Rebels & Mutineers is set in modern day New Orleans, Louisiana. R&M is fueled by player's plots and group input.
Supernatural people have always had their place in society, hidden in plain sight or locked away for their own protection. New Orleans, a haven for the strange and mysterious and a magnet for the supernatural.
Established: Oct. 27th, 2018 Recently Updated Posts && Recently Updated Threads
05.11.19
As the community reels from the untimely death of Lucia Lovelle, life has to move on. Primrose readies for the annual Prom celebration! Keep your eye out for a event board and have fun!
02.27.19
It's not too late to vote for February's OTM winners! The winners for January, keep an eye out on your messages for your winner's graphics for your signature. Already voted? Make sure you check out the Mardi Gras event board! Party up, have a good time, and enjoy!
It was not a dream. Euphemia Morgan had been afraid that it was, and that the morning light would see her within her own bed, safe and sound and simple. But it wasn’t a dream, nor was it anything else she feared. The previous night had come and past, and the world still stood in one piece. No great cataclysm, no end of the world, no Apocalypse. The sun was going to rise like any other day. Even now, the pre-dawn light was filtering in through a window that was not her own, and the world felt like it was at peace.
She had been up for a while, trying to decide the best course of action. It hadn’t exactly been an accident or anything. They had spent a lot of time together towards the end of December, capitalizing on what before she had ignored. Still, it felt like such a jump, and the part of her that was always more schoolmarm than human was ‘tsk’ing. Midnight talking, light touches, stolen kisses, they all seemed a world away from the previous night. She would have liked to say it wouldn’t change things, that there was an easy exit if either of them needed it, but she knew that had disappeared somewhere after their long midnight kiss.
If something were to go wrong now, it would be nearly impossible for her to forget quickly. She could still feel the heat trails his fingers had left on her. No, it was all tangled now, irreparably so, because she didn’t want to let him go. She had known it all along, but there was a new confirmation now. But this was somehow more complicated to say the least. She knew what it was like to fully cross to the other side, and she knew what it was to pick up the pieces afterwards. And she didn’t want to have to pick up these. The territory was uncharted, and the familiar fear of the nameless was firmly locked within her chest.
Her gaze fell to the bed’s other occupant - to its owner. Every time she thought about trying to slip back to her room before the rest of the house stirred, she looked at him, and she couldn’t do it. She didn’t want to leave his side, not before they could verbally hash out what they physically already had. She felt like a young girl, seeking some sort of assurance at best or absolution at worst. Questions, memories, and deeper worries all swam in her head, but being close to him quieted them somehow. For all her fretting, all she really wanted to do was lie back down and forget that she should worry about anything at all. She wanted to stay in his warmth and forget the world that was rising up around them.
But they did have to get up, and they did have to discuss what it all meant for their future trajectory. She stirred just enough to gather her things that they had strewn about the night before. She needed them to be in a neat pile, at the very least. That would, somehow, make her feel better about the current disorder of things in her life. The cautious side of her was constantly reminding her that sleeping with your boss and sleeping with someone who was technically your roommate were bad enough separate. Combine those together and add in a house full of nosy kids who depended on the adults to have things completely sorted out, and she really had no idea what to say or do except make sure her shoes were calmly tucked under her leggings from the night before.
She heard, or thought she heard, a stir from the bed and turned around a bit too quickly to investigate. "Ash?" she called gently as she approached the bed once more. "Are you awake?"
New Years Eve brought laughter to Phalanx every year. Every year the underaged students drank apple cider, the of age drank a glass of champagne. They would cheer and celebrate and bring in the new year. When the stroke of midnight finally hit, some of the couples would pair off and kiss. Sometimes kids would reenact their own family traditions, there was a girl once from Philadelphia that would bang pots and pans and scream at the New Year. He loved all of it because it was always Phalanx coming together.
Until something possessed him to finally do something about the crush that he had on Euphemia. Maybe it was the long drive and flirting in the car with her when they were buying pajamas. Maybe it was the Christmas Day conversation with his sister. Whatever it was, it was enough to convince Ash that he had to kiss Euphemia at the stoke of midnight and hold her close. The long kiss, the way his hands fit perfectly over her hips, he was quickly becoming addicted to it and when it became more than just a midnight kiss, he was sure that he was going to wake up to an empty bed and the fond memories of being with the woman of his dreams and the agreement to never speak about it again. Or worse, her resignation.
