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

[Panda]

Emily

As Gabriel explored Emily's mouth, she explored his in turn, humming in appreciation of his taste and the taste of the Scotch Sours. The Changeling couldn't help a contented sigh as he traced circles down her back, arching up against him a little in response.

All too soon, however, Emily found herself being laid down on the bed, Gabriel looming over as his hand went to her blouse. The Changeling's blush flared as she looked away briefly, one hand starting to work her blouse off as best she could manage in her current position.

[Elf]

Gabriel

Gabriel took her hand to get her to stop unbuttoning her blouse.  "There's no rush for that, Emily, besides, I think I'll take care of it," he said against her lips as he smiled down at her.

"Should I change positions then?" he asked, his violet eyes dancing.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Theodore

Theodore smiled and looked up, staring blankly at the heavens.

"Well, what can I say? I have always been a small mind. I can't change that, it's just what I am. Still, let’s say that one day you found out that what you’re looking for is impossible. Let’s say that someday, you end up knowing without a shadow of a doubt that no matter what happens, you will never truly feel. If that was the case, would you just give up and let everything you live for be a lie, or would you still try, even knowing that whatever you do will be met with soul crushing failure?”

[SINIB]

Shirou Emiya

Shirou nodded at Archer nonchalantly. Of course homemade is better, everyone with a brain knows that. It was obvious, after all. And homemade was more fun. You get to experiment and try new things, and tailor to your tastes perfectly.

All this thinking about homemade had brought his thoughts back to Sakura, unfortunately. He was highly worried about her. She'd never been healthy enough, but she'd never have gone out for fast food on a regular basis back in the day. And he'd found a sizable amount of detritus in the fridge that suggested she was eating such unhealthy crap on a regular basis earlier today.

Shirou sighed. "Archer, did you ever have a girlfriend?" He asked his senior. Heh, I'm already at my wits end. I'm a pretty shitty hero, aren't I?

[SINIB]

Sakura Matou

Sakura smiled at Jeanne and matched her pace with hers, winding her arms through Jeanne's and leaning against her for support. As she rested her head against Jeanne's, she began to think about her.

She was like a lighthouse, illuminating a rocky and foggy coast in the dead of night, while Shirou was a lifeboat in which she was navigating the waters, and Rider and Rin were a sturdy oar and a life preserver, respectively.

She didn't like falling into the metaphorical depths of darkness and despair. There seemed to be no bottom to them, and if she ran out of strength before getting back on the boat...

She began to shiver a bit.

She didn't know what would happen, only that it wouldn't be good.

And she also knew she was terrified of the lights going out.

"You'll stay with me, right?" Sakura asked, trying to hide her desperation. "You won't die on me, right Jeanne?"

[Panda]

Dante

The half-demon nodded, reaching back to retrieve the strip of plastic that had kept the pizza and strawberry sundaes flowing back home in Fortuna City. He couldn't help but wonder how this card would work here, but the people at the restaurant had been happy enough to take cash before, so currency probably wasn't quite as uniform around here. Sliding the credit card to the barkeep, the half-demon turned at the sound of footsteps to see another cute girl who'd seemingly made a very bad choice about her attire considering the season. Granted, perhaps he hadn't made the best choice either, but he wasn't particularly bothered by that sort of stuff.

The half-demon cocked an eyebrow at her question, but didn't have a chance to wonder if she was a new-comer as well before the cute raven-haired girl beside him answered it for her. With that avenue of conversation closed off for now, Dante turned back to the bar, curious to see if the card would be accepted and his sundae delivered.

[Aiden]

Oren

Oren rolled off the other girl and plopped down on the ash as they waited. And waited. It had been about ten minutes of about absolutely nothing happening when something rustled. Then it appeared. One could mistake it for a small crowd of prey animals from a distance. The ashen deer and grey rabbits attached to it by translucent chords could be difficult to connect to the hulking beast that was surrounded by them.

