Cross Effects- The RP

[Arch-Magos Winter]

Henderson had found the Bakery early on. He'd suddenly discovered a craving for a good couple dozen donuts. Skating in on his heelies, Old Man Henderson rolled up to the counter, mirrored aviators flashing in the lights.

"Can I have... 32 raspberry Bismarck's, 12 donuts with sprinkles and frosting, and..." Henderson frowned, turning to the stuffed parrot on his shoulder before asking a simple question, a scottish accent slipping into his voice.

"So what do you want?"

The silence from both the bird and the dumbfounded cashier.

"Rupert here wants a jelly donut."

"Uhhhhh..."

"Don't worry, I have the cash. Chop chop... er, what was I buying again?"

The cashier hurriedly took the 100 dollar bill before the crazy man could speak again, and in no time, the waitress brought his order to a booth next to the one with the talking skeleton. To Henderson, that just proved that he'd gotten some good shit.

Of course, he couldn't restrain himself from commenting, even as he ate his pastries.

"You know your problem? I'm not saying its cultists... but it's probably cultists. Gnome stealing bastards..."

[Bloble]

"I don't know. I think if we could at least talk to whatever's responsible for this, it would be possible to convince it to send us back," Luka murmured. Unlike Valda, who seemed to be holding back anger, or Bonesington, who was obviously having fun with the whole thing, he was thinking of someone else. A seemingly omnipotent being whose cruel actions had initially been driven by the simple desire to not be alone. Perhaps it wasn't boredom. Perhaps it was something else. They couldn't know yet.

He only realized that he was still holding Valda's hand when she squeezed it.

"You should let go," Salamander warned him. "That could be taken the wrong way."

"What wrong way? It's obviously to seal the deal," he said.

"...really? You don't think there could be some other motive?"

"Not at all," he snapped, a bit tired of the spirit's insinuations. "Look, would you please stop with all this suspicion? Miss Valda hasn't done a single thing other than help me all this time. Besides, she's from another world, with a different culture. Hand-holding might just be her way of affirming cooperation." Just to punctuate his mental words, he squeezed back. Sure, it made him feel a bit uncomfortable, but there was no way he was going to do anything to offend his only lifeline in this strange new world.

"Oh dear," Undine murmured to herself as Salamander retreated, fuming. "The poor boy's completely blind."

"..." Gnome looked up from her concrete castle, curiosity plain on her face.

"It's subtlety," Undine explained. "The women of our world are usually fairly... straightforward in their methods of seeking affection. Our Hero's certainly had enough experience in dealing with that type of courting, but he's never experienced a less direct effort. This might prove to be a problem."

Gnome looked outside, to the boy's situation, and nodded. A problem indeed.

Then she noticed the crazy old man sitting in the next booth, and shook her head, pointing to him.

"Ah, yes, cultists," Undine murmured, her voice unconsciously transmitting through Luka's glass of water. "Always a problem. Thankfully, some Gnomes are harder to steal than others."

[Aiden]

When Valda looked up again all the scary gleaming was gone, and she was all smiles for the wisely accommodating human with the delicious hidden reserves of energy for her to feast on and savor later. And he was such a trusting, trustworthy sort it seemed! She was going to enjoy her time here more than she was letting on, that was for certain. There was so much potential in this place for her.

'Perhaps I may even become... whole... again... what?'

A vague sense of dread overcame her as the male of unattractively advanced age entered the room with an avian focal point of madness astride his person. The male, it reeked of something that it had no right to relations with: kin. Something kin to her, perhaps several times removed, and it was stained with the stench of this kin's dissolution.

Her body tensed up, the smile went away, and she withdrew her hands to confirm that the admittedly pitiful electric self-defense mechanism was still available in her pants pocket.

Then it ordered a tremendous quantity of food, and she had to reach out for one of her uneaten muffins in sympathy.

Her mouth hidden behind the baked goodness, she whispered to Luka. "Be wary of this one. It... he, is truly mad."

