The X-men run missions and work together with the NYPD, striving to maintain a peaceful balance between humans and mutants. When it comes to a fight, they won't back down from protecting those who need their help.
Haven presents itself as a humanitarian organization for activists, leaders, and high society, yet mutants are the secret leaders working to protect and serve their kind. Behind the scenes they bring their goals into reality.
From the time when mutants became known to the world, SUPER was founded as a black-ops division of the CIA in an attempt to classify, observe, and learn more about this new and rising threat.
The Syndicate works to help bring mutantkind to the forefront of the world. They work from the shadows, a beacon of hope for mutants, but a bane to mankind. With their guiding hand, humanity will finally find extinction.
Since the existence of mutants was first revealed in the nineties, the world has become a changed place. Whether they're genetic misfits or the next stage in humanity's evolution, there's no denying their growing numbers, especially in hubs like New York City. The NYPD has a division devoted to mutant related crimes. Super-powered vigilantes help to maintain the peace. Those who style themselves as Homo Superior work to tear society apart for rebuilding in their own image.
MRO is an intermediate to advanced writing level original character, original plot X-Men RPG. We've been open and active since October of 2005. You can play as a mutant, human, or Adapted— one of the rare humans who nullify mutant powers by their very existence. Goodies, baddies, and neutrals are all welcome.
Short Term Plots:Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
The Fountain of Youth
A chemical serum has been released that's shaving a few years off of the population. In some cases, found to be temporary, and in others...?
MRO MOVES WITH CURRENT TIME: What month and year it is now in real life, it's the same for MRO, too.
Fuegogrande: "Fuegogrande" player of The Ranger, Ion, Rhia, and Null
Neopolitan: "Aly" player of Rebecca Grey, Stephanie Graves, Marisol Cervantes, Vanessa Bookman, Chrysanthemum Van Hart, Sabine Sang, Eupraxia
Ongoing Plots
Magic and Mystics
After the events of the 2020 Harvest Moon and the following Winter Solstice, magic has started manifesting in the MROvere! With the efforts of the Welldrinker Cult, people are being converted into Mystics, a species of people genetically disposed to be great conduits for magical energy.
The Pharoah Dynasty
An ancient sorceress is on a quest to bring her long-lost warrior-king to the modern era in a bid for global domination. Can the heroes of the modern world stop her before all is lost?
Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
Adapteds
What if the human race began to adapt to the mutant threat? What if the human race changed ever so subtly... without the x-gene.
Atlanteans
The lost city of Atlantis has been found! Refugees from this undersea mutant dystopia have started to filter in to New York as citizens and businessfolk. You may make one as a player character of run into one on the street.
Got a plot in mind?
MRO plots are player-created the Mods facilitate and organize the big ones, but we get the ideas from you. Do you have a plot in mind, and want to know whether it needs Mod approval? Check out our plot guidelines.
Posted by Eisen “Pause” on Aug 22, 2024 20:12:28 GMT -6
Delta Mutant
Pause
Will love you back
Single
101
5
Aug 23, 2024 9:25:22 GMT -6
Atlas
Eisen scooted to the side as Quin picked up off where he had left off, slicing up the casserole for him, picking up the plates, spoons and forks, and reminding him of his contributions to the night. Under normal circumstances, within the buzz of a raging party, or most conversations that were full of flattery and empty compliments, Eisen would have been an expert at deflecting the moments where Quin pointed out that he hadn’t entirely been a submerged stick in the mud.
Though being told that quick thinking and air walking were nice tricks still didn’t do much to breath life into his deflated ego, Eisen did perk up his ears as his face remained mounted on his folded arms. In as much as he couldn’t claim a Medal of Honor for his services last night, neither could he disqualify himself from any lauds. The sheer volume of sounds, dangers, decisions and the like, truly muddied his memory of their night together, yet as he watched Quin move around in her own kitchen, a moment of gratitude that they no longer weren’t surrounded by vicious clowns finally hit him.
