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.
>>>"My family fractured and split in different directions after... some external issues became internal issues. I haven't seen or heard from my brothers or sister or my parents in years. From what I've found out I'm sure they're no longer alive but the not knowing was always the hardest." Paul spoke slowly as he swirled the red wine in his own glass, simply looking at the dark liquid instead of the woman across from him, "Getting some sort of closure helped but it still wasn't easy."
Lumen sat silently for a moment. She knew Riori was alive. She could feel it. It wasn't that she refused to believe the possibility that he very well could be dead... she sincerely felt in every part of her that he was still on this earth. She never knew if that was because of her mutation or simply being a twin. " Closure..." she reflected out loud. "I don't know if I want it. Chasing ghosts I suppose..." She ordered the spaghetti after all.
" If you're ever interested I can always help you see if you have any living family. They're not as hard as you'd think to track down. I've frequently been hired in the past for doing simple family trees. I like it. It's interesting too. she swished her own wine not daring to take another sip. She wanted to keep her wits about her.
The breadsticks were brought out and their wine glasses re-filled. Paul asked her if it had all led her to come to the states. She wondered about what sort of an answer she should give him. She didn't mind getting to know him better but everything had seemed so light hearted up until this point. Now it was dark and serious. Now it was new territory. Now it felt like every word could make or break her. She fumbled with a break stick.
"In a way, yeah, but it's also nice to take a break from the rock. Meet new people, see new things.... They'd given them a pizza type sauce to dip the bread in so she eagerly tried it and stuffed her mouth for a second. Cant talk with a mouthful of food. It gave her a moment to center herself and decide how the conversation should go. "Im glad I've come, I've met many nice people. Like you. Keeps me balanced out too so I don't throw myself into work." Nothing to see here, nope! No way! Not a crazy obsessive woman with a bedroom that looked like a crime scene. Not at all.
"So what else do you like to do Paul who prefers books, flowers, and running?" Just a little longer and the food would be here and the silences didn't need to feel so awkward. She wanted to have a nice date and forget about Riori for the night. Maybe the midnight service would help her achieve peace again. Paul hadn't meant to bother her she knew, in fact it seemed like he'd been trying all night to connect and she was unintentionally throwing brick walls his way. How could she show him she was interested without coming off with too much information?
Lumen could respect that Paul respected people. Many others, simply didn't. She'd lost count of how many times she'd run into some over-inflated atheist who thought it was his mission to convert her just as much as many Christians thought that mission was theirs. So it was a pleasant enough surprise to run into that and Paul's points may have raised just a wee bit higher.
The Restaurant was warm and inviting and smelled amazing. It had been so long since Lumen had real Italian food and the smells and thought of it made her mouth water. She eagerly took her seat and enjoyed their drink order while looking through the menu. Paul had picked an excellent in between place. Fancy enough for Christmas but not too fancy for a date. Smooth.
She was trying to decide between the mother of all spaghetti plates and an intriguing stir fry when Paul brought up her family. She knew it was a normal thing to talk about but she couldn't help the cold feeling that went up her spine. Here it came again, talking about her brother, out loud. He loved creeping into dates.
"I call my folks, but they dont celebrate much these days. I think they'll go to mass but that's about it." she took a sip of the wine, she was going to need it. Mentally she chided herself over and over again telling herself to be simple and discreet. Paul didn't need to know too much, and this didn't need to be dramatic. It just needed to be a statement. Pick a statement!
"My brother, he's been missing since I was 6. It's been 20 years but my parents have always felt guilty about enjoying themselves. I guess maybe I do too. I don't do much for Christmas day. Maybe that's why I enjoy the peace I get on Christmas Eve." Dang. Gave away her age most likely. Well, maybe she could judge Paul's reaction to all this information and figure out a little more about him. She wasn't pleased with how honest she was- in fact she now had a pit in her stomach. But a pit she'd decided to fill with spaghetti none the less.
