Cross Effects 3.0 - October 21, 2015—June 23, 2016

[Cherry Lover]

Rider

Rider smiled at the waiter and picked up the menu, scanning it for a moment before choosing a sweet, rather strong and somewhat expensive white wine

"Can I have a large glass of the Nexus Hills Chardonnay, please", she said with a polite smile, before turning to address her companion, a slightly confused look on her face.

"Hell Gate?" she asked, not understanding the makeup of his world. "What is that? We don't have anything like that on my world."

Hmm, I wonder if it works a bit like the Throne of Heroes..., Rider thought, trying to find a suitable comparison.

[Aiden]

Shiro

"Ah, you're lost." Shiro nodded understandingly. "I understand."

"I don't think this is a demon city, I haven't had to kill any, after all. It's just a city. A weird city with crazy things that are called ought-o-mo-bils and other crazy magic stuff."

Auspicious Breeze

So, this wasn't the Demon City. Wait, the foxy girl's logic didn't add up. "But you don't have to kill all the demons; some of them are really cute!" Breeze tried to argue, frowning at the thought of it. "So that isn't a-"

She suddenly stopped talking, mid-sentence. The man, Michael was it? His words made her stop because she had to think about them, and they weren't good thoughts. She was lost. She needed to find her way back home.

The Exalt's stomach growled audibly, and her face lit up a faint red. She needed to eat before she figured the rest out! But she could ask some questions along the way, right?

"... let's uh, go get that food first. I get the feeling I'm gonna need it," she said, her previous energy and cheer a little more dim now.

[SINIB]

Sakura and Shirou

The two of them nodded. As parents, they were familiar with the way she was acting, and the tone of voice she was using. She was trying to protect them, and wasn't going to accept any argument.

"OK", Sakura said, ready to follow her whenever she left, "but where will we go?"

Iri

"I don't know. Where I was told to." She said again, as they began to run down the hall.

[Panda]

Dante

The demon-hunter cocked an eyebrow, heaving a resigned sigh as he prepared himself for a likely length explanation. He'd always held a fair bit of distaste for having to ramble on for that long ever, which hadn't helped trying to deal with that damn clown back in the tower.

"Well...it's a gate to hell," Dante said matter-of-factly, "More specifically, it's a gate into the demon world, which was sealed off two millennia ago. Of course, this hasn't stopped more than a few people from trying to open up the gate again, and there seem to still be a few demons hanging around in the...Human world, let's call it. So either those are survivors from two millennia ago or someone's been making fake Hell Gates."

[Thedoctor]

Shinobu

Medaka was shipped away to the hospital room, reassuring her that she healed quickly and would be out in a few hours. The blond vampire didn't see any reason to abandon the girl just yet. So she headed for the waiting room, a few hours meant little when you had lived as long as she had, it would also give her some time to think about what she was going to do. She didn't know of any way back, but maybe Medaka could be of use to her, she certainly had the drive to do something about the situation.

[Cherry Lover]

Rider

Rider rolled her eyes at his initial, obvious statement, before listening to his explanation, coming to a vague understanding of what his world might be like as he spoke.

"So, demons are creatures from another world, who invade yours through this 'hell gate'? she asked. "Is there anything in particular they're after?"

Rider was curious about their intentions. After all, in her experience, even "monsters" usually had some reason for how they acted. And, those who fought the monsters were sometimes worse than the monsters theirselves.

[Kat]

Mordred

Before Mordred could answer anything that Corbin asked her, Kuro grabbed Corbin and started threathening him. That it made her uncomfortable would an understatement, as another shitstorm was about to happen. Goddamn it, why everytime she went to some restaurant or bar something bad had to happen. Corbin provoked Kuro by careless remarks and the white haired brat overreacted in a way that was not unacceptable. Someone had to be mature and put the down place. She hit the table with a fist and sternly berated the two: "It's not a place to pick up a fight! Stop threathening him, Kuro, and apologize to her, Corbin."

[Panda]

Dante

The half demon shrugged, part of him wondering what had her so curious.

"Usually they're just here to cause chaos," Dante said, "If they're working towards something in particular, there's something else guiding them. Usually some kind of commander or something along those lines."

[Cherry Lover]

Rider

"Ah, so they're just mindless monsters?" Rider responded, picking up a menu and trying to decide what she wanted to eat.

Like I was, in the end....

"And, what about these commanders? What do they want?"

[Aiden]

Ron

Ron kept pace with his evasive opponent, losing distance on it only because of the half-second it took his large body to turn toward them. His muscles tensed and flexed in motion, propelling him after the larger werewolf heedless of the potential for harm. He didn't care if bullet pierced his body, or tooth or claw tore his vitals. He only cared about the kill, now, and the killing form strained just beneath the surface waiting for its moment to break free.

