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

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lorenzo Remei

“A-aye. Sure thin-“ Lorenzo nodded, but before he could finish his reply, he gulped. He didn’t notice it until then, but it seemed they were surrounded by a bunch of lads, wearing blue uniforms and carriying weapons. And shields. There was no mistake, that familiar color.

Could they be… the French!?

“STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM” one of them roared, his thick body contrasting with his premature stache. It seemed he was unaware grooming was a thing. Still, the man waved his gun, and Lorenzo was out of options. Sure, By all means, he could blast the lot away, but Medaka was there. Would she truly approve of such a thing? Of that, he was unsure.

“W-wha?” he simply yelped, standing straight and shaking Medaka away.

“You violated the law. Pay your fine or serve your sentence. “ The man roared once again. Then, he grabbed a strange machine and pressed a button. Unknown to Lorenzo, this was a walkie-talkie.

“We’ve found the suspect, get the car.”

“Fine!? But I-“

“Your stolen goods are also forfeit.” The men added, bashing their batons on their riot shields.

Lorenzo tried to talk his way out, to settle things. But the more it went on the more he realized all the men were glaring at him.

Sink me.

“Stolen? I haven-“

“Silence! Surrender quietly or we will have to use force.” And with that, a bunch of them ran up to him and pounded him to the ground.

About four of them held him down, while a big lad sat on him. He was now pinned down, like a pin. A pin pinned down.

Can’t…breathe…. Fatass…

“Ok, raise your hands hiiigh up. Nice and easy.”

“Hands? But you’re alrea- OWOWOWOW!”

“Now, on your knees.” The men added, a baton tapping his head along to have his face lowered.

“Ahh, I… I’m already on the gr- OW!” The pirate yapped in pain, howling as his arm was locked once again. There were just too many of em for him to resist with brawn alone.

Closing his eyes, a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. Then, he heard a clicking sound, and felt the cold touch of metal along his wrists.

“You are coming with us to the station. You have the right to remain silent when questioned. Anything you say or do may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future.”

Nodding silently, Lorenzo gulped. This was utterly humiliating.Those blue men, these frogs, they were only scoundrels. He could’ve easily whooped the whole lot, and a dozen more. But he couldn’t resist, Medaka was nearby. And he was already pinned down, taken by surprise. Even if he did something, it would be messy.

“I’m sorry Medaka… I have to go.” The pirate gulped.

[SINIB]

Irisviel

Saber smiled at Irisviel as she took her hands and warmly answered her question, finishing with a small laugh as she accepted Irisviel's apology.

Irisviel emitted a audible sigh; her shoulders slumped in relief as all her lingering tension faded away.

"Thank goodness." She said. "It sounds like you lived in a world similar to the girl I just ran into, Sakura Emiya. She actually mentioned that she knew you in her world, but..." Irisviel interrupted herself with a small uncomfortable laugh and tried to change the subject.

"Well, anyway Saber- you mentioned that I- well, the me in your world- didn't deserve-"

Irisviel stumbled through the sentence, unsure how she should word it: should she refer to 'herself' in the third person or the first person? She settled on just Irisviel before continuing.

"Sorry about that Saber, it's confusing talking about myself like this. Anyway, as I was saying, you mentioned that the Irisviel from your world didn't deserve the end she got. Does that mean that I served my intended purpose as a grail, or something more?" She asked full of curiosity.

[yinsukin]

Medaka

Before she could get a reply, Lorenzo was surrounded beaten, and arrested by the police.  It happened so fast, she really didn't have much time to process the situation.  IT was weird that the pirate did not resist the police, even though he did nothing wrong.  She also wondered why they were arresting him in the first place.  Ignoring the fact that she was in a bra and chard shorts, she confidently walked up to the officer who read his Miranda rights.

"Excuse me, I demand to know what Lorenzo has done wrong." said standing squire in front of him, looking him straight in the eye.

[Kotomine_Rin]

"Don't worry miss. We will make sure that man receives his due sentence." a female officer stated firmly.

