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.
It was amazing how freaking pretty New York was. Her New York had been but she had barely established herself there. Her new New York though? It was almost distracting how many attractive people passed her on the sidewalk or got close to her on the subways. As an appreciator of beauty, Steph was not complaining.
Still, she had priorities. Malia, work, and other work. Any romantic relationships would complicate all of those, but especially her criminal undertakings. How did you commit art theft with a girlfriend waiting for you at home? Yes, she was doing it with Malia waiting for her, but Malia was young. She would not remember these little trips. If Steph set herself up comfortably enough, she might be able to retire in a few years and act like a normal parent.
Maybe then she could date, but for now, she had to keep things casual with the pretty people of New York. Raine was absolutely among those people, but she was someone Steph would see constantly. She had to take care of Malia. If Steph made a bad choice with Raine, that could make things awkward for her daughter.
Still, being friendly was not inherently dangerous. If anything, that just benefited Malia, right? ”Of course sugar. You earned every penny of that time watching my little girl. Get paid, and all that.”
And Raine did earn her money. Steph saw it in her face and the way she spoke. She really did love the kids. She loved her job. Even if the kids glowed, she thought with a smirk. She did harshly judge Raine earlier, and she would learn to avoid that in the future.
Gathering Malia’s belongings and setting up her stroller, Steph raised an eyebrow at more surprising news about Raine. Small world—worlds? ”Shut up! You don’t say? I’m from the other side of the Rift, too. But I’m only now just getting settled in.” Steph held the age card, because not having that detail out there helped her with anonymity. So few people ever knew Stephanie Graves in earnest, but if they knew the adult she apparently was, it was best to act like she was just your typical eighteen-year-old with a similar name.
Unfortunately, Stephanie was still confused about the Rifter experience because she never had anyone to talk about this with. She missed the boom of support groups and now it would feel odd joining an established group of refugees. A thought came to mind. ”Hey, I know it was a joke before, but… well, are you hungry?” She quickly made an effort to justify the question, adding, ”I really don’t know many people from home here. You know, if that’s not breaking any rules.”
The front desk was clearly waiting for Stephanie, which only increased the guilt-factor she felt arriving late. Even if Malia was hopefully making a good first impression, she had to present herself as a responsible parent if she wanted this to work. This was a challenge, as she barely felt like she was good at either half of that role.
Walking into the daycare itself, Steph looked around but did not have to look hard for Malia. The child had a gentle glow in the arms of her caretaker. Stephanie wished he could have known how her power originally manifested this power, but it certainly stunned her the first day her infant happily gnawed on one of her toys and literally lit up. It was a lovely power and the relationship between her daughter’s light and her own shadow was not lost on Stephanie.
Looking up from her pride and joy, the glow warmed Raine’s features. It made the blonde in her hair more vivid. She noticed earlier, but she had been too worried to think about it: Raine was an attractive woman. At least, she was more attractive than anyone who spent the whole day with a room full of instants deserved to be. A lot of that was in the eyes, expertly accentuated with makeup and in Malia’s light, the clearest blue Stephanie had seen.
But this was not the situation to get lost in Raine’s eyes. Unprofessional, especially after she already dropped the ball with her late arrival.
Like a kind soul, Raine tried to minimize Stephanie’s faux pas. She would still feel guilty about it, but it was hard to feel anything other than love when Malia was this excited to see her. Stephanie accepted her daughter as Raine let her know the front desk would be handling the charges to her account. ”Well darn, there goes my plan to just offer to buy you dinner so we could call it even.” It was clearly a joke of course, because she was sure dads hit on Raine plenty and Stephanie did not want to add to that. And yet, she felt the need to make the joke anyway.
Bouncing the shiny baby girl with her hip to giggles of approval, Stephanie let Raine get settled by removing her smock, which was admittedly worse for wear. Actual people clothes suited her far better. ”All about me, really?” Steph turned to the innocent face of her child inquisitively. ”Did you give up all my dirty secrets? I hope you didn’t spoil all my mystery, sweatpea.” Oh, she was glad she never spoke about her real work around Malia now that she was picking up words.
