!" She'd nearly forgotten that she was tailoring this for the local perverts, not the ones back home. With a thought, the parts mentioned inflated to an appropriate degree. Bigger milk bags. Bigger butt. Larger lips. It was weird how humans fetishized specific body parts even though they didn't have anything to do with actually mating. She chalked it up to being bored as a species.
Her creation, now with over-emphasized parts, turned and started walking off. She directed it in the direction she had caught that cheap smelling deodorant coming from, and stood from her place on his shoulder and stretched, before hopping down. She needed to keep close enough that the construct wouldn't dispel on accident.
"Give me but a moment and I will ferret out some prey for you." She slunk off into the bushes with hardly any sound and vanished from sight.
The Geisha continued walking as Hiyori followed along hidden from view. There was a sway to her hips that was purposefully set to draw the eye in. She seemed blissfully unaware of her surroundings, head in the clouds and such, but it was only a side effect from Hiyori not bothering to make it seem like she was paying attention to anything.
A wold whistle picked up not too far down the path, and from the bushes a man appeared.
"Heeeey heyheyhey, pretty laaady." He was greasy looking, in baggy clothing, and with a fedora on his scraggly hair. He also had a very poorly bandaged nose. It was clear he had been punched, rather hard. A healing black eye gave a good guess as to how old the wound was.
Hiyori had her construct react in a startled way, and a bit shyly. She didn't want to startle the man seeing as he was already nervous for some reason. Kept looing over her shoulder as he approached the woman.
"What's a pretty lady like you doing dressed like that out here? Goin to a party?" Once he felt like the coast was clear, he grinned slimily and encroached further into her space. "I can show you a real party, baby~"
Ugh. Humans.
She directed the Geisha to gasp and turn to run, only off into the bushes beside the road. Further off the path and out of public view.
She slunk along behind, low to the ground as instinct kicked in. The man was prey now. Marked and doomed. One way or another he wasn't getting out unscathed.
The man, Doug as it were, couldn't believe his luck! The lady had just... run off into the bushes? Like.. he didn't even need to drag her there? Suddenly giddy, he hurried after her. "Waaait, don't run! I won't hurt ya!" He was giggling like a true creeper.
The Geisha stopped under the shade of a few taller trees. It was darker there, cut off from view by thick bushes and branches. Dough figured he had her cornered. Figured she was probably stupid or something. His puls was going 90 miles an hour because this never worked! It was the first time!
"Lemme see your face again, sweetheart." He reached out a grubby hand and wrapped his fingers around one of her thin arms, tugging aggressively to turn her around to face him.
She spun easily, but the eyes that handed on him weren't pretty. Large and glowing yellow, with dark slitted pupils. The woman grinned, her mouth splitting wider than normal for such a small face, and rows upon rows of jagged, sharp teeth glinted in what little light there was.
Main protagonist levels of cool. "Yes. I am training to see where my strengths lie, so that I may grow faster." Not that she'd received much training in terms of 'quality' so far. She'd mostly been going out on her own still. The mutant school was beginning to seem like a bit of a letdown, though she wasn't yet prepared to tell her sister that she had been right.
She was more than ready to show him, although she was a little nervous now that she knew who he was. Would he think it was cool, too? Or would he scoff and tell her she still had a lot to learn? She sat up a little, still balanced, and focused on a point just before him.
Swirls of purple energy started to form, condensing and wrapping into the physical body of a woman. She was putting a bit more effort into it than normal... definitely trying to show off a little. The Geisha appeared before them with a flourish of energy. A refined version of the form she had used when back home. Long black hair; sleek and straight with straight cut bangs parted in the middle. Almond-shaped eyes with long lashes, a small dainty nose, and perfect little lips with just the right amount of pink. She was a bit taller than your typical Japanese woman, curvey even under the elaborate kimono layers she was wearing. She lifted a pale hand to pull long strands of hair from her face, exposing the length of her neck, and smiled coyly at Hiyori's direction.
"... What do you think, Raijin-sama? I can edit her to suit the needs of whatever prey I look to attract."