Eisen accepted a plate and a fork from Quin, then proceeded to pick up a slice of casserole, holding the spatula in a way that didn’t require much effort. He looked up at Quin, “one piece or two?” Before he retreated back into the silence of the morning. The two of them breathing in Quin’s kitchen; the cool AC brushing against his shirtless torso, and soon, the clinking of silverware against their plates.
“Maybe I don’t need to be a hero to be somebody…” He broke the silence after taking in what Quin had to say. Pick a new place and start from there If only Eisen knew how to pick on his own… but maybe that was just it. It didn’t matter where he picked as long as he picked it.
Soon, Eisen’s face melted as his tastebuds registered the flavors of home and times spent unworried about the future. He breathed in every bite like it was oxygen stolen from another world, that filled him with a new life, and maybe even a flicker of hope.
Posted by Eisen “Pause” on Aug 21, 2024 21:02:27 GMT -6
Delta Mutant
Pause
Will love you back
Single
101
5
Aug 23, 2024 9:25:22 GMT -6
Atlas
Eisen placed the casserole on the countertop, wanting to dig right in, as the smell took him back to the nights with Xia, in their little house— his two dads had gone on a roadtrip and he invited her over to spend the night. They were friends back then, and only friends, nothing more. Breakfast for dinner — one of his favorites— and there they had dreamed of going to the city and seeing the sights, becoming something more than kids tossing graffiti on concrete slabs, running from the cops, living life through alibis and code names and lots and lots of drugs.
How Eisen had followed Xia to the mutant underground… how he built a name for himself, but only after giving his life to her, and followed her every move even when she made it clear he wasn’t her number one. Then, she died, and so did the life he’d built around her. The life he didn’t know was going to end, like the empty rattle of every used-up spray can.
Ever since, he’d never been the same. Maybe, it was because he never allowed himself to be — never allowed himself to see a world built by his own two hands. Eisen held the baked casserole in front of him, an allusion to times long before he learned regret was a life-sucking leech.
”You think last night went alright?” Eisen, hung his head over the casserole dish, a couple droplets falling into the steaming mass of baked breakfast supremacy, but he spun his face to wipe his eyes with the hope Quin didn’t notice. “If it weren’t for you, last night would have been just another night I drink to forget.”
Eisen rummaged Quin’s kitchen drawers to find a spatula, and tried to use it to section portions into the meal, but the bandages on his wrists made it difficult to grasp the utensil well. Frustrated, he laid the spatula down and plopped his head onto his folded arms, resting it on the counter top. His gaze piercing the glass dish.
“There’s nothing to start over, anyway. What you’re helping me realize, Quin… is that even if I had run away last night… I’d have no where to run back to. Another party? So what? So, I can be a backdrop to someone else’s life?” Eisen inhaled and let loose a large exhale over the steam that rose above the pan, blowing it into Quin’s direction.
”You made me a hero last night, Quin. But that’s just the thing— that wasn’t me.”
Posted by Eisen “Pause” on Jul 30, 2024 20:20:20 GMT -6
Delta Mutant
Pause
Will love you back
Single
101
5
Aug 23, 2024 9:25:22 GMT -6
Atlas
Eisen waved his newly bandaged hands in the air, his fingers a little less mobile than before. As he listened to Quin’s story, he vaguely remembered the details of the incident of people en masse getting turned back into younger versions of themselves. This had happened just as he got tangled with the mutant underground fight scene— one of their fighters, a shapeshifter by the name of Chimera, had suddenly disappeared and reappeared as a younger version of himself. That had been a tragic end to his career, as no one took the shifter seriously after that, even when he regained his age and came back — it had been too much for him to had lost himself.
He didn’t know what to say to Quin. He smiled, and gave her a silent thank you.
