Rift Overflow

rift_overflow @ 2011-11-23T21:44:00

2011-11-24T02:45:04Z

Universe: Riftverse
Time: Present day
Place: Grant Park
Characters: Shaylee Faolan, OPEN

The park is just about perfect for someone like Shay. There's sunlight, fresh air, and most importantly? People.

Or as Shaylee liked to think of them- chumps.

The little witch has found herself a hiding spot, and with her wand in hand, she's been whispering various hexes, jinxes, or meddlesome spells to cause innocent passerbyes to trip or worse. If a person were to listen closely, they may hear the sixteen year old snicker from the bushes.

open ][ and I'll try not to sing out of key

2011-07-07T04:04:53Z

Universe: Normal Rift!verse
Time: Present day, dusk
Place: Grant Park
Characters: Colin Grace; OPEN

The sun hasn't quite set over Chicago tonight, but it's almost there. Just on the edges of the park is a man and his guitar. He's leaning back against a tree, his brimmed hat is down over his eyes, and a raw and quiet tune is emerging from his lips. His fingers tumble over the strings of his guitar slowly, as he pours his heart into his song. It's sad and mournful and speaks of all the lost things, something everyone in Chicago can identify with.

He looks like a homeless man. He looks like the kind of guy most people would pass by without a second glance, the kind of guy most people wouldn't even want to stop and speak to. He doesn't have a cup or an open guitar case begging for change, he's just here, giving his song to the city as it whirls around him. He doesn't even care if anyone stops to notice he's here.

open ][ come on I'm talking to you, come on

2011-06-23T18:48:44Z

Universe: Normal Rift!verse
Time: Present day
Place: Outside the Kashtta
Characters: Burton "Gus" Guster (for Shawn Spencer, but OPEN)
Note: Happy Birthday, Emily! Have a Gus! XD Just consider it one step closer to where you want him.

Good morning, Chicago. Outside of the Kashtta there is one Burton Guster standing on the sidewalk. A boom box is held high above his head, with one of the greatest songs of all time blaring out of it. And yes, he may just be wearing a brown colored trench coat as well. This is serious business.

Gus has been in Chicago for two very long, very rough days. There was an attack by something he couldn't even identify, and it's not something he really wants to talk about. It was traumatic. What matters is that Gus knows where he is, and he knows the bigger point of the Rift and what it does to people. The even more important part is that he discovered this morning that Shawn Spencer is also in Chicago. See, Gus knew about the Kashtta, but he was hesitant before about going there. He heard about these CLF people, and they don't sound like people he wants to get in the way of. But then this morning he found out that not only is Shawn in Chicago, but he's staying at the Kashtta. This is the kind of thing that Gus really can't ignore.

This is why he's where he is. Standing on the sidewalk, with the greatest song of all time, waiting for his best friend.

Don't leave him hanging, Shawn.

open ][ piano man, he makes his stand in the auditorium

2011-06-12T21:26:32Z

Universe: Normal Rift!verse
Time: Present day
Place: A dark, quiet piano bar somewhere in Chicago
Characters: Larry Paul, OPEN

Larry arrived in Chicago three weeks ago. He did all of the usual settling in; finding somewhere to live, coming to terms with the rift and it's powers, and most importantly finding something to remind him of home. That reminder came with a stumble into a small bar off the beaten path. Larry went in, wooed in by the music, and he stayed all night.

He went back again and again, he couldn't stay away. He started talking to people. The bartender, the owner, other patrons; anyone that would talk back. And now just weeks later, he has finagled his way onto the piano. It's not an official performance or anything, it's just a lull. A break between other things when he's granted the right to sit at the gorgeous ivory keys and do what he does best.

The first note is tentative. Almost rusty. He stumbles over the keys to start, but then almost flawlessly falls into the familiarity of his one true love. Music.

It's a known song, one that he knows by heart. One that he can put all of his heart into and truly make the crowd feel.

"When the rain is blowing in your face, and the whole world is on your case..."

And when he finishes he humbly pulls himself from the piano and returns to the bar, to his glass of scotch, with a small smile to himself. It's that feeling again. Calm. Ease. A feeling that everything just might be okay. It's what he's needed for weeks now.

{*Song is Make You Feel My Love by Bob Dylan}

[overflow] this plane is definitely crashing

2011-05-28T20:55:35Z

Universe: Normal!verse
Time: More or less the present.
Place: Grant Park.
Characters: AU!Ros from my Life During Wartime universe, in which her father's quasi-fascist takeover of the UK government was successful. N.B. this Ros makes regular Ros look like a model of adjustment and sanity. And is armed. ~~And I am totally not doing this so I can pretend I'm working on the next installment of Wartime, shutup.~~

There are things it's not safe for Sir Jocelyn Myers's daughter to do.

One of them is going overseas -- for all her father and Collingwood promise her it won't be long before she can do her proper job again, before she can stop playing liaison and caseworker and good little girl for Len Bishop's new improved Section D.

