Cross Effects 3.0 - The Third Time's the Charm? The Velvet Room (NSFW version)

[Elf]

Wynn

Wynn tilted her head and replied to Emily, "Sometimes in this existence it is better to . . ."

"Oh no you don't you old, stale Christmas Cake!  If you think your little sister can help you get me . . ." Wynn blinked slowly and looked at the magic stick cavorting in the air.  And more importantly the magic tendrils seemingly crafted of shadow coming towards it.

A beautiful young woman in red shouted at the stick, "Hold still so I can turn you into slag, you wretched excuse for a Mystic Code!"

"Well then, things have gotten more interesting," Wynn said, her Irish lilt becoming more pronounced as she walked towards the commotion on high heels, her knee-length hair swaying behind her.


Rin

Rin blinked as she saw perhaps one of the most beautiful women she'd ever seen approaching, hair like pure black ink swaying behind her as she moved.  Even Ruby stopped cavorting and gave a low whistle.  "Hey Grandma, you really shouldn't butt in . . ."

Rin looked at Sakura and shrugged.


Forest

The blond arched an eyebrow as Micheal summoned the bartender over.

"Greetings," he said with a practiced ease, "I'm Adjutor Xarrest and welcome to the Velvet Room. What can I get you?"

Forest eyed Wynn waltzing right towards a magical prevarication and saw the looking in the Faerie's eyes.   "Well, someone is going to get shagged rather hard today," she whispered to herself with a smirk at the scene as she could practically hear the Sexy Math whirling through Wynn's head before turning towards the rather young bartender.

She rested her hands on the bar and noticed her glass was empty.  "Um, oh.  Well . . . You two might want to duck for cover."

[Cherry Lover]

Sakura and Rider

Sakura listened with raised eyebrows as her sister exchanged insults with the sentient stick. Considering herself to be above such pointless behaviour, Sakura simply focussed on capturing the damn thing, adding a few more tendrils to the ones already swiping at the frantically-dodging stick.

Meanwhile, Rider was watching the commotion, wondering if she should intervene. At first, she decided against it, figuring that this was a problem which Sakura could solve on her own. However, then she noticed the woman she had been watching walk over towards her master. With the attractive black-haired woman now directly heading for Sakura, there was now no conflict between her desire to talk to the woman and her desire not to get distracted from any danger her master might be in. And, so, she decided to head over there herself, figuring that she could both protect her master and, hopefully, score with the hot chick. It was a win-win situation.

Meanwhile, as the woman approached the sisters, the annoying stick stopped cavorting for a moment, instead whistling at the approaching woman.

"Hey Grandma, you really shouldn't butt in . . .", she said.

Sakura, taking her chance whilst the stick was distracted, managed to wrap one of her tendrils around its handle. Adding a few more for safety, she dragged the struggling stick towards her elder sister, placing it in her hands.

"Here you go, Nee-san", she said with a smile.

Then, noticing her servant approaching with a glint in her eye that Sakura knew meant she was interested in the black-haired woman, Sakura turned to her and spoke, noticing the unusual ears and hair and figuring that there was a good chance she would be able to understand Japanese despite obviously not being a native.

"Hello, I'm Sakura", she said with a smile. "Nice to meet you."

[Elf]

Wynn

Wynn watched as the maiden in red grabbed the stick, started cursing at it in one of the heathen Asian languages as she walked away.  Then the girl with the long, violet hair turned towards her and spoke in that same language. 

In English, Wynn said, "Do you wield Shadows as well and what was that annoying yet powerful artifact?"

[Cherry Lover]

Sakura and Rider

Sakura watched as her sister took the stick and walked away, still cursing it, wondering what, exactly, had happened to finding Shirou. Or, indeed, to saying "thank you".

Well, I suppose Nee-san can be a little rude sometimes..., she thought.

Before she could say anything to her ungrateful sister, though, the black-haired woman turned and addressed her, seemingly in English. Sakura's understanding of the language was not great but, nevertheless, she could pick up at least some of what the woman was saying. In particular, she picked up the word "shadows" and, from the context, she could guess that she was asking about using magic. She also seemed to be asking about an annoying and powerful "artifact", whatever the hell that meant.

Oh, I see, she means Ruby..., Sakura realised after a moment's thought.

"Use shadows, yes. Ruby that is, powerful talking magical stick", Sakura responded in broken English.

