Cross Effects 3.0 - November 16, 2014—April 13, 2015

[The Man With All The Cute Boats]

“We may depart at your leisure,” the armored woman said, looking at Rebeca through her visor.

"Okay!"

I also looked at Rebecca and added a thumbs up.

[Knick]

Rebeca

Rebeca hardly noticed Donkey’s new clothes; there were weirder things than someone randomly acquiring a new change of clothes, like the woman in full plate armor.

“I guess we can head to Port Manor Road… Might take a bit of time though, it’s not like we have a bike like you.” Rebeca shrugged, “So I guess we’re walking.”

She then began to walk down the street, “Come on, I will try and tell you more about the city on the way.”

[Umbra of Chaos]

David

David shook his head at The Joyous' actions and with a wave of his hand she ceased to move and a wagging of his finger the Lesser Dream was jerked back towards him like a puppet whose strings had been pulled. "You know better than to assault people for no reason by now, Little Sister. Especially strangers who have yet to even harm you. My apologies for my sister's conduct."

The Joyous pouted for a bit at her position back next to David before it shifted back into a smile and she stood there eagerly. Then David's gaze drifted over to the latest arrival to this little gathering.

“Hey, what’s going on here? I’d rather not have to break up a fight.” Ibarra gave everyone present a quick look before continuing. “I’ve gotten reports about dimensional shifts in this area recently. Would any of you happen to know anything about that?”

"I would be perfectly willing to help if I knew your name, Mr.? As he said this The Scholarly stood up and handed David the staff that had been leaning on the bench and readied his own bow just in case.


Ann

After a few minutes and literally going through multiple office buildings, skyscrapers, gas stations, cars, and a quaint little home Ann noticed the man standing on top of a relatively low rooftop looking directly at her. She paused and turned to face the lightly armored man and simply waved at him before calling out and saying, "It is rude to follow a lady around without even bothering to introduce yourself."

[Lycodrake]

Than'Sanel

After a few minutes and literally going through multiple office buildings, skyscrapers, gas stations, cars, and a quaint little home Ann noticed the man standing on top of a relatively low rooftop looking directly at her. She paused and turned to face the lightly armored man and simply waved at him before calling out and saying, "It is rude to follow a lady around without even bothering to introduce yourself."

He had caught up to the Black-magic user using his innate speed, skill, and stamina for climbing, a boon of being a half-elf. He knew better than to be fooled by appearances when Black mages were involved: appearances can be deceiving and Dimir loved to use Shapeshifters. However, he did not expect to find someone so apparently cheerful. The only cheer he had known Black mages to derive from was through sadism.

He responded to her commentary by nimbly swinging down from the building's roof and down to street level, the saproling's crystal upon his back, like an Izzet mage's flame-tank, glowing with motes of light. She was a being of Black magic - his natural tendency towards such a being would be abrasive or fearful, but those tendencies had been curbed by his time among elementals and his short visit to Tarkir, so he shook the demeanor of agitation and distrust free - for now.

If this encounter began to get ugly, he would allow the saproling to manifest its own abrasiveness.

"I have never greeted someone cheerfully exuding so much Black magic, be they man or woman, but I suppose there are first times for even the strangest of things. My name is Than'Sanel."

[SINIB]

“Before that, I wish to say one more thing. I’d rather take the pragmatic approach and attack sooner than later, especially to an intruder in my workshop. I’m absolutely not going to compromise on the protection of the house. However, I’ll try to trust you outside the house and workshop to protect me while I prepare my spells. Also, my spells can damage you, and I don’t think Sakura would appreciate me doing that, so that’s still not a viable solution outside of the most desperate situations.

Now, you know where the library is, so let us make our way there. I’ll leave a familiar or two to guard Sakura, so you don’t have to worry. I have quite the collection, you’ll find something to your liking.”

With his final statement, Faust turned around and made his way back to the library.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Ann

Death incarnate laughed a bit at the word 'magic'. If she was going to entertain a stranger she might as well make herself comfortable. Her cloak lengthened and stretched to form a chair which she readily sat in as she watched the man.

"I'm afraid that what I do is a bit different from magic, Than'Sanel. I am Ann, and now that we're aquianted is stalking young woman in cities something you've made a habit of doing or is there a better reason for why you've followed me?" As she said all of this Ann had a mocking expression plastered across her face.

