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.
April? That was quite a nice name and not a common one either. When he had moved to England Sam had found out just how many Sam’s there were out there. It had got to the point when he was happy just being the only Sam in his class. So an unusual name made a nice change and it seemed to suit her. After thinking on it, Sam decided that it suited her because the month of April was a month full of greenery and sunshine. He was also glad to see that the mutual introductions had seemed to ease the tension a bit. It was always better to know who was spying on you, was it not.
"If you don't mind me asking, I guess if you're here, that means you can do... umm.. something strange, right?"
The way she asked the question was hesitant, which was a mark of someone who really had not been here long. In this school everyone was dying to know what your mutant ability was. So in your first few weeks you got very good and coming up with a short and to the point explanation. But still the question brought a sad smile to Sam’s lips. He couldn’t help but wonder why he was still so bitter when he had seen so many other kids that had it worse than he did. It was probably because the discovery of his mutation had finished off his already collapsing life. It had been the perfect excuse for his mother to ship him abroad and no longer have to deal with him. So yes he was bitter.
It was strange now how every time he started feeling sorry for himself he could hear Noel’s voice in his head telling to get a grip. They had parted on strained terms and as time went on he was slowly deciding that he was going to go back there and prove to her that he wasn’t completely useless. But coming back to the here and now, April was looking at him with a curious and expectant gaze. He was going to have to come up with an answer for her.
“That’s right, I got lucky and it’s something I can turn on and off. However it’s neither interesting nor useful.”
There that was the truth and he hoped that he sounded sympathetic with regards to her outer appearance without sounding like he found her weird looking or anything. God it was so hard in this school sometimes. Some kids loved the way they looked horns and all and others would cry if you so much as let your gaze rest on them for more than three seconds.
Sam smiled as Michael described Celeste as funny looking. It was not true of course, well apart from the completely OTT silver dress, she was perfectly normal looking and would even be called pretty if she would just stop frowning. He still could not hear what was going on between her and the cat boy but he could guess it wasn’t all that pleasant.
“Do…do you think anyone wants to be my friend?”
Michael’s small voice reclaimed his attention. Had anyone bet on the boy? Sam was not sure; he had been paying closer attention to the child himself than to his betting sheet. But the question sparked an interest in the illusion mutant. What kind of person would bet on a malnourished nine year old? Sam guessed it would probably be someone who knew Michael already, someone like Kat maybe.
“I want to help the…the people that brought me here, so I hope..”
That’s true who had brought Michael here? Sam had never bothered to take the time to find out. Now it was just another question to be added to his ever growing list. He sighed, there was at least one easy way to get some of these questions answered and that was to go and have a look at Michael’s signup sheet. Before voicing the idea Sam silently prayed that there was at least one person that had bet on the boy.
“Well how about we go and find out?”
With that he stood up signaling for Michael to do the same and headed across the room to the stage.
"It's okay. I just didn't... I didn't see you coming, that's all,"
Okay the awkwardness was not really getting any better, which only made Sam feel more nervous. Why had he been staring like an idiot? This horrible situation was all his own fault and he was going to have to deal with it now. Now she was watching him with an upraising gaze that in Sam’s paranoid mind looked very much like her deciding whether to ask him if he was a stalker or not. Without realizing the illusion mutant was holding his breath waiting to see if the accusation would fall or not.
"I take it you haven't been here that long, either."
Relief swept over him and he could finally breathe again. She had not said anything about his inappropriate behavior and now the subject had been safely changed. Although he had to admit that the question she asked him was a bit strange. Well it was strange in so far as it was more of a statement of fact than a question. How did she know, or think she knows, how long he had been living here? A small frown line formed across his brow as he thought about it. After a few seconds reflection he still had no explanation for the statement, so he decided he might as well answer it.
“I’ve been here about a month and a half. But you must be pretty new as I’ve never seen you around.”
That was the one thing about Xavier’s everyone pretty much knew everyone at least by sight. He was not very sociable by nature so he had not gone out of his way to make friends but you soon got to know who’s who. It was one of the things that could not be avoided in a closed community. Besides so many here had remarkable physical attributes so it was pretty hard to miss them.
