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

[Elf]

Forest

Forest found herself smiling and replied, "You know, Saber does like to talk.  I like mead and cider okay enough, but beer has always made me cringe.  The alcohol here is made to make panties drop, sadly enough."

Then she heard him say that they had orange juice and perked up, her eyes lighting up at the thought.  "Just long as it's not concentrated from a can.  I can taste the aluminum . . .  Honestly though, I'd take the juice any day. What about you?"

[Kaze]

EMIYA SHIROU

Shirou gave a small shrug. "I wouldn't know what brand of juice they have. Guess we'll have to see," he said, reaching into his pocket to pull his wallet out. There wasn't much in there. The Nexus didn't see as much use of currency as his home did. "I'm not much for alcohol myself, but I enjoy a good chuhai on occasion."

The Emiya magus waved the bartender over and placed his order. The guy didn't look asian at all, so he switched to his thickly accented English. "One apple chuhai and an orange juice," he said, hoping the young man understood him.

[Panda]

Emily

The Changeling soon recovered from the fall only to find that the thing that broke her fall was in fact the same pirate that had been ranting on and on just now.

The decision took her all of an instant. Emily quickly got off of the pirate and made her way over to the girl he'd been talking, for lack of a better term, to.

"What had him so fixated on you?" the Changeling inquired, curious.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lorenzo Remei

Lorenzo groaned, the pressure on his head finally letting go. He felt like his brain had been squished like a tomato, his neck had almost been snapped by the impact.

His hearing was weak, the rough landing surely to blame. But he could notice the look the brown haired woman gave him. It felt wrong, he didn't like that. He didn't like to be looked at that way.

Don't give me that look...

Those eyes, those eyes. Those beautiful eyes, they were the eyes of someone who looks at an insect. It's as if she was spitting at him, as if. He didn't understand it. He had done nothing but complimenting her, nothing but do his best to make her feel welcome. And yet, and yet-

Stop that...

Why? Why was she looking down on him? Why did she say that? He didn't understand it, he didn't understand why she was being so mean. It was natural to express one's feelings towards another. He found her beautiful, so he told her she was beautiful. He wasn't trying to do anything funny, he was simply trying to be nice in his own way. Not that he would have refused her if she agreed to it, but that was not the point.

How could it be wrong to compliment someone? He didn't shame her, nor did he insult her or her friends. But that look, it was as if she was trying to get rid of him. No, she was definitely trying to get rid of him.

Please, don't.. don't leave me alone.

And Lorenzo felt that the whole world was trying to get rid of him, because even she was trying to get rid of him.

The pirate grunted and got up. His eyes were only slightly watery, his voice only shaking. He just wanted to be with someone, perhaps talk a little. It had been so long since he spoke to someone, so he tried to give his best impression.

Of course, what did he expect? A clown can try to act tough as much as he likes, he is still a clown. So he'd play the one role that he was any good at playing.

And now, someone had fallen on him, only to get off him and hurry to that woman's side. That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Lorenzo quickly wiped his teary eyes. He couldn't let all those people see that, he couldn't show them how he really felt.

He couldn't show them how weak the man Lorenzo felt, and it was all that woman's fault.

He clenched his teeth, grabbed the redhead's shoulder firmly-  and with a smile, he spoke up as cheerfully as ever. His bravado was still, as always, tall as ever.

"Oi, you fall on someone's face and don't even take the time to apologize? Rude...RUDE! THE LEAST you could have done is ask if I was alright!"

He smiled smugly, trying his best to show confidence. Aside being a clown, the one thing Lorenzo was good at was being a good actor.

"At least give me your name." He blurted out.

[Panda]

Adjutor

Adjutor quirked an eyebrow at the sight of the wallet, snatching up a few oranges from under the bar as he approached the two.

This place has a price list of some kind?

It would appear not.

Well, that simplifies matters considerably.

"Hey now, that's not entirely fair," Adjutor says, taking up a fruit knife, "I haven't been here for long, so I can't really say much about this place in particular, but the alcohol usually does nothing more than make one more receptive to such ideas. An aid, if you will, rather than the thing that does the actual panty-dropping itself."

As he said this, the teen deftly sliced the first orange in half, tendrils quickly taking the orange halves from his hand before squeezing them dry, one after the other, into a highball glass retrieved by yet more tendrils. A strainer attached to another tendril caught the seeds, allowing the juice and the pulp through. Adjutor repeated this process until the glass was full, placing the remains of the oranges off to the side.

