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.
“Professor Sophia Stratford. Cookie?” uncharacteristic of the blonde, but a cookie was a cookie, too many of them would have gone right to her hips, and the last things she wanted to do would be to go jogging for any extended period of time. It was that or fast for a few days and see if that got the weight done. No what was she not going to fit in to her skirts and dresses.
“But if you like science physics is a much better field. Physics has far more applications world over than Biology, and who wants to be playing with things that will make your hands dirty. Disgusting work that stuff is,” considering the worse you could get in physics was a paper cut from the practical work, if you actually wanted to do some of the more practical work, the worse you could do was destroy a bunch of stuff. Still, it was a lot less disgusting that muddling around in the dirt and playing with human or animal body parts, especially the blood. Sophia even visible cringed when considering blood, thinking the stuff horrible, despite how useful it really was, it just crept her out.
“Besides, you’ll use physics far more often than you would biology. How long it takes to break in a car, how far something will go if you throw it, and even things move around you. All vastly more important than any plant or microbe you might study about, but never ‘actually’ use,” implying that by actually, there was little merit in studying how thing moved and the science behind them than trying to study why a tree grew a certain way, or how a duck’s bill actually worked to its advantage in some obscure way.
"A quiet place to study would very likely be your own bedroom, assuming it offer's adequate light, a comfortable seat, and a sturdy notebook to work on. The dining room isn't quite the place for studying," said the woman who was clearly tracking celestial bodies in the night's sky. Granted, Sophia was here for a good reason, the ample room provided by the dining room table would surely offer much more space for her star charts and other research notes, along with the various small folders and two computers. Sophia's efforts were different, someone else's were less so, especially Biology…
Biology was a useless field, assuming you weren't aiming to be a doctor. How animals, plant life, and other such creatures operated were no more than important than why a chicken crossed the road. You couldn't necessarily learn anything new from them at all, and as a result, the benefit they offered was minimal. As well, why did it matter if it worked? A duck quacked, a plant grew, and dogs bark, who cared about the inner workings so long as they did work. If you wanted to specialize in them, you could, but it was pretty boring research that didn't offer any sort of insight in the nature of the universe.
Which needed to be called out upon, noticing the book on Biology, Sophia first rushed back to her research to see if anything had been edited or changed, or at the very worst, the upload with the observatories had been interfered with. Thankfully, nothing had been from what Sophia could see, so it was safe to plop herself back down on the chair and go over her data once more. But while a program was running, it would take a moment to compile the data, and so it was a moment Sophia could pull off her glasses for a moment and question the nature of studying in the dining room so late in the evening, "So… you planning on becoming a doctor?"
This dinner table was magnificent… plenty of space, feet in every direction, it was fantastic. Normally Sophia never got tables like this to use, and if she did, it wasn't for very long, this 2 AM in the morning thing was working out beautifully. Granted a person like Sophia loved to pour over data in to the wee hours, but generally her craziness of books, two laptops, no fewer than a dozen files and a spare no pad would never fit on her desk back in her room, or even her apartments, which never suited the giant table anyways. But the sheer volume of her work demanded it, and as a result, demanded that she have the proper tools laid out in a very wealth sized space.
But granted, it was 2 AM in the morning, these notes were vital to research regarding the shifting of stars and planets. Sophia wanted to believe that even the most minute of details over the span of any given time could calculate the exact positions of stars from times before. This meant that she could postulate the distance the light traveled, if the light was traveling, and which starts had disappeared meant that she could even theoretically calculate the distance. It was somewhat wild speculation, but the data pouring in on a light basis from research telescopes needed to be analyzed properly and scientifically. Which mainly meant Sophia looking at lots of star charts online and pouring over recovered from about a dozen different observatories that she was working with. Granted she may have not been the most well known astrologer yet, but she was well respected in the community, and one she believed she'd be on top of in the future. But light traveling billions of millennia was not something you could track in one night, or even over a life time. This had taken Sophia years of hard work, trying to match up star charts of old with more modern, high definition ones, see if anything changed… thus far not a whole lot, but Sophia was getting closer, it just took time.
Time she had, a bladder she did not. Right now, the effects of multitude of water were taking her effect. Granted the cookies from the kitchen probably didn't help either; a plate of them left out for anyone to eat, Sophia took a few, consider them a midnight snack that had gone past its prime at midnight was well worth a 2 AM snack instead. She leapt from her seat though, turning around the corner to a nearby restroom that so vividly called her attention right now. It was enough to get her attention, enough that she was willing to depart from her work. She'd be one for only a few minute, the liters of water shooting out of her, and with a wash of her hands, it was back to work. And upon returning to her work, she couldn't help but say, "Get away from those papers and computers! That's important research."
