Cross Effects 3.0 - November 16, 2014—April 13, 2015

[Panda]

"wait, you had a machine that could return me to Helka?" Elyssa asked, "Where did you have it last?"

Oh boy...

"Well, not a machine, persay," Adjutor says, sitting up as he scratches the back of his head nervously, "But I did have a soul in Tyrfing that had a magic that would allow him to travel between dimensions...But...I don't really know how or when, but I don't have it anymore. Last time I had him was...a few weeks ago, before I landed here. Also, it would be a little difficult for me to take you there when I don't even know where Helka is. The Nexus takes people from all over. I'm from Orthos, a land that seems to have been taken straight out of some High Fantasy novel. Dragons, wizards, knights, all that stuff..."

[Puck-Chan]

Cu Chulainn

And here Cu thought he had a pretty rough time in Nexus. Her story was full of death, vampires, Saber-- The Servant blinked upon mentioning that Servant, Saber. She was here too with her Master? The grip on the bottle tightened that a small crack squeaked in the frosty air.

Did this mean the Grail War is continuing? Great, it looks like he wasn't going to get bored for long. But he let her continue on. There was evidently something in her that she needed to let everything out. He found it a bit amusing when she realized she had just poured out her whole day to her. As she laughed, the spearman smiled with her.

"I . . . actually feel a bit better now."

"I hope so. Because that was a pretty long spiel," Cu jested and then took another swig of his bottle. It was starting to reach the halfway point. "But it's good to let it off your chest once in a while. You needed it."

"What about yours?  Colt 45 isn't exactly the drink of a good Irishman."

"Definitely not as bad as yours," he admitted with a sigh, "Now I can't really call mine a bad one now."

Cu paused to snigger at it and pursed his lower lip to blow against the fringes of his hair before turning his lips into a grimace.

"Welp, I'm plenty broke. Tried my luck at the craps table and that didn't go as well as I wanted to. And I tried to shag the Casino manager's daughter. Her pops didn't take that kindly and here I am with a set of blue balls and this shitty bottle."

He threw back his head to guzzle down more of the drink and then smacked his lips.

"So really not as bad as yours," Lancer told her with a sheepish shrug.

[Ivan The Mouse]

"My name's Lorenzo Remei, how should I call you kind fellows?" he asked.

Rattus/Yukina

"I'm Rattus von Engels." the businessman impersonally introduced himself, still wearing the chicken hat. "Regardless of your current condition right now, it is pleasant to meet you, Mister Remei."

Yukina, on the other hand, can't get herself to even look directly at Lorenzo, as she blushed heavily and had her hand held by him. Rattus noticed this reaction of hers to the man's compliments and looked directly at her, which prompted her to stand up, remove her penguin cap and finally introduce herself. "Um..." She stuttered, still feeling shy. She then bowed down and said, "...I am Yukina Aikawa. I am honored to meet you, Remei-san."

Rattus then was about to assist Lorenzo in sitting himself up from the floor when asked, "Do you feel less painful now? Could you move your arms or legs normally?"

[Elf]

Forest

Forest caught Lancer blinking at the mention of Saber.  She held up her hands after his tale and said, "Ah, there's no Grail War going on.  Apparently due to a bunch of Dues Ex Machina she was returned to life or something and got sucked up in the Nexus."

So that meant he was like Saber, a hero of the past out of his time.  She bit her lip thoughtfully at his tale.  Then she sighed and said, "Okay . . . I'm not quite brave enough to offer a cure for blue balls at this point in time, but I might be able to help you about the money and place to stay situation."

[MissingMandible]

Elyssa was more than frustrated - she was positively livid!

Her subconscious was screaming at her to return to the battlefield, to defend Her Majesty. Some of the last radio transmissions she heard before arriving to this place was that the Black Knight was approaching the Imperial Palace. She. Needed. To. Be. There!

Growling, she turned to a nearby table, drew her sword, and sliced it in two. She then began stomping the halves to little more than chunks of wood.

Doing the Warmonger equivalent of a sigh, she forced herself to settle down. Warmongers are to be calm and professional at all times, to maintain the illusion of being the perfect warriors. Elyssa then remembered the sort-of captive that she talked to not a minute before was still there, and witnessed her moment of weakness. "You didn't see that, understood?" she stated after turning back to him.

"So, what have you gathered about this city?'

[Panda]

Henderson finds himself cruising along a lonely road, though not the only one he's ever known by any means, when his engine suddenly dies. He finds himself with enough momentum for the Buick to come to a slow stop.

