Cross Effects- The RP

[Alice]

He leaned so his head rested against hers, his fingers continuing to stroke her hair.

This may sound strange, but... I feel as if you helped me more tonight than I could ever hope to repay. So helping you was a pleasure.

He laughed, still as strange sound to his ears. Quite literally, really.

Reveling in how perfectly their bodies seemed to fit together, he simply sat there, allowing himself to just take it all in. This was one night he wished would never end.

[Aiden]

Marius

Monster of Ruin
Summoning Circle 1

Dazed from the sudden body being thrown at it then followed by being grabbed by the thrower. The monster attempted it's own hold on the man, it then began to glow an eery red if the monster was going to die then it would rather take someone down with it!

Noticing its prey struggling and preparing strange things, the Man gave the Beast the slightest nudge to focus on more than just draining the strange creature dry in their iron grip. And so while his own torso was being held onto the starving and enraged Marius let go of its arms, grabbed the thing's skull and twisted. The sharp sound of its neck snapping followed shortly.

Then they went back to gnawing away at it, spitting aside gibbets of flesh and drawing more blood out of the steaming corpse. After all if the prey was not going to be subdued the usual way, dead was probably better. Most things could not retaliate once you killed them.

[Arch-Magos Winter]

"Apostle's just a word to design themselves and wank their kind. The twenty seven elders, or 'Ancestors', like they prefer to be called, are top dogs on the food chain, well, the undead one at least. Some are very old and supposedly as powerful. But in reality they're mostly a bunch of aristocrats so far up each other's asses they are probably close to reach Akasha." He gave the unknown man, a grin. "Like the boy said, that's our version of blood suckers except they can differ greatly from basic vampires. A few became something more, whether with intent or not. But hey, I'm sure they have some great parties. Can't live that long and don't learn how to have fun, right?"

His eyes shifted on the older Rin, Ryoko, Connor and, finally, Jack."So, who are you guys? New around?" He raised his glass to them with amusement. "Name's Shuya. Not sure if nice to meet you, but don't let that get in the way."

Shuya watched Kiyoshi for an instant. "You seem to take the fact that she would attack someone way better than expected, kid. Anyway, isn't she supposed to be back by now? Perhaps, things didn't go all too well with that dude. Maybe, it wasn't a good idea to let her go alone to that bastard's castle..."

So, they were vampires. The kid confirmed it. Only 27 elders though? New York, while I was still there, had 7 alone at least. Ancient bastards, old enough to have seen the start of the country and perhaps beyond that. Apostles sounded a lot like chumps to me.

"Call me Jack. New, not really. I've been here for years."

I heard Satan Bitch do her 'I'm in charge so listen to me' shtick, and simply decided to ignore her. "Like hell I'm leaving here. Not until I can apologize to Forest, and make sure this Rider won't try and eat anyone. No matter what you say kid, I'm not trusting someone smelling like blood."

[YOLF]

Max

Maximillian groaned in annoyance as he ran up the creaking fire escape of the building. Ordinarily, he would've mentally complained why Americans insisted on having these everywhere, given how easily they could be exploited for felonies and the like, but he had other things in mind. Reaching the roof of the monotonous grey apartment block, his eyes immediately locked on to what he was looking for.

In the distance, he could see the supernatural lights, he could hear the strife ongoing, and above all else, he could smell the smoke and blood brought in his direction by the wind, and feel the Beast stir. Max's eyes narrowed and he clicked his tongue as he started to run across the rooftop.

His plan had simply been to spend the night gathering more precise information about this "Deacon Frost" that apparently headed the vampires of the area. But then he noticed the agitation that people in the streets downtown seemed to be in; a few of those odd vampires that felt like kin but not Kindred hastily went past him in the shadows before he took notice of the commotion which seemed to be building on the rooftops. He decided it seemed too big to ignore.

Taking speed, he reached the edge of the building and jumped.

Soaring through the air towards the next rooftop, he touched down with a thud and a roll. He rose from his crouch and looked in the same direction as before. The smell of blood was stronger, and he could distinguish them now, the shapes and numbers of the figures locked in bloody struggle on the rooftop where the supernatural light of what appeared to be a mystical circle shone.