The update of Malia’s day inspired confidence that Steph made a good choice with this daycare. Malia sounded like she behaved and enjoyed her time there, and Raine was clearly attentive. ”Sounds like you do great work with them. Which only makes me wanna apologize more, Raine.” She did not want her first impression to make her seem unreliable. ”I didn’t realize my last client would drag our time out, so no more late appointments. Really, I am just getting used to things here.” But that just felt like excuse making, which she couldn’t do when it came to Malia.
Stephanie sighed. ”Thank you for watching her, Raine. I’ve just been… a bit overwhelmed trying to restart here.”
Maybe Steph was being a little harsh, but who could blame her for being defensive? She had not spent much time away from Malia in her first year of parenting—often, she would arrange for one small job she could live off of for a while. One night leaving Malia with a sitter, then a month or two of doting and worrying and trying to keep her daughter happy, healthy, and loved with the limited understanding of parenting she had.
Now she was considering leaving Malia in the care of others during the day so she could work some semblance of a day job. What if the people sucked? What if they treated her poorly or ignored her? What if they did not know how to make her stop crying, because Stephanie still struggled with that half the time?
But Raine was a professional. The people here had experience and the ratings online were high. Maybe Raine was just being cautious about the nature of Malia’s mutation. Steph would give her the benefit of the doubt for now, accepting the final details. The way Raine phrased them… well, the moment passed right away, which was good, because if it lingered, Steph might have stood there with her tongue useless.
Thankfully, they moved onto the final waves from Malia and Raine. Smiling, Stephanie waved back. ”Bye, sweetheart! Bye, Miss Raine!” It felt rude not to say goodbye to Raine, or to make things awkward by making Raine think she was being called a sweetheart. She kinda seemed like one, but you know, professionalism.
Speaking of professionalism, Stephanie should get back to the small studio she managed to get ahold of at obscene New York rent. Which was saying something, considering she was paying the first month’s rent entirely with ill-gotten gains.
6:06. F*ck a duck.
The last client came in late and he decided to be fussy about his professional headshots. Stephanie could deal with fussy clients, but she had Malia on the brain all day. She was not some helicopter mom, but she wanted to know her daughter was enjoying daycare. She received no calls, and resisted the urge to call and check in—she was not going to be that mom.
Still, when her appointment was over, she locked up, rushed out, and tried navigating the subway back to the daycare. She thought she had an idea of how long the trip would take, but the subway was an annoying variable and she was still new to this New York.
Speedwalking through the daycare door, Stephanie finally had a moment to catch her breath. ”I’m sorry! I’m not a late mom, the subways just suck and the city layout here is just all backwards,” she called out almost immediately, looking for whoever might still be around watching straggler children.
Girls with mystery. Oh, if April only knew. Still, that was the fun of mystery, right? Gaining benefit from the shady aspects of her life that made her an enigma. Steph liked to believe that.
April was a good muse for the shot, staying still and holding the right pose, leading to quality shots. Impromptu photos were fun and a great way to see a person in a new light, but most people were not experienced in being photographed. There was an art to the subtle ways a model could improve a photo. April might not be a model, but she did well enough for the photo to look great.
With that task out of the way, they could return to April making it clear she knew were they were taking this conversation. ”A game? I hadn’t even noticed,” she teased, appreciating how easily April closed the gap. ”But if I am hypothetically winning, maybe I can cash in with dinner ton—“
“Excuse me, Miss Stephanie?”
Stephanie closed her eyes. What timing. ”Just Stephanie, Wendy,” she replied to the redhead approaching with a stroller. ”Is everything okay?”
“Yep!” the babysitter replied cheerfully. “A lot of giggling at snowflakes and confusion when she felt one hit the tip of her nose.”
Stephanie smirked. ”Objectively adorable and very Malia.”
After checking to make sure her daughter was still in one-hundred percent condition, Stephanie looked back at April and did her best to smile. This was going to come up, and she had to hope it would not scare off the cutie she was chatting with. ”Sorry, manners. April, this is Wendy, my babysitter, and this,” she spoke while lifting a baby into her arms, ”is Malia, my daughter.”
