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.
Serena grinned at Maya. She liked seeing friends smile. She smiled a borderline ridiculous amount herself, somebody had once pointed out that she'd make a very well disguised sociopath, and she wasn't sure whether she should've been amused or highly disturbed by the observation.
Serena blinked. How was she handling that? "It's hard. Honestly, I find it hard to resist just donating non-stop to people that need it. I decided that, it was probably a good idea to keep it mostly quiet." She was pretty selective about who she actually talked to about it. The Doc knew about it, Maya and now... Maya, obviously knew about it. Outside of that circle she didn't tell many people.
"I can also turn wholly into blood, which is as F------- disturbing as it sounds, both for me any everyone around me." She actually really did not enjoy it. Even if she got a significant boost in power from doing it, and totally became immune to thinks like bullets.
"As for the blood healing... As I said, I keep it on the down low, only tell people I trust and all that." she admitted.
Serena nodded. "Thankfully it seems like at least our Grandmother is leaving her alone. Perhaps because she knows I'll make her life a living hell if she bothers Alice." She admitted with a little pride. Something struck Serena. Is that why she didn't know Alice for so long? Why her Grandmother had kept them apart? This merited further consideration for sure.
Serena actually chuckled and playfully punched Maya's arm. "I've always got your back dummy. Even if I'm not on the team, I take my friendships seriously. If you ever need anything you only need ask." She replied warmly. Serena finished her tea and deposited the disposable cup in the bin, stretching and yawning a little. The run and the tea had really helped wake up her sense a bit.
"Oh! I suppose we've never really talked about my power, have we?" She realised. "We discovered a couple of years ago that my blood can heal others, quite rapidly and quite thoroughly. You know Ghost?" She smiled fondly, remembering the other Maya fondly. "I helped her become more permanent." She admitted with some pride. It was great to do something positive with your power.
That was true, Serena supposed her and Kate's relationship with Sam had definitely been very different to Mirror's. Sam seemed to treat Mirror more like family, Serena had more of a close friend mentor relationship with Sam. Which she was absolutely fine with, her family was all kinds of convoluted and confusing as it was, she didn't need to add more layers to that.
"Good. He's on my list of people to see. I hope he's more together." More guilt at leaving him when she was unsure of what state she was in. Great.
She nodded, regretting her sudden fire. "Yes, I understand sorry. It's just..." She blushed a little and smiled awkwardly. "I'd gotten so used to not having any family, now that I do and her being so special, I'm protective." She did consider it for a moment. "I don't think she'd stick anyway. She just has too many complications with her power for it to work." She was mostly thinking of the hunger bar.
She considered that. "I'm sorry to hear that. And I'm sorry I've not been around. I plan on going to donate some blood to the doc, I should probably make sure you guys have some on hand for emergencies." Did Mirror know about that, actually? She wasn't totally sure.
She giggled. "I'm not sure how good I could be for press either, my power isn't exactly PG." She teased.
Serena smirked. She had most definitely not heard about Mirror and Rebecca, she felt some serious internal flailing now, and she was heavily distracted by little sister huggles, so the squeeing was mostly internal. "If I'd heard of it, you would have been deafened by some high pitched flailing on the other side of the mic. Trust me, you'd remember." She replied with a wink. It was so exciting! They were both so lovely.
"Good. I'm not letting anyone take you away without your explicit consent, ever." Her voice had taken a slightly harder edge. She wasn't losing family, never again. Even if that meant she had to maim people to protect her sister, that was happening.
She cracked another wide grin. Serena smiled a lot, she never got tired of it either. Apparently they were visually appealing smiles, she chalked it down to an absurd amount of practice. "Good. Let me know if they do. I can't promise I'll tone them all the way down, but I'll try. You're just so huggable."
Serena nodded. "I get it. Trust me. It was just me and Jake for what felt like forever. You would have liked him." She commented thoughtfully before thinking. "Well. Actually he would have driven you crazy, he was a very disciplined police officer, but I think you would have loved him. He's maybe the most caring honest person I ever met." She swayed a little from where she was now standing, smiling happily at memories.
"I'm not going anywhere. You're stuck with me sweetheart." She replied, playfully nudging her little sister's arm.
"You look as beautiful as always. Blue really suits you." She chirped thoughtfully. The tear streaked makeup kind worked. "Actually fits your gay goth gamer aesthetic really well~"
She chuckled. "I could definitely eat. I need to get the hang of making sure I'm balancing my blood sugar if I'm going to start donating regularly again." She'd done a bit here and there while she travelled, but hadn't had all that much time.
