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

[Cherry Lover]

Shirou

Instead of following after him as asked, the adorable creature simply ran in front of Shirou, wagging its tail like a dog and making noises. For a moment, a look of annoyance came over Shirou's face, but he rapidly buried it. After all, he didn't want their relationship to start off on the wrong foot and, besides, the creature was just too cute to be mad at. So, instead, he stopped walking, looking down at the creature with confusion.

"Yes, boy?" he asked, kindly, bending down to give his new pet a quick stroke. "What is it?"

[Kat]

Mitsuba

She still tried to call out to her in attempt to steer her? A for the effort, but that simply didn't work on her. However, Mitsuba had also no hesitation about taking his life. Even if she was more intent on cautiously defending herself. However, if she saw a proper opening, she would exploit it and counter attack with a lethal efficiency. The fact that her body was enhanced beyond what was impossible for her without shifting to her true form didn't mean that she could afford being careless. After all, she didn't know anything about the capabilities of her opponent. On another hand, just standing there wasn't too productive. So she performed a strike in order to test how her opponent would defend himself, ready to withdraw back if the situation required so.

[Kat]

Anastasia

"Huh, what you can't eat, then?" Anastasia asked with curiosity. After all, being allergic wasn't too common back in her place. People ate all sorts of things and those who couldn't get accustomed often perished from being sickly. Only the rich could afford being picky about what they ate. But again, why a rich person would run a tavern in first place? There was something odd about Forest. Of course, she didn't have her latent magical ability in mind, Anastasia just thought that someone rich enough to develop an allergy must have been eccentric to do something that lower classes were expected to.

[yinsukin]

Relius

The blade appeared to be doing something to its user, perhaps enhancing it in some way.  However, this made the assassin's next move predictable, especially since he already calculated the blade's range.  The second her muscles twitched, he ducked, narrowly avoiding her quick strike.  In the meantime, he raised his arm forward at her and an enormous puppet spear spawned from his cape and flew towards her kneecap.

That speed needed to be dealt with before her strikes become more erratic.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lorenzo Remei

Lorenzo shrugged as the coat he had so generously given to her was tossed back at him. With a fabulous motion, he put it on top of his shoulders like an imposing cape. Meanwhile, he was certainly impressed with Medaka's words. She had grown so much...

But she had still much to learn. So he turned dramatically to the blonde girl and grinned like the handsome devil he was.

"...oh well. Your loss! Though I suppose it is fitting for the captain to have the most clothes. With two for I, one for my first mate lady Medaka, that leaves none for you... the swabbie. Any objections lass?"

[Kotomine_Rin]

RED Dummy

"Oh yeah? Well, in that case, I will call you..."

She tried really hard, she really did, but in the end Dummy couldn't come up with a good comeback. So instead, she sulked in defeat, crushed and hopeless until she got bored of it. Yawning, she blinked before looking back at her weird friend sheepishly.

"Soo, what do you do?"

[Aiden]

Sakura Matou

"Mhm. Of course." Sakura said, resting her hands on her bulging stomach as she led him past the entryway. Inside was a pristinely clean living room with a white carpet and a comfortable looking couch, with a nice solid coffee table sitting about a foot in front of it.

Past the living room one could see a sliding glass door leading to a balcony on one side, and a dining area which led into a kitchen on the other, and finally a hallway that presumably led to the bedrooms and bathroom.

"I hope this is fine, this definitely isn't my best property." Sakura said, her truthfulness unclear. Was she boasting, or being serious. Only she knew.

Ron

It had a balcony? That was a dangerous thing in the Nexus; too easy to get into. On the other hand it was a convenient emergency exit too. And the neighborhood was supposedly one of the nicer ones, right? Well, he would have to take a look around for that later. He took a quick walk through, sniffed around, and while he did that he asked important questions.

"Well, I'm definitely impressed. Does it come furnished like this?" Questions like this one.

Sakura Matou

Sakura nodded. "Of course! Why wouldn't it, it's not like you could steal it when I can enforce it through a magical contract, after all. Of course if you don't want to sign that sort of thing, you can provide your own furniture. By the way, this apartment has two bedrooms, and one bathroom. Do you think that'll be enough space?"

Ron

"Well, looks like I get a furnished apartment then." He smiled and nodded to himself, then turned his attention to the bedrooms. "Hmm. Assuming the beds are a good size then yeah, that should work. And the bath... you don't have any problems with hot water here, right?" Because that had been an issue lately. One of them would use up all the hot water taking a shower and the next thing you knew someone was miserable.

