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

[YOLF]

Rafalia Tredecim

The light of the day fell gently on the girl who sat on a tree, filtered through the shaking leaves and twigs which crowned it. This much above the ground level, overlooking the green zone where the trunk was rooted and the busy street with her violet eyes, the bluster of town seemed almost faded, and soft shadows fell on her legs while she balanced on the thick branches. Casually dressed, Rafalia Tredecim lazily ate from the open pack she held while beholding the scenery, salty crumbs avoiding her lap as they fell. It was nice. But it just wasn't the same.

The Nexus was bumbling with all manner of personalities and beings pinging on her gonzo radar, but it somehow felt so abysmally... mundane. And she didn't have a home here. Even her favorite variety of chips didn't taste the same! Which brought to mind the question, why was she here again? Not existentially, she knew about three different answers to that.

Well, after clearing out a motel newly stuffed with prankster spirits by way of arrows and insults in exchange for a room to provisionally occupy, she had tried to find some means of at least temporary self-sufficiency and found her way into the meeting of a neighborhood association woefully in need of some direction for the avenue park remodeling, a problem she had proceeded into butt into with the excuse of native faeries driving up the budget with their interference-prone sensitivity, and taken up the job of main designer and manager, the result of which was the lovely rows of trees behind the soft gothic gates to the street, iridiscent and obsidian walkways giving out to gently colored play areas and a central plaze with a coffee-restaurant. And also useful appreciation on the part of the locals and some spending money.

But ultimately she was here because a hole had opened up beneath her in Fortitude during a festival, probably because Chuubo turning into a giant snake for the parade didn't help and he tried to fix it with a wish, and her lovely ass almost crashed into the pavement of downtown Nexus City.

At least her Alaric was with her in spirit, festering in her wicked and hollow heart.

Speaking of hearts, what little heart was suddenly sounding so shaken just next to her? Her eyes slid past the fried snack to see a very overwhelmed child running past on the grass, and then followed the way he was skedaddling away from.

A rather nice-looking someone in the darkness & doom way was being all sad under the shade of a tree, seemingly for the effect produced by his terrifying countenance, the excrucian noticed. Well that was odd, problems like that didn't tend to come in packages fit for dark and fearsome beings. When they did, that made her wonder what was really inside the package.

She leapt down from her perch, drifting to the ground without a sound, before skipping over next to the sorrowful man, barely touching the ground. Rafalia tilted daintily to look at him and spoke cheerfuly.

"Come on, chin up! It's really impressive such a handsome fellow as you managed to make a kid cry and scare them off without even glaring. Normally, your type is surrounded by demonic fangirls," She stopped, and a nighted and morbid shadow passed over her eyes for an instant. "Or by psychopaths lovestruck with your ability for carnage! But I get the feeling you're not much into that."

She held out the half-empty chip pack and asked, "Want some?"

[Break]

Coppelius

A thin smile curled the puppet's porcelaine mouth upon that.

"Do'nt you worry, Mr Clover. This is hardly the first time i've had to work for my share."

Getting back up, he blended out of the rows and rows of similar, but fundamentally different merchandise.

"I am a masterpiece after all."

[Kotomine_Rin]

Methuselah

Methuselah frowned as he heard the sudden interloper. Carnage? He never did such a thing, and even if he did those memories weren't his. Ten thousand experiences, each more fabulous than the last. Every fantastic story needs a villain, humans had created a convenient existence, a darkness that would make the lights of hope and goodness shine even brighter. And what a villain he was, even if the current him had not destroyed anything himself, he had dreamt of the carnages he had once caused, over and over. But alas all fun things must come to an end.

Ten thousand stories began and ended the same, but he had grown tired of it.

Each memory was a figment of the last Methuselah, he did not know if the last was any more real than the next one. If he died, would the Methuselah afterwards remember him the same way he rememberd all the other Methuselah? Perhaps some things are better left shrouded in mystery. The truth is, he was content with such a peaceful, quiet life.

More importantly, did she just call him handsome? J-jeez, she didn't have to do that. Honestly, out of all the dreams and lifetimes he had experienced, and even in this current one, he couldn't recall a single time anyone called him that. It was fortunate that he did not bleed like humans do, else she would have noticed him blush!

