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.
Idly twirling a simple graphite pencil between his newly calloused fingers Zephyr leaned back into the cheaply constructed office chair as he silently reviewed his notes. He needed to commit as much to memory as possible for he could not afford to keep any physical record of his findings for more than a few days or so; it would be hard enough trying to explain to the warden why he had felt the need to catalog almost every security feature within the camps, but if one of the mutants managed to get hold of his records they would almost certainly be caught, interrogated and when they pointed to him well… Simon had no desire to become the latest inmate for this particular installation.
Glancing over his assigned quarters with a bored eye the merc’s gaze was inevitably drawn to the bland calendar which was hung on the wall opposite the entrance to the room. Fixing his eyes upon today’s date the elemental slowly thought back over the time he had so far spent within the camps. It had been an experience certainly and not a relaxing one by any means, for the most part though the elemental believed his infiltration to be a success. The façade he had crafted for his new persona had successfully deceived guards and prisoners alike into believing that the young British teenager was nothing more than a clumsy and oblivious fool. As a result his presence attracted little, if any, notice unless he chose it to be otherwise. That combined with his increasingly utilized spatial senses meant that he was almost always able to blend into the background, an anonymous figure of little worth or consequence.
His pseudo notoriety had also been greatly aided by his regular assignments to the various defensive towers which surrounded the camps perimeter. High above the rest of the facilities residents the merc had had ample opportunity to observe the various goings on as well the ins and outs of the camp without being disturbed. He know knew the names and views of every guard within the camp, the vast majority of them were sadly nothing more than simply minded bully’s and sadists whom had been given the chance to fulfill part of their prison sentences working to serve their country against the ‘mutant threat’. The only saving grace these particular individuals had was that they were easily manipulated and thus of no real consequence.
The second, smaller majority were those that held some measure of sympathy for mutant population either because of a family relation which possessed the xgene or simply because of some type of moral code they worked in an attempt to make the imprisoned mutants lives as bearable as possible. They were unsuccessful for the most part yet they did not seem to be easily deterred. Simon had spent the majority of his time in their company and even managed to established what might tenderly be called a rapport of sorts as he used the little attention they gave him as a means to explore and develop his new persona.
Glancing back down at his papers once again Zephyr’s eyes wandered over to a detailed sketch he had made of what seemed to be a metallic lizard on two legs. The stalkers, he had decided at the beginning, were a problem. Although he had yet to face one in combat he had seen a recording of the assault on sanctuary and what he had observed disturbed him slightly. Possessing elongated heads, gaping maws with rows of serrated fangs, slender serpent tails and a retractable set of claws on each limb the creatures were like something out of a bad horror film. In contrast to Hollywood history though these things had no obvious and crippling flaws; their speed and strength was beyond human, they could remove themselves from visible sight and by the way they behaved it was obvious that they were equipped with some type of advanced AI which had them capitalize on their bizarre animalistic appearance to inspire fear in their opponents.
Despite this though the merc was reasonably confident that he was capable of handling one of the reptilian machines should the situation arise. He had given some thought to the strange creations after all and had crafted a few strategies he believed would ensure him a victory, however the elemental was not certain in his belief like had been in the past and that alone gave him pause. He had not doubt that the things could be beaten, they were only machines after all; they had been made by a human and humans were far from perfect. It was merely a question of finding the flaw in their design and exploiting it, until that flaw could be found though he would prefer to avoid any type of confrontation with the stalkers unless absolutely necessary.
‘A journey to the labs might be in order’ he mused as he shuffled his paper and rose from the desk walking casually to the bin in the corner of his room. Hunter would have surely set his staff to work on analyzing the stalkers for various defects and weak points that could be used in the future, and the elemental had every intention of taking advantage of whatever they discovered.
((OOC: Yeah it's been a while but after not posting for a few weeks I thought I might as well as least make an attempt to show Zephyr still had some place in the plot. Any problems just send me a PM.))
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."
The new residents of the shack were given little time to adjust their new homes, evidentially the upper management were intending to give the inmates, ahem “registered mutants”, a hastily concocted guided tour of the rather limited facility and the next destination on the list appeared to be the mess hall.
Leaning against one of the shacks main support beams Zephyr focused on keeping his shoulders hunched and his back slightly bowed as he silently observed the mutants shuffled exit from the laughable excuse of building. At one point one of the women attempted to stop and speak with him for some reason but before she could fully manage to make her intentions known she was quickly bullied back into the slowly moving mass by one of the more obnoxious guards and the merc was left without a chance to respond.
When they at last finished exiting the building and were once more standing in the open air of the desolate camp grounds the captive mutants were forced into single file before they were allowed to continue on their miserable way towards the center of the camp where the mess hall was located. Silently taking up a position behind the last girl in the line the elemental diligently followed the group to their new destination. ‘Well this is rather dull’ he thought mundanely, ‘Could it be that I won’t actually be needed until the grand finale?’ Certainly on first glance it seemed as though escape and rebellion were the last things on these mutants minds, aside from constantly bellowed instructions of the camp supervisors the merc had yet to hear a human voice raised a mutant and vice versa.