Sam almost did not notice Michael exiting the shower; he certainly did not hear him. It was the smallest glimpse of movement that told him the boy had finished. He pulled out his earphones and turned his ipod off and then he swung himself down from the place he had perched for the wait. It was then that he realized that the boy had only put on the boxers instead of putting on both the boxers and the pajama top as he had been expecting. This was strange in itself but Sam was slowly getting used to the fact that Michael did not act like a normal child.
What was more shocking however was the overall state of the boy. It was almost like looking at one of those famine adverts for a charity. All there was to him was skin and bone and to be honest the skin didn’t look to good. There were a goodly number of scratches and bruises and Sam wondered if he had gotten them all during the wall incident. He sighed, whatever the reason for the boy’s condition he wasn’t going to fix it now and the best thing he could do was get the poor kid to bed.
First of all he had to turn off the shower that he could still hear running. This task proved to be a difficult one as the boy had draped his soiled clothing over the rail between Sam and the tap. So in the end the water was off but Sam’s right sleeve was a whole lot damped than he would have liked. He also made a note to come back for the pajama bottoms; he would put them in a plastic bag and wash them as soon as possible. Now that all that was sorted he turned back to Michael.
Sam watched the girl browse for books in silence. He wasn’t really spying on her, it was more along the lines of he just had nothing to say. He did however note that as she looked through the shelves she talked to herself which he found slightly amusing. It appeared that she was more attracted to the classics rather than to the newer volumes. Sam had read plenty of fiction books but they all fell in the science fantasy section. He had never had the patience to read the classics even though his mother berated him about it on a regular basis.
The girl certainly looked like she was fond of reading considering the fact that she was already holding two hefty books and had turned to look for more. Sam had to admit that if you liked reading the academy certainly provided you with enough free time to get a lot done. He did not really have a social life here and seeing as everything he needed; food, school, sports, was located only a couple of minutes from his room Sam had picked up books again.
He must have made a slight noise for the girl suddenly turned to look at him and the expression on her face told him that she really had not noticed his arrival. He wondered for a second what she must think of him, just standing there staring at her. Well the first thing that would come into his mind would: stalker. The though almost made him smile but he held back, adding a stupid grin to this kind of situation would only reinforce the creepiness. Instead he waited to see what she would do.
"Uhh... hi,"
Alright, awkward. Well what had he expected? Honestly some part of him had expected her to turn and run, so this greeting was a step up from that at least. He took a breath and pushed himself off the book case he had been leaning against. Now he had to think of something to say that would not freak her out further. He wasn’t really one for making friends but he at least did not want this girl starting rumors about him being a crazy stalker.
“Sorry to startle you. I heard a noise and came looking… Then I just didn’t want to disturb you.”
He knew it sounded lame but it was the best he could come up with.
Sam was back in the library with a pile of books in front of him. This was one of his free periods and he had decided that he should probably be serious and do some studying. Because he knew fool well that if he went to his room he would just sit and play on the computer. He pursed his lips being lazy came too easily, he had always just scrapped by in school and his grades had been only slightly above average. Which meant that coming to Xavier’s was like a second chance, now he was in private education and he hadn’t needed perfect grades to be accepted into the university course. So all in all, he better not screw this up.
He had been here for a little over an hour now and the words were starting to blur into one another. He was having to re-read the same sentence over and over again because the words did not mean anything anymore, so he decided to have a bit of a break. So he just put his head down on the book in front of him and closed his eyes. The pressure that had been building in his head started to ease a bit so he decided to stay there a while longer.
A few moments must have turned into quite a long time because Sam woke with a start, because of a sudden sound. As his eyes adjusted to the light again, he stretched and checked that he had not drooled on the book. Falling asleep was one thing destroying school property with drool was quite a different matter. Once he was sure that everything was as it should be, he decided to get up and stretch his legs a bit. That would surely help wake him up properly.
