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.
She lowered her wet, paint-covered fabric shield a little.
Shit, this was gonna be harder to deal with up close. She knew what he was trying to say, she wasn't dumb. Just... a little intimidated by it all.
Okay, scared.
No, for real, she was @#$%ing terrified.
Her husband was standing right there, apparently.
"Uh..." He also apparently knew about her escape tactic, which was... concerning. Like, she'd figured he'd know and all, but still!
She glanced around the park, where families were playing with their kids and joggers were on their 3rd laps, and sighed.
"...Okay. But.. not here"
She set her canvas down, leaning against her leg, and reached a paint-covered hand out to him.
Once she made contact they both vanished, with just a small audible pop.
~~
Reappearing not more than a second later inside her still-in-development painting, she released his hand immediately and shuffled a few steps away through roughly sketched graphite grass.
Skeletal clouds above crawled across the sky blindly, trees and brushes wriggled and clacked their leafy teeth. And in the far of a distance, a large arm was starting to surface from the spotty water.
"We can talk here, but, uh... don't go near the shrubbery. Or the water."
She still had a locket on her, tucked under her shirt against her skin, juuuust in case she needed to beat a hasty retreat.
She liked Mondays. Everyone else was often busy, and that left more time for her to easily get out and practice with fewer people to bother her. There were only so many interruptions she could take before the urge to assault someone with a paintbrush grew too powerful.
She was sat down in a park, criss-cross applesauce with a short easel and a large canvas before her. The artist was practicing her landscaping skills, with a bit of a surrealist Van Gogh twist, as well as playing around with exactly how much influence she had over her power. Leaves from trees and bushes swirled in a variety of greens to form hidden skulls, clouds shifted about like reaching bony hands. She tossed in a large, grotesque monster arm covered in strings of algae reaching out of the lake water, just for giggles.
Wasn't like she was planning on going in this one anyway.
Halfway through trying to add more detail to a sketched out but not yet painted stretch of grass, a sudden shadow blocked the lingering sun and then an honest to goodness body fell out of the sky right in front of her. And it said her name!
"@#$%?!" The artist flailed in surprise, tipped over, righted herself, and grabbed her canvas and paintbrush-like a sword and shield to protect herself.
Who just dropped in on someone like that without calling first? The audacity!
"Who're you?! It came out in a rush as she tried to wiggle her glasses back up into place by wrinkling her nose a few times.
...Wait.
Wasn't that?
Oh no.
@#$%!
She glanced at her canvas quickly, and a cold sweat washed over her.
... He was the guy in all the pictures with that other Shelby.
She was still new to the scene. She knew that, and sort-of embraced it in a bumbling newbie way. Whatever feather had crawled up her butt to entice her to keep on going with the theft stuff after the first time was lost on her. There was Steph, yes, and there was a certain rush that came along with knowing that what she was doing was illegal, but for a good cause (sorta).
Whatever the case, she was here and dressed to kill and- well, no, that was a lie. She was dressed for somethin', but not to kill. White and pink hot pants, with knee high flat heeled boots, and a fitted pleather tank top on her upper half. Everything was decorated in small cartoon tuffts of whipped cream and cartoon strawberries. Even her mask. Her hair was curled and bouncy, she had a little hot pink cape. She felt great! Sexy and delicious and absolutely no one to see!
Well, hopefully. She sure hoped One in a Million wasn't gonna show up this time. The..uh... art she had chosen was probably a bit to mature for him given what she knew of his character.
The Hawthorn Gallery on 3rd and Cormick was a lovely little gallery that often had showings of many different kinds of art.
This month it happened to be all Erotica themed.
Busts of voluptuous women and men, sculptures of embracing lovers, paintings of bodies and parts galore in varying degrees of...uh... relations. It was enough to slap a rosey blush on her cheeks as she wandered along inside after hours, looking at all the pieces.
She paused before a picture that, like her outfit, involved a heavy dose of strawberry themed pleasure, and she sighed. Man, she really needed to give April a call soon.
She backed up a step and accidentally bumped a sculpture, which tipped over and broke with a clatter.
She panicked and scrambled for the various pieces, stooping to pick up the poor things fallen Johnson first.