After receiving looks from other parents and passerbys when they saw Malia’s toy, it was comforting to have someone actually justify the benefits of the spider. This was nice; Raine knew her stuff. In fact, Steph had to resist feeling ignorant for being unaware of these benefits. ”Great! I’ll totally act like I knew that when she made a fuss for me to grab it off the shelf.” This was the difference between someone trained to work with kids and an eighteen-year-old mother learning on the fly. If anything, this helped Steph trust in Raine’s ability to offer quality care for her daughter.
Things were going well, which was why it was disheartening when Raine had a surprised, almost wary reaction to Malia’s mutation. Stephanie’s brow furrowed as she re-examined the way Raine held Malia. At leawst she handled her well, but still… ”Nope, no radioactivity. Just a little human nightlight. I hope that won’t be too much of a bother,” she said pointedly. Stephanie was not out as a mutant for obvious crime-related reasons, but she was not going to let her daughter be treated like an oddity.
Regardless of that odd moment, Raine seemed ready to bring Malia in for the day. At least being a mutant was not a deal breaker; in her universe, she was sure it would be. Stephanie would stay her concerns for now, entrusting her initial vibes of Raine. ”I suppose it’s time to give up this sweetheart for the day,” Steph lamented, moving closer to Malia and Raine as she held the baby.
Stephanie placed a small kiss on her daughter’s forehead, prompting Malia to reach out to try grabbing her mother’s brunette locks. ”I’ll miss you, pumpkin. Be good for Miss Raine, okay?” Malia stared up at her with those big brown eyes. Yeah, she probably got it.
Looking back at Raine, who she now recognized she was a little closer to than appropriate, Steph took a step back and nervously smiled. ”Okay, so what time should I come back around today?”
Eldritch Horror: Harlem- Stephanie deals with a fear-inducing playground misadventure to rescue her daughter, Malia.
Time for a Drink- Stephanie seeks to escape the stresses of life by attempting to charm a woman at a party.
No Good Deed- Stephanie and Gwendolyn White lay down the work to blackmail a CEO for the greater good (of the Syndicate.)
Unshackled- Stephanie is freed from her prison by the new Syndicate leader.
De-Aged: Stephanie, The Thief, The Eighteen-Year-Old Single Mom
The Unwanted Gift of Youth- Stephanie and Malia come across a mysterious mutant that takes them back to a time before Syndicate and an escape to the MROverse.
Do It for Her- Stephanie manages to get Mali into a nearly full daycare center because one of the women working there, Raine is both an absolute sweetheart and a total cutie. (One of those things is admittedly more relevant than the other.)
Stephanie could not hear the conversation Raine was having with one of the daycare helpers, but the body language suggested apprehension on the other woman’s part. Raine was going out of her way to help Stephanie, and she wanted to respect that. If anything, it was earning her points as Steph’s potential favorite Malia-watcher. Wendy was nice but forgetful, making Steph leery of her go-to babysitter.
Smiling upon the woman’s return, Stephanie nodded a confirmation. ”Stephanie, yes. And you’re Raine. It’s a very nice name and it suits you. Hence, easy to remember!” Maybe she was turning up the friendliness a notch, but Raine was making herself easy to be nice to, and being over-tired helped.
The spider did not weird Raine out, suggesting Stephanie was not an awful parent for letting Malia get attached to the odd stuffed animal. ”I’m glad you like it, because these two have been inseparable since she picked it out last week.”
Without much of a second thought, Stephanie got to her feet and carefully offered her daughter to Raine, not letting her go until she was sure Raine had a good handle on her. Raine worked with babies; this was something Stephanie could trust her to do. She just had to keep reminding herself to trust the nice girl with the gorgeous trustworthy blue eyes. Malia seemed to, based on the happy sounds Steph heard from her daughter.