Another of them is shagging Adam Carter -- or, rather, allowing him to shag her -- and another of them is taking her morning run alone, without benefit of guard; but her personal life is her own business, and she refuses to live her life in fear. She's rounding the corner onto her street when her phone rings; the display shows RESTRICTED CALLER, but there are few enough people with access to this number that she's not surprised to hear her father's voice when she flips it open.

"Good morning, darling," he says, voice thick with amusement. "I assume the weather's worth risking your life?"

Ros stops herself from fingering the early-travel pass clipped to her singlet top; there's a tiny locator chip embedded in it, standard issue, and she could wish her father weren't quite so inclined to take advantage of that fact.

"You're up early," she says, and hears him laugh. "What --"

-- and the air shimmers, impossibly to describe --

-- and her phone is dead, and she's standing on a gravel path, in the middle of a park she's never seen before.

Ros folds the phone up, very carefully, and clips it back onto her waistband. Her German Army field-knife is a pressure at the small of her back reassuring and disconcerting at the same time; no ordinary kidnappers would have left her in possession of it, and no ordinary kidnappers would have been capable of whatever that was. Something in the pit of her stomach wants very badly for her to panic.

She shoves it down, forcing herself to remain composed, as she turns slowly in place to survey the terrain; no decent cover for meters, and the park's crawling with morning crowds. Too many morning crowds, and none of them are wearing passes. Ros's hands don't shake very often. They're shaking now.
</cut>

[Open] There is nowhere to stop anywhere on this road

2011-05-24T04:41:24Z

Universe: Normal!verse
Time: present-ish. Y'know, without the flood
Place: the middle of the street
Characters: Leslie, a Pol from an alt!Rift where, amongst other things, her kind are treated like time bombs that are to be controlled and the planet is filled with infected zombie-like humans and anyone who sees fit to poke her.

Her fingers are stiff and her body craves food but she doesn't say anything. They're huddled around a fire, all of them keeping warm but not warm enough. Her eyes are heavy and she's fairly sure she could fall asleep where she sits but she knows she won't let herself.

"I'll be back," she announces to the group. The others nod and Haley even gives her a worried expression but she waves it off.

"I'm fine."

She moves away from the fire, pulling her coat around her tighter as she wills her legs to carry her away from her friends.

There's a gun in her pocket and it's comforting as it bumps against her. She doesn't think she'll need it. They haven't seen anyone for days neither the sick or the well but she could never be sure. The ones who were sick are one thing, you knew where you stood with them but with those who weren't? You could never be sure.

She learned how to gauge desperation and fear though. It took her a while but it comes naturally to her now.

And then things go all wrong.

Theres too much light and too much sound and somehow she's in the middle of the street surrounded by buildings. All of her muscles clench up and she crouches in a defensive stance. Cars honk at her and she darts out of the way.

Her eyes are wide as she stares at Chicago, unsure of what to make of what's going on.

She's heard the stories, knows that sometimes the Rift takes people and puts them other places (a small part of her, the part that dreams, thinks that they might even be better places) but she's never seen it in action or thought she would experience it.

So now there's a girl dressed in layers of clothing, looking sick, tired and hungry pressing herself up against a wall, trying to figure out what the hell to do next.

[for Iris] And if the paths that I have travelled have tread against the flow

2011-05-05T07:42:22Z

'Verse: Wingverse
Time: April 28, 2012, evening
Place: The feral portion of Grant Park
Character: Mio Hongo, formerly a Teme, now a newly-resurrected vampire

For most people in Chicago, it is a cool spring evening like any other: the flowers are blooming, the birds are settling into their roosts for the night, and the stars are beginning to come out in the sky. However, it is also one very special little Charun's 18th birthday, and the Rift has seen fit to give her one last present before the day is over.

In a deserted area of Grant Park where nature has moved into the ruins of some building that was destroyed in some disaster and never rebuilt, there lay a body. Here, six months ago, Iris Fortner held Mio Hongo's hand as Iris claimed Mio's life as her Mark. Mio's body has laid here undisturbed ever since. Until now. Right now, said body is sitting up and blinking her eyes in dazed confusion.

"Chicago?" Mio asks. "I thought I couldn't leave the Nexus any more after I died...and damn am I thirsty. Ow!" One of Mio's newly grown fangs slashes her lip. "Why do I have fangs?"

Happy Birthday, Iris. Have one bewildered vampire.

rift_overflow @ 2011-04-02T17:11:00

2011-04-02T21:11:35Z

Universe: Rift-Verse, Trial-Run-Verse, etc
Time: Present
Place: A random street
Characters: Tegwen and anyone who wants to help me break her in :3

Tegwen loves new places to explore, which is why falling through from the Dreaming into Chicago doesn't seem to bother her at all. She's been walking up and down the streets, grinning at every face she passes. There's so many new sights and smells and... She gets distracted by someone playing guitar on a street corner, her feet shifting in time with the music. She claps her hands when the song is over and keeps moving.

