Cross Effects 3.0 - October 21, 2015—June 23, 2016

[Cherry Lover]

Rider

Rider smiled as she followed Sakura and Shirou down the stairs, glad to see her so happy and excited for the trip. However, as they reached the bottom of the stairs, they met Rin and Archer waiting for them. Rider could tell that Shirou was wary of the other servant, attempting an awkward bow as he greeted him politely, and Sakura evidentially also noticed it.

As Shirou addressed Archer, Rider noticed a momentary flash of anger over Archer's face, causing her to tense up in case she was forced to defend her master's beloved. Her discomfort increased as she noticed Sakura pull her lover behind her reflexively and she stepped forward protectively, taking a place next to and slightly in front of her master, ready to attack if ordered or if Archer made any sudden moves. Fortunately, though, the other servant's anger quickly disipated and, instead of attacking, he bowed and responded to the greeting in kind, his expression unreadable. Letting out a sigh of relief, Rider relaxed a little, however, she could tell that her master was still rather on-edge.

Sakura, clearly uncomfortable with Archer, instead addressed her sister, informing her that they were going out and why. Meanwhile, Rider had a thought.

Wait, I need a phone that works here, so I can contact my former master and make sure she is OK, she thought. 

Seeing no need to add anything to Sakura and Rin's discussion, and not wanting to address Archer in front of Sakura, she instead turned to her master.

"Sakura, when we are out, I need to find a new phone, or a SIM card for my current phone", she said, taking the futuristic smartphone out of her pocket. "My current phone doesn't work here...."

[Umbra of Chaos]

Erica

Her eyes returned to normal and she stared at Garou for a moment. Humans were remarkably confusing creatures. This one in particular had managed to switch between moods at random times. However, the construct felt that she had learned something as the press of the Mantle slowly began to become lighted as the Claws pulled back. "That sounds like a very human thing to say. I remain unconvinced that you are a monster, but even if it was not the answer I was searching for it was an answer. Leave."


Urthemiel

Throughout the song the Old Gods face did not move at all. It was as unmoving as stone as she observed Darcy play and reevaluated her opinion of him. While he was a fool there was no doubting that he was a talented one. A jester perhaps. Nevertheless, it was quickly made apparent that he had no small amount of talent. That simply meant that she had to show him how utterly outclassed he was. It would be rather refreshing. Really, it had been too long since she experimented with another instrument. With that line of thought cemented an almost pleasant smile began to appear on her face as the song began to end.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Erica

Her eyes returned to normal and she stared at Garou for a moment. Humans were remarkably confusing creatures. This one in particular had managed to switch between moods at random times. However, the construct felt that she had learned something as the press of the Mantle slowly began to become lighted as the Claws pulled back. "That sounds like a very human thing to say. I remain unconvinced that you are a monster, but even if it was not the answer I was searching for it was an answer. Leave."


Urthemiel

Throughout the song the Old Gods face did not move at all. It was as unmoving as stone as she observed Darcy play and reevaluated her opinion of him. While he was a fool there was no doubting that he was a talented one. A jester perhaps. Nevertheless, it was quickly made apparent that he had no small amount of talent. That simply meant that she had to show him how utterly outclassed he was. It would be rather refreshing. Really, it had been too long since she experimented with another instrument. With that line of thought cemented an almost pleasant smile began to appear on her face as the song began to end.

Garou XIII

Garou scowled as the girl finally let go and put his hand in his pocket, pulling out 3 10$ bills and slamming them on the table before turning around and leaving abruptly.

"Yeah, whatever. Get lost you crazy fuckhead."

And as he walked away, he clutched at his chest. For a second, he felt something he ignored since long ago and chuckled before looking on sadly. He didn't think it would hurt this much.

"Ya probably didn't like me anyway." He mumbled halfheartedly, subconsciously, before disappearing in the distance.


Darcy Hugh

-after the performance-

Darcy stood triumphantly kneeling on the ground, having just finished a 6:66 long guitar solo. His whole body was filled with sweat, blood trickled from his hands, and somehow his shirt was gone. His fly was also open, but that was not surprising. After all, i t was open all along and if tere was a word to describe this performance, it was crazy.

I mean, to play a whole song with only 3 strings is one thing, but to even spat fire at some point... he was really milking the whole dragon thing.

"Thank you everyone. Thank you."