Max had seen similar things in his time as an Ouroboros Division agent. Magic wasn't something he was entirely unfamiliar with.

He walked across the rooftop and jumped up to a higher building packed extremely close, seeking a better angle of vision at the events. Judging from the large number of monstrous critters guarding it, it was likely that the shining ring was a summoning circle or ritual of sorts. Whatever it was, though, he had a feeling it was nothing good.

Suddenly there was a flash in the sky, and Max looked above to see something - rather, some people appear out of where it originated. He furrowed his brows. It looked like things were about to get worse.

Max hummed to himself, then drew on his powers. With a thought, he completely erased his presence and vanished in the night. For now he planned to simply watch carefully. Without a sound or sight of his person, he began to move closer to his object of observation.

[Cherry Lover]

Rider smiled as she used the reins to drive her beloved Pegasus towards the apartment, patting him gently on the mane as she did.

"Good boy", she said, smiling, as she approached the apartment at supersonic speeds. She had no time to waste, after all.

In no time she had arrived above the apartment.

Hmm, how should I get in? she thought, momentarily.

She listened for a moment, but she heard nothing untoward going on, although everyone seemed to be collected in the kitchen.

Well, I'm not in a hurry, so I guess I can just ring the doorbell....

"OK, you can land now" she said to the winged horse, patting him once more.

He did as asked and set her gently on the ground. Rider climbed off his back and, still holding the reins, rang the doorbell. However, she did not tell him to leave just yet. After all, he had just given her a ride to the compound, it was only fair that she give him a little bit of affection in return.


As Shuya had noticed, Kiyoshi was indeed not happy, and Shuya's arrival only made him feel even worse. The guy was clearly and obviously a bad guy, and as far as Kiyoshi was concerned there was no reason whatsoever for him to be here. At least the vampire seemed to care about other people.

Kiyoshi listened to Shuya talking about Dead Apostles, before he then turned and addressed Kiyoshi himself.

"You seem to take the fact that she would attack someone way better than expected, kid. Anyway, isn't she supposed to be back by now? Perhaps, things didn't go all too well with that dude. Maybe, it wasn't a good idea to let her go alone to that bastard's castle..."

Kiyoshi looked at Shuya with contempt.

How dare someone like him judge Aunty Rider. What else was she meant to do? Die?

Had he not heard Jack's words about her return, Shuya's comments would have worried him. As it was, though, he was confident that Aunty Rider was just fine.

Before he could reply, though, Rin spoke up.

"Castle? Wait, Satoshi is in a castle?" she said with a white face.

Taking out her phone and showing surprisingly-good telephony skills she dialed what was, presumably, Satoshi.

"Get here now" she spat, clearly angered.

Ah, I see, I think she just realised he's turned Dark....

"Ok, now seriously out of the kitchen, I need the space people", Rin repeated calmly, before taking out a marker and writing on the wall.

What is Aunty Rin doing? he thought.

Whilst the tone of her voice indicated that she had been making a request, the way she had gone about it, as was typical of his Aunty, had been rather abrupt and demanding about it. And, then, she'd taken out a marker and started drawing over the wall of someone else's house. Kiyoshi trusted her enough to believe she had a good reason, but even as a twelve-year-old child he could see that it wouldn't come across very well to everyone else.

As he'd expected, both Lancer and the darkened Archer spoke up, clearly irritated with her words and actions. Then, Ryoko turned to address him.

 "Kiyoshi! Hey, how's it going?" she said, before turning to also castigate the alternate version of her mother.

"It's going well, thank you Ryoko-nee. Aunty Rider is coming back soon!" he said, excitedly. "Are you OK?"

Whilst he was speaking to Ryoko, the vampire addressed everyone else before, finally, turning to Rin.

"Like hell I'm leaving here. Not until I can apologize to Forest, and make sure this Rider won't try and eat anyone. No matter what you say kid, I'm not trusting someone smelling like blood", he said.

"Aren't you a vampire?" he said, scowling, clearly unhappy at the guy's hypocricy. "As for Aunty Rider, I don't know what happened to her at the castle, but Jack told us that she's returning right now, so I'm sure she's fine."

Then, he sighed.

"Look, Aunty Rider is really nice and kind. She would never cause real harm to anyone. It's not her fault she needs prana to live.", he said, addressing Jack and Shuya.

