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

[Kat]

Mordred

"Okay, b-" Before Sakura let finish her sentence, she grabbed her without asking first and started jumping like some wacko from one building to another.

"You don't know what buses are for? What I have always to deal with such luddites..." Mordred visibly complained about her lack of what she considered as a common sense.

[SINIB]

Gadreel

Please do not assault anyone preemptively, Forest. It was all the request he could make of her at this juncture. He could only hope she heeded him.

He did not reach for his weapons, nearly obfuscated from view as they were by his garments, but did comply with placing his hands behind his head. The new officer on site was not intimidating in the slightest to him with her somewhat endearing voice and the tremendous difference in height between them, but bearing was unnecessary. Deceptive, even, for this exiled angel had witnessed horrors and wonders bundled into innocuous packages before.

Then Gadreel spoke, once acknowledged. "Good evening, officer. I will concede to this gentlemen's words; I had detected some manner of horror lurking within this hospital and was aiming to dispose of it. I was unaware that any public agency had... jurisdiction over such concerns. Such matters are typically private from whence I come."

Even after the rise of the Adversary it was considered... prudent to not alert the public to the everyday particulars. For morale purposes.

Forest

I'm being good, not hitting anyone, the vampire replied before she saw the tiny blond with the big gun.

At the Enforcer's command, Forest put her hands on her head and stepped away from her axe, which was already on the counter.

"Sorry, my weapon was already laying on the counter," Forest canted her head towards it,  "If you like, I could put it on the floor. As to his story, well, we were at the mall today where that Eldridge horror was let loose.  We didn't kill it all.  Some of it got away and we followed it here.  We're probably on the security footage if you'd like to check our story out.  Despite how things look, we really don't want any trouble.  What happened at the mall was bad enough.  We really don't want it to happen here.  However, if you want us to leave, then we'll leave."

Hell, that battle is probably viral now, Forest thought to Gadreel, meeting his eyes.  I know some of the people who I blocked started recording stuff on their phone when they regained sense.  Instead of doing the smart thing and run away.  We might be able to use that to our advantage.

Hospit-Noel

Noel nodded sympathetically and smiled at Gadreel. "Ah, so you're new here, and it was just an honest mistake. Ok, that's fine." Noel said to him. After all, punishing someone new here who was just getting acquainted with how things work here would be ridiculous.

Her though...

Noel turned to face Forest and her expression quickly soured, and only deepening as the idiot vampire passive aggressively told her story. Once she was done, Noel took a deep breath, and began to speak.

"Mhm, yeah, you didn't mean to cause any harm. I guess I'll believe that, it fits with how everyone describes you." Noel said dryly and sardonically, clearly incredibly annoyed at being called out here as a result of her antics.

She then turned to Larry. "I'll take the tall man inside with me and investigate whatever he sensed, but I'm not going to take her with me. She's too unpredictable and impulsive, and too much of a wild card. I'll take her back to the station with me after we're done. Don't let her leave until then."

[Thedoctor]

Jin

He patted her head as he felt her squeeze his hans. They'd managed to get out of there, his girlfriend had taken his words seriously or was at least trying to do so. Ice cream would do then. Having something cool was never wrong.

"Lead the way then, my great ice cream saviour."


Archer

"Of course, I'll try not to" But you're too easy to tease . He watched with rapt interest as Rin went her way to get a book. What kind of book would she pick? Would it be new or old? Then there's genre too, the possibilities were quite huge. She eventuallly returned with a Western classic romance. He raised an eyebrow as he saw the the name of the author.

"Not Pride and Prejusdice I see." He replied while looking at her blushing face.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Liseth

The taller girl nodded along as Emily spoke. That really wasn't too surprising. She could easily imagine the redhead doing all of those things. Especially acting. It just really seemed to fit someone as social and expressive as her.

She didn't really have much to say at that point. There just wasn't something something for her to really talk about, but for once in the last couple of months she didn't want to fall back into that comfortable silence. "Hey, umm, do you want to try a game?"

[Kat]

Minato

Five months later

The last five months in the city passed quite uneventful without any major incident that would shake up the Unchained's quiet life. That doesn't mean it passed without violence, but any blood shed by her was for her benefit and no incident spiralled out of control. She earned some money from assassination contracts, poisoned few potential competitors to make way for her new business and largely settled down, occassionally taking jobs under her old identity to keep Katase content.

Her pregnancy was already visible and according to the doctor she had twins, most likely girls. Minato made up a believable tale about her newly married husband tragically dying in WW2 like a true patriot, enlisting to the navy and drowning during a naval battle against US Navy. Her 'relative' (and oddly the true father of her children but that was a secret that couldn't leak out) was with her to help her with business.