Looking at the cubbies, wondering if there was any benefit to Malia in picking one or another, Steph considered Raine’s question. Major notes. Originally, there would not have been much, but since waking up… well, evidently the older Malia had gotten further in her development and that change came back to her little one-year-old. ”Yes, actually… Malia is a mutant.” There was no avoiding the admission, sadly. Malia had a power and no control over when she triggered it, so it would not stay hidden long. ”She manifested very early. Occasionally she will glow. It’s not bright enough to hurt anyone’s eyes, though hopefully she does not wake anyone during naptime…”
Stephanie shrugged a casual shoulder. ”Some women have different tastes and different vibes. Can’t force the wrong aesthetic if I want the night to go well. And my secrets are mine alone. Well…” She turned back to look to April with a grin. ”Mine, and whatever girl I’m taking out. Can’t very well keep a secret if I want them to show up.”
The brunette almost continued with the logical progression of this flirting when the sight caught her. ”Oh. Wait. Keep your arms how you have them, but… step to the left just a smidge?” She spoke quietly, like a loud voice would ruin the parts she was lining up. April had made an effort to draw closer, which was welcome, but Steph needed to create distance for a moment.
Brandishing her camera, she adjusted her positioning just so… and…
Clck-clck-clck.
”Perfect,” she spoke proudly, stepping closer now that she was successful. Turning the digital preview on her camera on one of the shots she captured, she let April check it. Positioned behind April almost perfectly was a large ice angel, but the young woman obscured the statue. The only parts to make it into the shot were the wings, which emerged from April’s shoulders. The sunlight cascaded and did what sunlight does. The wings shimmered and broke the light. April’s hair blazed.
”Sorry. Once I saw the shot, I couldn’t ignore it. Where were we?”
Stephanie liked the vibes she was getting from this woman, honestly. She was only a few years older than Steph if she had to guess, but April had playful energy. Something about her was unmistakably warm amidst the winter weather.
The question now was whether April would close the metaphorical gap Steph was leaving or if it would be on Steph to stop dancing around and ask the unspoken question. ”I’ve been lucky enough to find a few great places in my limited hunting. It would have to depend on the woman, though.” Woman. Gay. I am one of the gays. Please don’t ignore that, she almost mentally broadcast.
Nonchalantly resuming her perusal of the ice sculptures, Stephanie continued like there was no pressure in the world. ”If she was feeling something spicy, there’s a nice authentic Indian restaurant. More traditional? I found a cute Italian bistro. Of course, I can’t say where these places are,” she added. ”Can’t just give up all these secrets for free, right?”
It was amazing how much easier people could relax around you after an offering them a small gesture of empathy. With her struggle validated, the woman seemed to take a genuine, vulnerable moment for herself, however brief it was. Stephanie did not expect the people watching her child to be joy robots. It was nice to know this woman was human.
Of course, she had to make sure she was human and good at her job. Stephanie wanted to believe everyone working at the daycare loved kids and pushed through the exhaustion and stress of tending to the kids because they just gave a damn. Well, she assumed they would be dealing with exhaustion and stress because Steph was constantly tired and concerned and she had one kid.
Thankfully, makeup did wonders and she could look put together as she gave this woman puppy-dog eyes. The conversation with Millicent was evidently a misunderstanding, but Stephanie did not waver. She simply lingered on the woman, waiting and watching for a sign she might break.
> "There's a release form you can sign... If you can just wait a little bit longer."
And there it was. Stephanie simply replied with her brightest smile and let her own personal hero retrieve the prerequisite forms. Raine, (which suited her,) provided her with everything she needed, but left a sentence hanging. The tired mother waited two beats before piecing together what Raine was waiting for. ”Oh, right! Malia.”
Stephanie could have sworn she heard happy cooing at the mention of snack time, though that was probably a coincidence. Before Raine could run off, she quickly added, ”Lovely, thank you! And I’m Stephanie. I know you didn’t ask, but I figured you earned it since you made my day, Raine.” And that was not a lie; yes, she may have used a manipulative tactic or two, but Raine’s kindness kept her from spending the day searching for another daycare center.