Then, he turned to the others.

"Look, I'm sure Old-Aunty-Rin didn't mean anything bad. She just wants to bring some drink in for everyone to enjoy, and she's not used to having to ask permission to do things...."

Then, he moved behind Taiga's wheelchair, preparing to push her, and then addressed the two of them.

"OK, do you guys want to get out of here like Aunty Rin asked?"

Before they could move, though, he heard the doorbell ring.

"That must be Aunty Rider!" he said with excitement.

He turned to Lancer.

"Do you mind if I let her in?" he said, excitedly.

[lantzblades]

Rin continued marking as she replied. "Well you see miss Tohsaka, I am the master of the second magic, when you master it you can feel free to come by and critique my use of it. Until then keep your opinion under your skirt."

she paused activating the magic and forming the portal. "That is exactly what Zelretch said when I accused him of the very same. Yes this is Forest's home but I already said it would wash off and more importantly the woman saved my daughter from death or the curse of unlife.  As such I'm filling her cupboards and cooking her dinner as well as giving her a nice place to eat. It's a small start, frankly she deserves more but without meeting her I can't tell exactly what to do next for her." she finished as she tapped out a message on her phone.

[The Man With All The Cute Boats]

Inferno Cop's car exploded. The guy in the back seat went flying in some direction, like a ragdoll. One would wonder if he was already dead, just looking at him. Inferno Cop meanwhile landed on his feet with a gentle tap, right on top of a nearest building.

"Hm, what the fuxx was that?" He asked himself almost too calmly. "I guess it's just the usual, then."

He turned around, wanting to make his way back to the station even though he didn't remember for what purpose, and instead saw something majestic.

A billboard, with old people and little people. What was better than the people was the scenery though. It was magnificent.

Just as when he saw the pyramids or the grand prix reward money, he decided that that shit should be his.

Inferno Cop problem fell on himself in a storm of lightning, and then he was an F-16. He revved up his own engines, and took off causing massive property damage to nearby buildings. It was okay though, he was a cop.

"Get ready, Fuxxers! Time for... New Zealand!" He shouted, darting through the sky.

X=X=X=X=X

Lawrence pushed me down to the bed, and I landed with the slight noise of the mattress being pushed down.

He didn't wait at all, going right for my breasts and putting me under another kiss.

I reached for my pants, untying the baggy pants with all the speed I could muster. The knots undone I started pulling them away, and the rest happened by itself, the scene and its actors already set.

We banged. And it was good.

[Daiki]

Shuya smiled, before the waving girl. She seemed a bit out of it. A good chance to have fun by simply messing with her. "That would be me, but I'm actually a girl, can't you tell?" He frowned, faking a worried expression. "How much did you drink to end up in that state?"

The man in his apparent thirties answered him, and Shuya nodded. "Jack then.  If you've been there for that long, you might have some decent info about the place. Anything you deem worth sharing?"

"Like hell I'm leaving here. Not until I can apologize to Forest, and make sure this Rider won't try and eat anyone. No matter what you say kid, I'm not trusting someone smelling like blood"

Kiyoshi answered to that and Shuya chuckled. "A legitimate point. However, our new buddy doesn't actually reek of blood, Kiyoshi." It was in fact a bit odd that he didn't. The half demon eyed him, his interest picked. "How long since you fed? You might need to get your fix before instincts kick in."

Look, Aunty Rider is really nice and kind. She would never cause real harm to anyone. It's not her fault she needs prana to live.

"Oh, she would cause harm if needed. Granted, her motivation might be a righteous one, like protecting you, but she could, definitely. Even indirectly, it sometimes happens. Can't really go through life without hurting others anyway."

The bell rang, Rider was apparently there. "Talking about the devil."

The mixed blood listened with a grimace, the woman scold her younger self? So she was Archer's future wife or something. Shuya gave a mocking grin to the corrupted man. "Now would be the time to change your mind, future doesn't look so bright for you." He didn't know her much, but she seemed like the bossy type and stubborn with that.

[Elf]

"Ah, there's the good wizard," the violet eyed man said with a nod towards the redhead in the cape.

Angel tilted his head and asked, "A cape?  Really?"  Buffy and Cordy would have mocked this guy for his fashion sense.  Hell, I want to mock his fashion sense.