As he walked away from his stack of books he wondered what or who had made that sound that had woken him. Out of curiosity he started searching the rows of shelves for the culprit, there were not that many people here today so whoever he found was bound to be the person that had made the sound. When he finally found her in the fiction section, if Sam had not known that Xavier’s was a mutant school he would have wondered if he was still dreaming. She was distinctly green. He did not know if it was because he was surprised or just because he did not want to disturb her but he just stood at the entrance to the row and watched her.
“It…it’s a really big bed. It’s a lot different from my room.”
Sam looked back at his neatly made bed and frowned a little, it was true that he was lucky to have a double bed but in the mansion those were pretty much standard in a lot of rooms. However, he could understand that due to Michael’s small size they had probably only given him a single. This was also the first time the illusion mutant had a double bed, at home he had a room much smaller than this one and he wouldn’t have been able to walk with a bigger bed.
“Don’t worry when you get a bit bigger I’m sure you’ll get a big bed as well.”
And with that Sam opened the bedroom door and headed back out into the hallway. He waited for the boy to follow and then closed the door quietly, it was getting late and it would not do to start bothering others by making too much noise. He smiled down at Michael and started making his way to the shower rooms. Each room had a wash basin but if you wanted a shower you had to go to the communal showers. Luckily for them they were located between his room and Michael’s.
“This is where you can take a shower and get clean.”
Sam was taking the time to explain everything to Michael just to be sure. He opened the door to one of the cubicles and put down the towel, boxers and shower gel. Then he turned on the water, trying hard not to get himself wet in the process. He did it to make sure that the water was not too hot or too cold; because he was not sure Michael would manage adjusting it on his own. He wasn’t even sure the boy would try, he probably just be miserable and put up with it.
“Alright, you’ve got everything you need. Put these on” He said pointing at the boxers. “instead of your pajama bottoms.”
With one last reassuring smile he closed the door and left the boy to it. While he waited he went and sat on the floor with his back to the wall. He pulled out his ipod and selected a playlist, he knew that the kid would probably not be long but this was better than waiting in silence.
Time went by quickly when you were busy and Sam was most definitely busy. The line of people seemed never ending which depressed him a bit. How could there be so many people out there that had nothing? How could society let this happen? So many questions swirled around in his head that a barely paid any attention to what he was doing and it was only when he burnt himself on the edge of one of the cooking pots that he came back to the here and now.
Peter was looking at him with an appraising stare as if to work out what his innermost thoughts were. But before the illusion mutant could say anything the other volunteer smiled at him and went back to what he had been doing. Sam frowned, what kind of an impression did these people have of him? Did he just look like some poor kid that Noel had bullied into coming here? Or did he look like someone who actually wanted to help? He knew which impression he wished to make but then again he also knew the truth. If the brunette had not manhandled him all the way he would never have know or cared about a place like this.
To keep his mind away from those depressing thoughts Sam turned his attention back to the people he was serving. They were of all shapes and sizes, humans and mutants, young and old. It just went to prove that bad things could happen to you no matter who or what you were. But when he met the gaze of a few of these people he saw gratitude but also pride. Whatever ills had befallen them they were going to face them head on and would do their best not give up anymore than they had to. Sam knew that if he was put in the same situation as they were he would not be able to hold on to half as much courage or dignity.
Then a noise made him turn. It was Noel; she was standing a few paces behind him with an expression on her face that made him wonder if she had just eaten something sour. He was at least relieved to see that she did not look angry at him anymore, or at least that her anger was no long a raging fire but more like slow burning ambers. He stood quietly waiting for her to either say something or leave.
"I'm... sorry."
If her tone and expression had not betrayed how forced those words were Sam would have had to sit down from shock. But as it was he knew she was probably only saying it to placate him, so he did not really believe her. Now all he had to do was find an answer to that that would not wake her anger again.
Sam did not get an answer to his question right away as Michael seemed in the middle of a dilemma. So the illusion mutant waited patiently until the small boy worked out how to deal with whatever was bothering him. During this time he swept the room with his gaze once more and noted that Celeste was still sat on her own on the stage. Her expression was no one of haughty superiority. He sighed, what was he going to do with that girl?