"Orange Juice," Adjutor said, a moment's focus with Rahab leaving the drink just slightly chilled as he slid it across to the woman.

"And Apple...Chuhai?" Adjutor repeated to himself as all the metal retracted back into the tattoos for a few moments before a tendril burst from his other hand and retrieved a cocktail book. Flipping through to the right page, Adjutor allowed a moment to look at the recipe before tendrils burst from his arms, reaching back to the array of drinks behind him.

The black metal retrieved a bottle of Shochu, another of apple syrup, and finally one of club soda, while Adjutor pulled up another highball glass from beneath the bar. More tendrils retrieved some ice, filling the highball glass with it. Next came the Shochu and the apple Syrup, and then finally the remainder was filled with club soda.

"Apple Chuhai," Adjutor remarked, sliding the strange drink across to the stranger man, "Don't bother with the wallet, it would seem that all the drinks are on the house."

[Elf]

Forest

Forest blinked at Shirou getting his wallet out and moved to get her own pocket book.  Money was something she had an abundance of; even if she tried she couldn't spend all of her savings and incomes in her span of existence.   She had invested too well and got good returns from it.  There were other immortals, who flipped-flopped between poverty and excess because hey didn't know how to balance heir cheque book or have an investor (or in her current case team of investors) tell her where she would get safe returns.

"Shirou, I can pay, it's really not a problem," Forest said before he walked up to the bar and placed the order.

Then she smiled a the freelancer's choice of drink and said, "Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one around her who likes stuff like that . . ."

"Hey now, that's not entirely fair," the bartender said, Forest was sure his name was Adjutor, as he took up a fruit knife, "I haven't been here for long, so I can't really say much about this place in particular, but the alcohol usually does nothing more than make one more receptive to such ideas. An aid, if you will, rather than the thing that does the actual panty-dropping itself."

She raised her eyebrow at that, but watched as the whirl of metal tendrils seemed to whip a couple of oranges into freshly squeezed juice.  The sweet-tart citrus smell filled her nostrils and she felt her toes curling in her boots in anticipation.  Her face lit up as she took the frosty drink and took a sip.  A blissful sigh escaped her lips as she all but danced as she took another drink.


Rin

Rin blinked as the gorgeous redhead that had landed on the pirate got up and walked over to her.  Heat filled Rin's cheeks as she realized she was looking for longer than was proper as the woman caught up.

"What had him so fixated on you?" the young woman asked, curiosity bright in her tone.

Rin shrugged, grinned just a bit, and answered, "Apparently I have cleverness like a feline."

[Panda]

Emily

The Changeling found herself amused by the other woman's reaction, made evident by the blush that just barely tinted her cheeks.

"And it would seem that you might possess a similar disposition," Emily remarked, answering her grin with a smile, "Or at least a similar brand of curiosity."

Then she felt the pirate from before grab her shoulder.

"I've met enough people like you to know that it would take more than that to keep you down," Emily answered, "If my name is all you'd like, then mine is Emily."

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lorenzo Remei

"You've met enough people like me? Oho, good for you, that's quite good indeed. You... you just don't get it do you?"

Sparks flew out of his gritting teeth, veins were popping out and blaze seeped out of his eyes. He had enough, enough of being taken so lightly.

So he grabbed her with all his might and performed a german suplex. Or rather, would have had he not stopped an instant before the move was completed.

"Well, nice to meetchapy! Hope you have fun and spend a pleasant time." he cheered, smiling joyfully as her head was stopped an inch from clashing on the floor. Both of them were but a few centimiters from the actual impact, but Lorenzo was doing everything he could manage to keep her from falling while not losing balance. Then, he let the girl rest on the ground and sighed.

"You must excuse me, I seem to have let my emotions get the better of me. Well, I'm glad that at least someone can count on good fortune, I hope you've found something here to your liking. After all, I did do my best here yknow? Now, I'm getting ahead of myself. Sorry for bothering you, I'll go talk with the drinks." said Lorenzo, his tone joyful and sweet despite his somewhat sorry look.

So the pirate walked to the bar as quickly as he had left it, and took a seat.

[Kaze]

EMIYA SHIROU

Shirou blinked at Forest, not having expected her to offer to pay for it herself. The whole gesture was pointless if she was the one paying.

Then in turned out the drinks were on the house anyways, or at least that's what the tentacled bartender told them. Oh well. Hopefully it was the thought that counted.