[Panda]

Michael

As expected, the loss of half of a blade didn't seem to daunt her in the slightest, her remaining sword coming out to weigh in on the attack as well. Her use of the broken shards of her other sword, however, brought a smile to the immortal's face.

Well, she's not quite as hopeless as I thought.

To her credit, a lesser fighter would've been utterly cornered here, and the feint certainly didn't help matters. Even with his Enhancement, blocking both the shrapnel and her blade should have been out of the question. However, in that moment, it seemed once more as if Michael was somehow praying in this moment.

With no intent betraying his motion and no indication otherwise, the staff spun in his hands, impossibly fast as he moved with that familiar preternatural grace and fluidity. Knocking away the shrapnel, his staff whistling through the air, Michael met her feint with one of his own aimed for her hand to distract from the true attack, meeting her blade head on with that fluid grace and speed. Had another been observing, however, they might have been forgiven for thinking that there were two staffs in that moment, one heading for her hand and the other for her blade.

[SINIB]

Sakura Matou

"Mhm. Of course." Sakura said, resting her hands on her bulging stomach as she led him past the entryway. Inside was a pristinely clean living room with a white carpet and a comfortable looking couch, with a nice solid coffee table sitting about a foot in front of it.

Past the living room one could see a sliding glass door leading to a balcony on one side, and a dining area which led into a kitchen on the other, and finally a hallway that presumably led to the bedrooms and bathroom.

"I hope this is fine, this definitely isn't my best property." Sakura said, her truthfulness unclear. Was she boasting, or being serious. Only she knew.

Ron

It had a balcony? That was a dangerous thing in the Nexus; too easy to get into. On the other hand it was a convenient emergency exit too. And the neighborhood was supposedly one of the nicer ones, right? Well, he would have to take a look around for that later. He took a quick walk through, sniffed around, and while he did that he asked important questions.

"Well, I'm definitely impressed. Does it come furnished like this?" Questions like this one.

Sakura Matou

Sakura nodded. "Of course! Why wouldn't it, it's not like you could steal it when I can enforce it through a magical contract, after all. Of course if you don't want to sign that sort of thing, you can provide your own furniture. By the way, this apartment has two bedrooms, and one bathroom. Do you think that'll be enough space?"

Ron

"Well, looks like I get a furnished apartment then." He smiled and nodded to himself, then turned his attention to the bedrooms. "Hmm. Assuming the beds are a good size then yeah, that should work. And the bath... you don't have any problems with hot water here, right?" Because that had been an issue lately. One of them would use up all the hot water taking a shower and the next thing you knew someone was miserable.

Sakura Matou

"Huh? Of course not! What kind of place do you think I'm showing you?" Sakura asked a bit indignantly. "Unless someone uses a ridiculous amount of water or everyone tries to shower at once there shouldn't be a problem, don't worry about it. If you ever have an issue you should tell me so I can deal with it." She said, completely calm and friendly again.

[Thedoctor]

Shinobu

The blond vampire froze, all her movement coming to a halt. And then she turned slowly, a small smile adorned her cute face as she looked back at the fool of a pirate. "Hmmm...did you say something? Because it sounded to me like someone wanted badly to be put back into their grave. But I suppose that was just me hearing things. You would never say something like that to a lady like me would you?"

Her smile faded as she looked at him akin to a predator watching their prey, her golden eyes seeing piercing through him like dagger. "What a relief, I almost thought I had to do something rash and make my Medaka sad again."

[Aiden]

Forest of the Past

The tall blonde frowned at what she was sensing on the third floor.  She should have been able to read most of the minds of this building, even passively, but that third floor was blocking her.  With me getting just surface thoughts, I think whatever is up there is blocking me.

"I don't generally shoot humans, I prefer my fists and feet with some Joe Normal," Forest said before looking at him.  "I have a student who really loves taking out kneecaps back home.  He's kind of a sociopathic wanker though."

Then she pointed above her head and said, "So, I'm pretty sure the Big Bad is on the third floor and blocking me.   I should be able to pretty much read everyone's thoughts in this building, but I'm only getting surface glimpses.  However, look for a bald handsome man with light facial hair.  From what I'm seeing, he's the one we gotta worry about here."

Liam

"We all lose something of ourselves to this before the end." That was all it took for Liam to shrug off the thought of a sociopathic vampire. It was just about natural for their sort to put aside things like that unless they wanted to lose their minds. "But let's keep the shootin' to a minimum before we get to the top. Probably only had so much time before someone tries to pull a runner."