"Just wait until you hear him talk," the raven haired sex offense said with a smirk before looking straight at Downy Reed.

"So one circle down, two more to go correct?" he called out, a smirk across his inhumanly gorgeous features. 

And what is this guy?  He doesn't smell human, but doesn't smell demonic either, and why the hell do I just wanna bend him over and . . . I need to stop that train of thought right now because its even weirding me out, Angel thought.  If Buffy or Cordy had been here, they would have teased him.  Knowing Buffy's secretly kinky nature (Ethan Rayne had told "Twilight" about the kinky threesome dream Buffy favored with him, Spike and herself in a nurse's uniform), she would have playfully pushed for a threesome.  Cordy would have probably scolded the guy for being so gorgeous and told him to stop making Angel all weird.

He missed them both.  Buffy may have been his Great True Love, but he loved Cordy too as both friend and more.  He also missed having Faith at his side; now there was someone with he had a complicated relationship with.  Admittedly, he was lonely without a pretty and strong willed girl at his side.

Then, suddenly semi-automatic gunshots began to cut through the flesh golems and wizards. 

******

"Okay, I want these sad fucks buried.  Do you fucking hear me?  I want their fucking asses dead.  I'm not letting some cunt like Ginger Wizard Boy cut in on my town and digging into my food supply."

With those words, Deacon Frost folded one arm over his chest and thumbed his nose with the other.  His ice blue eyes were narrowed at the sight before him, the necromancer and his big nasty everything.  The vampires under his lead were already in motion, faces changing, eye colors shifting, and fangs and claws being bared.  He'd been surprised when he had been dropped into Nexus, and not as the bloody splatters that Blade had turned him into.

He still had some of La Magra's power.  Immunity to sunlight, which was the most fucking awesome thing ever, super regeneration, and insane speed.  Trade off was that he had feed more, but that wasn't a problem.  There was already a nice set up in his new base that provided him with all the fresh blood he needed.  It was the first step in his bid for vampires to take over. 

Luckily, there were other like minded vampires already here.  Just they were more supernatural than him.  Hell, some of them were even dead- like those guys with the bumpy, ugly faces and the yellow eyes.  He especially liked them because if someone strong enough came along they just followed them like loyal puppies.

His keen eyes narrowed at the circle that had been deactivated.  The guy with the braid and the duster had some how killed the magic with his blood.  He tapped the communicator in his ear and said, "And leave the pretty, pointed eared guy with the fucking braid and duster alive.  He could be useful."

He eyed the ancient looking vampire having himself a blood bender and added, "And don't kill Geritol either.  He might join our cause."

******

Dark Archer eyed the future version of Rin and grinned at her.  He said, "You seem a little uptight, Rin.  Maybe you need something up your skirt."

He squeezed his Rin's shoulders and whispered to her, "She's not you, and you're not her.  You have similiar origins, but are not the same.  Like the Archer with his pet mouse and myself."

To Jack he asked, "So what did you do?  It wasn't severe enough for you to provoke a reaction in Lancer, because if it had you would have already been dead.  Again."

******

Lancer blinked at Rin and said, "You know Forest is a vampire right?  Cooking her a nice meal isn't going to really help her much.  Unless you decide to get a bunch of oranges.  Maybe she's a fruit bat instead of a normal bat . . ."

Archer asked Jack, "So what did you do?  It wasn't severe enough for you to provoke a reaction in Lancer, because if it had you would have already been dead.  Again."

Lancer scowled and said, "That isn't your goddamned business."

"Now I'm really curious," Archer said with that infuriating grin.

Lancer frowned and thought, Maybe I should go check on her.  She's been gone for a while, even if she was with me.  If that damned Tom Cat has hurt her I'll wear his guts for garters.

Then the doorbell rang.

"That must be Aunty Rider!" the kid said, lighting up and all but dancing.

He turned to Lancer.

"Do you mind if I let her in?" Kiyoshi asked in an excited tone.

Lancer sighed and said, "Aye, aye."  He pointed at Connor and said, "But you need to go with him.  It may be something not friendly or nice to look at as Rider is, so if you're my son you'll give him back up."