“So… you really meant it when you didn’t know…” Eisen scooted out towards the oven, the details of Quin’s story swirling in his mind. He furrowed his brow, taking her backstory like a huge gut punch. Was he to respond in sympathy? Was he to respond in jest, to lighten the mood? He opened up the oven and slid on a pair of oven mitts, before he took out the baked concoction of breakfast foods and set it to cool on the stovetop.
”I’m jealous.” Eisen said, realizing that even after all she’d gone through, there were people who still cared enough to take care of her. That’s where her strength came from, wanting to be a hero in the midst of the zombie scene. People actually saw her as important — whereas he had just wanted to run. Because he had no where else to go and no one important to be… at least Quin had a past that backed her up. Him? What did he have but an insatiable appetite for adrenaline, and a defunct one at that now.
“Wish I could just forget the past six years of my life and start over. It’s not like anyone would miss me anyway — hell you even get to go to school again. Live in a fancy apartment. Meet people for the first time and have a valid excuse for it all.” Eisen folded his arms and rested against the counter top. He’d been trying forget how much of a loser he was… but even with all his talk about wanting to start over, New York was the only place he truly knew. And he was scared, scared to figure out what else he could accomplish with his life.
Posted by Eisen “Pause” on Jul 18, 2024 19:55:48 GMT -6
Delta Mutant
Pause
Will love you back
Single
101
5
Aug 23, 2024 9:25:22 GMT -6
Atlas
Eisen winced when Quin came back with the first aid kit. She cleaned his burns with a methodical certainty, as if she’d dressed wounds before. Unafraid of other’s injuries. Though by her explanation, a certain hurt lingered in her past that seemed to hide in the creases of her lips and the shadows beneath her eyelids. Had she lost a job? Underwent a certain social death? Have her identity stolen? Eisen wasn’t sure he could let his curiosity roam freely in this moment, but was impeded from letting it wander by her returning his question.
”Me? Depends on who’s asking.” Eisen clasped his palms together, pressing the dullness due to his singed nerve endings together. Then he signed deeply.
“An asshole probably.” Eisen chuckled to himself and let her continue with his hands. The smell of his breakfast casserole began to fill the air of the room, just as the early rays of dawn crept into the apartment. He then looked at Quin’s face, really looked. There wasn’t much else to do in the still and quiet hours they rested in. The only moving parts of the moment were her hands on his.
”You’re a student, right?” He’d meant to ask the “who are you” question in a more simple format. He remembered seeing some textbooks in her living room and could have sworn the couch was laced with test-taking anxieties. The fact he had passed out in her apartment also hadn’t yet been forgotten by him. And so far, he hadn’t felt as if he’d overstayed his welcome.
“Must be studying law, or medicine. Your parents got money?” If Quin perceived an edge to Eisen’s questions, it came from a place of lack and ignorance. School had never been a priority of his, and he could not wrap his mind around paying to learn the same things at the same time as other people.
Posted by Eisen “Pause” on Jun 27, 2024 21:04:26 GMT -6
Delta Mutant
Pause
Will love you back
Single
101
5
Aug 23, 2024 9:25:22 GMT -6
Atlas
Eisen watched the soapy water escape slowly down the drain, in a sink that wasn’t his, in an apartment that wasn’t his. In the hospitality of a stranger, all the near misses in his life surfaced like bubbles in a murky swamp. Sometimes he believed in fate, and other times, like right now, the cruelty of fate’s lack of favor pricked his conscience.
“We just left them.” Eisen felt Quinn’s closeness, a soft hovering warmth drift near him. He wasn’t one to dwell on the past, but as it stood, he hadn’t anywhere else to dwell at the moment. His burned hands a memorial of his inability to keep himself composed.
He turned to Quinn, his eyes scanned her face. Unscathed, pristine, and more-or-less refreshed from a night of rest. Was it even allowed to be so unperturbed? Her offer to bandage his hands lingered in the air like second-hand smoke he didn’t want to breathe in. He recognized now, the distance and gap between their resilience. He almost feared her.