It was lovely spring day and Minato fancied going for a walk with Katase. The sword was cleverly hidden in Katase's umbrella right now.

[Kat]

Rikuyo

The redhead continued her sexual assault with passion, not ceasing even for a moment. Her other hand slid under Ron's body and grabbed his ass. A 'bit' forcefully, so he probably felt some of her strength. But that wasn't a problem, after all he could endure much more. She also waited patiently like a stalking predator for the time when Medaka would stop playing with his genitals so that Rikuyo could outright fuck him. The look on the face of Annie will be worth it when she learns of that.

[Panda]

Emily

For the slightest of moments, Emily found herself worrying that they would slip into that comfortable silence again. And just after it seemed she was making progress in getting the girl to open up, too...

Those worries vanished like the morning mists under the rays of the sun as Liseth promptly made her offer, prompting another smile from the changeling. No small amount of mischief stirred in her mind as an idea occurred. It was most certainly too early for something more direct, but something more subtle, that could be passed off as something else...

"I'd love to," Emily said, sidling up to Liseth under the pretext of being able to see the laptop screen better, "I could show you a few recipes later, if you'd like. Maybe a bit on acting, if you'd prefer."

[Kat]

Julius

In contrast to Kuro, the count didn't look in any panic. Nay, he looked as if it wasn't the first time he experienced this phenomenon. "You are correct. I have experienced such a thing before. There are monsters in my world capable of forming their small worlds out of nightmares they embody."

The problem was that this place was too soaked in the evil for Julius to detect the main source of the maliciousness that powered it. Once he realized that, he looked a bit nervous. "It is unfortunate though. I usually have no problem finding the heart of such nightmarish realms, but now I am not sure if we can find it quickly. This place reeks so much of evil as if we were in middle of particularly noxious sewers. We should take care and not split up. I shall do my best and find the monster as soon as it is possible."

He could feel that there were several places where the evil radiated more strongly, though that didn't solve their problem. Only one of these could be the place where the monster was located. He decided to trust his insticts.

"I think we should turn right first. If luck is on our side, maybe the monster is there, but I cannot guarantee that."

[Kat]

Guard Larry

The old guard overcame suspicions he had against this woman's partner. If he was someone new to the city, that would explain his ignorance. He also did not try to antagonize them further unlike the vigilante wannabe who indulged in ranting and lecturing them. Larry Whyte nodded in response to officer Vermillion's words.

"That's a prudent decision. We'll keep her out to the best of our ability." He promised, visibly reloading his pistol while saying those words. If she got into the hospital that wouldn't be without a fight.

"It'll be wise if you wait here patiently. You really don't want more trouble." He warned the telepath about the consequences of doing anything foolish.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Erica

She stayed still for a bit. Unresponsive as she bled aura and worked on reestablishing the repair protocols. A few circles flared up and once a good amount of seconds had passed the restoration was ready. Aura flooded out of her limbs and the holes in her body, and in a moment she was whole once more. She'd even reconstructed her clothes.

"I believe I have come to understand this concept of 'dignity' along with a few other things about myself. Thank you." The brightness in her eyes returned to a more calm blue but that energy still coursed through her, animating her when she would usually revert to absolute stillness. She brought her feet on the ground.


Liseth

Ah, okay. This was fine. It was what she asked right? If her face was a little red that was just a coincidence after all. They were just sharing their interests. "Yeah, that... that would be nice." And it would, wouldn't it? Emily seemed like a good person, and just doing normal things with someone was fine with her.

So she let Emily choose the kind of game she wanted and started directed her. As time passed she became a good deal more animated and there was some amount of embarrassed touching and prodding as she showed Emily the ropes. She was just a pretty physical person when she got into things. That was all.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

Vanguard sighed and looked past the nearby window, staring at the clear sky. His face was stoic, almost relaxed. There were no traces of the anger or hardness of before, as if he had already blown his steam and had fallen asleep. It was a pure, utter calm acceptance.

"Good grief. I believed I'd beat some sense into your skull, and here I thought I was a fair judge of women. I suppose my skills in that form are equally lacking."

Who won? Who lost? Was there any meaning in this fight to begin with? Even if she reached him, she did not destroy him. The victor would clearly be him, but it wasn't so simple. To think his tick, his impulse to reach for his enemy's heart, would be his downfall. He had annihilated an empty shell, the true enemy had never been reached. Pathetically, he chuckled and wondered.

"You never did give me your name." He said finally, in a cool and kindly stern tone. There was no emotion in his voice, yet his words were gentle and soft. "Then again, I never gave you mine either, back then. It is only fair, but when two strong beings truly fight, it is custom to share their names so the vanquished may remember the victor."