Hearing her voice, he turned over on the bed and opened his eyes to the bright light of the New Years Day. They were going to have to talk about this. They were going to have to discuss the tossed around clothes, the fevered kisses and the way that they were forever different to each other. They were no longer just two coworkers who were flirting and they were no longer people who spoke to each others in what ifs and hypotheticals. They had been together. He was sure that she could come up with a million poetic and literature based ways to say it, but they fucked.
"Yeah, I'm awake." He said, pulling her back to the bed. They fucked and he never wanted to know another night without her next to him. He wanted to always have her and he wanted to memorize every inch of her. "You sleep okay?" He asked, pulling her against him so he could kiss her forehead. He finally had her and he wasn't about to ever let her go. He knew that once he started this, it would be something that he was going to want to keep. He would fight for it, he would keep it close, and he would do anything that he could to have her. He knew that his bed was a little lumpy at times, mostly cause he hadn't bought himself a new one in a while. He was going to, but then they got more kids in and they all needed beds.
He would always do everything for the kids of Phalanx and he really hoped that it stayed as one of his endearing traits to Eppie. He looked at her and tucked some of her dark hair behind her ear, "I just want you to know that I wanted last night to happen for a very long time and I don't think I'll be able to keep myself from wanting to be with you all the time Euphemia."
The night that had passed had been so different than Eppie had expected. She had had little more than an intention of enjoying the night with Phalanx. In her heart of hearts, she had wanted to steal Ash away for a midnight kiss, away from the all-seeing eyes of the students. She had managed to do that, but it was far from the small thing she had foreseen. As soon as his hands were on her hips and her arms around his neck, she knew how it would end. Or at least how she wanted it to end, anyway, but even that reality had far outstripped her expectations.
He pulled her back to him, and she went willingly, without a second thought. There was such safety and warmth next to him; he radiated strength. “I hope I didn’t wake up; I was trying to be quiet,” she replied a little sheepishly as she pulled the covers back over her once more. It was a little late for any sort of false modesty, but she wanted to be as close as possible to him. Every time she got closer, the memories swam, white hot, between them, and she was able to push them aside. The moment was too good to get distracted by the past.
“Better than I have in a long time. You?” His kiss on her forehead sent comfortable warmth through her, and she returned it with a feather light one on his jawline. This felt entirely too natural; even in his slightly lumpy bed, she felt like she belonged, the softness of her body forming gently against the solidity of his. There was a cocoon around them in the room, and she felt like if she raised her voice too loud or moved too much, it would burst open and real life would come crashing back in. There was an entire house that waited just outside his door, but she wanted no part of it at the moment. It was very rare that she didn’t want to interact with the students and other employees, but she wanted to just bask in Ash’s presence without worrying if others were worrying about them.
She snaked one of her hands and rested it against his neck and jawline, her thumb tracing gentle lines through his stubble. His fingers laced through her hair and pulled it out of her face, and she could only smile to listen to him. Her heart did a special little flutter at his statement, and words welled in her. There was so much she wanted to say, but it all seemed so ephemeral. A coherent thought was there one second, gone the next. She had never been at such a complete loss for words. Her eyes searched his, as if she could find any there, and with a steadying breath, she cleared her throat.
“A very long time, huh? Well, don’t let it get out, but I have been, too.” Despite their previous night, her cheeks were heating. “It may or may not have crossed my mind the first time we met,” she admitted with a small laugh. “Had you been a telepath, that interview would have been pretty mortifying.” As much as she had wanted it, that didn’t hand wave the potential complications it introduced to their lives, but there would time to get into that later.
The students saw everything again. Apparently the two of them just needed to have witnesses on all of their kisses. When they went out shopping for pajamas, he had been tempted to kiss her in the van, in the parking lot, in the shops, everywhere. Just couldn't bring himself to bridge that gap between the two of them no matter how much he was tempted to. A living room gathered around a television with a bright and shining ball, and he was able to grip her up easily. The glitter in the air, the shouting of students ringing in the new year, he couldn't help it.
Pulling her close, it felt like the glitter was in the air all over again. Being with her felt like a thousand new years all filled with potential and wonder. He could be holding the woman who he was meant to be with. No one he had ever met had been as perfect as Euphemia. He cared for her so much, he didn't know it was possible to care that much without busting at the seams. She was everything. "Nah you didn't wake me, usually someone is yelling or screaming around now. Lazy mornings are wasted on the youth." He joked and smiled warmly when she pulled the blanket over herself. A crisp winter morning, a beautiful woman who he cares for, there was nothing that could make a better morning.