She hadn't told Paul her brother was a twin, that they were both mutants, that he was most likely abducted by some mutant terrorist group. She hadn't given the slightest hint that maybe there was a little more to her relationship with Riori than the average sibling. He didn't know her hotel room looked like a scene from Sherlock Holmes... and that in itself was a blessing. It still did feel a tiny bit relieving to get that part out of the way. It was like an elephant in the room for Lumen. Paul had told her about the blind woman in his life and eluded she'd been lost along the way so perhaps it was only fair she did the same.
She took another sip of wine and the waiter appeared to take their order.
The sleigh ride was going along pleasantly enough. Lumen and Paul chatted their way through it while Lumen also pointed out how weird some things in the park looked covered in snow. Like Moore, for example. She listened to Paul talk about the Broadway shows wishing she was savvy enough to know when they happened. She was always over-analysing little things he said to pick apart as clues. In part to deduce more about him, in part for habit, but also in part for practice. She was still wondering about the potential for an x gene and his possible age. Two questions that weren't very polite to ask.
She sipped her hot chocolate pondering those things as Paul had chatted. She stared down at her gloved hands for a moment remember Paul complimenting her clothing. She hadn't thanked him about that. The truth was, she wasn't very good at receiving compliments, or gifts, as the bear poking out from her jacket reminded her. She received neither on a regular basis and whenever she did it always peeked her suspicion. She wasn't suspicious of Paul, well maybe a little... but not because he'd given her a compliment or a gift. So, she simply didn't know how to react to either. Maybe that was a poor move. Maybe she should have said something...
"Thanks again for the bear." she pulled him out from her pocket and turned him over in her hands. "Ive seen Polar bears once before. My work took me to northern Alaska and then to Northern Canada. Only for about a 6 month period... but the bears always intrigued me. Did you know they used to sleep 3 months out of the year and hunt the other 9? They'd have a whole litter of cubs. Now they sleep 9 months and hunt for 3. They have one or two cubs and are lucky if they survive. I guess they're even starting to mate with Grizzly bears and they're finding second and third generation hybrids that seem to be doing much better than the polar bears. The world will cry out about global warming but all the native groups will tell you the North is nothing but change and the bears are a very new species as far as nature is concerned. So them evolving into this new hybrid is just the natural next step." She wasn't sure if she believed that but she always found things like natural selection interesting in a morbid way. She'd always apply that principal to mutation and wonder about the reasons for some of the mutations she'd seen.
She'd lost herself in thought then turned her face up to Paul, "Sorry... I can be long winded. My brother always accused me of being a walking encyclopaedia..." she trailed off. It was the first time she'd mentioned her brother out loud in a long time and all of a sudden her fear of her obsession taking over the date seemed all to real a possibility.
She was more than happy and thrilled to answer then next when Paul asked her about religion. Unlike some people who shied away from such topics Lumen wasn't afraid to engage in them and she was secretly a little happy to find that same trait in Paul. "Aye, I don't know if you could be calling it religious but I'm certainly spiritual. Just so happened many Irish are raised Catholic so that's where I landed. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe in everything they teach and in the old days that would have made me a heretic I suppose. But, I do get a lot of... peace from attending church. I find the priests work harder and harder to make their services mean something to modern day people and for those willing to listen and consider what's been said I've walked away with many pearls of wisdom." they'd been talking for almost an hour by then and the sleigh ride was coming to an end. You could only circle around the perimeter of the park so many times.
"I can't label myself really. Im not sure I fit anywhere. but I guess, if I get something from it and it encourages me to be a better person who is anyone else to judge my personal journey?" she gave a shrug. "I promise though, I'm not hiding away a rosary and vile of holy water to throw at you later on this evening." she grinned. Lumen was a smart gal, but not always the best at cracking jokes.
The ride came to a stop and Lumen felt herself wishing it was longer. She felt like she was just starting to know Paul and maybe sharing a bit about herself too. It was calm and peaceful out here, easy for her to focus, control her abilities, and be careful not to share too much information. But her stomach was rumbling and the warmth of a restaurant would be most welcomed now that the temperature was dipping. "Well, that was lovely." she exclaimed accepting help from the horse man to hop back down. (She didn't need it, but it made for a good normal human appearance)
"I suppose it's on to dinner then, just a little after 8 now. So Paul, where are we headed?"
ooc: I think it's my turn since I originally posted after Aurion, but Joe if anything doesn't add up right PM me and I'll fix...
