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.
There were many times in a person’s life where they made a decision. Whether the decision was the right one, the best one, the worst or the stupidest, the choice had to be made by someone. Most of the time, it was a conscious choice, and the person making it had enough of their own sense to know that it was the choice they wanted to make at the time. This logic, which Michael had let pulse through his head with each passing second of his ever-increasing heart rate, only made the boy feel more and more like an idiot. Yes, there was a bit of a gap in the fence, but why did he feel the need to go through it? He had snuck out of a familiar place to an unfamiliar place that was very…open.
It made him shudder as he looked around at the surroundings. Everything was moving way, way to fast, and no one stopped to even realize that a nine year old was holding onto his game-boy like it was his life-preserver. He shifted his head to look left and right. The brown hair that he’d not bothered to even try and fix hung loosely in front of his face, and all along his head. Snarled and unkempt, like the rest of his appearance. The long hair still didn’t do that much to cover a pale face, and eyes with dark circles around them. If he had been out here a month or so ago, he would look deathly skinny. Now, he just looked like any knobby-kneed boy.
The shoulder of his plain-white shirt fell off of one arm just slightly, and it seemed like he had no intention of fixing it as he kind of slunk alongside the trees in the park. The boy’s bare hands seem to grip onto one tree, and he almost looked terrified of stretching his legs out enough so he could make it to the shelter of the next. The little kitten, afraid of this new place he was in, looked as though he could care less that there were kids out swinging on the play set. Right now, he had a job to do…right? Right. He had to do his game and get to the next few levels.
Avoiding the eye contact of strangers, Michael adjusted his black fanny pack to the front of him so he could sit down beneath the tree. He didn’t want to take up any space outside the comfort of the tree, so he kind of brought his legs close into his person, that way they would be sheltered from the horribly open space around him. One of his hands was holding the game-boy, and the other moved up to tug a strand of his hair nervously. This was a strange place that wasn’t in his routine. He needed a routine.
Michael bit his lip and decided that it was better to play his game than to do anything else. He looked down at the game, starting it up. Soon, the little familiar noises filled the area close to him, and that was all he needed. Just his little space with the little noises that went to his ears. Big places had too much noise, or too many things going on at once and he couldn’t keep track of anything that was going on, because nothing was making logical sense. In any case, the little boy bit down on his lip once again as he continued to play the game. His arms soon coming to a stop on his blue-jeans, letting his legs do the work of holding his arms, which did the work of holding the game up for himself.
Hope. There was hope filling the room as Michael looked up towards Jorge with a wide-eyed face. Of course, it was only for a second, and then he looked down again. He was put into a situation of shock…alarm? No. It was definitely a sense of realization. He was seeing Jorge as a person. Not as a big man that was like his father, but as a person who had never been mean to him. Michael was actually comfortable near this male. And that was…that was big. He looked up just a little bit again at Jorge.
The biggest thing that really separated them was that Michael’s dad did nothing but persecute him for doing that one thing…for that one thing. Sure, he still didn’t think that his father was wrong. Jorge hadn’t seen what Michael had done…he made a kid’s jacket blow up on his back. It literally blew up…and if it was a larger piece of his hand, it could have been a lot worse than the horrible burns. Michael shifted a bit and he moved slightly closer to Jorge, though he wasn’t yet smiling, he was relieved. “Y…You’re not…n-not taking my things…a-and..and arresting me?”
The game for once, was left behind, which might explain why he seemed a bit nervous. Although, another reason would probably be because he was fiddling with a glove, toying with it even. Whether he was trying to make a decision to get it off, or fiddling again, he seemed to be immersed in some kind of turmoil. He didn’t want Jorge to recoil in disgust. He knew that this was a school for mutants…and…there was a green guy out there, so…so it only made sense, right? He bit down on his lip and then shifted where he was, moving just a tiny…tiny bit closer. He still held that bear.
As Jorge had so aptly thought, Michael really did use the bear to protect himself. It stood between pain and hurting things, because Michael couldn’t. Because no matter how hard he tried, Michael always got hurt, but the bear never did. So, the bear was stronger than him. Lots of things were stronger than him, but he didn’t get a chance to know them, or emulate them like his “Man’s best friend.” That was currently in his arms. He leaned down and bit it’s ear just slightly as he thought about what he wanted to say. He knew that he wanted to talk about mutations, because he was pretty sure now that this guy had one, but he also didn’t want to talk anymore.