However not five minutes after Simon had posed his mental supposition and had settled himself inconspicuously in the background of the mess hall he was introduced to a set variables which immediately set about doing everything they could to disprove his vague hypothesis. The first unpredicted event was the collapse and subsequent mass bleeding of one of a woman fitted with a shock collar whom had looked quite pale for some time. The guards, ever true to their stereotypical nature, demonstrated both their lack of compassion and intelligence by ordering the unfortunate girl to drag herself back to the barracks to clean up. Upon hearing the order Zephyr had exhaled wearily and shook his head from side to side in disdain, while this action was not really in keeping with his current role he was fairly confident that everyone’s attention had been focused upon the pathetic individual sprawled on the floor to take any notice of him.
After the injured girl had been removed from the scene by one of her own companions and led gently to the infirmary the elemental was introduced to a new group of females who had just been delivered to the camps, and judging by some of his “associates” complaints, these girls were anything but agreeable. Letting his emerald orbs rove over the new shipment idly Simon’s attention was suddenly caught by flash of crimson and his eyes refocused on a faintly familiar redhead and his interest was momentarily perked as he tried to recall a more solid image from the depths of his memory. It took almost a full five minutes before his consciousness finally rewarded him with a image of the statue of liberty at which point his entire memory of a certain trivial skirmish with a pair of scarlet haired twins came rushing back. ‘Well, well this certainly is nostalgic,’ he thought dryly as he observed the lone girl engage in some type of verbal battle with one of her peers, ‘hmm, I wonder where her copy went…’
The dull echo of a particular heavy set of footsteps abruptly came to the merc’s attention as he suddenly became aware that one of his more burly comrades was approaching his destination. Forcing himself to give no indicator that he had detected the mans presence Zephyr continued to stare straight ahead at the gradually developing cat fight, which truth be told was mildly amusing.
“Hey you, newbie,"[/color]
Swiftly contracting and then relaxing his muscles the elemental visibly jumped in apparent surprise as he turned towards the larger man with an oblivious expression and a questioning look in his eyes. “Uh, yes?” he ventured uncertainly craning his neck upwards slightly to look the man in the eye.
“I gotta head outside for a smoke, watch the bitch over there.” the guard jerked a thumb over his shoulder to one of the female prisoners who was slowly clearing the mess floor. After a closer inspection Simon realized it was the same women who had tried to speak with him back in the barracks. ‘Coincidence or something else?’ he mused thoughtfully as he gave the women an evaluating gaze, there wasn’t much differentiate the various mutants by in the camps, they had after all been stripped of their clothes and all personal belongings, yet for some reason this women had been allowed to keep some strange type of darkened goggles with shadowed the upper half of her face and his her eyes from view. Aside from that particular accessory the only other thing the merc could really note was the shade of her skin and the color of her hair. Like most of the others here her appearance was totally unremarkable. ‘How many people are on Hunters payroll’ he contemplated silently as the other guard wandered off, apparently taking the elementals silence for assent.
Zephyr knew it wouldn’t be beyond the immortals power to bribe every single guard in the camp, however the merc also knew that this would have been largely impractical since most of the guards were rather unsavory characters and there was no way to guarantee that they wouldn’t “blow the whistle” so to speak. There was also the additional fact that he had not been informed of having a possible contact within the camp and considering his position with the Kabal that was information Hunter would have given him. No, the idea of another infiltrator within the camps was improbable at the moment and bared no further thought, however the situation did presented him with a favourable opportunity to establish some type of relations with the mutants within the camps.
Strolling at a somewhat slower than normal pace Simon made his way over to the women who had been delegated with cleaning duty and took a position against a wall nearest the goggled girl, keeping his eyes carefully lowered so as to keep up the pretense of his timid nature the merc spoke softly so that hopefully only the woman would hear.
Seated upon a rather uncomfortable bench made out of some type of plastic Simon allowed his hands to fidget nervously while he hunched his back so as to appear as small as possible. Occasionally his head would dart from side to side as people entered and left the room but for the most part he kept his gaze focused on his lap as thought it were the most interesting thing in the world, ‘How long can it take to run a few numbers through a machine?’ he asked himself testily as he directed a carefully hidden scowl towards the opaque glass which concealed the area one of the secretaries had strolled into with his carefully forged paperwork. As his eyes settled upon the blank glass though the merc found himself once again staring at a complete stranger. The individual in question appeared to a young man between roughly 18-22 years of age with thick obsidian hair which lay messily atop his cranium and dangled awkwardly in front of his pure emerald green orbs forcing him to blink occasionally to clear his vision. The man had a thin, almost willowy build which was hidden somewhat by the crisp navy blue pants and collared shirt of a camp guard but were not enough to completely disperse the strange awkward aura which seemed to hover around him
‘Incredible’ Simon thought not for the first time as he reached up a hand to run across his brow and watched as the stranger in the impromptu mirror did the same. ‘I must to find out how to do this myself.’ Hunters staff had truly outdone themselves when they were set with the task of giving the 18 year old mercenary a completely different identity. They had dyed his hair with an absurd number of different liquids, altered his eye color with a matching set of tinted contact lenses and even gone so far as to change the shape of his face with some type of rubbery glue which matched the tone of his skin. The process had been long and tedious and the way the women had chattered constantly about their petty lives while they worked and rapped him on the head whenever he moved had nearly driven Simon insane but now that he could observe the fruits of their labour the British merc had to grudgingly admit it had been worth it.