[Cherry Lover]

"I can understand you being more aggressive towards someone who has broken into the house. I was worried myself about what he could have done to Sakura if he had been so inclined. However, please try to avoid killing people unnecessarily, Sakura would not appreciate it. And, whilst your spells can damage me, you weaker spells will not, and I can usually dodge the stronger ones even when you are trying to hit me. You should not need to worry too much about collateral damage", Rider responded, following him down to the basement.

[Lycodrake]

Than'Sanel

Her cloak lengthened and stretched to form a chair which she readily sat in as she watched the man.

"I'm afraid that what I do is a bit different from magic, Than'Sanel. I am Ann, and now that we're aquianted is stalking young woman in cities something you've made a habit of doing or is there a better reason for why you've followed me?" As she said all of this Ann had a mocking expression plastered across her face.

"It may not be called Black magic here or where you are from, but I recognize supernatural decaying when I feel it. 'Black mage' tends to be better received than 'Rot mage', I would imagine." Her expression annoyed him but he schooled his features, undoubtedly some of his emotions still visible in his amber eyes. "As for 'stalking young women', no, it is most certainly not a habit, let alone something I've done before. I've learned that finding the source of blatant uses of such...power, shall we say, is something to be investigated and cautious of."

He shrugged, the vines woven around his shoulders and arms responding in kind, emulating a ripple of lean, taut muscles. "That and I'm lost and do not like traveling alone." His expression changed to a more discerning one, his relatively plain features - for a half-elf - offset by the light shining in his eyes. "I would say my knack for finding interesting beings has yet to fail me."

[Umbra of Chaos]

Ann

Ann leaned back into the chair and a single hand began to toy with her hair as Than'Sanel continued. "If you had simply desired a person to travel with you could have just asked. He may not be too happy about it but we'll figure it out. You can follow me if you're that bothered by being alone."

Ann stood up as the chair slowly fused back into the rest of the cloak and began her casual stride through the wall of the house she had started to turn to dust. Either the owner of the place was too frightened to come down or wasn't home considering there was no uproar as she strolled.

[SINIB]

“Heh, only the very weakest of my spells won’t damage you, I’m afraid. You see, I made a deal with the devil. And furthermore, Sakura certainly wouldn’t like seeing me attack you. I’d rather not make her sad, a feeling I am sure you share.”

As they reached the door, Faust turned his head back to face Rider, “Here we are again, let’s hope we aren’t interrupted this time, eh?” Continuing down the stairs, he offhandedly asked Rider “What kind of books do you like, anyway? A genera would help us find something for you.”

[Lycodrake]

Than'Sanel

He was not picky when it came to partnership, outside of traveling alongside someone that completely clashed with view of morality. So he followed Ann through the remains of a house, a thing of entirely plain architecture without any signs of window plants or lattices that offended his elvish sense of aesthetics. He would remain wary of Ann; she was still a stranger to him that would take some time to understand and her wanton use of..."power" disturbed him.

He would keep his eyes open for other potential threats, too. If there were beings like Ann walking around in broad daylight, he knew there would be other beings far less friendly lurking around.

[Kat]

David

David shook his head at The Joyous' actions and with a wave of his hand she ceased to move and a wagging of his finger the Lesser Dream was jerked back towards him like a puppet whose strings had been pulled. "You know better than to assault people for no reason by now, Little Sister. Especially strangers who have yet to even harm you. My apologies for my sister's conduct."

The Joyous pouted for a bit at her position back next to David before it shifted back into a smile and she stood there eagerly. Then David's gaze drifted over to the latest arrival to this little gathering.

Quote from: Kaze on December 20, 2014, 03:44:57 AM
“Hey, what’s going on here? I’d rather not have to break up a fight.” Ibarra gave everyone present a quick look before continuing. “I’ve gotten reports about dimensional shifts in this area recently. Would any of you happen to know anything about that?”

"I would be perfectly willing to help if I knew your name, Mr.? As he said this The Scholarly stood up and handed David the staff that had been leaning on the bench and readied his own bow just in case.

Mordred

New people keep popping up. Mordred was already weary of encounters happening in such quick succession. The new arrival was army man of sorts. And, she noticed the other companion of that man armed himself already. "I honestly don't know what is going here, but I don't like you are already brandishing weapons just because somebody asks around. I'm in bad mood already, and I'm willing to take it out on whoever starts the fight" She said, threathening to take action against the side who attacks first.

[Cherry Lover]

Rider smiled.

