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.
"How did someone so strong come from someone so weak? I knew I could break her. Easily, and in doing so, I broke you. I finally broke you. You told me you would do so many things for me. Anything, you ended with. Anything. You pitiful mess. You already know what you need to do!"
..No...
"you have to choose, you have to choose! Choose or I kill everyone and eat your bodies! Chooooooose! CHOOOOOOSE! CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-"
"Empty, my dear. But now you all know who she would have chosen."
Her moms head twisted at an unnatural angle, blue eyes twinkling up at her with a smile on her lips.
Her wooden mouth ripped, splintering as the doll shrieked. All of the pain an anger that had trapped inside of her, churning like molten metal surged forth. Her scream shook the walls, rumbling the very foundation of this nightmarish place. The flashlight on the counter across the room topped over. Bright white cracks of light started creaking up from the bottom of the walls she continued to scream. The room was collapsing in on itself. Everything went black again.
--
When next she opened her eyes, she was in an empty room facing a single canvas. It was silent. Her head felt clearer. She looked down upon the brightly lit tubes of paint, before reaching for one. The cap pricked her finger as she picked up a vibrant blue. With a hiss, she dropped the tube.
She was bleeding. Bright blue blood bubbled up from the wound, dripping from her finger onto the black floor. She watched in fascination as the color of her blood gradually shifted. Blues, reds, greens... All of the colors under the sun seeping from her in a little river.
Her eyes rose back to the blank canvas.
Slowly, she lifted her finger to begin to paint.
--
Gasping, Shelby woke tangled in her blanket. She sat upright, drawing in breath after breath like she had run out of air. Sweat dripped down her face an neck, soaking her shirt.
She was in the living room... All of the lights were on.... She had fallen asleep on the couch. She proceeded to get up and move around the house, checking all of the locks on windows and doors. She found that not a single thing had been touched or changed.
...It had been a nightmare. Just another nightmare to add to the pile.
Unwilling to go back to sleep, she peered through her window once more to make sure Officer Cruise was still out there, before settling herself back down on the couch. The TV clicked on with a hum. The news anchors were still chatting about the rift and the weeks' events.
She let their voices fade into the background as she huddled into a blanket and stared at her hand.
.. He hadn't known. She'd explain it to her dad... he would understand. Everything would be alright.
Taking a slow breath in through her nose like her therapist had taught her to do, she let herself lean back into the seat. How... was she going to tell him? She could barely think about it t length without getting emotional. instead, she pulled her phone out and fished up one of the few articles that had been written about the murder. Her mom's picture was prominent on the page. She tried not to look at it as she wordlessly handed the phone to Saph.
"...Sorry." She muttered, "I... I thought you already knew because you had worked on the case and stuff."
The article went over the crime in professional detail. Background on the victim, others found at the scene. The suspected murderer. Details about how the woman had died were present but tactful. She had been a respectable woman, after all.
"It happened about two months ago." The article didn't go over the details she knew, though. The person who had written it would have no way of knowing that horror. That Roach had found her. Planned the whole thing from start to finish.
No one except for the cops knew the details she had been given them. That Roach had slipped a large dose of Valium into the bottle her antidepressants were kept in. That she had basically been unable to do anything to fight back. That she had begged and pleaded for him to let them go. The things she had promised....
She squeezed her eyes shut, hands clenching into fists in her lap. "... I woke up in a room... and they were there...and he kept going on and on about this game, and my mom... she..."
She let her eyes slipped closed and squeezed them. "I... I couldn't..."
So many feelings bubbled beneath her surface, barely kept in control by carefully monitored medicine. Guilt Anger. Shame... deep, soul-crushing sorrow.
She could hear the last thing she had said to him softly repeating in her head.
"...When will this end?"
She wanted to get up and run away. Find a dark corner where she could pass out and just sleep until it didn't hurt anymore. Her lungs clenched as she struggled with a sob. She ended up pressing her hands to her mouth and biting down on her knuckle as hard as she could.
The teeth on the giant maw slammed shut with an clack. Darkness.
Then, light.
