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

[Kat]

Mordred

The stag was pretty friendly to a stranger like her. It was really impressive that Breeze have befriended an animal that usually lived only in the wild, even if it was quite impatient. Hmm, but could Oren be one of those animals she heard in stories of some Changelings? Smart like people and not minding their company, but aside from that quite normal.

Of course, she petted the head and neck of the stag. "So Oren's a girl? Breeze, your world's alphabet is likely different even if you understand everyone around. It's no problem, I will read it for you, and teach you in spare time. I can teach anything I know, if you'd like that. The life's not all about fighting, after all."

[Umbra of Chaos]

Oren

That seemed to make her happy if her closed eyes and the light sounds coming from her were a sign. In fact, she was so happy that she stopped keeping her powers in check and some grass broke through the floor under her hooves. Of course, she managed to stop it. Then she lowered her head so the blonde could scratch at the base of her antlers. That was the good spot.

[Elf]

Gabriel

Gabriel smiled, cupped his hand and filled it with water from the bath.  Then he lifted it and let it fall gently on Emily's shoulder with a grin.  "So, you have some trick up your proverbial sleeve that would keep you from getting exhausted?  Fascinating."

He lifted a leg from the water and wiggled his toes, stretching a bit.  "Despite my natural traits, I can be exhausted."


Rin

Rin twisted the ribbon between her fingers and bit her lip.  She said, "I have dated.  Or tried to . . . Just never mind."

Then, finally doing something right, Archer brought the conversation back to Liseth.  She shivered at the thought of programing, video games, and her bane, technology.  She eyed Archer and said, "Liseth has an extraordinary ability that I really don't want getting in the wrong hands.  That, and she's a young girl lost in a place like this."

[Panda]

Emily

"Mhmm, well that's unfortunate," the Changeling mused, reaching over to toy with his hair absentmindedly, "Luckily, I can use it on others too."

Continuing the toy with the inky strands, Emily rested her head on his shoulder, taking a moment to appreciate the muscle pillowing her face.

"Well, you seem to have taken good care of yourself," she noted, "Aside from your 'natural traits'."

[Aiden]

Ron

The wind seemed to sense them, because Ron could hear it escaping as it rustled past the leaves and bent branches aside. Ron twisted and turned, leaped up to branches that he caught bipedal, swung himself forward and further with the force of his thick hairy muscles pushed behind a small lightweight wolf. Basic physics, accelerating smaller objects with larger only with shapeshifting instead.

It just came naturally here, instinct flooding its way past conscious thought, and he was trying new things that had never even occurred to him before. He felt all aches and pains, all hunger fade to nothing but this: the hunt.

It was like he could keep this up forever. Good thing too, because the wind took them on a merry little chase through the deep primeval woods until well past meal time. Even the buffet stuffing from before would leave Rikuyo feeling hungry.

Then Ron twisted and turned around a tree, essence surging through all hismuscle and fibers, and pounced up at a swirling vortex of air and leaves that had settled down for just a few moments.

It split, and let out a whistle like razors to the ears, before coalescing closer to the ground as the werewolf somehow dragged it down with his teeth. It knocked him away with a terrible gust, and rose up into a pillar of hurricane force winds that stretched up to the canopy. Defying all reasonable physics, the winds did not tear the nearby trees apart; the trees had faces, and dug their roots deep to ride this out. They groaned in objection more to the wind than to the wolf.

And, fortunately for Ron, the others weren't far behind.

[Kat]

Petra

"Huh, does it burn you? You shouldn't show a weakness in front of your rival." Confident, Petra drank the contents of the glass without flinching, keeping a poker face. "Your turn."

[Kat]

Rikuyo

Rikuyo ran as swift as she could, not intent to be left behind. The longer she stayed in the forest the easier for her was to maintain her form. She was becoming closer to the idea of a wolf from the astral realm she unknowingly tapped on. Her eyes became more golden, her hair longer, wilder and more red, her nails sharper and her canines more wolf like. Her muscles bulked up more but thankfully her clothes were loose enough to not tear even slightly. There was a reason why she liked visiting this place. She really felt like at home.

