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.
Zephyr withheld a sigh as he watched Duskmoor continue her surprisingly diffident behavior; snatching his latest peace offering back behind her ivory walls without and adamantly declaring she had no intention of moving. Truth be told it was like dealing with a twelve year old, granted it would be a rather well developed and appealing twelve, but she was still being stubborn and jejune enough for the analogy to hold weight.
In all honesty he didn’t even know why the soubrette insisted on making such a fuss. From what his spatial awareness could discern, she managed to make herself a form of ad hoc clothing by using her mutation to wrap a visible layer of bone around her hips and bust. That, in addition to the blanket he’d given her meant that the girl was essentially decent, if not precisely fashionable.
Sadly when he tried to raise a similar point with Isabel herself, the gamine failed to take it well, uttering an oddly short list of repetitive curses before their discussion seemed to hit an impasse with Zephyr insisting that the gamine couldn’t hide forever and to which she simply responded with variants of “Watch me.”
After a few trying minutes, during which Isabel refused to be persuaded and became increasingly jejune, Zephyr finally found his own already strained patience beginning to fray as his own temper began to rise to the fore. He’d been willing to extend something of an olive branch to Duskmoor in order to keep a profitable if tenuous partnership, but there was no way in hell he was going to apologize for ending the brunettes petty little tantrum. He wasn’t going to cater to her spoiled whims, if she wanted to continue acting like a child he’d simply treat her as one.
“You’re trying my patience Duskmoor.” His words were low and carried more than a faint note of ire as he began to silently spread his influence through the surrounding air towards the girls contrived fort.
“Either come out and act like an adult or I’ll treat you as the child you seem to want to be.”
He was going to put an end to this, one way, or another.
Cafas: "Zephyr is the king of bad decisions, but if Sebby being weak to ghost is anything to go by, not so amazing at follow through."
Taking care to keep the steel frame of the bed between himself and the flustered bonemancer’s newly erected tent, Zephyr allowed his eyes to roam the private room as he waited for the gamines phone to finish uploading it’s package.
In a manner akin with most hospital rooms the quarters were rather sparse. The walls, utterly lacking in windows, had been plastered with a dull off white colour where it hadn’t been covered cupboards, the odd abstract paintings or a solitary air vent. The floor consisted of linoleum which was standard for an area which would most likely be hosed down for disinfection. The lighting overhead was provided by cheap florescent bulbs which filled the air with a low but noticeable hum, only serving to draw attention to the fact that nothing beyond the room could be heard… and vice versa.
Still, just because no had heard the shapely soubrettes mortified shriek didn’t mean someone wouldn’t be by to check up on them eventually. If nothing else the IV which, until a few moments ago, had been supplying him with morphine would need to be changed or removed at some point and the last thing the situation needed was a new variable.
Fortunately though such a risk could be mitigated rather easily, it took no more than a brief focus of will and a slight gesture of the hessians free hand for the latch of the closed door slid into place with a dull ‘click’, thereby ensuring at least some further measure of privacy.
A faint vibration in his left hand brought Zephyr’s attention back to Isabel’s phone and ghe glanced down to see that the device had finally finished transferring the few photos he’d taken of the buxom brunettes when she’d still been gathering her wits. In truth the images were rather tame compared to some things one might find, but they still left rather little to the imagination and the elemental was rather counting on the fact that, if push came to shove, the mere threat of releasing the images would be enough to make Duskmoor behave for a least a short time.
Hopefully though, it wouldn’t come to that, as far as he knew the ingénue had no idea he’d taken the photo’s in the first place and the hessian had little intention of revealing them if he could avoid it. There was still a chance, albeit a small one, that he could perhaps reason with the girl and end this entire debacle if not on a positive note, then at least a neutral one.
He also wanted his trousers back.
And his wallet.
A few minutes later an old, but still rather serviceable woolen blanket had been removed from the upper shelves of the rooms sole cupboard and draped across the bonemancers tent. It was accompanied by a disembodied knocking caused by short, pressurized bursts of air hitting ossien structure in a staccato rhythm whilst Zephyr himself remained a few feet away with nothing but the bed to shield both himself and his modesty.
“While I do appreciate the quiet, you can come out; I’ve managed to find you a spare blanket.”
Much as it might be inconvenient the elemental recognized that his own state of undress would likely go some way towards deterring the soubrette from any immediate violence, and at present he wasn’t above taking what advantages he could get psychological or otherwise, and in any case he’d given the girl the only spare blanket.