Her eyes cracked open and she found that she was staring down on a scene. The room was lit by a single bulb from an upturned flashlight. Three chairs sat facing each other, three people occupied them.
Shelby slowly registered that she was one of those people in that chair.
Then... what was she doing up here on the wall? She tilted her chin to better look at herself, confused s to why it sounded like wood rubbing against wood when she moved. Then she saw that her arms were just that. Wood. Arms, legs, hands, and feet. She was a wooden doll. Hanging from broken strings in a corner of the room.
She tried to open her mouth to call out to one of them, but found that she couldn't. There was no hinge for her jaw. She had no mouth, and could not scream.
Below, the Roach had started to talk again. Explaining the rules to a game she did not want to play, while merrily moving around them. From her perch, she watched in muted agony as he went on, dragging things out as long as possible before he ultimately stopped before her mother.
The Shelby below struggled weakly, crying and begging. Promises dropped from her lips like the tears from her eyes. If only he would listen! If only he would let them go, she didn't care what he wanted from her. She'd give anything if only to ensure her parent's safety.
That girl... the Shelby down there who was open and raw... her pain on display for Roach to bask in, she dissolved into quiet, sobbing moans.
The bug stopped in front of her mother. The woman flinched, terror etched into every feature. Her hands were released, and then the gun gently... lovingly... pressed into them.
Shelby watched as her mother lifted the weapon with shaking hands and aimed it directly at her father...
Her mood shifted a little as she watched her boyfriend and Dad chat. They seemed to get along just fine after all. She hadn't really been worried that they wouldn't, but her dad was a handful.
"I-I mean yeah, it would be great to have some help early on, too. I hear it takes a village."
Saph patted her on the head with a chuckle. She ignored him while sipping her soda through a straw.
"I mean, who knows, maybe Mah can move up too, before too long; I'm sure she can't stay away forever, right? .... Uh... Right?"
With a sharp inhale, soda sucked up into her sinuses. She coughed and sputtered, slamming a hand down on the table as she half stood. It burned! OwOwOw!
Her father had a more muted reaction. Staring across the table at the mutant in obvious shock. Then, his eyes started to water and he rushed to stand. "E-excuse me for a moment." The large man rushed off before Shelby could stop him.
She turned on Saph a second later, whipping around so fast her glasses slid down her nose. "What the HELL is your malfunction?! Are you trying to @#$%ing break him?! It's not funny, Saph!"
She was so angry her face was red. More emotion flowing through her that she had felt the entire last week. Even her meds couldn't dim the rage.
Then, a moment later, she realized he might not have been joking. She searched his face, a frown settling on her lips as the red in her face faded away. ".... You... didn't know, did you?"
She felt the rest of the fury leave her like a wind blowing through her body. Her butt plopped back down in he seat and she turned away from him to stare at her father's empty seat.
Every time she blinked the scene shifted. Dark, then light, then dark again. Black, then red... so much red, then black again. Roaches head was twisting, creaking, then back to normal like nothing happened. She was panting like she had run a marathon, but she remained fixed in her chair.
He shifted her parents into place. The chair legs wailed like banshees against the floor. He shifted her into place and the room spun as if she and boarded a ride at an amusement park. Faces swirled around her, morphing and shifting. Blood blood blood, pearly white teeth. Blue eyes. They all blurred together into a smear of pale skin and red. Suddenly the spinning stopped. She felt the urge to hurl.
Something smacked her. Hard. She flew back into the wall, absorbed by it, and was once again in darkness. Only... this time she was running. In the blackness, she knew long clawed hands reached for her. Her legs burned like lightning through a tree trunk. Searing white heat.
She was so slow... so tired. She ran and ran and ran, but it felt like she had only moved an inch.
"SHELBY! Admit it, and everything will be fine! You want to paint her, don't you! In all of her glory! Bright, no RADIANT! Twinkling eyes! A PISTOL IN HER HAND. You can't run from it, Shelby, JUSt LiKe YOu CAnT RuN FROM mE!!!"
Bright white light flashed in the dark hall. Instantaneous and brief, like the flash of lit gunpowder. SHe flinched from the light, flinging up an arm to cover her eyes. Another flash as she ran, then another... another.