However it hadn’t been enough to simply to change his appearance, well not by the elementals standards anyway; Zephyr had seen this new assignment as a chance to expand upon an idea which had become lodged within his mind ever since his chance encounter with the Kabals spy Calley; the shifter was one of Hunters key informants and therefore was capable of emulating a professional type persona but perhaps more importantly the boy was capable of hiding it behind an almost perfect aura of childhood like innocence. The value of such a performance had not escaped the mercenary and in the weeks following the encounter he had toyed with the idea of developing such an alter ego himself and after a few successful experiments in the more hectic sectors of the city to build his confidence the elemental had finalized what he thought of as a prototype persona which could be used in more social situations where he cared little about his own dignity. However those had always been short term performances where escape had been only a single alley away, when Zephyr had been given his latest mission he had seen it as a way to test himself and so had set himself the goal of attempting to maintain his new persona for the entire duration of the mission.
“Well this all seems to be in order”[/color]
Giving a small start that befitted his new role Simon jerked his head round and actually jumped a little out of his seat as he turned to locate the source of this new voice. The elementals emerald orbs swiftly settled on a bespectacled old woman who had resurfaced from behind the counter after having disappeared a few minutes prior.
“Oh, that’s good to hear” the merc offered in an uncharacteristically pleasant tone.
“Less work for me at any rate”[/color] the old woman replied off handedly as she shuffled a handful of documents on the desk before pushing them towards young man in front of her, “This’ll have everything you need; badge, ID, time sheet you get the idea, any problems don’t come to me”[/color] she told him tartly before settling back into her seat behind the counter an pulling out an aged magazine of some sort.
Looking slightly put out Simon hesitantly accepted the small bundle while the giving aged pensioner an undecided look which well masked his true feelings, ‘As if you could help anyone you old crone,’ he thought with a slight tinge of annoyance before he was struck with a flash of inspiration which caused an amused smirk to dance upon his lips for a brief second before he settled into his new role once more.
“Um, e-excuse me” he stammered nervously causing the old dragons eyes to flicker back to him and narrow in aggravation from over the top of her magazine.
“What?”[/color]
“Well uh, where exactly am I supposed to go now?” Simon replied attempting to appear as oblivious as possible as he shuffled the papers in his hands awkwardly. “It’s just that I don’t really know my way-”
“What did I tell you just a second a go?”[/color] the aging hag asked sharply still refusing to lower her magazine.
“You said that I uh, shouldn’t bother y-”
“So why are you still talking? Go ask some else.”[/color] She retorted in a tone of finality as she swiveled her chair round 180° and attempted to once more start reading whatever mundane article the editor of such a work had seen fit to include.
“…but you’re the only one here.” Simon replied simply in a slightly resentful tone as he made a faint motion with his empty hand to the empty office behind the unhelpful woman. “Who else am I supposed to ask?”
“I don’t know! Just go find someone else!”[/color] the old hag snapped at him in obvious aggravation as she slapped the magazine on the arm of her chair. Today was not turning out to be a good day for her… it wasn’t going to get any better.
“… but what if I go somewhere I’m not supposed to?” Simon asked in a whining tone he had often heard young children use on their parents. Who would have thought that such inane questioning could actually prove entertaining? Watching the old crone completely discard whatever semblance of poise she may have had would have normally only rated as a mild interest for the merc, however knowing that he was the cause behind such behavior leant a whole new dimension of entertainment to the scene and so it was all he could do to limit the expression of his internal laughter to a slight twinkling of malicious amusement in his currently emerald eyes.
“You’re the security here, what could possibly be off limits to you?!” [/color] the aged crone nearly screeched at him as she swiveled her chair round to face him once more.
“How would I know? I only just got here.” the response was delivered in the same tone of oblivious innocence as before but this time was accompanied by a confused shrug of the shoulders.
For a moment the woman was completely silent. Then, gradually her face began to fade to a dull crimson making her appear so much like an overripe tomato as she struggled with some type of retort before she simply decided to cut her losses and fell back in her chair with a slight thump. “That hallway, on your left, it’ll take you to canteen… just go”
“Thanks, uh..” Simon leaned forward and peered at the minute nametag on the woman’s blouse “..Gladys, thanks a lot” with a final at the bespectacled crone the elemental made a brief show of regathering his small bundle of documents and striding purposefully down the hall to his right for about five meters before turning round and walking meekly past Gladys as headed down the correct corridor, however he wasn’t even able to proceed 10 meters before a loud obnoxious voice caught his attention.
“Who the hell are you?”[/color]
Simon blinked at his reflection once and took a moment to remember his role before turning to the speaker with an expression of slight surprise and raised his left hand to point at himself in a classic “who me?” gesture in order to make himself appear completely clueless.
“Yeah you, I know everyone here and I sure as hell ain’t seen your scrawny ass before”[/color]
The speaker in question was a heavyset man in either his earlier forties or late thirties, a receding hairline and an enlarged gut the man appeared physically unfit, however Simon’s professional side swiftly noted the mans bulging arms, which and the flatten nose which hinted at a somewhat violent history. The mans eyes also told of one who was used to throwing his rather substantial weight around and would likely take an opportunity he could to make himself feel important which, judging by the badge on his chest would be quite often.
‘Ah the stereotypical bully, where would we be without them?’ he mused dully as he maintained his guppy fish expression and started spouting the script Hunter had given him almost a week ago. “M-My names Robert Peel sir” He stated in a slightly quavering voice which never the less deeply emphasized his British accent, “I just um, transferred here from London a little while ago and the guys in New York assigned me here.”
“Is that so?”[/color] The heavy set man replied with an all too obvious sneer as he looked down the length of his nose at the seated elemental before him. “and why the hell would the shame!s upstairs send me a tea drinking pansy like you?”