I'd be interesting in RPing as well, though for the character I leave it up to you as to whom you think a super confident, always thinks she's right Physics Teacher might work well with. Granted she pleasant, so long as you agree with her.
“Then it would seem you have little to worry about,” consider that of course they did a through background, it seemed less like they were letting a wolf in to their den, and more so inviting a fly in to a spider’s web instead. Granted Sophia would not be so easily caught in any web she hadn’t already prepared herself to get in to, but for now this was a safe haven that Sophia was being let in to. They were certain to be careful themselves about Sophia being in their home, and were certain that she wasn’t about to harm anyone in her wake. Of course it was never her intention to be rude or such, but it seemed as much as Sophia did homework, she had done their on her far better.
“I thank you for this opportunity, perhaps I’ll be of further assistance to you in the future. And maybe I’ll earn your trust sooner than you think,” nodding as she turned toward her room and pressed forward to the door. The key she had been given surely fit the lock, and with a slight turn of the wrist, the door opened forward for her gave her a rather large room to work with. If this was what they gave the adults, then that surely she was fortunate. No setting sun to bother her, a pleasant view of an open field, and what looked like a rather plump queen size bed. There would be necessary modifications, a canopy for the bed, followed by appropriate sheets and décor. A more robust desk and vanity for herself here, but the only thing unnecessary to change was the closer, a rather spacious walk in that left lots of room for her belongings, if barely. Turning back to Sam, he seemed to have disappeared back down the hallway, “This will do…”
“Oh Really now…” a sort sarcastic tone toward the boy who simply wouldn’t leave her alone. Why was he so damn noisy and annoying? Surely he had better things to do like Sophia did, what exactly did he keep following her anyways? Trying to set the world right? Maybe he was trying to get out of trouble, what ever it was, the child was clever, that wasn’t to be denied, but clever wasn’t really something Sophia gave a damn about it. She was more than smart enough for the greater population of this entire city, and she didn’t need a child to point anything more to her.
“I don’t particularly care if you admit to something or not, a child loitering is a child loitering, no one would think twice about taking a child somewhere official. That is to say as well, they wouldn’t release you with out a parent, and it would have to be them who protests your innocence, not you. Kicking and scream all you like about video tape, no one reviews a video tape with out a reason, and that reason has to come from someone taller than a six year old,” Sophia didn’t care to stop at this point. Walking as fast as her four inch heels would let her, the process of covering ground was staggering compared to a normal child who could probably very easily run, as opposed to Sophia’s short graceful steps. Even in a small trot, Sophia wouldn’t be able to run away from anything too quickly, she was not a very physical person, and even her bags were light by comparison, barely a few items in each, and all of it clothing of light silky material.
Still, Sophia pressed forward, hoping that her rushed pace toward the store would be enough to get him to leave, but then again, he’d been persistent, maybe she need a more direct approach to solving the problem of getting rid of her, “Look kid, I don’t need a shadow, and if I did, I’d get one a lot prettier than you. Just scram already, I have no use for something your size anyways, I doubt you could even carry my bags. Silly is continue to bother a person who clearly wants nothing to do with you, did your clever little mind consider that. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have adult things to do which don’t involve children.”
"Hmmm?!?" well that was unusual, granted Sophia didn't expect someone to take her comments to gleefully, thought the 'Whatever' was hardly a normal. This wasn't Sophia's strong point, she might as well one day learn to actual hold a reasonable conversation with another human behind, today wasn't the day to learn and not the conversation to try and learn about it. But then growl, the fierce kind of look in the this person's eyes, followed almost immediately by tears, Sophia not one of those people who was immune to intimidation. On the contrary, when shown to be up against a greater foe who could probably do more harm than good to her, Sophia was generally smart enough to retreat. The mere shock of a person growling at her when they already looked dangerous to begin with made Sophia nearly leap backwards, tripping over her own heels and falling backwards on to the floor. She was visibly shaken, noticing the tears only after being shouted at.
"And what good does that do?" a little shaken, and surely afraid, Sophia decided to take a stick and poke the tiger woman again. She had a point, just because she was afraid, she wasn't going to back down from it. If this was the end, better make it a good point that she die on. Gathering herself on the floor, she had atleast the good sense to keep her hands behind her, not that she couldn't break glass in the room and hurl it in every which way in order to protect herself, but Sophia had a gut feeling that she'd cross the line first, the tiger woman had every right to do so in return.