Michael was more calm now, he wasn’t shaking as much, and he seemed to be calm with Jorge, so he would actually be more relaxed and more willing to talk, he just didn’t want to talk. Michael moved his Leggo out in front of him, and he slowly made sure it was all taken apart, and he began to build a square house. He was being careful to build it in the same exact pattern as before. Michael had just made a very very big step in trusting Jorge. His fear of being arrested pretty much gone. His father hadn’t drilled him as much on being afraid of police officers, so he was calmer. But that was because he’d distracted himself. Now he was back in the world of leggo.
It was his turn to ask a question. His turn meant that he would remember more about things that made him feel all the pain again. Michael looked around and then shifted his body, slightly crawling his way closer to the edge of the blanket. It was an odd move. There did not seem to be any purpose to it whatsoever. He just wanted to be there now. Michael then touched the bears head a bit, and he then squeezed it tightly. This bear was his version of the “Man’s Best Friend” thing, and he had no real idea what having a puppy was like. True, it was an odd thing to even think that Michael had built up this kind of attachment, but if his life was looked at, it was quite understandable.
A child who lives in a dysfunctional family will often find things to hold onto. Whether it be toys or something else. In extreme cases, it was possible that they could even create alternate realities for themselves. Michael was a bit too down to earth for that, so he didn’t try to make his bear into his companion, and if someone asked he would only tell them that it was important because his father had given it to him. Or he might just mumble something about how they are only a stranger and should not talk with him. No, the bear had become a replacement for dog subconsciously. He had seen dogs run about on the beach out of his window, and knew that the dog was important to it’s owner. His bear was the only thing next to him at the moment, and that was what happened.
Therefore, he seemed to be stroking it, even petting the bear more. He waited for the question calmly, but he was not still. His hand was still petting the bear, and as the question came, he nibbled the bears ear more. That was scary question. It was scary because he knew the answer immediately, and he couldn’t do more then looked towards one of the gloved hands. It was something that he couldn’t control…just a small glance that gave away what he truly felt. That yes, the thing that came from his hand had caused all of this. But it wasn’t his father’s fault. It was Michael’s own fault. And this was a police officer…he’d arrest Michael and take away his leggo and his bear.
Michael shivered a bit and his nails dug into the bear through the gloves that hid them. Fear radiated through him, but there wasn’t any way that he could just not tell the truth. This was the game. The game was that they would trade questions. And Michel would play the game because the game was constant. There was no getting around it. He took a deep breath and slowly spoke. “D-daddy said…daddy said that he had to. He had to...to put me in my room.” He was shaking a bit again, and Michael looked around for something to hide behind.
He seemed to all of the sudden become territorial and move his things towards him. He didn’t want them to be taken from him. Even the leggo they were doing he moved towards himself. “Didn’t…didn’t mean to but my…my weird part of me h-hurt…hurt…” He bit down on his lip, mumbling as he slightly pressed himself against the nearby bed, to hide himself a little more. “Th-there was a kid. A-and…he…he didn’t…he hurt me but I-I’m little…and-and then his back.” He wasn’t really able to find the right words, but trailed off, momentarily stunned by fear that he would be arrested. He had even forgotten it was his turn in the game to ask a question.
Mikey's gonna have much fun peeing his pants when he first sees mr. goblin boy, but after a bit he might get brave enough to play tag with the goblin or somethin...
Michael frowned a bit. So…so it hadn’t happened to the policeman. His initial thought was actually acceptance of that, as Jorge hadn’t displayed any mutation to him. If Jorge wasn’t a mutant, than obviously his father would be completely fine with him. Now, Michael wasn’t completely convinced by the rest of what Jorge said. Obviously he had to be at fault in a way, because he knew his dad was always kind to the other kids, but this policeman didn’t really know it. So, Michael decided that he wanted to know more about why Michael thought it was his fault. He took a breath and steeled himself, still holding onto the teddy bear.
