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

[Kat]

Anastasia

Ars magus? Was this some foreign term? Anastasia didn't recognize it at all. "Uhh, I don't have a clue what this ars magus is. I just use elemental magic through magical energy in the environment. It's nothing too fancy, really."

Compared to some mages she was a blunt instrument even if she could control her powers to the point that she could avoid affecting her allies. But unlike them, she couldn't do stuff like creating intricate wonders of engineering or revitalizing fields and gardens. But she did her job well, and this was all that mattered.

"Did he or someone else make those things for you? They seem to be too convenient to be something simple." A tool for catching familiars that even a mundane could use must have been a creation of a genius.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Methuselah

Methuselah looked like he was deeply absorbed in his own thoughts, trying to come up with an answer to Rafalia's question. His eyes closed, his serene expression turned into an ominous, mischievous smile.

"Hmm, I could start with eating your chips."

As soon as he said that, a pitch black snake-like tendril emerged from his shadow and went straight for the prize, fully intending on snatching a good couple of tasty snacks from poor innocent Rafalia's bag, bringing them back in the palm of the culprit's hand. And it did, oh dear lord it did, much to the dismay of the witnesses and children. Without a shred of mercy or compassion, he devoured them one by one much like a demon devours daughters and wives.

" *crunch* Forgive my callousness, but allow me to answer your question with another question. *munch* What would you consider an ideal peace?"

The dark god turned to face her with his moon pale face, closed eyes staring at her expectantly.

[SINIB]

Anastasia

Ars magus? Was this some foreign term? Anastasia didn't recognize it at all. "Uhh, I don't have a clue what this ars magus is. I just use elemental magic through magical energy in the environment. It's nothing too fancy, really."

Compared to some mages she was a blunt instrument even if she could control her powers to the point that she could avoid affecting her allies. But unlike them, she couldn't do stuff like creating intricate wonders of engineering or revitalizing fields and gardens. But she did her job well, and this was all that mattered.

"Did he or someone else make those things for you? They seem to be too convenient to be something simple." A tool for catching familiars that even a mundane could use must have been a creation of a genius.

Oka Kurosawa

"I didn't make them, no, they're mass produced all over the world in pokeball factories." Oka said, pulling out a simple normal pokeball and tossing it at Anastasia. "And ah, I see. It doesn't seem like many people here are familar with Ars Magus, weird." Every person she'd talked to hadn't had any idea of what it was other than Jin himself. And he'd been annoyingly close-lipped about it, the meanie.

"Pokeballs are really cheap, but they're only good for catching low level pokemon reliably. You've probably seen some roaming around and just not known what it was, like most people here. You just throw it at the pokemon, and it pulls the pokemon in. If it succeeds, they're yours."

[Kat]

Anastasia

The mage caught the pokeball without fail, her reflexes sharp as ever. "So I just have to throw it at an unusual animal? Got it."

An unusual animal, huh? Anastasia looked around only to notice a peculiar cat like creature trying to snatch shiny coins under a vending machine. Just throw it, huh? When the Meowth was too preoccupied with the loose change, Anastasia pitched the pokeball at it like in that folk game played with a bat and a ball. She wasn't an athlete, but precision and focus was something essential for her job, so the ball flew at the creature without fail, about to crash into it.

[Cherry Lover]

Sakura and Shirou

Sakura paid little attention to the discussion between Paladin and Julius, instead looking out for her beloved Senpai, wondering what the "surprise" he had for her was.

As soon as she'd seen him and called out to him, she broke into a run, smiling brightly.

"Sakura!" Shirou shouted in response, also smiling.

Responding to his call, the Pokemon hidden in his arms began to move about, wagging its tail once more. As she got closer, Sakura quickly noticed the fluffy creature poking out of his arms.

"Senpai, what's that?" she asked, curiously.

"Kyuuuu!" the Pokemon said, excitedly, shifting around in an effort to find the source of the noise.

Not wanting to restrain the creature further and seeing the look of confusion coming over Sakura's face, Shirou opened his arms slightly, allowing him to poke his fluffy head out.

"Kyuuuuuuu!" the creature said once more as he saw the girl running towards him.

"That's your new mummy!" Shirou responded, excitedly, as Sakura came closer.

"Eh, what?" Sakura said, only to be interrupted when the Pokemon jumped out of Shirou's arms and ran towards her, its tail wagging furiously.

"This is the surprise I mentioned", Shirou responded, smiling brightly. "A new member of our family!"

