[open] and you can tell the sun in his jealous sky..

[starryeyed_cass]

[OOC: Just to let everyone know, Cassie is backdated to the thirteenth. Everyone else is on the current date. :)]

On the thirteenth, it is Cassie Riddle’s twenty-third birthday. In the early morning, she is up on the roof of Kashtta, playing guitar. She’s singing a pretty little folk song she was fond of from back home to the skies of the

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[sophicsulphur]

Iris is almost off her shift at the cafeteria when she notices the man with his stacks of books, practically alone in the place as the day winds down. The way his notes are taking up almost every square inch of the table reminds her fondly of Kaden, and she can't resist a peek, glancing over at him as she wipes a nearby table down.

Technically, she's supposed to be in the back doing the cooking, but all the cooking's been done and there's no one else to clean tables, so cleaning tables is what she'll do. Besides, she gets the feeling that work at the Kashtta basically consists of "whoever's there, do what needs doing". And those tables are mighty dirty. No, it's not about snooping on this guy's work at all. Nope. Not Iris. She wouldn't be interested in that.

...maybe just a little.

Especially when she glimpses the things written on some of those papers. A study of the statistical scattering of rift locations in Chicago, Illinois. A cross-sampling of supernatural Wanderer abilities not native to their home worlds. As someone who's

[i_robert_capa]

Capa hasn't noticed Iris wandering around, cleaning tables around him. His eyes remain on his notes, his hand twitching here and there as he writes down more notes. He's working on a theory that riftpowers given to Wanderers are more than just random, but a little more personal, as if the rift sees into someone as they pass through:

'In what I believed to be my final moments of life, I observed the bomb activating around me and turned to be facing the flares of the sun. On my journey, I had held such wonder of our star. It haunted my dreams and I felt some indescribable emotion toward it. It’s a feeling I still cannot describe today. And in my last seconds of life in my own world - I reached to touch the sun. And behold, I found myself decades in my past in Chicago. My rift powers showed instantly. I had obtained the ability to produce fire.The voice doesn't startle him, he's slow to react to her at first. His exhaustion and focus into his work has almost consumed him, interraction with others is going to be a bit of a struggle. He

[sophicsulphur]

She can't help the grin that spreads over her face. "Actually, that's exactly the type of thing I've been curious about myself," she says. "--Hey, wait a sec. Let me go wash my hands, and I'll be right back."

She's dashed off and returned in a couple of minutes, still beaming at having clearly hit the motherlode. "Back when I first came here, I formed some theories of my own, but... well, I don't have any hard information, and I never really knew where to start gathering it." She gestures to the table, taking in his swathes of notes. "You seem to have collected a lot. And that theory... I'd never thought of it before. But if it were true, that would definitely be evidence that the Rifts are acting with some kind of purpose. Which is what I'm trying to find out about." Why we're here. Why we've been called. What part we all have to play, in what's shaping up to be a a cosmic war."What have you got on that so far? People's abilities matching them, I mean." She racks her brain, trying to think of the abilities of people she knows and

[i_robert_capa]

Capa's own interest is piqued as the girl talks, it's refreshing to find someone to talk theories over with. Since Hermione (or rather, the Hermione he was friends with) disappeared, he's not really had anyone to talk to about things like this. He misses her terribly, he'd never met a more intelligent and talent young woman in all his life

[sophicsulphur]

Iris has never flinched from discussions of the Rift: if one flinches from knowledge, one never learns. And since it and its influences play such a huge part in all their lives here, she considers it a pretty darn crucial thing to learn about.

His story's fascinating to her, and it shows on her face. "Fall into the sun," she says, trying to wrap her mind around how such a thing could be possible. On the one hand, it sounds incredibly scary. On the other... sort of awesome. To be absorbed into the very heart of fire.... "So you're sort of a hero, then? One thing I've noticed myself about the Rift-- a lot of the people it seems to bring here have done extraordinary things back home. I keep wondering if that's a factor. If the Rift's trying to bring together... people who've fought in exceptional ways, for some kind of battle

[i_robert_capa]

Capa looks down, a little flustered and awkward - he's not really sure how on earth to react to that comment. It was the kind of thing he wasn't looking forward to if the Icarus II had successfully made it home again, if things hadn't went wrong with Pinbacker. People would hail them as heroes, they'd saved mankind. With a bomb. His bomb.