Eventually, though, she gets bored and decides that it's time to make friends. Tegwen hasn't met anyone yet, and doesn't see why it should be so hard. She taps the nearest person on the shoulder and grins at them.

"I've been looking everywhere for you! Where have you been?" Like most things that a pooka says, Tegwen's words are only about half-true. She has been looking for friends, so that much is true, but she doesn't actually know this person, so it isn't as if she was looking for them specifically. It's a tricky thing, you see.

[open] the sweetest price he'll have to pay, the day the whole world went away...

2011-02-25T17:12:40Z

Universe: Normal Rift!verse with an AU!Michael Westen
Time: present day and...midday?
Place: sidewalks of Chicago
Characters: Michael Westen and OPEN

Mike usually keeps close to home in Miami ever since his burn, but he's got business in Chicago now. He drove up in the Charger overnight, a straight drive, and he's tired. He finds a lot that's out of the way to park and gets out, locking the car behind himself.

The first thing he wants to do is get some food and rest, but there's a matter of finding a certain demon that knows exactly who burned him, and that's really more important than anything else. He heard of the man, someone named Raff, but it took Michael even longer to track him to Chicago. He has a couple contacts in the area that he so far believes he can still trust, and he asked that they just let him know if they heard anything. It was just the day before that he got the call. The guy he has been looking to speak with was spotted around Chicago, and even though it didn't look like he was going anywhere fast, Michael wasted no time in making his way up. He has no idea why or how Raff would know his business and who it is that practically destroyed his career, but that's just one of the many answers he hopes to find today.

He doesn't want to make his presence known too much yet, so he isn't going to be asking anyone he doesn't know questions about Raff. He knows who to go to for those questions and where to start. He has a destination in mind as he walks down the Chicago street, and may stop along the way for at least a coffee. Or he may accidentally bump into someone, as he has a lot on his mind and is thoroughly exhausted.

{This is Skittles saying...I...don't even know. Something different mayhaps? Bump into him wherever, I'm easy.}

[overflow] I'm so that guy

2011-02-08T00:43:23Z

Universe: Regular Riftverse. YAAAY
Time: Any time! :D
Place: Anywhere in the city of Chicago! :)
Characters: Jesse Adams, an abjurer who fancies himself a bit of a hero. Meaning he seeks out crimes and tries to stop them. ...He's not very good at it.

Chicago is a city of crime. It's the home of Al Capone, after all, and the St. Valentine's Day massacre and other things. Hell, the local high school is named after a mobster. The city is rife with crime.

Somewhere in the city, a crime is happening to your character. It could be a robbery, it could be an attempt at murder, it could be a mugging. It could be littering. No matter the crime, Jesse Adams is there to help. ...Or, try to help. Despite the magic powers, he's not exactly the best crime-fighter on the planet. But he's working on it.

[overflow] in this moment of tranquility

2011-01-02T08:52:03Z

Universe: Wingverse, Charun iteration, one of many spin-offs thereof. Serial Killerverse, technically. Yes, Iris is a serial killer. Shush, I like AUs. :3
Time: About six months after the previous post. Mid-2012.
Place: Anywhere and everywhere.
Characters: Iris, and anyone who wants to join in.

There's a killer roaming the streets of Chicago tonight.

She doesn't kill for fun; she doesn't kill for sport. She gets no sick thrill out of this. She doesn't kill because men have betrayed her, or women have betrayed her, or religion or love or society have betrayed her. She isn't partisan; everybody's fair game.

Which makes her all the more deadly.

Some of you may already know her, though you might do a double take: she's lanky, filthy, and possessed of a feral air that would never have shone in her old self's eyes. A year ago, a world away, a young and impressionable girl named Iris Fortner came through a Rift and found herself living the new life she'd always dreamed of: the life of one of Chicago's winged supernaturals, a Charun demon to be precise. She'd been carving out her niche quite nicely in that field, until one of her Marks turned on her.

A Temeluchus, with the power to brutalise minds.

The onslaught was inescapable, ripping away her defences and hammering her mind with a concentrated wall of fear. For many hours, she lay unconscious, oblivious to the stares of passersby. When she finally came to, her prey was gone; and so, mostly, was she.

Still possessed of the Calling of a Charun, but now unable to discern her Marks, she was slowly driven insane as the Calling grew stronger, needing to be fed but not knowing its outlet. She left her home for a life on the streets, fleeing from everyone who loved her before she could do any more damage-- emotionally, or physically. Eventually, she began to kill others in desperation, hoping that in her slaughter she would eventually happen upon the person she was fated to kill, and the Calling would be satisfied, at least for a little while.

And so life goes, one kill to the next, in the blind and bitter hope that you'll be the one she needs. You might find her lurking behind the trash in some back alley, or skulking in a corridor where the lights have gone out. You might find her walking the subway tracks, or foraging for scraps of food, in the brief moments of lucidity where she remembers she has to eat. But wherever you meet her, don't bother questioning whether you're her target tonight: you are. You all are. Try to reason with her if you will, but please, don't expect much of a response.