IC:
Everything was happening so fast before she knew it Lumen and the blonde guy were back up and he was basically asking if they should help. She hesitated. Did he assume she was a mutant or was he simply saying this as a shocked statement? Lumen hated using her powers but even more-so she hated using them in public. She looked around- so many people. She really didn't want to use her powers. Besides, what else could her powers do but make him really really mad? Camera guy had all ready proven how irritating bursts of light could be and it wasn't like she could move something so big with her eyes.
"Maybe we should call the police?" she stammered it out knowing full well how stupid it sounded, but she really didn't feel like being ousted as a mutant today. Who's to say what might end up on a certain news segment with a certain red head. Yup, she was playing the cop out card. Quite literally.
"It looks like that mutant's got it under control." she took a nervous step back ready to run in an instant. "He must be a mutant too." she pointed to the creature who was clearly ready to fight. Over what? A dented car? Why anyone would want to fight with him was beyond her. She wondered what he looked like before all this or if he was born this way. She felt bad for him.
"At least... I guess we can get these people out of here." she said turning around trying to get all the gawkers to move.
ooc: sorry man! I epic failed. Forgot to bookmark the thread so when I checked my bookmarks quickly I thought you hadn't replied! Geesh. Silly me.
IC:
>>>"Hello yourself. Time does seem to drag on when you're looking forward to something now doesn't it." He replied with a smile before holding out the teddy bear for Lumen to take. "Merry Christmas... hopefully you still like stuffed animals."
Lumen grinned. She had noticed the bear upon arrival but eagerly accepted it. She sort of had an indifference to... well... non essential-things... but that didn't mean she couldn't appreciate the sentimental value of some things. She did like memories. It was part of why she took so many photos. She had several usb sticks on lanyards in her travel bag filled with photos from her adventures here and there. "Thank you Paul, that was very thoughtful of you." she did wonder what exactly she was going to do with the bear on their date. She stuffed him in the front pocket of her overcoat and his head peeked out. "Like a real bear cub." she grinned.
She couldn't think of much to say to the time drags on bit since it would be admitting that she had been looking forward to this. Lumen wasn't sure if she wanted to admit that to herself quite yet let alone Paul. After all, she needed to keep some things a little reeled in to protect herself from getting hurt. Even the most stone-faced woman disliked rejection, Lumen was no different. Just a little better at hiding it. So, she just smiled and said, "Shall we?" she followed his lead.
>>>"I like your dress. The color suits you quite well." He complimented as they turned to head for the hotel door and the waiting cab. "As I remember it, we were going for a sleigh ride first and then dinner, right?"
"Yes, that's the plan." she answered. "And it looks like we'll have excellent weather for it. It's only 0. Cold enough for the snow but just warm enough there shouldn't be too much of a chill. I think they give us blankets anyway." She hadn't actually thought of that part until right now. Blankets and hot chocolate. Lumen loved hot chocolate. She'd shared some with Tasean. Though, sharing blankets and hot chocolate with Paul would certainly feel a little different. Lumen was fairly sure Tasean wasn't interested in the gentler sex.
Lumen followed Paul into the cab and it was a quick ride to the park. They could have walked it true enough, but knowing the two of them (or at least her) they'd get side tracked by all the site seeing and Lumen's questions. As it so happened Lumen filled the duration of the cab ride with little anecdotal comments about things she'd seen so far in New York. "...and I'd really like to see a show on Broadway." she confessed as they stepped out of the cab, bundling up her coat with the polar bear still peeking out from the pocket. "I've always wanted to see several musicals; Peter Pan, Jesus Christ Superstar, West Side Story, oh, and South Pacific." she wasn't actually as much of a showtunes buff as the statement made her sound. She was just appreciative of good stories in the same way she adored books and movies.
She chatted as they walked into a lineup of couples and families waiting for the sleigh rides. To her left an outdoor string quartet was set up playing Christmas songs accompanied by a little boy ringing some bells. They played beautifully even with gloved fingers and Lumen stopped chatting long enough to listen to Walking in a Winter Wonderland. She didn't quite know why she was being so chatty with Paul. Perhaps it was because sometime earlier this evening she'd decided to put actual effort into the date and really work at enjoying herself. Thanks to her workouts and meditation before he arrived she felt alert and on her game. She could even have a debate and keep her wits about her. She felt on the ball.
