[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 pretty much jumping at the chance to bake cake with one of her closest friends. After all, cake and friends are two of the things she does best, alchemy notwithstanding. And right now, she's still struggling to get back up to speed on that last part, so what better way to spend an afternoon than indulging in the former two? Especially given it's an occasion. She's never one to take an important festival lightly, whether that festival is personal or otherwise.

She's brought her own ingredients, just in case Cassie needs them, though when she walks in and sees Cassie's flour-covered form she laughs and says, "Well, I can see I didn't need to bring any extra." She sets her bag down on one of the counters, and begins to fish out a few things anyway.

"Do you have enough decorations? Chocolate sprinkles? Small sparkly things? Large sparkly things? Things that sort of tingle in your mouth and make your head feel fuzzy?" She holds up something that looks a little like a large konpeito. It's clear that not everything Iris has brought

[starryeyed_cass]

Cassie looks up at Iris with a grin and stops stirring for a moment to wipe her hands down the apron she’s got on. “Hey, Iris,” She looks down at herself and laughs, she didn’t quite believe she was covered in flour this much. Oops. “Ahh, no - the more stuff we have, the more cake there is for everyone!” she tells her with a nod.

She pauses for a moment and looks down at what she’s bought herself, “Erm, I’ve got hundreds and thousands and I’ve gotten lots of food colouring to make different coloured icing with,” She holds up the tiny bottles holding red, green, blue and yellow liquids in them. She’ll be able to mix them together to make more colours too! “But I could do with more,”

Cassie watches as Iris fetches out the items with curiosity and frowns at the last thing she brings out. She’s never seen anything like that before. “What on earth is that?”

[sophicsulphur]

Iris laughs out loud when Cassie evinces surprise. Looking at it, the thing is pretty startling, and she can't help finding it funny too. "It's a-- well. I haven't actually decided what I call it yet. But try a piece." She breaks off one of the knobbly parts and holds it out to Cassie. "It's a thing that tingles in your mouth and makes your head feel fuzzy. I just brought all the sweet supplies I had, though I don't really think this will fit on a cake. Although you could crumble it in a cake

[starryeyed_cass]

Cassie raises her eyebrows, "Huh, weird," She takes the chunk of sweet offered and frowns at it for a moment before cautiously putting it in her mouth. And after a few moments, she feels a sudden shudder of sugar rush. She blinks at the brief moment of sugary bliss and shakes slightly.

"Woah, now that's something," she utters with a slightly tipsy grin. "It's like a sugar bomb!" She giggles and nods her head, "Yeah! Sugar bomb! Maybe that's what you should call it!"

She laughs again at her friend's stumble, and nods her head again as she looks at the bottles in her hands. "I think if we put it in the mixture right, we could even make rainbow cake," That sounds like a good idea actually, "Like, you separate the mixture and add colouring to it, then pour it in the backing dish in layers - it'll be like a rainbow!"

At her question, she pauses for a moment in thought, "Well, on top - icing and then we could make some patterns on top with all the sweets and stuff you've brought!"

[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

[ocptmycpt]

Jim's heading back to the Kashtta after a night flight. He's become a bit nocturnal this past week--sleeping a lot during the day and taking to the air at night. It's a bit annoying, but a neccessity if he wants to improve his flying. Going out in the day is way too risky; Chicago wouldn't react well to seeing a man flying about in broad daylight. Jim imagines a chase scene involving helicopters and way too many guns

[starryeyed_cass]

Cassie doesn’t hear Jim land, nor had she seen him flying about. She’s fully absorbed in her playing - guitar isn’t her strongest instrument, she’s definitely a pianist more than anything. Her eyes are tired, staring out across the skyline but not focusing on anything. She’s completely at ease with herself. Well, aside from the fact she can’t sleep.

As she finishes, she pauses briefly before moving her fingers to a new chord for another song. But before she has a chance to begin again, she hears a familiar voice. She sighs with a grin and shakes her head - looking at him. “Hello Jim,” she greets him, “Or should I say Giantfeet,”

She laughs and looks down at her guitar for a moment; she always gets just the tiniest bit shy when people comment on her music. “Thank you,” she replies and ruffles the hair at the side of her head, “I can’t sleep, thought I’d come up here for a while instead. Besides, I don’t want to sleep my birthday away,”

Cassie raises an eyebrow, “What about you? Why are you up this early in the morning?” she asks him

[ocptmycpt]

"Ooh, burn," he says sarcastically, grinning at her comeback. Jim's probably going to keep up with the Littlefoot thing--a) because nicknames are awesome and b) because the nickname comes from a movie about dinosaurs, what can be better?--so it's good to know she doesn't seem to mind

[starryeyed_cass]

There's a mischievous grin on her face. She's not one for nicknames herself, but if Jim's going to continue with the one he has for her - it's only fair she's going to keep her's up

[corpsedisposal]

Despite the fact that it is freezing balls outside, Rain is on a night run through Grant Park. Usually she runs in the afternoon during the winter months, when the day is at its warmest, but she's noticed since coming to Chicago that she sees a lot more interesting things at night. Running gets boring without some good scenery.