A strange wet feeling coursed across his head. Curious, he touched his bleeding forehead and brought the bloodstained hand closer to his attention. He stared at the strange, red liquid with intrigued eyes. His look shone like a child who had just seen something incredible. Was this what it meant to be alive? It had been so long he had almost forgotten. Perhaps without even knowing, he brought the bloody fingers to his mouth and tasted it.

 Did he truly succeed, or was it all empty just like the wound on his face? Was he truly alive, did the man called Vanguard truly exist in this moment? The possibility that everything around him was a demented illusion caused by his tormented psyche was a chilling thought that always festered in the back of his mind.

But not now. Even if this body was nothing but an artificial shell, even if the whole world was a lie it was still him.

He turned around to face the girl and smiled weakly, a slight movement of his lips that barely arched upwards. Yet there was a radiance beyond the artificial grin he displayed earlier. For the first time in eons, his smile was true, and it was beautiful.

"You are rather impressive, please indulge me, so that I may remember the one who made my head throb so."

[Kotomine_Rin]

The world over heaven

As they walked right, their eyes would gradually grow more and more accustomed to the darkness. As the child and the hero walked along the beehive patterns, something grew more and more visible. The large pink crystal formations within the hives weren't empty or filled with merely jelly. A black shadow was noticeably more visible then the others. It was clear that something was inside the hives. But what?

Would they move back, continue investigating or look closer?

[Aiden]

Auspicious Breeze

"Waaahahahaha!" was all Breeze got out at first when Sakura started jumping really far and high. This was way too much fun for the young Exalt; it made her wish she could do this sort of thing too! She would have to pick up her training; she just knew she'd be able to if she tried long and hard enough.

"I have so much training to do if I'm gonna keep up with this!" she shouted over the air whistling past their ears, a big grin on her face as her hair blew across her big blue eyes.

---------------

Gadreel

Well, he was hardly in a position to argue against his associate's exclusion at this juncture. While the fallen angel had to respect Forest's willingness to suffer physical and psychological misery for the sake of others as she had back at the shopping center, her current behavior was ill considered. It was as if her pride had been in some fashion wounded, and she felt the need to lash out. Was this the arrogance of an immortal human mind, ill-prepared for distant eons?

Perhaps not. He had met others of such longevity before.

Gadreel simply inclined his head in kind to the officers, hands kept behind his head, and began to plan for how he might continue their mission here. "I believe I will be able to sense the creature's location with more precision from within the building."

[Panda]

Emily

Looking over the games presented, the changeling ended up picking out one of the grand strategy games. All things considered, it was definitely too soon to give survival-horror a try, and she'd never really tried grand strategy before. Liseth was all too willing to help, of course, guiding Emily through the process of learning to play the game, with more than a few guiding touches, much to Emily's amusement, though she didn't say anything about it, not wanting to ruin the moment. As it was, the warmth of the other girl made it an enjoyable experience, though Emily had hardly expected otherwise. Under the dark-haired girl's careful guidance, the redhead managed to do reasonably well for herself until a seemingly endless swarm of high-tech Aztecs came swarming in from off the map, though the end result certainly got a good laugh out of the changeling.

Of course, now it was her turn to share her hobby. They agreed that it would be best to do this at Liseth's house, and made their way out together, though Emily made sure to buy a nice bottle of wine on the way out, no small amount of amusement lighting up her eyes as she did so. A quick detour to a nearby grocery store was the only real delay on their way back to her place, and it wasn't long until they were there. It actually turned out to be a pretty nice place, but now wasn't the time to go exploring. All the same, the changeling found herself looking forward to this. There was just something about sharing their hobbies like this, even if they were fairly mundane things amidst the wondrous insanity of the Nexus.

"This is a nice place," Emily said once they were inside, "You've done well for yourself. Which way is the kitchen?"

[yinsukin]

Medaka Kurokami

The warewolf got even bigger after she listened to Shinobu's advice.  It makes sense.  She has had literally centuries of experience to rely on.  Just as she was thinking along those lines, the elder vampire leaned in closer and instructed her to use her mouth, warning her to watch her fangs.  She followed her advice seamlessly, wrapping her lips around his shaft.  It was actually pretty hard considering how much space he took up in her mouth.  She tried going slow, using her mouth as a cupped hand to stroke his shaft. 

Before she could really get into it however, she sensed the not so subtle intentions of Rikuyo.  She pulled away, and crawled to Ron's side, allowing the half dog to have her way with him.  "Hmm, so what now Shinobu?"  She asked the elder vampire.