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

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanny and Kenny

Vanguard nodded to Sakura’s command, unwilling to bother with a response to the girl’s idiotic boasts. Instead he slowly walked up to her and laid his hand on her shoulder. Chillingly so.

“Could you keep your mindless rambling to yourself, little girl? While I suppose it might be difficult for the likes of you, please do try to exert a little effort and think before opening that mouth of yours. That is, if what little brain matter you have left hasn’t rotten away along with that body of yours.”

At the same time, Kenzo glared at the armored man, gripping his gigantic metal arm.

“Quit that, buddy.” He growled, a slight red glow blazing in his eyes as he bared his fangs to the wanker. The wanker, on the other hand, didn’t even bother to turn his head and face him.

“Oho, isn’t it surprising. Two imbeciles taking a liking to each-other it seems... quite the couple I must say. Well, I’ll let you go now. I really don’t like violence and I honestly rather not pick a fight here.”

Liar… Thought the demon as he glared at the armor before rushing to Fore, laying a hand on her shoulder. Luckily, the demon didn't want to pick a fight. At least not there and then.

“Are you alright, pal?” He asked with a tone full of concern.


Hyoudo Tenma

Tenma wiped her face before taking a deep breath.

"It's simple, really..." She said with a shaky voice, her hand trembling as she opened her backpack to take out a weapon of sorts. A gun, or at least looked like one. She shot the ceiling behind her and the floor, the second shot aimed completely vertically from the initial shot. Suddenly, two holes opened up where she had fired her weapon, holes that somehow led to one another.

"We find the bitch ass shitfuck responsible for this..."

Then, she grabbed one of her C.A.Ts and tossed him in one of the portals. The poor robot was now endlessly falling in a loop, gaining more and more speed by the second. It didn't take long for it to reach terminal velocity. Then, Tenma grinned, the hugest bloodlusty grin one could muster, and fired her P.H.D on the wall behind them. While the portal in the ceiling vanished immediately, it was replaced just as quickly by another one where she had fired her gun. And the robot was now, for a lack of a better term, shooting straight like a comet at the metal wall in front of them.

"...AND BLOW THE FUCKER TO KINGDOM COME!!" She roared, her grip tightening as she braced herself for the explosion.

"Weeee! Glorious freedom, I'm FLYYYING!!" Squeed the little robot. Good luck, C.A.T. Follow your dreams.

( o7 )

[Kat]

Saber

Saber winched and replied, "No, he is actually a close friend of mine and a previous knight of mine.  You remind him of an old enemy; which is no fault of yours, but he is  . . . unbalanced."

She sighed before eating a fry and taking a sip of soda through the straw.  "He was the man I was carrying out earlier.  That is why I wanted to make sure he was secure before speaking to you.  Do you mind telling me what happened?"

Mordred

Mordred found Saber's penchant for picking shady "friends" a questionable behavior. A blood sucking corpse and a psycho knight. Jesus Christ. She could do little about the latter, but she would investigate the former once she gained position among Elites, undermine her position withing the society and strike without compromising her own position in Elites. That was the price of acquiring a badge, she had to be patient and subtle.

"I fought him, defending myself, and even wounded him in spite of all odds. " She didn't mean to boast about it, just stated facts. She wouldn't want to ever run into that person again. "With a help of a certain mage, I was able to hold my own against him even if he still had an upper hand. Then I got away, wounded."

Then, Mordred finally realized it's bright outside. "Oh, fuck, it's dawn already?" They must have not realized how much time had passed.

[Emperor's Hammer]

Victoria Ashworth

"My relatives are doctors in the relevant field. Picked up from them the knowledge how to recognize it" She said in a hushed tone.

The girl seemed to be playing along with my ruse to fool anyone who might be listening, and replied in kind. Before I had a chance to reply, however, she sent back a text to my phone, which beeped at me and I looked at her message.

I do not mind a chat, but let us meet later, outside Emporium

After reading the text, I quickly replied to her text saying with the following:

Very well then, if you have a place in mind let me know and I will go with you. If we are going now, however, we would need to direct the conversation to make it seem natural or meet up again later.

Hitting send, I began to reply to her verbally, in order to maintain the facade, "Sorry about that, my phone went off, and it was something rather important, so I might be continuing to interrupt our conversation to reply. I do apologize, and I would normally never do something like that, however this is rather urgent," I said with a false apology, good enough to convince anyone watching. "And that is rather interesting, my father was not as much into medicine and science as he was into the occult. Its also why I choose to dress like this, he was rather old fashioned so I grew up wearing clothing like this and I took a liking to it," I continued, trying to keep the conversation going to fool any Kine around.