Rider, chuckled at Sakura's response, approaching the two of them with a smile.

"Sorry, her English isn't so good. She's Sakura, and my name is Rider. Nice to meet you", she said in her Grail-provided perfect English.

[Panda]

Undecided!Emily Mark II

Emily raised an eyebrow as Wynn turned away, heading for some commotion that had suddenly sprung up nearby. Following the admittedly beautiful woman, Emily observed the chaos that unfolded with no small amount of curiosity before a woman in red stormed off, clutching what appeared to be a talking winged stick, while an odd woman with purple hair and eyes explained things to Wynn, first in Japanese, then in horrifically broken English.

Finally, the lavender-haired woman from earlier stepped in on the other woman's behalf, explaining the situation in much clearer English.

Having nothing better to do, the Changeling simply observed the events as they unfolded, part of her wondering where things would go from here.

...Well, I suppose I can wait a bit...

[Panda]

Michael

Michael frowned at the almost robotic movements of the bartender. Perhaps they'd seem natural to even the trained eye, but there was always a tiny hint of something, not always present even in their thoughts, that would give one away. To the immortal, the kid might as well have been waving around a flag screaming 'I'm dying of boredom here, kill me now and spare me the suffering.'.

"Well, if you say so," the immortal said, "There's no reason we should leave you all alone to deal with whatever's coming. Perhaps we could find somewhere a bit quieter to share each other's company?"

With that, the immortal turn to the other man, "Hey, Adjutor, you can come too."


Adjutor

Adjutor raised an eyebrow at the woman's warning, a dull throbbing starting up in the back of his head.

...I don't think I can take this for mu-

"Hey, Adjutor," the other man said, "You can come too."

Wait, wha-

Dying of boredom. Get a move on. Now.

Before the teen could process this new development, Xarrest had already taken over.

"Sure," the Darkling said, his tones just barely differentiable from Adjutor's, "I've got nothing better to do right now."

[Elf]

Wynn

Wynn smiled at the girl's words and then turned to the elegant older woman.

"Sorry, her English isn't so good. She's Sakura, and my name is Rider. Nice to meet you," the statuesque woman said in an exotic accent.

Wynn smiled to see Emily approaching as well and said, "I am Lady Wynn, this is Emily.  It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."  Then she held out her and to Rider, her amethyst eyes gleaming.


Forest

Forest blinked as Wynn began to have court with a bevy of beautiful women.  What was really surprising was each one of them were not lacking in the va-vavoom department.  Normally Wynn liked leaner, athletic girls, but then again the two women with the purple hair seemed to literally vibrate with magic.

Pushing herself off the chair and unaware of what Ruby had spiked their drinks with, the blond asked, "So, where are we going?"  She made sure to straighten her skirt as she approached.

[Cherry Lover]

Rider and Sakura

Rider smiled as the attractive black-haired woman turned to address her, the equally-stunning redhead approaching also.

"I am Lady Wynn, this is Emily", Wynn said, holding out her hand. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Rider smiled and took the lady's hand.

"Likewise. It is always nice to meet such attractive young women", she said, a sultry look on her face.

Sakura frowned slightly at her servant's seductive attitude, but said nothing. There was nothing wrong with Rider wanting to have a little fun now and again, after all.

Don't worry, Sakura, I'll handle them, Rider said over their mental link, attempting to reassure her master.

[Panda]

Michael and Adjutor

"Perhaps one of the the private rooms?" the immortal suggested, fully aware of the slight haze starting to creep over his thoughts, "I'm certain that there are a few that come equipped with mini-bars, no?"

Adjutor considered the question for a moment, one tendril bursting from his arm to retrieve a brochure. Soon finding what he was looking for, the teen set the brochure down.

"Yup," he said, "If you'll follow me."

With that, Adjutor lead the Forest and her curious companion to one of the rooms deep within the bowels of the club. The room was softly lit with candles, the gentle lighting complementing the soft colors and softer furniture of the room. A four-poster bed stood off to one side, while the other was occupied by, sure enough, a mini-bar of all things.

Michael allowed a low whistle at the room, "Well, I suppose this will do."


Emily

Emily held back a frown at the lavender-haired woman's...subtlety, or rather the lack thereof. The comment struck Emily as being almost boorish in how blatant it was, but the Changeling ignored that in favor of discretely looking the statuesque woman over.