Raising his hands to her, he fought his own silence by stirring the air with a question. “Who are you?” He asked the question slowly, as if the words were unreliable in and of themselves. Fools like the one he displayed himself to be last night.
He rested his hands, palms up in front of her. Nodding slowly as if to indicate his hesitance didn’t contradict his consent. He waited, almost for rejection, as he hoped his query into her identity didn’t sow any distrust between them. Not that there had been much to build trust on to begin with, he supposed. Yet he hadn’t any reason yet to deny any of her kindnesses.
Posted by Eisen “Pause” on Jun 26, 2024 21:41:35 GMT -6
Delta Mutant
Pause
Will love you back
Single
101
5
Aug 23, 2024 9:25:22 GMT -6
Atlas
Eisen eyed the laundry nook — he was sure she wouldn’t mind him wearing his skin for a little while as he plopped his unaffectionately washed shirt into the dryer. He watched it tumble a few times, setting it on high heat — the neon spinning in the drum of the dryer.
Eisen then hopped back to the kitchen, where he had left the dirty dishes. “My hands still burn, but not enough to stop me from making a healthy breakfast!” He mustered a pep in his footsteps that resembled a man who hadn’t spent the last night in utter torment.
As he began to rinse the plates he’d soiled in preparing his breakfast, and he poured some dish soap from Quinn’s soap dispenser, A wave of uneasiness hit Eisen. The liquid soap conjured up the memories of a certain liquid that had oozed from the zombie-like creatures from last night.
Eisen dropped the cutting board he was rinsing in the sink. The clattering noise caused him to take a step back. He looked around the room, to Quinn, and back to the sink.
”Do you ever wonder… why it’s ok that some people make it through hard times… and others don’t?” Eisen let cool water run across his aching palms. The pain was a comfort, knowing he hadn’t made it through the night unscathed. And that he hadn’t left the night unscathed.
The dryer timer for his shirt went off, but Eisen stayed where he was, and hung his shirtless body over the sink.
Posted by Eisen “Pause” on May 25, 2024 21:16:23 GMT -6
Delta Mutant
Pause
Will love you back
Single
101
5
Aug 23, 2024 9:25:22 GMT -6
Atlas
Eisen was surprised by the presence of veritable vegetables and variety of foodstuffs. He himself wasn’t a chef of any renown, but once he found the pots, pans, and baking supplies he began to rock and roll. He found potatoes, and took a couple to dicing, searing them in the pan until they were just a little brown on all sides. He diced them small, and set that aside before prepping an egg mixture with the whole milk that was surprisingly still full. Yes, was it still hard to hold things? Sure, but the pain helped to numb his mind as well.
He then floated to a chopping board and sautéed a simple mix of onion, garlic, and bell peppers. Spinach and kale were next, and once the greens wilted in the pan, it was time to layer the casserole dish. He started the bottom layer with some pepper jack cheese he found, added the potatoes, the veggies, then sealed all the ingredients with the egg mixture. Of course, he’d remembered to warm up the oven such that it was hot enough to slide the casserole inside.
Quick, simple and done in over a half-hour. He thought having it done earlier before Quin awoke, and so he could’ve kept the dish warm in the oven, in case she decided to sleep in.
As he waited for the casserole to bake, he noticed his clothes still a nasty brown having been soaked with tea. The herbs weren’t clear for sure, and since the apartment was still quiet. He decided to give his clothes a quick rinse in the sink. Peeling off his shirt, he rinsed it off in the kitchen sink and wrung it over the dirty dishes right before he heard Quin’s voice. He wrinkled his face as it still hurt to use his palms, but he leaned into the pain.
>> ”It smells good” Her voice echoed through the quiet kitchen, and Eisen leaned over to see her curiously peeking in. He wrung out as much of the tea water he could, before he turned with his tattooed torso towards her, holding out his wrinkly shirt.
”Mornin’. Care if I borrow your dryer? Hope you don’t mind me making breakfast.” He gave a toothy grin, realizing again in the light of the kitchen, how tall and slender Quin was, and how her bed head gave her soft features an endearing frame.