She studiously ignored the talking glass of water.

[YOLF]

She still hadn't let go of Luka's hand. That was something to note, in that 'personal space' way that Valda simply did not care overly much about.

Still, the pattern seemed to fit. She had simply been sitting in her office before being dumped into the alley with no warning given. She was not consulted at any point about a possible trip to other dimensions, and it was certainly unwelcome. Well, mostly unwelcome.

"Then we are the play things of some titan's whimsy? Pieces in the games of a being without purpose or meaning behind it?" Valda asked rhetorically, her face lowering so that her eyes were focused on the table. Her glasses gleamed with malevolence in the flourescent lighting of the bakery, and her hands squeezed. "Then we will find no retreat until we have satisfied it, or driven it to such boredom that it casts us back from whence we came."

Sir Bonesington responded with affirmation in a way anyone else would call remarkably casual.

"That is usually the case with such things, yes. Not that worrying about it so much your musings darken the air itself is going to solve anything, you are aware. Right now we're not in any danger, or having our lives and morals stretched and abused, however, so why not acclimatize to the place and enjoy ourselves a little, eh? Maybe one might even discover something worthwhile around here, or find something they do so want now in accessible circumstances."

His gaze narrowed as he once again analyzed the woman and the odd feel she had about her.

Henderson had found the Bakery early on. He'd suddenly discovered a craving for a good couple dozen donuts. Skating in on his heelies, Old Man Henderson rolled up to the counter, mirrored aviators flashing in the lights.

"Can I have... 32 raspberry Bismarck's, 12 donuts with sprinkles and frosting, and..." Henderson frowned, turning to the stuffed parrot on his shoulder before asking a simple question, a scottish accent slipping into his voice.

"So what do you want?"

The silence from both the bird and the dumbfounded cashier.

"Rupert here wants a jelly donut."

"Uhhhhh..."

"Don't worry, I have the cash. Chop chop... er, what was I buying again?"

The cashier hurriedly took the 100 dollar bill before the crazy man could speak again, and in no time, the waitress brought his order to a booth next to the one with the talking skeleton. To Henderson, that just proved that he'd gotten some good shit.

Of course, he couldn't restrain himself from commenting, even as he ate his pastries.

"You know your problem? I'm not saying its cultists... but it's probably cultists. Gnome stealing bastards..."

Bonesington's bones shook slightly as he noticed the ragged man entering, smelling of brutalized Old Gods and condensed, conscious, uncaring, blissful insanity. He blinked as he watched him go about his business and then contribute to the discussion. Huh. Cultists? Stealing gnomes? That sounded incredibly plausible for no reason and somehow reminded him of the Cult Of The Damned's new year's parties.

"I don't know. I think if we could at least talk to whatever's responsible for this, it would be possible to convince it to send us back," Luka murmured. Unlike Valda, who seemed to be holding back anger, or Bonesington, who was obviously having fun with the whole thing, he was thinking of someone else. A seemingly omnipotent being whose cruel actions had initially been driven by the simple desire to not be alone. Perhaps it wasn't boredom. Perhaps it was something else. They couldn't know yet.

He only realized that he was still holding Valda's hand when she squeezed it.

"You should let go," Salamander warned him. "That could be taken the wrong way."

"What wrong way? It's obviously to seal the deal," he said.

"...really? You don't think there could be some other motive?"

"Not at all," he snapped, a bit tired of the spirit's insinuations. "Look, would you please stop with all this suspicion? Miss Valda hasn't done a single thing other than help me all this time. Besides, she's from another world, with a different culture. Hand-holding might just be her way of affirming cooperation." Just to punctuate his mental words, he squeezed back. Sure, it made him feel a bit uncomfortable, but there was no way he was going to do anything to offend his only lifeline in this strange new world.

"Oh dear," Undine murmured to herself as Salamander retreated, fuming. "The poor boy's completely blind."

"..." Gnome looked up from her concrete castle, curiosity plain on her face.