[OOC: Mio, up to you whether you want to have known Iris in this verse. I'm taking it as an AU of the teme!Kaden thread in the last post, which is technically mutually exclusive with the teme!Mio thread, but we can say that teme!Kaden was after that if you feel like traumatising Mio with a deranged Iris. :P Your call.]

BTR [OPEN POST]

2010-12-20T00:46:59Z

[OOC: Here it is, one and all! It's the moment so many have been waiting for. ;) No, but seriously, this is the Open Post that is free for anyone to come in and post their characters to. Any character.

It will be open indefinitely. Don't worry about tagging the post with character names, just have fun!

If you're considering joining beyondtherift or if you're thinking about role playing and want to give it a try, jump into this post please! :) If you're a member of the game, any character journal that you have may be tagged into this post, whether or not you ever want to bring them into the game.

Other than that, HAVE AT IT. Any universe. Any setting despite the fact that I'm setting something up here for the general Rift-ness. Action spam or prose. Both are allowed.]

It's Chicago.

It's the center of this universe where angels are supposed to be against demons, good vs evil, but it's always much more complicated than that, isn't it? Angels can be bad. Demons can be good. They are all more like humans than different species, but the universe pits them against one another.

Humans are given powers that they have no way of preparing for and without ever knowing about the supernatural part of their universe. They get powers like the ability to shift into animals, control over the elements, magical abilities, and more.

Beyond all these issues, there are the Rifts. They are breaks in space and time, dragging people, creatures, and objects from their own universes and stranding them in the city. The Rift changes them, always. It gives them abilities like humans of this universe get, it changes their looks, or something else, but it always changes them.

[Overflow] Shall I shine down?

2010-12-03T07:45:36Z

Universe: Normal Rift!verse
Time:> Present day
Place: The streets near the Navy Pier
Characters: Meryl Georgia, a slightly peculiar guardian who's come to town to see what all the noise is about.

She's never been to Chicago before only heard about it from acquaintances who speak in hushed tones about the place. She found herself growing curious though, wondering what it is about the city that leaves people talkative and gossiping.

So she came.

There was nothing tying her to her old city. She knew people but she was never very fond of them, she didn't have a ward, she had nothing. It made life exceptionally easy when it comes to picking up and leaving, so that's exactly what she did.

Now she's staring up at the sky near the Navy Pier, her eyes studying the winter constellations with fascination as she walks. She should be paying more attention to where she's going but she doesn't bother. She's not scared of the Chicago streets, she has no reason to be. She knows that there might be monsters in the dark but she'll deal with them when they come.

For now it's the stars that demand her attention and she won't be the one to deny them.

[overflow] Pray to your god, open your heart

2010-11-29T01:06:19Z

Universe: Normal Rift!verse
Time: Present day
Place: The streets of Chicago.
Characters: Paz Mendoza, for a bit of voice testing, so OPEN.

Paz is wandering down the streets of Chicago, humming an old Chilean folk song under her breath. It's one her mother used to sing to her when she was a child, and while their's no excuse for it at the moment, she's feeling a little nostalgic. Churches always tend to make her feel nostalgic, with the way the incense just carries the coppery tinge of blood up to the rafters, mixing the pungent smells in a way that reminds her of home. She hasn't been back to Chile in a little over a century, but her memory is still just as sharp, and she remembers the smell of her village as the walls ran red. It isn't something she's likely to forget either.

It's one of her most prized moments.

Tonight isn't like that night. There are too many archangels in Chicago to get away with it, a Barnam included. The name sits on her tongue like a lead weight she wants to spit out, but she isn't stupid enough to confront him head on. She'll just bide her time. A little here, a little there, and maybe a set of wings for her wall before she leaves, but for right now, just the little church would have to do. Men of faith, so willing to condemn for something that according to their beliefs their god has done -- she took far too much pleasure in turning their skin inside out, but there's no guilt in her steps as she walks. The blood on her clothes is heavy, but it doesn't slow her gait. She just continues to wander down the streets of Chicago, humming along as she goes.

[overflow] nobody's creepy from the inside

2010-10-28T06:44:00Z

Universe: Wingverse, in which Iris fell through a second Rift and became the most adorable Charun ever.
Time: Around a year from the present day, give or take. October, 2011, close to Halloween.
Place: Just outside of Grant Park.
Characters: Iris and whoever you'd like to throw in with her.

It's close to midnight, but that doesn't matter. Like all cities of significant size, Chicago never really sleeps.

She likes walking in the nighttime, though not for the stereotypical reasons: not because she's a demon, not because she's a servant of death. She doesn't see it as a bad thing, and so there's no need to cultivate a brooding image. She just likes this hour because she's found it's easier to let her wings out at night. She gets less hassle, at least of the serious kind. It's harder to tell they're not costume pieces, in the dark, and those who do notice are usually drunks or stoners who just jeer at her and then wander on their way.