Looking around through the haze of Necronomicon-weed smoke, he spies a bench nearby. Conveniently so, as if it were the will of Street Pylon Jesus, as his mam would tell him.

"...Huh..." Henderson notes, unable to think of anything else to say at this time, opening the door and stumbling out in a cloud of smoke, blunt in one hand, half empty bottle of rum in the other. Upon leaving the car, he decides he might as well grab something else for when the rum is gone and starts to turn around, only to trip on the curb and land just outside of the smoke cloud. Laying there for a few moments before he decides that snow isn't very comfortable bedding material, Henderson picks himself back up, dusts himself off with the hand holding the still intact bottle and reaches back inside, flipping the driver seat up to reveal a bottle of Jack Daniels stuck into the seating material. Removing the bottle, Henderson turns back, both bottles in one hand and Necro-blunt in the other, to find that the bench is already occupied by some guy with blue hair and a girl with ripped up clothes. Didn't look like it was the blue-hair's doing, so chances are that the girl just ran into a bit of trouble with some cutlery.

"Mind if I join you?" he asks, not finding either of the bench's occupants particularly odd, "Ya know what they say, misery loves company...I think..."


Adjutor looks at the robot, then at the table, then at the sword.

Okay, Robo-Golem confirmed for pissed.

Thanks for the tip.

"I'm guessing you left at a bad time?" Adjutor asks, "It's okay. As for what I've gathered...not much. I've been working until a few hours ago. The hospital I was working at got torn up in a fight. Managed to fix the damage, and no one got harmed, but...I'm probably going to be fired...Aside from that dimensional magic that I don't have anymore, I'm not sure if anything else can get you back to...wait, what were you doing before you ended up here?"

[Knick]

Mia

As Mia looked in the direction Forest left, a switch in her head seemed to flip. She blinked one or two times and with that the moisture that began to gather was gone. Some might have viewed it as he suppressing it, but it could not be farther from the truth.

After all, in Mia’s mind Forest just changed from ‘a really nice person’ to ‘someone who abandoned her’. And so a part of Mia committed itself to making Forest suffer. But that was the farthest thing from her mind at the moment. Instead she refocused on the girl with the red shirt and twin tails.

For a moment she ignored anything else instead she simply stared at her, a slightly awkward silence fell before Mia spoke.

“Hey, why are your smiles fake?”

A perceptive little one, Mia is at times. She couldn’t tell what someone was feeling, but she was rather good at telling when someone is acting or lying. Perhaps it has to do with her nature.

[Puck-Chan]

"Ah, there's no Grail War going on.  Apparently due to a bunch of Dues Ex Machina she was returned to life or something and got sucked up in the Nexus."

"Oh."

He slumped his shoulders on the back of the bench. There was a tinge of disappointment that Cu wasn't going to be fighting any time soon. No Grail, no war. Nexus was a bit humdrum, in a bad way. But still, maybe he could get Forest to take him to the Servant and Master duo? Perhaps they could probably reminisce about some old times. Nothing like stabbing a young teenage boy with his red scarlet shaft, right?

"Okay . . . I'm not quite brave enough to offer a cure for blue balls at this point in time, but I might be able to help you about the money and place to stay situation."

"Really?" he blinked at her in surprise, "Ya sure? 'bout that?"

It'd be great to get a place to call home and some money strapped on him. Of course, he likely wouldn't see the craps table for a long time knowing his cruel luck. This night was definitely getting better and better.

"I'd be in ya debt, of course. So just let me know when ya need my help in anything."

The Hound knew gratitude by heart. And he was one to give it when he receives kindness from others. Just as he was about to ask her where this place was, someone came by.

"Mind if I join you?" he asks, not finding either of the bench's occupants particularly odd, "Ya know what they say, misery loves company...I think..."

An old grizzled man in a Hawaiian shirt and beige shorts arrived. Sunglasses hid his eyes as snow started to accumulate in his odd hair. He looked pretty weird, but didn't seem to be showing any ill will.

"Sure. Let's hear what ya got, mate."

[Elf]

Forest

Forest noticed Lancer's disappointment at the fact that there wasn't a Grail War going on right now.  She sympathized with that, after all he was some ancient hero of renown.  And Celtic to boot.  Just which Celtic Hero are you?  There were a lot who could have qualified for the Lancer class, and you don't have a Love Spot on your face so you're not Diarmuid Ua Duibhne.  You mentioned Land of Shadows . . . Could you be . . .

No.  I'm not sure he's Cú Chulainn, but bloody hell if he was . . .