"I'm not you, I don't report to be or know anything about what you've been through, but a lie doesn't help you. Either you don’t know what people think and you go about your life oblivious to other people's feelings about you, or you accept other people's opinions and decide if they mean anything to you all. I’m the physics teacher, I'm hardly someone you should or consider listening to, much less accepting as an authority on how to act or be the person you want to be. So if I offended you, I apologize, I only did what I expected anyone else to do for me, tell me the truth," and in was the simple fact. Poking the cat continuously wasn't going about to work probably, but it was Sophia believed that perhaps she wasn't doing anything wrong. To Sophia, the good and bad made a person, understanding one's fault meant learning to use them to her advantage. Her weak physical nature meant she understood to rely on others help or find clever way to get what she wanted physically; the nature of needing or wanting to be better at almost everything was enough to convince her that she might was well not be good at everything, and instead specialize in certain areas. Granted the cat woman would probably lay in hard to her, but Sophia knew her faults, and if she heard new one, they'd be under review.
"So is that really it?" rather than be so bold to ask, it rather so bold to suddenly accept her. Granted, she was a brilliant person, endowed with stunning looks, clever mind, and convincingly a good person when the necessary time came. But for all this person knew, she wasn't completely telling the truth, and resume or things she might have said could have been half truths or complete lies. How was this a cunning interview or even typical run of the mill stuff.
"I don't mean to be disrespectful or combative, but I suspected this to be more through or perhaps more involved. I mean, you're just giving me a room, very little questioned ask. I surely couldn't have earned your trust, must less your respect or admiration. You don't really know a great deal about me either and it's okay that I move in here with you?" perhaps Sophia should have kept her mouth shut. Maybe this was the way this mansion worked, perhaps you came in and then proved your importance or trust. After all, in theory, there were ticking time bombs and otherwise powerful people, if you did do something, the so called 'X-men' were just down the hallway.
"Not that you have anything to fear, I am a rather qualified person, and this would greatly benefit me and your home as well. I just don't want to get the impression of something wrong when I've done nothing wrong…" now Sophia was trailing, she'd considered this, but forming her words seemed more challenging than she expected. This was a great deduction she'd considered and came up with, but all of it meant a great deal of nothing when placing it together with a number of other issues. Perhaps Sophia greatly over thinking this, and granted she hadn't seen her new room, perhaps it was bigger than she suspected, but that was this Sam person to decide, if she was hadn't just broken the deal already.
What was this kid's issue? Sophia wanted him gone, why wasn't he listening. And for a small kid, he was awfully resourceful in thinking his thoughts out. Still, it wasn't a good conclusion that he had reached, not even a conductive one. He had thought something out, but wasn't a hundred percent thought out obviously, “I’m surprised you're not running. It doesn't matter, police don't look at camera recordings immediately either, not unless it's handed over, and only when there isn't overwhelming evidence. It wouldn't matter anyways, you're closest to the window, I never looked nor motioned toward the window, and beyond any of that, camera's don't have microphones, they wouldn't and couldn't hear us even if we wanted them to."
“Go home kid, unlike you, I have real things to do, so beat it," deciding she needed to be the adult in this, Sophia placed her items in her bag, and began walking in the opposite direction, her hand firmly pressed on the talk button bring her phone up to her hand. This kid was annoying, what was his next move, tackle Sophia and keep her from going anywhere? That seemed unlikely, and frankly, Sophia knew he wasn't going to do anything. He needed to go, real people, real adults like her had placed to go, people to see, and shoes to return. I remained to be seen if she could return it, and even if not possible, maybe it was possible to wear the shoes and no one notice. She'd probably need to do a test trial at the mansion, or such.
“Yes 911… Yes there was a kid, and he was by some glass window, and it look like he broken the window. Last I saw him standing by it and he's not there anymore, but he was some short kid, brown hair, running around the garment district like he owned the place," figuring that was enough, she turned around toward the glass to see if her would be miniature stalker was still behind her. Granted she didn't quite see him, but then noticed something else instead.
“A child should always be threatened of an adult… especially when they’re running in to people and destroying property,” though a little less malice than before, she was still very annoyed. She wanted this boy to run along, go home and disappear from her view. And so she had a better idea.
Despite wanting to harm the boy as much as he had harmed her new shoes, it wouldn’t fly. The sudden speaking of police was enough to remind Sophia that this was still a child, and harming him would have been wrong, it would be felt much better, but wrong none the less. So a different equation had to be made that would have appropriately gotten the result she wanted. So as a result, a display window cracked, a rather large crack, not very difficult to make for Sophia, but enough that a child could be possibly be blamed for it. And then it began to shatter even more as Sophia looked at it, though her look on her face was one of wonder and surprise, a bit shock thrown in just for kicks.
