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

[SINIB]

Sakura Matou

  I...That's a lot to take in, but I feel like there's more to this story than than. Grail Wars usually don't turn out well. The purple-haired woman nodded at her, Yeah, they do. What was… Before she finished, however, Shirou came over and decided to cuddle with her. She tensed up as he pulled her close to him. She looked up at his kind face, and tried to smile at him.

"Senpai—" she started to speak, almost silently, before he cut her off.

"Whatever you're feeling bad about, it's ok. I've never blamed you even once for anything." He told her. She could hardly believe that. How could he never have blamed her for anything?

"Not once?" She asked with a timid voice, paying complete attention to Shirou's face, not noticing that Jeanne had even gotten up and was standing right behind them.

"Never even once." He affirmed, looking down at her gorgeous purple eyes. Before she could react though, Jeanne grabbed them both and pulled them up into a group hug. Sakura couldn't help but look surprised as Jeanne began to jokingly ask about her drinking problem. "Heh." She let out a small giggle before looking at Jeanne seriously. "You're right. That wouldn't be ok, would it?" Hey Jeanne… what was your grail war like? Her voice on the outside was happy and cheerful, completely in contrast to her mental voice, which was entirely serious. What went wrong in it?

[Aiden]

Muramasa Katase

Did he not believe her? He was certainly not subtle in his amusement. Then again, Katase was a sword; even with the many souls that came together to make her she still had trouble understanding human expressions. They were too complicated, and her damnable puppets kept using them without her consent if she didn't pay attention!

Infuriating. Even if she heavily suspected that Sakagami Kenzo wasn't actually human at all.

She balanced her shell's legs easily enough, ducked her head as she refused to linger on his patronizing (?) gesture, and then looked away from him to the rest of the room. "I... suppose it would not be inappropriate."

So, she followed his lead. Soon she would ask her questions. Perhaps when he had some drink in him, so he would be as forthcoming as possible. If he could get anymore forthcoming, she admitted to herself. Or forward. Touching a woman's hair like that...

[Panda]

Seras

The vampire cocked an eyebrow at the priest, part of her wondering why he was bothering to hold his glass like that.

"...Fairly sure," Seras said, "But I'll have to ask you to clarify what you meant by what you said just now."

[Umbra of Chaos]

Oren

The dragon was distracted by the movement of the staff towards her eyes and was caught of guard by the second strike on her head. If she had longer arms she would have rubbed her head. It was starting to feel pretty sore!

But despite her pain she turned with sudden swiftness to keep Michael in her line of sight as he began to launch waves of energy at her. She slipped beneath the surface of the soil and dived deep as the attacks eviscerated the ground she was standing on. Oren liquefied the ground as she rose and swam on the surface. She crushed the trees in her way with her size and jaws as she chased after the stick man, and whenever she spotted a projectile she simply slipped below the surface to dodge.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Darcy Hugh

Darcy sighed and downed his third shot, or was it fourth. "Forget it, I'm not getting paid to explain things anyway. *hic*"

If his face wasn't so disfigured, one would notice he was completely red by now. Without warning, he leered over her face, his lips puckered like a duck as he slowly leaned over for a kiss.

"How about *hic* a smoooch?"


Sakagami Kenzo

Kenzo grinned from ear to ear and walked over to the counter, letting his nose lead him to the delicious sake. He picked multiple jugs, vases and bottles filled to the brim with all sorts of alcoholic bevarages, some which he was more familiar than others. This would be great...

"Here!" He called out jovially, tapping down on the ground next to him to urge her to join him sitting on the ground, setting all the containers, glasses and platters before him desite the fact there were chairs and a table right behind him. Bakenzo.


Count Greyskull

Greyskull let the information sink in. She was right, he had been unreasonable.  However, just as he was about to resond, he heard a mighty voice boom behind him along with the abrupt opening of gates.

"AAAAAAAAAAHH!!!" He cried out in terror, nearly jumping in fright surprise. He turned around and witnessed once again the mighty dragon.

"A-Aptera!? What are you doing here?"

[Aiden]

Muramasa Katase

Just taking the liquor without the owner's permission was probably illegal. She supposed she should care about that at some point.

Right now she didn't. Right now Katase was sitting down, legs folded under the rest of her, next to the giant masked man collecting the drinks for them. She was taking a large cup for herself to drink out of, because she would not dirty her clothes with the spillage of sake that would happen if she drank right out of the jar.

The sword had to make her shell's head turn up to see Sakagami Kenzo's head. She held her cup out expectantly. When he finished pouring she held the cup by her lap and spoke again. "I am curious, Sakagami-san. Do you know which city are we in right now?"

[Kat]

Rikuyo

"Like, ya close yer eyes and can see me with yer mind? That's still a stepping stone to cooler stuff. Like this." She flicked her finger, and the werewolf would feel that he got flicked in the forehead even if she didn't touch him. "I don't even need to be close to ya to touch yer body. But that didn't feel too strong, right? If my fist was small finger away from yer face, you'd get punched even if ya moved yer head back quickly enough. Strength is in the body and the soul. Raw power is nice to have, but if somebody relies only on muscle then will only stop growing at some point."

[Lycodrake]

Lycodrake Aptera

However, just as he was about to resond, he heard a mighty voice boom behind him along with the abrupt opening of gates.

"AAAAAAAAAAHH!!!" He cried out in terror, nearly jumping in fright surprise. He turned around and witnessed once again the mighty dragon.