She smothered her sudden surge of excitement.  Cú Chulainn had been her childhood hero and his story was the first one she had told Gabriel all of those years ago.  I don't know he's the Hound of Ulster.  So I'm not going to become a twittering bint over something I don't know.

"Really?" he blinked at her in surprise, "Ya sure? 'bout that?"

Forest nodded.  He was a nice guy out of time and hard on his luck.  He hadn't had centuries to deal with the modern world like she had, or was like Saber who apparently had sunshine coming out of her bum.  If Lancelot didn't terrify her with that dark part of him that wanted to savagely murder her, she would have offered him the same curtsey.  Apparently he had thought a car was a demon and if Saber hadn't been there he would have stabbed it.

"I'd be in ya debt, of course. So just let me know when ya need my help in anything."

Forest gave him a wan smile and said, "Well, I am hunting this nasty monster right now and honestly someone watching my back wouldn't be a bad idea . . ."

"Mind if I join you?  Ya know what they say, misery loves company...I think..."

Forest blinked at the new comer and scooted closer to Lancer, giving the new man room to sit down.  He reeked of marijuana and liquor, and had a stuffed parrot on his shoulder.  He was grizzled and careworn, and his sunglasses hid his eyes.  Reality drifted in and out in his mind, but he wasn't a threat.  Just sort of harmlessly crazy.  And looking for his precious lawn gnomes. 

"Sure, why not.  I like the parrot by the way.  You know a flock of parrots are called a Pandemonium?" 

[YOLF]

Mr. Tar

Henry nodded neutrally to Forest's advice, left with no chances to say anything else as she left, brooding look in her eyes. He followed her exit keenly, curiosity struck. She had seemed a bit... different than the impression he'd gotten from Saber. By no means antagonistic, but colder than he expected. He, naturally, wondered about her demeanor, but what she had just said about the other man - and what he had said too - beckoned greater attention.

The demon gave Lawrence a good, hard look. Was he a psychic? A medium of some sort? Or... perhaps more along the lines of the Claimed? Unfortunately he couldn't tell just by looking, but he would keep an eye on him. What the hell was all that about Death sexually harassing him though?

"Right. A little bit," he coughed out at Law. "We'll watch out for any crazy, dangerous women matching that description. For the moment though... you go ask someone to take to the station and give you some spare clothes. Tell an officer who looks like he's lazing about I said so. If you have any more information to contribute I'll hear you out afterwards."

With a pat on Lawrence's shoulder, Henry walked out of the crime scene, mulling over everything he had heard. Impatient steps led him to the forensics team, waiting for permission to move in. He gave them the go while passing them his notes, then went to approach the small crowd around Saber.

As much as he disliked the idea, it was time to go sewer hiking.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Infected

And then light began to dance, and a spear formed. More focus, more precise, more brilliant then his normal spears. It then shot from the darkness, shooting towards the beast, bent on removing that corrupted and fallen beast from the world.

While the Hunter was certainly fast it could not dodge the spear of light and was struck in the chest. The weapon simply vaporized most of the creature's torso and exploded once it struck the ground which launched the Infected forward. It fell, dead, in a heap a few feet away from the girl but the night was far from over.

The first thing that could be heard once the Hunter died was the cawing of birds. Dozens of them flying towards the area and overlooking the people near the fire with red, beady eyes. They observed and saw all they could see of the area and soon began to land on the taller trees that stood around the makeshift stable.

Then there was a roar. A terrible sound that eclipsed the one previously bellowed by the now dead Hunter. Then the sound of many feet crunching against the light layer of snow could be heard from all sides. It didn't even take a few minutes before the source of the sound was revealed.

A group of humanoid Infected whose numbers were greater than that of the birds in the trees. Some were almost normal while others were horribly mutated. Many had blades for arms and some had bloated skin to help cushion themselves from harm. They were running straight at the group and while some moved at an average speed for a human others were exceptionally quick. Still within the boundaries of man but for a normal group of humans this was certain death.

The Infected began to pour in from all sides as the birds continued to watch. Their calculating gaze making sure not to miss a single action made by the robed man.

[Alice]

Rin

The blond folded her arms around her and said, "She's had a black mood since . . . Well, she has been in a melancholy mindset for most of the time I've known her.  Being in Nexus has not been a pleasant experience for her."

"I see..." So far the "Nexus" as this place was apparently called wasn't exactly giving the impression of being the most fantastic place, even with her very short impression of it. Probably she'd been lucky to run across so many familiar faces this soon.