Cafas: "Zephyr is the king of bad decisions, but if Sebby being weak to ghost is anything to go by, not so amazing at follow through."
As he felt Isabel beginning to stir on top of him an instinctive and resourceful portion of Zephyr’s mind recognized that there were, in all likelihood, an untold number of individuals who would have gladly given their left lungs for the chance to see, let alone feel, even half of what he could right now. And as the buxom brunette placed a hand atop his chest and pushed herself into a dazed sitting position, the elemental allowed his eyes to trail down and found he wouldn’t really be able to fault any of them.
He found he also couldn't fault the resourceful portion of his mind when it informed that the girls phone was still quite close to hand…
Appreciative of as he was of the sight before him though the hessian had no intention of giving the bonemancer an opportunity to finish what she’d started just a few moments ago. However before he could properly summon his thoughts and take hold of the surrounding air, the shapely gamine abruptly stiffened, her eyes widening almost comically before a high pitched noise escaped her, one which sounded suspiciously like…
“Eeep!”[/color]
The girl then seemed to try and do several things instantaneously, one arm clumsily crossing her chest in a failed effort to protect her modesty, whilst her other hand grasped desperately at the sheets beneath her, even as she lurched backwards in panic and her legs flailed.
The end result of this was, in hindsight, somewhat predictable as the ingénue quickly lost her balance and toppled off the bed. There was a rather unhealthy sounding impact as she hit the floor head first but was prevented from falling completely due to one leg having become entangled in the sheets, leaving her in an awkward position for a handful of moments as she tried to drag the sheet down with her before the cheap material eventually tore and she fell into a crumpled, but partially covered, heap.
Silence then fell over the room, broken only by the faint panting of breath as both mutants began to regain their bearings. Zephyr for his part had no intention of being the first the tense quiescence; the adrenaline surge had gone a long way towards clearing his thoughts and he could recognize when a situation had gone too far. He therefore wisely kept his mouth shut and directed his attention elsewhere.
Elsewhere being the rather depressing pile of multicolored fabric sliding off the edge of the bed nearest Isabel. Zephyr sighed, he’d been hoping to make a peace offering out of the girl clothes, apparently that wouldn’t be an option. He thus turned his attention to plan B and started sending a message with Isabel’s phone.
Idly he wondered how long it would be before the girls shock gave way to anger.
In all honesty, Zephyr had held no real expectations of Isabel acquiescing to his offer, regardless of the image her posters conveyed the girl herself seemed to have a sense of modesty which was practically Victorian; her previous and somewhat iconic costume was a testament to that; having consisted of multiple layers of cloth which had all but covered her from head to toe.
No, the hessian had simply been continuing his game, seeking to fluster and embarrass his attractive partner, even as a small and unheeded portion of his drugged mind clamored fiercely for him to stop. There was simply some strange appeal in seeing how many times one could pull the tigers tail, especially when it possessed such a pleasing figure.
Still, when the girl had slowly and deliberately risen from her seat and begun to stalk towards without a word the analgized elemental had wondered, for a mere handful of moments, whether he’d been right in his speculation of the brunettes unusual interest him as she down beside him on the bed.
"Fair, huh? I guess I could show you how fair I can be."[/color] She smiled as she spoke, her words conveyed in a verdantly honeyed tone as she leant forward and brought her face towards his; offering an unprecedented and quite enviable view down her poorly buttoned shirt…
Then she’d lunged, her hands snaking around his throat as she all but threw herself atop him and attempted to throttle the life from him without once losing her sickly sweet smile.
In his drug addled state the hessian had barely seen it coming and for the first few moments could barely do more than gasp and choke as he futilely tried to pry the girl off him. Physical strength had never been the elementals forte though and the outraged soubrette easily ignored his efforts, responding simply by straddling him in order to hold him in place.
It was only as his vision had begun to fade that panic finally took hold completely and he threw everything he had into a simple desire to escape. At that moment he didn’t care what it might cost him as he focused his mutation inward and all but tore himself and everything around him incorporeal without any focus or concentration.
The transformation was almost instant; one moment his bruised and battered body had been struggling beneath Isabel weight, the next he was gone, nothing more than a senseless cloud of faintly coloured air hovering over the now empty bed as he attempted to gather his wits.
