Cross Effects 3.0 - April 13, 2015—June 23, 2016

[Knick]

Officer McTammany

McTammany just stared down the sights of his M16 at the group in front of him. He was not able to make it in time to stop that woman, but he would at least not let this guy escape, and if these two were going to help him? He would just have to take them in as well.

So there he stood a decent enough distance away that he could react if they blitzed him, as other officers, some with rifles, some with shotguns, and finally some with their arms glowing with magic, surrounded them.

“ON THE GROUND! NOW!” He yelled.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lorenzo Remei

"Tch."

This was bad. Very bad. They were surrounded by armed men, each tough looking in it's own right. Dodging or running away would be difficult, and if he was to fight back-

No matter how you looked at it, they were at a disadvantage. The one way to escape would be to leave none alive, to use his magic. But if he did that, he would be looked for all over the city. And he couldn't hide forever.

Besides, he didn't want to run away any longer. He caused this, he accepted it. But there was no way in hell he'd involve others in a mess of his making.

"Sorry Medaka. it seems I won't be able to show you around..." said Lorenzo with a gloomy tone, looking down before dropping her off.

Without letting anyone retaliate, he knelt on the ground with his hands raised up in abandon.

"Guts, take care of her."

[SINIB]

Irisviel
"I am Toh-" Towuh almost slipped up and said his true name. Irisviel nearly laughed. What a joke that would have been, if he’d revealed it in that way! She managed to keep her amusement inside, somehow, only revealing a small smile.
 
"Ohoho, I see what you did there. A ruse, quite clever you are. Certainly you are befitting of my praise. But enough small talk. To keep this short and sweet, I am what some of you would call a demon."

Irisviel gave him a curt nod—So it’s exactly as I had suspected. She thought as he confirmed her suspicions. She hadn’t been in the Nexus for that long, but she’d learned enough about the strange city to understand that creatures from all sorts of different worlds congregated here, and he acted akin to how many of the demons and djinni did in the story books she’d read to Illya. His next comment was far more interesting.

"That... probably isn't the best thing to add on your C.V. Well, I certainly could have put it in a better light, but no matter. In fact, I am no common rabble myself. A prince, if such titles mean anything to you. Now, what I want? It is simple Irisviel. I wish to offer you my gratitude in any way I can. If you desire it, I want to grant it to you; be it riches, lovers, security, fame or power. You saved my life, therefore it is my turn to pay this favor back." He continued, lowering his head in respect.

Irisviel was stunned and sat still thinking about it as the demon finished up with an inane answer to her final question. Apparently he had put a beard on the dragon—it didn’t really make sense and it didn’t really matter, so she ignored it/ he seemed to be offering her some sort of contract, and it sounded like it was without any strings attached. Sakura took her short silence as license to begin speaking, and Irisviel allowed her to trail on for a bit, although she found it rather rude that Sakura hadn’t let her to respond first—I didn’t wait that long! I may need to teach her some manners! However, Sakura then began to go on a tangent about her servant, and Irisviel had had enough.

“As for your nature, that is not something I will hold against you. My servant is even more notorious and feared than most demons–” Sakura began when Irisviel put a hand on her shoulder and stopped her.

“Excuse me Sakura, but I need to stop you there. I know your servant must be very important to you, but Togan asked me an important question and now isn’t the time to follow that thread of conversation.” She told her in a motherly fashion. “I know you weren’t trying to, but you were being kind of rude, ok? We can talk about your Rider later.” She finished and turned to Tohuw.

‘I’m sorry, but what do you mean exactly by “you wish to offer your me your gratitude in any way you can” and the “If you desire it, I will grant you it” parts? Are you offering me a contract? If so, what will you get out of it, a contract is never free.” Irisviel probed him for answer; she knew that anything like this never came without a catch.

[SINIB]

Faust

“Let us be off then, and let us continue this conversation later. I fervently hope that that incompetent woman manages to get them home properly, if nothing else, she should at least have some riding ability.” He looked at Vanguard once more and poured some more magical energy into him for good measure before he mentally commanded the crow to land, after which he got on it once more.

“Fly to the manor posthaste!” He shouted, the bird giving a loud caw in response before soaring off into the skies once more.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Tohuw Balagan

Tohuw smiled wrily at Irisviel's words. Clever, quite clever she was. Truly he had made the right decision following her.

"Exactly, Irisviel. I see you are somewhat familiar with contracts. It is correct, there is no such thing as a free contract. Even less when dealing with demons. I believe you must have heard of tales of folkore speaking of men dealing with my kin for favors or services, often paying a heavy price in exchange. It is also true that those men are often deceived into doing so, tricked by demons into selling off their soul among other things..." said the demon, his face twisting into an odd mixture of amusement and disgust as he spoke of deceit.

Yes, many of the lowly demons he had known basked in such deceit, but Tohuw was not like that. Demons who could only lie were even lowlier than insects. A true demon, one who can call himself as such, never lies. Deceit is a craft devised by humans for humans, but Tohuw Balagan was above men. If mere lowlifes lived a life of lie, Tohuw was one who could not tell of deceit.

"You are correct, there is no such thing as a free contract. However, you have already paid whatever price I could possibly demand, and even more. Believe me, there are no strings attached, there is no catch. You saved my life and I will pay back this favor. Nothing more, nothing less. To serve you until death do us part would be a great honor."

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

Vanguard was surprised to hear such words uttered by Caster. Could it be that they were at odds? Thinking about it, he never saw the two interact or speak to each other. As the two soared above, carried by a crow of sorts, he spoke to the magician with a somewhat carefree tone.

