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

[yinsukin]

Joe

Her hands were pretty soft too.  Maybe it had just been too long since he felt the touch of a woman.

The man chuckled exhaustively, as if laughing off an overused joke.  “More like stubborn.  They refuse to change the name.  I can't say I can complain anymore.  It's a great Icebreaker.”

“You know you do seem like a cat person.”  He commented, mostly guessing.

[Aiden]

Gadreel

The exiled angel had taken some time for himself that day. He spent it observing the people more clinically than before. It was only then that he could see the familiar fear so many of these humans possessed while moving through the streets of this Nexus City. They were all too aware of the horrors that lurked in the alleys and beneath the roads, on rooftops and in trees. They had grown accustomed to dwelling in a Hell not of their own making.

This had become all too blasphemously typical for him. During his brief sojourns into the occupied territories of the Army of Revelations he had seen similar fear among the ranks of the non-believers who had yet to take the Mark of the Beast upon their brows. The sight left him feeling as helpless now as it did then.

He went to the park off in the distance to escape the sight of human fear for a time. Gadreel lost track of time, but then something brought him back to himself and out of his vast reservoir of memories and recriminations. A small, deceptively innocent homunculus of some sort was tugging on him, having caught him in one of those rare times where his awareness was not so keen. "Ah, what is this little creature? Some form of..."

The exile saw the image. His fingers clenched as focus returned to him. I have no time to waste bemoaning my own weakness. This person requires assistance. The messenger is questionable, but I cannot avoid this merely because it reeks of a trap. What if it were not, and some ill befell her?

His voice was steady now. "Take me to her, tiny demon. I will do what I can."

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lorenzo Remei

Lorenzo noticed some strange thingies pop out of that girl's bosom like babies, and now some poor lad was holding something towards him. Now that was a weird gun, but a peashooter wasn't gonna do much against him. He just grinned and posed coolly, showing off his prize smugly to everyone.

As he walked out of the doors of the mall, he noticed something wet and fizzly dripping on his fire. How odd, it looked sunny alright, he would be able to tell if it was going to rain any soon usually. Still walking, he turned to take a better look at her and noticed the poor lass was crying. To be honest, this kinda made him feel bad a little.

Actually, he didn't feel bad about this at all. It was her fault for saying such foolish and rude things to him, this would teach her not to mess with him. Hmph! But still, drink and girl tears didn't mix well, it's not that he gave a damn about her at this point but he wanted to have a good time. Having to babysit a snotty brat didn't sound very fun now.

"Oi, oi, you alright? You better not fall sick on me, who is gonna pick up my sorry shriveled body once I drink all my sorrows away? Bah, fine, I'll share. But you're paying."

[Aiden]

Oren

The dragon had begun to come closer and closer to the surface. All sorts of people were popping up! Maybe she could use this to her advantage? So Oren made some distance before accelerating faster and faster, slipping through the earth as fast as this body was capable. And right before she passed the woman from before she just flicked her tail up to slap her forward.

Muramasa Katase

The tail struck the Muramasa's puppet, but she got the last laugh there. In the exact moment she was knocked forward she brought the blade up and across to cut the dragon's tail. In a sense, they both lost that particular exchange. Katase's armor had taken quite a beating from that, but this creature was... unlikely to fall to something so simple as a maiming to an extremity.

How interesting. The shell returned to her feet and prepared for the follow-up.

[SINIB]

Jin

Having finally managed to cool off, he took one of the poffins and put it into his mouth. The taste was hard to describe...but it wasn't bad. He didn't see himself asking for this again however. He slowly chewed it as he thought about it and then swallowed it. "It was ok. What did you even mix into this? It tastest awfully sugary."

Oka Kurosawa

Oka chewed and swallowed her second one before responding. "Well, of course it's sweet, I used sweet berries in them. That's the secret ingredient, by the way!" Oka raised her finger in the air, and resisted the urge to pull out her glasses. "They're incredibly healthy for both Pokémon and humans, and they come in every possible flavor!" The girl was salivating profusely at this point, having fully worked up her gargantuan appetite again. "Ohhh, I miss the amazing food of Unova, there's such an amazing variety."

The young woman sighed, wrapping her arms around Jin's waist. "I don't think I've ever asked you, but what kind of food were unique to your world? There must've been something interesting, right?"

Meanwhile, behind them, Wormy and Chuck were spiriting away the rest of the batch of poffins, taking them to another room so they could enjoy their feast without the prying hands of Oka stealing them from them.

[Aiden]

Gadreel

He appeared now unhurried, when in fact Gadreel had sprinted the entire way here. Now that they were at the proper destination where  he merely power-walked with his tremendous stride. It was then that the unnatural skeletal creature came into view for the exiled angel. He did not have a clear view of the maiden in its grasp, but the tugging of the tiny demon on his coat assured him that she was still present and unharmed for the moment.

He moved to stand in the creature's path. "Hold, skeleton! I would have words with you." Gadreel pointed first to it, then to the girl. "But first I must insist that you relinquish your hold on the young lady at your side."