He never got the chance; almost as soon as he’d succeeded in becoming ethereal his entire being seemed to scream in silent strain. Then something suddenly gave way and with the sensation of a stretched elastic band snapping forcefully back into place, Zephyr found himself abruptly falling a short distance back onto the bed with something soft, warm and not quite heavy enough to be uncomfortable lying atop him.
For the first handful of seconds he simply lay still, gasping for air as his mind reeled and with the sudden disorientation of changing states so quickly. Before he could truly come to come to grips with things however, he felt whatever was above him begin to stir and an almost weary feeling of dread came over him even as the realization caused adrenaline to flood him with excitement.
If he lived through the next few minutes, he’d have one hell of a story to tell.
Cafas: "Zephyr is the king of bad decisions, but if Sebby being weak to ghost is anything to go by, not so amazing at follow through."
There was, it must be said, something oddly copacetic in watching Isabel revert from her typically cold and brazen behavior to that of a blushing yet still impertinent schoolgirl, even more so in knowing that he’d caused such a change without even lifting a finger. What was the axiom? Something to do with sticks and stones? His drug hazed mind seemed unable to recall the entirety of the saying yet he still felt it was somehow germane.
Still, he had to wonder how long his comely companion would allow him to toy with her like this; from what he’d seen and heard of her past actions the gamines ego wouldn’t tolerate even the faintest teasing, and though the elemental was enjoying the aesthetic results of her unusual patience, he again had to wonder what was behind it.
The answer to this unspoken question came rather sooner than expected as the buxom brunette abruptly busied herself with her phone, typing away on the touch screen of the slim device before aiming it at the hessian and briefly blinding him with a sudden flash of light. Even without being able to see though his other senses were easily able to track Isabel’s motions and when she unceremoniously threw the phone towards him a mere effort of will was all it took to deftly alter the devices course so that it landed squarely in his open hand instead of colliding with his chest.
Still blinking the lingering spots from his eyes Zephyr quirked a questioning eyebrow at Isabel even as his previous smile remained in place.
“While I’m touched that you want such a personal photo Isabel,” he paused briefly to gesture at his shirtless state, “if you want to keep it I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to return the favour, it would only be fair after all,” Lifting the phone without truly looking at it, his thumb carelessly skimmed the sensitive screen, dismissing the photo of himself before he could truly see it and returning the device back to its camera function as it was aimed back at the shapely soubrette and the elementals grin ever so slightly began to shift into a smirk as he spoke his following words with a faint but noticeably flattering cadence.
“…and we both know your nothing if not fair.”
Cafas: "Zephyr is the king of bad decisions, but if Sebby being weak to ghost is anything to go by, not so amazing at follow through."
Drifting amongst the slate grey clouds which veiled the sky directly above the modest English manor Zephyr scowled as he once again tried to reexamine his current predicament for anything he could possibly turn to his own benefit.
Having finally finished his conversation with Odeh a few moments ago the hessian was reasonably certain that the illicit money man would be able to max the majority of his funds within the next few minutes. The Middle Eastern bastard would charge him an arm and a leg for the work but it would be worth it to keep his father out of his finances.
The more pressing problem now was where he went from here; the elemental had absolutely no desire to return to the manor. If anything he wanted to be on the next flight out of the country, given that he lacked any form of identification though that made things somewhat difficult, not in possible but difficult. There were favours he could call in, old contacts in Calais he could reach out to it was just a matter of-
A flash of flame burst across his vision and the world itself seemed to shake as an incomprehensible force fought its way through his senses, costing the mercenary his balance and causing him to drop just below cloud cover before he caught himself. Before he could even begin to truly right himself and question what had just occurred a voice entered his thoughts; a terrifyingly familiar voice which turned his inside to ice as he heard it tremble with pain and fear.
He didn’t stop to think, didn’t pause to wonder why he couldn’t still feel the air quiver with the aftereffect of such an explosion, didn’t stop to question why there didn’t seem to be any smoke or debris surrounding the manor as he homed in on it like a hawk.
He didn’t even consider using a door.
Instead, as the grey stone walls grew larger and larger, the elemental merely set his sights on one of the ornate floor to ceilings windows, refusing to bleed a single drop of speed as he twisted the air before him with a thought, forcing the glass panes to explode outwards in a shower of razor shards mere moments before he surged inside and brought himself to a halt with force enough to leave him breathless as he glanced frantically around the deserted room.