"S-sure..." He said hesitantly, a little embarrassed. But this wasn't the time for weakness, he took a deep breath and brough his chest forward to look even larger and imposing than before, to assert dominance.

So he picked a potato chip with his dark member, harbinger of doom and terror. He took the potato chip... and ate it!

"Hey, that's pretty good!" He suddenly noted, feeling a little better all of a sudden. "Thanks. What's your name?"

[yinsukin]

Relius Clover

Relius's amused smile returned.  He walked over to the door leading to the outside world.  "Very well.  You seem to find solidarity in this place.  Feel free to ascertain anything in this store for use on this mission." He opened the door, finally allowing light to float into his shop.  "I must tend to other matters."  He said with that distant polite voice.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Oren

Having made some distance and healed herself Oren finally exited the earth as a Lycan. Then she began to track. Oren wandered the streets of the Nexus with her nose to the ground, doing all that she could to try and catch Breeze's scent. If anyone was particularly bothered by a large werewolf prowling the streets they definitely didn't say anything.

[Elf]

Rin

"But what makes you think that either of us have any need for this treasure?  You could probably find someone who would better suited to help you who actually could use the money," Rin said.

She did look over at Joe and winced.  "I'll help you buy another one, I promise," she said.

[Aiden]

Michael

Hm. Fair few times it seems, if her irritation outweighs her curiosity. Or perhaps that doesn't hold as much potential to be a driving force as it might hold for others?

"Very well. Right to the heart of the issue, then," the immortal said, his smile giving way to a more serious look, "Even in my long years, I've not encountered too many like yourself. Weapons holding anything more than the basest degree of sentience were more often than not something else simply taking the form of a weapon. What few times I've encountered such weapons, however, have been quite curious occasions indeed. When they weren't wielding themselves, their wielders tended to either be entirely under their thrall, little more than meat-puppets waving weapons mad with blood-lust, or otherwise seeming to treat the weapons as if they were...people. Equal partners. While the notion isn't at all disconcerting, I must confess that I've never had the chance to try it for myself, at least not with a suitable weapon, and you've exceeded that criterion thus far, with no reason to worry about that changing."

"Of course, that aside," Michael continued, "Things have been rather boring around here since I've arrived. A few things have shaken up the norm, but those were only for mere moments, and nothing came of it. So, I've figured that I might as well try my hand. I must admit, I was initially factoring you in as another piece in the plan, but that time has passed. Now, I'd rather have a partner in all this to share in the bloodshed and amusement that is all too likely to follow, even if the proverbial house comes crashing down."

Of course, the first steps were managed back when I was training Mordred and Breeze, but it was probably the easiest part. Just needed to drop the right words in the right ears.

Muramasa Katase

She was flattered. Truly, she was. Muramasa Katase was, of course, the greatest of all blades and it was always nice when someone acknowledged her true value this way. Were she freshly arrived to this strange Nexus City she may well have given this Michael Korihae the opportunity to prove himself as a wielder worthy of her. Katase had a feeling they would kill a great many people together.

But she had already found and lost her wielder in this cruel place once before. The sorrow of that memory was still so great that the demon sword found her puppet expressing it with her face and posture. Kenzo...

They had known each other for only a short time indeed, not so long that she should still mourn him so deeply. Not when she had so much of him left behind. Fragments of his spirit endured within her steel. His blood had imbued her with strength enough to cut down even that which had no flesh to split. The screams of the bitch who killed him faintly echoed in her thoughts.

But still, it hurt. And still, she had agreed to serve that machine that called itself a demon in exchange for her vengeance. Then there were the strange lives that grew within that creature, lives that Muramasa Katase had created while wielding one of her puppets as part of their bargain. It was all too complicated.

She went far too long without answering him in considering this. For his compliments she could at least muster some courtesy. "My apologies, Korihae-san. Now is... not a good time for such things for me."

[Thedoctor]

William

He had noticed them when they'd entered, or rather he noticed her. The incredibly atttractive woman with the red hair. He found himself captivated for a short moment, until a thought hit him. He had to deal with complaints of this nature a whole lot back when he slaved under the council. Enchanted jewelry and the like which made the wearer more attractive and dulled any observer.