Posted by Eisen “Pause” on May 25, 2024 20:07:02 GMT -6
Delta Mutant
Pause
Will love you back
Single
101
5
Aug 23, 2024 9:25:22 GMT -6
Atlas
Eisen loved the dark and sweet caress of sleep — but he hated the screams that invaded his nightmares. The flashing barcade lights took residence in his nightly journeys, and at one point he had leaped on the partygoers that had hid behind the arcade machines and asked for his help; taking their faces into his hands and dripping his eye goo into their open mouths still screaming for assistance.
Eisen sat up from his new couch bed and gripped the blanket he now had on him, his palms pulsing with a faint pain. The apartment had been dimmed with the exception of the kitchen lights, and Eisen had yet to see the streaks of dawn pierce Quin’s apartment windows. He’d almost forgotten where he was, but the soreness that still invaded his every bone struck a sweet reminder of his experience the night before. That and the nightmares hadn’t yet faded.
He sat alone in the darkness of the room, empty of every other thought than the fact that he was alone. He got up off the couch and wandered past the aloe bottle. He floated across the soft carpeting and to the view of Central Park. A view the spread towards the city where so many things happened in such closed quarters at times… he could leave if he wanted. He could drift across the space between the towering buildings and return to his neck of the woods, where he would be alone with his thoughts.
Just to be someone else for the night That was what he’d try to do last night, and as he held his hand on the glass of the balcony doors, like a monkey trapped in an exhibit, he exhaled and collapsed on the floor. He was no superhero. He was no villain either. He could claim neither title with any confidence, only racking himself with doubt along every crease his thoughts travelled down.
But he couldn’t escape being himself either. And he couldn’t always wait for something or someone else to come along and cheer him on, or force his hand, or give him an embrace. So, Eisen wandered to the kitchen and raided the pantries for anything he could scrounge together to make Quin a thank-you breakfast casserole. He just hoped her as a student would have more than ramen in her cabinets.
Posted by Eisen “Pause” on May 19, 2024 21:32:23 GMT -6
Delta Mutant
Pause
Will love you back
Single
101
5
Aug 23, 2024 9:25:22 GMT -6
Atlas
“Oh so. You don’t have a—- bidet?” Eisen’s eyes bugged out when there was another fingerprint lock that was needed to enter another part of the building. He wondered if they had those fancy dimming lights in the commercials that were voice operated, or those disc vacuums that zoom across the floor and clean up for you.
Once he stepped in after Quin, Eisen’s gaze glued to the picturesque little apartment — huge to him though. The wide mounted TV and squeaky looking yet comfy at the same time furniture- Eisen had only hoped to live in something this chiq when he walked through the furniture stores in the shopping district. The view to Central Park was pretty nice too, seeing the city and its night lights speckled across the wide park in the distance. Even the books and laptop made Eisen a little envious— he never had any of this. Just his king bed, the beds of strangers, and the couches he hopped back and forth on when he didn’t want to commit to a bed for a while.
Speaking of couches, Eisen scooted closer to the L-shaped one in the middle of the living room and when Quin offered it to him, he looked at her and back to the couch. He then placed the back of his burned hand against the smooth and flouncy surface of the couch, and it called so much to him. Every exhausted cell in his body wanted to melt right into, and as soon as Quin stepped out to another room for the first aid kit, Eisen rested his weight on the couch, starting with his ass.
Soon his back, his legs his arms and his head made it on top of the smooth, and firm surface. Even the flurry of memories from their night, the barcade lights, the zombie goo, the tea shop, all of it soon turned from color to grey and then to black as he laid his head down. Tea-stained clothes, sweat doused neon, burn marks, drool and all on his new dream couch. The last thing on his mind was to yell:
”Hey apartment, dim the lights.” Without any change to the lighting, Eisen entered into Slumberland (TM).
