[IC] When the Sky Broke... [OPEN WORLD SUPERHUMAN ROLEPLAY] [IC NOW OPEN, APPLICATIONS STILL OPEN]

The night was cold and frigid, mirroring perfectly the harsh layout of the land that lay before the dark figure standing atop the hill. Despite the powerful wind biting into her skin she seemed entirely unaffected by the night air as she watched with a cold fascination upon her face. To most, it would appear she was staring at nothing, simply a desolate landscape and a nearly entirely destroyed skeleton of a city before her. But no, this was not the case. She wasn't staring at nothing. She was waiting for something to happen and happen it did. Suddenly without warning the night sky lit up with a brilliant blue light that cast dancing shadows for miles around instantaneously. As if God himself had reached down and torn into it, the woman watched as the sky cracked to display a magnificent and terrifying display of power and energy flowing across the horizon and lighting the night sky with a show none could compare to. As she watched, a small smile crept upon her dry lips while she fiddled with a small keychain upon her belt.

There it was, the Rift. She had come to watch it open and watch it's magnificent display open before her, just as she always did when it came time for the fissure of light to open up above Britain. If one could look passed how much death, destruction, and turmoil this phenomenon had brought none could deny it's absolutely unrivaled and lavish display of stunning artwork. She could, and sometimes would, watch it dance for hours just to feel the happiness it created within her radiate through every pore of her... Wait, there was a noise. Her attention turned from the Rift as she frowned and looked up upon the sky with narrowed eyes, suddenly feeling on edge. It sounded like a deep droning that grew closer and closer with every passing second. Slowly, she stood up and stared into the lit night sky, trying to find just what the commotion could be before she finally saw it. It was an airplane, barely large enough to hold maybe one or two passengers at a time.

Without hesitation she gasped and scrambled backwards as she saw the piece of machinery, knowing that only the Order possessed such extravagances when living withing the Rift-lands. She watched with horror as the plane flew unsteadily, clearly smoking out of one of it's engines which signified the fact that something had damaged the craft. For a long moment she remained entirely silent until she watched the nose of the plane beginning to dip heavily, heading directly towards the city before her until it crashed with a mighty resounding clang that flowed across the land in all directions. Every one of her muscles felt tightened and terrified as she realized what had just happened. The Order had flown a plane into their land, and it had crashed in the one place no one should be: The Reaping Grounds. What was worse is that the woman felt for certain of one thing: she hadn't been the first to see this plane, and she knew others saw.

The Order had invaded their homeland, and whether it was intentional or unintentional... There would be consequences.

Two Days Later

The plane crash was news which spread like wild fire through the entire Rift-lands, and soon none, not even those in the Mysticlands, had failed to hear of this catastrophe. Almost instantly there were rumors of war, revenge, plotting... Everything to signify that a conflict was on the horizon. In order to prevent this Ricardo Viela, the leader of the Stormlands, pleaded with the surrounding areas to send influential leaders and any who believed they could help to the center of the Tradezones so that a discussion could be had. He promised to provide free food and drink to all who arrived while they discussed the implications of this madness. This is where the tale begins...

[Lady Selune]

Heels clicked against tarmac as Manya walked. She was flanked by Marcia and a large dog- the grey-and-orange colouration revealing it as a blend of German Shepherd and Husky. Not that it mattered when the woman walking in front of it was so terribly powerful. Even at her size, she exuded confidence and charisma, a simple business suit saying more about her than could ever be described in words. Nobody Wore business suits anymore. In the riftlands, there were no offices or executives, lawyers or bureaucrats. And yet here she was, looking like she had just walked out of a meeting with a banking firm, even adjusting her cufflinks a little.

The pair spotted Ricardo instantly. Whilst Manya turned and gave Marcia a curt nod, dismissing the snake-girl and letting her dash off into the crowd, she approached the Brit, tongue running over ruby read lips. Another sign of her wealth- lipstick was practically an alien concept to most people nowadays, and here she was with smoky eyes and deep red lips.

"It's good to see you Ricardo!" She laughed easily, then slapped him on the back. Anyone who knew her knew that it was an act, but it looked genuine enough for most people. Sitting down on a table, and raised an eyebrow at him, revealing the third sign of her wealth- nails without dirt underneath them. They were clean, and whilst not painted, they were still clearly cared for.