"By any chance are you familiar with the different OS types they have here? They seem relatively similar to my world, though they are a bit more advanced, I was going to go with the best windows they have here, as it probably is the best for data processing, but I am also considering Linux as I am familiar enough with computers to use it, and I am building my own computer, I might as well customize my own OS," I said, gesturing to the assorted computer parts I had in a large basket that I had gotten from the store.

After that, I waited for a reply to my text, and to see if the girl might have some relevant information on the OSes here.

[Thedoctor]

Shinobu

Finding whoever had done this was of course high on Shinobu's priority list, however that didn't mean you should just throw all caution to the wind. Except that was the brilliant plan crafted by the mad scientist Tenma. She seemed to be a follower of the school of explosions solve everything, to be fair Shinobu had a a tendency to follow that school as well, but that's different, it's only okay when she does it!

Just as Tenma created the final portal she decided to speak. "If you get us all killed. I'll kill you again somehow" She threatened with a chilly voice.

[Kat]

After reading the text, I quickly replied to her text saying with the following:

Very well then, if you have a place in mind let me know and I will go with you. If we are going now, however, we would need to direct the conversation to make it seem natural or meet up again later.

Hitting send, I began to reply to her verbally, in order to maintain the facade, "Sorry about that, my phone went off, and it was something rather important, so I might be continuing to interrupt our conversation to reply. I do apologize, and I would normally never do something like that, however this is rather urgent," I said with a false apology, good enough to convince anyone watching. "And that is rather interesting, my father was not as much into medicine and science as he was into the occult. Its also why I choose to dress like this, he was rather old fashioned so I grew up wearing clothing like this and I took a liking to it," I continued, trying to keep the conversation going to fool any Kine around.

"By any chance are you familiar with the different OS types they have here? They seem relatively similar to my world, though they are a bit more advanced, I was going to go with the best windows they have here, as it probably is the best for data processing, but I am also considering Linux as I am familiar enough with computers to use it, and I am building my own computer, I might as well customize my own OS," I said, gesturing to the assorted computer parts I had in a large basket that I had gotten from the store.

After that, I waited for a reply to my text, and to see if the girl might have some relevant information on the OSes here.

"I usually go for two operating systems and boot whichever suits my needs at given moment" Noriko replied, seemingly chatting with the girl and typing the reply without looking at the phone. Her memory was pretty much eidetic. We can sit by that bench near the fountain outside the store. I shall veil us two so the crowd does not notice us and steers away That would not deter her pet though, but that is what she wanted.

[Emperor's Hammer]

Victoria Ashworth

"I usually go for two operating systems and boot whichever suits my needs at given moment"  We can sit by that bench near the fountain outside the store. I shall veil us two so the crowd does not notice us and steers away That would not deter her pet though, but that is what she wanted.

Thinking to myself about what she said, I picked up both the Linux disk and the best windows disk and put them in my basket. That definitely was a good idea, it would work fairly well. Before replying to her verbally, I sent her a quick text message, saying the following:

Very well then, I will go pay for the merchandise that I have gathered for my computer, and I will meet you out there in about five minutes.

With that said, I replied verbally, saying "Ah, that definitely seems like the wisest course of action. I will do that. Thanks for your help, I have to go pay now." With that, I turned away from the girl and headed over to the counter to pay, as everything that could be said in earshot of Kine had been said.

Making my way over to the counter, a bleary eyed teenage girl eyed me and then the merchandise I had, before shrugging and starting to ring it all up, probably figuring that if I didn't have the money and it had to be put back, it would just give her something to kill time. I wasn't too keen about being treated like a child, but I had to at least put up with it around Kine. After all, it did give me a bit of a pass a lot of times since people tended to not pay children much notice, especially when I traveled with retainers, they just assumed I was their child or something.

With everything rang up, I produced enough cash from the wad I had summoned earlier to pay for it, and the teen's eyes bulged a little bit before accepting it and trying to give me my change, which I just waved off. Now that the five minutes had passed, I made my way over to the appointed area, looking to see if the mage had already reached the area.

[Kat]

Noriko

The Mage waited already on the bench, prepared to cast a spell that would shield them from unwanted attention of sleepers. "That technology controlling trick was pretty interesting" she said, no longer restrained as mundanes couldn't even register them and veered off from the bench. " A quirk of your existence, or some sort of occult powers?"

