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.
Posted by Kiva Augillard on Jun 30, 2013 20:10:30 GMT -6
Epsilon Mutant
92
2
Feb 27, 2015 12:39:25 GMT -6
She was Paige's what?
Kiva gave Butterfly a blank stare similar to that of a deer caught in headlights, blinking slowly at the pair of pleading puppy dog eyes in front of her. She had had no idea that Paige was even interested in women, let alone had found a girlfriend. She was very happy for her friend, and Butterfly certainly seemed like a nice girl, but this sudden information did take a minute to process.
She gave a tiny cough. "You're...really animated, you know that?" she said, the words just tumbling out of her mouth. It was the only word she could use to describe her by this point. She was like a puppy or something. "That's not a bad thing," she added hastily, and it really wasn't, not to Kiva. It would take some getting used to, though.
"So, um..." She looked at the sketch of sprite-Paige, and one of her wings twitched, followed by the other. All the various poses she'd come up with hadn't involved directly interacting with the current sprite. She was the centrepeice that had everything going on around her. Looked like that was going out the window, though.
Then it hit her, smashing straight into the artistic part of her brain like thrown bricks. Her eyes scanned the branch and the magic vines, and she wondered how she hadn't considered doing something similar before now. If she nudged the tree slightly to the one side instead of having it directly in the centre like she'd been planning...
Kiva suddenly smiled. In fact, she downright grinned. "I know what would look great. What if--" She turned the sketch around so that Butterfly could see exactly what she indicating as she ran the blunt edge of her claw along the tree branch. "--You were laying on your stomach along the branch? And the vines coiling around her arm? Instead of just being attached to the tree, you could have your hand at the other end, like you're weaving them with your magic together..."
Then, the next idea hitting her, she added, "And instead of the style of wings I gave her, I could give you your shapeshifted form's wings if you want."
Kiva was excited now. Very excited. Her artists' block had officially been bludgeoned into submission. Paige was going to be so surprised and it was going to be awesome!
Posted by Kiva Augillard on Jun 30, 2013 19:06:18 GMT -6
Epsilon Mutant
92
2
Feb 27, 2015 12:39:25 GMT -6
Drake, while still paying attention just in case Noel spoke up, certainly had all appearances of having completely tunnel-visioned, focusing on the other woman's wrist with clear intensity. Keep the area clean, keep the needle steady, follow the plan, make it perfect...
"Done."
She gently wiped down the area where she'd written the four letters for the final time, then pulled away to let Noel examine her no doubt sore wrist. The dragon-like mutant was a rare artist who had no ink of her own, thanks to her inhuman skin and its incompatibility with needles, and so she had never found out what the process felt like first hand. Still, you didn't need that good an imagination to know that getting repeatedly jabbed with something sharp would hurt.
Now it was clean-up time, disposing of what needed to be disposed of in the proper manner. Even more important than the artistry was making sure everything was clean and sterile. Then, once she was ready to ink again, it would be Ty's turn.
Posted by Kiva Augillard on Jun 30, 2013 18:33:37 GMT -6
Epsilon Mutant
92
2
Feb 27, 2015 12:39:25 GMT -6
What better way to twist my dragon than to make her into a dragonfly? Especially one with leaves for wings and wearing clothing of colour and texture to suggest plum-puddings and raisins. In other words, Kiva will be a loose interpretation of a humanoid snap-dragon-fly.
Posted by Kiva Augillard on Jun 18, 2013 20:52:40 GMT -6
Epsilon Mutant
92
2
Feb 27, 2015 12:39:25 GMT -6
When you can't sleep, exercise. One physical education teacher who had not been paid nearly enough for how well he did his job had drilled that bit of advice into her head as a child, and she'd long taken it to heart. Of course, he'd probably meant something more like running laps at the time than what she was doing right now, but the concept still applied.
It was approaching 2 AM, and Kiva was sitting there in the living room, weight lifting. The television was on, volume low and on a 'radio' channel, acting as the source of her work-out music--not that country tunes were really 'work-out music,' but it's not like anyone else was here right now to hear it and complain--and the source of a bit of light in the room. That bit of light danced across her bronze scales and the silver-coloured dumbbell in her clawed hand as she sat on the couch doing bicep curls.