Posted by Eisen “Pause” on May 19, 2024 20:30:59 GMT -6
Delta Mutant
Pause
Will love you back
Single
101
5
Aug 23, 2024 9:25:22 GMT -6
Atlas
“Well you didn’t tell me you lived in a fucking high-rise mansion…” Eisen blushed as he released his mutation on the doors and they opened as normal. Sliding ever much faster than he wanted them to.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking…” Eisen wanted to scratch the back of his head, but his hands were still too much in pain, so he used the back of his palms instead. He was usually a go with the flow kind-of guy, but a lot of this went over his head.
”Do y’all have those things in your toilets that wash your butthole?” He followed Quin out of the elevator and stepped on the nice lush carpeting. He just wanted to take off his shoes and feel the floor. If this was just the hallway, he could only imagine what the rooms were like.
“Not that I need to use it right now, I mean. I was just…” He let himself trail off as he realized how dumb he must have sounded. Never in his life did he really seek luxury, it was kinda drilled into him at a young age that this world wasn’t for him. Now that he was here for a just a second, he realized just how low he’d been aiming for all his life. And he thought back to the days when he’d look into buildings like this from afar, not even daring to come close. Finding the run-down district walls to plaster his graffiti on— at least there he felt he could make a difference.
Posted by Eisen “Pause” on May 19, 2024 19:24:25 GMT -6
Delta Mutant
Pause
Will love you back
Single
101
5
Aug 23, 2024 9:25:22 GMT -6
Atlas
Eisen followed Quin blindly through the streets, his mind set on staving off the pain and pushing his legs forward. He began to second-guess his desire to follow Quin home, for despite the insecurities surrounding his king-sized bed, he so wanted to be in it right now. To let the remedial blanket of sleep cover him.
As soon as he laid eyes on Haven’s Headquarters, however, all of that weariness faded. Eisen had a little more pep to his step, and curiosity covered his soles as the towering building only grew bigger and bigger as they came closer. This was where she lived? Suddenly Eisen didn’t feel appropriately dressed for the situation, with his tea-splattered white clothes and his neon yellow. He imagined the cameras jamming up as he walked into the perfectly set foyer, the chandeliers with glass that could cut you, the visible shine-streak on all the polished surfaces, and people in uniforms stationed at random parts like NPC’s in a video game.
Eisen did his best to keep his jaw locked in place, but as soon as they arrived to the fingerprint scanners at the elevators, Eisen almost lost his shit. He climbed in on after Quin, suddenly feeling like he didn’t belong. All the underground history in his background, with the mutant underground, his time as a mercenary, and other little things that might have broken the law or landed him in jail, didn’t flash through his mind. What he was most worried about was if they could smell he wasn’t made of money.
In his nervousness, as Quin pressed a floor, Eisen’s mutation trigged through his nervous feet, and his lock took hold of the elevator, such that as they waited in silence, the seconds turned into minutes and the elevator still hadn’t moved. He was so tense, that even the push of the elevator’s machinery wasn’t enough to break Eisen’s spatial lock.
”We’re stuck? That’s crazy.” He began to sweat bullets, then finally let his mutation go. And the elevator went up a floor at a time. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.
Then as they arrived on the floor, Eisen’s mutation struck again, keeping the elevator doors closed. The door open signed showed up and yet the doors refused to budge. He looked around, staring at the walls. And began to whistle. “For such a fancy place, this elevator sure doesn’t want to work.”
Posted by Eisen “Pause” on May 18, 2024 21:26:17 GMT -6
Delta Mutant
Pause
Will love you back
Single
101
5
Aug 23, 2024 9:25:22 GMT -6
Atlas
At the mention of her apartment, Eisen’s heart sped up. Was it out of excitement? Nervousness? Anticipation? Despite the recent events of the night, Eisen’s body prepared itself as it always did for when he followed someone home or ended up taking someone else home for the night. He swallowed, trying to tell himself that this was nothing more than a kind gesture from a stranger.