‘…did he really just say that?’ Simon thought incredulously as his brows furrowed and he gazed at the large man with undisguised resentment while allowing a note of skepticism enter his voice “Sir?”
The man gave an exasperated grunt before using his thumb to stick out the over polished badge on the front of uniform, “Watch your tone kid, the names sergeant Miller and since your wearing that uniform I’m your direct superior”[/color]
‘God help us all’ the merc mused dully as he maintained his uneasy stance and leaned back slightly to escape the mans foul breath while at the same time giving a mental sigh, ‘Still I suppose I should establish my role with the higher ups now rather than later.’“Y-Yes sir” he stated nervously while simultaneously attempting to give a salute using the hand which was holding his documents and promptly spilled the files across the metallic floor. Crouching quickly in order to retrieve the papers Simon risked a brief glance up at the sergeant and noted with a certain smug satisfaction that the man was making no attempt to hide his disdain of his latest “recruit”.
‘That should do’ he told himself silently as he continued to scrambled the papers together in ruff order and heard more than saw the sergeant walk away. ‘It shouldn’t take long for rumors of the ‘clumsy foreigner’ to spread around the barracks. The only question now is where do I go from here?’
--
Standing in rank among the other guards who lined the perimeter of the camp Zephyr gazed out dully at the currently desolate camp grounds, the place looked as though it had taken directly from an old WWII movie. The earth seemed to consist of some type of gray dust, which judging by the lack of surviving of vegetation, was incapable of supporting any type of life. The rough shacks which were scattered around the grounds and would serve as the mutants sole form of shelter from the elements were all constructed from the same shoddy timber and appeared to be half rotten in some places. The one thing that held the elementals interest, albeit mildly, as he waited for the first shipment of mutants to arrive was the ancient corpse of a great oak from the branches of which hung a series of empty nooses.
‘Who the hell designed this place?’ A high school drama student?’ he asked himself disdainfully as his eyes scanned the deserted grounds once more, almost expecting to see a tumbleweed role by. Whoever had been left to design this construct clearly had a flair for the dramatic and Simon would have liked to meet them, if only to put them out of their misery; there were just some clichés that were best left alone.
The low rumble of motor engine suddenly caught his attention and Zephyr found himself turning instinctively towards the main gates for his half of the camp. The heavy titanium wrought gates gradually rolled to the side among an almost imperceptible pneumatic hiss as they made way for the approaching convoy of obsidian vans currently containing the newly “registered” mutants.
Simon watched in silence indifferent from the other guards who casually or gladly threw their pitiful insults at the “freaks” before them as the heavy armored vehicles pulled into the complex in a ragtag order as they sorted themselves into vertical rows in front of what had been termed the integration chamber where the new residents would be relieved of all their worldly possessions and introduced to the camps new uniform decorum and overall lack of hope. Surprisingly, albeit one or two nuisances on the male side of the camp, the whole procedure ran very smoothly and in just over an hour the entire first shipment had been processed and were loitering listlessly around the camps grounds in their new, and rather drab, attire.
‘They act like cattle come to slaughter’ he thought impassively as he stared at the multitude of bleak expressions decorating the faces of the prisoners. ‘Have they truly given in or are they simply biding their time as I would?’
The mercs attention abruptly focused on a group within the female half of the camp, it was obvious from the way they huddled together that they were all acquaintances of a sort and they sought some type of safety in their numbers, however what had drawn the elementals attention to this little gathering was their posture. These girls held themselves differently from their current companions for they still seemed to posses a backbone; there were no slumped shoulders here or any downcast eyes, these individuals still had, for lack of a better term, spirit.
‘Most interesting, they will bear watching’
And so when the time came for the camps new residence to be cordoned off to their huts Zephyr silently followed this fascinating group to their new homes and after a muffled exchange with one of the guards on duty and an agreement that the man owed him some strong liquor at a later date Simon assigned himself as the shacks advisor.
--
((OOC: At long last I have managed to make my entrance post. I apologise for the length but so much had happened by the time I finally got around to writing and I wanted to demonstrate Zephyr’s alter ego somewhat.
On a side note as many of you will have noticed by posting has been somewhat sporadic of late due to RL issues, I am able to post during the weekends but even that time is somewhat unreliable. Because of this I will be changing Zephyrs role somewhat so that he is more of an observer and only have him participate if completely necessary in order to try and avoid slowing the plot down and/or holding certain people up.
Considering the fact that he had only managed to return to his temporary abode in the early hours of the morning it should come as no real surprise that once Simon collapsed into bed he stayed there until roundabout midday. If he had been left to his own devices though it is likely the elementals hibernation would have lasted well into the late hours of the evening, however the mercs slumber had eventually been intruded upon by the hotels cleaning staff; a gaggle of matronly type women in matching pale blue uniforms who had informed the drowsy teenager in no uncertain terms that they would proceed with their assigned task regardless of whether he was in the room or not.
Still only half awake at the time Simon had wordlessly complied with their unspoken request and after taking a brief shower had dragged himself out of the room and stalked lazily down the buildings deserted hallways. As his mind slowly started working towards full capacity once more the British merc noted that it was shortly after noon and he would therefore have to seek elsewhere for his first meal of the day since the hotels current establishment had only seen fit to provide its customers with breakfast and little more. This realization had caused the young man some small amount of annoyance, however it had been swiftly put aside, he was after all in a tourist honey pot of sorts, the constant influx of people to the Grand Canyon had caused numerous business to take root in the surrounding area and more than 50% of these aforementioned business strived to deliver some type of culinary service. It would require little effort to find another location to sate his current needs.