She reached the end of the hall, just as that force from behind was looming over head. Her feet met air and down she fell.
SMACK
Her head jerked back up, eyes blinking slowly. Her cheek stung. She was back in the chair, arms tied behind her, ropes around her middle.
"Angie, NO!"
Her eyes lifted at the sound of her father's voice. She was staring down the barrel of a gun. Her monther's perfectly painted nails in a death grip around the handle of the gun. Shelby trailed her eyes up her mother's arms, past the prim work suit, over the dainty gold chain she always wore... higher and higher until they landed on her face.
But.. it wasn't her mother. The Artist was staring at herself. She was smiling placidly, pink hair wild around her pretty face. Behind her, just barely visible in the darkness, Roach's multifaceted eyes glinted in the darkness from over the top of her head.
"...N-"
BANG
Her eyes popped open.
She as in a white, brightly lit room... Things were wriggling underneath her. Shelby lifted a hand to see cockroaches scurrying across her skin. In a panic, she shifted and fell into a pile of roaches up to her waist.
"Pumpkin, huh? Jesus, he's @#$kin harmless as a fly, ain't he? Talks a lot; that a nerves thing? We getting food after this? I'm starving. MacDronalds?"
Normally she would have blushed at the nickname. Maybe punched him in the arm. She sighed through her nose instead and silently reminded herself that it would only get better from here on out. "Yeah, he's a big softy. He talks alot when he's got a lot of things on his mind.... he's had a lot on his mind recently."
She had too. He was dealing with his problems much better than she, though. Her therapist had her on a medication to help manage stress while she recovered.
"I was thinking we could go to a sit-down place. Maybe Mexican?... We normally would go Italian, but... it's not the right time for that."
Her dad was back soon after that, tidied up from his flight with his sweater over one arm. "Alright Kiddos, where are we off to?"
When it was decided, they all crammed back into the car and were off. Mid-drive, her dad twisted around slightly and pulled a little box out from under her sweater.
"So... I got you something." She took it from him, flipping it open in her palm. Inside the little white box was a necklace. Plain silver chain, with a small glass looking pendant hanging from the chain.
"Didn't want to give it to you in the restaurant because, well... you know."
She didn't comment at first, simply staring down at the little bauble. She knew what it was... she'd looked at them herself quite a bit in the last few weeks. Her heart clenched, but she was able to keep it together.
"...Thanks dad, I love it. Really."
She slipped it around her neck before they got to the restaurant, fiddling with it once they had gotten a seat.
Colin, who was sat across them, looked at his daughter for a moment before clearing his throat. He didn't like the distant look in her eyes. "So... Shelby. I've been thinking about it a lot recently, and I've decided to.. uh.. to move up here to New York to be closer to you."
He took a sip from his drink for a moment. "With your mom gone, i've done a lot of soul-searching. I'm selling the house in Bellingham and I've got a few investments that are turning out quite well."
He looked up. His daughter's eyes were fixed on him like lasers. "I know, I know... it's impulsive, but... well. I miss you. I want to be closer to you, and my future grandchild."
He looked to Spah then, possibly for some sort of backup. "I'm probably the best babysitter in the world, too! You know that, don'cha pumpkin?"
Her expression darkened and she squinted at him. Was this some ill-guided attempt at protecting her? He was just putting himself in harm's way! She didn't want to lose him too!
"I know, I know. Don't worry, Shell. I'll be fine."
She sighed. "... Not like I can stop you once you put your mind to something." She muttered stiffly. Oh look, their food had arrived.
It felt like she had been swallowed by darkness... It was both cold and almost too warm at the same time.
What felt like ages passed. Her screams were silent. Had she no voice? Was she dreaming?
Then, her eyes cracked open slowly and she became aware of other things around her. The dark received slightly... she saw her knees first, bare. She was still in her Pj's. Then she noticed the cold of a wooden chair under her. Stiff. Her head lolled back, and then to the side. She felt like she groaned, but it came out funny. Muffled.
