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

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

"Oh? Interesting. Do tell, is Sakura but another mean in order to reach the truth to you?" asked Vanguard with a tint of curiosity.

[Elf]

Rin

“I-I ha-yes.” Sakura stammered, “I’ve been living here, it’s a safe place, and the Nexus is dangerous.”  Yet she returned the hug, pulling Rin even closer to her.  “And I’ve been strong for these three years, don’t worry about me. Oh, you’re freezing. You need to get inside now!”

Then Sakura was guiding Rin inside of the mansion and Rin felt her stomach clinch at the unfamiliar pulse of prana in this place.  Faust had to use this place as a work shop, not to mention Zouken's hand prints were all over this place.  “I don’t want you getting sick!”

"I think with a shower and a good cup of tea I'll be okay," Rin said, squeezing Sakura's hand, "It was just Spring in London and . . ."  She gestured to the black and red dress she was wearing under her long, red coat.  "I was wanting to impress someone."

[SINIB]

Sakura

“We don’t have any tea-well, any good tea at least, we’re out right now.” Sakura apologized to Rin as she led her up the stairs. “So, it was spring where you came from; and, you were trying to impress someone?” Sakura asked, her interest piqued. “Was it a cute boy? What’s his name?” She asked excitedly. “How’s your training going?” Sakura layered question after question on her sister, excitedly saying anything and everything that came to mind, she desperately wanted to catch up. “All right, here’s my room!” She told Rin, opening the door to her inner sanctum.

Inside was a neat and tidy room, everything cleaned up and ordered nicely. Her bed was made up with a pink sheet that had flower patterns, and on top of that was a large plush doll made in the likeness of Shirou. Sakura led Rin past the desk to the seat next to the window, magical fields preventing the heat from escaping through the glass portal.

[Elf]

Rin

Rin blinked and felt heat rise in her cheeks at Sakura asking rapid fire questions.  She ran a hand through her hair and answered, "He's Waver's teacher's assistant.  He's from either Northern England or Scotland.  His name's Roderick and he's alternatively very compassionate and very vindictive.  He also sort of stands out like a sore thumb there; he's not like the other magi at the Association."

She did grin and add, "And he has really pretty violet eyes and shoulders that are almost as broad as Archer's were."

Then she got a good look at Sakura's room, noting how pink it was, but then again it was Sakura's favorite color like Rin's was red.  However what caught Rin's attention was the giant plush of Emiya Shirou.  The raven haired magus swallowed as she slowly reached out and touched the plush.  "At least you're with him now.  Still, this is pretty adorable.  Needed something to snuggle with at night?" Rin was smiling though, her tone teasing despite the odd ode to Emiya Shirou before her.

[SINIB]

Sakura

“Mhmm” Sakura nodded affirmatively. “Night is scary without something to cuddle!” She told Rin as she walked over to her closet and retrieved a heavy blanket and a towel from the top shelf. “As broad as Archer, huh?” I wonder if she knew. . . “So, it’s been—a rather long time since I was home. . .” Sakura began sheepishly as she offered Rin the towel. “I don’t really remember who Waver is?” She said awkwardly.

[Arch-Magos Winter]

Emily

Emily watched with no small amount of dismay as Abigail, whether knowingly or not, continued to push Mordred's buttons in the worst way possible. Then Mordred's accusation of Abby being a Loyalist came about.

Loyalist? Well shit, we'd have been better off...wait...this place seems to draw people in from other dimensions...who's to say that this one is even from the same place as Mordred and I?

"Mordred," Emily interrupts firmly, "I'm fairly certain there's been a gap in understanding here. Chances are actually fairly good that Abby isn't quite like us. First off, she doesn't seem to have a Mask, unless pointy ears are part of it for some strange reason."

With that, the former Spring Queen turns to Abigail.

"And while you may not know it, pretty much everything you've said would've elicited much the same reaction from most Changelings where we're from. So that begs the question, do the terms Wyrd, Gentry, or Arcadia mean anything to you?"

Law had remained silent at the girls doing their thing out of fear of being drowned in a sea of estrogen if he tried to move the chatter away from the topic at hand, but this was... strange as hell.

So the lesbians want to crash with you. That sounds fun.

No it doesn't. I had a lesbian as a roommate once. She got more action than me and gloated about it.

Ouuuuuch.

Finally he cleared his throat. "Uh, gals? I think there's a better place to talk about this than infront of a changing room at Target. Like maybe my car. Or the parking lot."

[Elf]

Rin

Rin slid out of her coat and hung it on the door before taking the towel and blanket.

"I've always been nocturnal," Rin replied, "Its mornings that are scary for me."

“As broad as Archer, huh?” Sakura asked and Rin shrugged.

