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

[SINIB]

Sakura

“Don’t worry about Rider! Rider’s not going to do anything, I promise!” Sakura earnestly said. “Now go, stop dilly dallying!” Sakura shooed her big sister along, she didn’t want her getting sick on her account.

[Elf]

Rin

"Fine, fine," Rin said with a laugh as she headed to the bathroom, being pushed by Sakura.  "Honestly, I'm looking forward to it, and when I get out we can talk some more.  I promise."

[SINIB]

Sakura

"I feel the same way, I'm looking forward to it." She said. "Now gooo, Neee-Saaan!" Sakura greatly exaggerated her vowels for effect. "And about you borrowing money—no, you can't borrow money! Of course not! I'm buying you it as a gift, I haven't given you anything in three years, you know that? We'll get you whatever you want."

[Elf]

Rin

Rin blinked at Sakura's decree and said, "Sakura, you really don't have to do that.  Money's important and you shouldn't just go spend it so freely.  Please don't.  I can pay you back, I promise . . ."

Her stomach knotted ever so slightly at the thought of Sakura buying things for her so freely; especially since she'd never really been in a position to give Sakura anything other than the pink ribbon she always wore.

[SINIB]

Sakura

"Nu-uh! I insist, Nee-San! If there's one thing I'm not lacking for, it's money! This will be my treat, no objections shall be allowed!" Sakura proclaimed.

[Elf]

Rin

"How?  How can you lack for money?  Did your assets from the Matou house come with you here or what?" Rin asked with a frown, not overly happy at the financial state of her own gains.

[Cherry Lover]

Rider

Rider rolled her eyes at Faust's pathetic efforts at insulting her competence. Judging by how long he had taken, it seemed unlikely that Faust had had to deal with any significant threat to save Vanguard, and it was hardly like picking up a disembodied head and flying away with it was a task that required much competence.

However, before she could give any sort of reply, Faust suddenly stopped mid-speech, before informing Shirou, who had asked him questions about his connection to Sakura, that he had another “errand” to take care of, placing Vanguard's head down on the table and turning to leave.

What the hell? she thought.

“What is it this time? Another highly dangerous rescue mission?” she asked, mockingly.

Then, Vanguard spoke, rambling on in rather odd language about how this was obviously Shirou, and his arrival was a cause for celebration.

Well, I certainly can't disagree with that, she thought.

“Sakura's sister is here too. Hopefully, Sakura will be a lot happier now she has her family”, she said.

[YOLF]

Sarse

"Yup, I'm without a yen since I splurged what I had on me on pachinko parlors, and then woke up here with a headache.  In worst case, I'll become a cardbox god. Eh, I guess I will manage one night or two as a one, that's still better than being a toilet god."

Sarse started with a slight scowl, "That seems a bit..." Strange choice of words aside, he didn't doubt the fact Gintoki could handle himself (probably), but he felt a bit sorry the man was so easily pondering things in those terms. "Well, if you don't mind -"

Noise.

The scowl turned into a frown as Sarse shook his head. There was a sudden disturbance far away, roiling like waves across the world. The seraphim cast his gaze into the distance as he sensed it, and the sharp contrast it made against what would simply be a influx of power. No, it was more than that, it was -

His train of thought was interrupted as the noise became a scream.

The whole of the Symphony of the Nexus shook. Like a tsunami rising over an beach filled with people, only to fall and silence their shouts with the rage of nature. Sarse's celestial soul itself was deafened and for a moment, only a deep, existential screech echoed in his mind, blanking out any other sound. Sarse clutched the sides of his head, feeling it would rip open, with his expression furrowed in extreme discomfort. Even as the shrill noise diminished, it lingered, and he trembled, seized by panic.

The angel physically stumbled in attempting to right himself, and mouthed off a 'sorry' to Gintoki as he turned heel towards his vehicle.

"Sanel! We're going!" he called out as he got up on the bike.

[SINIB]

Sepulchure

Sepulchure watched as the brilliant blast of overcharged mana came streaking at the cup he so desired. He would be able to deflect the attack fairly simply, but. . . If something was weak enough to get destroyed by something of this small magnitude, it was not worth his time. So, he let it stay true to its course, and it exploded with the brilliance of a star, utterly eviscerating the cup. He sighed when he saw the aftermath: The person who’d owned it was gone, disintegrated instantly by the massive explosion of mana, and the cup lay in ruins, spewing out the corruption that had been leaking from the start, and a foolish little vampire came flying in, apparently attempting to help the other maggots who had been running around. His elementals simultaneously began throwing volleys of darkness at her, attempting to destroy the intruder.

Sepulchure watched as--something--something incredible--came forth from the wreakage of the cup. It was a tall--man? A tall man wrapped in the blackness that had burst forth from the cup, emenating truely unspeakable power. Incomprehensible to anyone, even Sepulchure himself was a mere babe compared to this being. And so, he watched, he stared at this monstrosity that had come forth.

[Kat]

Sarse started with a slight scowl, "That seems a bit..." Strange choice of words aside, he didn't doubt the fact Gintoki could handle himself (probably), but he felt a bit sorry the man was so easily pondering things in those terms. "Well, if you don't mind -"

Noise.