In the mean time Michael had come up with a solution and was now holding out his plastic cup with a look in his eyes that read: “please take this”. Well there was no point in arguing, so Sam took the cup off Michael only to then realize that it was still half full of juice. Great. He was going to have to find a table to put this on if he did not want to be carrying it around for most of the afternoon. He did not however let his displeasure wipe away his smile.
“I..I don’t know what people are doing really. B-but…Kat said that I had to be good and not ignore people even if they aren’t very good people.”
Michael’s words made Sam just a little bit angry. How could Kat, whom he had seen around but never actually met, throw Michael into something like this and then leave him on his own to deal with it? Did she not understand how fragile the child was? And what did she mean by “not very good people”? He looked across the room at the blond and made a mental note to speak to her about this later. Now all he had to do was find a way to explain the situation to the boy in a way that did not make it sound scary.
“Well, today is to help Kat get some money for some sports…” trying to explain Ultimate Frisbee might just be a bit much right now, although Sam was probably one of the only people outside the team that he played it before “by making new friends. You see people give money so that they can have special time to make friends.”
He hoped his explanation made sense to the boy, and while he let Michael digest what had just been said he turned his attention back to Celeste. As it turned out she was just being approached by one of the two boys with the cat ears. Sam did not know which was which as he had never been introduced but whoever he was he was either brave or stupid.
After watching the scene, Sam decided that he was probably brave and now he was going to live to regret that. The boy had been the very embodiment of chivalry, everything that Celeste dreamed of and everything that Sam had failed to provide. He must however have said something wrong because the look that Celeste was wearing now was shooting daggers at him. Why was it teenage girls were never happy? This boy had been really nice and was busy getting torn apart and he had been rude and annoying but somehow she had decided she quite liked him. There was no sense in it.
He decided to give Celeste a bit more time to stew before going over there and turned his attention back to Michael. It was when he looked at the boys face that he remembered the comment about “not very good people” and he decided that a warning was in order.
“Michael, you see that girl over there with the yellow hair and the silver dress? Well she is one of those not very nice people; she is not very good at being friendly. So If you do not want to get yelled at please do not go and speak with her.”
Michael came inside without any resistance and quietly found himself a place out of the road. Sam had to admit that at least the boy was un-obstructive, which in Sam’s book was a good thing. He kept an eye on the boy until he was sure that he had settled down and then turned to his cupboard to search for something that would be able to replace the boy’s pajamas.
As it turned out Sam’s closet was a treasure trove, he had all sorts of closes and even some of the same pieces just in different colours. His collection of shoes was just as impressive and as he looked down at them for a moment his eye was immediately drawn to the bright blue one. They had been a gift, all be it an unwanted one, from Celeste and although he had never seen the price he could guess that they were probably the most expensive thing in there. But shoes were not what he had come for, he was looking for something small enough to fit a small child and so he turned his attention back to the higher shelves.
After careful selection he decided that a pair of blue boxers would probably be the best option and pulled them out. Okay that was one problem sorted; next he needed to find the first aid kit. This would be a bit harder because although he was convinced that he had one, he had no idea where it might be. All he could do now is hope that when he had unpacked he had put things away in a sensible manner; which would mean that it would be somewhere near the wash basin.
Sam’s wash stand was pretty much the same as his closet, with cosmetic products covering most of the available surface. He bent down to search the baskets under the sink and was not rewarded with what he was looking for. He sighed and went to get a chair to climb, knowing him he had probably put it on top of the storage unit, which was a stupid place to put something you would only need if you were injured. He clambered up and peered into the shadows above the cupboards, yep there it was. Now that his treasure hunt was finished he turned back to the boy and was about to announce that they could go when an idea struck him. Changing Michael was not going to be enough, he needed a shower too. So he grabbed a tower and some shower gel as well. Right now they really were good to go.
“We’ve got everything we need, so how about we get you cleaned up and then off to bed?”
