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

[Thedoctor]

Shinobu

The blue haired girl denied having having any fondness for showing off her abilities, instead she took a step back, and ripped of her clothes, her underwear being the only thing she had left on. "Showing off my toned body!"  She said in an over dramatic, obviously joking tone, as she did it. The vampire's eyes glanced over her body, it was indeed toned, and her huge breasts were even more ridiculous now that she had less clothes on her.

She took a step forward, to close the distance Medaka had created when she stepped back. "I see, you enjoy showing your body off, like a true exhibitionist. I didn't know you were so perverted Medaka." Shinobu teased her as she put a finger on the blue haired girl's lips. The finger trailed down, past her jaw and then her neck. It moved down her chest, in between her breasts as they were slightly pushed to the side by her moving hand. Her hand finally stopped at the girl's stomach, which she poked. "You are right about being toned." The vampire observed in a casual tone.

[yinsukin]

Medaka Kurokami

Medaka's face practically exploaded into a bright strawberry pink. Normally, the reaction she gets is a flustered look or shock but instead the vampire was being so forward.  The blond's fingers glided down her breasts and she was admiring her toned belly.  The now embarrassed Medaka recoiled, taking several steps back.

"W-wait.  I..."  She said, scrambling for both words and thoughts.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Theodore
 
As the demon was cruelly dragged by the uppet, he sighed. To crush him in such a careless way, even ruthlessness had its limits. Well, it's not like it mattered if she did it or not since he wouldn't be able to doze off anyway. Still, it did not stop him from closing his eyes and wallow in exhaustion.
 
And suddenly, something reached his ears. An ugly, annoying, insufferable, unbearable, painful noise crawled into the depths of his consciousness and snapped him back to the painful reality that was reality. It slithered into his ears and scratched into his head like a cold blade, or static. 
 
He tried to ignore it, to look away, to pretend he heard nothing and move on. It would certainly be so simple. Oh, it would all be so easy if he could do that. Wouldn't such a possibility be lovely at this point? It would most certainly ease his burdens. It's not like it wasn't already hard enough as it was already.
 
Was he suddenly growing sentimental because it was her voice? Her sadness? Her tears? Nay, he declared. Whether it was her or anyone else, he had no reason to go out of his way to do such things. It was meaningless, whether he acted or not would not change the outcome. The story would end the same, interfering like this with a sense of higher purpose was nothing more than wishful thinking, rubbish to make even the maddest of lunatics seem like a sage in comparison. 
 
Well, it's not like he was any better than a crazy person.
 
But if he let it be, nothing would change. No, he would no longer be just a crazy person, but trash. The lowest of the low, scum that even a filth like him could not tolerate to become. It would be no different from that prison, he would not stand it. He could not stand it. But this time, things were different. This time, there were no strings on him, no shackles to stop him. It wasn't about forgiving himself, or trying to repent for betraying her. He simply disliked it, isn't that reason enough to help someone?
 
Don't interfere.

Suddenly, Vanguard slipped out of the mantle's grip like a bar of soap. He should not be capable of such feats in the first place, not when his body was like this. Despite his immense tiredness, he showed no signs of being strained. As if he was always walking forward with his head held up, despite a massive weight on his shoulders far heavier than the armour he once wore.
 
White clothes overlapped his form and covered what was once his casual wear into a dignified uniform, fluttering freely through the wind like a cape. He swiftly stepped forward and walked towards the sobbing girl, kneeling to reach her before handing her a pack of tissues. He was calm, devoid of any emotion as if devoid of any irrational thought and yet acting utterly irrationally. And yet, despite his robotic tone there was a sad gentle quality to his voice.
 
"What's wrong."

[SINIB]

Oka

Oka looked at a tired old man who was offering her tissues.

Wow. she thought. He looks as bad as I feel.

She weakly smiled at him, and accepted the Kleenex gratefully, opening up the package and blowing her nose.

She still didn't want to speak just yet, at least to a stranger.

So she softly cooed at Wormy in an unintelligible language, and he chittered back at her.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Theodore
 
The devil did not shift or move. Instead, he kept waiting with the same impassive expression until the girl seemed to have calmed down a bit.  Taking a closer look, he came to the realization that she was not the same. In fact, while the resemblance was uncanny, she was not Sakura at all. 
 
A green strand was colored down her violet hair, and while her physique was similar, her body was taller and more fairly toned. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that she stopped crying.
 
"Better?" He asked calmly.

[SINIB]

Oka

Oka grinned weakly. "Better than you, at least." She quietly giggled. "What happened to you, you look like you were run over by a truck."

[Kotomine_Rin]

 Theodore
 
Theodore blinked and stared with the ultimate poker face, answering with the most serious tone one could ever seriously pull off in a serious situation.
 