“Now look what you did. I was right, a brat like you, breaking windows. It’s a shame, but children need to be punished for their crimes," though Sophia was well aware it wasn't her, even in her voice, a hint of mocking in it as she looked at the boy still arguing with her. And the glass's tempered nature was such that rather than crack like a singular sheet of glass, it broke in tiny pieces, looking very much like a car window would if smashed in by a solid object, just no hole yet. Turning back to the boy though, it was time he got what he deserved, whipping out her phone and pretending to dial something, “We can't have juveniles running loose. But… say I turned my head, and the child ran off, I can't held responsible. Though I should definitely contact the authorities and let them know what I saw."
“Now go away, go and play your Z-box or your Power Marshals or whatever it is brats do." clearly dialing numbers, they weren't anything in particular, she could have very easily dialed the mansion or contacted the shop itself, but the number was arbitrary and hardly of interest. Staring down at the kid, ready for him to leave and depart, she passed a few words wisdom to him, “You see me walking down the street, I'd consider crossing it. Now scram."
“Huh?” a sudden voice coming out of nowhere was rather strange, granted Sophia knew this happened before, but who ever this was talking was not a voice of her own head, for her ego was too great to let another in. No this voice came from a tree no too far away from her, speaking rather gently, as though trying to Sophia’s attention. And thusly, Sophia turned around the sudden voice, but more or less surprised when she didn’t see anything. Sophia moved a bit, looking around for the voice when she turned to the tree and didn’t see it, moving to either side of it to see who was there.
“Who’s ther…. Oh my…” turning her face away in shame. This was really not something wanted to see, another otherwise naked person which shouldn’t have been in a park like this so nakedly. Why was she dressed like that, but it didn’t matter, “Can’t… can’t you put on some clothes, please…”
While the nature of a person appearing out of nowhere naked, Sophia was not too keen on wanting to see that. Despite the human body, hers more so, being a usually masterful piece of work, she had little interest in seeing that of other people’s. Especially when bits of it that shouldn’t have normally been exposed were like this was. Sophia’s own shame was enough to make her turn around and unable to look at this woman, though one thing remained in her mind after seeing her. Though it was dark, not a great wealth of light, the moon still showed brightly, and even in the shade of the trees, Sophia couldn’t get over the though out of her head. Did the woman not have any eyes? She was almost certain she saw what she saw, where the sockets of a person’s eyes would normally be, they looked black, as though missing and gone entirely, replaced with some sort of black orbs instead. Sophia was certain if she looked back at Sophia, but it weird, the thought, the impression; it was not something she could forget so easily.
Part of Sophia’s own shame in the human body was simply not her expecting to see it either. She didn’t like this, and felt a need to do something, using her combs from earlier, she had them start back toward her camp, using the glass as a pair of makeshift hands, they gathered up the spare blanket she kept for cold nights and rushed it toward the tree, holding it up as a makeshift sheet to hide the girl behind. Sophia was partly confused to turn around, certain she hadn’t see what she saw, but she was curious and certainly interested, “There… take that, it’s too cold out her to be running around like that!”
“But you are a brat…” eye sharpened by the light, but so narrow that you couldn’t possible pass a knife between them. It was a look of malice and vengeance, normally reserved for people who truly offended her and ruined nice clothing. And this boy, he ruined nice clothing.
“These are not just any shoes…These are Manolo Blahnik! They’re a four inch, satin heel, with a pointed toe that’s covered in tiny ruby crystals. They’re low cut and offer a timeless silhouette for a girl’s foot. Slender and slim, they feel like you’re not wearing anything and have the most impeccable sound when you’re walking in them, giving the utter attention to you and almost no one else,” spouting details almost as lightning fast as she had gotten upset over the shoes being hurt. Sophia’s gaze never let up, even though with her supreme focus on the boy, her attention to her mutation and powers were not. As a result, the windows in the surrounding shops, even some of the parked cars, began to rattle, as though wobbling in and out, trying to break their bonds and come forth to Sophia.
“They aren’t even $200 dollar shoes. I got them for $200, the person who sold them to me didn’t even know what they had, but these are expensive. These retail for nearly seventeen hundred dollars. So don’t tell me they’re just any shoes!” because they weren’t and that was what Sophia was most upset about. This was a priceless find, a great find beyond measure, and surely the sales person was getting reamed for selling shoes she probably shouldn’t have. It was Sophia’s win, and they would have looked perfet along her feet, but now she’d never know, a tiny scratch was still noticeable, even if others didn’t know about it, Sophia did.