---
“Hold on just a sec, I'll get Simon for you.”[/color]
Intent azure eyes blinked and then narrowed as Alistair focused on his younger daughters apparent doppelganger and fought down a frown. Granted he had promised to speak to with Simon should the boy be present but the senior Smith had rather been hoping for a chance to exchange a few words with his estranged elder daughter first. Still, if the lad was skulking around he supposed there was little point in delaying things, better to get it over with quickly and not leave Maya an excuse to avoid him.
As he waited for, Katy? Kaitlyn? To dart off and fetch his son however the young blonde simply closed her eyes and furrowed her features for a brief moment before announcing that the boy would be along shortly. A statement to which Alistair simply nodded as he gave the svelte gamine a faux smile as he abruptly endeavored to keep his thoughts as mundane as possible. The aging entrepreneur had little love for telepaths, but there was little he could do about the child before him at present, thus he would simply have to-.
“Katrina!” Where are you?!”
It was though someone had taken the acoustics of a stadium and magnified it tenfold. All other sounds ceased as the panicked cry boomed across the open air with sufficient force to momentarily deafen all those who heard it.
In the few short seconds it took for everyone to regain their bearings Alistair was the first one to wuickly put two and two together as he narrowed his gaze down to Katrina and asked, in a deceptively neutral tone, “What, precisely, did you convey to my son?”[/color]
In a vague way Zephyr realized that there was little reason for him to be as relaxed as he was given his current company and the somewhat strained state of his mutation. He’d seen Duskmoor snap into a rage with far less provocation than he was currently considering, however whether it was simply due to exhaustion or the unknown anesthetic running through his veins, the mercenary found it something a trial to summon any actual concern.
Quite the reverse actually, for in leaning back Duskmoor caused rather… interesting things to happen in the vicinity of the of the her chest, distracting the elemental momentarily as he realized that the buxom brunette appeared to have lost a button at some point, allowing one a glimpse of soft curves and the start of an enticing valley.
That being said, the girl had just leaned back and so while the sight was agreeable, it was not what it had been a few moments before, and thus the elementals gaze could barely have been said to linger at all before it returned to Duskmoor’s still faintly flushed features, a small smile returning to his lips when the girl actually attempted to imitate him as she gave her response.
"Can't really say the same for the view from where I'm sitting,"[/color]
It wasn’t a bad retort per say, the words were suitable and in other conditions likely would have proved an effecting deterrent. As things were however, the girl truly needed to practice her apathetic air, because despite endeavoring to appear indifferent and disinterested, she was far too focused, dare he say intent? Upon the young man across from her.
“Indeed?” His tone was still genial and amused now but held an undercurrent of skepticism. “From how intently you’ve been staring I never would have guessed.”
The gamines following comment was accompanied by a vague gesture in the direction of the departed white haired matron, though the brunettes eyes never wavered from the hessians own. In other circumstances, and if he were a number of years younger, the elemental would have quite possibly found the girls gaze somewhat nerve-wracking.
Now however he simply felt a certain interesting satisfaction as he returned the soubrettes look with nothing more than an urbane smile and a raised brow to convey his curiosity at her odd phrasing. His grin then became somewhat wry as his thoughts inadvertently flashed to his own snow haired sister before he dismissed the thoughts with a slight shake of his head and gave the gamine before him his full attention once more.
“Is that a fact” He said, his voice developing a slightly preoccupied cadence as his azure eyes narrowed and continued to hold the soubrettes gaze, a short moment of silence passing before he spoke again.
“Did you know your eyes have faint flecks of gold?“
“And deprive myself of your charming company?" The words were uttered with an exaggerated sincerity, yet managed to avoid mocking condescension and instead merely conveyed a sense of genial amusement along with the other, less than subtle, insinuation.
The true reason behind his reluctance however had been the off putting manner in which the world had seemed to tilt when he’d tried to rise from the bed. The disconcerting sensation forced him to postpone any attempt to stand and instead caused the hessian to shift into a sitting position as he rested his shoulders against the cool drywall which served as the beds headboard.
Still, the action at least left him at eye level with Duskmoor, and while this did not seem to stop her smirking at him, it did at least prevent her from smirking down at him. A fact which had been subtly grating on him since he’d first noticed it.