"...Kotodama?" She had read about it but never had she seen it practiced with her own eyes. She'd thought it a practice that had died out, or a misunderstanding of the powers people had. It was an exciting prospect if someone had managed to revive it!
Her ears perked. He... wanted her to pick someone out to hunt? She'd already been doing that all morning! Of COURSE she could! "I am sure there is someone nearby who would suit your needs. Always plenty of targets in a city such as this."
She hardly ever had trouble finding evildoers, anyway. Those who would seek to hurt her in her natural form were probably serial killers in their early stages, and those who would seek to hurt her in one of her human forms were no better than some of the instinct-based animals she's encountered. Fueled by want and need, without a thought or feeling for those on the receiving end.
She paused a moment to sharpen her claws on the bark of the tree and stretch, priming herself for an adventure that was sure to come.
When he offered her his shoulder she just about fell off her branch, she was so excited! Stars and sparkles may well have exploded from her eyes. One butt wiggles later for calibration and she landed on his broad shoulder with perfect balance and settled down. Her tails wrapped around his neck from behind, and she offered an affectionate head bump to show how pleased she was.
"If you mean to find someone worthy to test your skills against, though, that is a different matter entirely. This place is filled with all sorts of fodder. Worthy opponents are apparently rare, or well hidden."
He started walking, and she stared at his side profile from where she was sat.
"I am still young in terms of strength, but I have known how to speak since I was two or three in human years. Best I can gather is that I am not a typical example of my kind."
Parks like this often had plenty of characters you would find who were up to no good. They liked to linger on trails and hide in the shadows, waiting for the weak and unsuspecting. She'd jumped a few of them before, but unless you put them down for good they tended to come back like rats.
"I do not guard the Family of my chosen human... they do not deserve it. Only the girl." She purred at all the fond memories of her sister. From the moment they met to the current day. "She showed kindness to me where no one else would, and in spite of her family being unkind to her. One day I will make them regret it."
In particular, her father. He would come to regret his actions, oh yes. She wasn't sure when, or how, but she was absolutely certain of it.
But, back to the task at hand. She sniffed at the air. There was a musk coming from where... a particularly bad rendition of a human cologne.
"Would you like me to draw a rodent out? It is fairly easy... like fishing. You just need the right bait."
Soo.... it was a real story, even if it had been embellished over time. Her eyes sparkled as he told the real story, and her vivid imagination filled in the details. 13 men against each other on a dusty, dark road at dusk. The red and orange hues of the sun coloring the sky. Tension filled the air- 12 people know they will meet their deaths that night. "Yabaiii." She whispered in awe. How many of the other stories were true also? She had so many questions!
The Thunder God deemed her worthy of his time, and one some small level that really just made her day. Sure, she was a demon to many or an ill omen, but he had just called her a good one! She'd be blushing if her physical body was capable. Instead, she sat a little straighter and pretended not to get super excited about it.
When he moved she remained still, watching curiously as he drew his short sword and drew symbols of light in the air. The shout caused her sensitive ears to flinch, which was not as appreciated, but-
... Why'd he throw his-
He literally vanished in a flash of lightning that forced her to close her eyes and cause her hair to stand on end and reappeared 50ft away at where his sword had landed.
"Eh?" It took a moment for her to realize what had happened.
"EH?!"
That was one of the COOLEST things she had ever seen!
"SUGOOOI!"
She scrambled for a moment getting her feet under her in her excitement, and then bolted at him with all the speed a four-legged small black shadow could muster.
A little clawed shimmied up the tree beside him and onto a branch later, she was much closer to his face.
"Ne ne, how did you do that?! That was so amazing!"
Was she excited? Heck yes! The man was a ledgend! Local thugs in all of the areas she had ever hunted were terrified of the prospect of encountering him on the streets.
"Is it really true that you bested twenty of the top Inagawa-kai in Okayama? They say the streets ran red with blood for three days and nights."
Ooo. Did he want to strike a deal? Well... she didn't see any harm in it.
"That is fair. I accept, Human." She sat back and floofed her bow a little with her paws. "I am here because a child of a family I have decided to protect is here. I followed her to make sure she would be well taken care of in a foreign place." She paused, purring contentedly, and squinted her eyes. "...and eat anyone who dares harm her."