She grinned stretching out a little, limbering up her body. Plain and taxi were not very good for muscles, they felt stiff. She should really go for a run soon. More so if Alice was about to feed her unhealthy food stuffs. She should come for a jog around the mansion... Maybe after she'd spoken to some of the people around here that she wanted to. Give it a little time and all that.
Serena blinked slowly at the sharpness and eloquence of the response. Okayyy. That was not normal. Children usually didn't show remotely that much complexity in language, let alone that much wit or sharpness. She'd spoken softly and gently because she expected that a child arriving outside of the mansion would be extremely overwhelmed. As it turned out, she was definitely not that.
She cocked an eyebrow inquisitively. "It depends on how long you were planning on visiting I suppose, I know of several people who have visited the mansion for a short time." She admitted. It was perfectly natural when some students came from other corners of the US or even the world that relatives sometimes came to visit. "The people with authority would be inside the building, I'm well acquainted with a handful, I assume given your response you're a mutant looking for a place to stay then?"
She just barrled past the obnoxious comment. She might have well developed language, but clearly manors and complex consideration were not part of the thought yet. That was fine, she could deal with a brat.
Whoa. She had a mouth on her.
"People tend to assume that children aren't that much of danger to enter on their own. I suspect there will be a greeter somewhere nearby shortly, staff and some students volunteer to greet newcomers." She explained as the sharp witted brat began entering. Serena mentally rolled her eyes. This was going to be fun.
Serena glanced at the girl as they entered the building, she buzzed them inside as they did. There was something so eerily familiar about the girl but she just couldn't place her finger on what it was. "Whether or not you are assigned roommates depends on how much space is currently available. Typically there is enough, but I'm not familiar with the current number of residents so I can't comment with any specificity."
She was waved at by a member of staff she knew, glancing at the small girl and apparently deciding to leave it to Serena. Was that a teacher? She actually couldn't remember, but she knew plenty of people at the mansion. "I'm not a full time staff member so no, but I know of the people that can help you get settled. This way." she led the white haired brat towards the offices, smiling and very briefly greeting a few people who stopped to say hi.
Serena was glad that most of her friends hadn't pushed her when it came to writing, they were pretty patient about waiting to read what she'd done, and to be fair she'd sent most of them copies of the book when it was done, and the same with the second book. Which might have had a little dedication to someone special in it. Her third, had a little dedication to family, inspired by her her little blue haired surprise.
Serena grinned happily when Maya responded kindly. "Thank you for understanding." She smiled inwardly. "I suppose you would, last time I dropped in on you unannounced you looked like a raccoon that had lost a fight with another, burlier raccoon." Sam and his methods of problem working out left something to be desired. She chuckled at the thought. "I do hope Sam's not thinking similar thoughts when he sees me. Though I suppose I was never as tied to his life as you are, even if I did abruptly vanish from it."
"There are so many. There is only really one bad reason." Her mind drifted to Ami. But she wasn't likely to run into her in a city this big, right? And if she didn't want to even do Serena the cutesy of speaking to about it then Serena wasn't going to worry about it. Right?
That caught the brit's attention fully. "Yes. She said." She thought for a moment "She's had a rough year with getting back ontop of classes. She's very happy that I'm back." She admitted before pressing on. "I seriously appreciate you making sure she can look after herself, but I hope you're not thinking of asking her to fully join the X-men." There was a slight edge to her voice.
Serena blinked. "Well... I'd be lying if I told you I hadn't thought about it. You guys are sort of the poster group for positive impact for mutants. I want to do more of that, and It's not like I don't have training." That was an understatement, she was probably better trained now than a few years ago, hell better trained than almost every X when they joined the team.
Serena's cab pulled up to the exterior of the mansion and she yawned as she stepped out of it. She'd been playing catch up all weekend with university friends and it was exhausting. Most of them figured she was having some sort of breakup crisis and ran away. She was also amused by how many of them (those that knew she was a writer) assumed she was behaving like a movie star, running around sleeping with a different girl (or dude) every week and flying all over the US. They were firstly under some amusing notions about what the income of a professional writer was like, and she'd realised that she wasn't as open with her orientation as she maybe ought to be.
