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

[SINIB]

Shiro

The small fox cocked her head at the strange woman. That couldn't be right, she was lying. Nobody smelled that good on their own. Lieslieslies.

She frowned at the liar. Lying wasn't nice. Nor was being selfish. Sharing is caring, after all, she thought to herself.

I'll give her one more chance to be nice, then. Shiro sat down, and put on her best begging face possible. Her eyes got wide, her ears drooped, and she slowly wagged her tail hopefully.

[Kat]

EMIYA SHIROU

“Anywhere you like, as long as it’s not expensive,” he said in reply. He wasn’t familiar with most restaurant chains, having never had much interest in eating out, even when he was young.

Mitsuba

That guy was pretty quick to let her decide for him where they could dine. Trust wasn't something in her dictionary, at best she would feign placing trust in somebody in order to get what she wanted,
while secretly not trusting such person.

"Don't worry, Emiya-san, I've enough money to spare." She replied, suggesting that they could go wherever they wanted and not go bankrupt. After all, she would pay with money that she snatched from the priest and money that she produced with her Embed. And as long as it didn't feel outlandish, she could "produce" a little money. Genuine money, more authentic than even best forgers would make.

But in the end, she did choose a cheaper place than they could afford. A ramen stall, obscure enough to not get too much visitors, quite private for a public place, on the edges of Asian District.

She took such a seat that Emiya-san would have to sit next to her in order for them to talk, and the shitty priest would have to take a seat far from her as her seat was on the edge.

"Mushroom ramen for me, please." She ordered the food. The chef looked enough ancient that he was probably far past the age of retirement.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Darcy Hugh

“Not hungry.” He said simply before dropping his face on the stall and sleeping, or trying to.

[Kat]

GAROU XIII

"Fine, whatever. I don't have any cash on me though." He said with a nonchalant shrug.

Petra

"That's fine, I hit the jackpot with my recent business venture, so I buy anything you'd like." Petra confirmed once again that she didn't have money problems. But before they went anywhere, she had to ask one question.

"I almost forgot to ask, what's your name?"

[SINIB]

Sakura Matou

Sakura smiled and gently took her phone back from her servant. "I'll take that as a yes. Shirou, Rider, you want to see episode one?"

[SINIB]

Noel

Noel shook her head at Alpha. "I'm not human, but I don't see a problem with that, Alpha. I'm still a person, and I'm still me. What does it matter if I'm not strictly human?"

[Kotomine_Rin]

GAROU XIII

Garou smiled toothily, revealing a set of fangs. "Garou."

[Aiden]

Annabeth

The Hunter stared down at Ron, frowning as she found herself caught between indignation and a begrudgingly admittance that she was the one who'd said that they could do anything they wanted to. Furthermore, this did serve as evidence of his ability to think on his feet.

Or possibly an extraordinarily indecisive libido.

Keeping up the frown for a bit longer, Annabeth finally relented.

"No, but I think we've learned enough," the Hunter noted, getting up, "You're quite fit, reasonable in your hand-to-hand technique, and capable of thinking on your feet."

With that she held a hand out to him to help him back up.

"However," she continued, "Of greater interest was how your aura shifted when you threw me off. What were you feeling then?"

Ron

The werewolf wasn't sure why he suddenly felt the urge to hit something when Annabeth frowned at him just now. He hoped it wasn't the same kind of thing that led to him turning into some wolf monster thing like with seeing the full moon. That would be an overreaction for sure. Still, he reached up for her hand.

"It... shifted?" Ron asked her, blinking in confusion as he took her hand and allowed her to help him up. "If you mean that odd adrenaline burst that never really went away, then yeah, I guess something happened. Is that kinda like Nen?"

[Thedoctor]

Rikuyo

The blonde's manouver worked, as she managed to trip Rikuyo. She was faster, however she wasn't strong enough to stagger her opponent with direct hits, so it was a wise choice. But Rikuyo didn't give up. She knew that now she could casually shrug off many of Shinobu's hits before her harder than iron skin gave up. So she planned to stonewall her, looking for a chance to catch her off guard when she attacked her head on. The redhead fell to the ground and was open to the vampire's attack, but was she really defenseless now?

Shinobu

Her manouver had succeded and the redhead had fallen to the ground. The vampire quickly jumped as hard as she could, flying high up into the air, further aided by her wings. When she reached a great heigth, she turned around and fell down, flapping her wings in a way as to further increase her momentum. Her fall speed now far exceeded what she could normally acheive and she was coming down, intending to smash into Rikuyo like a meteor.

[Panda]

Ananbeth

The Hunter considered his response for a moment, shifting into Ten as she recalled that moment.

"Not at all," Annabeth said thoughtfully, "But if it's something you can do with whatever your power is, then we should pursue it nonetheless. It happened when I landed on your back earlier and you threw me off. Perhaps you could try remembering what you felt then and see if that does anything?"

[Aiden]

Ananbeth

The Hunter considered his response for a moment, shifting into Ten as she recalled that moment.

"Not at all," Annabeth said thoughtfully, "But if it's something you can do with whatever your power is, then we should pursue it nonetheless. It happened when I landed on your back earlier and you threw me off. Perhaps you could try remembering what you felt then and see if that does anything?"

Ron

"No, that's the thing - it doesn't seem to have... worn off," he said, flexing one of his arms in demonstration. It was pretty buff right now, but not moreso than usual on that front. "Yet, anyway. I feel kinda like I've burned through something I'm not getting back 'turning it on' though. I got that sense when I changed shape too, back when we first met."