She looked at Mia and said, "She will return though.  She has not abandoned us."

Rin looked down at the little girl, and it was pretty clear that the girl thought strongly to the contrary. Rin sighed. This girl is going to be difficult, isn't she?

"Food sounds good, and clothes..." Shirou trailed off, looking uncomfortable. "Yeah. I also want to know how you came to know a vampire while we're out eating. And why the two of you are here, for that matter."

Ah, was Emiya-kun learning something from her little lecture? Gooooooood. Though it was possible he just had a lot to absorb. Eh.

"I'd like to know the answer to that too, to be honest," her smile genuine this time. "I'm here to investigate this place after all. Maybe I'll learn something more if I learn how you two happened to get here."

Rin was about to ask if everyone was ready to go, but a small, yet sharp voice cut the air.

“Hey, why are your smiles fake?”

Color left Rin's face for a moment, her body frozen in place. And it wasn't from the cold.

H-how did she see through me?! Not even most adults can-

Another fake smile. Even if the girl could see through it, the others couldn't. ...Though this one was juuuust a bit more forced than the last few. Maybe they could see through this one.

She cleared her throat, and looked down at the girl. "Well, sometimes people aren't always feeling as pleasant as they'd like to be, but they don't want to make people feel uncomfortable by showing that. So they fake it. That good enough of an answer for you?"

She didn't even notice Henry walking up to join them.

[YOLF]

Butler

Butler rubbed his bony chin as he sat down and poured tea for the two of them, giving himself a few moments before speaking.

"I am fond of magicians like you, Wiseman. By all means, please start. It would please me to learn more about
you."


Sarse

The angel hummed to himself in contemplation of Than'Sanel's words, even as Ann made herself overly comfortable against him once more. After a few seconds, he spoke.

"The symphony in this world isn't any more... hostile than I know it to be. It might simply be that it is by nature a closed -"

Sarse stopped speaking suddenly, something shaking at the edge of his mind. His head whipped to the side, as he looked around, expression suddenly guarded and grave.

A ripple reached his ears. One string, then another, then another, snapping one at a time. Notes being swallowed by distortion, replaced by something else, something...

Wrong.

"... Do you two feel that?" He asked, turning to the direction he felt the twisted overwriting echo from. It was small in scale - so small it would otherwise not even ping to him, but its significance was both unmistable and terrifying.

[Lycodrake]

Than'Sanel

"The symphony in this world isn't any more... hostile than I know it to be. It might simply be that it is by nature a closed -"

Sarse stopped speaking suddenly, something shaking at the edge of his mind. His head whipped to the side, as he looked around, expression suddenly guarded and grave.
A ripple reached his ears. One string, then another, then another, snapping one at a time. Notes being swallowed by distortion, replaced by something else, something...
Wrong.
"... Do you two feel that?" He asked, turning to the direction he felt the twisted overwriting echoe from. It was small in scale - so small it would otherwise not even ping to him, but its significance was both unmistable and terrifying.

Than'Sanel's curiosity at Sarse's word choice - "symphony of this world" was not a normal phrase in the few Planes he had lived upon - was cut off at the drastic change that came over the younger man.

Then Than's sense of magic was struck with a White mace to his mind, a blinding, blunt, and dizzying feeling. His Saproling, crystal across his back and still wrapped around his arms, sprouted jagged thorns at his defensive response. None, of course, pointed inward into his skin.

"I'm not sure what you are feeling, Sarse, but if it is painful and makes you feel like you want to lash out, then yes, yes I do feel 'that'."

[Kat]

Ezra tightened his grip on the Lance of Longinus, spinning it into its proper place at his side, ready to act.

"Well, that only cements that conclusion, then... Longinus was my ancestor, 'Dark Prophet' spewer. I know for a fact that he didn't become a vampire. Now, let's see here," He pointed the tip of the Lance at Drusillia's heart. "I think I'll start with you."

Deborah's style was not to engage in close combat on principle. Her forte was her magic for which she needed preparation. She immediately withdrew employing Celerity and hoping those four were enough good obstacles for the man. If she managed to took him out yet those four died it would have been the best outcome.

Mordred

She did not care about the mage's offer but had lost strength to argue back given her body being seriously damaged. She propped herself on her spear like on a walking stick, and limped on after the mage left the scene. Curse it...

The sun was about to rise any soon, and she had to find shelter somewhere to not attract curious bystanders. One thing occupied her mind though. She is not my Fetch, yet I have feeling there is something more to her. I need to find that girl who looks like me...