[Kat]

Forest pulled out her magnum, aimed at the ground between new girl and Rikuyo and fired.  "Okay, you primitive screw heads, this is my boomstick!"

Rikuyo

Rikuyo didn't even flinch. It was kinda amusing that this walking corpse thought that she would give a shit about a gun. She was now fast, fast enough that bullets were a mild distraction at best her. But she really didn't have a spine. She didn't even try to shoot her after all. "Scram, the battlefield isn't for half hearted fools like ya. Waving around a tagenashima won't stop me." She gestured dismissively in her while focusing on Michael's counterattack. She didn't even bother to look into her eyes, nonchalantly focusing on her foe.

Electricity crackled around her clenched first, confronting Michael's attack head on. She planned to evade the tree at a right time, and unleash a fury of heaven, striking down the immortal.

[SINIB]

Shirou Emiya

Shirou glared at Archer and frowned. He was less than pleased with this turn of events, to say the least. He was not ok with him staying here. He thought he should have some say in these things, considering they were now engaged, but he had a suspicion Sakura would not take a request to throw Archer out without cause well. He glanced at the ring on Sakura’s finger and smiled.

At least some things were going well today.

He looked back up at Archer as he addressed him with some vague trite about him still protecting Sakura. “Yes, I am, Archer.” He replied through gritted teeth. “What of it?”

[SINIB]

Oka

“There were extenuating circumstances.” Oka replied with a huff. “As you said, she looked very very dangerous.”

[Thedoctor]

Archer

"Exactly as I said...It's good to see that she has support after what she's gone through." He replied back in what was almost a jovial tone. He stopped here as he was distracted by Rider pulling out a futuristic smartphone. Taking a closer look at it, it looked pretty similar to a model he had liked during his "adventures" if only with a few more features to it. He then adressed her about it. "That's not surprising Rider, that phone hasn't been made yet."

Jin

"Yeah, it was good that we left before things got ugly." He replied to her, then after pausing for a moment he continued with. "There's a nice café around the corner if you're feeling hungry."

[SINIB]

Sakura Matou

“It should, signal’s pretty much universally available except in the forest and places like that. Hold on, maybe you’re doing something wrong.” Sakura took the phone from Rider and fiddled with the phone, eventually powering it on. What she saw was…

Unsettling.
Unexpected.
Scary.
Wrong.
Just plain upsetting.

Altogether, it was just plain wrong. She wanted to get into the phone and purge it of this picture.

It wasn't fair.

She deserved that life, not some imposter. It was hers, she'd suffered more than her, so why…

It didn't make sense.

She wanted a child. A baby of her own, but she'd never been given the chance. And now this—this Sakura!
She'd do…
She'd do…
She wasn't sure what she'd do.
She wanted her old life back. She held back her tears, and slowly returned the phone to Rider. "We—we should get you another phone, your current one has the worst interface. I can get you a better one while we're out. Anyway, let's go, Senpai…" Nearly all her previous enthusiasm had been sucked out of her, as Shirou squeezed her shoulder, unsure of what had upset her.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

The lady nodded in understanding before quickening her pace ever so slightly, her smile fading and going back to her stoic expression from before.

"Very well. I hope whatever you plan has more substance than your tongue. Lead on."

[Aiden]

Ron

Ron took another look at the scene before him, the heat of the hot springs and the scent of sulfur and salts alleviating enough of the cold for his addled brain to catch up with his senses. He began to back away from the blatant displays of supernatural violence taking place before him by a creature disregarding bullets and Ron's own safety. Every step was taken without turning away, his eyes kept on the potential threats that could move toward him at any moment.

The moment he was back toward the exit he turned and bolted with a surge of adrenaline, coiled leg muscles firing off with an intensity he never recalled his body achieving before. It felt like-

drum beats in his ears, bright light shining down from starry skies, a crimson filter over his eyes

- and he became lost once more.

[Panda]

Annabeth

"Fair enough," Annabeth said with a sigh as Oren shifted back into that not quite human form, the load on her back lightening up. As nice as it was, it was still troubling to be carting around a naked person on her back.

Of course, not even five minutes of aimless wandering later, they do one came across a rather ragged looking man, once again without clothes. The Hunter narrowed her eyes at the sight of him, less disturbed by his lack of clothing and moreso by his aura. For what seemed like a normal human, he certainly seemed to have a lot of it, though it was rather unstable. Furthermore, there was something...off, to say the least, about him.