"It's subtlety," Undine explained. "The women of our world are usually fairly... straightforward in their methods of seeking affection. Our Hero's certainly had enough experience in dealing with that type of courting, but he's never experienced a less direct effort. This might prove to be a problem."

Gnome looked outside, to the boy's situation, and nodded. A problem indeed.

Then she noticed the crazy old man sitting in the next booth, and shook her head, pointing to him.

"Ah, yes, cultists," Undine murmured, her voice unconsciously transmitting through Luka's glass of water. "Always a problem. Thankfully, some Gnomes are harder to steal than others."

The talking glass of water made Bonesington pause in realization. As soon as he heard it, he knew it was a water elemental or spirit of some kind, and following the flow of power, he understood at least where some of the power that emanated from the boy came from. Probably not the only thing he was bound to, either. Spirit users tended to have multiple contracts.

He also realized the water spirit had contributed to the discussion, albeit subtly, and he decided he would not allow himself to be outdone! He added his two cents to it, speaking loud and clear with the mentality of one offering plot exposition. Which it wasn't at all, really, but it was the right kind of tone for this.

"Well, I know a lot about cultists, and I can tell you those half-wits wouldn't be able to pull off something of this magnitude without it going horribly for everyone involved, exploding in their faces, calling each other idiots and bickering for days, or start killing each other in insults of heresy. Oooooooor mass ritual suicide. That's something they usually can always agree on, unless there's the very rare sort of straight man personality among them."

[Arch-Magos Winter]

"Well, I know a lot about cultists, and I can tell you those half-wits wouldn't be able to pull off something of this magnitude without it going horribly for everyone involved, exploding in their faces, calling each other idiots and bickering for days, or start killing each other in insults of heresy. Oooooooor mass ritual suicide. That's something they usually can always agree on, unless there's the very rare sort of straight man personality among them."

"...Then they took them to sacrifice for their gods so they don't have to mass suicide. 40 grand worth of lawn gnomes don't just walk away, ain't that right Rupert?"

"..."

Henderson continued munching on his donuts. And that one lady he couldn't see had an interesting idea. "Well, mine ain't easy to steal either. It had to have been a coordinated operation, maybe 10, 20 people. I mean, I was only high for 3 hours before they were all gone. Man, that was some good shit..."

[Milbunk]

Downy Reed
Roof of Apartment Complex

No sooner did Downy escape from the first nuisance only to have a second one right at his back, and one experienced in the capabilities of dimensional travel no less.

"You dare to get in my way!?"

Quickly turning around to face the new threat, Downy threw his hand out if he could just touch this new threat he could absorb even more power for his own use, yes the more power he had the more worthy he could become.

"Your life is mine!"

[Cherry Lover]

"Well, OK, I guess I can manage that...", Rider said.

"I can wait for a bit, if it'll make things more fun for us both. And, a secret plan sounds fun, too. I look forward to seeing what you have in store for me...", she added, smiling.

[Bloble]

Luka pretended that Undine hadn't just spoken out loud, because that would be silly. He was the one who screwed up, not her. She was supposed to be the competent one, dammit!

"...oops."

"Uh... do we need to worry about that mad guy?" he whispered to Valda. "I mean, he seems a bit... unstable." Horrible poker face, as usual, even if technically he hadn't said anything. In fact, he was growing increasingly worried about the whole thing. Too many unknowns, too many strange people, and no way to do anything other than sit still and hope none of them wanted him dead or wearing tea cozies as hats.

"...maybe the Gnomeys wandered off on their own or something..." A faint voice blew in front the draft outside, sounding slightly muffled, as if the speaker was buried under a few feet of dirt.

"Sylph, not you too!"

"That's what you get for being meanies!"

[Aiden]

Luka pretended that Undine hadn't just spoken out loud, because that would be silly. He was the one who screwed up, not her. She was supposed to be the competent one, dammit!

"...oops."