Finally their turn for the next horse drawn sleigh arrived. Lumen was a little timid around horses but did her best not to let Paul see. It wasn't completely that she was afraid, she just didn't know enough about horses to predict their behaviours perhaps in the way she new dogs. She knew dogs well enough because she was always jumping fences to avoid them. "Well this is us." She let the horseman help her up and she squeezed into the pleather seat. Sure enough their were two thermoses of hot chocolate and a thick woollen blanket waiting for them. She picked up one of the thermoses and handed the other to Paul with a smile. "Cheers!"
Lumen stood in the hotel bathroom with her eyes closed. Even though there were no lights on the bathroom was completely ablaze in white light. Coming, naturally, from Lumen. She was spending these last precious seconds ensuring she wouldn't have to leave her date early from a power induced migraine. As the light dimmed and her skin returned to it's normal colour she stepped out of the bathroom to admire her handy work.
She'd bought the outfit just earlier that day. She already had a black warm over coat to wear outside but the sweater dress complimented her hair. She could never were solid colours besides grey easily. She's always look pale. But for a tiny splash of colour she'd chosen to wear "holly red" lipstick. Tis the season after all.
She took one last look in the mirror then made sure her phone - fully charged- ID, cards, and cash were in the pocket of her overcoat. "Here's lookin at you kid." she said to the mirror. The mirror had been the anchor point for all her red strings that cross crossed through the room. The red matched her lips. It seemed symbolic some how. Maybe this was Riori sticking with her even while on a date.
She took in a deep breath of air, exhaled, then made for the door. Walking down the hallway she was fully alert and aware of everything around her. Her senses were sharp, her mind clear, and her body feeling relatively nimble considering the beating all this running had given her.
She rounded the corner into the lobby and she saw him at once. Hard to miss a grown man standing with a stuffed animal in his hand. She grinned. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pair of leather gloves and put them on. "Well, hello stranger." she purred. "It seems forever since we last met." half joking, half serious. She hadn't slept the greatest after their last run in.
Lumen had to keep her jaw from hitting the floor when he dropped that French line on her. She had stood up, only seconds before, feeling it was the polite way to say goodbye. So she was standing there with a look of shock on her face. If she hadn't been so cool at controlling her emotions she had a feeling she'd be a little more than overwhelmed at this point. "Well how do ya like that." she said to no one in particular. "I think I just got myself a Christmas date."
It was funny to her the way Paul had said "quarter to 7". That's how they spoke in Ireland but she never heard Americans speak in quarters yet. It warmed her to be reminded of home when she was around Paul. Maybe that's why she found him so interesting.
She puzzled over the reasons why she liked Paul while she took her stack of books to be signed out. He was a challenge that was part of it, but he also seemed familiar and reminded her of home. While looking young he didn't seem to act stupid like the many young men who had tried to date her before, and he had a certain wit about himself. Sure, the holidays were tricky and her obsession with Riori was peaking yet again, but she was convinced this was more than just an answer to those problems. This, at the very least, seemed like a real genuine friendship that was blooming. Lumen hadn't had any of those in a while. An if it turned into something more? Well... she'd cross that bridge when she came to it.
She stood in the lineup wondering what she should wear to a date that started outside and ended in a church. A little lop sided smile formed on her lips. This was sure to be a much more interesting Christmas than last year...
>>>"You beat me to the punch... I had every intention of asking you to dinner and a movie or some such thing this weekend, but your idea sounds much better. Dinner, sleigh ride, and a Christmas service sounds like a very nice evening."
This time Lumen could actually feel the glow in her cheeks so she took a moment while it was still polite for a moment of silence in the conversation, to center herself and will the energy to spread out. Since when had her emotions been drudging up her power? She couldn't recall it happening often in the past unless she was under extreme stress. All she could do was chalk this up to the fact that she was yet again in a new place trying to get her bearings.