Still moving somewhat languidly Zephyr had wandered absently through hotels foyer as he tried to recall what he could about the various dining services which surrounded the area, the large majority of them obviously fell under the label of “fast food” but at the moment the elemental was in the mood for something slightly more complex than a hamburger or fried chicken. He recalled passing a rather ornate Italian restaurant a few days ago but couldn’t seem to remember the name, glancing over towards a rather extensive/excessive brochure display to the right of the front desk Simons thoughts were abruptly derailed as his azure eyes picked up a strangely familiar figure seated somewhat uncomfortably in one of the rooms deep leather chairs.
‘…how?’ the bewildered thought echoed across his mind and was reflected only by the slight light of confusion in his eyes; the sun had long ago set over the horizon when he had finally left and the landscape had been shrouded in darkness. The girl should not have been able to locate him, there had been no light through which to track him visually and the stream which had coursed along the bottom of the canyon meant that there should have been no way to follow his sent or the sound made by his progress.
Raising a hand to the bridge of his nose the elemental firmly applied pressure to the soft bone in an attempt to subdue the headache which was threatening his senses. The how was of little importance at this point as was her presence, he had clearly stated last night that he had no intention of entertaining company. If the woman was not capable of comprehending such simple responses then that was her problem, for the moment Zephyr refused to even acknowledge her presence until he found some type of sustenance.
Without a word or even a glance in Chilla’s direction the merc stalked out of the hotel and into the busy street outside.
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."
Zephyr sighed, and then yawned as fatigue gradually began to increase its hold on him, he truly could not afford to stay any longer; it was likely that the staff at the hotel had already noticed that he had not yet reclaimed his keys, if continued to forgo his departure the manager would no doubt inform the authorities of his disappearance and therefore initiate some crude type of search party. ‘The last thing I need right now is attention’ he thought bitterly as he pushed himself to his feet, staggering somewhat as he struggled with his numb limbs to keep his balance before finally resorting to leaning against the canyon wall as he waiting for the circulation in his lower limbs to improve.
“I’m not really in any position to take passengers” he said wearily, “however if you are adamant about relocating to a more urban environment I would recommend New York. The mutant population is unnaturally high there so you should arouse less suspicion.”
Simon paused for a moment and glanced Chilla up and down once more his azure eyes taking note of her rather obvious state of undress and he wondered once again how long it had been since she had last had any human contact for she seemed completely oblivious to her own nakedness.
“Before you do that though I would strongly suggest that you invest in some new clothes, because dressed, and I use that term lightly, as you are you will attract attention no matter where you go. Now if you will excuse me there is somewhere else I have to be.”
With that final note the merc pushed himself off the wall behind and slowly started to stroll down the bottom of chasm and allowed the shadows to swallow his form.
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."
Zephyr stared at Chilla incredulously through the haze of his exhaustion as the woman began to rambled on pathetically with useless statements she seemed to think would somehow persuade him to accept her ludicrous request. Honestly if he hadn’t been so tired he would have been tempted to laugh aloud; as it was he simply shook his head wearily casting bleary shadows across the canyon floor. Even if he did believe the shifters somewhat panicked statements, which at this point he did not, the woman had yet to give him a single reason regarding precisely why he should help her; what exactly, would be in it for him? If Chilla were hoping to have her request granted out of pity then she was vastly mistaken; he did not do charity work.
“Please”
The whispered plea was almost inaudible over the crackling of the fire yet it was enough to give the elemental pause as he silently evaluated the woman with a different perspective; from what he had managed to observe so far she was easily capable of surviving on her own with what gifts her mutation granted her, why was she so desperate for aid with such a simple task? Granted she was women but even then he failed to see the difficulty in moving into the nearest city, it wasn’t as if the authorities performed ID checks on every individual in the vicinity and even if they did the woman could fly; that immediately eliminated any problems in the elementals hazy mind, and so with his curiosity aroused Simon voiced his query.
“Why should I?”
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 Chilla added more fuel to the intensely burning blaze between them Simon found himself battling the urge to yawn, how much time had passed since he arrived here? How much of it had been spent, and most likely wasted, in the company of this woman? Nagging thoughts which desired answers but were ultimately denied for he had purposefully neglected to bring Hunters communicator and his own chronometer was not blessed with any type of built in fluorescence. The flickering light of flames before him were also of little use for they were too erratic for the merc to distinguish any type of reading from the instrument on his wrist. Although he could easily solve the problem by bending the fire to his will such a task would in the end prove fruitless; he already knew it was late evening if not early morning, all that he would learn from his timepiece was the exact hour of the day, something he did not particular care about at the moment despite what the rest of his thoughts said.
"So where are you from? And what’s your name or what can I call you?"
Peering through the dancing flames once more Zephyr tilted his head slightly as he brought his sapphire eyes to bear on the shifter once more; the woman wanted him to give personal information? She’d be more likely to squeeze water from a stone. Still, a lack of response would only prompt further questioning.