“D…daddy wasn’t bad to other kids. Daddy liked other kids and he played with them and mommy did too. I…I..” He did take a paused. It was a lot to push out…the experiences he’d gone through were hurtful and scary, and it hurt to remember them too. Only this time, he wasn’t remembering a moment when he couldn’t stop his father from hitting him, this time he couldn’t stop his father from playing with the other younger kids outside.
His hands closed around the door handle and pulled it open. There was a new mother at the door with her young baby. It was a child that looked different from Michael of course…blonde hair with bright blue eyes, an adorable little visitor. The man held onto the little baby girl, and he seemed almost fatherly for a moment, and all Michael could do was stare down at the man, wanting nothing more than to be held like the caring father he saw down there. It dawned on him that his father liked kids…and other kids were okay with him, so what Michael did to get in the room was far worse than anything. And it got his father to not like him anymore. It was all his fault.
He nibbled on his bear’s head again and spoke softly. “Daddy held…daddy held the neighbor’s little girl really well…and she didn’t cry or nothing. She was pretty…and…and had cute blonde hair.” It was again, not the clearest way of saying it, but Michael was trying to tell him that it truly wasn’t that his father was a bad person. He didn’t believe that even if he disliked his father more than anything else in the world. It was himself that Michael was already trying to change…to cover up. He held onto the silvery hand by holding it through the glove that covered it.
Michael had hurt a kid at school…it was an accident because he’d gotten bullied and upset. Hurting other people…and letting his mutation run wild. That was why his father disliked him so much. Michael knew that he wouldn’t get his daddy to say he loved Michael again, because there wasn’t anything about Michael that he could love anymore, because Michael was different from the child that he wanted to raise up.
“I…I didn’t mean to make daddy not love me…but I did..a-and…and it wasn’t good.” His words were getting less coherent because he wasn’t thinking of the game anymore. He looked down towards the badge and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. He shifted and took the badge, then moved a bit closer to Jorge, still holding the badge. He shifted a bit, the boy holding onto the police badge like a ward against everything evil. Things were hurting again, and it wasn’t making him very happy at all.
He couldn’t really believe that there were so many opportunities for people to eat food. Brunch…brunch was probably just a made up thing for rich people. But she seemed to be rather rich, considering the golden hair stuff, and the fact that she was eating and drinking food without saving anything for later. However, Michael put the bag of chips in his little fanny pack he was carrying around, just to be sure that he would have food when he needed it. He then looked towards the water, eyeing it before he slowly allowed himself to form his hand around it.
“Th…that’s not for people who are like me. Other people eat food when they want to…a-and I eat food when I need to.” Michael was pretty sure that the characterization was sound. Otherwise, why would people eat so much? They just probably wanted to eat it at that time. So, it was only right that he call her out on it. Michael took a small sip of the water. It was cold…and tasted rather nice.
Then she must have decided to ask another question on the spur of the moment, and it kind of threw Michael for a loop. Sure it was a question that he knew the answer to, but how much did he want Tetris to know? Truly people always misunderstood his father’s abuse as being just his father’s fault. It was the both of them that caused such a thing. The little boy shifted uncomfortably where he sat, and one of his gloved hands moved up to tug on a bit of his hair. Once again the shy, introverted behavior was showing itself in an outward, negative way. Michael frowned as he started to think about a good answer, her second question being another that would really delve into his personal life. What could he say to her, that wouldn’t make her get upset like all the other people?
“My…dad and mum both worked…away during the day. So…so every day I was in my room. I didn’t really…I didn’t leave my room…ever.” He didn’t really say it outright and loudly, he was just saying it softly. The boy was mumbling it, and still tugged his hair as a sign of insecurity. Now he would really be viewed with that kind of pitiful look…and she might say that it wasn’t his fault again, but Michael knew otherwise. It was his fault. His father wouldn’t have hit him if he had been good and hid his mutation from the rest of the world. Things would have been perfectly fine.
“I don’t have a favorite food. I just eat the food that I eat when I eat it.” He wasn’t sure if that would make sense to her, but for him it was perfectly sound and logical. Michael nodded his head slightly at the thought, and then took another sip of the cold water. Cold water was better tasting than warm water by far, and this water tasted really really good. He wondered why, actually.