Her attention zeroed back in on him. Ears forward, eyes alert. Watching, waiting. Listening.
"...Sensible." He had the same energies rolling off of him as her sister did. He was confident in whatever abilities he had. Cautious, but not afraid.
The cat started purring again, loudly. "Yes. It is not an unpleasant smell. Metallic and rich. Like meat."
The man started to disrobe and she watched curiously, parking her butt on the ground again and tilting her head. He revealed tattoos... one's she recognized pretty quick. Her pupils dilated with excitement and her ears straightened up on the top of her head.
"The Thunder God!" She let out a little Nyan of excitement and her tails picked up their erratic rhythm behind her. "I have heard many of your tales!" A genuine, living demon in human skin was before her. Many of the folks back home were afraid of encountering him, especially those who might cross paths due to similar employment.
"You've caused many grown men to wet themselves like children. But... what are you doing here? So far away from home?"
"Oh?" She perked up a little, lifting a paw to lick her nails clean from her most recent snack.
She started purring at his line of questioning in place of laughter. That depends, human."Standing, she started padding around him slowly. Stalking. Still just out of reach of his blades."On who... you... are."
She eyed the old blade on his side. It had much more death attached to it than his own flesh did. A well-used blade. The cat gestured with a paw at his work across the ground. She didn't know a lick of what it was. Could read it, yes... but nothing more. "You are fond of ancient things. The old world in general, or just cherry-picked items?"
Her family line had ancient roots. Some of the heirlooms they had on the compound were beyond priceless. "So far you have given me no reason to hold any ill will for you. I am simply... curious. So few these days smell the way you do."
It was hard not to notice the man. He reeked of blood, and she could sense the miasma of death hanging around him like a shroud from what felt like miles away. Hiyori has been out on patrol, stopping intermittently for mischief and snacks. She had been about to head home to bathe and take a nap when the first whiff of something caught her sensitive nose. It only took a few deep breaths through her mouth to get a general direction, and then the hunt was on.
She was not really expecting what she found. A man sat, in very familiar robes, with scrolls and paper all around him. Sure, the city had a wide variety of people in it, but not many wore the grab of her home country in parks. She was hooked. Hiyori needed to know more.
Waiting for him to look away, preferably back up at the cloud-ridden sky, she slunk quickly and silently out of the bush she had been hiding in. The next time he looked back down she'd be sitting before him, conveniently just out of distance from his swords. Which, upon closer inspection, were very familiar. She needed to pick her brain a bit.
The small black cat sat there for a moment without moving, one tail in view with the other hidden behind. Her yellow eyes were wide and curious. Her fluffy neck bow was purple and silk, with a lotus flower pattern. She went from looking at him to inspecting his scrolls- reading- to looking back up at him.
Her pupils shrank, and she smiled by opening her mouth a little and letting her sharp while needle teeth show.
"... You smell like death." She spoke in her native tongue. She was still in practice as her sister and her reverted to it constantly.
She could see a hint of color peeking out around his robes, which sported various dried stains. She was still drawing a bit of a blank on why the human seemed familiar though.
"Fresh." She sniffed the air again, and her second tail snaked out to join the other in lazily twitching behind her. "Who have you killed?"
Almost blind from watering eyes, Hiyori felt herself grabbed by the skin of her neck and lifted. She didn't give up easily and kept her claws sunk in until they finally popped out of the skin and fabric and Saph was free. She froze like most cats do, body stiff and arms flexed out, and then was suddenly pulled away into the safety bubble.
Immediately after she was within the safety of the bubble the noxious smell vanished, and she was able to at least think a bit clearer instead of blind panic. The small cat plopped her rump down and curled her tails protectively around herself, ears flattened back against her skull as her eyes and nose continued to leak.
She noticed Luna was in there with her only after a spree of blinks to clear some of the blurriness from her vision.
"That was an excellent attack." She wasn't pleased with it, but she wasn't going to undercut the girl either. It was pretty potent against those with more animalistic senses. Her sister was lucky she was more evenly split between human and animal characteristics.