"So, who else are we expecting at this lovely little event you've organised? The crow?" She asked this inquisitively. "Walter?" Less inquisitively. A hint of venom tinged her voice when she mentioned her rival's name. As she spoke, a hand was carefully going through her hound's fur, before scratching him behind the ears a few times.

"Stay."

[Puffhead]

@Lady Selune

Even long before she made a visual appearance, Ricardo felt a slight distaste grow in his mouth as he felt, and heard, the presence of Manya herself approaching the large conference table they had set up within one of the larger warehouses that had been constructed to hold various resources that he now stored here. The moment he felt her hand on his shoulder he made noticeable effort not to tense or flinch away from the cold touch. He would be stupid not to be cautious... After all, everyone knew what this woman could do with nothing more than a touch. His sparkling eyes turned to hers as he gave her a somewhat disapproving look and pursed his lips into a thin line.

"I can't be certain who all will come." His voice rumbled as he politely pulled out a chair for her, mostly to convince her to get off of the table and actually have a seat like a civilized person would. "I hope everyone who has any stake in the Rift-land makes an appearance. I'm fairly certain Twilight will appear. I have no doubt that Walter will come... We are in his home territory after all. Admittedly I had thought that you would be one who didn't come Manya. You seem to prefer to act alone, and not take the help of others." The jab was hidden behind a polite smile although Ricardo made little effort to hide his distaste for this woman. People like her had little patience in his book.

Before she could respond another voice was heard from the doorway, carrying across the warehouse with a resounding echo which seemed impossible from someone who spoke in such a subdued tone as he did. "Ah. Looks like I showed to the party early."

Ricardo's eyes wandered to the man at the door, entirely aware of who he would find there. Twilight stood with a small smirk on his face, and his wings already extended from beneath his cloak to make it seem that he was taking more room then he actually was. Of course he wouldn't bother hiding his less human traits... Titans always held a sense of fear and dread about them. If people knew what he was, they would give him the respect he's demanded. "I hope I didn't interrupt a conversation? I know you two always have such... delightful banter."

[Nymeria]

Dahlia

A quiet rumble traveled across the land that used to be Britain. A large rock emerged over a hillside near the Tradelands. It levitated just above the ground and moved at a relatively fast pace. Atop this rock sat Dahlia, flaming locks trailing behind her in the wind. She sat relaxed, with a smile on her face. Exciting things were happening. She was in the Wastes when the plane crashed. She left immediately, knowing that this was a big deal for the Rifters. They hadn't seen any outsiders in quite some time. And, chances were, that plane held something the hadn't seen in months.

She had heard a meeting called amongst the more prominent Rifters. While she was not necessarily a leader, she was driven by curiosity. She would make it into this meeting to see what was going on one way or another.

As she neared the warehouse, her traveling rock slowed and lowered to the ground. She hopped off, landing gently on the ground and let the rock collapse into the earth beneath it. As she entered the doorway, she quickly surveyed the others who were there already.
"I hope I'm not late." She said sweetly as she stepped inside. She recognized some of the others there. Ricardo she had obviously heard of before. He was much more handsome in person. But he was a bit too serious for her liking.

The monster of a man, on the other hand, she recognized right away. She flashed Twilight a quick smile followed by a wink before making her way over to the table and sitting down.

The woman in the room, she wasn't one hundred percent sure of, as she didn't tend to pay as much attention to women(unless they showed interest in her) but she thought she may have an idea who she was. Unsure of this girl's personality, she gave her a shy smile and a quick nod.

---

Nastasya

The night of the crash, Natasya had been sleeping in a shack-like pile or rubble she called her "home". It was only the next day that she overheard some other's in the Temporalzone talking about it. Curious, she made her way to the trade zones. She didn't plan on going to the meeting everyone was talking about, but she wanted to get some information.

Her first thought on the matter was that perhaps the Order was attacking. Upon hearing that the plane seemed damaged and had crashed, she thought otherwise. Either way, if anyone from the Order happened to be in their grounds, she wanted to know about it.

She had been to the Tradezones many times before to get food and other goods, so she knew the area. She came first to the marketplace. This was an excellent place to find out new information, as people were often busily talking and not paying attention to who might be listening.

[A Lowly Wretch]

It was a late night indeed. He had been sitting at his desk like usual, casually dressed with his canteen in hand. With his feet kicked up he took a nice long swig of his drink. The neon green fluid graced his tongue with it's delightfully sweet taste plus a sharp note of sourness from the apple flavor. The fizzing fluid went down nicely, a sweet drink not unlike liquid candy. He had always been a particular fan of natural sugar cane soda's. There wasn't a single day he didn't crave the taste of a fine smooth soda.