Sakura looked at him suspiciously for a moment, but the Pokemon's cuteness and obvious enthusiasm soon melted her heart. As it stood there wagging its tail, Sakura bent down to pick it up, taking it into her arms.

"It's adorable", she said. "What is it?"

"He's called a 'Pokemon'. A girl I met sold him to me. He was a bit expensive, but he's strong, as well as cute, and really sweet."

Sakura smiled, but before she could respond, she noticed the others approaching.

"Oh, sorry, Senpai, these are my companions, Julius and Paladin", she said, pointing to them in turn, before turning to face them, still stroking the cute Pokemon.

"This is my husband, Shirou", she said, smiling brightly.

[Elf]

Gabriel

Gabriel felt Annabeth squirmed and maneuvered just a bit to pin her to the wall a bit better.  She was returning the kiss enthusiastically now, and he could feel a surge of desire and need within her.  The Shadow kept focus though as he continued to kiss her.

He lightly nipped her lips before pulling away from them.

"Hands above your head," he said in a soft whisper in her ear.


Rin

Rin eyed Joe with a tilt of her head as he stood up.  She replied, "I'm not very good with surprises you know.  It had better be good."

Then she stood up and took his hand.


Forest

Forest was glad when the Peck finally left, and felt a slight bit of annoyance at Anastasia as she offered more money than was needed - even including a generous tip - for their drinks.  The blond wasn't annoyed at the mage girl, but the fact that little blond  wanker had forced her into that position. 

Still she stared at the money from her first paying customers.

Wasn't she supposed to frame a dollar or something? 

She found herself not caring, and a little shocked that she had turned their invitation to vampire hunt with them down.  But . . .

What's the goddamn point? she thought as she began to wipe down her bar. 

[SINIB]

Sakura Matou

"Alrighty." Sakura said. "And one large vanilla milkshake please."

With that, they drove around the drive through, picked up their food, and continued on their way to the other place. As she sucked voraciously on her straw, she took a break to ask Ron a question. "So, are you interested in seeing the other location I can rent?" She asked seriously. She didn't want to waste his time after all.

Ron

The werewolf as a bit slower about his milkshake, but since that was all he had he finished it faster than Sakura finished her's. Then he thought back to the apartment she'd shown him. It was pretty spacious, and as far as he could tell it was in a good area. And with his sense of smell he was sure there was nothing lurking in there he should worry about. The only real issue was the balcony.

"Hmm. Not today, no. Now, if it were just up to me I'd sign right now on that one you showed me already." He nodded to make his point clear. "But I do need to talk to Anne first."

Sakura Matou

Sakura nodded. "Alright, I understand. Take as much time as you need to discuss it." She said, but with a hidden undertone in her voice implying that sooner would in fact be better.
"I can take you home now, if you like. Just tell me your current address and we'll get there in a jiffy."

[Umbra of Chaos]

Jasey

"Yeah, yeah, have a good day and everything." Jasey took back her phone and gave Noire a little wave as the black haired girl went her way. Wherever that was supposed to be. Now then...

The spider popped back up on her shoulder chittering rather intensely. "I know... But I don't wanna do her. She's kinda cute, y'know? And seeing them at your place just isn't the same. They're all crying, or fighting, or in despair or something stupid like that."

Her finger tapped her chin. "But you're right about one thing. Just scaring her would be kinda fun if she doesn't freeze up like a rabbit." She reached behind her back and pulled a hockey mask out of nothing. Then she just slapped it on.

Ahh, that really felt good sometimes. The killer stretches a bit and cracked her joints before turning her view inside out and seeing the world through the twisted reflection of the Shift. She could still make out the faint flow of the dark haired girl's soul from here.

Then she just waited a bit for reality to twist and turn and walked forwards before vanishing in a slight distortion of darkness. Here she was all but flying, a barely substantial force wearing her telltale mask moving across the land towards her target.

The murderer peeled her way through reality behind her target as the air suddenly grew chilly and a tenseness saturated the area. Then she emerged, striding out of the dark with a terrifying presence and inhumane disposition that made the idea of her being Jasey irreconcilable.

She stared for a moment, an almost murderous intentness that was directed right at Noire. "Damn, she's cute even from this side."

[Panda]

Annabeth

The Hunter could feel a slight shiver running along her spine through the warm haze as he soon put a stop to her movement. Pinned as she was, she couldn't do much more than return the kiss, only for him to end it off after a while, nipping her lips as he drew back, drawing a slight gasp from her. His request certainly didn't help matters, the cowgirl briefly glancing away and trying her luck at getting some room to move one last time before slowly pulling her arms up above her head, mind whirling with that warm haze and that familiar burning in her core as she did as instructed.