“…besides,” He began, Making a brief show of taking in the spartan and sterile décor of his surroundings the elemental allowed his gaze to slide back to the shapely soubrette own hazel eyes and pause before he continued. “I’m quite content here, the scenery is second to none.”
Beginning to pace the room with an almost palpable air of impatience Zephyr snatched the stolen phone from the air without even glancing in its direction as he tried to remember the numbers he needed to make the first of far too many calls. There were accounts he needed to move, properties that had to be masked and veiled warnings that had to be conveyed.
Even caught up in his thoughts as he was the elemental didn’t fail to notice Katrina abrupt burst into the room. Honestly a part of him had more than expected it, even hoped for it; if only for another chance to vent some of his ire. He forced himself to ignore the urge however and instead separated a thin layer of air to coat the room in a shell of silence, thus muting Katrina’s tantrum before it began to truly build up steam and allowing him to make his first call in blessed peace.
“Odeh? This is Zephyrus, listen carefully…”
He wasn’t certain whether Katrina somehow realized she was being ignored or if the room had been too dark to tell and she’d simply come to the end of her rant. All the hessian knew was that his carefully constructed quiescence was all too suddenly shattered by what sounded like a resounding crash of wood happening, not outside the room, but within his own head. The sheer volume of the imaginary sound was actually sufficient to leave the elemental dazed for a handful of seconds and by the time he recovered his senses the petite illusionist had already made her escape.
With no immediately convenient outlet for his anger over the gamines latest stunt Zephyr’s hand lashed out blindly towards the bed, summoning a concentrated torrent which sent the queen sized four poster screeching against the hardwood floor before it collided with the oaken door frame with sufficient force to shake the supporting walls.
Shortly after that the rooms third story windows were thrown open and Zephyr deftly sent himself out in the open air. He was in no mood to deal with inevitable fallout his brief altercation would likely invite from the manors unusual residents. He needed to be alone and to think, neither of which he could do where he was.
Cafas: "Zephyr is the king of bad decisions, but if Sebby being weak to ghost is anything to go by, not so amazing at follow through."
"Five million base pay to remove any incentive to work against you, and an additional fee of no less than twenty five thousand for any task you assign me. All in American dollars and wired to a list of accounts I will provide."
He was stretching the truth just slightly with that, Antonescue had originally retained his services with an annual salary of three million and provided a bonus for tasks the elemental had completed. Slate however had taken the financial equivalent of a chainsaw to the Kabals budget and reduced the hessian remuneration to a mere six figure sum.
Still, there was little harm in asking for an elevated salary. It was a natural part of negotiations, and key to negotiations was always to initiate them from a position of strength. Generally that meant being the one who held the loaded gun rather than the one facing it, in these circumstances however information was a far better strength.
"Is that acceptable?"
Cafas: "Zephyr is the king of bad decisions, but if Sebby being weak to ghost is anything to go by, not so amazing at follow through."
She wasn’t leaving, was she deaf? He hadn’t yelled by any means but nor had he whispered, yet the girl just sat there as though he’d spoken in German. He glared at her over his shoulder and saw that she was practically cowering at the far corner of the bed and for some reason this only fueled his anger. She had to have heard him and she clearly knew something was wrong, however instead of doing what she’d been told she simply sat there like a frightened puppy and had the gall to ask him what was wrong.
He didn’t have time for this, there were too many calls he needed to make and he had no idea how much leeway he had to work with, but when Katrina continued to look at him as though he’d been the one to ruin her life he felt what little patience he’d managed to hold onto finally snap and he whirled round to face her fully before speaking in a low furious tone.
“Wrong? What’s wrong? Where the hell do you want me to start?” He hissed. “How about when you damn near killed me with a jet you shouldn’t even have been flying. I don’t even know how I stayed in one piece let alone kept breathing. Fuck, I can’t even tell if I’ve healed properly yet you saw fit to drag my broken body halfway across the world instead of taking me to the nearest hospital. How could you possibly think that was a good decision?”
“Then when we finally do land you leave me with people you’ve never met and go track down my father. A man I’ve spent the past five years avoiding because he made the first seventeen nothing more than a prison sentence.” He paused as a thought occurred to him and his anger seemed to double.
“You even knew I hated him, I told you in Romania yet you still went to see him. What the bloody hell were you hoping how to achieve? Are you trying to ruin my life? Because you’ve made a damn good start, now get out!”