The werewolf glanced around the warehouse, sniffing the air twice. It still smelled a little like fish, damn it all.

[Kat]

ALPHA

Alpha barely had to consider it a second before answering, both for herself and for Noel.

"We're human." She crossed her arms, defending her statement before a rebuttal. "It doesn't matter what some idiot calls us, or how we were born, we're human down from the very day we starting living like it."

Alpha got up to look out the window, anticipating the ambulance.

"And that counts for you too, Mordred. It doesn't matter how much you changed since you were born. You only ever stop being human once you stop acting like one."

For some reason, for some purpose, Alpha refused to look either of them in the eye when she said this, keeping her gaze outside. Every word, however, was heartfelt in its tone and delivery.

Noel

Noel shook her head at Alpha. "I'm not human, but I don't see a problem with that, Alpha. I'm still a person, and I'm still me. What does it matter if I'm not strictly human?"

Mordred

"Heh, I guess so, even if I don't remember my past as a human. I've done my best to fit in, and do like normal humans. That probably makes me more human than a dragon, right?" The changeling agreed with her companions. She was also a knight, and thus it was natural of her to stand on the side of justice. So she would eventually find Ragna and make it so that he would be held responsible for his actions. When she was better prepared.

Before she got lost in her thoughts, she could hear the ambulance in the distance. "Uhh, it will be so awkward if they look on me weirdly. I'll bear it, but hope it will pass sooner than later..."

She also couldn't help, but notice strange animals crawling where the grass grew. Either she was hallucinating, or her going full power had certain consequences. Damn, she knew weaker hobs could survive out of Hedge even for long periods of time. From now on animal life of the city would be slightly more varied.

And the cat that Noel had adopted already tortured a pink mice to death, bringing a trophy before them.

"Ughh, who takes the kitty? They gonna take Noel to the hospital, so somebody should look after it for now"

[Kat]

Shinobu 

Her manouver had succeded and the redhead had fallen to the ground. The vampire quickly jumped as hard as she could, flying high up into the air, further aided by her wings. When she reached a great heigth, she turned around and fell down, flapping her wings in a way as to further increase her momentum. Her fall speed now far exceeded what she could normally achieve and she was coming down, intending to smash into Rikuyo like a meteor.

Rikuyo

Crap, she was fast. After regaining her composure, all Rikuyo could was to roll over to avoid the impact, her plan to catch her off guard all for nothing. Even she didn't feel like risking taking that head on. The impact shook the ground enough to indirectly hurl her away, but she recovered quick enough as it didn't hurt her at all, thanks to her harder than steel skin.

"Oi, that too was a cool move." She praised the vampire. "I'd had been in dire straights if I didn't move out of the way.

[Thedoctor]

Shinobu

The blond vampire slowly rose from the crater she had made, her broken bones from the impact snapping into place. "So much for a quick way to win." she said to herself before turning to the redhead.

"You still have not attacked me a single time, could it be that you are too scared?" The vampire grinned at the redhead as she said it. Always being on the offense had started to bore her and she was interested in what the redhead would do.

[Knick]

Nanashi

Her eyes fixed on the distorting stomach, if this guy didn’t have any ideas then. Damn it was there anything she could do. All she could do was make fire, and fire would not be able to help with this thing, it was a monster IN someone.

It’s not like she could make the fire pass…

Wait.

Her eyes went wide as she looked at her hands. It was a long shot, but she could do it. She could kill this thing without killing the girl. Well, hopefully.

She closed her eyes for a moment, focusing her spiritual energy to her palms, and was about to move and place them on her distorting stomach before she heard it.

A wet sound echoed though the alleyway as a horrid smell assaulted her senses. Rotting fish, flesh, blood, pus, sewage, it was almost like a combination of all of them but at the same time worse in every way. It took everything she had to not throw up on the spot, only accomplishing that by the sight of what emerged from the girl making her freeze from the shock.

Her body trembled as she saw what emerged from it; a monster would be so simple to describe it, an abomination to lenient. Everything was wrong about it. Space bent around it, realms shifted and teared, and that was not even getting into its appearance. The scales, unnatural form. Everything was wrong about it.

Nanashi quickly scrambled to her feet and backed up, a look on her face that could only be described as shock, horror, and disgust.  She quickly glanced at the woman, only to see something emerging from her flesh to stitch her back together. And a cold and horrible realization dropped like a rock in her stomach.

“Oh, Inari blessed.” She mumbled, her voice trembling and body shaking, realizing just then she had basically accelerated this thing’s emergence. And so she raised her fist and let her energy begin pooling, ready to attack at a moment’s notice.

Fiona

Fiona smiled at the woman’s reassurance. Good, she was ok. That took a weight of her heart. Her subsequent question made her pause however, as her head tilted in confusion slightly.

“Well, Ms. Brigida, I’m Fiona, it’s nice to meet you.”  Fiona gave the woman a warm smile with her greeting. But there was still some hesitance. “But, what do you mean I can help you?”

It seemed weird how highly specific she was, saying she was looking for who was causing the plants. It’s not like plants can help them get home. Did they want her for access to the garden? How did they even know about it?

It was weird, but she would give them benefit of the doubt. It was the least she could do for someone so desperately trying to get home. She could understand that feeling.