And indeed, Forest could feel people on the periphery starting to make use of their fire escapes. It was one of those moments where you had to curse people for following proper safety standards when building a place. But the ones in that room seemed to be... waiting, for something. And that is how the two vampires found their prey: four men with guns pointed right at the door, and a dark figure all cloaked in black standing back by an open window. Nobody opened fire just yet.

The shivering had nothing to do with the cold air coming in from outside.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Oren

"Well, Dummy, I do all kinds of stuff! But I usually just stay in the forest. The city can be all nasty and dirty sometimes, and the people are super rude!" She stuck out her tongue for a moment in distaste. "What do you do?"


Meti

What would save the sword master was not skill but sheer luck. She had noticed the movement of the feint, its perfect path through the air as the fragments of her blade spun away and moved to strike her hand. So she cast her sword down as she withdrew her hand.

Then with masterful balance one of her feet rose and caught the hilt of her sword between her toes and swung the sword in a perfect arc at the man's legs. Meanwhile her broken sword lashed out in vengeance, moving in jerky, serpentine movements that somehow failed to reduce its speed at all as it moved to cut Michael's arm straight off.

[yinsukin]

Medaka Kurokami

Medaka frowned.  She was being ignored, just so the two could quibble.  As usual, Shinobu was being needlessly confrontational.  As much as her confidence and spunk was something to be admired, she didn't want her two clostest companions fighting.

Medaka leaped onto the elder vampire, using the impact of her own boobs against the blonds back to cushion the hit.  "I cannot possibly be sad right now.  My favorite people in this city are with me!" she announced, a happy smile painted on her face as she wrapped her arms against Shinobu's slender waist.  She perked her head up, appearing right beside Shinobu's.

"Are you taking us somewhere Captain?"

Joe

Joe stared blankly at her as she explained what sounded like theoretical physics.  Although he wouldn't know, he only has a batchlor's degree in accounting.  Still, its not as though he couldn't understand any of it, just that it would probably take another explanation or two before he would really get it.  Either way, there were worse ways to get a lecture.

"Uh huh," he said absentmindedly, nodding his head.  "Well that explains why you didn't kill me.  You weren't in your world."  He lowered his eyebrows and squinted at her, intending to jokingly scold her for messing with him earlier.  "Which means you were messing with me earlier right?" 

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

When Michael had looked at him, he couldn’t help but shudder for a second. Perhaps his heart would have throbbed as he realized just what his eyes had meant. That look… Even that obsolete puppet would have the audacity to look down on him with this revolting pity. It was enough to drown his heart in rage, but then again, it was one of the few things he could still feel.

But he knew that his cause was true, that in the end he was right and correct. That alone, the way he saw the world, mattered.  Everything else might as well be rubbish make believe. It might as well all be a dream, but if one single person believed it to be reality, then perhaps everything is not as it seems.

So he watched, and observed, and perhaps without even realizing he frowned. What he witnessed was flawless exchange of skill, and perhaps an interesting turn of events. That is, if that man’s reluctance didn’t make it so sour. Even now, he had yet to bare his fangs. Or perhaps a child was too much for him to handle, mhh?

No, it was more than that. The sounds of this clash simply rang… hollow to him. One might as well have plastic dolls whack at one another until one drops dead. Of course, the victor had been decided from the beginning. There was no emotion, no passion, just a cheap sordid tale he had witnessed so many times it made him sick.

But perhaps there was a chance, as small as it was, that a swift stroke of the blade might change the course of fate. Very well, he would see this little play to the end.

[Aiden]

Neptune

"There's always an audiance for the Protagonist of protagonists!" Neptune suddenly shouted as she jumped to her feet. Taking a look around her she saw that dogoo's in the area were all but defeated. The giant dogoo was a big mess at this point, not much would be required to finish it.

"Hehe...I forgot to tell you earlier. Dogoo's aren't just the most common monsters, they're pretty weak too, like the weakest actually....I just felt like pushing you down earlier for dramatic effect you know." She paused for a moment as she looked a bit embarassed. "You aren't mad are you Gaddy? I've never had any guy friends before...they were all total fanboys or bad guys."

Gadreel

As an aside, the fallen angel finished the unfortunate creature off with a sideways sweep of his sword arm. The rest of his attention was on Neptune and her more authentic display of near-contrition. His head tilted to the side just slightly. "Mad? No, I could not say I am. My ego is not so fragile that a little theatrics could bruise it. Were it so, I would be the rather curmudgeonly sort you had briefly taken me for."

Then Gadreel smiled. "Besides, it was rather fun."