Ron already had first confrontation with his prey. From what she knew he really didn't fight a spirit beforehand, but undoubtedly his ingrained instincts would make up for lack of experience. "Nice catch, Ron-chan!" She raised her fist into air, exclaiming in enthusiasm. She didn't know why, but deep in her soul she felt really proud of him, like a older relative happy about a younger relative's achievements.

[SINIB]

Archer

"Yes, I'd agree, you don't need to be so down on yoursef Rin." Archer couldn't help but shake his head again at Sakura's antics. "I came to see what you two were up to, but I guess I worried over nothing. On the other hand, it's an interesting friend you brought back Rin, she pulled out a laptop and started modding a game."

Rin

Rin twisted the ribbon between her fingers and bit her lip.  She said, "I have dated.  Or tried to . . . Just never mind."

Then, finally doing something right, Archer brought the conversation back to Liseth.  She shivered at the thought of programing, video games, and her bane, technology.  She eyed Archer and said, "Liseth has an extraordinary ability that I really don't want getting in the wrong hands.  That, and she's a young girl lost in a place like this."

Sakura Matou

Sakura began to laugh boisterously at her sister's remark of an extraordinary ability. "Hehe, matter creation isn't all that uncommon in this world, you know? Unless you meant the ability to use a computer?" Sakura brought her hand to her face in mock deliberation. "What do you think, Archer?" Sakura asked him, but couldn't help but giggle at the end of her act, and leaned down against Rin, putting her head next to hers. "But seriously, don't worry, I'll make sure she's safe."

[SINIB]

Jeanne

"Of course I'll protect her." She smiled back at him whil patiently waiting for him to pay for the room. After he had done so she then pulled him into the elevator. "So you picked the smallest room you could find, you're a frugal person at heart, aren't you Shirou?"

Shirou Emiya

Shirou shrugged. "Are you saying there's something wrong with penny pinching, Jeanne?" He poked her in the forehead. "If you are I'm going to have to have a serious conversation about saving money later." He told her in a half serious and half joking tone. "You never know when life will kick you in the balls, and living opulently can make people think badly of you."

The elevator suddenly dinged, announcing they'd reached their floor.

"After you, milady." He bowed to her jokingly, and wondered how many times she'd been called that seriously.

[yinsukin]

Medaka Kurokami

Medaka pulled her head away the moment Shinobu said "vampire minion".  She frowned at her for a brief moment.  The idea of being a minion clearly means different things for different people.  Maybe instead of blindly agreeing to this sort of thing she would try to find out more about it.  After all, last time it did not go to well.

"it is not that I am not excited to work with you but what does being a vampire minion entail?"  She asked, her voice dominated by curiosity.

[Aiden]

Auspicious Breeze

"Hm? Yep, she's even a cute one! She normally looks like a girl but sometimes she looks like this instead if she wants to go fast," Breeze pointed out, not seeing a reason for Oren to hide that she had lots of bodies. "Oh, and there was the time she turned into a big lizard thing..."

Then the Solar giggled when she saw the antler petting, and beamed at Mordred's offer to help her. "You will? That's, aaaah, you're a really good knight, Mordred!" Her face was definitely a bit red now. So uncool.

But, it was really helpful. She didn't know how to read at all, really. Her mistress had begun teaching her the alphabet, but this wasn't the same alphabet so none of that was helping. It was nice to be able to pass it off as being in a different world, though.

[Kat]

Mordred

"Er, what..." What she just said about the stag?

"You mean..." Definitely it took Mordred a while to process everything.

"I've been petting a shapeshifter..."

Now that demanded an action from her. Who knows what kind of shifter she could be. She wanted to make sure. So she took an iron can and put it on the stag's head.

Fortunately, no reaction. That narrowed down options. Slightly. Though probably Breeze would question her action just now.