.... Why was something in her mouth?
With a start, she became slightly more alert. She wasn't alone. Two other people near her. Someone was humming... Her head felt like it was full of cotton. Had she been drugged?
"..Mmf."
"We're awake, are we? Shelby, let me tell you, I am so glad to finally see you again. It's been... Oh, it's been a simply dreadful year for me. It made me wonder, what could I possibly do to turn it around? How could I... Put some spring... Back in my step?"
She screwed her eyes shut. He was talking too fast. Only half of what he was saying was getting through. She opened her eye again a moment later, trying to focus. Sweat was beading down the side of her face. It was too warm. Hadn't this happened before?
"I have been so patient, Shelby. So, so good. I went to great lengths to grab our friends, here, and didn't even eat a single part of them! With no further ado. I shall introduce the game for the night!"
Panic, slowly and steadily, was creeping up through the cotton. Her chest was tightening. It was hard to breathe. The large bug removed the stuff from her mouth, but she could only groan slightly. Her head felt too heavy to hold up. The floor was breathing.
Nonononono.....
She felt like she could hear screaming behind the quiet. Sobbing.... pleading.
She managed to look to her left, and her eyes watered. There her mother sat. Only, she wasn't terrified and crying. She was glowing with intense golden light. Her red lips were twisted up in a radiant smile. Her eyes twinkled.
The artist blinked, and the vision was gone. Her mother was disheveled... hair pulled out of its perfect bun. Makeup smeared, mascara tracks racing down her cheeks.
Her father was there also. He was terrified but trying to keep it together. A gag still fixed in his mouth, no doubt because he would are shouted an hollered until needing to be silenced.
It was the last time she would ever remember seeing them together. She missed it suddenly... terribly.
"Please..." Her voice was weak. Whatever was in her, coursing through her body to make everything feel slow and muted, she couldn't fight it. She let her tears fall. Let the broken desperation seep into her words. She didn't have the energy to fight him again.
She watched as the terminal grew closer, before glancing back at Saph. "Yeah. I saw him not long ago." She tried not to dwell on that and didn't think much of Saph's question. As they pulled in, she spotted her da right away. He had a rolling suitcase with him, as well as a carry-on and a magazine tucked under his arm. She directed Saph where to park, then let herself out of the car in order to greet her father. He was standing by himself, flipping through something on his phone as he waited.
"Dad." He started at her voice, before turning to her. Immediately his face was overtaken by tears, snot, and borderline wailing. "My little Shelly Baby!" He dropped his luggage and enveloped her in the fiercest hug of her like, all but squeezing the air out of her. She patted his back weakly. "Ah.... love you too, dad."
She wasn't sure if Saph was going to join them, but considering how busy the terminal was she made to usher her dad back to the car as quickly as possible. Her father, who did his best to hide his surprise at the ol' Saphmobile, was left without words the moment he saw it. "So this is what you ride around in these days, Shell?" She could hear the nervousness in his voice.
"...It looks worse than it actually is. Saph takes care of it himself. A fixer-upper." Instantly, the nervous look on his transformed into something else. Light sprang up in his eyes and he fixed his gaze on the man they were talking about. "Ah! A man after my own heart then. Saphirus... Was it? Good to finally meet you! Shelby's told me a lot about you!"
The man thrust out his hand in greeting. "Colin Walters, at your service."
Colin was a large man, tall and thick in the chest and belly. Tick glasses sat on the bridge of his nose, similar the ones Shelby wore.
"I've got a hotel set up for you," Shelby started, taking his carry on bag from him. She struggled with the weight for a moment. "I figured we could swing by so you can drop your stuff off, then hit the town for dinner?"
Ultimately, her father agreed and piled himself into the front seat of Saph's car. Shelby took the back, as Colin didn't fit in the back comfortably. And so, on the drive back into town, began a game of twenty questions: Concerned Father Edition.
--
One rocky drive later, they pulled into the parking lot of the Hotel he would be staying at. The giant man clambered our of Saph's car, doing his best to hide how the drive had affected him... He was definitely looking into the different car for Shelby to drive, that was for sure. "Alright, pumpkin. I'll run in and get everything settled. Be right back out, okay?"