"Look at you, being all mature and reasonable.  I am suitably impressed," Archer said from where he was still kneeling by Rin's side.

Lancer extended his middle finger and said, "Sit and spin, arsehole."

******

Forest smiled at that then frowned, a little sad that tonight was one of the best, if not the best, in Tom's life.  She held him tightly, in thought.  His life's already been enough tragedy, maybe I can help with that.  Maybe Ryoko knew that when she made her suggestion.  Or maybe everything is a giant coincidence.

Sometime she would have to go back to the "outside world" and check on everyone, but it didn't seem as daunting of a task as it did before.  Besides, she was awake from all of their activity and feeling better than she had in years.  "Not to be a kill joy, but eventually I'll need to go back out to the real world and check on everyone.  And let Lancer know I'm okay.  Sometimes he can be such the old lady."

[Alice]

Shuya smiled, before the waving girl. She seemed a bit out of it. A good chance to have fun by simply messing with her. "That would be me, but I'm actually a girl, can't you tell?" He frowned, faking a worried expression. "How much did you drink to end up in that state?"

She narrowed her eyes, trying to get a better look. His visage was a bit blurry.

"Huh, you're a girl? But my parents told me you were a guy. Eh, I guess you're feminine enough to be a girl." She grinned. "I guess we're birds of a feather huh, two boy-ish girls for the price of one!" She continued grinning as she held out one finger, thankfully not her middle one. "And that'd be one. One shot of whisky! It's some good stuff. Got my drunk real quick." Her grin quickly faded as Tom's frightful gaze returned to her mind. "I kinda needed to get drunk fast."

"It's going well, thank you Ryoko-nee. Aunty Rider is coming back soon!" he said, excitedly. "Are you OK?"

Ryoko gave the kid a wild grin at first. "Nah, I'm doin' good. Just grea-" Then the words "Auntie Rider" sunk in. Her skin quickly became pale. To Kiyoshi's second question, she managed a nod, but the news that "Auntie Rider" would be paying a visit trapped any other words in her throat.

[Arch-Magos Winter]

The man in his apparent thirties answered him, and Shuya nodded. "Jack then.  If you've been there for that long, you might have some decent info about the place. Anything you deem worth sharing?"

"Like hell I'm leaving here. Not until I can apologize to Forest, and make sure this Rider won't try and eat anyone. No matter what you say kid, I'm not trusting someone smelling like blood"

Kiyoshi answered to that and Shuya chuckled. "A legitimate point. However, our new buddy doesn't actually reek of blood, Kiyoshi." It was in fact a bit odd that he didn't. The half demon eyed him, his interest picked. "How long since you fed? You might need to get your fix before instincts kick in."

Look, Aunty Rider is really nice and kind. She would never cause real harm to anyone. It's not her fault she needs prana to live.

"Oh, she would cause harm if needed. Granted, her motivation might be a righteous one, like protecting you, but she could, definitely. Even indirectly, it sometimes happens. Can't really go through life without hurting others anyway."

The bell rang, Rider was apparently there.

"God, where do I begin? First off, Frost controls all the vampires in the city, officially. In reality he controls directly probably about... half to Two thirds or so. It's a big big city, and not all of us exactly officially support him. Hell, I just do a little information feeding from the rumor mill to his thugs some of the time. Mostly, I keep my head down and protect my turf." I explained, pulling out a chair and watching Satan Bitch totally forget how vampires work.

"Frost is crazy, at least to me, but a few view him as god because rumor has it he can walk in the sunlight and not go poof."

Shifting a little in my seat as Kiyoshi left the room, I finished my bit with the one armed man. "As for feeding, I did that about 15 minutes ago. And everyone seems to think I'm a monster for not feeding on someone who didn't offer to be a source. Seriously, fuck Connor McDickless for lying about who I was going to feed off of."

With that, I looked to the door. The smell of blood was strong.

[lantzblades]

Connor nodded and stuck with Kiyoshi and Taiga

Rin laughed "Well darn, usually when someone hits on me I get to say he's bigger as I point my husband out." she smiled as she started to move the the boxes coming through the rift.

"I'm glad you have a me around to help you Archer, you're scary on your own." she added sliding the fridge open and began filing it.