"It's fashion." He declared in defiance to her claim, a flawless objection. One couldn't tell if he was joking or serious. Indeed, those were the cheapest clothes he had come across. However, even he couldn't help but cover his mouth and chuckle at such ridiculousness, or perhaps it was her laughter that carried on to him. Well, it only looked like he was chuckling, because no sound was coming out. However, he quickly composed himself and looked at the girl with calm seriousness once more.
 
"If you don't want me to press further, I'll understand. However, I must ask, why were you crying?"

[Thedoctor]

Archer and Jeanne

Archer gave Sakura a smile as she boasted about her capacitiy as a grail, she even started flexing one of her arms. Then Shirou showed the proper appreciation for his creations. "Take as many as you want, I made too many anways." He told him. Watching Sakura and her new servant made it obvious they were having a master to servant conversation, with how much they were sending looks to each other. 

Sakura then tip toed over to him and whispered to him. "Can you stay with Shirou and make sure he doesn't do anything too dumb? It would be a really big favor to me, and just for a bit, while I go find out what's going on." He thought he could smell someone foreign in the area but he couldn't pinpoint the location. Sakura being in control of the boundary field probably knew the exact location of the presence, like he thought she then quickly turned around and walked out of the kitchen with Jeanne following her. As they were going out Archer quickly turned to Shirou and started talking. "You see I took extra care when I made them, by gradually adding the ingredients while mixing them to let all the flavours blend without having one of them overpower the others."


Jeanne was surprised by Sakura's admission of having seen it. Her master chuckled at it but then suddenly changed her tone, telling her that there was an intruder and that she wanted her to come with her and see who it was. Of course. She followed Sakura out of the kitchen and then spoke to her again as they were walking through the hallway. So master how much are you ok with? She asked her in a half joking, half serious tone.

[SINIB]

Jeanne
Jeanne was surprised by Sakura's admission of having seen it. Her master chuckled at it but then suddenly changed her tone, telling her that there was an intruder and that she wanted her to come with her and see who it was. Of course. She followed Sakura out of the kitchen and then spoke to her again as they were walking through the hallway. So master how much are you ok with? She asked her in a half joking, half serious tone.

Sakura Matou

"How much am I ok with hmmmm...?" Sakura wondered allowed with a playful look. "Hmm hmm."

"Well, probably as far as Shirou's ok with, as long as I'm not cut out of the action." Sakura admitted nonchalantly, secretly hoping Shirou would hear her. After all, you're a cute little thing, Jeanne.

Sakura then opened the door, and her eyes glanced over the surrounding area, falling upon a woman whom looked like...

It couldn't be.

"Illy-" She almost whispered, before she noticed—

Before she noticed—

Him.

KILL KILL KILL BASTARD KILL DESTROY EVISCORATE VIVISECT KILL DIE DIE KILL STAB KILL BURN DIE KILL

Her eyesight flashed RED a few times as she calmly walked up to him, smiling at him warmly.

And it was a completely genuine smile, she was extremely happy to see him here.

"Hi, what are you doing here?" She asked him cheerfully, offering her hand for a handshake. As soon as he took her hand, her expression changed, her smile turning vicious, and, instantly reinforcing herself, slammed her fist into the side of his face, knocking him down.

"How! How dare you come back here! After what you did! You monster! Vampire! You vampire! What do you have to say for yourself, scum." She spat out the last word as if having it in her mouth viscerally disgusted her, as she began to cry.

"Shirou!" Irisviel cried out in shock as she ran over to Shirou, trying to help him off the ground.

"No! Sakura screeched. That's not him! That's not him. Uso! Uso uso uso!" She grabbed her head and collapsed to her knees, whimpering. uso..."

[Cherry Lover]

Sakura and Shirou

The two of them reluctantly allowed Irisviel to take their hands and drag them towards the house, passing into the bounded field. They waited anxiously for Sakura to notice them and come out, hoping she wouldn't react too badly to Shirou's presence. As Sakura came out, smiling warmly, the two of them felt a sense of relief. It seemed like she had forgiven him after all. As such, when she held out her hand, Shirou happily took it, smiling back at her. He was just relieved that she was not still mad at him. After all, upsetting Sakura was not something he was happy about at all.

However, their relief was short-lived. As soon as he grabbed her hand, the smile turned vicious, and Sakura swung her hand at Shirou. Unprepared, he had little time to reinforce himself before the fist connected, sending him sprawling to the floor.

"How! How dare you come back here! After what you did! You monster! Vampire! You vampire! What do you have to say for yourself, scum", she said, beginning to cry.