Eisen picked himself off the ground without the use of his hands and followed after Quin.
“And by home I mean my apartment in a highly secure building with 24 hour security so if you’re some kind of serial killer…reign it in for a night because I’m not in the mood.” Quin’s biting remark seemed out of character, but then again, they were both thoroughly warped from the night’s events.
Eisen cleared his voice to speak, but nothing emerged. He too began to feel the exhaustion seep into his bones, for it felt like the first time that night that any part of his body released the tension that had been held captive. He desired to check his phone, see the time and if anyone had cared to reach out to him, but trying to slip his hand into his pocket at the moment proved difficult.
“Where exactly do you live?” He asked, mostly out of curiosity. It was then that he began to realize, he didn’t know her at all. By the way she moved, by the way she spoke and carried herself, Quin didn’t give off the vibe that she was anyone important. But by her confidence, he could have been fooled as well. For one younger than him, she did move pretty swiftly and kept herself in check with the zombies. Who exactly was this woman who offered him aloe? He followed her lead.
Posted by Eisen “Pause” on May 16, 2024 19:50:23 GMT -6
Delta Mutant
Pause
Will love you back
Single
101
5
Aug 23, 2024 9:25:22 GMT -6
Atlas
Something about the stench of the New York sidewalk, the lights that shone from shop fronts in the distance and the silent bustle of the city made watching someone crying in the middle of it a little more unnerving than anywhere else. Eisen didn’t know if he should reach out and place a hand on her shoulder, or if staring was good enough. His silence only gave way to the city playing its soundtrack louder.
Yet, he bent over and did his utmost best to catch every syllable that fell from Quin’s mouth.
”I’ve never hurt anyone before.” she said, sniffling.
Eisen couldn’t relate. The list of people he’d hurt both physically and emotionally, intentionally and unintentionally he didn’t want to think about that right now. But Quin wasn’t him, and this moment wasn’t about him either Eisen knew if he said anything, he’d probably mess it up. So he shut his mouth and let her keep speaking.
”I’m sorry.” she said. ”I didn’t know where else to go and when I was little my Mom always said that tea fixes everything.”
Eisen brought his burned palms to his face. Now he wished he had accepted that aloe from the lady yelling at him. His chest too, continued to sizzle. Thinking about the hot-tea; it all had happened so fast he was in disbelief that he’d had all those emotions surging through him. For the moment at least, it all faded to the background. Quin took precedence right now.
“No cure-all exists in this world, but it was a really nice gesture… I’m the one who should be sorry.” He held his two hands up to the street light. He had been burned before, when he grabbed a live wire during his days as a telephone wire mechanic. And out of everything tonight, this was the least inconvenient thing.
“Are you hurt?” He asked her, gaze and tone softened. He really wanted to make good this time around, his voice began to tremble. “I’m glad you made it out with me.”
Posted by Eisen “Pause” on May 15, 2024 20:06:49 GMT -6
Delta Mutant
Pause
Will love you back
Single
101
5
Aug 23, 2024 9:25:22 GMT -6
Atlas
Eisen’s tears flowed, and he sobbed so poorly, the past seven months of transition collapsed on him on top of the rush of emotions he’d just felt. His vision blurred and all he could think about was just letting it out; deep sobs, no yelling, just a slow and steady squeeze.
After what seemed like forever, Eisen looked up at an employee mopping the floor in front of him and a worried yet frazzled woman pulled him up to his feet and ushered him to the bathroom. Snot ran down his nose as she half-guided, half-shoved him to the bathroom where she then began to yell at him to take off his shirt. It was then that Eisen saw himself in the mirror, his long disheveled hair and neon-fit all soaked in a light brown. He felt the burn on his chest and his hands, and suddenly the woman was placing a bottle of aloe in front of his face and yelling at him to apply it.
Eisen’s vision snapped together and he felt the searing burn on his hands the most, and the softer burn on his chest and thighs. Yet, all he could think about in this moment was one person; whose gaze had pierced him -just earlier today.