Before they could move off the small boy started to edge closer to Sam. The illusion mutant watched this in slightly bemused silence; he did not want to do anything that could startle the boy. He was however very surprised when Michael took hold of the bottom of his shirt. He suddenly felt that he was the boy’s lifeline and that if he were to pull away now Michael would just resume his crouched position on the floor and never get up again. He did also have a momentary moment when the thought of that small dirty hand touching him made him cringe a bit.
“We…we can stop at your room. B-but…but I…I need a new pair of…of…”
The boy’s sentence automatically made Sam look down at the offending area on Michael’s pajamas. Did the boy not have a spare pair in his room? Looking down at the small figure Sam knew nothing of his would fit apart maybe from a large pair of boxers. Well he could always lend the boy a pair, just in case he really had nothing else, he couldn’t stay like that after all. His train of through was once more interrupted by the small voice.
“I…I can read it but it doesn’t make, make sense. I…it’s probably code.”
Michael was holding up the name tag, which made Sam frown. All that was written on there was the boy’s name and the number of his room. But the big eyes that looked up at him were genuinely confused, so he decided to just go with it and take the time to explain things. He had after all already determined that Michael was not a normal child.
“The first part is your name, which you should have seen before, and the second part is the number for your room. I’ll show you.”
With this he headed off down the corridor towards his own room. All of the rooms on this floor were for student residence and seeing as there were a great many students the rooms had been numbered for convenience. A small plaque with the room’s number on it was screwed into the wall beside each door. Looking at them now he had to admit that they were a little high for Michael. They covered the rest of the distance to his room in silence and as they stood in front of the door Sam decided to explain things to Michael.
“This is my room, and see here next to the door? That little number is the room number. Your room will have the same number as the one on your badge.”
He hoped he had been clear enough for the boy; he made a mental note to show him the number on his room as well just to be sure. Then he opened the door to his room for Michael. The place was tidy and apart from the giant yellow gold crown painted over the bed on the wall the same as every other room. The crown had been a strange prank from Celeste and Sam was only now getting used to it. He ushered the boy inside and closed the door.
The small boy got to his feet with what looked like a lot of effort and for a moment Sam wondered if he was hurt more badly that he had first believed. But after studying his for a few minutes he decided that the child was just very frail. Sam knew that the boy should probably be taller and bulkier but then again he had seen children put on late growth spurts, so he didn’t let that worry him. The scratches on the boys cheeks would have to be seen to and the illusion mutant wondered if he had any disinfectant in his room. Probably would be the answer to that, it was the one thing his mother did right.
Sam could see that the boy was obviously embarrassed by the fact that he had wet himself and would not meet his eye. He felt a pang of pity for the youth, at that ages Sam had had a loving family and a nice life, that had changed but he still looked back on those days with fondness. He had been given a childhood but it appeared that Michael had not. Unwanted or rejected it was sad that the boy should end up here like this. He knew that the boy had just been dumped because if his parents had brought him they would have been allowed to stay with him until he settled and he wouldn’t be wearing a tag with his room number on it.
“I want to go to…to my room.”
The words were quiet and hesitant but they got the point across well enough. Sam smiled again and turned to face to right direction. The boy’s room was not far but they would have to stop at his first to get the first aid kit.
“Let’s go then, it’s just this way. Do you mind if we stop at my room first I need to get something?”
Time wore on and people moved around the room; they were all so intent on their own business that none of them gave Sam a second look. Watching people was always an interesting sport as they seemed to go from one set of emotions to the next so fast it was hard to keep track. Take the red head over there, he had been watching her because she had headed for Michael and as it turned out the boy was also kind of one of Sam’s adopted siblings.
She had been delighted to see the small boy but had quickly been distracted by an approaching teen. Which bothered Sam because now Michael had ended up all but abandoned in this sea of people. He pushed himself off the wall and prepared to make his way across to the boy, when something in Celeste’s behavior caught his eye.
She was on the phone to someone and the look she wore on her face did not bode well. He watched her for a while longer as she stood in front of her biding board and tried not to scream at people. He could almost hear the words she was holding in: “are you people so stupid you cannot see I’m the best catch here?”. He sighed, he had brought a bit of money just in case catastrophes needed to be averted but he figured he would let here squirm a little more first. With that decided he went off to find Michael.