[Alice]

Rin gave her older self an overly nice smile. The smile of the perfect honor student. "It's a shame really, I would think learning the Second would have maintained one's humility, but it seems that's not the case. Until a certain Master of True Magic keeps her ego under her skirts, I'll keep my opinion where I please."

Of course, Rin was fuming underneath. What a shallow, frivolous, egotistical, bitchy, half-baked excuse for a magus. Rin didn't care if this version had mastered the Second, her bearing was not that of a proper magus. No proper magus would so casually use a Miracle in this way. She was a disgrace to the name of magecraft. Rin vowed to herself to always maintain her humility on her own path to True Magic, as never did she want to end up like this horrid old hag.

Dark Archer eyed the future version of Rin and grinned at her.  He said, "You seem a little uptight, Rin.  Maybe you need something up your skirt."

It took all of Rin's self control not to snicker at that. Though perhaps he wasn't quite right. Perhaps there was instead something rammed firmly up her buttocks instead that needed removal. Likely her large ego.

He squeezed his Rin's shoulders and whispered to her, "She's not you, and you're not her.  You have similiar origins, but are not the same.  Like the Archer with his pet mouse and myself."

Rin found herself relieved to hear that from her Archer's lips. He's right. My future hasn't been decided yet. I even already know it to be different, the girl I know to be my daughter turned out completely different. ...If a bit drunk. I shouldn't let this woman bother me so much. She isn't me. She frowned, briefly lost in thought. I need to distinguish her from myself somehow. ...I'll call her Lin. It's backwards enough.

For once allowing herself to show such a thing publicly, she managed to get herself upright and gave Archer a hug. "Thank you," she whispered.

She ignored everything else, even Archer and Lancer's bickering, even the fact she was still in Archer's arms, to focus on the situation at hand. Something still needed to be done about Lin. She was going to form a portal in the kitchen, which was quite dangerous, no matter how much of a master of the Second Lin claimed to be.

Either Forest needs to come up here, or I need a plan. Otherwise who knows what'll happen.

***

Forest smiled at that then frowned, a little sad that tonight was one of the best, if not the best, in Tom's life.  She held him tightly, in thought.  His life's already been enough tragedy, maybe I can help with that.  Maybe Ryoko knew that when she made her suggestion.  Or maybe everything is a giant coincidence.

Sometime she would have to go back to the "outside world" and check on everyone, but it didn't seem as daunting of a task as it did before.  Besides, she was awake from all of their activity and feeling better than she had in years.  "Not to be a kill joy, but eventually I'll need to go back out to the real world and check on everyone.  And let Lancer know I'm okay.  Sometimes he can be such the old lady."

Tom did not catch Forest's thoughts that time, as even if he could delve quite deep into one's mind, he did have some courtesy. Some things were best left private, after all, even in one's mind.

He felt a bit of disappointment at Forest's statement, but it was inevitable, really. Someday the dream had to end.

Regardless, he gave her a gentle enough smile. As gentle as he could manage at least. "I understand completely. You still have to attend to your duties, after all." His smile turned into a smirk. "And I wouldn't want to have your Hound bark at you too much. I imagine it would get tiresome rather quickly."

His expression became milder once again. "Would you like me to accompany you? Perhaps I could be of some use to you." He paused for a moment and then began to blush. "Although... I may need some clothing, I'm afraid. My spare change of clothing is upstairs, in my bag that I left in the kitchen, and all my other clothing is in the laundry hamper with yours." He flushed even further. "My sincere apologies."

[Cherry Lover]

Ryoko gave the kid a wild grin at first. "Nah, I'm doin' good. Just grea-" Then the words "Auntie Rider" sunk in. Her skin quickly became pale. To Kiyoshi's second question, she managed a nod, but the news that "Auntie Rider" would be paying a visit trapped any other words in her throat.

Whilst Ryoko was trying to make out that everything was OK, Kiyoshi couldn't help but notice that her face had gone pale at the mention of "Aunty Rider".

Eh, does she not like Aunty Rider? he thought.

Kiyoshi honestly couldn't understand it. Sure, he could understand her knowing Aunty Rider, she was Ryoko's Aunt's servant after all, but he couldn't understand why anyone could possibly dislike her, at least someone as fundamentally nice as Ryoko.

However, before he could ask her what was wrong, though, Shuya spoke up.

