Cross Effects 3.0 - June 23, 2016—April 02, 2018

[Thedoctor]

Shinobu

The elder vampire let out a tired yawn as she half heartedly listened to the ongoing discussion. She moved closer to the younger as she stretched her body as far as she could, almost reaching the height of the werewolf before coming down.

"I trust the three of you can handle this situation adequately, so I will be taking a rest now. The sun does not quite agree with me." With that she slipped into Medaka's shadow, not leaving anything behind besides a lingering scent of doughnuts.

[Kat]

Mordred

"One for each? You're surely are burning through the food as if you had more than one stomach." Maybe both Sakura and Breeze gained more stomach from radiation exposure. Breeze did say she lived in a city where people mutated. She called the waitress and ordered two of those cakes.

[yinsukin]

Relius Clover

It took a while to walk across the room given how big it was but he finally arrived in that other room, shutting the door behind him.  It was a storage room, housing all of the toys he had built to help him with experiments.  He grabbed two remotes, one that detonates the explosives in the other room and another that manages the various traps hidden throughout the lab.  He also grabbed a few other part for Vanguard's body.  He placed each item within a pocket of his cape.  The door gently closed as the puppeteer walked out of the room.

"Do not remove yourself from the table Vanguard.  There is still plenty of work that I must attend to regarding your body."  He called out, taking care not to yell.  The mostly hollow room they were in would carry his voice.  There was no need to yell.

[yinsukin]

Medaka Kurokami

Ron's hair lightly brushed Medaka's face as she considered her options.  As long as Rikuyo cooperated, they would be able to distinguish him from the crowd of people.  The only problem was how to narrow down his whereabouts.  She knew next to nothing about his past and as far as she knew, he would take anyone's soul as long as they were willing to give it to him.

"Its not that he is particularly dangerous in terms of attacking power, it is more that he is impossibly evasive.  When we confront him, we will have to trap him if it comes down to a fight."

Shinobu let out a stretch before heading into her shadow.  Even though she was technically "leaving," it was always comfort in having her there.  It was as though a dark angel was watching over her.  With a deep breath she took in the now comforting smell of doughnuts.

"There is another issue.  You two might have to be the ones who defeat him.  Because he has my soul, he can manipulate my mind.  But I have faith in you two."  She said warmly. The next thing would be to discuss other options for tracking him down.  The young vampire had some ideas but she would wait for their response before changing topics.       

[Umbra of Chaos]

Erica

Slowly relaxing, but still refraining from floating as normal, Erica returned to the rest of the dishes. She was still simmering as she ate, and she relished in that. Angrily eating was different from normally eating. More swallowing and ruminating than just thinking upon the taste.

She ran a hand through her still blonde hair and smiled in satisfaction. That had felt good, telling him that he was wrong. Erica finished an entire pot of soup in one go. Besides, what did someone like that know? If you could not think of the person you loved and... Feel happy. Be happy. No matter what happened. To hold onto the memories that made everything worth it.

The blue haired girl felt a strange warmness in her face and knew her cheeks were red even though they really shouldn't have been. And it persisted even after had hair had turned blue again.


Paladin

A noble? That was good! Many of the nobles of the south had grown fat and opulent, and they disregarded the tenants that Stribog had placed upon them and all those in authority. The duties they had to make sure to fulfill. After all, even privilege came with its own price.

"Then it is a pleasure to meet you, Count Julius. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I don't suppose you've felt anything malicious here? I've had a feeling that something was wrong her but I could not tell what." Subtly, the paladin relaxed. This was something familiar, almost. Nobles and bands of warriors riding out to purge evil were not uncommon back home.

[Aiden]

Ron

He couldn't actually see Shinobu disappear, but he could definitely smell the difference between 'really here' and 'not here' after a moment. He let out a short, "Huh," and left it at that. Figures the older vampire would be the type to let them do all the work themselves. Not a bad way to teach - micromanaging never helped.

He smiled and reached up to pat Medaka's head when she said she trusted them with this. "Well I'm still not entirely sure what's happening, but I'll do my best. We'll need to split up to cover more ground if we're going to find him at all though. I have a pretty good nose." Ron tapped said nose. "So if you know anything, like where he lives, or places he's been, I can track him that way. I just need the scent."

[Aiden]

Mordred

"One for each? You're surely are burning through the food as if you had more than one stomach." Maybe both Sakura and Breeze gained more stomach from radiation exposure. Breeze did say she lived in a city where people mutated. She called the waitress and ordered two of those cakes.

Auspicious Breeze

"Ahh, one of my mistress' servants had two stomachs actually! Or was it a camel hump...? Eh, all I know is they could eat a ton and then not eat again for a long time and they'd be fine." She grinned at the memory, then shook her head. "Not me, though. I'm just always up for being fed by cute girls~."

[Kat]

Julius

Polite and friendly, he was already fond of those two. The knight even didn't disregard his title in spite of Julius' humble appearance. He had no wealth anymore to dress like a lord.