"Uh... do we need to worry about that mad guy?" he whispered to Valda. "I mean, he seems a bit... unstable." Horrible poker face, as usual, even if technically he hadn't said anything. In fact, he was growing increasingly worried about the whole thing. Too many unknowns, too many strange people, and no way to do anything other than sit still and hope none of them wanted him dead or wearing tea cozies as hats.

"...maybe the Gnomeys wandered off on their own or something..." A faint voice blew in front the draft outside, sounding slightly muffled, as if the speaker was buried under a few feet of dirt.

"Sylph, not you too!"

"That's what you get for being meanies!"

And now more strange voices, which had only begun with the presence of the maddened one. She whispered back to Luka, "I believe his madness may be.. contagious. Perhaps we should take our goods and flee, when an opening presents itself?"

It irked her that she was considering a retreat due to the presence of a human, but in her current state she was no more likely to survive an encounter with it than if she confronted the skeletal mage sitting at their table. Still, if worse came to worst, well, she had the taser.

[YOLF]

Luka pretended that Undine hadn't just spoken out loud, because that would be silly. He was the one who screwed up, not her. She was supposed to be the competent one, dammit!

"...oops."

"Uh... do we need to worry about that mad guy?" he whispered to Valda. "I mean, he seems a bit... unstable." Horrible poker face, as usual, even if technically he hadn't said anything. In fact, he was growing increasingly worried about the whole thing. Too many unknowns, too many strange people, and no way to do anything other than sit still and hope none of them wanted him dead or wearing tea cozies as hats.

"...maybe the Gnomeys wandered off on their own or something..." A faint voice blew in front the draft outside, sounding slightly muffled, as if the speaker was buried under a few feet of dirt.

"Sylph, not you too!"

"That's what you get for being meanies!"

Oh, there we go. Sir Bonesington noted with satisfaction that his theory was correct. The boy did have more spirits after all! Was it an air one this time? Interesting. He wondered exactly how many elementals he had around him... though judging from his reaction, this didn't seem like a usual occurrence. Maybe they were being feisty for being in a new place? Curioser and Curioser...

And now more strange voices, which had only begun with the presence of the maddened one. She whispered back to Luka, "I believe his madness may be.. contagious. Perhaps we should take our goods and flee, when an opening presents itself?"

It irked her that she was considering a retreat due to the presence of a human, but in her current state she was no more likely to survive an encounter with it than if she confronted the skeletal mage sitting at their table. Still, if worse came to worst, well, she had the taser.

He shook his bonehead out of his musings at the murmuring going on between his possible benefactors. It seemed like they were becoming a bit guarded about this whole thing. Not good, he had let the matter derail far too much! Focus, Bonesington! Assert yourself.

The lich produced an entirely unnecessary throat-clearing cough before he spoke again.

"Back on topic. I had a little favor I would like to ask the two of you, you recall." He sharpened his tone and continued, "Of course, I will offer compensation. This shan't simply be a friendly gesture on your part. Otherwise, it would be poor of me to so bother two people I have yet barely had the pleasure of making acquaintances with."

Feeling like he had gotten their attention, he continued in equally grave voice.

"It is a very simple matter, really."

Sir Bonesington rested his elbows on the table and joined his hands as a platform, right under where his nose would be. His monocle shined ominously.

"While I am endowed with great power, intellect, and wit, as well as a variety of useful artifacts, in this modern world, I am currently lacking in what I require to solve my situation with a modicum of class and minimum losses. I have one alternative to the possible consequences of being unable to cope with it, and it is not one I am willing to take at this time. And as such -"

He looked the boy in the eyes and then the woman, decisively -

"Would you... pay for my croissant?"

And his voice lost all pretense of tension as he somewhat embarrassingly voiced his request.

[Aiden]

And now more strange voices, which had only begun with the presence of the maddened one. She whispered back to Luka, "I believe his madness may be.. contagious. Perhaps we should take our goods and flee, when an opening presents itself?"