He heard foot steps not far from his door. A short set of knocks was heard.

"Boss! Urgent news! An airplane just fell from the sky! Fell into The Reaping Grounds I heard."

-
Walter frowned but he resisted the urge to verbally reprimand his servant. He disliked interruptions to his peace but he always enjoyed being kept in the loop.

"Thank you. You may go."

He dismissed the man. Without another word the servant left. Swiveling in his chair he turned to face his window. He could see little past his outer wall save the night sky and little else due to the thick darkness that covered the land. Ever since the power vanished from Britain light pollution had left with it, turning what used to be dim shadows stretching between street lamps into a heavy blanket of obfuscation, preventing all but the most nocturnally inclined from seeing farther than the reach of their own hand without use of torches. He could see why the people of old spoke stories of creatures that dwelt in the night. Little was more dangerous to mankind than those who lurk in the unknown.

-
Two days later...
-

Into the warehouse stepped a strange man. A tall mysterious stranger, one changed by the African rift, walked in and approached the conference table. He was dressed in a servants attire and wore a smooth metal mask which concealed all but his eyes. The dapper servant under an arm what seemed to be a nice clean red rug with gold trim.

Before long the tall dark man stood behind a seat at the table. He moved a seat aside, clearing some space as he laid down the fancy rug where the chair was located. Standing aside from the rug the man stood at the ready, awaiting the moment with statuesque poise.

Upon the rug Walter suddenly sprung into view. He was dressed in a suit so fine it looked like it probably cost the price tag of an entire airplane. In his right hand he clutched a finely shaped wine glass, an unidentified neon red liquid within. He appeared to be sitting leaned back with one leg crossed over the other in what was no doubt a position of much comfort and poise even though no chair could be seen underneath him.

-
"I see you've already got some early birds, hm Ricardo?"

He addressed Mr. Viela with his usual calm yet slightly mischievous smile. It was both a rhetorical question and a greet from Walter, all in one neat package.

"I can see we're still waiting on a few others."

Though clearly visible Walter possessed neither a smell nor a visible pulse. As he looked about the table those who were observant could see his servant's head following Walter's own point of gaze to an utterly perfect degree. In the dark recesses of the masks eye slots a mysteriously glowing silver ring of light could be seen inside each eye as he stood by.

[Shard]

It was a difficult feat indeed, to remain oblivious to the ever changing winds the Riftlands was suffering from. Slender fingers tapped against a wooden counter, short nails managing a soft clicking sound as they did. In thought, a young man appeared to be resting his chin against his palm in a fashion considered bored, by most. "So, whaddya' think it means?" A voice broke through the silence, urging the young man's gaze towards a larger male serving drinks behind the counter. It was safe to assume Milo's frequent visits to this bar, given the laid back and comfortable atmosphere emanating from the young soldier, or rather mercenary as one would call it, in this day and age.

"Dunno'", a response rung out, silent as if a gentle whisper, "guess shit's gonna' boil over, now." The young soldier finished, sipping from a bottle of soda. Bland, warm and boring, one couldn't be too nit-picky out in the wastes, the Riftlands.

"Mhm," the elder gentleman offered, wiping a cup for what ought to have been the fifth time, "ain't everyday a crash comes around. It's gonna' cause a panic."

"Good for business, and all that," Milo managed a sigh, gently running a set of thin digits through his hair. Despite the young man's appearance stretching no further than one of late teenage years, he had quite the amount of experience to dip into. He was, as one would say, more than met the eye. "People freak out," he continued, "and they kill each other. They hire protection, I get paid."

"S'long as you have bullets, gunner." The bartender chuckled.

"Some people can create storms," Milo returned, his quiet voice maintaining its soft, and somewhat serene tone, "and I don't run out of bullets." It was safe to say, that his power was good for something, at least. After all, most Rifters were just as allergic to high velocity lead, as anyone else.

"Ah, and so it is," the tender snorted, putting the cup away. "Been hired to take anyone out, lately?"

"Professional integrity," the youngster retorted, "classified."

"And so it is," the elder repeated. "Just stay in your skin, kid. S'far as I can tell, I haven't lost no customers 'cause of you. Let's not make you the first to go, eh?"