Still, two can play her game...

"You're not all that hard on the eyes yourself," Emily countered, meeting the sultry voice with a lascivious grin.

[Elf]

Wynn

Wynn chuckled at Rider's comment and thought, If you actually knew how old I was . . .  She returned Rider's handshake and looked at Sakura.  She held out her hand to the younger woman with a smile and said, "It is a pleasure to meet both of you, especially a fellow shadow wielder.  It is a very uncommon ability, so meeting another one is a welcome experience."

To prove her point, she summoned a few tendrils into form to show Sakura her own brand of magic.


Forest

Forest looked around the room with a bit of a frown.  There was a mini-bar yes, but it was private.  Very very private.  Like if these two men over powered her (somehow) and got fresh the Calvary would be a long time coming.   

The glow of the candles harmonized with her golden hair and made her eyes look more violet.  She looked around again and at Micheal and said, "Yeah.  Spiffy."

[Cherry Lover]

Sakura and Rider

Rider blushed slightly as Emily's statement, before matching the girl's lascivious grin with one of her own as she realised her clear interest. Meanwhile, Wynn held her hand out to Sakura and spoke, once again in fleuent English, making no apparent effort to compensate for Sakura's lack of understanding of the language, before summoning up a few shadow tendrils, much like her own.

Sakura looked at her with a confused frown. She'd managed to understand some of what she was saying, once again she had picked up on the word "shadow" and, judging from the demonstration, she obviously used similar magic. It seemed to Sakura like the woman was saying that it was nice to meet someone with a similar ability. However, she wasn't certain and, with Rider around, there was no reason not to simply ask.

Rider, what did she say? she sent to her servant.

She said it was a pleasure to meet us, especially a fellow shadow wielder. She said it was a very uncommon ability, so meeting another user is very welcome, Rider replied.

Sakura's confused frown turned into a smile as her servant told her what she'd said.

Hmm, she could be interesting to talk to, Sakura thought, before contacting her servant once more.

Could you please tell her that it's nice to meet her as well, that it is interesting to meet another shadow user and that I am sorry I cannot speak better English, Sakura responded.

Rider smiled, and turned to address the black-haired woman.

"Thank you. Sakura says it is nice to meet you as well, and she is interested in your magic. She also apologises for her poor English. If you wish, I can interpret for you", Rider said.

[Panda]

Emily

Wonderful, a Mage and what seems like a Shadowkin, though the lack of a Masque is strange...then again, what isn't strange about this new world...why am I even thinking about this?

At this point, the Changeling catches the train of thought she finds herself on and promptly stops.

Wait a minute, this doesn't actually matter.

Shaking her head a little to clear the errant thought, Emily deigns to simply observe as Wynn, Sakura, and Rider carried on.

[Elf]

Wynn

Wynn smiled at Rider's suggestion and said, "Thank you very much for your generosity.  Your abilities as a translator would be valued here."  The Faerie's eyes narrowed as she noticed that Forest was gone and she sighed.  "My personal translator is elsewhere to be seen."

She then turned to Sakura and asked, "Are your abilities inherited or did you learn them?"

[Panda]

Adjutor and Michael

...Shields ready?

You sure they'll hold against mental interference?

They've done so before.

With that, the teen muttered his Focus word twice, once for himself, and another for the woman's strange companion, sealing off their minds from the outside with Conceptual Shields.

Just then, the immortal seemed to have come up with the same plan.

Well, fact remains that more than one person here looks like they need to get laid, Michael mused to himself. Admittedly, the woman's tell was surprisingly difficult to read, but the immortal always relished a challenge.

"Apologies in advance," Michael said, drawing her attention, "But you might thank us later. Perhaps."

At the same time, black metal tendrils crept along the floor while the immortal was speaking, shooting up to wrap around Forest's arms, binding them behind her back and holding her there.

[Elf]

Forest

"Apologies in advance," Michael said, "But you might thank us later. Perhaps."

Forest turned to the immortal with a frown before hard metal wrapped around her arms.  She cried out as her arms were pinned behind her back and she couldn't wrench them free. Automatically, she tried to kick the person subduing her before trying to shout out to Wynn.

Yet she couldn't get to her; she could sense Wynn, but there was a shield and it wasn't of the Faerie's devising.  She turned her head to Micheal and said, "What do you mean, thank you later, you cosmic wanker?"