She doesn't mind that. They can laugh. She just throws them a cheery smile, and keeps going. She always remembers what Sunshine said, way back at the Kashtta, a world ago: before she fell through a second Rift, into a rather different Chicago. As long as you're being true to yourself, you don't need to worry about it. Don't let anyone get you down for that, all right? It was hard to take that advice, at the time. She finds it easier now.

It's true, this wasn't what she was expecting, when she used to think of what being true to herself meant. She always thought it meant she'd be an angel. But then a new Rift took her, and she'd found her blood running hot, her body bleeding black, a strange sharp feeling wrapped up in her chest.

And she liked it. This was just as good. The wings at her back were the right kind of heavy, the energy nestled in the hollow in her heart just the right kind of bitter and sweet. She was thrilled. Her heart trembled, shuddering along at its new and faster pace. This could be all right. This could be okay.

She wasn't so thrilled, at first, when she found out what her Calling actually entailed. Set her eyes on the first of her victims, and immediately knew what she had to do. Kill her. By any means possible, she needs to die. It took her weeks to get over the guilt of it, of just feeling like she had to take someone apart. She hadn't even touched her yet. It was a month and a half before she actually did the deed, and mostly then because, fresh and new, she hadn't the strength to stand the yearning any more.

She's taken a few now, and she's better about it. She's come to understand this was what she was meant to do. It wasn't so hard to accept, once she started looking at things alchemically. There's a time for everything to descend, to be completely unmade so it can be born anew, purer and more whole. That's all she's doing, speeding evolution, helping people to get to their perfection faster. It's a sacred Calling, and one few people would understand. Knowing death as intimately as she has, she's well suited to the role.

She's glad she has this place in the world. She's glad to have been given the honour.

She's happy with her life.

So it should come as no surprise that she's humming a tune as she makes her way down a street not too far from Grant Park, her pink-and-grey feathers ruffling in the late fall breeze, their hues muted under the streetlamps into a uniform sort of grey. There's something in the air tonight that makes her feel like she's going to find someone, something heavy and electric buzzing in her bones. It could be an illusion, but it's a good night for it. So pretty out here, with the leaves lightly dancing in the same currents that stir her wings, making her feel like she's one with the air. The last moments of your life could go gently, with someone to hold your hand and cradle you, under a starlit sky. Wouldn't that be nice?

So if it's you, please don't worry. She'll be kind to you. She's the same sweet girl you've always known. She just holds your ending in her hands.

And if it's not, well, she won't mind a chat, for a little while-- though sooner or later, she's got some killing to do. If she dashes off, don't take it personally.

[OOC: Please be sure to indicate when you tag whether you want your character to be Iris' next target, or you just want to hang with her. :3]

overflow: won't you come and save me, save me

2010-08-08T04:46:01Z

Universe: AU Riftverse
Time: Unimportant
Place: A dark alleyway.
Characters: Kittentits and Jo.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, won't you fucking watch where the fuck you're fucking going, for fuck's sake?" she snaps, smacking the shaking girl upside the head. "Like fuck you can fucking count on me to always fucking watch the fuck out for you."

The girl just trembles, clasping her hands together over and over. A soft sob escapes her lips, and she nods slowly. Jo doesn't know what she's doing here, but she doesn't know how to fix this situation, either. So she'll just be good. She'll be a good girl and then the woman will stop. She feels clammy. She can't breathe.

Sinking to the ground, Jo tries to bite back the sobs and the apologies, but she can't help it. "I didn't," she mumbles. "I'm sorry, so."

"Oh for fucking fucks sake," Kittentits says, reaching out to pick Jo up by her arm. "Stop being such a fucking pussy about all this fucking shit."

"I-- I can't for--" the young girl stammers, shaking her head. It takes her a few moments to realize it's gone. The weight. It's all gone. Robin was right. She covers her face, not even noticing the injuries on her body healing.

"Well, the right fucking threw you out with the fucking trash, now didn't they?" Kittentits muses "The fuckers. Don't they fucking know it's going to be the fucking vampires who inherit the fucking earth?"

"I don't--" Jo mumbles.

"Fuck yeah," the woman adds, staring off. Why the fuck she's doing this, she has no fucking idea. But she doesn't know where the fuck she'd have been without someone to help her out. Where the fuck did she get a sense of nonhuman decency? "Come on, you little fucker. You must be fucking starving, am I right?"

rift_overflow @ 2010-05-15T00:09:00

2010-05-15T07:09:04Z

Universe: Normal!Riftverse
Time: sometime in the evening on May 15, 2010
Place: The Empire Theatre
Characters: Clark Kent (solarsteel) & Lois Lane (gottogetgoing). The big reveal's happened and the kiddos need time to process it.

Lois Lane has never been good at waiting. Waiting, the General told her, was for people who refused to take action, for people who would get stepped on, lost, forgotten. But Lois didn't have a choice here, and fifteen minutes was a short enough time to wait for her to accurately process that her hero and her boyfriend were in fact the same person.