“My name, like myself, is of no real importance. I would not wish to burden you with such knowledge as I highly doubt it will prove to be of any use after we have parted ways.” He began eloquently; pausing for a moment Simon raised his head to inky sky above and inhaled deeply attempting to drive away his fatigue with the chill night air. Unfortunately the fire before him was performing its task meticulously and so bequeathed the elemental a breath of pleasantly warm air overlaid with the agreeable scent of burning of wood which only further intensified his bodies craving for sleep. ‘I need to leave soon’ he realised blearily as he forced his mind into working order once more so that he could answer the second half of the girls question.
“As for your second question I am afraid I cannot truly answer for, like yourself, I am a wander, albeit for different reasons, I travel from place to place wherever the winds might take me.” Glancing back down at the woman Zephyr a raised and made an effort to conceal his drowsy state of mind as he spoke once more.
Still seated somewhat comfortably against the cliff face Zephyr rolled his eyes and treated Chilla to a dry expression when she made yet another request for information, he had not come here to entertain recluses after all, however since he was admittedly sharing her fire it would be rude of him to simply dismiss his query out of hand and so the elemental compromised. “I am not a walking encyclopedia” he stated plainly
“That’s rather vague question” he stated plainly, “However if I might be so bold why would you wish concern yourself about the world you have been fleeing for the past fifteen years?” It wasn’t that Zephyr actually cared about what the shifter had to say, he just simply wasn’t in the mood to talk and one of the most effective ways to avoid speaking with others was to get them to do all the talking for you.
Directing his attention back to the flickering flames briefly Simon noted it’s size had already begun to diminish slightly since he had first arrived, as he was somewhat disinclined to loose the comforting heat the small blaze granted the elemental subtly reached into his gift as he enhanced his perception of the air around him, becoming aware once again of the unbalanced spectrum of elements which comprised the planets atmosphere. After taking a few moments to reorient himself to this higher level of sensitivity the merc deftly began sorting through the mass of molecules sweeping them aside with faint thoughts as he sought the single noble gas upon which all life depended.
Although oxygen only constitutes roughly 21% of the air around us Zephyr experienced little difficulty in gathering a suitable supply for his own use, concentrating the majority of his stash just a few feet above the dancing flames in front of him the elemental fed the fire bursts of oxygen at a gradual rate so as to give the illusion that its slight growth was completely natural.
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."
Zephyr leaned his head back against the bedrock and let out a low chuckle as he heard Chilla’s response, “I see” was all he said; such tales of abandonment were becoming more and more frequent these days almost to the point where they had evolved into a stereotypical cliché. It seemed as though the mundane humans were incapable of loving there own offspring upon discovering that the child had a slight alteration in their DNA, it appeared the old adage was true; people did fear what they did not understand and what people feared they sought to destroy.
‘When did life turn into one huge poorly written soap opera?’ he asked himself silently as he turned his gaze towards the heavens and sought out the pinpricks of light scattered over the obsidian sky, ‘you can’t go anywhere these days without encountering some minor drama or plea for attention… it’s starting to become dull really. Where is the grand plot? The master scheme? Surely all of these petty events must be building up to something’
Roused from his silent philosophical ponderings by the shifters next set of questions Simon slowly lowered his head and stared at the scantily clad women with a skeptical expression upon his sharp features, “You really have been out of touch a long time haven’t you?” he asked with a small laugh to display his amusement, “I can safely say Ma’am that the world is full of individuals who are not precisely human, they are a minority at the moment but they are growing steadily, you are not alone”
--
((OOC: Don't worry about it Chilla, as you can probably tell I have a few things of my own going on at the moment so I won't be breathing down you neck trying to get you to post.))
Catching the woman’s rather suspicious reaction from the very edges of his peripheral vision Zephyr’s brow raised in curiosity and he focused his azure gaze upon the shifter just in time to witness her transformation. It was a fascinating process really; watching ivory fur spread rapidly across the woman’s bare form while her obsidian hair retreated back into her skull and her skin stretched as her limbs distort themselves into a completely new shape, the final product being of course the same winged snow leopard he had encountered previously, the only difference being that it was now bearing its fangs and claws for the world to see and had its muscles tensed in the classic fight or flight position.
“If you’re going to try than get on with it, but I warn you… it hasn’t gone well for everyone else who has tried. It went really bad for the last five.”
Zephyr released another sigh as he took in the leopards words, combat was the last thing on his mind right now and so unless the shifter did something monumentally stupid there would be no physical confrontation. It wasn’t just that the elemental wasn’t in the right mood for battle, it was the fact that whenever he did willfully engage in combat he preferred to have an opponent who could challenge him; he saw little chance of that happening here.
Sliding down the earthen wall Zephyr crouched down on the dirt floor with his legs stretched out in front of him, he did this mainly to rest his legs after walking most of the day but also partially to dismiss any kind of threatening air the shifter might believe him to have and convince her that combat at this time would be pointless.
“You are taking my words too literally. I was only stating a hypothetical scenario, I have no intention of fighting you this point in time. However I must question what you could have done to warrant so many attempts on your life.”
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 the woman gave her impertinent reply Zephyr expression of cold indifference was shattered slightly as a hint of amusement entered his azure eyes as he leaned against the cliff wall and he stared at his current companion through the dancing flames. Although the shifter was clearly a few years his senior her current demeanor put the elemental in mind of a sulking child determined to have its way. The woman’s apparent naivety was also similar to that of child; for if she truly could not understand why the majority of society would flee at the site of her transformed state then she had either been living in exile for the past twenty years or her mental growth had been stunted at an early age, as he examined the woman more closely Simon found that he would not have been surprised if one or both of his assumptions held true.