"I'm not a hero..." he says weakly with a shake of his head, "I'm... I'm just a physicist," He doesn't even know if the bomb worked. At the time of launch, all would become theoretical. Even he couldn't say for sure if his bomb would work. He feels an awkward laugh become caught in the back of his throat, "Oh, I'm no fighter either," If he is some kind of hero, he's a pretty lame one

[sophicsulphur]

Iris just smiles. Of course a true hero wouldn't want to think of themselves as one. "Not every hero needs to fight," she says, gently. "At least, not with weapons. There are plenty of ways to fight, and... perhaps some of the truest heroes are those who don't believe that's the answer. That wars should be won with hearts and minds, not swords." She waves a hand over the table, indicating the papers strewn across it. "Like-- like all of this. All that you've done here, this could already be helpful, if we can put it all together, work out some patterns. That's much more useful than going out and killing someone

[i_robert_capa]

Capa continues to look down awkwardly, still rubbing at the back of his neck with one hand. He's still clearly embarrassed by her compliments; he polite enough to thank her for them, even though he still doesn't think himself as a hero. "Ahh.. the pen is mightier than the sword?" he comments with a nod of his head, looking up her for a moment before his eyes return to the table

[sophicsulphur]

She sits herself down without further preamble, taking in his words. What he's saying is so fascinating, and makes a lot of sense. In fact, it makes more sense than any theory she's heard thus far. Not that she knows what a dormant gene or a dominant gene is, but she gets the general idea. Besides, she's heard the words genome and genetics tossed around enough in reference to species that she's caught onto the idea that the two are related. The same way genealogy, apparently, means a family tree. What you get from your parents; the reason you look like them, and not like anyone else. It makes sense

[i_robert_capa]

Capa smiles apologetically and nods, he needs to remember that not everyone understands his science babble. While he's not trying to insult the girl's intelligence - genetics is not a subject he'd use in everyday conversation. "Yes, that's exactly what the case may be with you. The rift's awoken something deep inside, something you thought may have been there but couldn't put your finger on. Something which could have remained tucked away inside of you had you remained in your homeworld. The energy of the rift must have brought it to the surface. That's perhaps why you feel this way now

[sophicsulphur]

She grins at his words, practically glowing with energy. Something deep inside, brought to the surface. The thought is nothing less than enchanting. This is really me. She's pretty sure of that right now, but it never hurts to have it confirmed. Especially given all those who doubt.

The Rift or her, indeed? She shrugs right back, smiling. It's hard to be sure. One thing she is pretty sure of, however, is that she's experienced the afterlife. When you exist in a place that's realer than reality, it's kind of a hard thing to doubt.

She's always thought faith was an odd sort of concept, in general. She's interacted with gods and afterlives, up close and personal. To treat them as a matter of faith would be like having faith in rain, or faith that your friends exist. Technically, she supposes, the idea that anything exists is something you have to take on faith, but the chance that it's all just an illusion seems so miniscule as to be absurd

[i_robert_capa]

Capa just stares at her, as calmly as he can, his jaw set. This girl might claim that there is some sort of afterlife, but he just refuses to believe that. His own bitterness has made him stubborn in the last year. The brutality he witnessed, everything. He sees that life is all people have, this is when we should press on, do all we can - aspire to be more. Because that is all there is. He believes that at the end, there is nothing. It's a difficult thing to explain, even in his own head

[sophicsulphur]

She startles a little at the rush of flame. "...Whoa there," she says, holding up her own hands and letting out a tiny, nervous laugh. "I was just saying

[i_robert_capa]

Capa looks down and shakes his head, sighing heavily. "No, it's not... it's fine," he says awkwardly. Great, now he's gone and spooked her. Why can't he just have a conversation with someone. Why is this so difficult? "Sorry," The word is strained and awkward, but sincere. He rubs at his arms and hands, wiping the flicks of fire away.

It's not because he's mad at her. He might feel a little annoyed, but really it's just because he's frustrated and tired. He can't remember the last time he slept. He's in control of his powers, but they have a tendency to spark up a little when he's not in control of himself.

He nods his head briskly, "Good, that's good," he says quietly and falls into another awkward silence. As he shakes her hand, he tries his best to smile warmly, "Nice to meet you, Iris," he says, nodding his head at her bow.

"No, go ahead," he says with another nod of his head. Good, he can give himself another scolding in his head while she does.