"I'd say life's short," Milo sighed once more, placing his feet on the floor before pushing himself up, "but a look in the mirror would say I'm full of shit." Not aging, it had its negatives, that much was certain. Though, taking one day at a time helped, however little it may have eased the winds of time which continued to pass the young man by, untouched.

[superservo27]

One day ago...

Steven rode into the village on his bicycle and locked it to a rack. They may not have the same luxuries as before the war but the concept of a bike doesn't go away easily. He wandered around, wishing well to everyone he saw. A door opened and he stepped into the shop. "Привет, Sergey! How are you today?" "I am very good, many thanks for asking. The usual?" "Yup, same thing as always. Heard any good rumors recently? Sergey started measuring out the meat as he responded, "Da, I have heard things. I heard that a plane crashed somewhere in Reaping Grounds. Stormlands leader holding meeting about it." "Plane crash, huh? Thanks for telling me." Steven slapped money on the counter and took the package. He went around and bought his groceries. He unlocked his bike and went home. Later in the day, he went into the village and saw a poster for a caravan headed to the meeting and it needed security. This is perfect!

The next day...

"That wasn't that bad, but it could have gone way better." Steven said as his arm was being wrapped in a bandage. On the way there, they had been attacked by bandits. They had fended them off but Steven had been shot. "Ow! Don't poke it, dingus!" "Sorry, man. I'm trying to be careful, but this isn't the easiest thing to do," their medic replied. "Whatever, we're here so at least, I won't be the only security protecting this group." The group rolled up to a gate for inspection. "What brings you here?" the guard asked. Steven replied smoothly with, "We heard about the meeting and wanted to be here. Also I've been shot and even though our medic, "Hello!" patched it up, it should probably see further treatment." The guard nodded and replied with "Very well. Go on through, you are cleared for entry. The doctor is in the room marked with a plus."

A few hours later, Steven and his group stepped into the meeting room. There were a lot of people in there. Some, like Twilight, he recognized easily as they had defining features that stood out easily. Others were harder to figure out as they seemed to be of not as much importance as he hadn't heard of them. Now that he thought about it, he and his group probably looked much the same. There were Rifters of all nationalities, British and Russian, African and Brazilian. He found an empty table and signaled to his friends that he had found one. They sat down and waited to see what happened.

[Puffhead]

Drake found himself wandering through a large crowd, feeling particularly out of place and confused at the apparent swarm of people who had appeared out of seemingly no where within the past hour. It seemed that they were all here for the meeting that was apparently going to take place although to Drake, he found it all as more of an inconvenience more than anything. After all he had come with the same intention of finding out more information just as they had, however the irritating factor about it was the fact that because they had all conjoined in this one area he was fairly certain almost no one would get the information they were looking for unless they were important enough to simply saunter up to the front of the building that was holding the conference and be allowed inside.

Still, if Drake had learned anything over his years of surviving in the Rift-lands, it was that there was always two ways of reaching your goal... The obvious one, and the much more difficult one. It seemed that today, he would have to go with the latter option. So rather than joining the meeting as he had intended, he began to wander through the loud gathering of people, listening carefully for any sort of news that would clue him to exactly what was happening here. Eventually rumors would spread, and at least he would have some sort of idea as to what the gathered leaders would choose to do about this catastrophe. After all something like this could massively breach the fragile treaty the Order had with the Rifters... And if that were the case, Drake knew for certain another war could brew.

He passed by two men who were arguing particularly loudly about the events happening inside, causing him to step a bit closer to them and pull the hood from his torn red jacket just a bit further over his forehead. They were saying something about The Twilight showing up... and the likes of Manya. Well, it seemed most of the big wigs were showing up.

[Enigmatik]

James didn't try to be subtle. If you have been looking, you would have seen a human figure shoot up into the air, before stabilising and slowly floating down on top of a stack of rubble, having a magnificent view over the proceedings. Gravity control was incredibly useful, and not just for construction or killing people. He could see Walter, Twilight, obviously Ricardo... Manya, that was interesting, he hadn't thought both of his employers would be turning up to this event... Might cause issues if they both wanted to talk to him. Ah well. Dropping down the stack of rubble and landing again into the crowd, he began pushing through, looking specifically for one person.

Marci was currently talking to another hybrid. The snake stood about a foot higher than this other person though, and whilst he couldn't say for sure, he thought she was talking to a wildcat. Either a wildcat or a wolf. Not sure. Tapping her on the shoulder, he held his hands out as the other woman whirled around. She stopped after registering him, and crossed her arms.