She was thrilled that Paul said yes. Moreso than she realized. Perhaps she really wasn't okay with going "home" (i.e. hotel) and spending the holiday looking for her brother. It wasn't like the web of red string wouldn't be waiting. And like a spider she knew it's every line by heart. She was also thrilled to hear Paul had every intention of asking her though that little seed of doubt still plagued her the way it always did when something seemed too good to be true.
"I think it should be wonderful, the snow is supposed to stay." she explained feeling herself grow excited. What did she want from Paul? An old familiar friend? Or something more? Bags if she knew, but at least she'd be one step closer to finding out after this weekend. The pursuit of an average man instead of a suspect would be a welcomed change of pace.
>>>"So what made you decide to take pity on me? Was it the trustworthy look in my eyes or was it my incompetence with my keys?" Paul asked with a teasing smile,"Maybe I should try to drop my keys more often."
Well that got Lumen laughing. Like a little school girl even. Maybe just a little too loud from the looks of the passer-bys. "I think you can credit it to that devilish grin and knowing an excellent place for brunch." Yes, an evening out with Paul sounded splendid. She'd like to get to know him better and between now and then she'd be sure to get a few things done so she could give him her full attention. One mainly being a good deal of time spent meditating to get this whole emotional reaction with her mutation under control.
Whether he would be a good friend or something more, or hey, maybe she'd end up offending him all together and that would be that. Lumen was willing to see this through a little farther. "The sleigh rides start at 7. Maybe we could start with that. Then I suppose you'll have to charm me some more with your vast knowledge of New York dinner cuisine, since I haven't the first bright clue about any of the restaurants beyond the hotel." she took the piece of scrap paper she'd been using as a page holder and pulled a pen from her pocket. She wrote the name of the hotel on it and passed it to him. "Tomorrow night then?"
>>>"Well... I'm afraid I still like using books for most things. I have an actual dictionary in my apartment as well as a real encyclopedia. In fact, to be honest, I don't even own a computer. So after going through many reference books and failing to find what I was looking for I, uh, used the library computer and found what I wanted in about two minutes."
Ah, he sounded to her a bit of a techno-phobe like her own Father. Again, casting himself in that light that made him seem just a bit older than that face. She had to find out what vitamins he was popping to look so young. "I appreciate that." she said "I do love to read, but I sincerely love my computer. I'd plug myself in if I could." she joked. Well... half joked. "I'm pretty talented with them, if you ever did decide to pick a laptop or something up I'd be happy to set it up for you." It was hard feeling out his interest level. It wasnt exactly as if every feeler she threw out there didn't pick up on some sort of positive feedback. But it always seemed as if Paul was just being friendly. Why shouldn't it? It's not as if she'd given him any feedback to suggest she was interested, she realized. Well, was she interested? She wasn't sure. Unlike all the very open people she'd met so far in New York Paul seemed more like a challenge. Perhaps that was the one true reason why she enjoyed his company. He was like a puzzle she couldn't figure out.
And then there was Riori. Most men couldn't handle her obsession with her missing brother. Of the 2 she'd once brought back to her apartment they both instantly found reasons to leave when they saw the news paper articles and online print outs all over the wall marked with red string that criss crossed against the walls and through the air like spiderwebs joining to several points under thumb tacks. Her hotel room even looked like this. She could never stay very long without setting up her Riori web. No, most men couldn't compete with her brother. And she did long for her brother, in much more of a way than your average sibling who is supposed to be growing up and moving on. Riori was her other half, plane and simple. While most women needed to search for their true love or perhaps their true calling in life and career, Lumen always knew her missing piece was Riori.
She'd been lost in thoughts not entirely appropriate about her brother while Paul was replying about Christmas. She did her best to stir her attention back to him and listen. She knew her feelings for Riori weren't normal. And like every situation where she'd ended up dating, her shame at the intensity of those feelings for him pushed her to make a move with a member of the opposite sex (occasionally same sex). To try them on. To see if maybe they numbed the ache or even quenched it. Sometimes she thought all she needed was a good romp in the sheets but Lumen wasn't fond of one night stands. It was hard enough avoiding exes in a field where you spent all your time around people. Let alone men she would start to forget if she gave into her urges as frequently as they bothered her.