Shelby nodded, leaning back against her boyfriend's car as her dad walked off. It creaked in protest. "Thank you for putting up with him." She muttered. "He's just concerned about me. Maybe a tad overprotective."
Normally, Saph's driving would have given her an aneurysm, even more so now with the little life inside her. This time around she had been unusually quiet. In fact, she had been that way most of the time since she had moved back in with him. Most of it was due to her just being plain exhausted all the time, and that she wasn't allowed to drink nearly as much coffee as she was used too. But... other things were on her min as well. She hadn't seen her dad since... since the incident. She spoke to him a lot because he was alone now and needed someone. With mom gone she knew it was hard on him. Deep down, even mid their many breakups, he loved her deeply.
... She could imagine what he was feeling right now.
--IN!... Jesus... You okay? Freakin pr@#k, actin like he owns the road."
She snapped out of her thoughts suddenly, only now realizing that Saph was speaking. To her even. "...I'm fine." She replied evenly, even though she had a death grip on the seat and door with her hands.
"And you're sure he ain't mad? So, uh, thinking about things... are we gonna get married, then?
"Nah... we aren't a conventional family. He isn't mad about it, because i'm happy with it." She mustered a small smile to try and ease his worry. "I dunno about Marriage... if you want we could? It's just a piece of paper though. Doesn't really change much for us except taxes."
She thought about it for a second though. "...Best to probably not bring up marriage right now though in front of dad."
She checked her phone for the time before answering his last question. "He should be landing soon, but it will take him a while before he gets his luggage and stuff." She paused again, looking out the side window for a moment before adding onto her response.
"Try not t bring up my mom if you can. He's not in a good place with it yet."
It didn't feel like she ha really slept at all when she was awoken. She as disoriented, sluggish... felt like she was in a daze. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. It took a few seconds for her to realize the lights were off. Fear sprung up, gently coaxing her into a more alert state.
What had happened?
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
The artist froze, breath dead in her lungs as the sound reached her bedroom. Who was it? Where was her security detail? She heard someone talking, and the voice caused her to finally push herself out from the safety of her covers. It sounded like Officer Cruise. He had been working on her case for a while now, so she was familiar with him.
As she stepped out into the hall, an odd sense of deja vu settled over her, as well as an urgent forboding. Had this happened before? It felt like it had. The darkness of the walls pressing in around her. Her breath held in silent anticipation as she hovered before the front door, hand outstretched with her fingers just barely touching the locked doorknob.
An acute sense of danger sent tingles up her arms and down her spine... and yet it felt she was compelled to open that door. Even though somewhere in the back of her mind something was screaming stop!don't!... That she and gone through these motions before, and that if she didn't try to change something terrible consequences were to be had.
The locked clicked loudly in the silent room, with just the whooshing of wind and patter of heavy raindrops somewhere in the background. The door swung inward toward her, lightning flashed in the sky, illuminating a figure. Shebly vaguely registered the shape, as the shadows suddenly seemed to grow bigger and darker around her.
"... Officer Cruise?"
Was that her voice? It seemed distant... weak. Maybe it was due to the sleeping pills she had taken before bed. Her therapist had prescribed them to her months ago... but she had only just started to use them.
... She had remembered to take them, right?
"...Why are the walls reaching for me?" Her legs felt wobbly and weak. She felt like she was melting into the ground.
It had been a little under a month since she had broken things off with that X-man and left. A little under a month since that picture had ended up on her desk. A little under a month since.... Shelby wasn't taking it very well at all. She had hopped from one safe space to the next until the people working on her case had managed to find her a new place to live. For the first time in years, she was alone again. Her bed seemed too big. The house was too quiet. She spent her days listening to the news drone on in the background while the city outside erupted in chaos. Something about a rift... some kinda alternate dimension. All she had been able to think about was that stupid conversation she had had with saph ages ago, when he told her that such a power didn't exist. "Told ya so, ya stupid lumox." She muttered to herself, before reaching for the remote and clicking off the TV.