The adjustable dumbell had on its maximum amount of weight, the spinlock wide open to make room for as many plates as the thing could hold. She curled and uncurled her arm over and over, breathing in and out in time with her movements, losing herself in the familiar rhythm.
Some people looked at her and figured her musculature was part of her mutation. It wasn't. It was something she had worked to gain, and continued to work to maintain. It was something she was very proud of. So, if she couldn't sleep, why not incorporate weight training into the solution?
In fact, it seemed to be working already, as the comforting familiarity of the motions started to lull her into something close to a doze, making her steadily less aware of her surroundings, even though her movements didn't slow at all.
Posted by Kiva Augillard on Jun 18, 2013 17:36:50 GMT -6
Epsilon Mutant
92
2
Feb 27, 2015 12:39:25 GMT -6
May 1st
"What did she want this time?" Raven asked, leaning on her desk slightly, after a familiar dark-clothed figure and furred bodyguard were through the doors and thus out of earshot. She tucked a bit of hair--she'd just gotten red streaks added to the jet black strands yesterday, which admittedly looked pretty good on her--and looked genuinely nervous, a very uncommon expression on her these days.
Kiva frowned, silently promising to deck Nerys in the face if it turned out she was harassing Raven, Bonnie or no Bonnie. "She wanted the design extended to her collarbone," she explained, flexing her wings slightly.
"Why does she even bother if she wears that every day?" Raven commented, tapping her black-painted nails on the desk. "I'd understand if it meant something, but you're just giving her fancy patterns, right? No names or anything?" Kiva didn't even bother nodding to confirm this, as it seemed her friend was on a roll. "Do you even know what her mutation is? I keep feeling like she's trying to set me on fire when she looks at me, and I've slept with a pyrokinetic chick before so it's not like I'm just paranoid!"
Kiva sighed a little, glancing at the door. "Ra--"
"Seriously, what is her f****** problem?"
"Raven," Kiva said, raising her voice a little and making the gothic woman look up. She blinked a little as the scaled artist pointed a claw at the man who had just stepped in and was quietly standing there. "Customer."
Raven looked at him, giving a little, weak smile. It wasn't the first time, nor would it be the last, that she'd cussed in front of a customer, but Kiva knew Raven tended to prefer to do so knowingly. "Oh, uh, hey..."
Hopefully, this would be the end of the topic. And of those two coming around, since they were now officially Kiva's least favourite repeat customers.
Posted by Kiva Augillard on Jun 18, 2013 13:22:12 GMT -6
Epsilon Mutant
92
2
Feb 27, 2015 12:39:25 GMT -6
Kiva's heart broke.
A fight with what? she wanted to ask, but she didn't. The fact that these weren't fresh wounds managed to dial down her reaction from 'infirmary now' but the fact that Paige was just laying there on the ground was killing her. She knew that if the younger woman felt she could just get to her feet, brush herself off, and pretend she was fine, she would.
She'd come looking for a place to stay, just like Kiva had back during the riots. The dragon-like mutant sighed a little, frowning as Paige looked away from her. Well, there was only one response to this. Too bad that it was bound to piss off the little blonde.
Kiva would just have to deal with that, she decided.
"You are welcome to kick my ass for this later, Thingamajig, but..." She carefully slid one arm under Paige's shoulders and the other under her legs, then very carefully scooped the other woman up into her arms. She stood up, trying her best to hold the smaller woman securely without hurting her.
This was not something she'd done before, but she'd been confident in having the strength to do so, so here she was. She started to move in the direction of the doors. "You can talk to people about a room of your own later. For right now, you can rest in my room, and if the administration has a problem with that, I'll tell them where they can stick it."
Kiva was in dragon mode right now, protecting what was hers. And whether she liked it or not, Paige qualified as hers right now.
Posted by Kiva Augillard on Jun 18, 2013 12:57:24 GMT -6
Epsilon Mutant
92
2
Feb 27, 2015 12:39:25 GMT -6
Accident? Drake had not even considered the idea that Noel could do it accidentally. After all, while familiar with the idea of involuntary power use, her own mutation was simply what was obvious. Her wings twitched uncomfortably, though she didn't give another shudder this time.