"Obviously my family isn't here either." She added. "I am sorry you don't have any left. If not for the holidays but for every day life. But I do suppose one gets used to being alone." she said it as an emotionless statement. Being alone never bothered Lumen. Only her constant ache for her brother did.
Paul continued to explain about his blind friend and Lumen found herself wondering what happened to her, what she looked like, how Paul was with her. It would have been so strange being with someone who couldn't see and being their eyes for them. Then again it often felt that way with Riori. He was only older by a few minutes but so much wiser than Lumen. He was always leading her. A memory floated to the surface of the two of them so young playing in the surf but between the pain and the shame of it Lumen pushed it back down. She needed to get past those feelings. And deep down part of her knew she couldn't look for her brother forever. She was weary. In this new city, maybe Paul could be a welcome distraction. She decided to take a leap, after all the worst he could say was no. Paul didn't seem the type to laugh at someone.
"Well, I haven't got any plans either." she explained "Except I do think I'll go to church. I like the Christmas songs. And I suppose the smells too." she smiled at that for a moment. "You're welcome to join me if you like. I usually go to the midnight service. It's not a typical service being Christmas and all. The church is all dark with candles everywhere..." she spread her hands and fingers for emphasis. "They have advent wreaths made of real pine. The choir sings Christmas hymns all night. The really slow beautiful ones." There was a hint of wonder there in Lumen's eyes, almost as if the candles were being reflected. In reality it was her power creeping to the surface. The intensity of all the memories and feelings was bringing it up. "It's not til midnight though, maybe we could... get some dinner... and I hear they even have old fashioned sleigh rides through central park where we met if the snow stays down." she looked up hopefully.
She glanced at the books by her side. "Little of both" she admitted with a slight blush. Her power was well under control today. She'd used it so much this past week between the run ins and trying to let off the energy so it was nothing but regular human girl blush on her cheeks. No glow today. "It must have been a special song if you had to look for it in a book and not online." She observed. Again she found herself wondering exactly how old Paul was. Lumen looked younger than her age so she was often pursued by younger men. Something she had about zero interest in. She could never tell with Paul. He'd look at her one way and seem no more than 18 then from another angle he seemed wiser and older. Men were lucky that way. They didn't age the way women did. They ripened.
>>."How did you mid-week commitments go? Did you accomplish everything you needed to?"
"More or less." she answered. "It's certainly been a colorful week, looking forward to taking a break from work this weekend." A break from her assigned work load- that was true. The weeks events played over in her mind. The failed stakeout, Dr. Black... certainly very interesting. She was looking forward to sitting in bed with her laptop and searching for her brother. She'd been following the anonymous comments of someone one a very pro-mutant blog. She wasn't sure if it was Riori but something about it gnawed at her gut. There were strange patterns in the postings... "I don't think I'll schedule myself quite so much next week, bit off a bit more than I could chew. Had to zone out in a few good books." she grinned motioning to the books. A chair opened up beside her, the old lady who had previously been sitting there seemed bored of her eavesdropping and moved on, so Lumen invited Paul to sit.
"Of course, it's finally started to snow... and with Christmas right around the corner." it hadn't dawned on Lumen yet that she'd be enjoying a Christmas by herself. That wasn't very different for her though. Some years she'd go home, some years she wouldn't. She would try to make it to Christmas Eve mass or Day mass. She liked listening to the choir sing. She found herself wondering if Paul was a church going man. In the past she'd toyed with inviting people to come with her. Not because she had a great wish to convert someone but merely for companionship. She also felt the services relax her and help her focus. She always hoped it would do the same for friends. But now-a-days a person couldn't just invite someone else to church without the other person taking an offended fit. Why did something so simple have to become a big politically correct mess?
"It's nice. A white Christmas. Do you celebrate Christmas Paul?". There, a nice sneaky way to see if Paul had plans this extended long weekend or not. She wouldn't steal him away from his Christmas plans if he had them... but even a self-loathing mutant like Lumen (well, self loathing of her mutation) could get lonely in a new country. She highly doubted Christmas here would be anything like back home.
welcome to MRO
just sayin.