Megan appeared after a moment, leaving Jr with his toys in order to approach them.
"Luna.. would you like anything? A bottle of water maybe? This might be the only break you get for a while."
The dark-haired girl dropped to her knees beside the grumpy cat, with a wet rag in hand. Hiyori eyed her through squinted, blurry vision and made no move to run away as Megan used the rag to clean her eyes and nose.
"...Arigato.." She muttered grumpily and lifted a paw to clean her claws while she waited.
"You're welcome. Would you like some water as well?"
With help from the program supplies for the rest were handed out and Megan made her way back over to Jr, where she resumed helping the toddler build a tall tower with blocks.
Hiyori turned back to Luna after a moment, "...Were you able to gather any ideas about how his power works? All I've noticed is that the momentum of my attacks just seems to vanish the moment it meets him... and he seemingly knows where we are going to be before we are even there. It's uncanny."
She thought back to when she had been hit by the stinking ball, "...it seemed like he redirected that shot mid-air at me, too. Did you see it?"
Inside her constructs tummy, she hugged her fish and absolutely squeed. She'd just met Desire, but she already liked him. Was it too early to consider him a friend? She was never sure when it came to human standards. Cat relationships were simultaneously easier and more difficult.
Deciding to let her happiness show a little, she spread a blush along her body's cheeks and slapped on a wide, toothy grin.
"Arigatou gozaimasu!"
She did indeed take in the sights as they traveled, memorizing them as best she could for later. Likely she would just follow the smells she was picking up to find her way back, as street names and such had no importance to her personally.
When they got to the little place it struck her how it reminded her a bit of home. The baskets, the food out in open are. The smells. She wasn't one to cry, couldn't actually, but it might have brought a tear to her eye had she been human.
Mcgee Senpai went around sniffing and inspecting, and she loitered behind inspecting things with her eyes vs her nose. With her fish so close it was a little hard to focus on much more than what her stomach wanted.
"Ne... you can call me Hiyori-chan if you want. I don't mind, Senpai." Oh goodness, that was nerve-wracking. Getting used to the speed at which Americans used informal names was dizzying a lot of the time.
Thought... she did like 'kiddo'. Nobody had ever called her that before. Her family didn't refer to her as anything other than kimoi, and her mom typically referred to her by name, or as Ojōsan.
Kiddo just made her feel.... different. Like a child. She'd never been treated as such before.
Posted by Hiyori on Mar 5, 2021 14:21:06 GMT -6
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Apr 18, 2021 18:47:10 GMT -6
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Good. They were all introduced and all relatively calm. She had no reason to believe this mission suddenly thrust upon them would go south. Haru seemed capable if a little bit of a goof. Madaline was the youngest from what she could tell and thus she did not expect the young girl to fight. Cal and Lenna held themselves in a way that made her wonder if they had previous experience with dire situations such as this and that pleased her. She felt like she was part of a capable team for the first time since she had landed in the city.
Her hunch was proven correct about Lenna swiftly after it had formed, as a target appeared and she swiftly dealt with him. Excitement bubbled in her stomach as Hiyori watched, tense and prepared for a fight of her own.
They all shuffled over into the next car as soon as the keys were found, and it was empty. Empty was not necessarily a good thing though, and they all knew it. Hiyori kept the Geisha and Madaline behind her at the rear and let Cal and Haru go ahead with Lenna.
Everyone was quiet as they moved on to the next, anticipating the worst. When they encountered the group in the next car Lenna was leading their small group still, and when the girl turned and made eye contact with her... she got the message. She had something planned, and Hiyori was more than willing to let her carry out her plan. She prepped herself to be backup if needed and positioned herself in front of Madaline and the Geisha. Cal seemed prepped as well. Large sword held at ready and muscles clearly tense. Haru was... moving? He was following after-
CRUNCH
Haru flinched, Lenna turned to glare at him furiously, and Hiyori had a decision to make. She swiftly abandoned her human form in favor of getting ready to drop the Shogun directly in front of Lenna. The gun holding men were turning- she didn't have time-
Just as the purple haze started to form, Lenna seemed to send a powerful blast of... something at all of them. It knocked almost every enemy back, aside from one seemingly summoned a boulder out of nowhere and hid behind it.