She tests out a few questions on her tape recorder, things she's going to need to know. Like how the powers got into the picture, how he could keep that weight on his shoulders, why he decided to ditch the color. But all of it sounds pressing, like she's a reporter instead of someone more to him. She's just having a hard time separating the two, trying to make them the same person in preparation for the Blur's--for Clark's--arrival.

She stays under the lights of the theater's arch announcing to the world what shows there were that week, and watches the sky, intently, hoping he's staying safe, hoping none of the Blur's enemies have followed him here.

Hoping that he gets back to her.

[Overflow] I've got a bad feeling about this

2010-04-01T18:03:39Z

Universe: Whenever. Not picky.
Time period: Unimportant. Time is an illusion. Lunch time, doubly so. :| (Okay, so it's the afternoon. Hush.)
Place: Somewhere in Chicago. We'll see when we get there.
Characters: Ahh, the fun stuff. Tonight's choice cuts are as follows:
1) Cameron Rivers, an English teacher who is also an Angel of Death. Yes, we know--AAAANGST.
2) Wheaton McFasater, the baby brother of one Trinity McFasater. Yeah, the ramble's genetic.
3) Leon Warner, a 17 year old guardian angel with a tendency to get his ass kicked. A lot.
4) Matt Jenkins, a Glaysa-Labolas who is addicted to pain and fear.
5) Neal Davidson, a Rakshasa. Who is a dork. Yaaaay.

It's a busy day in Chicago. People are everywhere, doing everything. (Yes. EVERYTHING.)

Cam Rivers just finished his last class of the day and is gathering his bags to walk home. It's been a rough one--he tends to get the rowdy classes who just don't CARE that Holden has broken the record he bought his sister. And Cam just can't make them care, not today at least. Maybe by the time they get to the carousel some kids will care. For now though, he's just going to walk home with his eyes staring firmly at his feet and nowhere else.

Wheaton McFasater has stopped in a bar to get a quick drink. Yes, he realizes it's only the afternoon. Chill out, man. Wheaton knows what he's doing. He's drinking a quick one before continuing on his walk around Chicago. He's sitting alone at a bar watching a soccer game going on in a country very far away from where he is. And someone just scored.

Leon Warner is cutting class because he doesn't want to go to school. Plus he can't see much right now, due to his face getting smashed in by a few of the other kids during lunch hour. Fucking great. He's spitting out blood on the sidewalk and waiting for the bus to come--it's being friggin' slow today.

Matt Jenkins is high. He's washed his hands, but you can see the flecks of blood on his shirt and settling in his cuticles and under his nails. He's not very good at killing by himself. Whoops.

And finally, Neal Davidson is drinking tea in a restaurant, beaming at everyone that walks by him. He's got his pinkies up--both of them. Oh, and he has knives, but those are hidden. He's considering palming the little silverware that they lay out, but he's being good. So far.

Look, I'll make it all manageable

2010-03-16T05:22:32Z

Universe: Normal, or at least one of the ones that's not eating itself alive with dystopia.
Time: Open
Place: Grant Park
Character: The Trickster. Not of Supernatural flavor, though he's definitely supernatural. No, he hails from a world that utterly embodies the idea of urban fantasy; he's seen it all -- werewolves, vampires, fae, muses, et cetera, though they're all quite a bit different from this funny little world -- and so he's a bit jaded with it all. He's sarcastic, semi-omnipotent, and is also aware that we're all just characters in a story (or in this case, RP). Yes, even him. He's surprisingly okay with this. This way he always has an audience.

It's a beautiful day in the ~~neighborhood~~ park, if one can call this a park. It's really more of a "woods", isn't it? Given the fact that sometimes one can't even see the buildings for the trees. Fancy that, a small forest right between the grand ol' City of Chicago and Lake Michigan. How refreshing.

Never mind that it's still a tad too cold for the ratty coat that the man currently walking through it is wearing. The top hat doesn't cover his ears, either, and so that horrid wind that Chicago is so famous for is blowing over them and whipping his straggly hair in his face. Also never mind that the sudden heatwave -- we're talking relative heat, here, remember that a month ago the place was cold as the ninth level of Hell and covered in a blanket of snow that only looks pretty when a winter's worth of traffic hasn't splattered street dirt all over it -- has made the ground a little mushy, so his shoes and the strings hanging from his pants are covered in mud.

Do you know how annoying it is to have wet pants-strings? It's annoying. But this guy -- the Trickster, and in case you haven't noticed, that'd be me -- will deal with that later. Because for one, he's in a completely different City than he's used to. Completely different magics, here. In other respects, very similar, what with the shapeshifters and werewolves and vampires. There are a few species missing, a few more added. But overall, it's the same old story with a few more interesting twists.

The other parkgoers are, as per usual, blissfully unaware as to the whole story, the Big Picture, as it were. They're going about their business like anyone in a city park might, if perhaps a smidge more warily. Picnics, watching their spawn run and play on the plagrounds, exploring the woods. Granted, it's not often you can explore woods in a city park, but we've already been over this, haven't we? I think we have.