Shelby pulled away with a light dusting of pink on her cheeks and a grin on her lips. A mask was produced and that made the whole idea of an art heist waaay more authentic. This was really happening! Maybe it was the booze, or maybe the thirst for justified revenge, but she liked how it was all coming together.
Shelby watched to see how Steph put hers on, and then followed suit. The only time she had worn a mask like that before had been during Mardigras once, and it hadn't stayed on very long when her girlfriend at the time had gotten her way. Stained most of her face purple for days, too!
"No worries. Not many mutations surprise me these days after my own popped up out of nowhere."
They floated toward the entrance painting that would give them access to the studio and she reached out to snag one of Steph's hands. Despite her resolve, she was still a bit nervous. "Alright. Here goes!"
She touched the frame and they Popped into the storage area one blink later. It was well lit where they landed, with high shelves stacked with cloth-covered paintings of various sizes. The hall ran the entire back of the building with an office at one end, a private locked storage area at the other, and a small bathroom tucked in the middle.
Turning, she sifted through the stack of paintings directly behind them until she found the one they had just exited, as well as the others she had been set to hang.
"Be right back!" She whispered, juggling the large frame in her arms before popping back out of existence for a moment.
Shelby reappeared with her arms free a moment later, out of a different painting, and adjusted to being back. "Oof... doing that too fast is disorienting... this way to the pricey stuff!" She waved Steph along, creeping down the hallway toward the locked room. The roaring sounds of a party in full swing could be heard through the walls, as Bradly had broken out a microphone so that everyone was sure to hear him.
The pinkette's eyes dipped to Stephs lips at the offer without her consciously even having to think about it. Steal a liplock from a cutie who had helped her get out of her funk and given her alcohol? Hadn't been on the table before... but now? She swallowed a bit thickly. The night was turning in a really pleasant direction.
Steph explained a bit more and all it did was bolster the growing fire within her breast. Get her work back and maybe ruin the owner's financial future as well? "Hell yes." She pumped a lacquered fist in the air, which sent her spinning off to the side slightly, and struggled to get her balance back in simulated zero gravity.
"Count me in! I've been in there before so I know where all the higher-priced art is kept." After gliding herself back over, she pulled herself back in as close as Steph had been to her before and grinned cheekily right back. "All of the work is insured, anyway, so it isn't like we're screwing anyone out of a paycheck... other than Bradley that is." The shop owner, who without paintings to sell wouldn't be getting his big fat 50% cut of sales.
"Also, I've reconsidered. Pardon my french." And she promptly pulled herself closer for a deep kiss, hoping it wasn't too terribly forward.
After just a fiasco earlier in the night, she really couldn't describe how welcome the feeling of warm arms around her waist was. It also helped that she was at least 5% alcohol after guzzling quite a bit back there. Her hands drifted down to Steph's arms and crossed over them, soaking in the warmth while she could.
"I knoooow! I mean, not to sound super into myself or anything, but @#$%in look at this? Who is that jagoff to make me feel subpar? His toupee is subpar!"
The artist giggled, reaching out to snag a passing beachball sized planet like a... well, like a beach ball. The simulated atmosphere in oils continued to swirl beneath her hands undisturbed. "You're into photography? I'd love to see you sometime! Er, not in a weird way. I like seeing other people's perspectives on things and photos are a great way to see how they see the world." Was she blushing? Yes. It was impossible not to blush while saying potentially embarrassing things with a beautiful woman's arms around you.
Steph pointed out the very frame she had been looking for. "Ahh! You found it! I could kiss you right now!"
She twirled around, letting the planet she had been holding spin away into space, and grabbed for Steph's hands.
"I absolutely did not paint anything of the sort, which means that frame is a portal into that sleaze bag's storage room!" Gleefully, she was already tipsy-plotting how she was gonna get in, snatch up her stuff, and get out... but stumbled a bit over her own planning when she remembered she wasn't exactly alone. Regardless of the gallery owner being a dick, not everyone wanted to be party to trespassing or breaking and entering.
"...Wanna help me get my paintings back? It's okay if you don't. No pressure!"
The artist grinned right back and hooked an arm around Stephanie's waist securely, while the woman's arm was around her shoulders.