Now you see, Michael wasn’t necessarily used to too many compliments. And if he’d left the mansion as he wanted to, he wouldn’t have received the compliment she paid to him in return. Michael was more comfy in his white shirt and blue jeans, as they were more practical than anything, instead he looked down at bright, shiny black dress shoes that he was told he couldn’t really scuff without getting in trouble. He saw a bit of dirt on the front of his shoe, and with his other foot tried to scrape it off. The boy’s eyes widened slightly and he realized that he’d just actually scuffed his shoes…all by his own doing. Michael shifted a little bit and the boy looked slightly uncomfortable now. He continued holding out the rose.
Michael was now blushing quite a bit, however, because he wasn’t really sure how to interact further with the woman. Was he supposed to say something else nice? Maybe compliments were what conversations were made out of when someone was on a date with another person. How would he know? “You…you have red hair and it’s…it’s…” How did he say that she styled it well? What was the proper code? This was so complicated just to talk to someone, but he was told that he had to make a conscious effort. “It’s held up nice.”
There we go. It was completely fine now, he had said another compliment, and his turn in this round was completely over. As the door shut, Michael nearly jumped, but he was okay. The boy adjusted one of his gloves, still clutching the rose in his hand. Maybe it was supposed to be in her hair? Red things go with red things…right? Where did the rose go? Michael’s brow furrowed in thought, but he decided to let it go for now. He’d figure it out later. The boy straightened, but still didn’t look her in the eye, just giving her slightly scared glances every once in a while.
Michael stared at the ground as he thought about her next question. Truly…that was a good point. The doors could be just double doors…and then things would be okay. But…there was a loophole in that. He didn’t really understand that correcting woman on a date to satisfy his own personal situation wasn’t right. “Isn’t…isn’t it better for people…who…have bags?” He wasn’t sure how to explain it in words, however, and the boy trailed off. Oh…he supposed that maybe she might know what she was talking about .That was weird. Michael shifted on his feet a bit in silence.
Then the woman spoke again, and she reached out for his hand. Michael looked at it, lowering the hand with the rose to the side, however, the other hand was actually empty. So it would be possible for him to hand it over to hold her hand, but he hadn’t done that with anyone yet. Michael looked down at this empty hand and wriggled his fingers a little bit. It should be fine, just so long as his glove didn’t come off, and the boy slowly reached his hand out and took the woman’s hand, holding it tightly. He was still unsure and his blush was redder than the inside of a watermelon.
There were many things that Michael could appreciate deep down inside of him. Through the swimming notes of his past, and the dizzying effects they had on him, Michael could still appreciate that Jorge hadn’t yet tried to touch him. It wasn’t as though Michael wouldn’t ever let him touch the boy, but at the moment it would just cause a bit of a power outburst. Perhaps towards the end of this, when Michael was more calm, he would be able to at least give Jorge some form of a hug. It would make things a bit better, though the boy didn’t really have that experience in his memories.
He took the badge from the male, and then looked down it, his tears stopping their descent down his face as he calmed himself down again. He didn’t bother to wipe his face off after the crying had stopped, however , as the little boy didn’t see the worth in doing so. Michael didn’t want to say anything at all. Looking at the badge, the boy felt as though his throat had closed up, and no words were allowed to leave him. He nibbled a bit on his teddy-bear’s head, then looked at the badge again. What could he say? Really, what did he want to even know?
After a long, long pause, the boy thought up a question that would really help him, too. He wanted to know if this had only happened to him…if it was only something that he did that caused it, and other kids didn’t have to go through what Michael did. “Did…did anyone ever…hurt Mr. Police…policeman?” Having already forgotten that this policeman’s name was Jorge, he reverted to a good old third person reference to the male.
Such a question even got Michael to let go of the badge, letting himself clutch the bear tightly to himself. He nibbled on it again, slightly hungry. He didn’t have any snacks on his person at the moment, but he wanted to eat something, and was told that he should eat whenever his stomach growled. Most of the snacks he was given were high in carbohydrates, and had some kind of enhanced nutrient level in them. It was apparent he needed that, after all. On what seemed to be an impulse, the little boy buried his head into the plushy-head of the bear in his lap, kind of to tell himself to focus on the game, and not on his stomach.
Yes, another trick that the little boy had learned was that games were perfect ways to stop thinking about eating food. For instance, Michael could get absorbed in a game for a long time until he fell asleep, and then he’d avoid the pangs of hunger for that bit. It was simple, really. Just another method of distraction.