She replied, "Not quite, but close.  He's also fairly tall, which admittedly is a plus."  The conversation was a familiar one; her Sakura often asked about Roderick and if Rin had asked him out yet.  Rin knew she couldn't let two versions of the same unattainable man haunt her the rest of her life.  It was time for her to move on and find her own happiness, plus she wasn't getting any younger.  She had to pass her crest and knowledge onto the next generation of Tohsaka, and for her to do that she had to conceive a heir. 

"Waver is sort of my headmaster.  He looks like the lead of a Heavy Metal band who smokes bad cigars like a chimney and all the other girls want to get in bed with him.  He's a horrible magus so he teaches instead," Rin answered, "He also said I was a bad Japanese person because I don't play video games."

[Cherry Lover]

Sakura

Sakura calmed down somewhat on noticing the apologetic smile Irisviel had given her. It was obvious that Irisviel had not wanted to upset her and was unhappy that she had done so. And, she could understand that the issue Irisviel was dealing with needed to take priority right now. If she messed this up, she could end up forfeiting her very soul. And, whilst Togan had claimed he wanted nothing in return for the contract, his previous actions showed that he could not necessarily be trusted.

As a result, Sakura allowed Irisviel to negotiate the contract without interruption. She would, of course, intervene if she saw anything untoward occurring, she did not wish for Irisviel to forfeit her soul because she had failed to speak up, but aside from that she would say nothing.

Sakura listened as Irisviel discussed the details with the demon. Fortunately, she seemed to be on top of the potential issues, and treated the demon's claims of honestly with a healthy amount of scepticism, demanding that he serve her unconditionally, never harm her or anyone she cared for and never wilfully misinterpret her statements for his own gain. She did, however, give the demon a somewhat angry look when he started to berate Irisviel about not assuming he was honest. To her, that seemed like a perfectly fair thing to worry about, given the stakes if she got it wrong.

She continued to listen as the two discussed the situation, Togan accepting Irisviel's conditions without complaint, before Irisviel offered him her hand, allowing him to make the contract. He took the hand and bit down on it. Sakura winced but, to her surprise, Irisviel showed no signs of pain. Instead, she let out an orgasmic gasp.

Did she just cum? Sakura thought, barely supressing a chuckle. Well, I guess it's not unusual for magical contracts to have a sexual element to them....

Looking at the still-panting Irisviel, Sakura noticed a small red gem appearing at the location of the bite wound.

Hmm, odd..., she thought. Is that connected to the contract?

Togan explained the situation to Irisviel, telling her that the contract had not yet been completed, but merely set in motion. He did, however, suggest that Irisviel should rest, and also that she should eat, which was something Sakura could definitely get behind.

I'll have to be careful not to do anything to cause her stress right now, she thought, thinking back to what had happened previously.

Then, Togan suggested treating them to a banquet. Sakura, still very hungry, thought that sounded like a great idea.

"That sounds like a good idea to me, I'm starving", she said with a smile.

[Kat]

Richard Maxwell

Richard turned around and looked at the woman as if she was crazy. Shaking his head, he maintained his calm smiling pristine impeccable number one nexus city citizen face as smiling, pristine and impeccable as ever.

Well, if he had to choose between the crazy girl and the snotty buffoon, he’d take the cutsey redhead any day.

“How about no? Now, I healed your boy. That will be five hundred, cash only.” Said Richard. Then, without as much as a single movement, the water encasing the woman melted away as quickly as it froze.

Rikuyo

"He ain't my kid and I'm not gonna pay. How 'bout going easy on you? 'Coz ya know, you might get need help yourself if I overdo." She didn't have money anyway. Trying to hold back was a fair trade, and she felt like showing him she wasn't bluffing. She punched a hole in nearby car parked by somebody, the "magic litter's" metal surface crumbling like paper mache. "See? If you buy me clothes, I'll try to hold back even more against you two."

[Kotomine_Rin]

Richard Maxwell

Richard’s face grew pale as a ghost at the woman’s words. For what seemed to be an instant, he stopped smiling.

“You-“

The air grew very chilling, even colder than earlier. Richard winced and the snow surrounding him turned into water, liquid forming tentacles that squirmed and writhed around him.

“You asked for my generous services, and you tell me that you did it without the intention to pay?” he asked, his gleeful smile now gone as he gave the woman an aggravated look.

“I hear the organ trade is blooming lately. If you can’t fill my pockets with your money, fill them with your liver.”

Suddenly, as if he commanded it so, multiple spikes of ice were shot near the woman with incredible speed. Such an attack would have easily punched trough even an elephant, the ice now nicely encased into the ground.

Hopefully she would heed his sage warning and pay up.

[Kat]

Richard Maxwell

Richard’s face grew pale as a ghost at the woman’s words. For what seemed to be an instant, he stopped smiling.

“You-“

The air grew very chilling, even colder than earlier. Richard winced and the snow surrounding him turned into water, liquid forming tentacles that squirmed and writhed around him.

