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

[Knick]

Nanashi

The sound of the tires rolling along the pavement was the only sound as Nanashi road on her bike. She was almost standing as she pedaled away. She had since changed her outfit, switching it out for the spare she had in the bag she carried on her back. It was a soft jacket, kept closed by a cloth belt, along with black stockings and her high black boots.

She quickly readjusted her glasses as she road. Her face was the picture of annoyance and exhaustion compressed into one, her eyes were dropping, her mouth was in a scowl, and her ears were patted down.

She slowed down, as she saw a sign to a bar. Coming to a stop she complicated it, before deciding. Getting off her bike she used the bike chain in her backpack to lock it to a nearby fence, before making her way inside, “I hope you’re open.” She spoke out in a dreary voice as she opened the door.

There were only two people, a woman in a kimono, and a man dressed as a priest, a notebook in his hand. They seemed to be talking about something, not that she cared about what. Her sharp yellow eyes looked around the room. A dojo, that’s what it reminded her of. If you took out the table, bar, and the other seemingly out of place objects that made it into a functional bar, that’s what she would say it was.

Well, whatever.

She simply walked up to the bar and sat down, a couple of chairs away from the priest. Taking some money out and put it on the counter. “Anything you have to eat, preferably beef, rare, if you have it, and a strong drink, surprise me.”

Then she put her head down, laying it on the counter, letting herself relax a bit.

[Panda]

Annabeth

The cowgirl started working her hands just a bit faster, the hat brim not doing the best job of stifling her moans as she felt herself growing closer and closer to-

Why can't I hear the shower?

Realization struck the Hunter like a lightning bolt, who proceeded to hurriedly pull her hands out of her clothing, quickly wiping the hand off on her black undershirt. Shoving her hat back onto her own head, Annabeth saw Ron leave the shower just before she managed to get her jacket closed. Her eyes widened at this realization, her face suddenly feeling like it was on fire as she tried to look anywhere but directly at Ron.

[SINIB]

Sakura

"Great!" Sakura grabbed Rider's hand and tugged at the taller woman. "So, what do you want? I think you'd look good in that dress over there!"

[Aiden]

Ron

It was about that time when Ron realized he probably should have waited a little longer. He was nearly drowning in the scent as his eyes caught sight of Annabeth's distinctive red coat and hat in the dark room, and he could make out more details without much light than he ever remembered managing before. So he could see, for certain, the way her chest heaved for air and her face flushed with - excitement, embarrassment?

It became very uncomfortable down in his pants. He turned around when sense finally told him 'look away, you pervert!'

"Ah, sorry for interrupting?" he managed to get out after a brief stretch of awkward silence, his eyes flickering toward the faint moonlight pouring through the kitchen window and onto the floor and wall in front of him. He wasn't quite bathed in it yet, but it was making him nervous too. As if he didn't have enough to be nervous from.

[Kat]

Mitsuba

Before she could answer the man, there came another customer.

She simply walked up to the bar and sat down, a couple of chairs away from the priest. Taking some money out and put it on the counter. “Anything you have to eat, preferably beef, rare, if you have it, and a strong drink, surprise me.”

Then she put her head down, laying it on the counter, letting herself relax a bit.

Third time's a charm, this girl had a money in contrast to that pervert and the freeloader above. "Gotcha." she nodded. "Please be patient though, it will take some time to cook it." Without further ado, she got to the kitchen, took out ingredients from her fridge and prepared her cooking utensils. Her only worry was about the man potentially shooing away her customer with his indecent talking, but the order took priority. Once finished she would prepare the drink for the customer.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Darcy Hugh

Darcy stopped at the sudden sound of a bell behind him. Damn, it seemed like he'd have to do this another time. Thankfully, what entered the doors was no daemon from hell or Helga (which could very well be the same thing), but a cute girl. That made 7 already in one day. Jesus must've been feeling pretty generous lately.

The girl sat a few seats away from him and ordered something. If only he had signed up to that kidney donation thing, perhaps he'd be able to share a drink with her. Either way, it didn't matter. Soon, he'd be rich! Filthy rich! And when that happened, he'd be able to buy all the food, booze and happiness in the world!

The priest turned to the other girl and waved with a friendly grin.

"Hey, what's up?"

[Knick]

Nanashi

As her head rested against the bar she focused, the world melted away as she saw her core before her. Left and right it flowed, up and down, spiraling and straightly. And so the soul moved, and so it began to produce power. And then, she was ripped from it as the man she took the effort to not sit next to greeted her.

That wouldn’t be so bad, if it wasn’t for the smell of smoke that clung to him like a film. Scrunching her noes for a second, she then sighed and turned her head, so that she was looking at him. “Nothing much I guess.” She responded slightly annoyed. 

Then she got a good look at him again, having barely payed attention when she entered. “…what is a Christian priest doing in this part of town?”