Beginning simply with external appearances it was clear to all that the woman had been absent from civilization from some length of time; her hair was a dirt encrusted mass of fibres which hung down from her shoulders in disarray. The woman’s skin had also suffered a similar fate and her bar arms and legs revealed aged scars hinting at violent past. Moving onwards to the shifters current apparel, or more appropriately the lack of it, Simon found himself thanking the fact that he had never been one to be controlled by his hormones. The reason for this was that the minute amount of cloth which covered the shifters bare form would not have been considered decent anywhere except a red light district and even that would have been a stretch, for a teenager such a site would normally have been… distracting to say the least.
Still it seemed as though the woman herself had no qualms about her current appearance for she sat quite comfortably with her legs crossed in front of the fire as she gauged the slowly roasting fish. The obvious conclusion one would draw from this was that the shifter had been living on her own for so long that she no longer held any concept of modesty, either that or the woman was deliberately attempting to distract him, once again neither option would have surprised the elemental, however he did not dwell on the thought and instead turned his mind back to the shifters previous comment as he sought for some reply.
“Seeing that you do not actually own this stretch of land I think it would be more accurate to say you are squatting” he began in a matter of fact tone of voice, “Taking that into account I would consider beneficial that most of the population are in fear of your bestial form, if it became known that a mutant had taken up residence here it would start up a witch hunt like no other.”
Bringing his dialogue to an end the merc found his eyes being drawn towards the last source of illumination in the dying sun light. Settling his azure gaze on the flickering flames Simon allowed himself to enjoy the heat such a blaze provided. Under normal circumstances he would not have been as brash as he had so far, however he was still somewhat annoyed about having his recreational excursion interrupted yet he made no move to remove himself from his current company. The fire was warm after all and he still did not wish an area of such beauty just yet.
"My name is Chilla. What is yours?"[/b]
Roused from his internal machinations the elemental glanced back up at the woman who had so boldly declared herself before lowering gaze back the fire, why couldn’t this Chilla simply be content to leave things in silence? However if he did not give some reply he was in no doubt that some other outburst would follow and so with an evident air of disinterest the elemental gaze his reply, all the while keeping his azure eyes focused on the blaze which rested between them.
“Do you think it incredibly wise to give your name to someone whom you nothing about? For all you know I was sent here to kill you”
--
((OOC: My apologies for taking so long to reply, real life has become something of hassle for me at the moment and I find myself with less and less time to RP, however I will endeavor to not allow such a lag to occur again without giving you some advanced warning.))
As the sun gradually traveled to its final destination over the horizon the depths of the canyon entered that period of time known as dusk. The ever present shadows within the chasm had lengthened to cover both of the vast walls and had transmuted the rushing river to darkened flickering shadow which released a constant hiss like that of a giant snake, warning travelers of it’s presence lest they inadvertently place a foot out of line.
Such an occurrence was of no concern to Zephyr though; by simply listening to the gentle murmurs of a tender breeze he was able to paint a somewhat vivid picture of the shadowed landscape before him and therefore avoid any such unpleasant surprises. Now that the sun light no longer reached into the depths of the canyon the little heat the river once carried had been completely stripped away. This left the water temperature at just slightly above freezing and as much as the merc enjoyed swimming he doubted that immersing himself in the chilling current to his left would be overly beneficial to his present state of health. He would simply have to be content to continue his idle wanderings, however as his breath began to mist before his eyes the elemental accepted the fact that he would not be able to continue his simple journey for much longer, already with the absence of sunlight he could feel a pervading chill cover his form and unfortunately his gift could do nothing to halt its advance.
‘I’ll have to turn back soon.’ The thought was accompanied by a mild sensation of disappointment; even in the darkness the gorge was capable of maintain it’s calming effect over the elemental and it was a sensation the young man still thoroughly enjoyed and would prolong if possible. ‘perhaps the acquisition of some select camping materials would not be amiss in the near future’ he mused silently as his hands were placed within the pocket if his jacket in an attempt to retain what little heat his digits still had.
A sudden flicker of light in the distance caught the merc attention, swiftly focusing his gaze on the source of this illumination his azure eyes caught the familiar movement of dancing flames associated with any type of controlled blaze. Understandably curious as to the purpose of the fire and with little better to do at the moment Zephyr approached with silent steps. As the elemental closed in the aroma of grilled fish was brought to his attention and he wondered who would have chosen to dine at such a location however his mind swiftly answered its own query by recalling his encounter with the shifter little under an hour ago.
“Persistent aren’t you?” he stated monotonously as he stepped into the fires circle of light. He said no more than that for he was still not inclined to waste his words on some erratic stranger.
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."
Continuing his steady and seemingly idle stroll away from the annoying creature Zephyr kept his thought attuned to the natural flow of the breeze he had created a few moments before. Although he was not in the mood to conduct further discussion with one of his own kind his was neither foolish nor suicidal; one did not simply turn their backs on a feral beast and expect to leave the scene unscathed. While this scenario was somewhat unique due to the fact that there was supposedly a human conscious dictating the actions of the animal in his wake the merc was not one to take unnecessary risks.
So when the shifter chose to indulge its childish act and launched the improvised missile the elemental became aware of the projectile the moment it disturbed the airs natural flow, which was roughly the moment the fish left the animals immediate vicinity.