So she's not exactly surprised when she comes across a dead man. The surprising fact is that she recognizes the corpse. This seems to be against all odds, so after scanning the immediate area for cops, she crouches down to get a better look at the ruined face. Yes, this would be that guy who said he was an unkillable demon. And that would be his blood everywhere. She peels off one of her gloves and dips a finger into the puddle. Contact with the frozen ground is making it cool rapidly, so she can't tell how long he's been dead, and if he's really not all human she can't count on coagulation to give her any clues. She gives the blood on her finger an experimental lick to taste before putting her glove back on

[halfhuman_hero]

It’s a good fifteen minutes or so before the life’s forced back into him. The parts of his brain are regenerated, muscle and tissue and bone slowly growing back into place and the skin healing and looking as if nothing had ever happened. The only sign is the fact his head is still covered in thick, red blood

[corpsedisposal]

The yell startles her. Rain has only ever seen anyone come fully back from the dead like that once. He'd been a vampire of course, not one of Daniel's, and he'd come back furious. It was a controlled situation, but even then everyone in that room was lucky to still be alive. The residual fear from that day makes her jump to her feet and back up several paces, wide-eyed.

But instead of ripping out her throat, Doyle offers her a cigarette. She takes it, lights it and shrugs at his question, pretending like he hadn't scared her halfway to the grave. She doesn't ask if he's okay or what happened. "So you are what you said you are." That's good, because she'd told him plenty of truth in that same conversation, and she'd feel like an idiot if she was the only one who hadn't lied.

[halfhuman_hero]

Doyle lights up his own cigarette, knowing full well that the nicotine's going to ruin the natural high that coursing through his body. Due to the sheer blood loss, his body's made up new blood to compensate. So that brand new, shiny blood that's running through his veins is making him feel good inside.

But he really needs a cigarette.

He takes a long drag and rubs at his temple, "'Course I am," he says, looking at her with a slight frown, "Y'think I was lyin' before?" While he has been know to be someone who lies, it's usually when it comes to gambling or when he's trying to save his own skin. "I really am an immortal demon, y'know..."

He shakes his head and reaches up to touch the back of his head. The pain's dulled, but he'll still be needing a lot of painkillers, "Jesus, what a mess.." he mutters, bringing back a blood soaked hand, he wipes it promptly on the grass next to him.

[blazetodefine]

David recognizes Lola. Although monsters scare the hell out of him, his protective instinct takes over and he rushes forward. His wings slide out of his back, and it is the first time they have done that since... since he got in a fist fight with his father so not long.

He reaches for her arm in an attempt to pull her out of the way, carry her if he has to to safety.

Unfortunately, he has no weapon of his own so he can't really distract the beast without being seriously injured, but he is faster than Lola would be if she ran on her own, especially with his wings out. His instinct is to run. It is always to run.

[therebelruns]

Lola catches the blur of blonde hair at her side, but she can't afford to look anywhere else but forward - scared it'll make her trip and fall, or cause her to run into something. Her heart thuds in her chest, a familar feeling of terror and courage at once.

"David?!" she allows the smallest of looks just to be sure. She's in awe to see his wings out, but she must allow herself to be distracted by it.

"I need to reload!" she shouts in between pants, grabbing his hand, "We must not allow this thing to go near anyone!"

[blazetodefine]

"Yes, it's me. I've got you," David manages to say through the sheer panic rushing through him and tightening his chest to the point that it's difficult to breathe. "We'll--"

He groans and winces at her answer, trying to pull her to the side as the monster dives toward them.

"I should have known you would say that," he mutters, rubbing a hand over his face. In his heart, he knows that she is right. There are many people threatened by that monster. It is what he must do, what he must believe as a guardian, but it is so difficult for him to fight through his fear.

[therebelruns]

Lola looks at him briefly with an encouraging look, she notes the hesitation, "We can do this," she calls to him. She feels the pull on her arm and moves with it. She is not going to be bear-food today.

She continues to run as hard as she can to keep up, making short leaps as she does over branches and the small patches of icy snow that remain on the earth. She feels like she's back home, running through the Spanish forests - running to help, to save people.

"Listen!" she's managed to think of a plan, her voice is broken between her pants. "We find a strong enough tree, run toward it. At the last minute, we split up and go round a side each. If the demon is stupid enough, it might run straight into it, and get knocked out,"

She's looking around for a tree as she speaks, "Good plan?"