The blonde had been dropped a little walk away from the mansion so she could warm up a little on her way in. She was in her standard workout clothes, she was wearing a blue zip up hoodie with thermal lining, a blue tank top and black work out pants. She turned the walk into a light jog up to the mansion just to see a cab pulling away. Wait, had it picked somebody up she couldn't see anybod- Oh. It was a person, just a little one.
Serena's mind flickered with fond memories as she finished coming to the top of the drive seeing a distinctly surprising hair colour she blinked a little. It was very familiar somehow. She approached audibly with friendly, passive body language. "Hello there, were you trying to get into the mansion to see someone?" She asked with a sweet and warm tone.
Man, why did Serena meet so many little girls around here. It was strange. Oh well.
Serena blinked. She was all gooey over Mirror? That was interesting. Last time she'd spoken to Becca she believed the Scot was with Agnes, so something drastic and drama laden must have happened. "Well I hope it's mutual. Mirror is a wonderful person, and so is Becca." She bit her lip. What was Sam up to at the moment? She hoped he was stable at the very least. She kept feeling waves of guilt and minor nausea over leaving New York.
Serena grimaced a little. Sure she'd had her own personal hell, involving reliving the worst night of her life everytime she closed her eyes, but Alice had suffered a hard upbringing as well. She wished she could have been there or made it better although... If Serena had met Alice after what happened, she wasn't sure she would have been able to connect with her younger sister. She probably would have shut down or done something drastic to herself.
"I'm glad she did too." She admitted. Serena grimaced again. "Honestly I wish I knew more about my mother, what she went through and was like. I had such little connection to back home and Jake or dad never said anything to me about it." She had wrestled with more than her fair share of anger over that fact but harbouring ill intent towards the dead both seemed pointless and disrespectful. Even if she wanted to.
She snorted. "Yeah. I may have discovered my sexuality a little later than you actually, I definitely remember confused feelings regarding a boy. Then he turned out to be a jerk, we fought, it was a whole thing." She'd been thinking about the past a lot recently. Part of her did wonder whatever did happen to Leon, but he also wasn't really worth much thought. "I think the way I felt around my best friend here helped, he was extremely nervous around girls and a nerd and I wasn't remotely into him."
Serena nodded slowly. She'd actually done some serious digging but she had no first hand knowledge compared to Alice. "Well just know, if she ever does try to manipulate or force something. Call me. For that matter if anybody messes with you, I will personally deal with them if you want me to." She responded curtly. Nobody was f****** with her little sister. Nobody.
On reflection that might have been a little deep to just drop on Alice like that, but Serena wasn't ashamed. She was glad she'd let Alice know. The hug was like an affectionate vice and Serena giggled. "I hope you never get tired of hugs." She whispered softly.
Something melted inside of Serena when Alice responded in kind and it wasn't just eye blurries it was full on tears. She was definitely glad she wiped her face quickly when they parted. "I feel like I never said it enough to dad or Jake, and I never got to say it to Mom. So there is no way I'm waiting to say it to you. You mean the world to me little sister, and I'm here to stay." She smiled widely her eyes watering again, she stopped to wipe them.
"God I must look like a mess." She murmured.
"Of course you get a signed copy." She replied, her voice now a little cracked and hoarse. She'd been thinking of doing something a little... Well, a little steep in terms of gestures. She wondered if she should mention it now, or just wait until it was ready and present it as a surprise.
"Now, shall we go and find some food and tea before I have a full on meltdown, your make up doesn't look like it would suit me and my apartment is a while away." she joked with a warm smile.
"Alice!" She stammered blushing very very hard. She was shaking her head a little. Why yes, Rebecca was freaking gorgeous but she didn't need her younger sister talking about her friend who was probably in a relationship who also happened to be one of Alice's teachers.. That situation was all different kinds of weird .
Besides that, her affection for Rebecca had always been platonic. There was just that one incident. That everyone at the mansion seemed to have found out about.
"Well yes, I have thought about it." She admitted. "Partially it's habit, partially it's because it pisses off her ladyship." She added with a sheepish smile on her face. She'd missed out on being able to teenage rebellion her grandmother for real so she got her own back where she could.
Serena felt a little surge of anger and had to actively stop her hand from shaking. "I'm sure you did. And no, I can't imagine what living with her is like." She admitted. Thank god she had good control over her mutation, it would've been the worst if she accidentally shifted in front of Alice. Especially given she hadn't elaborated on her power to her sister yet.