The merc initial response upon discovering the incoming projectile was not to scowl or glare, for that would have meant the creatures antics had succeeded in annoying him, and that most certainly was not the case, no the elementals only physical reaction was to simply roll his eyes in boredom. This was precisely why he had chosen to walk away; the creatures level of maturity, and most likely its intelligence, was clearly below par with his own, nothing productive would come of further association. Still he decided to be somewhat practical about the circumstances and so he restrained the urge to simply reduce the fish to a crimson mist with sharpened gale instead opted to once again practice his latest technique, nimbly grasping the surrounding gases and bending them to his will as he applied pressure to the mass of molecules and compressed them to the such a point that they lost their freedom of movement and took on the properties of a more solid substance.
The task was not truly difficult; it merely required that one maintain a certain level of concentration and since all he was doing was gaining hold of the air and containing it in a compressed space the process took less than a second to complete. So before the projectile was halfway through its predetermined trajectory an the elemental had already been constructed his defenses which easily took the brunt of the laughable projectile, leaving the fish to fall silently to the ground where it flopped pathetically for a few seconds before finding it’s way back the river.
To the immature leoeagle whom was responsible for the childish act it would seem as though the fish had encountered some invisible before being dismissed back to its aquatic habitat.
With the creatures childish actions no longer a threat Zephyr continued his languid stroll through the canyon. He did not deign send a glance in the creatures direction for there would have been little point, however as he walked away a faint murmur carried audibly over the wind.
“…and you say I’m rude”
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."
Zephyr form paused for a moment as his mind not only processed the leopards words but also the fact that the creature was capable of speech. He shouldn’t have been surprised really, it was clear that the thing was a mutant and mutants were generally capable of speech, it was just that the idea of an animal being able to utilize it’s vocal chords in such a manner that they could enunciate well enough to replicate human speech just seemed… wrong.
Dismissing such trivial thoughts from his mind the elemental slowly pivoted on his right foot as he turned to face the bothersome mutant with a blank stare. It seemed as though this one was somewhat lacking with regards to intelligence. Zephyr’s actions should have told the animal all it needed to know; he no longer wished to associate himself with creature, why else would he be walking away? However as this particular individual was oblivious to such body language he would spell out his current intentions.
“If you are seeking company I suggest you do so elsewhere, I have no interest in associating myself with you any further.” The mercs voice was a simple monotone that gave away nothing about his emotions or thoughts and was neither hostile nor affable at the moment.
Without waiting for any type of response Zephyr once more turned his back on this latest irritation and attempted to resume enjoying what was left of his vacation. If the foolish creature chose not to heed his words it would soon discover that this young man was much more than what he seemed.
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."
Strolling leisurely along the embankment which housed the swiftly flowing current beside him Simon’s mind slowly began to wander as he became immersed in the calming sound of the river. The elementals breaths became deeper and occurred less frequently causing his heart rate to reduce considerably, his azure eyes; normally sharp and calculating, lost a portion of their focus as the pupils enlarged to compensate for the shade of the canyon and the corners of his mouth lifted to construct an easily observable expression of contentment.
As he gazed up at the towering walls on either side of him Simon found himself noting a new feature he had somehow failed to notice earlier. The rock face of the canyon was not a single constant tone of red as some might expect, instead shade shifted subtly the higher one glanced and occasionally a belt of dark gray would coat the stone signifying an area where the composition of the bedrock had differed from the usual mass creating something known as a strata or to put it simply a layer. It was certainly a unique sight and it was one the elemental relished as gradually began to round a bend in the river. This was a natural feature that had existed for centuries yet it was never the same sight each time; the river rushing beside him made certain of that as it constantly ate away the rock below it and carried off debris to keep it company until it finally reached the end of it’s journey.
It was in the midst of these observations that a shadow passed abruptly overhead; deepening the natural shade of the gorge for but an instant, yet it was enough to shatter the mercenary’s relaxed, almost daydream like state and revert back to his previous persona. Snapping his head upwards towards the direction of the disturbance Zephyr’s ice cold orbs swiftly locked upon the source of this unpleasant interruption and for a moment the merc’s eyes widened in surprise before narrowing in annoyance as he took in the sight before him; a leopard… with wings.
Time seemed to standstill as Zephyr remained completely motionless and stared at the mutant before him with a deadpan expression, if this creature was Hunters method of contacting him then the elemental would not be impressed. The vampire had presented no argument when Simon had informed that he planned to take a leave of absence and had even agreed not to disturb him during that time. If the immortal was going back on his word so soon it showed he relied on the mercenary too greatly and consequently meant that Zephyr would be requesting another rise in his salary. Unfortunately though Hunter was not as moronic as some of the elementals previous employers and so the chances the man would pull something like were slim indeed.
So if one were to follow that train of thought to its logical conclusion it meant that the shapes shifting mutant in front of him just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. While this was admittedly annoying it did not warrant the energy required to perform an immediate execution. Still if this disturbance had occurred a week ago the feline would already be dead, however as it was the elementals brief holiday thus far had managed to restore him to a more tranquil state of mind, allowing him to tolerate this unscheduled interruption, however that didn’t mean he enjoyed it. This vacation was his time to relax, to relieve stress and forget about everything he had to deal with in the city. It was meant to be a calm and peaceful time where he could be alone with his thoughts and enjoy relative isolation, stumbling across some type of shape shifting mutant who seemed desperate for attention was not part of the plan and Zephyr had no intention of deviating from said plan and so after conjuring a light breeze he took the most logical course of action available to him, namely turning around and walking away.
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."