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

[Umbra of Chaos]

Meti

A minor cut. How disappointing. Her head snapped back at the hit and the crunch of her nose probably breaking resounded clearly in her ears. Sweet pain blossomed across her face but the look she gave the man holding her arm was particularly uncaring. She didn't speak. What were words to a sword? But that look said all that needed to be said.

I will grow sharper than you

[Elf]

Gabriel

"Sounds like your source of information was seriously misinformed," Gabriel said with a sigh and a shake of his head.  "Sadly, finding a reliable source of information can be very troublesome.  Once you find it, you would do well to cultivate it and keep it loyal."

He then reached for the business card, curious to see if she'd let him take it.


Rin

"You're lucky you didn't get cursed then considering how virulent some werewolf bites can be," Rin said inspecting the scar.

She wondered if the werewolf was a weak one.  A normal wolf bite could be devastating, and some werewolves had supernatural prowess to add to that.  She wondered if he knew how lucky he was because he wasn't cursed or infected.

She also noted she had more muscle tone than him.

"You're also lucky that the damage wasn't that bad," Rin said as she stepped away.  "Compared to something like this."  She rolled up her top and pulled down the waistband on her shorts enough to show him the scar from the knife wound when Sakura had stabbed her all of those years ago.  She had healed all of the internal damage, but she had made sure to keep the scar as a reminder.


Forest

The blond took note of Liam's little crack about the people they were about to ruin their night's eating Italian.  She wondered if he had an aversion to garlic.  It was an annoyance at worse to her, not anything that could cause permanent damage due to her age.  However, itchy burning wasn't any fun for anyone, even if she could rapidly heal from it.

"Hopefully none of the folk in there are wanna-be Van Helsings and the like," Forest said as she folded her arms over her chest and frowned.  She tilted her head thoughtfully and grinned.  "However . . . There's something I can do that would definitely distract them."

[Panda]

Michael

He couldn't say he was entirely surprised. The man had struck him as the bitter sort, and he couldn't say he was surprised that the girl wanted to be sure their words actually meant something. While he couldn't blame the child for doing things in the simplest way she knew how, he felt no guilt about letting his disappointment in the older man be felt. In a flash of movement, their positions had changed, the man having just slugged the child full in the face and having acquired a decent, if shallow, cut in the bargain.

All the same, the look in the child's eyes told him everything he needed to know, and if things hadn't been spoiled by how badly the older man was taking it, he might have smiled. That clear desire to surpass him was all too familiar to the immortal, but that was a tale for another time.

"Well, I can't say this is surprising," the immortal said simply, "But don't you think you're being a little too rough, even if you're taking her seriously? Ah well, patching you two up won't be too much trouble."

[Panda]

Annabeth

The Hunter let him take the business card, not seeing much point in holding onto it. She had more, and maybe he was someone useful. Hell, maybe he was someone with eyes and ears in the right places like what she needed at this point. Taking another drink of her brandy, the Hunter slipped her hat off her head and put it down on the bar next to her glass.

"Yeah, sounds about right," Annabeth said with a sigh, "Looks like the one I had wasn't very reliable though."

With that, the cowgirl allowed a chuckle, deciding to try her luck anyway, "Say, you wouldn't happen to know anyone like that, would you?"

Not like she had anything to lose in doing so.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Malcolm

For a second, Malcolm pictured her undressing. The horror.

"No. Um, uh, you look fine!" He objected, but suddenly realized what he just said. He blushed a little and gritted his teeth. Damn, damn, damn! Why couldn't she make things easy for him dammit!? Now he sounded like a total creep.

"N-not that I mean anything by that! They're good clothes, they fit you well. Not that there's anything special to fit in there, but  they look resistant. Yes, resistant! If they got dirty, they'd be easily replaceable, just like you!"

Goddammit. Now he was just being a dick. Shit!

"Erm, I mean, it's a nice color. Blue suits you, it's like a soothing mountain. It brings out the shape of your body nicely. No! I mean, fuck it. N-not in that way, okay!?"

Finally defeated by himself, he just looked down, crushed and hopeless. At this point, he'd rather have that asshole terrorist barge in and break his kneecaps. Yeah, compared to this hell, shitting in a hospital bed would be preferable.

"You know what? Let's just eat."

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

Vanguard met her defiant stare with his own blank one. How cruel, it was like glancing back at the past, reading a passage of a book he had witnessed far too often. And yet, he smiled. Her arrogance, her ambition, her insolence, it was all too foolish. He would ridicule it for as long as he lived, and yet...

That foolishness, he did not dislike it.