Irisviel exclaimed and ran for Shirou, who was laying on the floor, bleeding from the mouth, helping the dazed man lift himself up. As soon as Sakura saw Shirou fall to the ground, she saw red, tears coming to her eyes.

How dare she! He was going to apologise! And she tricked him, too, just so she could hurt him more!

Sakura glared angrily at her alternate self before charging in, summoning up her magical tendrils as she did. Her anger was such that even the servant standing behind Sakura did not deter her.

"Why?" Sakura shouted, her voice full of emotion. "Why did you hurt him? He was going to apologise!"

With that, she charged at the woman, fists raised, reinforcement active. She threw one punch at the girl's face, and another at her chest, both aimed to cause maximum pain. At the same time, she readied her magic to allow her to defend herself if necessary.

Shirou, meanwhile, looked up in horror as he recovered from the daze he was in.

No! Sakura, don't! he thought, the idea of two versions of his beloved fighting each other tearing him apart.

"Sakura! Please, stop!" he shouted, the pain he was in obvious. "I deserved it!"

Utterly horrified, Shirou struggled against Irisviel and the dizziness he felt in an effort to get to his feet, hoping he could stop Sakura before she hurt the other version of herself or, worse, forced a fight that she would surely lose.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Alarice

The noble considered the possibility of the lord trying to deceive her for a moment. She breathed in deeply and the scent of gathering mana in the other room was unmistakeable. Alarice retreated farther away from the door in anticipation for what was to come. Her caution was rewarded as a massive snake made of bones and cloaked in fire smashed through the doorway and sent debris flying.

She smiled and charged right at the construct without a hint of fear. Then, just before it crashed into her, she leaped over the head of the serpent. Crashing down onto one of its middle segments she almost found herself getting hurtled off before she slammed her clawed hand down onto one of the bones. The sharp digits dug deep into the bone and stopped her from flying away and she quickly slammed another claw onto the rampaging beast.

The flames ate at her nightgown and left only bare flesh under the skeleton but she didn't slow in the slightest as she pulled herself towards the head of the burning snake. Once she had reached its head she grew another dagger and brought it down onto the creature's head. Her strikes crushed boe inbetween invisible teeth and the creature began to grow increasingly agitated as it crashed through walls and crushed furniture. Her arm throbbed at the constant pulling and yanking as she held on with all her might with one hand as she kept at her attacks.


Erica

The blue haired girl calmly followed after the multitude and watched him attempt to comfort some crying girl. She had not seen sorrow much before. People kept such emotions to themselves and would rarely show them in public. A thing such as tears was of some interest to her, especially since she had done something close to that earlier before in the day.

She floated over behind her companion and frowned slightly. "You have already spoken of your tiredness and yet continue to abuse your abilities for no reason. Do not do so again. Sympathy does not always require self-sacrifice."

Erica then focused her attention on the young girl and strange creature that accompanied her. A cursory scan revealed that both were relatively normal on a spiritual level so there was no reason to do anything abnormal. In cases such as these Erica was beginning to discover that a rigid system of politeness was far more efficient and useful in these social situations than her absolute bluntness.

The Mantle resumed its neutral form as the Spirit Vessel seemingly stood on the air and gave the stranger a deep and rigid bow before resuming the perfect posture of her normal position. "I am sorry for any event that may have initiated such distress in you. As my partner has seemingly decided to interact with you I must ask if we are capable of relieving your distress in any way whether you answer his question or not."


Numina

Eventually her soak had to end and with a grimace Numina left the water and exposed her body to the chill of the air once more. It was annoying but not too bad as she waded back to the shore and felt her feet rest on cold sand. She left an uneven trail of footprints as she walked back to the bent tree that she had left her clothes one.

With a grimace she lifted them up to her nose and turned away at the smell. She really, really needed some new clothes. With no small amount of reluctance she got herself dressed before waving at the sea. A shrill cry was the only response she got in return but it was enough to make her smile.

With the child free and out of her hands it was time to go back to work. Or just takes a slightly longer break. It wasn't as if anyone was watching her or putting her on a schedule. First, she would get new clothes. Afterwards there was no doubt in her mind that she was going to buy a vat of mint chocolate chip ice cream and hole up somewhere until she felt better.

[Elf]

Corbin

Corbin raised his eyebrows as Kuro sat on Mordred's lap after she finished her shoulder rub. The little minx said, "Taking drinks from girls, what a nice guy."

"Hey, I just don't want it to go to waste.  And admittedly, I do enjoy them more than I should," he said with a shrug, "I paid or them anyway . . . "

He grinned at Mordred and said, "I'm more resilient than I look."


Rin


“Well, whatever. I can’t be slacking off much either, not until I find this Saber. Still, let me offer you some free advice. Talk less, act more," Garou said to her.