"It is my honor to meet you too, Lady Emiya." The courteous knight didn't reveal his name, but he didn't feel need to ask further about his identity. He maybe vowed to not reveal his true identity. Julius then continued, answering the knight's question. "I have been experiencing visions in my dreams about whatever or whoever may lurk here, and the closer I am to the threat I may better sense its malice. I am confident that the closer we are to what we seek, the easier it shall be track it down."

The Count was quite sure that the knight was a fine warrior, but was curious what such a lady was doing here, searching for the monster? His first guess was that she could have been a sorceress, warrior women were still an exception to the rule in Julius' mind. "Forgive my curiosity, Lady Emiya, but are you a sorceress? Magic certainly would be helpful if this threat cannot be vanquished merely by strength of one's arms."

[Kat]

Petra

"Even if they get intimidated for now by our action, it's only a matter of time if they gather under a banner of another gang leader, or strike out on their own to form smaller groups. I say we should ambush small fries and undermine the capability of whoever leads them to gain further profits from their endeavour. That could also force their hands to confront us, potentially." Petra commented on Liam's proposition. Of course, the boss of the group could evade them instead of seeking confrontation, but she thought that such a gamble was worth it.

[Kat]

Minato

"Ah, yes, it's quite rough there, but I know how to meander through such a rough river without crashing." That involved pushing her competition so they crashed into rocks or fell into the river. With her experience as an assassin, undermining her rivals was quite trivial. "So, what is your job, if I may ask?"

[Kat]

Rikuyo

So that's how she evaded her attack back then. So all along the speed in her Kirin form was simply superior and she was forced to use such measure. If a speed superior to (some) Gods couldn't ultimately defeat him, she had to search for another solution. Maybe without shadows she wouldn't be able to hide.

But dealing with that ramen guy was more pressing and immediate issue. "If I use an attack that could catch him in a large blast, maybe he won't get away. And I could hold ya at bay if he used such cheapass trick. Or Ron-kun could, after I train him. Maybe you'll get better at using your forms with what I've in my mind. Ya won't get noticeably better in one day, but it still won't hurt ya much to start."

How Ron-kun could recognize his scent though. Oh, wait a minute... "Say, I got something from him one day and left it at my mountain shack, ya should give it a try and check if ya can track him."

[yinsukin]

Medaka Kurokami

Medaka nodded in response to Rikuyo's suggestion and Ron's suggestion.  She appeared to be pretty resourceful.  "It is not a cellphone right?"  The young vampire asked.

Joe

Ok good job.  Now just dont sound like a complete loser and try to salvage this conversation.

“Oh my job?”  He said averting his eyes for a moment.  The moment he remade eye contact, he gave Minato a friendly smile. “Im an accountant.  I crunch numbers for a company that set up shop down the street.  Its kinda boring and meaningless, mostly just basic data crunching.  But I am pretty good at and it pays well enough.”

He glanced down at the menu, both looking for what to eat and taking a break from his date’s lovely eyes.  “I was thinking about applying to the station down the street.”  He said, reestablished eye contact. “ They are not enforcers or anything cool like that but I thinking working for them will give me more of a sense of purpose you know?”  He finished with a bit of light coming to his face.

Then, he stood up.  "Have you figured out what you want?  You have to order at the counter here.  But don't worry, ill take care of it." He said with a gentle voice.

[Kat]

Rikuyo

"The fuck's a cellphone?" Rikuyo asked in confusion. "Ron-kun, what the fuck she means?"

[Aiden]

Oren

Hmm. Hmmmmmmm. Oren got shoved in a bit deeper but by this point there wasn't much flushing going on now. It was a bit icky but she was starting to expand. Thankfully, the sword girl hadn't just started cutting through everything to get at her! Although that sound of breaking ceramic didn't sound good.

Good thing she was done! Scales rippled across the dark surface as she rapidly expanded. A wave of house was displaced as a dragon burst out of the side of it. Her claws smashed into the floor and her mere movements sent the puppets flying as she smashed her way through the crumbling building.

Muramasa Katase

The loss of puppets to the rampaging... dragon, it seemed, was somewhat irritating. It was similar to having one's hair pulled out: it stung for a brief moment and left one a touch sore. Katase quickly reclaimed the dispersed energy that constituted them and reinforced its primary shell's bones and armor. It was all to prepare for the true attack, which required it to place itself right between the dragon and the way out.

Then it was just a matter of meeting the enemy's charge in kind right until the last minute. At that point it smoothed out the metal of its armor just enough to drop down to the ground and keep going. Its shell would use her momentum to slide underneath the dragon's belly and cut it open.

[Thedoctor]

William

Ah but you see, I am giving you something in return, you just can't see it yet. The job is truly amazing and you will be thankful to me for giving it to you. Not just because of the importance of it but also for the thing that comes with it. The one thing we're all searching for to some degree whether we know it or not. And that thing is freedom."

He stepped back somewhat as his voice got deeper and more commanding yet also carrying a promise. A promise of something. "I will be granting you freedom. Freedom in it's purest and most raw form, free from all the restraints that bring you down. Freedom to do that which you so desire."