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

"Oh? I did not think you believed me humorless." He said in a snide tone, but there was something more to it. He got up from the table and walked up to a nearby window, gazing at his reflection and touching its palm with his own.

"I wonder... which direction shall the gears point us to?"

[yinsukin]

Relius Clover

Relius shrugged, holding his hands in the air in false surrender.  "Its easy to characterize a doll as humorless, especially one who has cast off feeling."  He commented in response to the doll's retort.  He maintained his gaze on the spot that Vanguard used to be standing even after he moved to a nearby window. 

"The overall machine is the same.  Now there are simply new cogs introduced to increase its complexity."  He said, mirroring Vangaurd's cryptic speech.  Then, he turned to face Vanguard, even though the doll was looking in another direction.  “We need to gain control over the flow.  We need to introduce our own cogs into the system.”  He said.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lorenzo Remei

Tch, silent treatment huh? Very well, we'd see who'd be laughing when he'd hammer her to merry drunkenland, bwahaha! Hopefully she'd keep up with him, at least with the first keg. It'd be no fun if she got knocked out before he got to punish her...

Suddenly, a tall handsome redhead called him out. What now? Not that he minded fine company, but he was a little busy. Besides, he had a name, and skeleton wasn't it. Oh well, he couldn't stay mad, and he seemed like a nice lad. It would be rude not to humor a good looking fellow like that.

"Sure thing smoothskin." He answered in friendly banter, flipping the girl over his shoulder before dropping her like the sack of potatoes she was. He put a hand on his hip and waited for the fine looking sir to state his business. He wasn't worried that she'd run away or anything, he'd catch and bonk her head before she could shiver her timbers.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

"Please, if you speak so loud we might as well write our words down on every wall of this city." He said, glaring at the man before averting his narrow gaze to the storage room.
"What will you have me do?"

[Kotomine_Rin]

Methuselah

In the blink of an eye, the powerful man avoided the curtain of darkness and before he could retaliate, he had already crossed the distance and was right in his face.  Instinctively, he moved his head back, barely avoiding having his face smashed in, but unable to dodge the concussive blow. There was a visible crack glowing red across his chin, but he used the momentum to increase the distance between the two.

D-damn. This is bad, baaad. What to do now!?

Another surge of darkness wrapped his body, as long as both were in the air he had an advantage. With a single command, it only took a few seconds for six massive arms made of evil unholy energies and pure darkness burst from his aura and lunge at the man from all sides. While they wouldn't be a problem to avoid normally, it was different when you were busy falling already.

[yinsukin]

Relius Clover

“Dont be so neurotic.  There are clearly ways of picking up information far beyond my current knowledge.” He said, alluding to the results of their first meeting. “What I need you to do is to assist me in gathering data. “

The scientist walked over to another door in the far end of the lab, the one with all of the explosives.  All of the sudden, Ignis appeared in a flash of purple light.  She grabbed a few explosives and the two walked back to Vangurd, shutting the door on the way.  His footsteps softly tapped against the hard floor as he walked, intensifying as he grew closer.

“I want to test the limits of this city’s police force as well as other organized forces within the city.  They may be... useful in the future.  Gather as much data as you can.  If you come across any information on me, dispose of it.”  He said in his usual theatrical tone.  Ignis stood next to him, presenting the explosives to Vanguard.

[Elf]

Rin

Joe's hand wasn't overly warm or callused like Shirou or Archer's.  It was just a hand bigger than hers.  She wondered if there was an American equivalent of being a salaryman.

Rin tilted her head and asked, "What makes you think I'm a cat person?  I mean you're right.  I do have a cat.  His name's Schorl."  She smiled at him and pushed her hair back.

"Do you have any pets?  Or are you a dog person?"

[Kat]

Mordred

Mordred sighed, hoping that nothing would escalate from that point, after all it's enough that Oren was around. Though, if Sakura threw Oren into a rocket fired into the sun, she wouldn't mind such a replacement as long as if that suspicious bitch was out of the picture.

Still, she had no intention of interrupting that. Sakura had clearly complexes about her strength and needed reassurance. "I don't care about you being a cyborg either, so don't fret about it. We're friend, right?" Mordred patted her shoulder in a reassuring manner.

[Kat]

Petra

"If we can, I'd like to roughen them up but not necessarily cripple them for good or kill them. The judge'd be displeasured if we passed a sentence without his involvement. Maybe another mine or farm needs cheap labor." The grim reality of Nexus was that there was not enough resources to create prisons that wouldn't generate profits, so weak and poor criminals got pressed as a cheap workforce while major offenders got executed. Those with enough influence or money could get away from troubles by paying a fine.

That reminded her of that troublemaker that she met in the mall. Rumors said that she tried to break into a hospital armed with an axe. On another hand those news didn't mention that she was a vampire. Petra didn't care enough to inform her co-workers about it after all. She doubted though that a fine would teach her a thing. Petra had to watch out for that vigilante in case she barged into her assigned territory, she attracted trouble.

However, she wasn't someone to lecture others about the law, after all she co-operated with a criminal right now. "I hope you will follow those guidelines in spite of your career."