After a moment with his head buried in the bear, Michael lifted his head up a bit to stare towards the badge that he put on the ground just in front of himself and thought for a moment. Was it wise to let Jorge move his hand that close to Michael? He’d been close to Michael when handing off something, so it would be alright. He nibbled the bear again, stomach growling.
He took a glance towards Celeste again as she got her food. She was talking to him more about his reasons for not liking breakfast. It wasn’t necessarily that he didn’t like it, he didn’t know what to do with it. For a while, that had been such a meaningless thing. Breakfast meant eating the morning. Before he came to the school, he’d only been eating at night, and that was when he got a few snacks. That of course was his dinner time. So breakfast and lunch were both really just the same in his book. “Breakfast…isn’t even that different from lunch because they’re both during…the times that I don’t try and eat.”
Yes, eating was something that he had to attempt. He couldn’t just get food. He had to make an effort to really make himself eat at other times since he’d gotten in a slight routine. The routine of course was supposed to change here, but he was still tentatively getting used to it. Although, it was definitely true that Michael had gained more weight since he’d been at the school. He was no longer completely malnourished, and he could probably stand without getting knocked over by a gust of wind and all.
“At my house, daddy only…fed me once during the day sometimes. Other times he forgot. It was never in the morning because…because the morning is time to get ready for work and everything.” He was attempting to explain himself logically so that Tetris would understand. He did appreciate that Tetris was logical, even if he would never call her by the name of the game creator. She was logical, but she still wasn’t as good at puzzles as the maker of the game probably. Still, the fact that she was actually logical made Michael’s whole situation a lot easier, because she’d obviously understand where he was coming from.
“Daddy never cooked things for me or my mom. He made her do it or got pizzas for them. Sometimes I got pizza too…like if it was a good day, but I got chips and things a lot. I had my own bathroom to make my own water in, though.” He also tried to brag by saying he had his own bathroom. He hadn’t really cared enough to dig into her life and think that a rich girl like her probably has her own bathroom as well. Michael didn’t really want to delve into those matters at the moment either, so he looked at the selection of foods.
He took a glance at Tetris, and then got a bag of chips from the assortment. However, he was conflicted. Chips were meant for evening dinner. So why would he think of eating them now? Would it be okay to just put them in his bag? He hadn’t taken something from anyone else before…so that would be interesting. Figuring out what’s right to do when someone wants you to take something, but you don’t know how to take it for later. He took a quick glance up at her face after one crunch of a chip in her mouth, then back down to his hands, still holding those chips.
Above all else, Michael was scared. He could say there were a variety of emotions running through him, and that would certainly be the case, but fear was the number one enemy at the moment. Michael looked down at his own feet, almost panicking. He knew where he was, but he still didn’t know how he got there, or why he was still there. And another big thing was that it didn’t make sense. None of it made sense. It was wrong. If this was a book, it wouldn’t be a boy who was taken, it would be a girl. And then the girl was rescued by someone. So logically, he also couldn’t find any way to figure out what was going to happen next.
Of course, who needed logic when presented with facts? He took a glance up after another second…and there he was. This big, giant colossus of a man (He really thought everyone was a colossus during meetings anyways, so it wasn’t THAT different) with blood dripping from its mouth. Michael shivered and looked back down at his feet. He said absolutely nothing, ignoring the man completely. He reminded Michael of his father, and the boy couldn’t look at him at all. He was shivering, way to scared to even think of stealing a glance again. All he knew was that he was playing the part of the heroine.
Wait…that was it. That was what Michael was doing. He was the heroine, right? So he just had to be the heroine, and do what the heroine did. The boy did what he’d done when faced with his father beating down on him. He made himself a game…he made himself puzzles, he did everything he could to focus on a different side of the story. His father hit him, Michael would make up another leggo combination he had to do before bed. A man shows up with the obvious intent of hurting something, who probably would hurt Michael, he would make it into a book.
Michael took slow, short gasps of breaths as he tried to reason this out. A book had a savoir, right? So he probably…he might have a savior. Right now he was the kidnapped heroine though, and…maybe the evil villain (Mr. Dripping-with-blood as he shall be called) was in a tight spot. All Michael had to do was be the heroine who was getting…moved? He was having a hard time convincing himself, but Michael did what he had to do. However…there came the problem of him not liking the man.