“You asked for my generous services, and you tell me that you did it without the intention to pay?” he asked, his gleeful smile now gone as he gave the woman an aggravated look.

“I hear the organ trade is blooming lately. If you can’t fill my pockets with your money, fill them with your liver.”

Suddenly, as if he commanded it so, multiple spikes of ice were shot near the woman with incredible speed. Such an attack would have easily punched trough even an elephant, the ice now nicely encased into the ground.

Hopefully she would heed his sage warning and pay up.

Rikuyo

"Whoa!"  she exclaimed as got surrounded by an ice cage made of ice spikes. She expected an attack, even prepared for the other man to strike at her, but to be fair she underestimated how fast those spikes were. The man made a mistake though. Unless he could shot spikes even faster, all she needed to do was to adjust her speed. He really should have aimed directly at her. He would have damaged her with at least one of them. "Something like that won't keep me down, you kappa!" she yelled, as smashed through ice, charging forward.

[yinsukin]

Roxas

"Wait! Rikuyo!  You cant just beat up the guy who healed me!"  Shouted Roxas.  He was getting a bit anxious with all the tension in the air.  The nobody also knew that the attack thrown at Rikuyo was not enough to slow her down.  He only hope that she heard his plea.

[SINIB]

Sakura

“Your headmaster, I see.” Sakura nodded, deep in through trying to recall old memories. “Ahh, now that you mention it, I think I do remember you talking about him on occasion. I remember you complaining about the video game thing back in the day; I think you tried to play them once but couldn’t figure out how to set it up...” Sakura reminisced about days bygone, from before she had been seized by the Nexus, with a nostalgic smile. “You never were good with technology, were you? But I don’t think that’s bad, necessarily. I think it’s cute!” Sakura sat down on the bed and gingerly wrapped her arms around the plush.

 “Nee san.” She softly addressed her sister. “I’m glad we can talk like this again-” Sakura tightened her grip on the plush as she began to tear up. “-I’ve really missed having the ability to have a conversation with you. sniff It’s been so hard—being here alone, without either of you. Without anyone but Caster. I-I know this is selfish, but I’m so glad you’re here now. I’m sorry, you don’t want to hear this, do you?” Sakura wiped away her tears, trying to maintain her composure.

[yinsukin]

Gorge Squad

The killer pirate went down, taken out by the sniper fire.  The men surrounding Lorenzo rushed to his body, hoping to make sure he was alive. With this much fire power, they could probably control the pirate, maybe get some information about the women and skeleton.  It was always his policy to gather as much information as possible.  Besides, in this city, one can never be too careful.

Still hiding in the shadows, Gorge signaled  two of the enforcers to move in on the downed pirate.  The first of the enforcers was an average looking man in his 20's.  He held a magic sub machine gun used to take down mages.  The higher the level of magic resistance the more damage this gun would do.  The second of the enforcers was a bit older and wore typical enforcer attire, a helmet, modern armor and carried an assault rifle.  However, this older enforcer had low level healing magic.    Gorge ordered the regular officers to go back up the other elite, who was trying to contain the girl and the soldier.

The enforcers were there the whole time, standing in front of the damaged car but were concealed by camouflage magic, courtesy of Gorge.  They approached the downed pirate after the magic around them was dissolved.  The older man knelt down next to Lorenzo and began muttering to himself, casting spells in an attempt to keep him alive.  The younger enforcer stood back in case something happened.  He was not particularly worried.

"You know I have to admit, that was pretty gutsy of you."  The younger man said hiding his respect behind a pompous tone.  "Still, I can't tell if your really brave or just really stupid."  He continued.

The older man continued to chant, attempting to slow down the death of this criminal.

[Panda]

Guts

The immediate obstacle, a group of police, took precedence over the danger posed by the snipers. Unfortunately for them, they chose to announce that they would shoot to kill as opposed to just going ahead and doing it. Then the sound of a round hitting flesh rang out and a quick look back confirmed that Lorenzo had taken shot through the back.

Four in front with some weird-ass shields, a few more in the back with more of those damned guns. Easy.

Suddenly, Guts dashed forwards, Dragonslayer up in front of him. Rounds pinged off the blade and glanced off his armor, but nothing managed to get through before he could close with them, setting Dragonslayer into motion. Their armor was useless against the blade as it smashed clean through the column, sending chunks of them flying away with the blood splatter before bringing the blade back around to take care of the commander.


Michael

The ice spikes sent hurtling towards the girl were clearly meant as a warning shot, but the girl seemed to take it as an honest attack, smashing through the spikes to charge towards the hydromancer even as the kid tried to dissuade her.

Her enthusiasm is admirable. Regardless...

The immortal lashed out, the staff flashing like lightning as it extended out to its twelve-foot form, the hook on the end catching the girl's ankle before Michael sharply tugged, trying to pull her off balance.