"Well, I'll consider you my Cheshire cat then. Let's see what Wonderland has to offer."
She reached out and touched her fingertips to the frame. With a little pop they shifted from one painting space to another and were instantly surrounded in deep, vibrant color. Planets and stars of all colors and shapes hung lazily in the air, slowly spinning and each with its own celestial ornaments of rock, large gems, and speckled rings. They gathered in density toward the center of the space, collecting in tight groups to form the body of an astronomical being. The body was made up of planets and planetoids alike, the space between filled with brilliantly colorful masses of matter and swirling galaxies. Long hair made of the same matter is planetary rings drifted gently, and her hands were held out around a glowing sun, cupping it like someone would cup a gathering of water.
Shelby didn't have much of a reaction to seeing it all since she had been in her own painting many times while working on it. Instead, she found herself watching Stephanies face to witness her first reaction.
"This is my interpretation of Astraea, the Greek Goddess of Justice, innocence, and purity..."
Her voice echoed out into the void, and upon 'hearing' it, the giant Goddess turned her head to face them and offered a gentle smile. A small ring of moons and stars twirled around her head like a halo.
It took Shelby a moment, but she spotted the dozens upon dozens of frames hidden along the dark boards of the space. Since she had been able to successfully move from one painting to the other, which was just absolutely the neatest, she also wondered if there would be alternate exits. Would one of the frames be a portal out into the storage area of the art shop?
He was excited, and so was she. Hardly ANYBODY was excited by her power since it wasn't flashy or one of your typical strength-based mutations. His enthusiasm got a grin to spread across her face that threatened to knock her mask off. "I do! I did!" She lifted her hand and wiggled her fingers at him. "The first paining we landed in was mine! Little mini cityscape painted on a ring I was wearing!"
She... probably shouldn't have told him that, but it was pretty easy to forget that she was technically the bad guy currently. "I can paint pretty much anything, and whatever I will into it comes alive on the inside like the Purple Cat over there." Really, she could go on for hours about how fricken cool that was but tried not to word vomit at him with all of her philosophical junk.
He brought up the jail thing again and she rubbed the back of her neck nervously, gripping into the frames in her arms a little tighter. "I mean... yeah, first priority is getting out." She wasn't about to tell him that she had on a locket with an exit in it, technically, or that she was holding two more exits and could probably pop away any time he wasn't looking. That just seemed... mean?
"But you know I'm not just going to agree to go to jail, right? I'd be a pretty poor excuse for a thief if I just caved like that." Still, that left them just sitting and waiting.
"What if, since I technically haven't stolen anything yet- We are still in the gallery, after all- you let me off with a warning and I will give the paintings back to you once we get out?"
She didn't wanna leave the poor kid trapped in a painting without letting him know there was a time limit after she left, but couldn't think up a way to bring it up without sounding super suspicious.
Still, she dutifully followed after him toward the tail. The painted cat didn't seem to be aggressive, which was good. She didn't want to find out if it has a stomach or not.
But, as they shimmied a bit down the tail the cat move again, and the tail started lifting up higher. Up, up, up, nearly vertically, and then started swaying side to side slowly; all while the twisted face kept staring.
MMMUUURROOOWWWWW
Shelby caught a fistful of fur and hung on for dear life as her feet dropped out from under her.
Buuuut, one of the paintings in her arms slipped and dropped, and in a panic not to see if destroyed by the fall she let herself drop as well. She caught it just barely with her fingers, and reached for her locket, vanishing entirely for a moment as the necklace fell the rest of the way to the ground.
"Oh, well. Um." How exactly did she explain? It was public knowledge that she was a mutant, but not exactly public knowledge what her power actually was. Hmmm.
"Well, we're in the paintings." She said simply. "I can traverse the universes in them if you will. Ah, to a degree."
She glanced around, noticing the multiple frames along the walls. Every wall. So many exits! "Every frame you see is a different painting in the gallery."
the 'ground' moved and she windmilled with one arm for a moment until he reached out and gave her something to cling onto. Was it an earthquake? Could there even be earthquakes in a painting world??