On Lorenzo's end, he was being restrained once again. Held tightly, it looked like he was about to burst like a tomato. Even so, he looked at Medaka with a grin.

"It's ok Medaka. I..."

He was about to say it, he knew not if he could ever say it in the future. Hesitating, he decided to speak up and reveals the matters of the heart that mattered in his heart.

"I love you!" He roared with pride. Little dd he know, a police car would drive rigitht before him, the siren so loud his voice was inaudible. Unable to protest, he was dragged into what he believed was a magical chariot with an invisible horse. After all, why else would the chariot neigh?

[yinsukin]

Medaka

Medaka faced the female officer who confronted her. "Don't worry miss. We will make sure that man receives his due sentence." said the female officer firmly.  Receive his sentience?  She didn't want him to be arrested.  Medaka's face hardened, but still not hostile.  "I didn't ask if he is getting arrested, I asked why!"  She said, even more firmly.  As soon as she stopped talking, she looked over at Lorenzo, who was now being restrained once again.  It looked like he yelled something important but she could not hear it.  She turned back to the female officer, waiting impatiently for an answer.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Officerina

"Mph, let's see..." Hummed the officer, taking a small hello-kitty notebook from her pocket. Flipping it's pages, she stopped on a single page, with Lorenzo's name written right on it.

"Petty theft, dine and dash, arson, destruction of property, mass murder aaaand jaywalking. All in less than a day." she said.

"There miss, now be on your way."

[Elf]

Saber

Saber tilted her head thoughtfully at Irisviel's words.  If she said Emiya Sakura, then the events that had unfolded would have mirrored those of mine.  Then she blinked at Irisviel's question and looked away.  Then she took a deep breath and looked into Irisviel's crimson eyes.

"The Grail was corrupted," Saber said in a soft voice, "Kiritsugu . . . he used a command seal to order me to destroy it."


Tohsaka Rin

It's just my luck that the great Zeltrech just happens to be a Dead Apostle Ancestor.  No, he just couldn't be the Wizard Master of the Second.  He has to be a blood vampire too, Rin thought as she wrapped her red coat around her.  Her cheeks were numb and her eyes stung; she would have hoped after a few years that she would have acclimated to England's cold, wet climate. 

It had started raining half way between her flat and to the lab under the Clocktower.  Her hair was damp and her feet were getting numb in her boots.  She suddenly wished she hadn't worn a skirt with leggings and just wore slacks instead.  But no, I wanted to impress that new assistant of Waver's.  Wear a skirt, put on some makeup, and then it starts raining and Luvia gets driven around and just . . .

What was worse was that she had someone following her.  Someone who wasn't human.  They were possibly a magus at one point in time, but currently they weren't even alive.  She wondered if it was just some random Dead Apostle who wanted to count coup or did they just want to curry favor with Zeltrech's potential heir? Despite Zeltrech's "official" apprentices that he was already driving insane, it wasn't that hidden of a fact that she had managed to use a version of his jeweled sword.

Because of this, she had taken to carrying her current dozen jewels with her.  One thing she had learned from Waver's Cute New Assistant was to always be prepared when it comes to Apostles.  And I'm not making the mistakes I did during the Grail War again, she thought.

Sometimes she woke up in the middle of the night, even this many years after the War, drenched in sweat and stifling a scream.  Sometimes the scar from were Sakura had stabbed her hurt without a valid reason; Rin was confidant that, other than a slight marring on her skin, all the internal damage had been completely healed.  Sometimes she saw Archer's face as he took the blow meant for her by the Shadow.  Sometimes she saw Sakura's anxious face as they waited for Shirou to wake up in his new body.

She didn't talk about it.  It wasn't her right to talk about it to Sakura, considering all she had been through with the worms, Zouken's pit of horrors, Shinji, and almost losing Shirou.  She wasn't comfortable talking about it to Shirou, and Rider wasn't exactly chatty.  So she kept silent and pushed ahead, working hard as possible to protect the family she had while trying to keep the Mage's Association from crushing her compassion.

In a way, it was like high school.  She had to work hard to keep up the facade.