The entire creature was a trap. Quite insidious. The animal attachments it had looked like their counterparts and even smelled like them, but they were all quite capable of tearing a human apart when they twisted and bent into abominations more akin to maws on legs than any animal. The main body itself would lurk under the ground and feed from its extensions. Very rarely was it exposed unless the ash grove it was in had become too crowded and the roots were invading too deep and it needed to find a new home.

"Found it!" Although she had to admit that they all probably did at this point. "Break the chords off the animals. They're hard to see but killing them normally is harder. After that we can deal with the big one. Ready?"

She dropped to all fours and shifted to a solid black before instantly turning into a werewolf.  It was a large, powerful, and an excellent predator. She waited for a bit to let the creature get closer before charging forward. The Lycan practically just rammed the leading deer. Bones snapped but Oren's attention was focused on the tube that linked it to the main body. Her jaws slammed down on it and tore it off before she began running back towards the other two with the tentacle in her mouth, and as the deer fell limp and dark grey blood spilled forth the link the rest of the prey animals instantly changed. False flesh tore open to reveal teeth and sharpened bones and the main mass moved forward as the fake herd charged at them.

Auspicious Breeze

Waiting was tough for her. She could barely stop herself from bouncing on her sandal'd heels, frowning in concentration as she stretched her senses out to hear every little thing. All the animals and the plants moving in the wind and the crackling embers that were in the wood somehow because magic. It was pretty neat, but staying still was hard and she didn't want to interrupt Oren. And Michael was a man, and she never really saw much of men growing up except when they were trying to kill her in the arena. Breeze wasn't too sure how to talk to a man without punching him.

Then the other animals showed up, and things got interesting.

Ohhh, so that's what Oren was! When she turned into the wolf creature Breeze knew she was like one of those Demons of the Moon, the shapeshifters her mistress had told her legends of that one time. They ate people and things and took their shapes, using them to pretend to be those things and people, and did scary things to 'civilized' places. Breeze supposed she should be afraid, but she from what Radiant had said there were all kinds of places where the exalt would be called a Demon of the Sun herself. She would just punch one if they tried anything bad.

Besides, clearly they were capable of being cute girls - they couldn't possibly be all bad.

Cut the cords? That shouldn't be too hard, if she could rip them apart with her hands. She took a deep breath, and then vanished in the blink of an eye. She'd moved so quickly from where she was to where the enemy was that it was like she had always been there. Then, she grabbed at the cord of a deer before it could register she was, in fact, there. Riiiiiip!

[Panda]

Michael

At the sight of the charging herd Oren was leading towards them in her newest form, the immortal allowed a slight frown before Enhancing himself, then Enhancing his eyes in particular to help pick out the cords she was talking about.

So we're hunting another predator? This ought to be interesting.

Taking careful aim, Michael loosed a volley of waves from the staff, tearing through some of the cords as the beasts approached, turning into a mass of teeth and sharpened bone. Breeze, however, seemed to be more eager than that, somehow already having moved to the herd and starting to tear the cords clean off the beasts with her bare hands. The immortal allowed a bemused grin at that, abandoning the defensive position and charging in as well. After all, it would hardly be right to let the athletic woman have all the fun.

Charging into the herd, the immortal extended his staff out to its fullest, snagging cords with the hook at the end and tearing them free with quick twist of the staff before shredding more of them with more waves fired from the staff, feeling himself quickly settling into the familiar rhythm of combat as he moved with a deadly grace, each move a simple flick of a brush that painted only with blood and broken bones.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Count Dr.Greyskull

The count wasted no time and went forward with the procedures. Before he knew it, the wounds and trauma were properly treated, the splinters removed and the wounds properly disinfected before being wrapped in bandages.

Alarice was still nude, but the dark crevices that replaced his eyes did not roam her body, instead settling for her face.  If he still could, the lord would have allowed himself a smile. She truly did remind him of her…

 “Just like a baby, nyeh heh.” Greyskull chuckled softly. Afterwards, he had the girl dressed carefully with simple skeleton themed pajama pants and shirt (specially knitted by his workers, naturally), then laid her to rest comfortably on the bed along a simple white blanket.