The realization that the hill she thought they were on was actually a giant cat was, uh, startling at first. Maybe a slight bit horrific due to the way the cat's head was drawn.
Then, it dawned on her.
"Oooh! This is the Purple Cat!" She nerded out for a moment, skittering toward the giant weird head of the cat to get a closer look at it. "Bill Taylor made this one. He used bits of things he found here and there to make his art. This one is Graphite and tempera on repurposed paper!"
You know, now that she was actually looking at it the "fur" was slightly purple.
She glanced around more. noticing that where they currently where there really wasn't a great way to get to any of the side paintings. They were a little high up.
She happened a look behind her to see how her unintentional tag along was doing because she didn't really want to leave him behind to potentially fighting for his life for 15 minutes.
Surprise, surprise though! He was literally right behind her!
After letting out a deservedly adorable squeak at being caught off guard, she stumbled to a stop and craned her neck to make sure Hercules wasn't step-stomping after them. "Oh good!" This time she reached out to him, snagged his reaching hand, and pop! They were in a different painting.
They landed on something soft, and very furry. She sank up to her knees in hefty grey fuzz and blinked. Huh. What weird hills. Everything around them was either black or tan, and she had no clue what kinda painting this was. She hadn't really looked at it before touching it.
"Well that was horrible." She adjusted the paintings under her arms a little, awkwardly shuffling through the... uh... grass?... with her feet.
Shelby was... not a runner. She was barely a walker. Excercise to her was shuffling from the easel to the fridge and back. So, you can imagine how sprinting for her life was turning out for her with him charging after her like one magnet drawn to another.
"Sorry, but I can't! I've got plans tomorrow and jail would really get in the way of them!" She could practically feel him gaining on her and panicked, lurching toward one of the exit paintings close by and barely grazing it with her fingers. Unfortunately, he tagged her and she dragged him along again.
She landed the short drop the shifted brought with ease, and was all set to just keep running, until a large, burley, naked man stumbled out in front of them, with a large growling lion in a chokehold and a dead leopard at his feet.
"GAH!" Instinct wanted her to avert her eyes to the nudeness, but the lion that suddenly came flying at them was a bit more important. She ducked with a roll and clambered away.
"Ah! New prey!"
Mr. Lion, who was quite large and stocky himself, went on to try and attack One In A Million, while she found herself squared up with Mr. In-the-buff.
"...Wha-" The extra-large man lunged for her and she juked to the side to try and avoid him.
She failed, but hey, it was the effort that counted right?
"H-hey, lemme go!" Okay, so getting caught in a chokehold by a nude giant had not been in her plans for the night... but, what was a girl to do? Diving into other people's works of art was turning out to be a bit of a dangerous sport for her.
"Ah, but this one is weak of spirit and body." Her captor lamented before shifting his grip and straight up, lifting her above his head like she weighed nothing at all. "Not like the lion at all!"
Up in the air like that, she had an excellent view of the rest of the surrounding art, as well as the lion. She wracked her brain for paintings that were similar to this that had been on the list in the museum and just about had a stroke when she realized which one she had dragged them into.
"@#$%ING HERCULES?!" The Nemean Lion. They were boned. SO BONED, if the artist who had painted this picture imbued any of the original myth into the characters at all. Judging from how Nudecules was so easily balancing her weight on one hand, she was very worried.
The man, the myth, the legend himself too notice of the large blonde who was just taller than him and dropped Shelby gently but unceremoniously on her tush on the ground.
"You there! Fight me!" And then he marched his bare butt right on over to pick a fight with the guy who was after her. Shelby attempted to use that moment to sneak away toward an exit painting....
Oh yeah, she was definitely blushing now. Cue defensiveness! "It's all I could think of, okay?! Besides, your average New Yorker barely even knows English, French is fine!"
Also, what? She blinked at the boy. "Are you really trying to coach me on how to be a better international villain right now? Isn't that the opposite of what you're supposed to be doing?"
Oop! He was back into it. She snapped back into her pose as well. Also, he was gonna try and grab her? HA!
"Too little too late, Hero~ I'm already out of your grip! HO HO HO~!" She attempted to wink cooley and wiggle her fingers at him in goodbye, before activating her power and vanishing into the painted ring on one of her fingers.