"What do you want James?"

[Puffhead]

As more and more odd figures filed in, Ricardo made certain to greet every one of them with the utmost respect, despite his inner aversion to most of them. It was certainly an unsavory group, but they were vital to the meeting none the less and he could no more deny that than deny that he had his work cut out for him in this meeting. Walter was here, and that was certainly a plus as when it came to Allies that was probably the closest Ricardo had at all. At least both of them had the common goal of a stronger economy although he would have to be absolutely mental to ignore the fact that the man had ulterior motives. What those motives could have been however... that certainly remained to be seen.

Then there was the new girl he had yet to see, some red-headed lass who seemed to have a bit too much ego going on in her head. Frankly he couldn't really be bothered with her, especially since her focus immediately shifted to Twilight which instantly let him know she was no friend of his. No sane person would look at a man like him and seem... enthusiastic. Amongst these there were several other figures, all somewhat unknown or vaguely important but the point was they were all here. Officially, it meant the meeting could be underway and so Ricardo cleared his throat and called all attention to him with as simple as a motion of holding up one hand.

"I want to thank you all for coming." He started, his voices bravado echoing throughout the crowded warehouse. "I know you already know why you're here. Obviously, the-"

"The Order sent someone to spy on us." Twilight cut in with a rather uninterested shrug. "We all know it. I hope you have a plan of retaliation?"

This instantly caused Ricardo's eyes to narrow as he sucked in a quick breath. Leave it to the monster to start attacking without taking a moment to think. "No. We don't know if that was the case, and that's why I've called this meeting. So we can all discover what we want to do about this together."

[Shard]

Lowering his hand towards the streak of fur gently resting next to Milo's chair, the young shoulder ran his fingers through the strands as his eyes fell to the husky curiously keeping its gaze traced across the bar. "There's a meeting?" Milo proceeded, shifting his eyes back to the tender. He had seen quite a few individuals moving towards one collective location since entering the bar.

"Yeah, concerning the crash." A response came, "buncha' leaders going there." The man shrugged, "also people who want to help, from what I could gather."

"Help?" Milo inquired, placing his hands on the counter as his interest was somewhat more piqued.

"Mhm," the tender nodded, "I'm sure you'd get compensated in some way." Any job was worth it, if the payout was sufficient. Milo would have been lying to himself if he claimed that this crash didn't interest him, and whatever came to unfold from the incident was sure to warrant some level of worry. The Riftlands was his home, after all. What happened there, involved him, and concerned him as much as anyone else.

"Might as well take a look," the young soldier left his chair, swinging his rifle over his shoulder as fingers made their way around the leather strap. "Come on, Bubbles." He finished, seeing how the husky scrambled to its paws and followed its owner out of the bar. With a soft wave, Milo vacated the establishment in a straight path for the meeting. It wasn't too difficult to find, seeing as how it was the only place where any notable amount of activity was taking place.

[A Lowly Wretch]

Already the meeting was off to an interesting start. Walter sat, looking between the various parties through his conduit before taking a calm sip from his drink. He gave a slight closed mouth chuckle, vaguely gesturing in the bird monster man's general direction.

"Ah Twilight, never pegged you as the type of guy to import his plans from the Stormlands. Guess there's times even I'm wrong."

He chided the large feathered menace of a man with a condescending tone, a venomous smirk tugging at the side. He then turned towards Ricardo, his smile dimming and giving way to a more serious expression.

"Look, let's stop pretending to ignore the obvious answers here. Either we get some unluck- er, 'Brave souls', to go in and figure out what was in that plane and if anything from it's still alive or we don't. Either which way we better be ready for some angry letters from the Order."

.
He turned to face the group at the table as a whole as best he could, speaking quite matter-of-factly to the lot.

"Let me be straight forward with you all, I've always been quite curious as to what was up with the rift over the Reaping Grounds. While the rifts haven't been giving out powers quite like they used to if that rift has been guarded so well thus far I'm willing to bet there's something valuable there. Even without the plane incident involved I think it's about time somebody got some knowledge back on what the heck is going on down there. After all, it's kept to itself thus far but how do we know whatever's chopping people up down there won't suddenly come loose out here?"

He took the moment to wait, gauging the group's reactions while he stood by to hear a response.