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

[Elf]

Rin

This is completely insane!  I can't believe I'm actually doing this, Rin thought as she found herself on the docks with this Joe Joeson.  Maybe this guy isn't as "average" as he lets on . . .

Rin fumbled with her life jacket for a moment before she got it on.  "Thank you, but I think I got it figured out . . . so you say I might seem sweet, but what about you?  What if you try to do something?" she replied as her cheeks continued to be bright red.

[YOLF]

Malcolm Kimberlee

The mage glared at the detective silently, staring him down with all his contempt. But suddenly, something unimaginable happened. Something that would surprise even the most hardened men. The boy laughed. It wasn't a mad or a mocking laugh, in fact there was nothing overtly dramatic about it at all. It was the sort you'd expect from someone watching a comedic scene in a movie.

"Hey, hey, hey! I was kidding, kiiiidding! C'mon, haggle with me a little! Jeez, I swear if I keep playing tough, I really am gonna die. I might be foolish but I'm not insane, you know? I'm not gonna waste a chance like this, pride or not I wouldn't stay one second longer in this dump if I could help it."

No, that man had to truly be insane in order to joke like this, as if he was dancing with death and the mere thought of danger excited him. He was the sort of person who'd see a snapped arm as nothing more than a lost gamble, this whole thing was nothing more than a game to him.

Besides, he couldn't stay here, not after finding something so exciting. He was still alive, and so was that William. The game wasn't over just yet...

Henry Barthow

He stiffened under his coat, regarding the brazen challenger attitude of this wounded man with grumbled tolerance. Revising his evaluation, realigning the gears in his profile to account for this swing of bipolar whimsy when the initial response had been so thick in furious anxiety that it would have made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, had his perfect control not stopped that unexplained shock at the nerve. Had he misread him, or was Henry simply so gullible that a mask had convinced him there was nothing behind it? Or was the mask carved out of his own skin and tanned by hand, stitched to discarded and opposed sensations for volume?

The very picture of the gruff detective didn't have much to say about that. "Don't screw around like that when I'm trying to have an serious conversation," was all, followed by a swift recovery of his writing tools from his clothes.

The demon put down in text the conditions and the rewards of their agreement, with their schedule of detailed adjustment and time of realization respectively laid out in plain terms. When he passed it to Malcolm, all it lacked was his signature.

[yinsukin]

Joe

I can’t believe I just bullshitted my way through that.  I guess my hopeless optimism goes both ways. He thought to himself as he finally processed fully what had just happened.  Welp might as well go with the flow.

“..so you say I might seem sweet, but what about you?  What if you try to do something?”  He heard as his mind came back into awareness.

He smiled brightly at her.  “Don’t be silly.  I KNOW I wont try anything.”

All of the sudden, a man walked over to them.  “Alright, I see you two already have your life jackets. We lock the engine so people won’t steal them.  Here is the key.”  He said, holding out his hand and dropping it into Joe’s.  “Do you need help getting on the boat?”

“No thanks,” he said looking at Rin.  “I think we got this.”
 

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lorenzo Remei

Oof, what a lively lad, caught him with his pants down and unawares here. Luckily, he was nimbler than that. It would take an entire ship crashing on him to make him stumble. His little pet chirped around and landed back down, resting on his shoulder.

Lorenzo picked the hair from his bird's feet and twirled it around his flaming fingers, curiously enough it did not catch on fire. He looked back at the redhead, at the girl, then back at his prize. And burst into thunderous laughter.

"BWAHAHA!!! Nice catch!" He high fived his fiery familiar and performed an elaborate friendship handshake which somehow worked despite the latter having wings. Then, he turned towards the redhead and gave him a hearty friendly slap on the back.

"Oi, oi, oi! Why the long face pal? I'm not that bad of a guy, ya look like you shat the bed! Bwahaha!!"

The pirate then turned to face the girl and shrugged, suddenly turning more serious than he had been before.

"Look, even if I wanted to let her go, it's not so simple anymore. She's insulted me one too many times, if she was a lad I could've just settled it with a mighty fist. But breaking such a cute face, it would be underhanded, unmanly! Ungentlemanly even. It would hurt me right here." He said, putting his hand on his chest for emphasis.

"Life's like a pissing contest, the moment you back down everyone turns towards you. So I was planning to smash her with a few kegs of fine ale until she accepted, she's fun to tease like that. What to do..."

The pirate looked like he was deeply entranced in thought.