Taking a seat, Stephanie worked on the forms, reading the contents carefully. She did not feel rushed, and while she was already a diligent person, she was doubly so when it came to Malia. Her daughter, meanwhile, was occupying herself with a plush spider that for some reason she was fixated on during their last trip to the store.
When she finally wrapped up the paperwork, Steph set everything aside and picked Malia up, gently rocking her baby. ”Alright Chickie, I hope you’re ready to be the best kid here today. First impressions are important, and Miss Raine is the nicest, so you’re going to be extra special good for her today, right?” Steph’s light tone and scrunched nose to punctuate her question earned a giggle from the baby in her arms.
It was dangerous to make assumptions about people. This flirty, perky blonde might seem almost bubbly in her demeanor, but that did not mean there was not more behind that. People were complex, with their own secrets. For all Steph knew, April might be a de-aged, dimensionally transplanted art thief. Wouldn’t that just be wild?
At the very least, Stephanie was growing more and more confident that April was queer. Well, she was either queer or she was intentionally leading Stephanie on. That would be rude, but hell, Steph could make a challenge of seducing a straight girl in over her head. Until then, Steph would let herself guess this woman’s agenda. If she was right… well, it was not a bad agenda, now was it?
”Well April, I guess we’ve got that in common. New to the city, trying to get settled in.” She doubted April was settling in by picking babysitters and daycares, but once again, who knows? Maybe this fated meeting in the park would net Malia a playdate with a precious blond brat. ”Exploring the neighborhood, figuring out all the good places to grab a bite to eat.”
April was direct, but Stephanie liked to lead things in the right direction more carefully. ”After all, if I suddenly found myself with a few hours to pick out a place for a date, I need to have a hidden gem worth taking her to, don’t I?” Or him, she could have added, but for the purposes of this conversation, that felt like unnecessary information to offer up.
Stephanie expected someone to be waiting behind the counter when she stood, but the only employee in sight was still a ways off and, though Steph could not hear any words, had the kind of energy of a woman juggling plates.
Eventually, the blonde-haired woman called out and squared things away before turning to head her way. She seemed… occupied by something? Clearly, she had a lot on her plate today, and—okay, Stephanie, that was two plate metaphors. Diversify, at least. Kids were a handful, and this woman was dealing with a room of them, so Steph could empathize.
The next sentences, or attempts at sentences, required Stephanie to piece them back together. ”Spending the whole day with babies makes words hard, I imagine,” she joked lightly, hoping the good-natured tease would not offend. She did not need to piss off the daycare attendant on day one.
Assuming this would be day one, which the blonde seemed to think was impossible. Evidently, they were overbooked for the amount of people they had working. Steph wondered if she meant today or in general, but held the question. She had come all this way and she was here for Malia. She was not about to accept defeat without a fight.
Thankfully, Stephanie’s fighting came with a smile. ”Oh no! I can only imagine all those kiddos have y’all quite busy,” she consoled in her sweet southern drawl, turning to her daughter and brushing a small curl of dark hair from her forehead. ”But I was talking to Millicent, I believe? She told me to bring Malia in so we could get a feel for the place today and decide if she could stay with you long term.”
Turning her attention back squarely on the attendant, Stephanie leaned against the countertop to draw herself slightly closer. ”I know things are sorta crowded in there today, but is there any chance you can handle just one more baby girl? I don’t actually have appointments today, so I can stick here and be an extra set of eyes and hands, if it helps.” And of course, she may have added a bat of her eyelashes. The world blessed her with big brown eyes and Steph had no qualms accentuating and weaponizing them.
Stephanie did her best to pick out details when she spoke to people. Small details could be useful, and not all crimes involved purely stealthy endeavors. Occasionally, she had to schmooze or coerce information from the right people. She had to be charming and she had to be smart, so it helped to practice those skills in casual life.
It did not hurt that Steph had an interest in picking up details about this woman. She mentioned finding pretty things and people in the last few days. No reason to quantify that unless she had only been around a few days.