He puffed his chest proudly in regards to the good work done and sat on the chair near the bed, picking up one of the medical books lying around to read in calm silence. It was nice to be able to read next to someone, almost like the good old days..

"Thanks" He thought aloud, not quite realizing that he had spoken in the first place.

[Thedoctor]

Kuro

Kuro laughed at their responses. "Yet you bragged so much about your exploits while we were eating earlier, Blondie." The white haired girl started walking in a circle around them as she was speaking. "Do you just think I'm some little girl with a trick or two? She stopped walking and turned to look at both of them, a grinn could be seen on her face. "Please show me some of the oh so highly valued things you learned here."

[Thedoctor]

Archer

Archer kept making the dressing as he thought about what Shirou had said, his memories of before he made that contract weren't overly clear. He supposed the story about how he got his red coat wouldn't suffice. He sighed.

"I...I don't really remember much, You could say it's all starting to merge into a jumbled mess. My memories that is. Sometimes I'm not even sure what I'm doing is what I'm supposed to be doing. I suppose I had a purpose once....."


Jeanne

Jeanne felt Sakura resting her head on her shoulder as they made their way back to the kitchen. She noticed that master was beginning to feel doubts herself as she asked Jeanne if she would remain alive, if she wouldn't abandon her.

"Everyone dies eventually Sakura, it's what we do with the time that matters. Admittedly there are some who are immortal but that's beside the point. I'll stay with you for as long as I can."

[Panda]

Emily

The Changeling looked up at him, flushing as he stopped her attempts to remove her blouse. Squirming a little bit under him in spite of herself, the Changeling took a moment to try to calm herself.

"N-no, this is fine," Emily said, her periwinkle eyes locked onto his violet ones.

[Cherry Lover]

Rider

Rider smiled gently, trying not to startle the obviously-nervous girl.

"Well, why don't we find somewhere to sit and have a chat? I'd like to get to know you better", she said softly.

[SINIB]

Foxkura

Shiro sat on the ground and began wiping her rapidly tearing eyes, beginning to worry about her 'mother' being missing for so long. "She-She is!" She yelled out, refusing to believe otherwise. "She's definetly a nice person! She's my mommy!"

[Kotomine_Rin]

Sakagami Kenzo

After a while, the demon had calmed down. It was pointless to cry like this, crying wouldn't make things get better. Rather, there was no need to feel bad. He was fine, very fine! If things just didn't get better no matter what, then surely it meant that they were good to begin with. A minus with a minus had to make a plus after all.

He didn't need help, he didn't need any one bit. He didn't even know if he needed anything at all! Probably not. Well, he was hungry and sad and lonely, but he was still glad! Because no matter how bad things get, they always get worse. Surely his misfortune was simply announcing the coming of even greater fortune in the future, not that he needed any since he was happy anyway. 

If his heart began to hurt and ache and bleed, it would just feel fuzzier and warmer and better in the future!

He couldn't even cry about it anymore, so he chose to laugh. Not that he was hurting, but laughing made it hurt less. So instead, he looked around the city with curious eyes, hiding behind a cheerful childish duck mask.

Suddenly, he overheard a crying child speaking to a girl. They didn't really look related, so maybe they were friends. He approached the two and then a terrible, terrible thought dawned on the demon. She was talking so desperatedly about her mommy, could it be that she lost her? It made sense since no one who looked like her was around.

What a terrible thing! But don't worry, Kenzo will become your new mommy! And then they could find her mommy and she could have not one, but two mommies! Hopefully it wouldn't go back to one, but he didn't trouble himself with any of that. Helping a crying child is the correct thing to do, so he had to do it!

"What's wrong?" He asked, clear and sincere concern behind his mask of clay.