"A legitimate point. However, our new buddy doesn't actually reek of blood, Kiyoshi", he said, before turning to address the vampire.

Then, turning back to Kiyoshi, he added, "Oh, she would cause harm if needed. Granted, her motivation might be a righteous one, like protecting you, but she could, definitely. Even indirectly, it sometimes happens. Can't really go through life without hurting others anyway".

Kiyoshi looked angrily at Shuya once more.

How can he of all people condemn Aunty Rider?

Before Kiyoshi could respond, the doorbell rang, and Kiyoshi moved behind Taiga, ready to push her out of the room once Lancer gave the OK. He looked to Lancer to wait for a reply.

"Aye, aye", he said, before pointing at Connor and adding, "But you need to go with him.  It may be something not friendly or nice to look at as Rider is, so if you're my son you'll give him back up".

Kiyoshi nodded his head and smiled, before pushing Taiga out of the room and heading towards the door, Connor following behind them as asked.

As he left, he turned to Shuya.

"So what if Aunty Rider smells of blood? She's a far, far better person than you are, and that's all that matters.

And, sure she harms bad guys, but she'd never truly harm a good person, unlike you", he said as he left the room.

Once he'd left, he continued towards the door of the house, pushing his little half-sister's wheelchair in front of him.

Placing her wheelchair to the side of the hallway so he could reach the door, he walked up to it and pushed it open, revealing his beloved Aunt, as he had hoped and expected.

"Aunty Rider!" he shouted happily, walking out the door and holding his arms out for a hug.

Rider grabbed hold of him and gave him a tight hug, a smile on her face. Seeing Sakura's beloved little boy smiling like this always made her feel wonderful. And, even beyond her feelings for Sakura, she loved Kiyoshi in his own right. Over the last thirty years, Rider had honestly come to see Sakura's family as her own. They had accepted her into their house and into their life, treated her as one of them, and she had in turn accepted them.

After a brief hug, Kiyoshi let Rider go. He looked around and saw the horse standing beside her.

"Hey, you brought Pegasus!" he said, excitedly, before walking over to the winged horse and starting to stroke it.

"Can we go for a ride?" he said.

"Not right now, Kiyo, I need to get inside", she said.

Kiyoshi looked at her disappointedly.

"Yeah, I guess...", he said.

[Elf]

Archer blinked then smiled as his Rin wrapped her arms tightly around her and whispered, "Thank you."  He returned the hug and stroked her hair.  The urge to just kiss her was strong, but she would have freaked out with as many people in the room as there were. 

He gave her a little squeeze and replied, "You're welcome.  Remember, I'm sort of old hat at dealing with versions of myself."

Then he looked at the elder Rin and said, "Rin, you should know that I'm always the 'biggest' man in the room."

Lancer snorted hard at that.  Really, really hard.  Still shaking his head, he picked up Millie's still warm tea and said, "I have to go deliver this."

He then proceeded to look at the portal, sigh, shake his head, and say, "Fore is going to have my arse for this."  Then he started to head back to Millie.

******

Gabriel frowned at the people carrying AK47s and shooting at the assorted wizards and other things as they approached.  Their movements were unified and fast.  Not to mention, their aim was fairly well for a machine gun. 

"Well, looks like your wizard friend pissed someone else off," his dark eyed companion said as he suddenly stood to his full height.  Gabriel noticed that some of the men's faces were twisted and ridged.  They sported golden eyes and fangs.  On a closer glance, he saw fangs and inhuman eye colors on almost every one of the gunners.

"Great, vampires with guns," the swordsman said with a sigh before swinging his sword.

Gabriel reached out, grabbed his arm, and said, "The enemy of our enemy is our friend."

******

Forest found herself grinning at Tom's endearing blush.  She leaned over, gave him a quick kiss and stroked his hair back.  "It may be a little big on you, but my godson has clothing you can borrow so it's not a problem.  If you like, tomorrow we can take you shopping.  Could be part of our date."

Sighing, she leaned forward, turned off the jets and unplugged the drain.  The lavender water started to swirl into the hole.  She rose to her full height and shook her hair out.  "So don't be embarrassed.  I like taking care of people, it's what I do."  Then she grabbed them both a towel and started to dry herself off.