The waiter then returned with his order, seeing it as as a good oppurtunity, he took another gulp of the wine as he grabbed the new bottle that the incredibly nervous waiter presented to him and left his seat. He left it with a new goal in mind.

Having crossed the distance with an unnatrual stride he arrived at their table and took a seat, setting the bottle down on the table. "So what brings two lovely ladies like yourselves to this charming little place?" His smile was appeared genuine if a bit humored, like he knew something they didn't and was gleefully mocking them for it.

[yinsukin]

Relius Clover

Relius stood in the center of a busy sidewalk, staring forward as if he expected something to appear.  Those "things" known as people flowed past him.  With such a vast sea, each person looked like individual molecules moving past him like water.  The scientist wondered what kind of soul would appear before him.  There was only so much that could be learned from a resume.

When he contacted her online, he actually gave her very little information to use to find him, simply that he was a blond haired man.  If she could not locate him, she would not be worth much as an assassin.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lorenzo Remei

"I don't know. With the rags you two are wearing, I figured you could use a little silver. Oh well, I suppose I'll just keep the super valuable magical relic and one of a kind gemstone garnishments containing rare magics for myself, juuuust going to do that and leave..." He said assuredly, as if trying to tempt them into saying otherwise. Reverse psychology always worked!!

[yinsukin]

Joe

Joe put his hands on Rin's shoulders.  For a moment, he gripped her blades tightly before letting them go almost limp.  "You see, I hate my job," he said with a weird amount of passion.  "If we actually find some, I can quit!"

[Elf]

Rin

Rin eyed her running shorts and tank top and rolled her eyes.  Explaining modern fashion to such archaic being was going to be an exorcise in futility, so she shook her head.  Then she heard the words, "super valuable magical relic" and "one of a kind gemstone garnishments" and turned back towards the talking skeleton.

Then Joe rested his hands on Rin's shoulders before gripping them tightly and letting them go. She tilted her head at his admission and shrugged.  "Well, depends on how much we find, how much your cut is, and if it's enough to sustain you for the rest of your life," Rin said. 

She smiled and said, "However, 'valuable magical relics' and 'gemstone garnishments' has piqued my interest."

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lorenzo

Wait, what? It worked? Wow, damn. He sure was good, to come up with such a genius diplomatic move. Bwahaha!

"Aye! Seriously, it's an ancient christian temple under the sea, and I got the key right in my pocket. Well, you do, but whatever. Point is, I wouldn't be wasting my time if it was JUST regular gold and silver. So, you up for it me hearties?"

He put his hand out, kinda like a team brofist kind of way. It was supposed to be cool, but it came off as pretty lame due to the ineffective timing. The posture was spot on though.

[SINIB]

Erica

Unfortunately, there were cons to cooking all the food at once and eating it in one sitting. That is, Erica no longer had any food. This was troubling. So she scrounged up the last of her funds and planned another cleanup in the more chaotic areas of the Nexus before going out grocery shopping for the second time that day.

The cashier didn't seem too surprised at her reappearance. They had built a sort of rapport or so she would assume. Although perhaps he just didn't care. She took out a cart and began to fill it up with a variety of ingredients as she moved throughout the store before suddenly stopping.

It was Her. Erica was captivated for a few moments. Just watching for a bit. But she suddenly sprang into actions when the blonde dropped the can. She dashed forwards leaving behind a series of black afterimages and bent down so that it would fall right into her hand.

Then the blue haired girl straightened herself and looked at Noel. She gave her a nod of recognition and a genuine smile that came far easier to her face than anything else. "Hello, Noel. How have you been?" One could tell from her voice alone that she meant it when she asked the question. It wasn't simply a throwaway line.

Noel Vermillion

Noel looked at the blue-haired girl with confusion, until suddenly a lightbulb flickered on in her head and she remembered who she was.

"Oh! You're the one from the white sun incident!" She said to her. "Thank you." She said as she accepted the can, putting it back on the shelf where it belonged.

[Kat]

Petra

Gah, what an awkward question. She really didn't want to admit about knowing her in person while Liam was around. Forest was a known trouble magnet after all.

"There are so many vigilantes in this city that it's hard to keep track of them. Do you really want to pursue her? You look as if you want to have a word with her. I will take care of the evidence, I don't really mind if you go after her."