Only, oops! She was a tad too late and she ended up accidentally dragging him into her painting with her.
Shelby stared at him wide-eyed for a moment before ducking and grabbing the second painting on the floor and making a break for the nearest exit door. She could ditch him in her painting space as she escaped and he'd have to wait out the time limit before he was spat back out!
The painting that had been on her ring was that of a little city filled with little people. Nothing too complicated; simple enough to do on a small flat ring. The people were shuffling about quietly and it didn't take much to realize they weren't actually people, but moving art. The style was simplified realism and it was decently colorful.
Shelby was just focused on trying not to knock anyone over while she was running.
She physically winced every time he shouted loudly at her, watching in a strange kind of fascination as the boy- now known as Mr. ONE in a MILLION- posed and pointed.
Oh.
Ah... okay! She could roll with this!
"HO HO HO!" Still clutching the painting with one arm, she lifted the other and turned slightly in a not-at-all-practiced pose of her own, laughing behind the back of her hand as shrilly as she could muster.
And then her voice cracked, and she coughed, waving at him in apology while clearing her throat. *cough*"Ack, sorry sorry. Ahem." She got her throat cleared, resumed a pose of her own, tossed in a few fancy arm waves and magical girl pointing. "You think you can order me around, One in a Million?! You haven't encountered the like of... uh.."
Ah, @#$% she was breaking character again! What was a good villain name? Quick, pick one on the spot!
"VOLEUR D'ART!" Pose, pose, wink.
Damnit, her whole face was red, wasn't it? This was embarrassing when he had his whole gig down with no issues.
Some unhelpful voice popped up from behind and she reacted to it instinctually like it was just your average day in the gallery. Sarcasm and griping, here we come!
"Oh, of course. you're absolutely right. What was I thinking? Silly me for being worried about literally thousands of dollars instead of the paint job on the wall." She managed to carefully pry one side away from the wall without damaging anything, and huffed loudly.
"You're supposed to mount these on a wire, just so, and with the proper equipment so as to not damage the frame. Do you know how tedious it is to re-frame a painting? Not only that, but it could lower the cost of the... whole..."
She paused, seemingly realizing for the first time that she was actually supposed to be alone.
"AHH!"
The pinkette, who had forgotten to try and cover her hair up at all, spun around and blanched at the sight of a giant boy behind her. One who looked none too happy to be there.
"Don't just sneak up on people like that, it's rude!" She was... just not going to mention that she was there to steal things. He questioned if it was a prank and Shelby pounced on the idea with some quick thinking.
"Aw... Was it that easy to see through it? Megan will be so disappointed in me." Whoever that was. "I;m not very good at acting."
Actually, she was decent at acting. Not so much at acting in the spur of the moment, but whatever. Blondie didn't need to know that.
"Did I fool you at least a little?" She half turned and started fiddling with the painting again, tugging it the rest of the way off the wall a little too hard. A bit of paint and paster came off with it. She turned back to face him fully while clutching it to her chest.
It was supposed to be a quick job. In and out in a flash; Grab the requested paintings, escape, drop them off at designated location where her money would be waiting, go home and celebrate with a yummy dinner. Easy, seeing as she had already done this three times in the last few months with no hiccups.
Right?
"Oh, sonuva- Comeon!" Who on gods green earth put very expensive artwork up on the walls with fricken 3m sticky tabs?!
"How absolutely careless do you have to be to risk ruining the painting just so you don't have to put holes in the walls. Really! How were they planning on getting this off again?!"
She was a bit grumpy about it, obviously. Both paintings on her list were easily worth 50,000 together and the dunces who worked at this gallery were gonna risk ruining them like that? Bah! Idiots.
She already had one off and safely stored in her painting space. It was creeping past midnight and she was getting pretty tired from being up all day working in her studio (her living room).
She'd been excited to get out, too, seeing as she finally had her new thief gear and was feeling pretty snazzy if she did say so herself.
Though...
Perhaps calling it "thief gear" was a bit of an exaggeration. Really she had just typed in 'Cat burglar suit' into an online shopping giant and purchased one of the customers that popped up that looked cute. (It was a Halloween costume.)