[Aiden]

Ron

It was quite the impressive place for something made out of stone! If they had more time the werewolf might have given it a more thorough looking-over, but for now they had someone to find. He assumed the form of a wolf as they grew closer; his senses were at their greatest when he was like that. Ron sniffed at the cell phone in Medaka's hand, then started to sniff around the perimeter of the castle grounds until he could find something similar.

It took maybe ten minutes, total, before he found what he thought was the scent. He let out a whine in the young vampire's direction, pointed with his face toward the woods, and started to scratch and sniff his way back into town. Soon they would definitely find this Theo guy for Medaka!


Okay, they weren't gonna be finding this Theo guy anytime soon. The trail died off in a messy blend of scents once they got into town. He had to duck into an alley for a moment and take human form, waving Medaka in closer so he could give her the news. "Alright, he was here but it's been a while. I can't keep up the scent." He shook his head in disappointment. "But if he's got anything distinctive about him we could ask the shop owners if they've seen him. Split up, meet back here in... well, sometime?"

[Break]

Coppelius

As per a message he had received shortly prior, Coppelius 'steps carried him to the dusty, antique shop of Relius Clover once again.

As he opened the door and stepped in, the familiar fragrance of old wood, mixed with the ever so slight sweetness of rot and blood welcomed him.

"Here I am, Mr. Clover! Are you there?" The puppet called out to the owner of the spacious locale.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

"Oh? And pray tell, where should I store said tools?" Vanguard scoffed sarcastically, perhaps still bitter about the loss of the castle. Now that all was said and done, he'd need a roof...

"Well, if you have no other need for me, I have no reason to stay. Although if I had to do so, I'd rather leave without feeling so...exposed. You offer such services here as well, don't you?"

Suddenly, he heard a voice calling out for his assistant. He smirked, how interesting. "My, it seems you have a visitor. Shall I greet him?"

[yinsukin]

Medaka Kurokami

Medaka finally turned around.  Her face was a visibly tired, not from walking but just from thinking about this place.  It would be nice to leave and not have to think about it too much.  It reminded her of THAT day.  Still, seeing Ron so egerly sniff about was refreshing and kept her spirits up.  She became more visibly animated as she followed him into the woods. 

Eventually, he lead them into town.  Then, he turned back into his human form, shaking his head in disappointment.  "If he's got anything distinctive about him we could ask the shop owners if they've seen him. Split up, meet back here in... well, sometime?"

Medaka nodded in response. She placed her hands under her chin as she tried to recall his features.  "The issue is that he can take any form he desires.  But he seemed to like being an old man with a monocle for some reason."  She said, dropping her hands to her sides.

She walked up to him, stepping into his personal space and resting her hand on his chest.  Her eyes seemed to have a subtle teary eyed quality as she stared into his.   "He uses magic, so it may be worth tricking him into showing some off for you.   In particular, see if he can shape shift."  She said in a stern voice, as if telling a babysitter how to take care of her child.  "Remember, if you have to fight him, try to catch him.  Even if your stronger than him, he can still overcome you with his shape shifting and quick wit."

The young vampire closed the gap even farther, pressing her breasts into his torso.  Her stare intensified, worry creeping into her face as she held back the tears.  "And most importantly, be careful and don't die.  I don't want something to happen to you too."  She said weakly before kissing him on the forehead.   

The blue haired girl finally separated from the werewolf and walked away.

Please dont die, either of you.

[Thedoctor]

Shinobu

"So I am the only one getting kisses on the lips."

The elder vampire's vampires voice could suddenly be heard from within Medaka's shadow. If anyone one else were there they wouldn't be able to hear it however. Perhaps it was a side effect of their bond.

The voice continued on sounding far more concerned this time. "I could come out again if you want to talk about it...Yes I suppose I should." The blonde once more emerged from the shadow. She didn't appear to have gotten much rest. All the worry Medaka felt must have made her unable to do it. Shinobu moved closer to the blue haired girl and hugged her. "Do not worry for things you have no control over, you will not gain anything from it but despair. Try to to think about what you could do instead. Everything is not lost yet Medaka." 

[Umbra of Chaos]

Lucy

Huh. Well that wasn't skeevy in the slightest. Well whatever. She was just about bored with him by now anyways. On the other hand, there was an entirely new person to check out, and he was an angel too! Angels were kinda rare, but angels that didn't recognize her were even more so.

So she pressed up against him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Something something you're my hero. Wanna go do something else?"


Oren

The dragon lurked for a bit longer now. That kind of hurt! Well kinda. Her tail wasn't that important. Maybe it was time to be a bit faster. So Oren swam back up so that she was at the edge of the surface. The earth beneath her feet solidified to form a concrete surface for her. Then she lunged up as her maw snapped at the woman's legs with crushing force before immediately retreating.