However, despite the first impression, and current information, she found that she sort of liked Noel for some reason. Maybe because the woman really did seem to be a decent person.
For now, though, it was time to get to work. It wasn't exactly like a brush and a canvas--this canvas could feel pain, for one thing--but she took pride in her work just like she did with her paintings. Every piece of art had to be her best. Despite the simplicity of the tattoo, she was going to make every last of these four capital letters look as close to perfect as possible.
To that end, she fell completely silent, concentrating on her work while still keeping a bit of attention on Noel just in case she said something. She had just said that she could ask Drake to pause if she wanted, after all...
Posted by Kiva Augillard on Jun 18, 2013 12:24:29 GMT -6
Epsilon Mutant
92
2
Feb 27, 2015 12:39:25 GMT -6
Understatement of the year, kiddo, Kiva thought to herself at Serena's comment, but Gemma beat her to replying and she just gave one of her little smiles instead. She moved over to grab the handlebars of her Manticore and she walked the jet black motorcycle through the gates.
Gemma's aura indeed had an effect on her wings. The small, extra limbs went completely limp and numb, hanging lifelessly from where they attached to her shoulders. That was mildly unsettling, but the forewarning combined with the fact that they were completely useless even when she could move them meant that she didn't mind much. In fact, she was almost a little disappointed, part of her half-hoping her scaly skin would have morphed back to normal, but maybe that was beyond the capabilities of whatever Gemma was.
She glanced at the bag slung over her bike's handlebars. "Don't cause trouble, no going out until lockdown's over, and let the guys in uniform do their job. Got it. No problems there." Playing hero or being a troublemaker were both very much not on her priority list. She just wanted a place to feel safe for however long this lasted. "And I've got a chain that I tie the big guy here up with when I park 'im," she added, giving the bike an affectionate pat. A chain may not be too helpful if a kid with the right mutation was just that determined to steal it, but it should discourage most of them.
Maybe she'd leave her helmet in the garage, too, just so some joy-riding punk didn't have an excuse not to wear proper safety gear whilst doing said joy-riding.
Kiva glanced between Serena and Gemma. "Th...Thank you," she said quietly, aware that she had not said those important words yet and that she should. "I mean...You don't know me and you still...Thank you." She was aware of the trust she was being offered here, the risk they were taking in letting a complete stranger in here, and she wanted them to know she appreciated it.
Posted by Kiva Augillard on Jun 18, 2013 11:38:53 GMT -6
Epsilon Mutant
92
2
Feb 27, 2015 12:39:25 GMT -6
Kiva's mouth twitched a little in a smile at the compliment on her birth name. The fact that it was pretty was the main reason why she preferred to go by Drake. Pretty names should belong to pretty things. Kiva even meant 'kind and beautiful' or something like that. Still, she managed to enjoy the compliment all the same, though the fact that she could comment on her own liking of the name 'Chloe' in reply only occurred to her after it seemed a bit too late to suddenly blurt out.
Oh well. The stream of questions in response to her sketch of sprite-Paige was a decent distraction and she blinked a little when Butterfly said the drawing looked familiar. The offer to model made her tilt her head for a second in thought, and she put the book down in her lap to raise her hands and make a little frame with her pointer fingers and thumbs.
She smiled. "You do look a lot like how I wanted one of them to look..." Butterfly was, quite honestly, very cute. And Kiva was largely going for cute and feminine with these sprites. There was also the whole butterfly shapeshifting thing to consider, since being able to get a good sketch of wings as different angles could possibly help with her the sprites' own wings. She'd hold off asking about that, however.
She looked down at her sketch again. "And...Well, you might know her. I don't actually know any other friends she might have around here. I met her when she'd just moved to New York so..." Kiva shrugged. "Her name's Paige. She's a mutant, too." She didn't bother describing the mutation, since she was sure that would be enough if Butterfly did know her.