"Hah. No wonder she was so upset when she asked me about arranged marriage and found out I was gay. No way she was forcing me into ****" She hoped Alice didn't mind her cursing. She didn't do it often, but something about her grandmother just brought out the rage in her. "I've almost literally thrown her out of my apartment before. It's also a good thing I had pretty good control when I met her or things could have gotten ugly." She mentioned with a slight grimace.
"She seems to genuinely care about you. Which is all you can really ask for in a parent." She admitted. She sometimes wondered how much of a crap her father really gave. Alice had made her wonder that even further. Serena felt the bitterness receded and give way to warmth. "I would pay if she couldn't or didn't." She replied flatly and sincerely.
"You deserve independence and happiness. If that witch ever tried to take you back, all you'd need to do is give me a call and I'd either make her back off or kick her ass for you." It was sort of funny when Serena got irate or passionate, her usual tone and accent made it sound odd.
"I got that impression." She smiled sadly. "I wish I could have met her, Jake had a couple of stories but he didn't remember all that much either." Serena's eyes started to blur a little bit. She missed him so much.
Serena buried her face gently in her little sister's shoulder during the hug, trying to shake off some of the tears. "I'm glad. I love you Alice." She murmured into the shoulder.
Serena wiped her face a little thankful it wasn't full on waterworks, her makeup was enough of a mess already from lack of sleep. "If you say so. I personally only think it's at it's full majesty when paired with a good cup of tea." She teased gently. She also really liked cake, she used to bake it all the time when she hung out with friends but she hadn't done much of that recently.
"I'm sorry. Next time I go on an adventure I'll stop by to kidnap you from school, okay?" She offered with a jest and another warm smile.
Oh. Yeah that was a little awkward. "I've genuinely not thought about it yet. I have some rough ideas penned down but to be perfectly honest I've had other things on my mind. Perhaps being back in New York will give me some ideas, we shall see." She added with another grin. "I'm glad that you like them. I'll give you an advance copy to read of course." She felt a flicker of pain as she recalled giving Amelia that very thing one fateful valentines.
Serena hadn't intentionally brought up the topic of her and Rebecca's meeting. Or hadn't intended on it being brought up in that manor anyway, certainly she didn't want to give her sister the impression that she had hooked up with Rebecca. Her cheeks flushed crimson and she stammered. "No- N- Not quite." She took a moment to recover and expanded. "It was a couple of years ago, we'd not seen each other in a long time and we ended up making out on the grounds. It was totally her fault."
She tried to shuffle away from awkward flailing rapidly. "And if you ever bring that up around her, or in any of your classes I will kill you. You hear me? Kill you." She was still very red in the face. "And my training regiment is on par with most of the X-men, so don't doubt me." She muttered.
She giggled. "So that's part of why you got distracted last year?" She teased. "I'm not judging, don't worry." She added quickly with warmth.
She pouted a little. "Well mostly I was in a weird place when I published the first one. Remember I had quite a different upbringing, and at the time that I was writing the first book I was... Well. Lets say I lacked confidence." She admitted. There was a period that she had been absolutely petrified over her power, and then when she'd started to get a semblance of control she was still scared to talk to people about it, mind you there was probably still some issues in that area given she was very nervous about bringing it up with Alice.
That comment made her grin. "Well Alice, if you think you're good at winding up the old swamp hag I think you would enjoy seeing her face after we talk. I like to think I'm much more direct in my confrontations with her." Actually, Serena on reflection had thrown her out of an apartment more than once.
"I-It's okay." She stammered a little. Her opinion on Alice's mother was a little more complicated than her opinion or relationship with her Grandmother. "I kind of get it. She lost her sister when I was born, she probably misses her." Serena felt a little smile creep onto her face. "Truth be told, I was terrified that she'd place the blame for that on me, but she doesn't seem to."
"And I can appreciate that, I lost everyone once. And Jake meant the world to me. God, I don't actually think I've ever really gotten over the complex the whole situation created." She still had problems with the cops that were mostly irrational. "But then you showed up." She added warmly, a soft smile on her lips, showing her teeth again as it developed into a very giddy smile.
Serena reached forwards as she spoke and brought her little sister into a warm, possibly slightly suffocating hug. "And suddenly everything was brighter. You mean a lot to me." During the suffocation hold she added "And yes, his grave is lovely. I have a recurring payment set up for the flowers." She admitted. "They wanted to do it anyway, but it would've gotten expensive over time, and he was my big brother."
Releasing her adorable little sister from her death grip Serena grinned at her. "Sorry." She murmured bashfully for being so hug crazy.