After Rin stifled the irritation of Garou's "advice", she realized he had said "Saber".

Then, Petra had said in a louder than normal voice, "Saber? What an unusual name."

You know a lot more than what you're leading on, aren't you?  You know about magecraft but you're not a magus.  And you comment loudly about Saber being a weird name, like you're baiting me.

"Westerners pretty much have weird names to me," Rin said with a shrug, "But I'll accept your invitation for a drink.  Now, do any of you know a good place around here?"

If there's a Grail War going on here, I need to find out and make sure Sakura doesn't get involved.  Or worse, get re-purposed as a Grail.


Forest

Why do you allow this? Because it’s friends with Saber? Disgusting creature, remember the penalties. Life penalty, body penalty, freedom penalty, fame penalty, fortune penalty.

Forest flinched ever so slightly as the unwanted occupant in Lancelot's head made itself known.  Her hand tightened around Gadreel's ever so slightly as the feed back dug into her, like needles being inserted into her ears and eyes.  The room tilted ever so slightly.

Why care what Saber would wish? Selfish ⎕⎕⎕, you paid her penalty, and she violates you. Violation for benefit, violation for respect.

Yes, Saber is very much someone who uses people, myself included.  She made sure not to project the thought, keeping it to herself as the evil in Lancelot continued to rant as he said aloud, “I, ah, yes. As I said, distracted.”

Had he not had all the World's Evil living within him, and Gadreel hadn't been there, Forest would have teased him ever so slightly.  However . . . Her vision blurred as she threw up barriers to try to block that thing.

⎕⎕⎕FOR SELF ⎕⎕⎕FOR SELF ⎕⎕⎕FOR SELF ⎕⎕⎕FOR SELF ⎕⎕⎕FOR SELF ⎕⎕⎕FOR SELF ⎕⎕⎕FOR SELF ⎕⎕⎕FOR SELF ⎕⎕⎕FOR SELF

“I… I need to go,” the fallen knight said in a soft voice before literally running away.

I suddenly have the impression that he had an unfortunate affair with his lady king, but I suspect that has little to do with this action. Shall we pursue? Gadreel asked.

Forest shook off the literal pain of being around Lancelot and rubbed her forehead with her hand.  I don't know if here's anything I can do, other than standing here and letting him insert the pointy end of his sword in me over and over until the voices in his head shut up.  He's . . . not alone in his head, and I'm not talking about MPD either.  I'm talking Father Merrick type stuff here.
 

[SINIB]

Archer

Archer gave Sakura a smile as she boasted about her capacitiy as a grail, she even started flexing one of her arms. Then Shirou showed the proper appreciation for his creations. "Take as many as you want, I made too many anways." He told him. Watching Sakura and her new servant made it obvious they were having a master to servant conversation, with how much they were sending looks to each other. 

Sakura then tip toed over to him and whispered to him. "Can you stay with Shirou and make sure he doesn't do anything too dumb? It would be a really big favor to me, and just for a bit, while I go find out what's going on." He thought he could smell someone foreign in the area but he couldn't pinpoint the location. Sakura being in control of the boundary field probably knew the exact location of the presence, like he thought she then quickly turned around and walked out of the kitchen with Jeanne following her. As they were going out Archer quickly turned to Shirou and started talking. "You see I took extra care when I made them, by gradually adding the ingredients while mixing them to let all the flavours blend without having one of them overpower the others."

Shirou

Shirou watched Sakura and Jeanne leave from the quarter of his eyes, but quickly decided that it was probably nothing important, and he was intrigued by what Archer was saying, anyway.

Nodding at what Archer was saying, he quickly responded, clearly very engaged in the conversation. "Yeah, that makes sense, I often do that myself. It worked marvelously here, though. What did you do differently? There has to be something else to it. What was the secret ingredient?"

[SINIB]

Oka Kurosawa

Oka looked up at him, still sniffling, with a guarded expression. She didn't want to reveal too much information to a stranger, especially a man, right now. So she stared at him, her sapphire eyes glistening with tears, trying to decide what to tell him, if anything.

Eventually, she found her answer. "A psychopathic masochist tormented me in that restaurant." She pointed at the Pizza place. "Don't trust him, he's a lunatic."

[Kotomine_Rin]

Garou XIII

Garou frowned. "I'm westerner so watch your mouth. No matter where you come from, Saber is still a retarded name." He scuffed. Seriously, her comment pissed him off. Luckily, she would never know his terrible, forbidden secret...

She would never know that his name is, I mean WAS Gary.

"Well, fine. As long as you don't slow us down with your fat ass and don't say stupid things. Don't think I'll he nice enough to buy you shit though, I am not nice."