The last two words rose almost to a shout as the elemental swept out his arm and used the surrounding air to grasp Katrina around the waist, lifting her from the bed and all but throwing her into the hall along with the sheets which seemed to have tangled around her. At the last moment her momentum came to a sudden stop and she fell to the floor instead of colliding with the wall as the door slammed behind her.
The same door cracked open again five seconds later as a sudden unnatural pressure coalesced around Katrina’s back pocket, causing her phone to slip free and fly out from beneath the sheets and into the darkened room before the door slammed a second time.
Cafas: "Zephyr is the king of bad decisions, but if Sebby being weak to ghost is anything to go by, not so amazing at follow through."
Even with the dim lighting of the room and weariness dulling his thoughts Katrina’s excitement was all too evident. The gamine all but shivered with anxious energy as she crossed the hard wood floor on less than silent feet before eagerly slipping into his bed in a manner more reminiscent of an eight year old than the budding sixteen she nearly was.
When Katrina managed to make herself comfortable in the bed she’d all but draped herself across him and the elemental was fairly certain the only reason she hadn’t attempted to hug him was because she couldn’t keep arms still long enough. While such behavior wasn’t truly appropriate, in his current condition the elemental found he couldn’t really summon the energy to care. It wasn’t as though the ingénues mother would walk in and begin making accusations after all. He’d be lucky if he stayed awake long enough to hear everything his pseudo sister had to say.
He fended her off her initial question about his health easily enough, a short noncommittal answer which made no mention of his throbbing head or aching ribs but was punctuated with a stifled yawn.
Then, whatever had been failing to hold the blonde gamines excitement in check finally gave way completely as the girl’s voice went from a whisper to something just below a shriek as she shared what had transpired in the past few hours. Any thought of sleep immediately vanished from Zephyrs mind, replaced by a host of new and largely unwanted emotions as he tried to process what he was hearing.
Anger, surprise and disbelief each took a rapid turn as Katrina told her story, with confusion mounting at each change. They’d met his Father? How? Ghost looked like his mother? That couldn’t be right.. And- and how could Ghost be his sister? There was no resemblance between them, or even her and his father. Why had they even talked to his father? All the man had ever done was…
He was broken from his thoughts when a petite pair of arms abruptly wrapped around his midsection and Katrina’s face buried itself next to his as she whispered meaningless congratulations he was suddenly in no mood to hear.
His father knew he was alive. The man easily had enough influence to make his sons current life, if not a living hell, then at least a passable purgatory, and that was only if the old bastard went through official channels. Still, it had been five years, the man might not even care about him anymore, but he couldn’t count on that.
Barely keeping his curse to a murmur Zephyr wrested himself from Katrina’s embrace with a curt motion as he threw his legs over the side of the bed and drew himself into a sitting position. He needed to think clearly right now and he also needed to be alone.
“Get out.”
The words were clipped and decidedly cold as he refused to look at the girl who appeared bent on trying to destroy his life a second time.
Cafas: "Zephyr is the king of bad decisions, but if Sebby being weak to ghost is anything to go by, not so amazing at follow through."
"You took a nice dive through the floor of that building we were in. You did a decent job of beating yourself up, took all the fun right out of it for me,"[/color]
Pulling himself somewhat uneasily into a sitting position, the elemental paused and frowned as Isabel’s words stirred a brief, if vivid, memory of his last waking moments in the condemned building. He’d used those same stairs when he’d first arrived at the apartment block to discuss the initial details of the task with recalcitrant brunette and they’d held up without even a groan.
The idea that Duskmoor could have had a hand in his accident, did occur to him but was dismissed almost at once; she wasn’t that subtle. She had difficulty walking down a street without raising some kind of trouble, if she’d been behind his fall she would have been far more direct and wouldn’t have hesitated to brag about her actions afterwards… still, he’d keep a closer eye on her for a time, but put it down to simple misfortune for now.
Even as he thought this though something else nagged at him and he drew himself back from his thoughts to look at Isabel and see the girl’s expression change from a fetching pout to a mischievous, and equally agreeable, smile as she followed up her recount. "I like the new look, by the way."[/color]
Had the look she was giving him not been enough to spark a toscin in the back of his mind then her words certainly did. Not knowing what to expect however his brow creased faintly in puzzlement. The infirmary had neither mirrors nor windows to act in their place and so the elemental could only glance down at himself.