She giggled again. "Food and cake? Do you not consider cake a food?" She shook her head in amusement. "There is a lot I want to talk to you about, but mostly I want to talk about you. I want to know you better." She blushed a little. "I'm sorry for disappearing like I did, I definitely should have held it together better and spent more time with you than I have done."
Serena passed the tea over to Mirror as it was done and then nibbled the corner of her bagel a little more before taking a sip of her own tea. She'd had coffee before, and she didn't hate it. But Serena was much more of a tea person to be honest, it was probably largely due to the people she hung out with most in her teenage years, the Brits had reinforced eachother heavily in that area.
Thinking about old family memories and the old apartment was odd. She wasn't nearly as sad as she used to be, maybe it was also because it was kinda in the back of her mind due to Alice anyway.
Serena chuckled heartily. "It's okay if you don't, I've never made a big deal out of it. They aren't even under my legal name, I was so nervous when I wrote the first one." It wasn't a secret really anymore, she did write for a sort of magazine and blog a lot, people had connected the dots long ago. And Serena just made enough to get by, her books were successful in author terms but that by no means made her another RR martin or King. She just had appropriate savings, a second job and a moderate following.
"Becca..." She murmured, feeling embarrassed again that she'd not kept in touch. "So many people I need to apologise to." She muttered quietly.
She stretched out, aware that she was still in Gym clothes and the apartment was a mess, trying to ignore the innate embarrassment that went along with those factors. "Well that's the million dollar question isn't it?" She smiled to herself.
Serena had been amused with how long Alice held out asking it, Mirror was pretty direct and they had an easier relationship than Serena and Alice, that was for sure. "It's a number of things." She thought before answering. "This place, this city, the mansion even. They're my home. For all the mixed memories, and the fact that I'm not even American, this is where I belong." She admitted earnestly. That realisation had taken some time.
"There are other things. I assume you know I've been doing some activism and charity work? I want to do more here to help. Equal rights for everyone and all that, I've just not figured out the total direction yet..." And then there was the elephant. The big one.
"And then there is Alice." She paused, a soft and warm smile slowly separating her lips, showing her teeth a little. "My little sister."
Serena blinked, she mostly didn't think too much about Alice's power, but she often forgot about the hunger bar thing. She found her little sister's power very amusing, she was kind of into video games herself. Not quite to the extent that somebody like Alice was, or even James. She did play them though, when she had access to her limited free time.
Another flicker of amusement and warmth rocked through Serena. She actually found the fact that Alice was a lesbian made it easier to bond with her. "Trust me Alice, I'm very well aware of the situation." She smirked, initially thinking back to when she was a kid here, working out her own sexuality and on rare occasion having a girl over that wasn't a roommate.
... And then there was that other time. "I was mostly referring to the metaphorical eyes in the walls..." knowing the mansion they may not have been entirely metaphorical. "There was an incident with a certain red haired English teacher in the grounds that somehow made the rounds of the entire bloody estate." She shook her head, blushing a little in embarrassment.
It had ultimately been a very positive encounter though as she had become very close with Rebecca, platonically speaking, afterwards. There was that pang of guilt again.
Serena shrugged a little awkwardly, she did actually have some idea of how Alice felt about that, but she wasn't going to get into details. "I understand. But once you're caught up and have fully figured out what direction you want to take yourself in, it's worth it. And yes, I am well aware of how corny that might sound. I've been in a similar position to yourself before."
She raised her eyebrow in a smirk at the younger girl "define 'drinks' young lady."
She let that hang for a few moments before cracking into a wide smile. "I'm joking, of course. The laws here are too strict anyway." As far as Serena was concerned if a teenager could handle important life decisions ontop of a mutation, they could probably handle a drink or two.
Alice in a way reminded Serena of Amelia, it was the way that her words spilled out before she could stop them once she was started, it made her smile widely. "It was... Important, fulfilling, and not nearly enough." She quickly stammered out awkwardly.
She definitely wanted to do something more impactful. "I met some interesting people, and did some book promotion on the side. Which was weird, and thankfully not terribly public. One of the advantages to publishing under a pseudonym I suppose."
Ah, there it was. "I have." She thought about it for a moment before glancing at Alice. "Don't worry, it wasn't much about you, well some of it was I suppose. She mentioned you repeating, I told her that I already knew, she made some comparisons to my mother and this and that-" She took a breath and swatted away awkward, annoying sad feelings. "And then brought up Jake. It was weird. It was awkward. I feel she meant well."