Shirou accepted his drink with a nod and took a sip, watching the blond vampire as he did so. The woman wore her heart on her sleeve, every iota of the joy she got from the taste of her drink could be seen on her face. It was odd to him that someone could enjoy something so simple and unremarkable as orange juice so intensely.

"You're a strange one," he said out loud before he remembered he was supposed to be trying to make nice with her. Hopefully she didn't take offense, but she really was kind of weird. Not that he wasn't.

[Panda]

Adjutor

The remark that the teen might have made in response died on his lips as he suddenly felt like a spike had just been driven into his head. The feeling soon passed, and suddenly he knew. He knew that the orange-juice drinker's name was Forest, and that she was a vampire. Nothing on the other guy, however.

"You're hardly normal yourself," Adjutor pointed out, eyes going from warm brown to pupil-less silver as they met the other man's mismatched pair, "What with your conduits looking like swords. ...Mmmm, I'm guessing some kind of specialized thought-form kind of magic."

"But none of that really matters right now," Adjutor states simply, pulling up a bottle of rum from under the bar and pouring himself a glass, "What matters is what we choose to do while we're here and who we choose to do it with."

With that, Adjutor takes a sip of the rum, sighing as the warm burn slid down his throat.

[Elf]

Forest

Forest blinked as she felt Shirou watching her, a little look of puzzlement on his face.

"You're a strange one," he said while drinking his own drink.

She chuckled, lifted her glass towards him and winked.  "You're not the first one who's told me that," she said with a grin.

"You're hardly normal yourself," Adjutor pointed out, eyes going from warm brown to pupil-less silver as they met the other man's mismatched pair, "What with your conduits looking like swords. ...Mmmm, I'm guessing some kind of specialized thought-form kind of magic."

Then he poured himself a bottle of Rum and continued, "But none of that really matters right now.  What matters is what we choose to do while we're here and who we choose to do it with."

Forest chuckled at the bartender's words and said, "Sure it is.  It matters in the long run."

[Kaze]

EMIYA SHIROU

The vigilante frowned at the bartender, even though he couldn't really deny his words. He didn't like that the boy could pin down his magic with such ease, but it didn't seem like he would cause any problems, so he let it slide.

Thankfully, Forest was more amused by his remark than anything else. She smiled and winked at him before going back to her juice, and he could feel a touch of heat in his cheeks. He quickly turned back towards the bar and took several gulps of his own beverage in an attempt to distract himself.

[Panda]

Adjutor

"Fair enough," Adjutor admits, meeting Forest's laughter with a smile before he knocked the glass back, draining it in one go, "But what good is the long run if you don't take the time to enjoy what you have now? For example, thanks to you two, I now have company. You two won't be sticking around this bar forever, I'd imagine, so the long run is looking pretty bleak for me. So, I'm just going to enjoy what I have in the present."

The other man's blush and sudden rapt attention to his drink, however, had not gone unnoticed.

Should we...

Nah.

"Another Apple Chuhai, then?" the teen asked, noting that the other man's glass was almost empty.

[Elf]

Forest

Forest noticed Shirou blushing as he took another drink, quickly turning away from her.  She finished off her orange juice and idly ran her finger tips over the rim of the glass, watching it.

"But what good is the long run if you don't take the time to enjoy what you have now? For example, thanks to you two, I now have company. You two won't be sticking around this bar forever, I'd imagine, so the long run is looking pretty bleak for me. So, I'm just going to enjoy what I have in the present."

The blond sighed and said, "That's pretty maudlin.  You can't just expect people to come to you to end your loneliness.  Sometimes you have to go out and get yourself out there.  Which is bloody easier said than done.  Trust me, no one is meant to be alone."

"Another Apple Chuhai, then?" the young bartender asked Shirou as the sniper continued to drink.


Rin

The young magus shrugged and said, "Something like that."

She watched as the pirate returned, demanding the redhead's name.  "Well, if we're giving introductions, I'm Tohsaka Rin."

[Kaze]

EMIYA SHIROU

Shirou remained silent while the bartender and Forest chatted about loneliness and companionship. When there was a lull in the conversation, he put his empty glass down and accepted the new drink with a nod.

"Who are you companions with then, Forest?" he asked plainly. The only person he knew she spent time with regularly was Saber, but he could tell she wasn't always enthusiastic about it. He wondered if she had any other friends in the Nexus.