"You seem to have a low opinion of Rider. Did something h-"

Vanguard stopped, deciding that such a question would be meaningless. After all, butting in Caster's affairs would be quite rude, and it didn't matter if RIder and Faust were on disagreeable terms. As long as Sakura stayed alive, as long as he could find his answer, nothing else was truly of importance.

"No, forgive me for meddling. Whatever odds you may have with her are none of my concerns. However, you are not exactly clean by any stretch. Well, I doubt any of us could call ourselves clean, but I would like to ask you to keep your mongrels on a tighter leash."

[SINIB]

Faust

Faust chuckled and shook his head sadly. “No, you weren’t meddling. My problem with Rider is that she’s frankly, an idiot. And I deeply apologize for any injury you suffered from my familiar, it won’t happen again, I promise you.”

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

"You may be right, but I believe even an idiot has it's uses." said Vanguard, letting a slight chuckle escape him. It seemed both truly were at odds. While keeping a rift between the two would cause problems for Sakura's sake, Vanguard cared not. In fact, he was slightly more amused by this turn of events.

After all, this could play to his advantage in order to reach what he sought. Perhaps he had been most fortunate to be summoned in such ideal conditions. After a short silence, Vanguard spoke up with a tint of curiosity.

"Tell me, Caster. What is it that you want?"

[Kotomine_Rin]

Richard Maxwell

"Oh! He woke up-" Richard sighed, his amused face crowned with an unsettling smile hiding his dissappointment.

It seemed that foolish girl was after the white haired fool. Well, it was none of his concern as long as that troublesome woman stayed put.

Instead, he diverged all his attention to the boy, leaning uncomfortably close to his face and looking at him straight in the eye. They were so close the child could smell his perfume, an oddly woman-like scent, and mouthwash.

"Can you breathe?" asked Richard with his usual unnerving smile.

[yinsukin]

Roxas

Roxas took a few steps back, a bit uncomfortable by the man's violation of personal space.  He was so freaked out he almost reflexively summoned the keyblades but resisted the impulse on account of the man saving his life.  His eyes shifted uncomfortably as he answered the man.

"Yeah I can breath.  Although, my head still hurts and I feel weak.  What did you do to me?"  He said, unable to make eye contact for more than a few seconds.

[Elf]

Rin

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Rin grumbled to herself as she swung onto the horse.  It was bigger than a motorcycle, but the movement was the same and Rin was fairly athletic.  However, she did ready another wind spell on her Crest in case push came to shove and she ended up falling off the overcrowded horse.

However, once on the horse she slid into Shirou's coat and flipped her hair out of it to make sure it wasn't caught in it.  Of course, it was huge on her and she had to roll up the sleeves so they wouldn't dangle.  Yet it was still warm from him, warm enough to make her stop shivering. 

She was also more than a little aware that it smelled like steel and forge smoke, just like Archer had.

[Kaze]

LANCELOT

The dark knight pulled his mask onto his head, imitating what he saw detective Barthow do. While he was grateful that the mask largely eliminated the foul smell of sewage, he would have prefered to have his helmet instead. Supposedly the fumes down here could potentially be harmful.

An intangible circle of yellow light surrounded them in what appeared to be a magic ritual, which then faded with a pulse of blue light. Lancelot turned around to observe the cause just in time to witness miss Vermillion complain about the weight of her backpack. He leveled her with a flat and pitiless stare, and had to resist the impulse to yell at her to shape up. The girl desperately needed an infusion of proper discipline, but they were walking into a potential battlefield, and now wasn’t the time to be stressing out other members of their team.

Barthow berated her for having severely over-provisioned, while Saber said to keep the pack in case it had food. The dark knight suppressed the familiar urge to roll his eyes. Arturia had become rather dependent on modern fare since her time as King. He debated taking the massive pack himself, but it would get in the way if they ran across hostiles, and his soldier’s instinct told him this place was dangerous. Better the silly girl be handicapped than him.

“Abandon your burden should it become necessary,” he said curtly. “In the future, be more pragmatic with supplies.”

[Knick]

Rebeca

She only heard the action for a moment, lost in her thoughts she barely recognized was Caedia was going to do. Until, that is, she felt herself lifted into the air and slung over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Rebeca let out a confused yelp and began to struggle, then Caedia squeezed, causing Rebeca to let of a couple of surprised squeaks.  And continued to struggle, her hands balled into fists as the lightly hit Caedia’s back as she tried to escape her hold.

"Put me down!" She protested.

[Panda]

Michael

"She's leaving as quickly as she can," Michael counters, stepping back a few paces, "If that's not quick enough for you, then I suppose I can distract you."

"After all," Michael says, readying himself, "What are you going to go after first? The Chalice Girl that's running away from you? Or the one who will buy her time if need be?"

[Kat]

Michael

"She's leaving as quickly as she can," Michael counters, stepping back a few paces, "If that's not quick enough for you, then I suppose I can distract you."

"After all," Michael says, readying himself, "What are you going to go after first? The Chalice Girl that's running away from you? Or the one who will buy her time if need be?"

Rikuyo

Whatever influenced her took more hold on her mind and soul, her body now visibly changing. Her hair lost her original color, turning jet black, and her eyes were now brown in hue. Her skin also turned darker in tone. "Buying time? If you can" the girl retorted, on surface calmer than before, but the tension still in air. Without playing around or holding back against Michael, she fired a flash of energy from her palm, as if intent on removing both Michael out of the picture and in attempt to hit Natara from afar. Killing two birds with one stone.