It irked her that she was considering a retreat due to the presence of a human, but in her current state she was no more likely to survive an encounter with it than if she confronted the skeletal mage sitting at their table. Still, if worse came to worst, well, she had the taser.

He shook his bonehead out of his musings at the murmuring going on between his possible benefactors. It seemed like they were becoming a bit guarded about this whole thing. Not good, he had let the matter derail far too much! Focus, Bonesington! Assert yourself.

The lich produced an entirely unnecessary throat-clearing cough before he spoke again.

"Back on topic. I had a little favor I would like to ask the two of you, you recall." He sharpened his tone and continued, "Of course, I will offer compensation. This shan't simply be a friendly gesture on your part. Otherwise, it would be poor of me to so bother two people I have yet barely had the pleasure of making acquaintances with."

Feeling like he had gotten their attention, he continued in equally grave voice.

"It is a very simple matter, really."

Sir Bonesington rested his elbows on the table and joined his hands as a platform, right under where his nose would be. His monocle shined ominously.

"While I am endowed with great power, intellect, and wit, as well as a variety of useful artifacts, in this modern world, I am currently lacking in what I require to solve my situation with a modicum of class and minimum losses. I have one alternative to the possible consequences of being unable to cope with it, and it is not one I am willing to take at this time. And as such -"

He looked the boy in the eyes and then the woman, decisively -

"Would you... pay for my croissant?"

And his voice lost all pretense of tension as he somewhat embarrassingly voiced his request.

While it was a distraction from the horror that lurked in their midst, and that may possibly cost her if it decided to focus its attention on her fully, this was still an opportunity worth grasping. A brief and almost audibly sharp shine came from the corner of Valda's glasses, and she sat back in her chair with legs neatly crossed.

"And what specific manner of compensation are you offering us for this service, Mr. Bonesington?"

[YOLF]

While it was a distraction from the horror that lurked in their midst, and that may possibly cost her if it decided to focus its attention on her fully, this was still an opportunity worth grasping. A brief and almost audibly sharp shine came from the corner of Valda's glasses, and she sat back in her chair with legs neatly crossed.

"And what specific manner of compensation are you offering us for this service, Mr. Bonesington?"

Sir Bonesington allowed himself to smirk a little at how fast she had switched gears. It appeared, however, that he had fished quite a greedy one. Or would it be more appropriate to say she was practical? That adaptability and capacity to consider and argue the possible benefits immediately after a chance presented itself was also admirable, after all. Well, either way was fine by him, these types could be fun too.

Even though her sudden seriousness was a little scary.

"Let's see...." he hummed to himself as he sat back in his chair and searched under his clothing. After some rustling, he found what he was looking for.

And out of apparently nowhere it could've possibly fit, he produced a solid gold ingot that he dropped on the table with a 'thunk'.

"This probably isn't considered currency around here, and even if it were, I very much doubt they'd have change for it. I could simply leave it here as a collateral, but then I'd be left entirely penniless, and that isn't a very good idea. Who knows when I'd need it! Hooooowever, you seem like a trustworthy sort, so I could leave it to you to turn into money for me and then keep a part for your troubles. Oooooooor..."

Bonesington shuffled his hands inside his clothes again before pulling away with a bunch of metal objects that clunked down on the table. The pile of objects, among them rings, necklaces, bracers, trinkets, chains, etc, almost seemed like a veritable collection of scrap metal. Or it would, if it wasn't for the intricate designs and obvious magical glow coming from some of them.

He proceeded to make his best tv commercial salesman impression.

"I have all this potentially useful and pretty dungeon loot that could be yours, today! Yes indeed! Like, say, this.... erm," Bonesington's bony fingers grasped a jeweled necklace off of the table and he cast a scrutinizing look at it, after the which he continued excitedly, explaining its function, "This Red-Flight-Blessed Ruby Chain! Increases your health by a percentage, and grants health regeneration, mana regeneration, cooldown reduction, and performance increase!"

...