Lenna swayed on her feet and Haru was the closest. He dove to catch her before she could hit the group.
Hiyori sprang into action before Cal had a chance too, finalizing the form of the Shogun mid-air just in front of where Lenna had been standing. The large creature filled the space with its huge body and had to hunch in order to fully fit.
She pulled the strings from behind, scrambling back in her natural form to hop up alongside Madaline on the Geisha's shoulder.
The Shogun carefully swung his giant blade back, avoiding hitting any of them with the utmost care from her perch, before putting every ounce of strength into swinging it up. The aged bladed weapon carved through the metal of the roof with a horrible squeal, before descending on the boulder and man with as much force as possible.
The boulder cracked down the middle, split in two, and the Naginata left a gaping hole in the metal flooring. The man was gone, vanished into the hole, or vanished into thin air. She wasn't sure.
The whole bunch of cars they were in rocked and seemingly started to slow. Hiyori looked at the door on the other side of the Shogun, and the newly cut split in the ceiling. She felt like their chances were better up on the roof than in another cramped car, especially if they were slowing down for some reason.
"Haru! Bring Lenna here!" The Geisha knelt and offered one arm out to grab the passed-out woman, while her other arm kept a secure grip on Madaline.
The Shogun set his blade down and gripped onto the edges of the torn sheet metal. With a monstrous roar, he pulled the split open more, making it a bigger hole for them to escape through. Then he knelt in a way that made his body an improvised ramp.
"Everyone out!"
Cal scrambled up first and poked his head out to make sure the coast was clear, before fully scampering up onto the roof. Haru followed right after, with the Geisha dogging his heels. Hiyori scampered up the back of her creation and lept for the edge of the roof. The Shogun dispelled and from the same swirls of purple her cat-eared body was back. She pulled herself up onto the roof with ease and settled into a crouch to take in their surroundings.
"... Is that blood?" Cal asked, pointing at a splash of crimson that decorated one side of the roof just down from them.
Hiyori took in a deep breath, tasted it on her tongue, and nodded. "Yep... someone else is-"
She paused as another scent hit her.
Fox.
"...onēchan?"
"Senri?" Madaline asked, noticing her confused expression. Hiyori snapped out of it. If Himari was there, then that was just an extra bonus on their side. Her sister was fully capable in more ways than Hiyori herself.
"I'm okay. Let's go. We need to get out of here." As much as she wanted to find more people to fight, there were others who didn't want to be involved.
A hatch from one car down flew open and an unfamiliar head popped out. The woman looked around until she spotted them, then shouted something and started clambering up onto the roof herself. One by one five people followed up after her.
"...chikushō" Haru giggled at her and she glared at him.
Haru, Cal, and herself all stepped up to form a wall between the five goons and Madaline. Hiyori crouched slightly and flexed her clawed fingers.
The female that had first spotted them started flashing her hands around and forming seals of light in the air, a moment later a fireball the size of a basketball rocketed toward them. Cal jumped forward and blocked it with his giant sword, and it was hot enough that it turned the metal red where it had impacted. It saved them all from having to deal with it, and Cal prepped himself again.
Hiyori crouched lower and darted forward, speeding out from behind Cal with a feral look in her eye. She streaked toward the woman as she was prepping for some other attack, and leaped with the grace of an angry cat on her. Sharp nails sank into flesh wherever she found purchase, and the woman fell backward with her on top.
Haru rushed forward at the same time as Cal, and each of them split to handle different people. Cal swung his giant sword right over Hiyori's head and batted someone attempting to help the woman right off the side of the train. He turned again to block a blast of ice with his sword, shielding most of his body with the metal.
Haru squared up against a large man with a gun and a scruffy beard. Before the guy could get a bead on him the Japanese boy had lifted both palms and in a series of motions almost too quick for the eyes to follow, he'd made an attack of his own. KA-SPROI-OI-OI-OING!