"..... Nowhere, Shelby.... "
Slowly, as if she were in a great deal of pain, she pushed herself up from the couch. In truth, she just didn't have an ounce of energy left in her. Like something was sucking it all away 24/7, and she had no choice in the matter. She shuffled herself to her room, leaving every light on in the house as she passed. She had quickly discovered that it was the only way she would ever get any sleep.
"....You will never be safe.... "
She paused just a moment, turning to look behind her down the hallway. One beat passed... then another. Finally, she was satisfied with the emptiness. The lack of a Tack Tack Tack of inhuman feet following her across the tiles.
".....I will kill everyone you love....."
She paused again inside he bedroom, at the only window. Outside, even though the light rain, she could see the shape of her security guards car. They stayed there all night until someone else came to take over. She used to only need one, but... well that changed after the incident.
"....I'm going to unpeel you... Not unlike an onion... I will strip your layers away, piece by piece..." Drawing her curtains, she turned and shuffled herself into the cold bed. Once again she was reminded of just how alone she was... one more person from her life ripped away from her forever. Like usual, tears built behind her lashes until they broke free, and she pushed her face into her pillow and clenched her hands over her ears. When would it end?
"......I am going to break you SHELBY!" When would she finally be free?
"Shelby... I need some time. I want to make sure that when we get started again, I'm ready. I'm a mess right now. I can't ask you to bring me back from that. I owe you more than that."
Owed her? She didn't feel like she'd ever done anything worthy of him owing her something in return. Unless he was talking about what she had pretty much just forgiven him for.
"Can you give me a few days? To figure this out? I'll give you a call... Maybe... You could move back in? You won't be short on paint, hair brushes, or dead egg thingies to start."
Withdrawing from him, since he had gotten her message, she nodded. "Of course, Saph. I'm not gonna try and rush anything. You do you, and I'll take care of me. You can call me when your ready and we'll go from there." She glanced over at the painting hanging in the darkness behind them. The exit from her pocket dimension back to their world. Briefly, she grabbed for his hand again so that she could pop them back out.
--
They appeared back in the cafe, right in front of a startled barista who had started to try and clean up the mess they though She'd left behind. After a quick apology, she gathered her box of things Saph had brought toward her and looked to him again. "Guess it's back to work for you, then?" She asked, "... I hope I didn't make you late for anything."
He didn't comment on her thoughts of his admission, and that was Okay. Instead, he skipped ahead. "I dunno, I think that depends entirely on if you follow the trend and start dropping dad jokes every five seconds." The artist smiled slightly. With his sense of humor, it was entirely possible.
She watched in silence as he prepped himself, doing that energy release thing she'd seen him do a million times before. She lifted the bottom of her sweater a little when he was ready, and let herself relax when the warmth of his hand settled just below her navel. "I think it's some kinda taboo. Prolly gonna get a girl now." She grinned, though. "... but, if I have to throw my chips at one or the other I wouldn't mind a boy either."
She watched him then, blue eyes shaded behind he glasses. She'd missed him.... a lot. It had been strange going from being independent, to basically unable to survive without him... and then suddenly back on her own again. She had stayed with a few of the cops she knew well, sure... but it wasn't the same. Her bed was always too cold, and no one looked at her the same way.
She wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but then again things couldn't get any worse, right? While he was close to her she reached out for him. She wanted to touch his cheeks... let her fingers curve around his jaw. SHe wanted to make sure that he looked at her for what she was about to say next.
"Saph... I believe you." Honesty was plain on her face; eyes determined and mouth set in a little line. "I believe you that nothing happened. I'm sorry that it took me so long."
To Err was human... forgiveness and all that jazz. He has messed up, however that may be, and she could either let it eat at her forever, or she could forgive him for it and move on.
"Will you forgive me? For abandoning you when you needed me most? For being a total piece of #%$& girlfriend?"
".. I already am behind you." She hummed, hands stuffed into the pocket of her hoody as she watched him hop around. Her first reaction had been similar if she recalled it correctly. Lots of panic and shuffling around.