They're not going to notice that the Trickster's paying attention. Most people don't. But they will notice him, mostly likely, because of the things he's carrying. In one white-gloved hand there's a cane, which he obviously doesn't need as he's twirling it nonchalantly in circles. But the more interesting thing is what's in the other hand: a cat on a leash.

It's floating, too. It's a completely round, golden cat that's floating at about his shoulder. Hence why it's on a leash. We couldn't just have the cat balloon float away, could we? Besides, it seems perfectly fine with being on a leash.

Shine up my old brown shoes, put on a brand new shirt

2010-02-17T03:19:59Z

Universe: Normal Rift-verse (or any 'verse with a Tay Barnam like the one we have in-Rift)
Time: Present
Place: Anywhere between the Conrad and the Coffee Shop
Character: Tay Barnam. No, really. When she was a baby, her daddy called his sister-in-law Helen, who'd left Boston, and asked her to come back and take care of her, since the Barnams aren't exactly child-friendly. And she came. So Tay's main parental figure growing up was not the crazy archangels, but the Angel of Knowledge crazy enough to marry into the family. She got up to Jr. High age, and managed (with Helen's help) to talk her way into getting to go to public school. When she got her wings, she ended up a Guardian, which was nowhere near as much a disappointment to herself as it was to her dad and granddad - she got to stay with Aunt Helen and her books and her school instead of going off and subjugating other species on the basis that "we're right and they're wrong" and so forth. And then she got sent to Chicago (by Aunt Helen) over spring break her senior year 'cause it was relatively nearby, and her cousin Aaron was rumored to be hanging out there. And then there was a Rift. LOL.

Tay just wanted a coffee. She headed out from the Conrad towards the coffee shop someone suggested (though she's a bit worried considering it was called the "exploding" coffee shop) for a coffee, her nose in a book, her hair pulled into loose pigtails. She's got her headphones plugged into her iPod, one earbud tucked into her shirt collar, listening to some local Boston band or other, a delicate gold cross glinting from time to time under her scarf, over her shirt.

She's a bit too engrossed in her book (Jane Eyre, this week) and her music (something with a distinct Irish influence) to notice that she stepped through a rift and ended up in a completely different universe. ...Oops?

I closed my eyes and she slipped away...

2010-02-08T04:48:03Z

Universe: Normal!Riftverse
Time: Any!
Place: Chicago! Specifically the streets of Chicago.
Character: Wheaton McFasater, aka Trin's adorkable baby brother. Her parents put him up for adoption because they couldn't agree on a name (and you wonder where her lack of logic came from) so Trin never really knew him, but he knows about her. Oh does he know about her. He's followed her trail like a tiny puppy for several years now, and that trail has led him to Chicago. He's a behemoth too, you see, but instead of a three-headed dog, his monster form is... a tiny puppy with a venomous bite. Needless to say he doesn't change very often.

Wheaton had to take the Megabus in from Cleveland to get here. He hates buses. He hates most forms of transportation, actually, but leave it to his big sister to be one for the road all the time. He doesn't even know why he's doing this any more except he's followed her for so damn long that he may as well just find her and tell her who the hell he is before going home.

He's off the bus now, though, and wandering the streets. She's a drinker, his big sister, so he's poking his head into the bars. "Excuse me," he mutters, pulling out a crumpled picture he found in one of her ex-boyfriend's wallets after he found the poor guy's rotting corpse in a locked hotel room. It's a picture of her--Trin--and she looks pretty good, if a little bloody and kind of mostly naked. "Have you seen her around? That's Trin, Trinity McFasater, she's my big sis see, so, uh... No? Okay then." He nods a little sadly and steps out of the bar, smoothing the edges of the picture.

He's going to find her, one way or another. He's go to, just so she knows he exists.

[Overflow] The sky was crimson red

2010-01-26T19:07:19Z

Overflow
Universe: Any
Time Period: Any
Location: Grant Park
Locking: Open
My Characters Are Postede In Yey: John Thane, a renegade Time Agent who set out on a vendetta against Time Lords only to find himself swapped out of his own body and into the body of the Time Lord he was interrogating. ~~Fucking Delta Waves.~~ The sudden ability to sense all of Space and Time didn't exactly help the whole "insanity" thing - nor did the knowledge that somewhere out there is still a Time Lord brain inhabiting his immortal body, along with the suppressed consciousness of the man who thwarted him once and who he was apparently supposed to be.

And now he may or may not have fallen through a Rift. Go figure.

It's funny how, in the cacophony of potential Times roaring inside your head, you can miss things right on top of you until they've opened up and spat you out.