Wait. Hope red lady's thunder hits, ignore the pillar's shrapnel. Aim for the leg first. Use momentum to barrel into the cornered beast, bite into the shoulder, break the joint to slow it down

and then

change and kill.

[Panda]

Michael

The immortal stifled a wince as the woman's face fell visibly. Perhaps it would've been better to ease her into this.

Man, since when was I this rusty with dealing with other people?

Thankfully, an ice-breaker of sorts came when the distinct sound of a stomach making its needs known interrupted the sordid train of thought. The woman looked at them with a slight blush coloring her face, the immortal unable to help a bemused grin in spite of himself.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Michael mused.

[Panda]

Dante

The demon hunter's expression stiffened a tiny bit at that, Dante picking up a menu of his own and holding it up, looking through the choices for a bit.

"Depends," he said from behind the menu, "Sometimes they want power, sometimes they want to escape so they can make another bid at ruling the human world. Sometimes, it's not even a demon doing it. There was one, a human, who tried to undo the seal in order to gain the power of the one who sealed away the Demon World all those years ago.  Either way, it's just another mess to clean up."

"So, how'd you end up in your 'master's' service?" Dante asked.

[Aiden]

Forest

"Yes, ones specifically of fruit and high proof.  High enough were you cannot taste the liquor anymore," Forest said with a nod. "Some of which aren't half bad."

She nodded to his quiet words and replied in a soft whisper, "Or if you're fighting werewolves and gore gets in your hair.  I'd rather not feed on a dirty person, but I can and have before.  I'm just glad that personal hygiene became popular again."

Gadreel

"Do you drink to intoxication?" he could not restrain himself from asking in light of the question. It was one of those human experiences he regretted being incapable of. "If you do not mind my asking, that is. I am... unfamiliar with the experience."

Personal hygiene... it came in and out of fashion depending on location and time. The Norse were quite pleasant to be around in that respect, all other concerns considered. Still, there were worse matters with regard to sanitation. "Personally, I feel the resurgence of flush toilets was an overall greater gain."

[Elf]

Rin

Rin watched as Sakura started to cry. 

She knew cooking was important to the version of her that was Rin's actual sister.  Rin frowned; she hadn't said that Sakura shouldn't cook.  She said that Sakura should rest and then she could make dinner when she was feeling up to it.

Archer, that asshole, had walked away, leaving Rin to deal with the almost hysterical girl.   "Hey, I didn't say that I didn't want you to cook.   I said you should rest first.  Go rest, come back in ten minutes, and then you and Archer can cook," she said with a sigh and a shake of her head.

Corbin

Corbin raised an eyebrow as Kuro came at him and said, "You know, subtly can be more terrifying than being this in your face, Little Bit."

Then there was a sharp bang as Mordred hit the table with her fist.  She said, "It's not a place to pick up a fight! Stop threatening him, Kuro, and apologize to her, Corbin."

"Fine fine, I'm sorry that I ruffled you and your family's feathers," Corbin said with a sigh, "I'll buy you cake and soda to make for it.  How's that?"  He snapped his finger in the general direction of the bartender, smiled and said, "Three Ale 8s, Tuck!"

Eying Kuro, he said, "It's a soft drink, no spirits. Apparently it comes from Kentucky or some such.  I've just become addicted to the things.  Now, will you let me go, please?"


Gabriel

Gabriel nodded and said, "There's a nice table over there."

He pointed to a booth that was both fairly private yet out in the open.  It was far away enough from the band playing that two people could chat at a reasonable level.  He also enjoyed the Tiffany lamp that cast shards of jewel toned light on it.

"What do you think?"


Forest

She chuckled and answered, "Theoretically, I can. "  She switched back to telepathy for the rest of her answer, I just have to bite someone who is tipsy to become so.  However, supernatural blood is bloody intoxicating.  The effects can vary from being on speed or other effects.

She didn't want to let on that some supernaturals blood acted as an aphrodisiac of sorts.  It was one of the reasons Wynn liked to share her vein.  Not only did the Fae get off on it, there was also the hope that it would make Forest let her return the favor.

"I'm fond of hot showers myself," Forest said with a grin, "Flush toilets came into vogue long after I had any need of them."
 

[Aiden]

Gadreel

"Ah, a responsible drinker then," he acknowledged with a nod. It also served a dual purpose of acknowledging her telepathic communication in a single gesture. Such a versatile piece of body language humans had developed over the years!

Gadreel required a moment to recall the precise age which Forest had referred to herself as. Alas, the time of her birth would indeed put her a couple centuries after the previous apogee of the flush toilet. "Oh no, the flush toilet has been with human civilization for quite some time. The Romans, for instance, were quite proliferate in designing them. Indeed, predecessors to the design existed before humans rediscovered the use of copper. Its return was a great triumph."

After Atlantis. Somewhat before his time as one of the original Watchers, but within the exile's frame of references.