“They were shoes that you only find once in a life time, and they’re ruined. Now they’re damaged, probably beyond repair, so don’t talk to me about them just being shoes and getting over it. How would you like if I marked up your face, it’s just a face, no one will probably notice anyways….” there was malice in her voice now too, as though she were serious about perhaps hurting him. She wasn’t overly serious about it, but wanted to put the fear in the eyes of a child so that he wouldn’t consider knocking another adult over again. Especially her.
Now blindness, how could it get worse, but the only way out of this situation was to get a comb or something and comb it out of her hair physically, whatever it was that had landed in her hair. Opening her eyes was difficult, she might as well been looking through an unmagnified telescope, all she could see was the blur of what could have otherwise once had been objects, but weren’t, and her glasses had been flung too far away for her to successful see them. But she didn’t her glasses for what she wanted.
Deep in her picnic basket was a ball of glass that she brought with her for safe keeping. Normally such a ball was meant to keep her safe, a quick projectile that would scare anyone stupid enough to normally come around her and threaten violent against her. But she was going to use it for that this time; sensing it just off the small distance from her, she reached out to it and lifted it up in to the air toward her with her usual impeccable control. It hovered just before her as she continued to shiver and squirm ever so slightly now, her eyes and mouth plucked down tightly just incase such a creature got bored and decided to take a short trip around her face some. The ball was in front of her, she could sense it, but she was going to split it in to three, three relatively equal parts, smaller pieces of the whole, but cracked off pieces none the less. With some forward concentration, each of the slices of glass slowly began to take shape, until they were transformed in to combs. Three identical straight edged combs with fine teeth for coming the shortest of hair.
But Sophia had other purposes for it, with haste and quick speed, the brushes combed her hair, one after another starting from the top of her hair and brushing down the back of her mane until they had passed through her hair almost a three or four dozen times in succession. What ever might have been in her hair wasn’t there anymore and she sight a bit of relief, but quickly started looking for her glasses since she needed them most of all. They were just a short distance away, flung off because of her constant head shaking, and with her mutation, she could hear them, sitting just a short distance away. She was able to lift them in to the air and have them float back to her with relative ease, a small feat for Sophia, but with out them, she was practically blind. A need, not a desire, but the glasses safely back in front of her eyes meant she could see once again, and after glance around to see if she noticed anything in the darkness of night, she cursed herself for even coming out here, “Well we’re never doing this here again….”
The library was meant to be quiet, it was meant to be anything but noise, scrambling, and certainly not whatever that strange electrical noise sounded like. Sophia was being awfully patient, but that wasn't to say her patient would continue last forever and certainly not through the rest of this morning. Granted she wanted wasn't looking for any Holy Grail of physics or science at all, but just going over homework and papers from class was a challenge in and of itself for this new teacher. Most of the students being very eager to please Sophia, they had mostly failed to present anything Sophia didn't already understand with what she believed a genius intellect, but the papers themselves were filled with various errors that wouldn't normally be considered in such papers for a high school student. It took every ounce of Sophia's good will to try and keep herself from using her red pen to scratch and spray Xs all over the work, instead, just nice musing about what was wrong and how good or bad it was.
But this noise in the library was becoming intolerable: first there was the bits of noise, whispers as clear as day to Sophia, who simply believed libraries ought to have been like graveyards, eerily quiet, and only occasionally an outburst. Aside from that, there was also scrambling by some of the kids, running from the bookshelves one after another, they'd go to look for something, pick it up, and run back to their chair, followed shortly by another student doing it again moments later and repeated the cycle over and over again. Lastly it was this strange electronic noise, one Sophia wasn't familiar with, but it certainly did not belong to a library. How could one be expected to work in this kind of environment? Doubtful these students knew the wrath of Sophia, but that was reserved for people she disliked, she only disliked their actions which despite any protests, they'd just continue once more.
Instead, it was time to solve one noise at a time, first concerning that electronic noise of sorts. It was strange, first it sounded like sparks, then it sounded like something was moving, then it was strange whistles and squeaks. Sophia unaware of what it was, had to put down her papers and shuffle them in to a folder so no one would see them, follow upwards with her raising for the chair and toward the noise. It was on the opposite side of the library, meaning she'd have to navigate some book shelves, some tables with children before find herself the opposite side of the library, eventually turning around a book shelf to see something she hadn't normally expected to see.