He grinned and held her close, enjoying how perfect the two of them fit together. "Much better. Making me think I need to get a new mattress, cause this old thing might be nice now, but I promise you a few nights in it and you'll hate it." He kissed down the side of her face to her neck, "And I'm not risking anything that will keep you out of this bed with me." He had no impression that this was going to be a one time thing, and he didn't want Eppie to think that either. He was dedicated to making this work between the two of them. He fought to get out of Monroeville, he fought to build Phalanx House, he would fight to keep Euphemia by his side. He wasn't used to letting life take away the best things from him, and he wasn't about to start now.
The two of them together, the sun streaming in the window, their limbs tangled together as if the most natural space for them to be. There was nothing about any of this that he could have imagined with even a fraction of the perfection that it felt to be with her. "How are you so beautiful?" He asked, amazed at the perfect hairpin of her lips, amazed at the warmth in her eyes, and the glow on her skin. She was remarkable and she some how decided that his damaged self was worth getting involved with.
Ash laughed when she admitted her lewd thoughts in her job interview, "I had very similar thoughts and felt very fortunate that you don't have those abilities either." He kissed her softly, leaning over her in the bed, "I'm never one to initiate the what are we conversation, but I really want this Ep. Me and you. I don't care whatever you wanna call it, I just wanna be able to call you all mine." He said, running his fingers through her hair as he leaned over her.
She laughed sleepily, quietly as she burrowed into the bed. She was almost too afraid to be loud, as if the morning would shatter all around them, and that simply wouldn’t do. No, she wanted this to be perfect and everlasting, a moment frozen in time. “I don’t remember the last time they let me sleep past dawn. It’s like living in a house full of perfect alarm clocks,” she told him, burying her forehead against his neck.
How could a person be so comfortable-feeling? She felt as those they closed the seams between them, wrapped up in each other. “A few nights in? Is that an invitation?” she asked, but the tingle of her skin under his lips was all the answer she needed on her own end. Lumpy mattress or not, she would accept every single time, and she knew it. “If I can survive dorm mattresses, I think I can stand this one,” she assured him, finding his gaze once more. She rested her forehead against his before pressing another kiss to his lips. It all still felt like a dream, and she did not want to let him go at all. How strange it was, to feel so strongly about someone who seemed to understand and hold her same values. He had such a good heart; she could hardly imagine that she could have a part in it.
She laughed at his question and shrugged as best she could imagine. “You’re a flatterer, Astor, even though you absolutely don’t have to be,” she reminded him with a morning smile. “The real question is how are you so amazing?” When she first saw him, the scruff on his jaw, the vague air of leather and motorcycles, she had had no idea what to think beyond the obvious oh no, hot possible boss. The fact that he had an amazing and boundless heart and kindness for everyone he passed… it was almost unfair to any other man on the planet.
“That interview could have gone very differently, then,” she rejoined, her own laugh blending with his. She fell back gently as he leaned over her, and she wrapped his arms around his neck, returning his kiss in a moment of bliss. She wanted it. She did, and if there was nothing else to consider, she wouldn’t have hesitated. But she did. She had never been good at labelling things, had never been good at verbalizing everything that she wanted. There was, unfortunately, no reason she would start then.
“I, uh, you know. It’s the kids - they’re so impressionable. If-if we were to be too obvious, only for something to go wrong…” Her voice trailed off, and she let her hands fall from his neck onto her face. She was a grown woman; she should have been able to finish a thought and not feel like such a schoolgirl.
Rubbing her hands down her face, she gathered her thoughts and sighed. “Ash, I want this. I want you, and as far as I am concerned, I’m yours. But let’s give it time before we tell anyone.” Her voice had dropped into barely over a whisper. It was a crazy, unsustainable request, and she half-expected he would tell her to leave right then and there.
Lazy morning in bed, limbs intertwined, his arm around her. It was something he could definitely get used to and he was not going to give up on doing this with Euphemia. She meant so much to him and he knew that there was nothing that was going to be worth losing her over. The opinions of the other teachers, nothing. "Tell me about it. It's been nearly eleven years of explosions in the backyard, eletromagnetic mishaps in the kitchen. We even had a rhino shifter once who lost control in the shower and broke through the floor." Phalanx had gone through so many repairs over the years, it was a surprise that the entire house wasn't just duct tape and gorilla glue.