[Emperor's Hammer]

Victoria Ashworth

As I approached the bench, I found the girl there who had been at the shop, and after approaching the bench and sitting down, she seemingly cast a spell and the people around began to seem like they could not notice us at all. Such was the power of magic, after all. I would have to see if I could replicate some of it with the proper thaumaturgical principles, perhaps a ritual? It likely didn't fall under any path at the moment, but there was nothing saying we could not replicate it however.

It seemed, however, that the girl was less familiar with my kind than I was with hers, as she did not know about Thaumaturgy. Perhaps she was only from a world similar to mine? That could be an explanation, or perhaps she was just not too familiar with vampires. Either way, it really didn't matter. Just something to ponder. However, the way she called it a trick was a tiny bit irritating, though it seemed she was just uneducated rather than dismissive, so I would let it slide, and simply educate her. After all, from what little I had seen of her aura colors, she was quite an inquisitive person.

Deciding to speak freely now that mundanes were no longer listening, I began to speak, "It was more of the latter, really. Though it could be said to be a bit of both. What I had used is called Thaumaturgy, or perhaps Blood Sorcery would be a more familiar term for you. Specifically, I used a bit of Technomancy, which is one of several types of Thaumaturgy I am familiar with," I said, answering the girl's question. "Now that we are now out of the earshot of mortals, I believe introductions are in order. I am Victoria Ashworth, High Regent of the London Chantry and Elder Vampire of Clan Tremere. What would your name be, young mage?" I was rather curious about her, as mages were a bit of an interesting subject for research among my clan, especially since our founder, and many of the eldest of our clan were once mages themselves.

With my piece said, I simply waited for the girl's response and pondered what kind of magic she might be able to use. It seemed she was at least familiar with mind and possibly life or entropy, as she was able to detect that I was not living.

[LFR Tsar]

She was most surprised when the man, whom moments ago Sibyl had thought a weakling, had managed to display strengths well beyond what a normal man can manage, at least not without some serious bulk similar to a gorilla or a Brujah, which the Albino lacked, had chucked her through the air with ease that betrayed a hidden might in Gintoki. With a sudden yelp to being (wo)manhandled like a sack of potatoes, the vampire found herself sailing through air and into incoming traffic, as sparse as it were, navigating the roads by the alley. Normally that would not be a problem in itself, were it not for something that immediately took all the colours out of Lowell’s face (as if that was possible, with an already pasty pale countenance she has), and that were the sight of a blazing ball also known as the sun overlooking the skies. An artificial sun, a fact she does not know nor realize.

Oddly, it didn’t burn her. Her last thoughts were mostly about an imminent demise that never came from being immolated alive, but…

“OH BUGGE—“ Her words were drowned out by the sound of impact, the cracking of window, a swerving car which crashed into her flying body, and a cursing vampiress who found her butt wedged and locked into place by the glass panel which buckled inwards unto the driver’s seat, already barely holding her weight, only for yet ANOTHER impact that greeted her. A u-shaped cleft formed against the car’s front, as a light pole drove into its front, with the woman herself feeling her skull ram towards the pole, momentum stopped from any further flight thanks to said pole, and she herself feeling her blood run past the new gash forming on her temple as her body itself crashed into the pole.

The driver’s himself was smothered in an air bag, and the only other car that was going through said sparse trafficking had found itself swerving out of the way earlier and into a nearby shop. That shop just so happened to be a cabbage shop.

Sibyl moaned in pain, too numbed to agony to notice or care about said sun at the moment.

[Kat]

Deciding to speak freely now that mundanes were no longer listening, I began to speak, "It was more of the latter, really. Though it could be said to be a bit of both. What I had used is called Thaumaturgy, or perhaps Blood Sorcery would be a more familiar term for you. Specifically, I used a bit of Technomancy, which is one of several types of Thaumaturgy I am familiar with," I said, answering the girl's question. "Now that we are now out of the earshot of mortals, I believe introductions are in order. I am Victoria Ashworth, High Regent of the London Chantry and Elder Vampire of Clan Tremere. What would your name be, young mage?" I was rather curious about her, as mages were a bit of an interesting subject for research among my clan, especially since our founder, and many of the eldest of our clan were once mages themselves.