The scowl turned into a frown as Sarse shook his head. There was a sudden disturbance far away, roiling like waves across the world. The seraphim cast his gaze into the distance as he sensed it, and the sharp contrast it made against what would simply be a influx of power. No, it was more than that, it was -

His train of thought was interrupted as the noise became a scream.

The whole of the Symphony of the Nexus shook. Like a tsunami rising over an beach filled with people, only to fall and silence their shouts with the rage of nature. Sarse's celestial soul itself was deafened and for a moment, only a deep, existential screech echoed in his mind, blanking out any other sound. Sarse clutched the sides of his head, feeling it would rip open, with his expression furrowed in extreme discomfort. Even as the shrill noise diminished, it lingered, and he trembled, seized by panic.

The angel physically stumbled in attempting to right himself, and mouthed off a 'sorry' to Gintoki as he turned heel towards his vehicle.

"Sanel! We're going!" he called out as he got up on the bike.

Gintoki

"Uh, are you okay? You don't look like a guy who should drive around!" he said with concern in his voice. Sarse looked as if someone metaphorically hit him with the hammer in a head. That's why the silver haired man protested when Sarse got up on the bike, sooner ambulance should take him to see if something didn't happen to his body rather than he should drive in distraught state.

Rikuyo

Before the girl could answer her companions, she stopped, overwhelmed even by more potent sensation that she felt from the Chalice. All was lost, or she thought. The jumbled memories flowed into her mind stronger than ever, in reaction to the Prisoner's release.

Something was off. It was not the same one. Then why she still felt like rushing there foolishly? It was not her sin. It was not hers. It wasn't. Then why she felt so weak, her soul bare, why she saw blood?

Anyone who could see her saw a trembling and sobbing girl, gazing at her hands as if they were soaked in something.

[MissingMandible]

Corporal Mathew Blackburn:

'Get the helmet off' was all Mathew could think, claustrophobia taking over his hazy mind, 'Get it off!'

The man's ears were still ringing when the helm was yanked off. The Dragoon was panicking; like a man half-asleep under fire, he wasn't able to form a single cohesive thought for a few moments. Eventually, the dust settled and his mind became clear again. So that's what it is like to be shot by a Baneblade...

Groaning, Blackburn sat up, feeling like he was trampled by a grox. The wetness around the ears he was feeling earli-yep, that was blood. It was blood. Shit. Then Mathew cursed once as he remembered the situation he was in, pulling his Volleygun by the cord until it was in his hands. He aimed down to where the explosion took place.

Then he saw it.

It was...being, more of a silhouette, standing where the woman-in-black and the two warriors use to be. The most primal part of the back of his mind was screaming at him to get as far away as possible from it. And he listened; The Dragoon gave into his cowardice and advanced (Stumbled) in the opposite direction, snatching up the Dragoon Helm as he went by. "Shit! Shit! Shit!"

[Panda]

Seras

As Seras approached the group, these strange creatures from below her started chucking some kind of black matter at her in a literal wall of blackness. Gritting her teeth, the vampire gave up on maneuvering and flew straight towards the wall, turning around mid-air to try to kick straight through the wall. As expected, it didn't go as planned. The black matter burned first through her boots, then into her flesh. Fortunately, she was moving fast enough that she cleared the wall with only the flesh blasted from her legs below the knees.

Seras ignored the wounds as she dived towards the survivors, tendrils snatching them up and bringing them close. Her flight speed seemingly unaffected by the additional weight, the vampire banked around, trying to get these two out of the area with all possible haste.

[Lycodrake]

Than'Sanel

Sarse was reacting to something Than'Sanel couldn't sense. He and Sarse hadn't discussed their supernatural senses, but the Boros-colored being's reaction had told the half-elf what he needed to know. Something, on a frequency he didn't know but Sarse did, was wrong, in a similar way to the bronze entity, from the way Sarse reacted similarly to the half-elf's own response to that entity.

He barked a quick "Right!" to Sarse's call. If something was happening that had shocked Sarse so much, the stranded Planeswalker would do what he could to help. Selesnyan values tempered by times amongst elementals and Abzan made this an inescapable thing: to help an ally, a friend.

Gintoki's comment irked him somewhat. "I doubt Sarse needs medical attention - he needs to check on some disturbance, and I'm following. Do as you will."

[YOLF]

Sarse

Sarse turned back to Gintoki with a hard expression, speaking in a level tone despite his thoughts at the moment. "I'm fine. But something isn't, and I need to know what."

With a celestial whisper, he revved the engine of the motorbike to life, and upon Sanel getting on he turned it around to the direction of the great disturbance. With a final look at the strange but agreeable man before he left, he simply said, "Good luck Gin."

Then, he and Than'Sanel sped away, kicking up gravel with the sudden acceleration of the bike. No time to care about urban speed limits.

[SINIB]

Sakura

“Caster is very good with money, Nee-San. He a really good person, you know? I hope you’ll be able to get along with him, he doesn’t seem to be doing so well with Rider. Maybe if she was more quiet, like I remembered her...” She lamented.