Rifts : Chaos Chronicles

[Jay 2K Winger]

"Agreed," Simon says. "These Rifts are dangerous enough even with less frequent occurrences. We most definitely do not want the frequency to speed up."

[Mytical]

You arrive in Alaska..and it is warm. A miniature sun sits high in the sky, the rift on the ground opened toward it. The rift is massive, easily four times larger then the one they just came through. The temperature is on a steady climb.

((Right now, it is roughly 89 F. Every few minutes the temperature will raise 1 degree))

Of course this means a couple of problems. One can't chance stepping into/onto the Rift..nobody is sure if these things are one way or not. Two, the area around the rift is starting to flood as the snow/ice of the area melts. Making for muddy areas or areas with flooding.

Almost immediately things start to go wrong for the group. Your powers are now reversed. Reflection ability would actually draw attacks/etc toward you..making you a living bullseye, etc. Also (maybe thankfully) your shards start loosing charge without being activated.

[Jay 2K Winger]

As soon as they step out of the gateway into Alaska, Simon rocks in surprise, and the glow in his eye-Shard goes out as his Rift Sight shuts off. "What the hell--?" he grunts, and quickly pulls the scarf off and unzips his parka and loosens his clothing underneath. He looks around. "Seems safe enough. Who has the Rift Closer?" he asks.

[Chanlin]

(ooc: no one was officially given it, but run with it since I asked about it )

Chris brings the device around, "Got it. Sure hope closing this thing gets rid of the extra sun. Would be so hard to explain that away."

[Mytical]

Despite it's size, the Rift is very easy to close, and while the sun does not immediately vanish..the temperature starts dropping very quickly. The sun visibly shrinks rapidly. A shard falls from the sun, again totally devoid of all energy..not seeming to recharge..and this time with what looks like a flame symbol.

Things seem quiet, and soon HQ gets ahold of you, lets you know that things are clear and you can either come in or head back to your own homes..and sends the transport specialist to you. ((Right now your shards are without power, but they are recharging normally))

[Jay 2K Winger]

Simon, being that he's working closely with the Company, takes both Shards and returns to his lab. He takes readings off the Shards and makes notations in his databases and equations before turning them over to the Company for safe-keeping. He has sleeping quarters on-site at the Company facility when needed.

He's quite troubled by the aberrant behavior of the two Rifts in question. None of the documented Rifts had ever behaved in such a way, nor had they ever formed without a nearby Sleeper.

Simon looks over his data and runs his calculations, hoping that some information will come up to give them something, to guide them to a "point zero" which might explain the Rifts' occurrence.

[Chanlin]

Chris goes back to the HQ as well as a 'Just in case' measure. Upon arrival he sets up in a temporary bunk in which he brings out a Lap Top and Go Bag from 'hammer space.' After getting settled he continues his game of D3 from the previous night.

[Mytical]

Simon discovers that the two Rifts throws off the current 'time table' of expected Rifts. A general idea of when (though not where) Rifts were to occur had started to form, but these two do not coincide with that time table. The 1st (the snow/mountain rift) also was around 25% larger then the average rift, while the 2nd (the sun rift) is the largest recorded Rift..a good 10% larger then the previous recorded largest rift.

As he is analyzing the data, he notices the two shards have similar size and shape, and one of the ends of the one matches up with the opposite end of the other. (making a shard twice as long) There is also two more 'slots' (which would make a + sign) for two other shards. No rifts were reported, nor does it seem any are forming outside of the current expected time frame..it could be that they formed but were so small they were missed..(it's happened before)..or that they have yet to form.

That night, where Chis is..

Chris has a very restless sleep, every time he closes his eyes, he sees a Rift, but it is not normal (not that any rift can be called 'normal')..this one has large red eyes..and seems to be watching/staring at him.

[Chanlin]

Chris sits up with a start... "Ugh... too much Diablo." He mutters. He gets up shuffles off to a bathroom and splashes some water on his face and then wanders the facility until he happens across Simon's lab... (ooc: tag, up to you if he's still up Jay)

[Jay 2K Winger]

Simon considers the data he's recovering. "I hate it when calculations are thrown off like this," he sighs as he makes notes of the timeline being thrown-off, filing reports with the Company to keep them abreast of the happenings. The size of the Nevada and Alaska Rifts concerns him, as do their aberrant properties.

He again consults the map on the wall. He'd stuck pins in every location that had experienced a Rift, with various colors of string linking some of them to fit a timeline or possible pattern, none of which had resolved themselves into something concrete. He selected a new set of string-- this one a dark black coloration-- and tied the two ends to the pins for Alaska and Nevada.

Simon massaged his temple by his eye-Shard. He had to hold out hope that one day he'd get a true constant for his Unified Rift Theory.

[Chanlin]

Chris shuffles into the lab and looks at the map, "Couldn't sleep either Doc?"

[Jay 2K Winger]

Simon glances back to see Chris entering and sighs. "It's not that I can't, it's that I don't need to." He sighs. "Since Long Island, I've found I don't need to sleep as much as I used to."

He turns away from the map and walks over to his mobile whiteboard, jotting down more equations and formulae and then calculating through them. "So I spend the time trying to work out my theories and figure out what's going on with the Rifts."

[Chanlin]

Chris sighs, "I see." He pulls out his pocket watch and thumbs over the engraving. "Odd the things these rifts do. Have you ever heard of something erased by the rifts coming back?" He keeps looking at the watch rather than at Simon while waiting for an answer.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Simon pauses and looks over at Chris as he speaks. He considers this. "I'm not recalling off the top of my head... let me check the database. It's not complete, by any means, but let's see." He taps a few things into his tablet, checking the Company records to look for any other Rift activity like Chris is describing.

[Kristev]

Left on his own when they get back to the base, Luigi marvels at the speed with which things have happened. He was far from surprised that this shard had a symbol of fire on it. Now the big question is, would the next one concentrate on air, earth, or the Asian variant, wood?

He sits in a dorm room back at the base, and he ponders this as he eats dinner. That last rift left him uncertain what to do. Quietly, he keeps to himself for a while, wondering what the meaning of all this is.

And while he is alone, Luigi decides to get some answers. He uses his mother's tarot cards.