Cautious, Annabeth went into Ren, her own aura roaring to life as she watched the man carefully. The Hunter carefully relaxed, remaining in Ren while trying to keep her expression  as normal as possible.

"Are you alright?" she asked, drawing close, "Aside from not having pants, I mean."

[Umbra of Chaos]

Oren

The Fae had removed Annabeth's hat and awkwardly placed it on her horned head as she played with the cowgirl's hair. There wasn't a lot of trust between the Formless One and her steed. It was almost sad really. Betrayal had no weight if you never expected trust. Tearing her limb from limb and letting her clutch to the barest remnants of life to see what would happen just didn't have the same sting if no real emotions of camaraderie and faith in each other existed.

Her little plots and schemes were interrupted by a strange prickly feeling emanating from Annabeth and her eyes glanced over at the naked man the tanned girl had just spoken to and was approaching. She raised a fist and began to rudely knock against her steed's head. "Do you think there's something wrong with being naked, Anna? You didn't mind looking at me or the other man before. If you appreciate the basic form you shouldn't be ashamed about it."

"Don't worry. I'm sure she'll peek at you too when she thinks no one is looking." Her tone was almost consoling. As if she trying to convince someone that they wouldn't be left out of somethingg exciting or fun.

[Aiden]

Ron

The horned one's words reminded Ron remembered to put a hand over his genitalia again as he sat up, his face turning a little red past his covering of facial hair. The rest of his body was toned enough, a little bit of pudginess at the belly suggesting an appreciation of food (of course he did, have you seen the diverse recipes in this city?), but uh, if someone else was looking ...

"H-Huh...?" Ron asked once he caught enough breath again, and looked up to see the gorgeous tan-skinned woman who looked like she owned the cool red hat standing nearby. This was now, obviously, one of the better benders he'd been on. "Well, um."

The scrapes on his knees were slowly knitting themselves closed before their eyes. "It's mostly just the pants that are a problem right now! And I can't remember what I did last night after work. And my knees sting."

[Cherry Lover]

Rider

Rider sighed as she watched Shirou and Archer bicker, the two of them clearly unable to accept each other's presence. Archer, however, seemed to at least be being polite about it, even if he was obviously not happy, and was soon distracted by the sight of Rider's phone, pointing out that it was probably too new to work here.

Sakura, however, was far more surprised with the fact that it did not work, exclaiming that signal should be universally available, before taking the phone from her to check things out. However, almost as soon as she had switched it on, Rider noticed her visibly deflate. The previously-vibrant mood Sakura had been feeling had almost entirely gone as she handed the phone back to Rider, clearly very upset.

"We—we should get you another phone, your current one has the worst interface. I can get you a better one while we're out. Anyway, let's go, Senpai…", she said, unenthusiastically.

Rider was certain she did not need a new phone, but right now that was the least of her concerns. She racked her brain to try to work out what might have upset Sakura.

Sakura, what's wrong? she asked over their mental link, obviously concerned.

Wondering if there had been some glitch and Sakura had seen something that upset her, Rider turned the phone on. However, all that popped up was her usual lock screen, showing an adorable picture of her former master holding her youngest son in her arms and with her beloved by her side. It was a lovely picture that always made Rider feel happy when she saw it.

Does she not like the picture? Is she upset because I still care for my former master? Rider wondered, rather worried and upset by the idea that Sakura might try to force her to forget her feelings for her former master.

Do you have a problem with the picture? she asked, full of concern. I can change it if you want.

[Elf]

Rin

Rin watched the exchange between Archer and Shirou with wide eyes, until Archer rose up above whatever testosterone fueled silent war they were having.   Then the exchange went to Rider's phone and Rin fell silent.  She still used a rotary phone herself when she could, but technology was never Rin's ally.

Then Sakura took the phone and whatever happiness she'd been feeling just melted away.  "We—we should get you another phone, your current one has the worst interface. I can get you a better one while we're out. Anyway, let's go, Senpai…" Sakura's voice was almost wooden.

Curious Rin moved over to see Rider turn the phone on to see a picture of an older Shirou, Sakura, and a little boy with red hair like Shirou's and eyes like Rin's.  Or how Sakura's had been before she had gone to the Matous.  Then Rin knew why the smile had fled Sakura's face; because she had seen everything she probably ever wanted and didn't have.

Rin didn't know exactly what to say to any of the parties around her so for once she was quiet.