"A-Aptera!? What are you doing here?"

He could only tilt his head in mild exasperation at Grayskull's cry of alarm. He moved forward before sitting on his haunches and replying. "The library had a lot of information that will probably be helpful, but like Bellatanus wagered it was convoluted and mismatched. I got bored, so I decided to see how you were doing. Interesting choice in armor," he nodded to both in turn.

[Panda]

Seras

The vampire cocked an eyebrow at the man's sudden drunkeness, wondering why he'd ordered so many shots if he was such an utter lightweight. Seras soon found herself recoiling, a blush bright on her face as he leaned in, apparently going for a kiss. Barely managing to restrain herself from using her shadow arm, the vampire caught his face with ease that might have been contemptuous if not for how off-balance she was at the moment. Frowning, she released the man for a moment, only to flick a finger against his forehead with enough force to shove him back into his seat.

"And what part of 'I already have a boyfriend' did you miss?" the vampire shot back, sitting back down from having barely kept herself from falling out of her chair.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Sakagami Kenzo

The oni was glad to be allowed to pour her a drink. However, Muramasan proceeded to ask a very strange question. Indeed, it was very odd.

The oni shrugged.

"Eh? I dunno, I woke up in this strange place a few months ago. I never really bothered thinking about it..."

Kenzo looked up and laid his fist on his chin like he was thinking, absorbed in his reflection on the matter. Seeing how it wasn't doing any good,  he shifted his mask only slightly to reveal an opening to slip drink while still concealing his face. He grabbed one of the jugs of sake and began to pour it dowjn his mouth like he was watering a plant. He let out a satisfied breath and wiped his mouth under his mask. Phew, that was some good sake!

Finally, he redirected his gaze to Muramasa and pointed up like he found the answer. Indeed, when he didn't know what to do or say, Sake was always there to help. Sake was his friend, would he abandon a friend?

"I don't think it matters. This is the place where I got to meet you, that's enough to make me happy." He said happily.

[Aiden]

Muramasa Katase

Katase observed how her current drinking partner did it, attempting to get a glimpse of his face. When that didn't work, she decided to imitate his drinking. She had never seen the point of pacing herself with such things, anyway. Of course, she was far less messy than he was in it, and the amount was smaller.

Her shell's tongue registered the flavor, her throat the burning sensation as it slid down it. The sword could blame this drink for any redness of the shell's skin, now. It was quite nice, actually.

Then he said something absurd, and she choked on the sake. "I-Is that, uh, so? Well, I-" She forced herself to swallow, her shell's tongue licking her lips clean. "This Muramasa cannot argue with that."

The warmth was all because of the sake. Truly.


Ron

The werewolf sorta felt it coming, but he was too new to this to avoid it. Instead he flinched and shook his head, grumbling. "That sounds like something I've heard before," he admitted to her. "I was told I should master what I have first before going with that."

He rubbed his forehead, and took a piece of the duck to bite into shortly after.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Sakagami Kenzo

Kenzo’s eyes widened despite being completely concealed by his mask. He didn’t even notice that he had flinched, terribly afraid that she was having a fit of sickness of some sort. He did not sense any disease or affliction on the sword, but that abrupt noise was very much like a cough!

Ridiculous, Sake could not cause people to get sick! In this case, she needed to drink more to recover!!!

But before he could reach her, she had already collected herself. Phew, what a relief, she was alright! In fact, he was so relieved that he couldn’t help but let out a relieved laughter. She was so adorable!

“You are so adorable, hehe…” He noted before lightly pinching her cheek. However, before she could even react, he suddenly closed in to give her a big hug.

“And pretty warm!” He added, kind of surprised at that fact. He expected something like that to feel a bit colder, harsher. However, the little body felt oddly soft and cuddly, which he really liked.

[Aiden]

Muramasa Katase

"I'm what?" was all she managed to get out before the giant wrapped her shell up in his arms. "Mmph!" Her voice was muffled because her face was pressing up against his warm, solid chest. Katase could almost feel his arm brushing against her hilt, which made more than just her shell hotter than before. It was like being left out on a rock on a sunny summer day, her steel collecting warmth until she stung human hands to touch.

Her shell squirmed for a moment in objection, but after that she just gave up and waited for him to let go. It wasn't like she enjoyed it, or anything ridiculous like that. Such an absurd notion.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Sakagami Kenzo

Kenzo grinned in satisfaction and kept hugging her, enjoying the comfortable position. He wondered if this body and hers were linked. He was actually extremely curious, but it would be rude to ask.

Well, there was a way to find out…

“Hehe… take this! Who’s the cutest sword? Who is iiiiiiiit!?” He yelled out cheerfully before proceeding to tickle her all over. 

Of course, he was being careful not to cause any harm on the sword, for to touch a sword without her explicit permission was a grave crime to which he’d need to atone by cutting his hand off.

[Aiden]

Muramasa Katase

Ah, that answers the question, she concluded in some forbidding depth of her own consciousness. He definitely knows.

The rest of her was taken up by her shell's sudden, intense feelings as she went from relaxing to excited in almost no time at all. She couldn't understand what this feeling was, only that it made her puppet squirm and giggle in a way most inappropriate! "W-W-What are, pffft, you, ahahaha, doiiiinng?!"

Her puppet's face was twisted up into some kind of smile. She wasn't sure if she hated this, or wanted him to keep going.