Serena yawned a little and nodded sipping her tea and slowly filling the kettle and pottering around in the cupboards while she listened to Mirror and responded. "It's nicer everything isn't coating in 2 years of dust." She admitted sheepishly. She had been back to New York briefly a few times (Which she probably wasn't going to tell anyone) But It'd been little more than meeting her editor in person and sleeping in her own bed for a night or two.
"I... I needed my own space separate from the mansion where I could concentrate on being independent." She admitted, thinking back to what she'd been thinking several years ago when she'd bought it. "I actually kind of already had an apartment; my family's apartment was paid off and left in my name, that is my Brother and Father's apartment, but living there would've been a little too painful as well as a little two strange for me. So I sold it and bought this place with some extra savings."
The odd thing about living at the mansion as an orphan while she got her education, and then starting work while being there, as well as having real estate she could sell was that she was in a really really solid financial position when she moved out.
She found a mug covered in kittens and began brewing the tea for Maya. She'd chosen one that didn't need milk, for the obvious reason that she didn't have any. Not that she wasn't spoiled for choice... A quick glance at the Brit's tea cupboard would demonstrate that some things didn't change.
"I-" She blinked and was taken aback for a moment. "Have I never invited you to my apartment, AND never told you what I do for a living?" She shook her head, blushing with both embarrassment and amusement. "I'm a professional writer, I have an online platform, and I have published works. That's why I was able to up and leave like I did." She admitted sheepishly. She infact now had, 4 published works.
Serena smiled. She could technically cook, but she definitely wasn't as good as Alice. Baking on the other hand she excelled at. Something about using very scientific, exact measurements and them having a set impact on what she was doing just made it easier to understand.
Obviously cooking was measured, but she found it tended to need more improvising.
She nibbled on the energy bar thoughtfully. "I'm glad to hear that you're eating well, energy bars aren't exactly a balanced diet~" She chimed, playfully nudging her sister.
At the response she giggled. "Yes we most certainly will. I don't know nearly enough about you, and I would absolutely adore the opportunity to spend more time with you." She added warmly. To be fair it had taken her a little while to adjust to having a sibling once again, but she had missed it on so many levels. It was odd being the older one, but again she could adjust.
The blonde chuckled a little nervously. "Yeah well... It's definitely going to need some serious cleaning and maintenance." She grinned. "There isn't anything wrong with the mansion. Apart from the prying eyes, they can be a little much at times." Rumours had circulated about her more than once, even after she'd left. Though the most recent time was Rebecca's fault.
A pang of guilt hit her, she grimaced. "I will... I just need.." Time? She'd had more than enough time. "To be honest, I need to just gather the courage to talk to some of them and apologise for vanishing. I needed some space from the city and my life here for several reasons."
She shuddered a little. "I know a few people that are going to be quite annoyed about it." Sam and Mirror came to mind. And maybe Rebecca. The list was long.
She shook herself out of it reaching over and basically mugging her little sister in an affectionate hug, kissing the top of her head. "The plan, little crazy one... Is getting comfortable being here again, apologising to a long list of people, and spending time with my sister~"
After harassing her sister with cuddles she added. "And that is as far as I've gotten with my planning."
Serena felt a warm floaty feeling from seeing people she cared about and getting a similar response. Seeing Alice had been so awesome. It was great to see Mirror too. And Maya was definitely looking well. "I... Well." She smiled softly and took a breath. "I'm terribly sorry, I'm forgetting my manors. Would you like to come inside? Yes this is my apartment, and I am very sorry for the condition it's in, I've not lived here full time for about 2 years." She admitted.
Serena led back inside and picked up her tea, leaning against the kitchen counter, which was relatively close to the door. She'd sort of forgotten what a view her apartment had, the central area was a slightly lowered living room with a couple of sofas and a T.V with windows that opened out a little onto the skyline, the only area of the room that was actually ordered and clean was a writing desk off to one side leaning on a wall where she used to do most of her work, in contrast to the chaos of the rest of the room.
"I live alone. This is where I moved out from the mansion to after I sold my brother's old apartment." She smiled a little, more sad than before. "There is a spare room, but it's currently unoccupied." She had an idea for that actually, but she was going to wait a little bit before trying to get it sorted out.
"Yes. I think I'm back." She said, answering the biggest hanging question. "Would you like something to drink? I have..." She blushed as she remembered not having much of anything in the flat. "I think I have basically water, or about 50 different blends of tea."