With my piece said, I simply waited for the girl's response and pondered what kind of magic she might be able to use. It seemed she was at least familiar with mind and possibly life or entropy, as she was able to detect that I was not living.

Tremere. That name was too familiar for anyone Awakened, especially those that were Obrimos. Souldrinkers, renegade Awakened who sustained their lifespan on stolen souls. This one, however, was merely one of Kindred, lacking the spark that made Awakened so close to the reality of the world. Her young looks didn't make her suspect she was actually a former Awakened one. Maybe her sire gave up on his powers and chose such path to immortality? She personally would sooner go a left handed than abandon her Awakened powers without extreme reason, even if she made a pact with her path.

Just to be safe, she didn't reveal her true name to her: "I'm Gudrun Solberg. I actually heard rumors about blood sorcery, but my knowledge about it scratches only surface.", she replied, this time honestly. Vampires didn't share secrets too easily after all. She wondered why this one was so open in comparison. Maybe there was a slight chance they weren't from the same world, or that their worlds diverged at some point.

[Emperor's Hammer]

"I'm Gudrun Solberg. I actually heard rumors about blood sorcery, but my knowledge about it scratches only surface."

My hunch was correct, the girl did indeed lack knowledge about Thaumaturgy, and thus likely had never heard of Clan Tremere as well. That would explain why she had no clue as to how I had done what I did with her phone. Interesting, perhaps I ought to offer to enlighten her. After all, it wouldn't hurt to share a bit of knowledge with someone who may very well turn out to be a potential recruit, though I doubt it would be under ideal circumstances. After all, a mage loses their powers when they are turned. I had figured that one out for myself after I had turned Sibyl. She likely would not accept, at least unless it was an emergency. After all, I wouldn't if I was in their shoes. The power of the awakened was indeed far more flexible than Thaumaturgy, after all.

Decided on what I would say, I began to speak to the girl in front of me, "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Gudrun. You likely are not familiar with my clan, which is rather strange sicne you know of vampires, if you do not know of Thaumaturgy. After all, we are a pillar of the Camarilla, and have been practicing it for longer than I have been undead by a good two hundred years, so about a millennium," I said, giving her a brief summary of my clan. Then, I tipped my hand a bit to show her what I was angling at, "If, perhaps, you could tell me a bit about your magic, I would be more than willing to teach you a thing or two about Thaumaturgy. After all, I could hardly ask you to divulge your craft without offering something in return. Of course, we would have to further negotiate, but I am definitely curious about your magic," I finished, showing my keen interest in her.

After all, it was not often that one got to learn a bit about mages, especially one that may be from a slightly shifted parallel world than mine. Perhaps her powers worked differently from Sibyls when she was alive. It would be interesting to find out, so I was willing to take the risk of sharing a thing or two about thaumaturgy with this woman. Of course, she would be sworn to secrecy about it.

With that said, I simply waited for the girl's response, wondering how she would take it.

[Knick]

Viper’s Den

The mechanical thing flew at the metal door as incredible speeds. Like a bullet it flew forward , intend on blasting though the tough door and wall of the structure.

And it should. That is, if it was not for a singular fact. This structure, in its proximity to the source, has since been infused with the truth of humanity itself. Again and again the truth had flowed into all the structures around, all the earth, all the metal. So densely, so completely.

And this density of the Truth make it so one thing is certain. It makes it so only things that carry that Truth can deform it.

And so, the metal monstrosity, of steel, copper, gold and other metels, struck against the wall and with it the payload it carried detonated. The shock-wave ripped out, and traveled down the hallway, blowing past the people standing within, the sound of the detonation no doubt causing them pain.

But yet, as the smoke and flame cleared, what stood would shock them.

And it could still be seen that the door stood, with nothing but the smallest scuffs.

[Panda]

Seras

Unknown to at least one of them, the vampire was still watching. Still out of sight, Seras was listening in on the conversation from within the store, still within the range of her senses. Most of the conversation went straight over her head, the whirlwind of jargon making no sense to the vampire whatsoever. Ignoring it to keep from over-heating, Seras noted that there was one thing that kept coming up. Apparently this little girl was...an Elder Vampire?

You're kidding me. ...What is even the difference between a proper Vampire and a...doesn't really matter, I suppose. A bit odd that she's even older than Master...could she possibly be even more powerful?

Shuddering at that thought, Seras continued to listen in, picking out phrases that actually made sense amidst all the jargon. Apparently, she was some kind of...techno-mage? The concept was a strange one to Seras, but considering what she'd seen lately, the impossible couldn't really be considered a thing around here.