"I never said your spells could not damage me, I said that it would damage me less than most. My Magic Resistance may not be quite strong enough to withstand your magic entirely, but it does weaken the effect somewhat. Only your stronger spells would cause me serious harm. And, of course Sakura would not wish for you to attack me, but I was not suggesting that. I was simply pointing out that, if you have no choice but to attack the enemy when I am in the firing line, the attack will likely do considerably more damage to them than it would to me. Obviously Sakura would hate to see either of us harmed but, in a battle, it is better that I get injured than that we all end up dead...", she said as she followed him into the library.

"As for what books I like, I will read almost anything. I'm not generally interested in books about mythology, though, although I do enjoy fiction based on it, and I've even written some of my own. I know all of the stories from my status as a Heroic Spirit, and most of the so-called heroes are not very heroic in any case...", she added.

[Kaze]

EMIYA SHIROU

As soon as he approached Mia dropped the aggressive demeanor and went straight back to smiling, giving him a full hug. Shirou hugged her back, but with a conflicted expression on his face. This girl was dangerous, holding too much power for such a young girl to be responsible for. His mind wandered to who her parents could possibly have been, or if she even really had parents.

But even so, she’s still a little kid who needs someone to look out for her, he thought to himself. Holding on to Mia, the archer stood upright, pulling the girl up with him while holding her close. Turning to Forest, who was rubbing her temples in exasperation, he noticed that unlike everyone else present, the vampire was covered in snowflakes.

Putting the odd sight to the back of his mind, Shirou turned back to the Firebird only to see the deathly girl already starting to walk away, everything in her path being reduced to dust. He continued to stare with a mix between awe and horror, before the sound of more cars honking brought him back to the situation at hand. More cars were piling up on the street, headlights flooding the area with pale light.

“I’ll check on Law,” he said, switching to Japanese absent mindedly. The freelancer set Mia back on the ground and gave her a brief pat on the head before making his way back to the Firebird. Looking through the driver’s side window he could see Lawrence inside, a look of sheer terror on his face . . . and no pants. For a moment Shirou wasn’t sure what to say.

“Do you need help?” he asked.


AKIHOLARME

Aki walked after the young white-haired girl, unperturbed by the prospect of a long walk. This city was certainly grand, but she doubted it could compare to her treks across vast plains and frozen mountains. She glanced around, trying to take in as much as she could with the helmet’s limited field of vision, on the lookout for potential threats but more interested in observing this strange land.


SAMUEL IBARRA

“Call me Ibarra,” the soldier said with a slight Mexican accent, his eyes narrowing as the two men armed themselves. His right hand drifted toward his sidearm, an M1911 pistol, but didn’t draw it, knowing that doing so might provoke a conflict.

Sure enough, the blond woman with the fairy voiced her displeasure at the thick tension, making known her intent to shut down whoever started a fight. She had a spear on her back, but had yet to make a move to draw it. Hopefully she wouldn't feel the need to.

“I’m not interested in a fight, I just want to ask a few questions, are we cool?” Ibarra looked at the man with the staff, the man with the bow, and the woman in turn. “Now, I’ve received reports of two spatial distortions in the vicinity of this park in the past hour. Can any of you tell me about them?”

[Panda]

Adjutor is shaken awake from a senseless dream, quickly coming to find himself...on the floor?

Curious, he remains where he is, motionless, as he quickly runs through what he knows.

...I'm on the ground. Reinforcement is wearing off, but I've still got dregs. Sound-proofing is still active. I'm going to be groggy until I finish this analysis. Adrenaline is pumping all over again, crap, this can't be healthy.

Then the quiet scrap of metal against concrete adds another piece of information.

Laivatain seems to be elsewhere, there is someone, either wearing metal boots or a robot. Nearby. Create distance.

Still somewhat groggy, Adjutor focuses the Armogarians into already-wound springs, launching himself away as he gets to his feet as quickly as he can, still groggy.

"If you're looking for money," Adjutor says, the adrenaline clearing the last of the grogginess, "I don't have any."

Adjutor takes a better look at the...what the?

A robot. A magical robot. That's something you don't see every day.

The figure before him, with its boxy head and humanoid body, couldn't really be anything but a robot, but the numerous magical runes, combined with the strange potential for independent magic usage, tells him that there's more than would be evident. Not bothering to take a closer look at the runes for the sake of time, Adjutor tries to relax, still somewhat wary of the strange robot.

"If you want information, on the other hand, there's no need to be so rough," he says, preparing himself to summon Tyrfing and Rahab, if he has to, while also prepping a Shield Concept, just in case, "I can't promise I'll know what you want to know, however; I've yet to establish a proper intel network."