[Aiden]

Ron

He wasn't expecting any of that from Medaka, especially the kiss on the forehead, but he patted her on the head and nodded when she moved to leave with those teary eyes of her's. Ron smiled a bit to reassure her. "Don't worry, I'm pretty hard to kill. See you soon, Medaka." The werewolf watched her go while running everything she mentioned through his head a few times just to make sure he had it down. When she turned the corner he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, and moved to start his own search. He wasn't going to let her down, not after that earnest display of her's.

Let's start with the restaurants, then. Might as well grab some meat while I'm at it...


So he walked around looking for somewhere to eat and ask around, and hopefully get some answers. He checked his wallet, first to make sure it was still there and second to see how much he had. "That should be enough- oh! Excuse me." If not for his hearing he might have walked right into someone's back. He sniffed imperceptibly and took a step back. Two someone's, purple hair, didn't look dyed, one of them was pregnant. They looked pretty lost. "Do the two of you need some help? I know it can be pretty easy to get lost here."

[Aiden]

Gadreel

Starting a fight with this madman would be most foolish.

"Yes, I believe I would," he whispered to her. That being decided, the fallen angel decided that discretion was the better part of valor. By avoiding a fight he would lessen the likelihood of innocent people being hurt, or of the demon latching onto him from behind ceasing to restrain herself and innocent people getting hurt. He reached back, adjusted the girl's position so he could lift her up properly, and sprinted off to make his escape from the distracted skeleton.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lorenzo Remei

Just as he was thinking, she hugged him.

She hugged him.

Hugged him.

Lorenzo couldn't even believe it. This was impossible, this was a horror! Cute girls should be hugging him so why, how could this happen? Even for someone as cheerful, powerful and confident as him, the line had to be drawn somewhere. The flames of his body flickered and he crawled down into a fetal position, gazing down grimly like a prisoner awaiting death.

Am I so useless that I can't even love?

Perhaps he should just die here, pathetically. Without the thrill of boning, what was life? This was too cruel, he had burned ships, kidnapped, ransomed, pillaged, stolen and murdered... but this was too much.  Why would a merciful god forsake him so!? Why god? WHY!??

Wait, what was he doing!?? Were they trying to escape?? The burning skeleton captain himself turned around and nearly jumped at the sight of the deceitful lad Gadreel, carrying the girl away. No, he wasn't done. What the hell!? They cheated, they had taken advantage of his feelings and tried to sneak away like vermin scum. Unacceptable! With a fiery sprint the skeleton  swiftly got back on his feet and pursued the couple with a fiery sprint, even going as far as moving his arms around like some olympic runner.

"HEY! WAIT!!! DAMN SCOUNDRELSS!!!!!" He roared, slowly closing the distance as he raced forward, leaving a flaming trail behind that propelled him like a rocket, although not nearly as fast. But what he lacked in speed, he made up in desperation tenacity.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Lucy

Oh! Well this was fun! Much better than all that posturing and talking stuff. Now, all she needed to do was add just a little bit more excitement to the whole thing as she was carried away. So she righted herself a bit before pressing a kiss to the angel's cheek. Then the Messengers exerted their influence once more against the running skeleton so that he would seem changing direction.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lorenzo Remei

A kiss? How dare she!!?? Devil, devil! She was doing this on purpose simply to spite him, he was sure of it. He would never allow it!!!

Heh, to the right!? No matter, they couldn't escape! He just rushed through like a charging firestorm along the alleyways, glaring intensely at the horizon. Did they really think they could outrun the greatest pirate of them all, Lorenzo Remei!? Fooools!!!!

Huh? What the hell? He could've sworn they turned right, or was it left? What in tarnation, seven seas be damned! He gritted his teeth, they wouldn't lose him so easy. Terrified passerbys ran and leapt out of the way as Lorenzo began to accelerate, his feet and arms releasing more and more fire until he truly became a rocket, touching the walls of the alleyway he was following and sending the surge of fire trailing along its surface.

"Not a problem."

Soon, he noticed a lad carrying a bottle of alcohol. Grinning, he pitied the fool and charged forward, grabbing it  out of his hand while racing through the streets. Swiftly, he smashed it on the wall and what had once been a burning trail became a tremendous burst.

"Everything's just fine."

The alcohol burnt and spread all over like an explosion, and from the fire's womb a dozen of birds birthed like a phoenix. They spread and flew from every direction, darting over the entire street corner to recon the whole area and find the runaways.