Posted by Kiva Augillard on Jun 14, 2013 19:21:18 GMT -6
Epsilon Mutant
92
2
Feb 27, 2015 12:39:25 GMT -6
Okay, first thing I'm gonna say: I love dream worlds. Bizarre, surreal dreamscapes are one of my favourite things in fiction, so this immediately appeals to me. It also means I'm going to go straight into 'thinking very hard about the details of this and tossing the ideas forward' mode right now.
First of all, are we going to have elements mostly from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or did we maybe want to mix in parts from Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There? The mirror and chess motifs from Through the Looking Glass could make for some interesting ways for making a twisted version of New York, and provides a few more, albeit obscure, characters to draw from for ideas for dream versions of our own characters.
Now, getting more into the 'dream world' side of this, what about a population of Wonderland that aren't dreamers? Various NPC dream-characters who fill the city and make it harder for people to figure out who's another dreamer and who's just a figment. Not necessarily benevolent or malevolent, just wrapped up in their own weird Wonderland lives and eager to sweep dreamers up into them. Potentially getting attached to the more friendly ones could make for a bit of conflict over leaving...
Which moves to another point, which is how much a character could influence this dream world. Not consciously through their lucidity, but simply as part of them being thrust into it and the dream trying to keep them from wanting to leave. Little things, bits of familiarity that make it seem more inviting, like childhood rhymes or lyrics of favourite songs being recited by dream-characters, or animal-like beings hanging around of species the character finds endearing. After all, in the first book Alice, who loves cats, finds a guide in the Cheshire Cat, and in the second book Humpty Dumpty makes an appearance and has a conversation with Alice.
Posted by Kiva Augillard on Jun 11, 2013 12:17:49 GMT -6
Epsilon Mutant
92
2
Feb 27, 2015 12:39:25 GMT -6
Erase memories.
Kiva, in that moment, completely froze in the midst of sterilizing Noel's wrist. She mentally logged away the fact that Noel's friend there was named 'Ty,' but largely remained focused on the particular bit on information that had frozen her. Her wings spread and stretched slightly, then folded again shakily, as if a shudder were running through them instead of the rest of her body.
That was creepy as all heck.
"I, uh, appreciate the thought, but no thank you." Despite her hesitating voice, the appreciation was genuine. She was even a little bit touched by the offer, if also extraordinarily creeped out by the fact that someone had just offered to casually pluck memories from her head. Still, part of her felt the need to elaborate, given the strange circumstances. "There's nothing I want to forget...Even the bad stuff, well, it's...important to me, I guess?"
That's the best way she could verbalize it, at least. It wasn't like she had all that many painful memories in the first place--her life as a big, scaly monster was shockingly boring when it came down to it--and the few that were just felt like something she shouldn't run from. She could forget the pain of her original change into her current form. She could forget the many times her heart had been broken as a teenager as she learned the hard way that Beauty and the Beast was a nice story, but not something that happened easily in reality.
Would that change the truth of the here and now? Of course not. Forgetting didn't make it go away, and remembering why it was there was...important.
She shrugged and focused on finishing the sterilization, and spoke up when she withdrew, "Actually, maybe I'll keep the lie-detecting part in mind, now that I think about it. Maybe mention it to my boss, if you don't mind?" She made a point to try to make brief eye contact at that last question. People didn't lie as often in a tattoo parlor as they did in, say, a liquor store, but they gave pretty much the exact same lie. Still, if Noel preferred Rex not know, that was fine.
Drake got the needle ready, and paused to try to meet Noel's eyes again. "Okay, I'm gonna tell you what I tell everybody, from the teenage kids who just got their parents' permission to the big biker guys already covered in ink." She looked over at Ty briefly. "And this goes for you when I give you yours next, too, hun." Back to Noel. "It's not a big deal if you want me to stop the needlework for a second. Not even because of pain, but for whatever. Alright?"
Noel would know that she meant every word of that, too, if she was telling the truth about knowing if other people were telling the truth. Drake didn't bother to dwell on the idea that someone could lie about being a living lie detector--and how would you even tell?--and instead got to work as soon as she had an indication that Noel was ready.