"Truly I have never seen a more complete adventurer quintessential item! And that's not all there is! There are items for mages, paladins, rogues - but not hunters. Damn hunters already get everything, they don't need more gear from me."

The lich smiled widely, then turned his expression to a completely unamused one.

"Just don't ask why I have all of this on me. It's for an eventuality."

He wiped the collection of items to the side. Stupid global Azeroth monster obligations.
Bonesington forced his expression to brighten again, and continued.

"And I guess I could conjure a few useful potions for you." as he spoke, his palm shined with magic, and a second or two later there was a flask with a lively, bubbly red liquid. Bonesington grabbed it with his fingers close to claws and shook it around a little. "That can come in handy, right? I can only produce a few per day, but I can make all sort of stuff - within reason, of course."

With a flip of his wrist, the red potion vanished in a little puff, and he leaned forward grabbing the table, approaching his face to the woman's.

"Well? Is any of these options satisfactory?" he asked, looking her in the eyes.

[Aiden]

The gold was tempting; she could probably find someone that could convert it into something useful at a fair rate (for her, at least) and still have something to live off for a while until she could set something up here. She almost said yes to that right away, but paused when he went right along with further offers.

Then the moment Valda heard the phrase 'mana regeneration' she immediately grabbed and tried on the relevant necklace with the most utterly driven and ravenous look in her eyes. She was like a starving woman in a desert, all composure gone...

For nothing? Wait, that could not be right.

She felt nothing from it; the ring gave her no benefit. It did not restore the mana lost to her as was promised, even though she felt her overall liveliness increase without delay. What was wrong? Was this creature's concept of 'mana' a different one from her own? Was she trapped in a world where her hunger could not be fulfilled?!

Or perhaps her complete lack pre-existing mana meant there was no catalyst for it to work with to trigger the restoration effect? Oh, that would just be her misfortune right now.

She took the necklace off, and held it between their faces. "How precisely does this work? Do I just wear it, or does it require some means of unlocking its potential? If the second, what is said means?"

[Elf]

Forest sighed at the redheaded young man who she shot from getting a face full of buckshot tell her that Sakura requested her presence.

"Of course she did," Forest said with a sigh before rubbing her forehead.  She rose to her full height, looked at Finn one last time with a shake of her head, and then turned to the Irishman.  Folding her arms around herself, she muttered, "No rest for the moral fag."

She then went upstairs to the girl's room and said, "You rang?"

******

Gabriel stared at the wizard's words before doing the only thing he could.

He started to laugh.

"Your life is mine!"

The wizard extended his arm towards Gabriel.  The hybrid could feel the spell begin to work, and then completely die when it reached him.  Smirking, he tilted his head and asked, "Performance anxiety?  I'm sure that this has never happened to you before, and you want to give it another go, right?  I won't begrudge you that.  I'd probably have trouble preforming in front of someone such as myself as well."

[YOLF]

Sir Bonesington was almost certain she was going to take the first offer.

But then he started elaborating on the properties of that one random trinket and she pounced on it harder than a gold digger pounces on a nouveau riche playboy. That was certainly an unexpected reaction!

He pretended to ignore her complete burst and loss of composure as she tried on the necklace and her expression shifted wildly between ravenous hunger, grim determination, disappointed confusion and cold outrage. While she was doing her little show of expressions, he finished his little speech of the possibilities.

Though she apparently hadn't been playing any attention whatsoever to the last part, as her attention was fully on the necklace that she then took off, hung between their faces, and demanded answers about.

Her question was honestly a little confusing, and her insistence on the matter a weeny bit intimidating.

"Humm, it's supposed to work... just by wearing it... I don't think it's soulbound to anyone, so it shooouuullllld work for you? Are you sure you're not one of those people with absolutely no magic potential?" he asked, as much as he doubted it himself.

Maybe they could try out to make sure. He held out his hand and conjured a flask holding a blue liquid. Then he offered it to her.

"Here, this is a mana potion. Let's confirm it's the trinket and not you."