Oftentimes, a child with the form of autism he had, would not even speak to the people he didn’t like. Michael was no different. He refused to actually vocalize anything, but he kind of crawled slightly to the side. Perhaps it was his way of showing that he was still stuck to the pipe, or maybe his want to get away. But he did know that the heroine got slapped in the face when she didn’t do something right…he’d probably be getting one of them soon.
Michael listened to his response and nodded. He knew what he wanted to ask back, but the game said that he had to go next. He carefully took the badge from Jorge with his gloved hands, and fiddled with the item for a moment. He waited until Jorge’s question was asked, and then it seemed that everything stood still. Michael thought about the question for a moment, his heart pounding. How long had he been in his room after his father got mad at him? It would have been easier to ask how long he’d been able to be outside of the room.
Michael was scared...he closed his eyes and started to try and calm himself down, but he couldn’t stop the images from the room from coming back into his head. Michael took a few deep breaths, but the images kept coming.
Michael opened his eyes after he was thrown into the room, he was hurt all over with bruises worse than the ones he’d gotten at school that day. His father was upset...very upset. Michael had done something wrong. He hurt another kid...burned his back. That was something that wasn’t allowed. He screamed at Michael, he told Michael that everything was ruined. The child he adopted was nothing more than a monster. Michael could barely see out of his swollen eye...he couldn’t tell what was going on. It was just fear. Fear and chaos. The door was closed tightly on him...and then there was the click of a lock.
“I...It was my...I-It was my fault. I-I did s-something b-bad.”
His mother came in with food the next day. She didn’t comfort him or touch him...he could hear his father downstairs. She’d slipped in some games and things to play. Michael was crying...he wanted to get out of the room. It was his room, and he used to love it, but he wanted to go to school, he wanted to go outside and play. His eyes closed as she left...he didn’t touch the food that was left there.
“M...My mom brought me food sometimes...un-..until she left.” His eyes were closed, and it was obvious that he was having a hard time going through this subject with the man. His hands were shaking...but he was keeping control of himself and the mutation that he’d have to be wary of. He took a few deep, shuddering breaths.
It was the summer...everyone was playing on the beach. One little boy spotted Michael in his room. He asked Michael’s father if Michael could go out and play. The only response from his father: “My son passed away a few years ago...he’s no longer here. Go play on the beach, son.” And Michael wished that his father would call him a son again...he wished it so much that his chest hurt.
“I...I haven’t left in...in four years...o-or more. I...I couldn’t count.” Michael closed his eyes, trying to flush out all the hurts, but a small tear ran down the boy’s face. He couldn’t really continue at the moment, it was quite obvious. Though the boy was crying...he was silent. Utterly silent...internalizing everything that he’d never gotten to share.
He turned his head slightly to look at her, but since it was michael, the glance was only for a moment. Michael closed his eyes tightly afterward, and then opened them again. He wasn’t really sure what to say to that. Of course no one really liked the “Z’s” she referred to, but that was just something that people dealt with. He nodded though, understanding the means of continuing a conversation. Scratching his head, Michael thought of the proper response. “Th...the pieces that..that you call the Z’s are the worst but if you have the other Z’s they go together.”
Then she went on to keep a pause of silence between them, which Michael allowed, keeping the situation under what he wanted. The little boy leaned his head back against the tree to just rest his eyes. He wasn’t very good at keeping awake and keeping physically able for everything outside. Having been stuck inside of his room most of his life, his body wasn’t yet adapted to the situation of being outside and doing things all day. It was a wonder he didn’t sleep every time he went outside. Michael also was in the shade..because his skin burned almost immediately with sun contact now.
“I...I don’t normally eat breakfast. Or...I didn’t until people here made me. They said I’m skinny and small...so...so I have to eat more than other people. But I don’t like eating anymore.” He mumbled a bit to himself, and then fiddled with the gloves on his hands. Michael bit on his lip, wondering why everyone seemed to think breakfast was important. You only really needed one meal a day to survive and keep living, right? That was what his father had told him, in any case. “But...but you can have food if you want. It’s okay...”