Posted by Kiva Augillard on Jun 11, 2013 10:31:08 GMT -6
Epsilon Mutant
92
2
Feb 27, 2015 12:39:25 GMT -6
"Really? I can keep it?"
The little ten-year-old clutched the torn-out page of Kiva's sketchbook to her chest, eyes wide open in surprise and delight. The mutant child had an odd, metallic green sheen to her skin and hair, along with a set of four transparent, shimmering wings that were now buzzing with joy.
Kiva rumbled a small chuckle at the child, gently patting her shoulder with a clawed hand. "Well, of course. I drew it for you, so it's yours."
The young girl let out a happy squeal and a quick, "Thank you!" before darting off, presumably to show it off to her friends, and the bronze-scaled woman just laughed softly and shook her head before pushing herself up out of her seat on the couch.
How had this happened? How had the woman who had spent years determined to live like any other human being end up here? The desperation of her flight from her home was no longer a factor, the riots now under control thanks to the National Guard, but instead of walking away, she had instead used the following peace to bring the rest of her belongings here. And her cat, of course.
Maybe it'd been Gemma assuring her that day that she was welcome and safe, or maybe it was the presence all the children hitting her squarely in her maternal instincts. Maybe she just liked not having neighbours who gawked at her like she was a horrible monster despite living next to her for so long. Kiva was determined not to be some freeloader, though. She'd find some way to repay the Mansion for all of this...
Kiva sighed, rolled her shoulders, and stretched a little, then she picked up her sketchbook and started walking. She wanted to head outside for a bit, get some fresh air, maybe sketch something out in the grounds. She passed by a few students, offering them each a small wave whether she recognized them or not, and then heard the grass crunch under her boots as she stepped outside and the sun shone down on her scaly skin, making it look all the brighter.
It was a pretty nice day, really.
And then she noticed someone laying in the grass. Confused and concerned, she took a few steps toward them, until the recognition hit her like a ton of bricks and she only realized she'd dropped her sketchbook by the sound of the paper hitting the ground as she practically sprinted the rest of the distance.
"Paige!" The cry was clearly a frightened one, and she knelt down next to the shape-shifter, looking over her worriedly. "Holy ****, Paige...What happened to you?" A fit of that very strong semi-sororal emotions the younger woman tended to inspire in her made Kiva want to pick her up and bolt straight to the infirmary, but she kept the impulse in check for the moment, just in case it wasn't as bad as Paige lying on the ground seemed to imply.
Kiva glanced from one not-really-sibling to the other as Noel spoke. Huh. Well. That was...interesting. In a 'this is clearly not my business and so I'm going to keep my mouth shut' way. Her entire life as a visible mutant, people tended to prod her with questions about any number of things. She liked to not be one of those people, even if the curiosity was getting to her about this woman.
No money. No last name. Afraid she'd the forget the first name that she did have.
Drake felt kind of like a bit character in a larger story. That passer-by who turned to gawk when they heard the main characters discussing something blatantly bizarre completely out of context. Only she wasn't just passing by and was instead inking these two and did have the opportunity to ask. Which she wasn't going to take. No she wasn't.
Mouth shut. Not her business.
"Noel," she repeated instead. "That's a nice name. Not all that common," she complimented. She did have a weak spot for french names, even if she thought her own two middle names were horribly, horribly girly. Her real first name was girly, too, but more tolerably. She really did prefer 'Drake,' at least while on the job.
Setting aside the needles, she picked up a little sketch book, its pages more the size of an ordinary notebook. She flipped through it to an empty page and carefully sketched out a few letters with a dark art pencil. After a moment, she showed the page to Noel. "How's this? Nice and simple."
In front of her were the letters N O E and L, all in uppercase and looking like they'd been typed out in Times New Roman on a computer. "I can do lowercase, but I figured I'd see what you thought of all capital," she commented with a little shrug. She did want it legible, after all, and capital letters were generally easier to read.
To Kiva, this wasn't really charity. It was giving somebody a little credit. Better to get the tattoo done than wait around until she could get a hold of her boss. Sure, this did require a little trust on her part, but the big dragon mutant was not lacking for trust in others. Well, regarding some things, anyway. She still tied up her motorcycle in a Gordian Knot every time she parked it. Still, someone who didn't seem keen on owing someone was likely someone who would keep their word to pay it back.