[Panda]

Annabeth

The Hunter followed after Ron without question, going back into Ren to keep up with the wolf. Kicking off the trees after the spirit thing, the Hunter almost fell when she realized the trees she was kicking off of had faces. Distinctly annoyed faces. Shaking her head to put that revelation out of her mind, Annabeth took a moment to consider her options at the moment. Pete and Repeat wouldn't be useful against a single opponent, and Elephant Gun's range would likely be a problem here. Taking a moment to consider it, the Hunter smirked, a quick plan hatching in her mind. Granted, this was something more along the lines of what an Enhancer would come up with, but still...

Turning to take a more diagonal path, the Hunter focused more of her aura into her legs right before kicking off the next tree, giving herself more air-time for what she was planning next. In a sense, her next move would be just another use of Gyo. The only real difference would be the quantity of the aura she'd be focusing. With a moment's thought, Annabeth closed off her aura nodes all across her body, everywhere but her right leg. Focusing all of her aura here, the Hunter sailed through the air, waiting for an opportunity. She didn't care how strong those trees were, kicking off a branch like this wouldn't go well. She'd need to hit a trunk to have something to actually kick off of that wouldn't shatter under the force of her jump.

At this point, enough aura had gathered in her leg that the glow had grown harsher, from the sheer concentration of aura. It was too late for the spirit to make use of this information, as the moment of truth had arrive, the Hunter finally finding a trunk to kick off of with a clear path.

The cowgirl all but exploded off the tree, the trunk cracking under the force of her kick as she was sent rocketing through the foliage back to the path Ron had sent the spirit running along, with one key difference. The trajectory she'd planned had put them firmly ahead of both of them, the Hunter turning in the air to face the spirit with that old grin back in her face, her aura spreading back over her body as the familiar weight of Elephant Gun settled in her hands.

For a moment, time seemed to slow to a stop for the Hunter as the gun materialized, a calloused finger already squeezing the trigger. A sizable bullet of Nen exploded from the barrel, homing in towards the spirit from in front of it, fast enough to outpace even the sound of the gun being fired. It was moments like these that the Hunter enjoyed the most about a hunt.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Oren

If a stag could look confused Oren could very much pull it off. Did this mean no more petting? Why did she have a can on her head? She put flower crowns on people's head but never cans. Was this some sort of test?

Whatever. If this other blonde wouldn't pet her she always had Breeze. The Formless One trotted back over to the warrior girl with the can still on her head and began to pester her for petting.

[Aiden]

Auspicious Breeze

"Eh? Is that a bad thing?" Breeze asked, suddenly worried she should have said something earlier. "Um, sorry. I guess I should have told you."

Still, she pet Oren by the base of the antlers to keep her from getting all riled up. The Solar had the impression that Oren was a bit of a troublemaker when she was bored with nothing keeping her busy! But that was just her impressions; she didn't really know exactly what she was. Some kind of faerie? One of the Chosen of the Moon?

She had always kinda wanted to meet that moon witch who lived on an island somewhere on the Dreaming Sea and like to curse people who hurt certain other people. Breeze liked to think she'd be almost as pretty as her mistress Radiant Cataclysm, tough probably not as nice. Sorceresses were always pretty.

"So, what's the can for?" Breeze asked Mordred, tilting her head to the side and blinking curiously.


Ron

A normal bullet wouldn't do much to a spirit, honestly. Even most not-normal bullets wouldn't make much of a difference either. Even if the spirit was manifest, and was of something living like a wolf, or a deer, things like organs and nervous systems were pretty much irrelevant to them. The only thing that would put them down was enough damage that their bodies just couldn't move anymore.

Ron didn't know all of this consciously, but he knew enough that he didn't assume the bullet was the end of thing when it struck the pillar of wind and tore a gaping hole in it. A keening screech rose up from it, and it lost cohesion... but only for mere moments before it began to take new shape and try to blast its way into Annabeth.

Ron's wolf body grew to the size of a horse, and he pounced to crush the spirit's 'tail' end with a massive paw. It managed to pull away, but not before he tore another gaping hole into it with his maw of canine teeth. His deep rumbling growl carried over the howling of the wind.