All of the man's clothes, aside from white and red heart boxers, fell off of him. His gun fell to pieces in his hand. He rightfully panicked and turned to run.
Another woman started to rush up to take his place, but Hiyori appeared from off to the side and got her neatly in the jaw with a perfectly executed flying kick. She landed on the woman and knocked her out with a few punches.
The three of them stood, watching as the nearly naked one scrambled back inside the train through the hatch they had come out of, with unconscious enemies underfoot.
"Yeah! Go us!" Haru fished out his phone again and start to record. "Haru here! Kidnappers thwarted!" He flexed and beamed charmingly. Cal and Hiyori blinked as the camera panned their way briefly. "Heroes won!"
Johnson Sensei was free enough to open the door for her, even with a humorous comment about her ability to open it herself. The small cat with her little furry coat just tilted her head back so she could look at him and offered a small, toothy grin with wide yellow eyes.
Then she looked out into the cold, and fully contemplated not even going outside at all, all while he held the door open for her.
What ultimately changed her mind was him giving her a task... sorta.
"Hai!"
She bounced excitedly back outside, barely hearing something about fishing as the door closed behind her.
Huh. Eagles and poisoned dead animals. Sounds there like there was a mystery afoot!
The wee cat paused beside the walled-in body of her other teacher, sniffing at it from outside. She seemed to be fine... if unresponsive. Hiyori wasn't sure how humans managed out in the cold without fur, though. Even with fur sometimes it was too much for her!
After investigating for a moment, she turned tails and ran off around the side of the house to another task she had given to herself.
... Fishing!
She was gone for quite a bit but ultimately returned before Sundance Sensei woke up again.
Hiyori returned in human form; black bob of hair and black fuzzy ears on top. She had a sharpened branch balanced on one shoulder filled with dead, speared fish. They were all medium to small in size, perfect for someone of her size to catch. Another, larger fish was hooked under her other arm. She'd never seen the types she caught before especially the long-mouthed one with teeth. One of her tails still hurt from being nibbled on by that one!
She let herself in like a normal person, stomped off any snow from her feet, and headed for the fire Johnson Sensei had made.
"Sensei... why kind of fish are these?" She propped up the branch with a dozen fish on the floor and blinked curiously, trying to get it to lean against the wall so that she could run away with her other catch.
As soon as her hands were free she dispelled her human body, returning to the wee form of a cat, and sank her claws and teeth into the body of the fish that was easily bigger than her.
She dragged it out of the walkway a little and kept an eye on anyone who got close. She was not above angry flooding, hissing, and growling when it came to delicious fish. Newly emerged Sundance Sensei included.
Her eyes went cartoonishly round for a moment. "Uwa~! I've never met anyone from the Navy before!" Not even the Japanese branch! She had seen the occasional ship sail by once on a blue moon, but never up close. Least of all spoken to a service member! "That's so cool!"
She nodded a few times at his mention of her culture and how they tended to treat cats. "...I can see why. You do kind of look like a Harajuku Maneki-Neko. I'll bet lots of people tried to rub your ears, too." She'd had that happen a few times while wearing a human form. It was much easier for people to approach her when her tails were gone and only the cute ears remained.
"People here can be quite a bit more judgemental, I suppose. Or at least are more vocal about it. Everyone at home tended to keep their thoughts to themselves for the most part."
Her ears perked straight up at the mention of another market. She hadn't known there was another one here! She'd been going all the way across town for months!
"I don't mind. Though, I can't eat scallions. They make me violently ill." She crossed her arms in an X over her chest as a visual. "I replace mine with wheatgrass or carrot fronds."
She followed after him toward the market, eager for many things. The soup, her fish (which she was still clinging to greedily inside her construct), conversation with a new possible friend.
"I can do with just my fish though. I would hate to be a bother!"
And, oh, did she agree with his rice cooker comment. "When my sister and I first moved here all of our luggage arrived late, including my rice cooker! The both of us very nearly starved!"
She giggled, hiding it behind a hand. Okay... maybe she was being dramatic. Her sister found food elsewhere and she did thrive off of a few of the really fat rats around their new apartment for quite a while.