"Yeah, sure," she commented, regarding the woman going first. "It'll be the quicker one to do." She gestured for her to follow as she headed for the curtain. The woman's friend could follow, or he could stick around out here and make small-talk with Raven if he wanted. Neither bothered the artist any.
She paused briefly to look at Raven. "Hey, shoot a call Rex's way, wouldja? See if you can get him away from the Lady Porcupine long enough to see if he'll take the offer of sweeping the floor."
Raven nodded, expression fairly neutral as she pulled out a fancy cell phone and tapped on its touch screen a couple of times, before pulling out its full keyboard and starting to thumb-type furiously. "Still don't know how you get away with calling her that..." she mumbled, clearly half-thinking aloud, earning a chuckle from the scaled artist.
Once they were properly out of sight of the lobby, Drake gestured for the woman to take a seat and went about preparing her needles with practiced motions. If particular attention was being paid, however, it would be clear that she didn't hold things exactly like an ordinary person. The hooked claws on her fingers made it so she couldn't touch her fingertips to her thumb, and so she gripped objects by wrapping her fingers around them and holding them to her palm instead.
Maybe that wasn't the best thing to inspire confidence in her skills, but maybe the fact that she never fumbled or dropped anything would counteract it, she thought. "I take it you just want plain black ink, since you said nothing fancy?" she asked, before adding with a little smile, "And, y'know, I also have to know your name to write it..."
Back for another one, hulking hyena lady again in tow.
Kiva supposed she should be flattered, but she still really didn't like Nerys. Something about this girl raised red flags, even if she couldn't put a claw on exactly what. She wasn't doing the eerie silence thing again this time--Bonnie was still stalking around like a caged animal, though--but there was just something off about her that made Kiva's wings twitch with unease.
It also turned out she had more scars. The young woman's shirt was off, the bit of black fabric grasped in Bonnie's hands as she scowled at everything, and her pale back was absolutely covered in slash marks, stab marks, what looked like a bullet scar disturbingly close to her spine on her lower back, and what looked like a set of bite marks on her side from something of significant jaw size. Nerys didn't say a word about it, and Kiva didn't ask; she just worked on extending the tribal-style markings on her customer's arm to cover her back, like she'd been asked.
"...She's not a mutant, is she?"
Kiva blinked as she registered the question. "Who?"
Nerys gave an annoyed sigh. "The girl working the desk. Is she a mutant?"
She blinked again, stopping what she was doing for a moment. The 'girl working the desk' was Raven, the twin sister of one of the other artists who worked here. Decent enough at her job, knew a thing or two about tattoos herself, and...Well, there were a few people who came around solely just to see her and not to get any ink. All of them women.
The way Nerys was asking about her, though, made the scaled mutant very uncomfortable. There was something in her voice, in her inflection, that made her stretch her wings before she forced a smile and chuckle. "What? Looking for me to set you up on a date?" she joked in a desperate attempt to deflect the question and not have to state that Raven really wasn't a mutant.
Bonnie, instantly, went rigid at those words, and a low growl rumbled in her chest as she fixed her stare on Kiva. Nerys turned her head, looking over her shoulder with a single, glowing, yellow eye. Pure disgust coated her next words. "I have standards."
Those were the exactly wrong words for her to say, because Kiva set aside her needle and outright snarled back, "Watch it, Nerys. Maybe the joke was outta line, but she's my friend."
Bonnie's growl changed in volume at this, and the sound almost seemed to rattle in her chest as she took a couple of deliberate steps toward Kiva with sharp teeth bared. She tensed in response, half-expecting to be either punched or bitten, but Nerys raised her hand--burn scar on its palm and all--with a casual air. "Easy, Bon-Bon. Let's not make a scene."
The hyena mutant instantly stopped growling and relaxed her posture, but kept glaring. Nerys let out a sound that was almost like a giggle, before she settled again in a way that seemed to indicate that it was time for Kiva to continue the tattooing.
And there, right there, Kiva finally put her claw on what exactly was so creepy about Nerys...