"well S$^T... That's pretty cool." Shelby smiled a little, shrugging one shoulder without an immediate comment. "I guess it suits me. Don't know what I would have done if my power was to randomly explode into flames or something."
She turned away from him, looking down the painted hill towards the painted city below. The little chapel in the distance stood out among the rest of the dark colors.
"She knows a lot about his operations... So we did it all under the table. Like we did when I was the Judge."
Turning slightly to glance back at him, she listened quietly as he spoke. He'd mentioned the Judge before... and she'd run across him in various searches while looking for information on Roach. Hadn't he brought him up a few times too? Awkwardly, if her memory served her correctly.
"We did a lot to hurt him. To try and lure him out. He never came, but by the end, we'd destroyed everything he'd spent so long building. Megan wanted to kill him just as much as you and I. It made sense to partner with her. I didn't want to get you involved. Didn't think it was safe. That matters even more, now."
She turned back away from him, watching the town again. She wasn't really sure how to react. Did it bother her? ... Not really. Maybe it should have, but... she was kinda desensitized to most things these days. She probably should have been angry or something, but couldn't muster that up either. The Judge, from how people talked about him, had been a very dangerous, merciless person. Heck, he'd all but vanished, and criminals still had night sweats because of him.
So, if she wasn't upset... what did that leave?
"Okay." She stated simply, before sighing lightly and turning back around. A smile was on her lips. Content and happy. 'Thank you for trusting me with that... I'm sure it was hard to tell me." She thought about closing the distance between them but quickly abandoned the idea. What was she gonna do after how he'd hesitated at taking her hand? Playfully punch him in the arm?
"And.... thank you for doing it." She continued on instead. "Thank you for going after him... and others like him. For people like me."
She pressed a hand over her stomach where the smallest bump could be felt, expression softening slightly. ".. I want us to make sure he, or she, grows up better than we both did."
She hesitated slightly there, before pointing at her tummy. "Do you... uh... do you wanna feel? It's too early for kicking and stuff, but I'm definitely showing now."
"Shelby... You're more than enough for me. Hell, I can't count how many times I wondered what a guy like me did to deserve you... I um. I wanna give it another try, if you will too."
Normally she may have been taken aback slightly by the honest confession, but she was still having a little trouble with it right now. Maybe later, after she had time to reflect on it a bit more. "Sure, we can give it another go." She eyed him, noting the change in his demeanor from what she had first seemed when he had walked in the door. It was... refreshing, and a load off of her mind. The artist offered a smile to him, hesitating only slightly before reaching out for one of his hands.
"You are? Like... this whole time? What kinda mutant? Hot lady shifter? You better not be a 14 year old boy catfishing me. That would be... Oh god... #@$^in Horrible."
"... that... what? A 14 year old pregnant boy who turns into a hot lady, catfishing a well known X-man."
She couldn't even get mad at that. It was too freaking funny! "Haha!" She cackled for a moment, snorting once on accident, before collecting herself. "No, nothing like that. I wasn't always... thought I was human. It kicked in a while after moving into the school with you. Maybe you all rubbed off on me."
As for what kinda mutant, well.... it was easier to show him than try and explain whatever it was that she could do. Shelby fished out a pendant on a silver chain that had been tucked inside her hoodie. It was a smaller, painted replica of Van Goh's Starry night. Once it was in her hand, she showed it to him, before making sure she had a firm grip on him and... POP!
---
Suddenly they were somewhere else. It was dark, with bright splotches of bright lights dotting the sky above them. The landscape was noticeably similar to the famous oil painting, down to the textures and colors. SHe gave him a moment to adjust to the move before continuing on.
"I can travel into my paintings." She said simply.
In regards to Megan, she shrugged again. "I've met her a few times already. She tracked me down while you were in the hospital recovering from getting shot. We chatted for a while.... I hadn't known that she was who you were spending time with, though."
She turned and eyed him, " How were you two doing it? Hunting Roach, that is. I take it that you were doing it all off the books? No one else on the case ever mentioned that you were putting in extra hours on it, and I asked.... a lot... And she isn't even affiliated with law enforcement of any kind."