"Too rough? Nonsense." He said calmly, almost casually. Like he was bantering with an old friend. "She came with me with such spirit, any less would have been an insult. Even someone like me will die if I lose too much blood. Well, if it's just this, it shouldn't be too much trouble."

He rubbed his wound carelessly with his free hand and gazed at his bloodied hand for a while. He licked the blood off, uncaring and unfazed as if entranced, still holding the woman with his hand. How kind of her, to share such a magnificent meal with him. He pulled her in and brought her closer to his chest, holding her still before pulling the hair from her face, caressing it.

"That was a good slash. It almost makes me feel bad for ruining such a beautiful visage. Almost. Do you have a handkerchief?"

[Umbra of Chaos]

Meti
 
The sharpness of her visage was wiped away as she was pulled closer to the stranger. "Bwuh?" She began to fidget and her face grew a bit more red at all the contact before nodding at the request. "Well, I have something that might work."

She let go of her sword and as it spun through the air her foot lashed out and kicked the hilt sending it spinning up into the air. As it moved it cut off a strip of green cloth from her outfit without even scratching her.

Then Meti grabbed the piece of clothing and held it up to him as the hilt of the sword landed perfectly back into her grip. "Here."

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

Vanguard looked surprised at her display, shocked even, then smiled and accepted the piece of cloth. "You really are an idiot, aren't you?" He said, but even with this derision there was a sort of warmth to it, like he was longing for something.

He held the handkerchief up her face and wiped the blood off her face carefully, rubbing it sternly, gently, with much care in order to not hurt her. 'The nose has a multitude of blood vessels, it is important to clean wounds to the face. If not, you might die."

In a bit, the blood had cleared from her face, and by then he was just pressing the wounds to keep them from bleeding. After a bit, he stopped and sighed, not even minding his own wet wound, now surrounded by stained red clothes. He turned to the man and put a hand on his hip before giving him a curious look.

"You never did give me a name."

[Panda]

Michael

The immortal shook his head with a little smile on his face, crossing his arms for a moment before reaching into a pocket and retrieving a roll of medical tape. Moving closer to the older man as he tended to the girl's wounds, Michael gave him a quick look over to evaluate what would have to go. Not much, but this was actually a good cut. Nonetheless, the way he went about tending to her told the immortal far more than any of the words that had passed between them thus far.

"And you've failed to do the same," Michael said, "Michael will suffice, now hold still."

In that moment, the immortal's focus sharpened and his hand was a blade, slicing away a neat little rectangle of the man's bloodied clothes. Taking a moment to wring the cloth out, the immortal quickly went about lessening the bleeding by applying pressure to the cut. Once it had gone down enough, he applied the makeshift bandage and tied it down with the medical tape, wrapping over the cloth several times as he secured it with a practiced touch. He'd dealt with far worse wounds than this during his years, both to himself and to others, but all the same a little practice never hurt.

With the man taken care of, Michael turned to the burned girl, looking over his fellow's work for a moment.

"Okay, your turn now," the immortal said, "Hold still."

With that, the immortal took hold of her nose and, with a well-practiced touch that was both firm and gentle, carefully straightened out her broken nose to ensure it would heal well before securing it in place with more cleverly applied tape.

[SINIB]

Shirou

Shirou rolled his eyes momentarily at the obvious advertising slogan. Nevertheless, her next words had him interested. He knew Sakura would love to have a pet to look after, and anything which could help them fight would be extremely beneficial. And, despite the fact that the girl was obviously not Sakura, Shirou couldn't help but find himself inclined to trust her, particularly since she seemed nice enough.

"Oh, really?" he said, obviously interested. "Sakura would love a pet, and we could do with a companion who could fight alongside us."

Oka Kurosawa

Oka nodded. "Yup, that's easy enough." She said to him in her most professional voice.

Yes, I got a bite! Oka cheered internally.

Oka pulled out a small pamphlet from inside her bag, and handed it to Shirou. Inside it was a list of all the pokemon she was selling with types, pictures, and prices. "Have a look."

[Umbra of Chaos]

Meti

The sword master began to fidget and blush at all the touching. It was all so forward! She didn't even know these people. "You guys really don't care about personal space, do you? By the way, I'm Meti. Then she tilted her head towards her cart. "And those are all the sword I've taken from people who don't deserve them."

[Kat]

Rikuyo

"Wow, ya are surely takin' someone snatchin' a can of soda so seriously. I'm not settin' this place on fire or waterboardin' folks." Yet. "Are ya goin' to start counting or I'll do it for ya, black man? One..."