[SINIB]

Anastasia

The mage caught the pokeball without fail, her reflexes sharp as ever. "So I just have to throw it at an unusual animal? Got it."

An unusual animal, huh? Anastasia looked around only to notice a peculiar cat like creature trying to snatch shiny coins under a vending machine. Just throw it, huh? When the Meowth was too preoccupied with the loose change, Anastasia pitched the pokeball at it like in that folk game played with a bat and a ball. She wasn't an athlete, but precision and focus was something essential for her job, so the ball flew at the creature without fail, about to crash into it.

Oka Kurosawa

"Me-ow!" The pokemon exclaimed in surprise as the pokeball hit it, absorbing it into the ball. The ball wiggled once, twice, then a third time...

And then with a final satisfying click, the pokeball sealed shut, capturing the meowth inside.

Oka turned to Anastasia, and smiled. "Congratulations, you got super lucky there. Usually you need to weaken a pokemon before you can catch it, you see."

Oka pulled a new pokeball out of her bag, a newly caught weak pokemon of her own. "And once you catch pokemon, you can battle with other trainers, like me." She held it across her own arm, posing in a super dooper cool way. "So it's time to battle!"

[Kat]

Anastasia

Oh! For some reason it really worked out. Now she had this cat like animal or cat like spirit. Who knew. Lucky spirits after all liked to roam the land as cats. This wasn't so lucky though. And battling? Was it like pitting a dog or a bird against another animal? Then surely she knew more or less what to do!

"Alright!" She mustered all her enthusiasm and picked up the Pokeball. Then she threw it on the ground because she assumed that was the right thing to do. The Meowth popped out of the ball, ready for the fight. It looked cute, but that wouldn't stop Annie from pitting it against other animals.

[Kotomine_Rin]

RED

Red couldn't tell much of what was happening, it was just too fast for her to follow. All she noticed was the enemy flying up in a blur, and a boom that sent a gust of wind flying in her face. The next thing she knew, she could tell the enemy was knocked back somehow into her range.

She didn't even notice the giant dragon for more than a split second, or maybe she didn't care. She'd stopped thinking already, all she knew was that the enemy in front of her made her brain throb and tremble. Maybe if she just broke everything, the pain would go away.

"Te~hee, gotcha!" She yelled joyfully while sending out all her 7 branches at her with incredible speed.

[Elf]

Gabriel

The hybrid enjoyed the sight of Annabeth stretched out before him and thoughtfully tilted his head.

Then he took a step back and continued to eye her.  Gabriel mused if he should taunt her, attack again, or do something more extreme than that.  He moved back over to her and took her heavy breasts into his hands.  His nimble thumbs teased her dusky nipples as he gave her a slightly bored look.  "You're annoyingly obedient to me.  Do you treat your current lover like this?  If so, he might be bored."

Lord and Lady, I sound like Mommy Dearest.

[Kat]

Rikuyo

The bones in her arm crunched, but were still in one place. Her body could mend itself anyway, so risking her body in a fight wasn't as crazy as it would be otherwise. And now her opponent targetted her legs. Uh oh, that could be bad. It's not like she wasn't taking it seriously, but she should try harder. Time to get away from her. Once again she fired a blast of energy, this time from her feet. For Oren it would be like sticking her own head into an exhaust of a jet engine. And like a jet, Rikuyo would propel herself in the opposite direction.

[Aiden]

Mordred

"Sure, there should be some general store nearby, I think." Due to the tendency of large malls to explode or devolve into sanity crushing hellscapes, general stores started gaining some popularity as they were generally more low key and a less tempting target for supernatural terrorism. Monsters which usually targeted smaller stores were usually such small fries that she had no doubts that they would just end up as a smear on the wall with Sakura around. Trusting her capable (and much stronger) sidekick, she passed some money to Sakura and then started correcting Breeze.

"You just control them and they don't die. Those people are not real. They're about as real as a painting, but a moving one." Explaining things to Breeze was sometimes a real challenge. Hopefully her explanation was enough on point.

Auspicious Breeze

"Huuuuuh." That made her tilt her head the other way as she tried to wrap her head around it. "I guess I can give it a try then since nobody's getting hurt." Not that getting hurt was scary to Breeze, but for just a game it seemed a bit much!

Then she looked at the game and started moving things and pressing buttons to see what happened.