He was shirtless, again. This in itself didn’t truly bother the hessian; over the years he’d found that modesty was one of the most affordable things one could lose, and in any case a good portion of his torso had been wrapped in numerous layers of gauze. His arms also sported some sparse bandages, likely where he’d suffered more than minor abrasions during his fall.
No, the issue at hand was the fact that, in the past few hours, he’d found Isabel paying him far more… attention, then he’d seen her give anyone she wasn’t currently trying to maim or otherwise inhume. He’d put up with it thus far because he’d been in no shape to do anything else and, truth be told, the idea had some appeal. Her pin up was so often sold out for a reason after all. Conversely though the ingénue had shown herself to be at least borderline homicidal, though she’d be hard pressed to hurt him even on her best days.
Still, it was entirely possible the girl was staying true to her sadistic, if clichéd, persona and was simply mocking him for his injuries. Alternatively it could be something else entirely, he still didn’t know precisely what type of anesthetic he’d been drugged with, and a number were known to have judgment clouding effects.
Whatever the case might be though this was too good an opportunity to pass up, and if he were wrong well… he could at least have some entertainment at Duskmoor’s expense.
Having made something of a point of taking in his bare torso Zephyr lifted his gaze and looked at Isabel with an arched eyebrow and replied in an urbane and somewhat prurient tone. “Indeed? While I’m flattered, you do know there are easier ways to get a man undressed?”
Cafas: "Zephyr is the king of bad decisions, but if Sebby being weak to ghost is anything to go by, not so amazing at follow through."
There are a vast number of hangover remedies in the world; few however can trump a good nights rest. Maggie, the X factors resident mother figure, had seemingly been all too aware of this as she had gently yet firmly guided the querulous elemental to a shower, fresh clothes and then a bed. Each of these had been accepted, if not warmly, than at least with no audible level of complaint.
Zephyr, for his part, had been in little shape to do more than place one foot in front of the other as he followed the mercifully quiet woman throughout the manor. Under other circumstances the hessian might have appreciated the estates design and the views it offered, possibly even inquire as to how it had fallen into the hands of such a… unconventional, group. As it was however he simply found himself wandering listlessly down the halls and all but collapsing as soon as he caught site of the bed.
His dreams, such as they were, filled his mind with vivid yet delible images of scattered skies polluted with ebony missiles which were impossible to evade, leaving phantom wounds in their wake which bled crimson sand and no matter how much he caught and replaced more always seemed to slip through his fingers…
Snapping back to consciousness a lingering sense of panic caused Zephyr’s breath to catch in his throat as his eyes darted across the darkened room searching for any hint of what his dreams had left him. The mind can be a fickle thing however and within seconds the memory of his dream had vanished, taking the panic with it and the elemental was simply left contemplating what could have woken him.
“Dio? Are you awake?”[/color]
Ah, he knew that voice; it had been behind the jet which had nearly killed him. No, that wasn’t fair, it had been an accident and in any case he had… got better. There was little point in dwelling on it now; it wasn’t as though Katrina would be doing it again.
Giving an audible sigh he turned onto his back and shielded his eyes as he glanced at the narrow crack of light escaping the door. “Apparently, yes. Come in if you must but close the door and don’t turn on the light.”
In spite of his mood the notion nearly roused a chuckle from the elemental and he found his lips twitching upwards ever so slightly as he took in the reactions of those around him. The chapel associate in particular had adopted the mien of an overly affronted tomato yet seemed to have been rendered temporarily speechless, though judging by the low muttering which was beginning to fill the air, the man was one of the few.
Amusing as the situation had abruptly become however it was becoming rather clear they’d outstayed their welcome, thus the hessian deftly fell into step with Ralls as the redhead took the opportunity to make something of a show of storming out of the chapel under the silent and slightly mordant stares of her audience. The moment she set foot outside however the soubrette’s façade collapsed as her own amusement escaped her and peals of laughter echoed down the street.
The sound was somewhat infectious and Zephyr found an inadvertent smirk crossing his features as he began to lead the now giggling gamine away from the chapel. “You are far too fond of attention.” He told her wryly as they moved east to the waterfront. “Still, I suppose there are worse ways to pass the time. “
“That being said though, can I trust you’ll behave for lunch?” He gestured across down the street as he spoke, singling out a vintage Irish pub which advertised itself as Murphy’s.