Michael watched her for a moment, not looking her in the eye. It seemed that maybe she was comfortable, but maybe she was not. He didn’t really know, because he had a hard time telling whether or not someone even liked the conversation. When she called him a different name, Michael seemed a bit shocked. Notepad? Why was he a notepad? What possible realistic thought would lead to him being a notepad. He was the thing that used the notepad. If anything, he was just a brain. She didn’t really seem to understand nicknames. He shook his head slightly, and it seemed like a small corner of his mouth turned up. A smile? Was that really what he was doing? Smiling? “You’re slow..” He still kept that bit of a smile, ignoring what she said last.
Michael was generally a cautious little boy. He took time to care about what he knew was going on, and then carefully came up with a plan. Michael closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath. The policeman had accepted Michael’s idea of the game. He took hold of his teddy bears arm and fiddled with it for a bit. He had to ask a question now. Michael fidgeted uneasily. It was part of the game, so that meant that he had to. He looked down at the leggo for a moment and then started to carefully take apart what he made. It was due to the lack of Leggo that he actually had.
He mumbled a bit at first, then looked up slightly. The mumble was unintelligible, and he didn’t really necessarily seem to notice until he tried to mull over what he said, and he couldn’t remember it. Michael’s heart thumped in his chest as he tried to come up with a question. It had to be a good question, because he didn’t want to waste his turn. The boy nibbled a bit on his lip, and the hand that wasn’t squeezing onto the well-loved hand moved to fiddle with his hair, which was well overdue for some kind of hair-cut.
After steeling himself once more, Michael began to think of the topics. He could probably ask about anything he wanted, but that was too much. Really he should just talk about the policemans family, because the policeman wanted to know a bit about Michael’s family. Blinking a bit, Michael realized that, in fact, this was what he would do. “P..police have..have families too. And probably have kids and..” He trailed off. No...no that wasn’t really a proper question.
With a big breath he started again with his question. “Do...do you have any of me?” Was that right? He wasn’t entirely sure. It was probably going to be hard for the policeman to understand that Michael was asking him if he had any kids, so he would try once more to get his message across. “And...and I’m a son. Like...like a boy.” Yeah. That would definitely make sense. All the policeman would have to do was to connect the pieces of the puzzle, and things would be okay!
Nodding at himself, he continued to take apart the leggo house, not sorting the pieces as they came off. That wasn’t soemthing he did after the game, he did it before so that he wouldn’t have to rely on what had happened the last game. And leggo was a game, of course. So, therefore, there was every opportunity for him to be sure the pieces were together. Who started a game without all the pieces?
He looked up at three line for one of those quick glances he was so accustomed to now. It was the only thing that he did whenever he was looking at someone, because he couldn’t bring himself to look at them full on of course. “3-line can stay…because lines aren’t as bothersome as the other ones are.” He looked down a bit as he thought of what else he wanted to say. He knew there was something, but it didn’t seem to present itself at the moment. So, Michael just moved a gloved hand up to his hair and tugged at a small strand.
She moved over to sit near him, facing the side as opposed to the front. He thought that was kind of weird in his opinion…after all, who sat sideways when there were both a front and the back? If a person was facing the front and the back, more of a view collectively could be seen. So technically, as a conversation, wasn’t it better to sit with your backs to each other? It did seem like it would be, but he wasn’t quite sure if maybe she had some kind of problem, so he went with it.
Michael closed his eyes an scrunched his knee’s up to his chest, contenting himself enough with silence and tranquility. Obviously that didn’t last very long, seeing as 3-line seemed rather attention-grabbing, kind of like the lines when they dropped down in tetris. Maybe he should just call her 3-line tetris. That would make the most sense, after all. When she spoke, Michael gave his response after a pause. “I don’t want anything to drink…it’s not snack time.” He mumbled it, of course, as with many of his words, and then pushed against some of the bruises on his legs. That was kind of his test to see that they were okay, after all.
It seemed that she ignored his previous answer of not wanting anything to drink or to eat, because she took out her phone and called someone to bring them the drinks. He’d drink cold water, if only to have something to do at the moment that seemed like it was socially acceptable, as he was told that making friends was a good thing to do. "I...I didn't want anything to drink...tetris." He tested out the new nickname...merely for sport.