As she walked in the rain she felt the ground fall out from under her.  There was a strange surge of energy and before she could power up her crest, she was falling.  Frigid air was rushing around her so she searched her crest for an anti-gravity spell and fast.

[Knick]

Office McTammany

I thought today was going to be fine, I woke up after an amazing night with my wife. I had the best night’s sleep ever, I was on light duty today in the safest parts of the city, and I was about to buy a fantastic sandwich.

Then I ran into this woman, she was rather attractive, who seemed really confused being the good man that I am I helped her out. After she asked if I would give her my sandwich, and obviously refused, I was hungry.

Then she kicked me into a table and stole my sandwich.

So, reasonably I was kind of pissed. And set out to arrest her, she attacked a police officer after all.

Then I felt the earth shaking. I was… a bit scared, but I felt it was my duty to investigate.

Lo and behold, guess who was the source of that mess was; she just stood there, in a standoff with some armored person.

And I did the only thing I could and called in backup. By the time we could move in the woman sat there, drinking something served to her by a skeleton.

So we prepare ourselves, everyone draws our weapons and the mages we have prepare spells, fully intending for there to be a fight.

Then she comes with them without any trouble. She breaks the cuffs, but she comes with them peacefully.

Then on the drive the skeleton just appeared in the car and gave her some tea, complete in porcelain.

Now, I just got her back to the station and put her in the jail cell, it was mostly empty today, we transfer prisoners to a more secure precinct generally.

“They don’t pay me enough for this shit.”


Suiren

“This is kinda crummy” Suiren muttered as she looked at the room she was directed to. It had two walls of metal bars, the other two made of stone, multiple benches and then what looked like a toilet. She also seemed to be the only person here as well.

Well, other than Butler that was insistent on following her.

“Oh well, I could have used a rest anyway” She said while stretching, then she walked over to a bench and sat down. “This is a good a place as any I guess.”

[yinsukin]

Medaka was shocked.  She always took Lorenzo for a bit of a lewd guy but never a criminal.  Mass murder?  Clearly there was something about him she didn't know.  She never took him for a hard boiled killer.  Perhaps she still had much to learn.

"Hmm, fine.  Now if you can excuse me, I need to get him out of jail so I can talk to him."  Medaka responded non nonchalantly.  She looked around.  It appeared that the police car was already gone.  Still, she couldn't imagine that they got too far.  If she could find the nearest police station, she could find Lorenzo.  Or at least, that was her reasoning.

[Arch-Magos Winter]

Abigail

Abigail frowned at Archer and said, "Well Law you should come with me and he can go find whatever clothing within a reasonable price range.  Right?  You can help me pick out some pillows and blankets so you're comfy."

Her peridot eyes narrowed at Archer.

Archer couldn't resist the urge to needle the redhead a little further. "Already picking out the sheets? Quite forward Abigail..."

"Archer, shut it." Law really, really didn't have time for this sort of bullshit. "OK, sheets, pillow, I'll need a toothbrush and some deodorant too. Shampoo maybe? I mean I don't mind sharing but I don't want to you know, accidentally condition my hair or something, because of all the bottles that look the same..." Law coughed. "Anyway, let's just get at it."

[SINIB]

Faust

Faust was worrying about what had happened to the familiar who had been sent to tail Vanguard. It had clearly gotten into a fight and been subsequently destroyed by- something- Vanguard, he guessed. Possibly something else, but he couldn’t think of a better explanation. What happened! I told that damn creature to flee at the first hint of combat! Whatever occurred there, it’s definitely not good for me.

Faust sighed. Today has not been a good day. “What a mess...” He murmured to himself, out of earshot of Sakura. He suddenly looked up at the sky in alarm. He’d detected the telltale signs of magecraft being cast. He scanned the overcast sky, looking for the culprit. He quickly zoned in on a person frantically trying to cast a spell as they rapidly descended from the sky towards a gorey meeting with the roof. He sighed once more, and with a few muttered words, cast a simple spell on them to slow them down enough to survive the fall. He didn’t want to risk Sakura getting hurt, and he doubted that she’d be happy about him disintegrating someone in front of her and her newly found Shirou.