The small boy had found himself both a seat and a drink, which was good but he was still looking around the room with those huge eyes of his. Sam made sure that his approach was not a stealthy one; it would not do to surprise the boy, and pulled up a seat.
“Hi Michael, how are you doing today?”
It was a nice and easy question so as not to put pressure on the child, because Sam knew all too well what happened when you put Michael under pressure.
For a moment Sam thought the boy was just going to continue staring at his like a deer caught in headlights and frustration began to build within him. Maybe he wasn’t as nice a person as he tried to convince himself and others he was. What if Noel’s scolding’s held more truth to them than he liked to believe… Then just when his thoughts had started to wander the small boy started to move. The illusion mutant sat very still, almost holding his breath so as not to startle the youth.
A small hand pulled out what looked like a name tag from the depth of the boy’s pajamas. Sam couldn’t read it from this distance but the boys seemed to notice this and shuffle slightly closer. Squinting a bit Sam managed to make out the name: Michael Risuque Falling. It was a long name for someone so small and Sam was glad that he had never had that problem. His name was Sam Jung, short and easy to remember even when you’re only about three. Not that this boy was that young but still a double barreled surname seemed a bit burdensome to the half Asian teen. On the card there was also a room number, written in neat hand writing. Sam figured that it was probably someone like the receptionist that had written it, as a precaution for such an event. Room 121, that was on this floor and if he remember correctly not too far from his own room. He was relieved that it would not take long to get the boy back to where he belonged.
“I…I got scared by a big guy. He was blue.”
The small voice matched the small body perfectly and it brought a small smile to Sam’s face. All the teenage girls here would love this kid; he was small cute and slightly pathetic looking, almost like a puppy. All that had to be done first was to get him washed and changed. As for big blue men that was almost the norm here, although Sam had no memory of having met that particular mutant yet. It was clear that the boy was new here and Sam had to admit that the school took some getting used to.
“There are lots of different types of people here, they look a bit different but they are all very nice.”
He tried his best to be reassuring and gave the boy a slightly wider smile. However it was now time to get up off the floor and move away from this mess, he would go and try and find someone to tell after he had seen to Michael. He got to his feet slowly, trying to avoid sticking himself with any loose bits of plaster.
“We can’t sit here all night, so how about I take you back to your room. It’s just down the hall from mine.”
As expected his casual acceptance of his new situation maddened Noel again and she swatted at him angrily and the manager of the soup kitchen placed himself between them. For a second Sam imagined himself sticking his tongue out at her like a petulant child but he wanted to keep all his limbs attached to his body so he quickly pushed that idea away. He was so distracted by this thought that he almost completely missed what she was saying to him. Something about training? Whatever it was he knew he would not be given a choice so he opted for the safe “smile and nod” option.
The jovial cook wandered across the room and came back with a couple of aprons and hairnets. As he received his new outfit Sam’s inner fashionista groaned somewhat, no one looked good in a hairnet. But he knew that it was an important hygiene measure and tried not to let any of his dismay show on his face. Besides it was funny to see Noel dressed like that, it felt a bit like dressing a small evil looking dog in a tutu.
He held in the laugh that that image conjured and went with Noel to wash his hands. They scrubbed them thoroughly and the silence between them spoke a thousand words. He could feel the unspoken “if you screw this up I’ll kill you” pressing down on him. However it seemed that the volunteer that had taken charge of them had different plans and he wasted no time in separating Sam from Noel. The illusion mutant was not sure if this was a good thing or not, but it was for the time being a break from her gaze.
As they made their way to the serving line the other man introduced himself as Peter and made an all too true comment on Noel being a bit on the “intense” side of things. That made Sam smile a little but he tried not to let the other person sense quite how “intense” his first encounter with her had been. He quickly introduced himself to Peter and then turned his attention to the line of hungry people waiting for him to disk out the steaming food before him.