Ash grinned and ran his fingers through her hair and looked into her dark eyes. "Standing invitation for you Ep." he knew that he had to get a new mattress and with dating someone with an ability like Eppie's, it would be best to get something without imprints of other people on it. He didn't have the most innocent history and he didn't want to imprint that on her. "All that fancy book learnin' at LSU and they can't even spring for decent mattresses?" He teased, trailing his fingers along her sides and curves. The soft kiss between them, the moment of them, it was amazing.
He laughed when she asked how he was so amazing and able to flatter her. "I have every intention of showering you with all of the compliments and love and praise. You're amazing, Eppie and I would do anything for you." The faint scent of old books and warm sunshine that seemed to radiate off her skin. He wanted to take her out on rides on his bike, he wanted to show her all of his favorite spots in New Orleans to her. He wanted to take her everywhere and continue to grow Phalanx with her by his side.
"I'm sure the two of us can come up with ways to make up for the lost time." He rolled her on top of him, one of his favored positions from the night before. His hands gripping her ass and his lips on hers. He knew that there were a lot of eyes on them with a school full of impressionable students and co-workers. They had to be careful of who knew what when. His siblings being her students were sure to be annoying about it. Sirius was going to be an absolute ass, he was sure of it. Astrid would be supportive, he was grateful for the little pup for that.
"You think that this could go wrong?" He asked her, looking into her beautiful dark eyes. he knew that it was possible for it to all go downhill and he knew that they were going to make it work, but he could understand the hesitation in her voice. They were already basically living together and Ash had no long term relationships to promise himself that they would make it last with.
He looked at her and kissed her again, hoping to kiss away all of the doubt and the uncertainty, hoping to kiss away all of the fear that they didn't have a future between them. "I want this too, and I want this however I can have it. We can wait and tell people, and that's okay." He laid against her and hoped that it was what she really wanted and this wasn't some test where he was supposed to demand to be out and proud with her as a way to show that he really cared for her.
Eppie’s fingers traced circles on his arms absently as she listened to him. She buried her forehead against his shoulder, trying to contain her laughter. That was what she had to look forward to, it seemed. “You know, at least you’ve gotten really good at rolling with the punches.” Sometimes literally, she knew. There were times when she already thought she was going to have to pull some kids off of others, and in the realms of those with literal superpowers, who knew how bad that could truly get. They were teenagers, dealing with their powers and the power of puberty. It was never going to go perfect.
The simple feeling of his hands through her hair made her smile widen. His touch was an electric promise that she knew he could back up. “I’m sure there’s a joke there, but it’s too early to make it,” she laughed. “Oh no, the mattresses there were awful. I’m pretty sure some of them were just springs wrapped in vinyl,” she added with mock disgust.
She laughed as he rolled them once more, with her ending up upright. Her cheeks pinked at the memory of the previous night, but she leaned forward with her hands on either side of his head. “Oh, I suppose you have some ideas then.” Her words petered out into their kiss, her hair falling out behind her ear and grazing the side of his face. As much as she wished that chased away the ghosts from the darker corners, it didn’t. His warmth, his hands, his reassuring presence; they did little to quell the old fear that remained.
She sat back up and pulled her errant hair behind her ear. “I don’t want to think that, Ash. I want nothing more than to shack up with you without a single care in the world.” She ran her hands back through her hair and took a position lying beside him once more. “But we’re not that fortunate, not when we can be disturbed by a kid falling off the roof or falling through the roof.” Every sound outside the room rose her threat level, and as much as she wanted to block it all out, she knew she couldn’t. She didn’t even want to think about what would happen if the kids caught wind and took it upon themselves to make comments or predictions. It was like one of those old blended family comedies, except the kids belonged to relative strangers. And she taught his siblings. And some of the kids could start fires with their minds.
Memories had tugged at her the entire night, feeling more like warnings than anything. She had not given in enough to actually follow one out, but she wasn’t foolish enough to believe that Ash didn’t have his own history. She knew better than to go digging; that never ended the way she thought it would, not a single time she had ever done it before. This, she was content to assume, was new territory for the both of them, though. She smiled into his kiss. “I know that’s a lot to ask in this house, but I appreciate it, Ash,” she assured him, resting her forehead against his gently.