The conversation continued on with nothing making much sense. Stuff about blood sorcery and other assorted- wait what? What was that about teaching her?

A tiny bit worried now, Seras listened in closer, curious about where things would go from here.

[Kat]

Gintoki

Gintoki didn't care much about what has happened. He ran, ran, ran. Away from the stinky walking corpse. Towards one of the suns. It was why he left that cozy apartment. Anyone putting friggin' suns at night sky deserved punishment for such travesty. The moon would rise again. And only death would stop Gintoki from reclaiming the night.

My hunch was correct, the girl did indeed lack knowledge about Thaumaturgy, and thus likely had never heard of Clan Tremere as well. That would explain why she had no clue as to how I had done what I did with her phone. Interesting, perhaps I ought to offer to enlighten her. After all, it wouldn't hurt to share a bit of knowledge with someone who may very well turn out to be a potential recruit, though I doubt it would be under ideal circumstances. After all, a mage loses their powers when they are turned. I had figured that one out for myself after I had turned Sibyl. She likely would not accept, at least unless it was an emergency. After all, I wouldn't if I was in their shoes. The power of the awakened was indeed far more flexible than Thaumaturgy, after all.

Decided on what I would say, I began to speak to the girl in front of me, "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Gudrun. You likely are not familiar with my clan, which is rather strange sicne you know of vampires, if you do not know of Thaumaturgy. After all, we are a pillar of the Camarilla, and have been practicing it for longer than I have been undead by a good two hundred years, so about a millennium," I said, giving her a brief summary of my clan. Then, I tipped my hand a bit to show her what I was angling at, "If, perhaps, you could tell me a bit about your magic, I would be more than willing to teach you a thing or two about Thaumaturgy. After all, I could hardly ask you to divulge your craft without offering something in return. Of course, we would have to further negotiate, but I am definitely curious about your magic," I finished, showing my keen interest in her.

After all, it was not often that one got to learn a bit about mages, especially one that may be from a slightly shifted parallel world than mine. Perhaps her powers worked differently from Sibyls when she was alive. It would be interesting to find out, so I was willing to take the risk of sharing a thing or two about thaumaturgy with this woman. Of course, she would be sworn to secrecy about it.

With that said, I simply waited for the girl's response, wondering how she would take it.

Camarilla? She first heard about that word. The woman implied that as a Mage she should know about Thaumaturgy, as well as about this Camarilla thing. Vampires sharing so openly their secrets with members of Pentacle and Free Council? This was really surreal. Her claim about age filled her with mild skepticism. She knew something about the fact that vampiric memories got muddled with each case of what was called a torpor. A vampire could as well believe it was older or younger that it really was without being aware of their own falsehood.

Still, she indulged a bit curiosity of the vampire, without going into too much details " I'm a Nordic necromancer. Know Havamal? '– if up in a tree – I see a corpse hanging high, – the mighty runes – I write and color – make the man come down – to talk with me.' " she recited a stanza the poem containing wisdom of Odin, the god who was the patron of Nordic magic, among many things.   

[Emperor's Hammer]

Victoria Ashworth

" I'm a Nordic necromancer. Know Havamal? '– if up in a tree – I see a corpse hanging high, – the mighty runes – I write and color – make the man come down – to talk with me.' "

It seemed that the girl was a necromancer of all things, which explained why she was able to tell I was a vampire so quickly. It was a weak point of mine, and of Thaumaturgy in general. Necromancy was more the specialization of the Giovanni after all. Though, this could be an opportunity to perhaps start encroaching into their territory. Though it seemed to me that the girl was not being totally forthright with me, after all she was an Awakened, what need did she have for a specific form of Sorcery, such as an old nordic system? I decided that I would ask her about that, and see if I could not confirm that she was indeed from another world.

"I do apologize, but I am rather unfamiliar with Necromancy, that is the purview of the Giovanni, not we the Tremere. However, one thing about what you said puzzles me, Gudrun. As far as I am aware, Awakened have no need for the trappings of ancient sorceries, such as runes and the like, for the most part. From what I heard from my childe, who once was a mage, they only used them to focus their will when they were inexperienced, or when it was a particularly difficult magic.  In the end, I was under the impression that it was the fact that mages could bend the world with their will alone that brought their magic about. Is that not the case for you?" I asked, testing her to see if my hypothesis was correct.