Thane tumbles into grass he can recognize as Grant Park -- it's got a certain feel, too buzzing with potential, supersaturated with Rift energy, and given that he was half a city and a good expanse of time away ten seconds ago, a Rift is probably what threw him here. Green, standard, perceptostatic, who the fuck can tell? The tangle of Time and Space has fallen into an otherwise unfamiliar configuration around him, and the patterns he can sometimes accept as background noise are screaming through his brainmatter bones and blood.

And organs. "Stop," he hisses, straight through the teeth into the fresh air. "Stop. ...stop." His hand balls into a fist. "Stop. Stop. Stop. StopStopStopStopStopStopStop--" and by the time the last words are tumbling out he's beating his fist against his own chest, trying to get that second stupid heart to shut up, and it ends in a strangled cry as his fingers go up to knot in his hair, very nearly tearing a good chunk of it out. Biofeedback doesn't work on this body, not the way he's learned it, and he's smothering himself in the constant inundation of Time potential (no Facts here, not right here in Grant Park, not that he can see through the morass of Maybe-MightBe-CouldBe-CanBe he won't look away from because the answer is in there if he can just cut through) and it's enough to drive him to his knees, palms against his temples, howling in breath.

And then the panic breaks, grown too large to sustain itself, and in the semilucid state left over when everything else has bled down back into the crevices of his psyche he stands up as though he hadn't just broken down, he dusts off the Doctor's coat, and he sniffs the air.

Right. First things first. When the hell's it spat him out at?

[Overflow] Gonna strike a deal, make him feel like a Congressman...

2010-01-19T04:55:26Z

...I wouldn't have done this except the PB was so damn perfect. And then she started giving me backstory. And then I headdesked.

Universe: Riftverse
Time: Any! She's flexible.
Place: Downtown Chicago
Characters: Marissa Sandric, a rakshasa with a chin that could cut granite and a slight case of 51st century pheromones, from several decades in the future and a universe away.

Marissa (Mari to a very select few) has just fallen through a Rift. This was, naturally, a bit unexpected, since usually her universe is a repository for Wanderers, not a source of them. But she can recognize the vortex she just stumbled out of, and this is definitely Chicago.

Since she'd been in Los Angeles moments before, she's a bit put out. She's even more put out when she takes a good look around the city, notes the vehicles around her and the clothing on random pedestrians, and realizes not only is this another universe, but it definitely isn't 2049.

"Oh... vakoxe."

This is so far from ideal that it and ideal occupy entirely different star systems, possibly on opposite ends of the galaxy.

Still, this is downtown Chicago, and there's only one thing for someone in her position to do.

The Organization's headquarters isn't far, and surely they have measures in place to deal with employees from other universes.

She's not sure whether she should hope her mother's there or not.

soft and wet, scarf tied to the bed

2010-01-09T12:57:23Z

Universe: Riftverse
Time: May 5th, 2012
Place: In front of the Coffee Shop
Characters: Molly Satomi Fuchizaki

If Molly could take a day off of the calender and make sure it never, ever came up again, that day would be May 5th. May 5th is, without a doubt, the worst day ever created. The fact that it was the day that allowed probably the worst little guardian angel that wasn't even supposed to be born into the world is proof enough that it is doomed. But when the only Fuchizaki worthy of the name to spring from her uncle's loins feels the need to celebrate the stupid little girl's birthday, it becomes even more intolerable.

There is something to be said about an angel of knowledge on too much caffeine. There is something even more to be said about a Fuchizaki on too much caffeine who currently wants to take Kaden and strangle the life out of his sister in front of him. Of course, that would probably end with him killing her, which Molly does not think is a positive thing. And he wouldn't even Fall. So it wouldn't be any fun.

But so if you're trying to get into the Coffee Shop today, you may or may not be accosted by the angel who Kaden should be spending his day with. Her wings are itching something horrible and it's been too long since she's toyed with someone. She's got a pencil in her mouth and a cup of coffee in hand and keeps stopping to write something or another down. But mostly, she's imagining what kind of torture Lily deserves for taking her ~~future husband~~ favorite cousin away from her.

It's a godawful small affair

2009-12-28T06:48:57Z

Universe: Plain Old Riftverse Sans an Annie :|
Time: Some time in spring, lets say
Place: Across the street from Grant Park
Characters: AU!Annie Cartwright

It's not real.

That's her first thought, standing on the curb of some strange city with the sound of American accents ringing her in the crowd. It's not, can't be real. If it were real, she'd be in hospital. If it were real, there would be white walls and an uncomfortable bed and her dad and mum, one on each side, kissing her face and her hands.

If it were real, she wouldn't be listening to the conversations for scraps of information, some clue as to what the doctors have done now. She wouldn't, because she would know she was awake. She would know she was awake and alive, and she would know what city this was, and the year. Something squeezes tight around her heart. This is too much like being mocked. This is just too much.

She closes her eyes. "Right, then, that's the first order of business, I'd say." It comes out as a whisper. She opens her eyes, puts on a smile, and grabs the arm of the nearest person passing.

Annie Cartwright has gotten used to seeming crazy. "Beg pardon, but could you tell me the year?"