Her tone wasn’t hostile, but it was definitely suspicious, or at the very least curious. There were not many churches, and this one seemed… different. Wait, what was she being so suspicious for. Damn, she was in a bad mood. And hungry, and tired, and her arm still kind of ached. Ok, shitty in general.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Oren

The Fae wasn't incredibly pleased to find that she had been ditched while she healed. She pouted for a good bit at absolutely nothing as she gingerly rubbed her regrown antler. Annabeth was proving to be a very bad friend, but Oren knew better than to discard friends even if they were awful. Terrible friends could be fun!

With that bright perspective on recent events the Fae prepared to march into the streets once more, but then she realized something awful. She was naked. Well, that actually awful at all. Clothes were for the weak anyways. The issue was actually the fact that her berries were with her discarded clothes. A wave of despair covered Oren as she realized she would have to find more of them or even worse be forced to grow them herself. With that harrowing thought in mind she morosely began to shuffle the more populated part of the city. Maybe someone there sold berries?

[Panda]

Annabeth

The Hunter continued to resolutely look away from the man, until a quick glance revealed that he'd turned around. Annabeth allowed a sigh, trying to ignore the frustration bubbling within her, when his words registered. The Hunter's blush flared up as she glared at him as if to bore a hole in the back of his head with her gaze alone.

"...You think you'll be okay?" Annabeth asked after a few moments of silence, trying to divert the topic and noticing how his gaze focused on moonlight shining across the floor, "You seem a bit nervous."

[Kotomine_Rin]

Darcy Hugh

Darcy couldn't stop from allowing himself a small laughter. Then, he grinned wildly before approaching the glasses girl. She was strange... wild! There was something odd in the way she talked, the way she looked, the way she moved, but he couldn't quite tell. And that made him like her all the more.

"Why spreading the word and love of Jesus of course. That and looking for pretty ladies to bother. Think you could help me out?" He said with a mixture of cheerfulness and smug pride before pointing to her with his two fingers and striking a seductive pose.

[Aiden]

Ron

"Yeah. Yeah, I ah, I think I'm okay," Ron said, shifting his weight between each foot nervously. "How about you, are you okay? Are we okay?"

Not that there was exactly a 'we' here but he still hadn't figured out how to turn these senses off at will - oh there we go, back to normal human senses. He took a deep breath. It didn't help. The smell was still there, just less so.

Damn it. Open window. Yes, open window would work, he thought to himself impulsively as he stepped toward the window in the kitchen. The moonlight had faded, probably some cloud cover, so it should be safe for a moment to take care of that. Just undo the little latches, and...

There. Deep breath, as city air blew in to replace the musty smell of-

thump

The light returned. The cracking of bone began to echo through the apartment.

[Panda]

Annabeth

Annabeth stared at him for a moment, still somewhat embarrassed as he went to open a window, likely to air out the apartment, when he stopped. The Hunter's arousal vanished like dew in the morning sun as the cracking of bone started to echo around the apartment.

Oh shit-

Her Ren blazed to life as Pete and Repeat appeared in her hands once more. She wasn't entirely sure of the limits of his healing factor and didn't feel like testing it tonight, so Elephant Gun was out of the question, the chances of Vengeance's conditions being fulfilled in this situation were slim to none, so that was a no go as well, thus leaving the Bounty Hunter with a pair of BB guns in close-quarters with a being of unknown strength.

This is gonna suck.

"Don't answer the question," Annabeth called out, "What is your favorite color?"

[Aiden]

Ron

His body bulged with muscle, hair grew in thick tufts everywhere, and his nails scraped against the counter. Ron turned abruptly in Annabeth's direction as his face twisted into a menacing sneer, nose pushed out a bit from the rest of his head. But it stopped there, and he clenched his hands together hard until his palms bled.

A growl escaped his throat, and he fought the war drums in his head as much as he could as a red film began to cover his vision. Red on red lady red on red on red on red on red on red

But to the question, with his sharp teeth grit together, he managed to blurt out an answer. "B-Blue! No, yelloooooow-!"

Then he stumbled toward her, momentarily overtaken by the sheer need for violence surging through him and taking a swing in Annabeth's direction.

[Panda]

Annabeth

Had the situation not been so tense, she might have shot him out of irritation for that remark. This was not a time to be joking around, especially not when-

And then he was swinging at her, and the moment of truth was upon her. Focusing, the Hunter narrowly dodged the blow just in time for a length of rope to seemingly explode into existence from nothingness, wrapping around Ron's arm significantly faster than the blow he'd missed just now. The rope poured forth seemingly from nothing, binding the man from head to toe and leaving him completely immobilized. Having seen Enhancers breaking their own bones to try to escape the Lasso, likely depending on their self-healing abilities, Annabeth made absolutely certain that Ron would be left completely unable to move.

By the time she was finished, Ron bore far more resemblance to a ball than a raging wolf monster, tied up into a fetal position yet completely and totally immobilized.

"Okay, and I'm serious this time," Annabeth said when all was said and done, "Whatever you do, don't tell me what your actual favorite color is."

[SINIB]

Noel

Noel followed Alpha quietly, excited to be hanging out with Alpha. She sat down and began scanning a menu voraciously, suddenly having a large appetite.