Quin.
His face turned a deeper shade of red than his burns. Where did she go? Fuck me. No no no no… She probably ran away. She probably wanted nothing to do with the sorry mess that he was, with this angry Asian lady now yelling at him, and the stupid idiot he was who couldn’t keep it together. But if it hadn’t been for her, he could’ve been a zombie. No, he could’ve been a failure, running out of that barcade’s chaos like a loser, an imposter, anything other than a hero. But he so desperately wanted to be something else for the night. And right now, he didn’t care to be a hero. He didn’t care if he was still an imposter, a loser, a nobody. He just wanted to show Quin, he was better. Better than this.
Eisen pushed past the Asian lady yelling at him, and ran back out to where they were cleaning his hot-mess. The owner began yelling at him too and so many of the tea-drinkers in the shop stared in shock. But Eisen didn’t care— he needed to find Quin.
She couldn’t have gone far, could she? Images flashed in his mind of her plastic shoes, the strength of her wrapping those tiles around those zombies, the fact she was literally about to pour him some tea. He couldn’t have lost her already?
Just down the street, in a black outfit, hunched over on the sidewalk. There she was.
Eisen walked towards her, his palms starting to burn even more now, but he was at a loss at what to say. Sorry? Thank you? Bless you? Eisen froze. Sometimes it felt like that was the only thing he knew how to do— freeze. Both himself and others. He stared at her, just weeping, at this distance and the gusto he had held within him just a moment a go, started to dissipate again.
He couldn’t even fess up to her. Maybe he was just an idiot.
As he was about to hang his head low and walked away, the image of his empty room hit him again. He didn’t want to go home. Not now. Not alone. So he clenched his burned fists and decided enough was enough. No more running.
Eisen picked up his head and walked slowly to where Quin was, not wanting to scare her, and picked a spot on the sidewalk to her right. He knew it was impolite to watch someone cry, but he didn’t know what else to do. So he sat, arms crossed over his knees, mirroring her, and watched her cry in the streetlight.
“Hey. It’s been a shitty night… and I’ve been an even shittier person. But you… back there… tonight you were my hero.”
Posted by Eisen “Pause” on May 15, 2024 9:50:08 GMT -6
Delta Mutant
Pause
Will love you back
Single
101
5
Aug 23, 2024 9:25:22 GMT -6
Atlas
The tea came before Eisen could ask for another glass of water. He almost reached for Quin’s but stopped himself. But then as he watched her press down against the tea leaves and pour herself a hot glass, he screamed internally.
I can’t chug tea!!! He held both sides of his head, almost crushing his won skull between his palms. He wanted something that could take the edge off his emotions, not force him to sit in them. He then began to hyperventilate. The calm facade of the shop. His feet did the jerking thing where they hopped up and down underneath the table, to which there was no way Quin
”Do you think they died…?” Quin’s question rang like a gong in Eisen’s already throbbing temples. They could’ve died? Those people could be dead? For some reason, watching goo drip from undead-looking entities into the mouths of helpless individuals finally clicked in his head.
“How the fuck would I know? We FUCKING… We… We left! Them! There!” Eisen grabbed the edge of his seat and dug his fingernails into the surface. How were they so calm right now? The wave of nausea continued to pulse through Eisen’s body until he couldn’t hold it in anymore. He didn’t want to puke in the cup, so he grabbed the lid off a hot teapot and grabbed it entire with his hands, spilling his drink, dinner and water into the already full container.
The kettle, hot as a freshly boiled water, burned his hands and he let go. It fell to the table and splashed the puke, tea and all on his chest and lap, scalding him.
Eisen shot up and out of the booth, and fell to the floor doggie style, so that all the hot liquids wouldn’t be stuck onto him. Then he began to sob. And collapsed in a heaving mess on the tea-shop floor.
The eyes all fell on him, but he didn’t care right now. All the pent up emotion inside him just wanted release.