And that comment! The gorgeous one had to be Stephanie, right? If that was not flirting, then it was horribly misleading. Tentatively, Steph was going to play with the assumption that Miss Warm Fires was interested in women. ”Quite the flatterer, aren’t you? Not that I mind,” she assured her with a warm smile. ”I get that, though. I’m a Carolina girl originally, though I’m sure you can guess that by the accent.” With her own accent, Northerners seemed to find her a hot commodity.
Of course, if Steph was right, there was no saying this woman was a Northerner. Shifting her camera to one hand, Steph offered the other. ”I’m Stephanie, by the way. Figured it’s about time I offer my name. You’ve done a good job earning it,” she teased playfully. ”I’m still kinda new to the city. What about you? Transplant or native?”
In an ideal world, Stephanie would spend her days with Malia and make her money at night. That hypothetical ideal world also treated theft as a form of employment you could use to justify your revenue. If the young single-mother spent her days playing with her daughter with no signs of a day job in sight, she would be asking for the authorities to look into her finances. She was still a young thief in her prime, full of potential, and not about to go down to some Al Capone bullshit.
Using the initial accumulated funds of her first successful job, Stephanie was renting out a very modest studio. Freelance photography made laundered money more suspicious than money that passed hands through a legitimate business.
Daycare was going to be necessary, and not just for her cover. Quite frankly, Stephanie was still getting a handle on the whole parenting thing. Convinced she was doing everything wrong, she hoped a reputable daycare could mitigate some of the damage she must be doing to her pride and joy.
Double and triple checking the address on her phone to make sure she was at the right place, Stephanie pushed open the door into the entryway so she could guide Malia’s stroller inside. It was a relief escaping the New York City chill. Even with a coat over her sweater, she was mentally longing for the transient time of her life when she could hide away down south for the winter.
Except she could not live that life anymore. She had Malia, and she was not going to raise her little girl into a life without stability. Malia would have a good life with a mother who loved her in a city with boundless possibility. Steph could deal with the cold for three to four months of the year.
Before she got to the window where she assumed someone would attend to her and Malia, Stephanie noticed a paper on the ground. ”Huh. Did y’all lose your signup sheet?” She turned back, away from the window so she could bend down and pick up the stubborn paper. Nothing felt quite as awkward as trying and failing to pick up a flat sheet on a flat surface, particularly when such a simple task took several attempts and a pathetic nunmber of seconds.
"Got it! I can officially sign in now!" When she finally coerced it away from the tiles it laid flush with, Steph got to her feet and turned back to the window, holding the sheet up victoriously for anyone who might care to come to help her.
There were odd changes Stephanie had to adjust to in 2019. Her last memories before all the time she evidently spent growing old came from the beginnings of the 2000s. Now, the people her age were being born at the turn of the millennium. A fifteen to twenty year change should not have altered society so much in theory, but the world had spent every year since she was gone evolving like mad.
Sure, some of that came from her alternate universe upbringing. Things were different in this world in small and large ways; Steph was still wrapping her head around an X-Men team that was respected rather than hunted. Still, she did some research regarding the world she lost, and it went through a similar cultural and technological revolution.
Stephanie finally got her hands on a smartphone when she realized how ubiquitous they were. That research she did? So much easier with the internet, but she worried about how much of her life seemed to involve the internet now. Social movements and trends were so much larger than she expected in a short time, and she was pleasantly stunned by the strides in things like gender and sexuality. Being out and bisexual was not the social stigma it was even in the nineties. What a time!
Of course, there was a problem to go with this good news: gay culture was entirely different than what she remembered. Anyone could potentially be queer, and there were so many kinds of queer girls. Stephanie still had no clue how she was supposed to align her gaydar with the wide range of gay subcultures out there now.
”Really does make you wonder—festive ice mutant or extremely ambitious ice sculptor operating under the cover of night? The world may never know.” She used her index fingers and thumbs to form a frame as she observed a sculpture shaped like Lady Liberty.
The frame moved back and instead framed the blonde woman. ”Well, how goes your search? Anything catching your eye? Ice or people.” Her trademark easy smile was unassuming, but color her curious to see if she could figure this friendly woman out.