[Elf]

Abigail

The Changeling narrowed her eyes at Archer and said, "It's called being a good host, you butt."

Then she took Law's arm and said, "So, shampoo, deodorant, toothbrush, maybe a razor?  I really don't need them, but you sort of do."


Rin

Rin felt her descent slowed enough to where she could find a suitable spell.  Warmth flowed through her as her prana activated. The green glow of her crest could be seen from underneath her coat as she threw up her arm and shouted, "Air tragen mich!

Air surged around her and caught her.  Sighing in relief, Rin lowered herself to the roof top only to wince to find that it was occupied.  Then she saw who occupied it and felt a tad bit of relief.   

She landed in front of her sister and brother-in-law, her hair a windblown mess and aquamarine eyes snapping.  Her cheeks were flushed but she managed to smile despite it.  "That was unusual, even for us."

[SINIB]

Irisviel

"The Grail was corrupted," Saber said in a soft voice, "Kiritsugu . . . he used a command seal to order me to destroy it."

“Oh.” Irisviel said. “I-I don’t really know what to say Saber. I’m sorry.” Irisviel’s curiosity morphed into confusion. “I-I know that if it got to the point I- turned into the Grail- I wouldn’t be alive anymore. I’m sorry, but this is... extremely surprising, to say the least.” Suddenly, Irisviel remembered the people she’d left behind at the car.

“Oh! Um, Saber... I’m sorry, but I’ve left some people waiting, I should really get back to them! Saber, do you carry a cell phone? Where do you live?” Irisviel asked. “I’d like to talk to you again later. I live in the large castle on the outskirts of town.” She told Saber.

[Kaze]

EMIYA SHIROU

Shirou's eyes widened in surprise as the woman in black managed to latch on to his foot, halting her fall. His leg jerked out from under him, and he grit his teeth together hard, hanging on as best as he could. She then hauled herself up to wrap both arms tightly around his waist. He was effectively trapped, he wouldn't be able to jump properly with her hanging on to him like this, and would probably get them both smashed against the pavement below.

The woman's words heavily implied that she was a Servant, much like what he had fought against in the 5th Heaven's Feel. A distant memory sparked, of a Servant much like the woman holding on to him now, of strange lavender hair and the smell of blood.

The realization struck him that this was a Servant he had fought before, 12 years ago when Saber had been at his side. This wasn't good at all. Getting desperate, Shirou gathered his prana and prepared to reinforce his muscles further. There was no way he could take a Servant in such close quarters, he had to get away immediately.

That was when the fight was taken out of his hands. Be it an error in haste or simple misfortune, the reinforcement went awry. Shirou's body rejected the infusion of magical energy.

The freelance magus' muscles bulged gruesomely before sharp steel blades burst through the skin on both of his arms and ripped through the sleeves on his jacket. He cried out in pain and surprise, and in that moment of distraction his hands quivered and slid off the brick ledge, sending both himself and his unwelcome passenger free falling to the pavement below.

[Arch-Magos Winter]

Abigail

The Changeling narrowed her eyes at Archer and said, "It's called being a good host, you butt."

Then she took Law's arm and said, "So, shampoo, deodorant, toothbrush, maybe a razor?  I really don't need them, but you sort of do."

Law ran his free hand over his chin as Abby dragged him into the Target, the stubble itching at his hand. God. He really could use a shave. Then again he could just let it grow out further, but right now it was probably in that grey area between a full fledged facial hair and looking awkward. "Wait so you don't shave?"

You can see if she's a natural redhead then!

Shut up...

"I mean not that I should care I mean I'm just a little curious and OK I'll just stop talking now."

Archer rolled his eyes at his current Master as he started browsing around for any clothing that could fit him. His master was nearly the same height, but not as broad shouldered or muscled. Lawrence really was a scrawny kid compared to the Servant. The grocery cart he'd grabbed slowly filled with some simple items.