Those allies of justice types were surely daft. She would do him a favor and count down herself so that he wouldn't fry that brain of his. At least the woman was right that she didn't care in slightest whether the brawl would happen or not.

[Cherry Lover]

Sakura

Sakura watched as the Paladin drew his sword and approached the door of the building, following behind him at a safe distance, but close enough that she could still fulfill her role. She watched with some confusion as he kicked up the floorboards, revealing people who appeared to be without a face, presumably the work of the demon they were pursuing. In front of them stood the creature, who Paladin made an obviously-futile effort to arrest.

Knowing the battle was about to begin, Sakura began to summon up her shadow tendrils, the strands of blackness soon floating behind her. Then, as the demon responded to Paladin's demand with a blast of light which he blocked with his shield before phasing through the chair out of his reach, Sakura sprung into action, her shadow tendrils launching forward to attack the monster. Several of them went to spear it, whilst several more moved to bind it, and more still moved behind it, trying to stop it from retreating. As a form of magic, the spirit would find that it could not simply phase through them. At the same time, Sakura began to chant.

"Beschwöre einen Schattenbogen", she began, a bow-shaped piece of shadow materialising as she did so.

"Den abgedunkelten Pfeil aufladen. Bereiten Sie zu schießen", she continued, a vortex of shadow appearing gradually, forming into the shape of an arrow.

Then, she waited for an opening, watching as Paladin moved around. Then, when she saw a gap where she was sure he would not be hit....

"Brand!" she shouted, the mass of shadow firing towards the creature at high speed.

The shadow she had formed would likely not harm Paladin seriously even if it hit him. However, with the anti-spirit properties of her magic, she was sure it would cause serious damage to the demon, if not kill it outright.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

Vanguard raised a curious eyebrow at the girl. Personal space? Ah, he did stomp on that other one for a similar thing, although it was less the touching and more the unpleasantness. He supposed he could be more mindful of it next time. But that question, it was troubling but he felt the words come out a little harder than usual.

Almost as if he wasn't sure what he was. He grit his teeth for a second, but not once did his expression betray him.

A shadow of a shadow. A ghost so defined by its failure that it can't remember a single victory, and so desperate to prove that there was no other option that it attempts to convince everyone else to writhe on the ground with it.

How foolish, for such insects who did not know, who did not understand anything, to define him. It was ridiculous, it was insolent, it was infuriating.

You're a tin man, who's just a soul and armor.  You don't get cold.

He had once wanted to be a hero. That was the truth, and yet he could not even save a girl on a whim.

Yes, gentle.  You blatantly wear the aura of a warrior.  Even if you choose to wear the skin of a savage, your essence is kind.

His fist clenched for a second, and at the moment he realized he was still quite annoyed. Annoyed mostly at himself, because he had just realized the answer was that simple. Even now, it didn't change. His angers, his frustrations, his hate, it was all as meaningful as a grain of sand. Acting on it was no more worthwhile than discarding it.

Vanguard smiled, in the end he was still himself. Hero? Villain? Whatever title came afterwards didn't matter. What mattered was that he was still alive, that he was still himself.

"You can call me Vanguard."

[Aiden]

Sakura Matou

"I wouldn't say that either, Rider." Sakura said, wrapping her arms around her servant's waist. "You're my cute servant, after all." Sakura said with a cheerful voice and no hint of jokingness in her voice.

"So what do you do for a living, Ron?"

Ron

The werewolf glanced between the two purple-haired women and kinda wondered at what was going on there. Servant, really? Were they in some kind of relationship that involved roleplaying? He shook his head, because honestly it wasn't his business. What was his business was talking about his business!

"Mostly, I fix things and do little renovation projects for people in the neighborhood. Carpentry, electric, I sometimes even do a little plumbing! Not really a specialist in anything, but with a little time and effort..." He trailed off, smiled, and reached into his wallet to pull out his business card, passing it along the table for them. "... I can always give it a go."

Sakura Matou

Sakura gently pocketed the card after looking at it for a few seconds. "A handyman, huh? I might have some work for you in the future." Sakura said to him cheerfully. With a house as old as hers, little things would often seem to just break down, and as handy as Shirou was, he wasn't able to fix everything. Plumbing seemed to be beyond him.

And sometimes, you just didn't want to deal with your problems yourself.

Ron

Work in the future? Well, it looked like today was a productive one for more than one reason now! Ron grinned and quietly pumped his fist by his side under the table. He was already thinking about what it could be she already had in mind. "Looking to renovate a bit for the new addition to the family?"

The drinks came out before either lady could answer. The werewolf murmured a "Thank you," and turned his attention back to Sakura and Rider.