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

[Umbra of Chaos]

Meti

The sword master sighed and pulled herself into a cross legged position on the chair. She really hated philosophy. Sure, the whole thing had a point to hit but it was so coated in ideas that it was hard to just say yes without also accepting what he was saying.

"There's a proverb in my family. That a man who strikes without thinking can cut God. You think too much, Vanguard. The world is already measured, weighed, and determined for you. That universe is meaningless. Circular. Fit only to be cut in two by a sword." She unsheathed her sword without even the threat of harming him despite his proximity.

Do you know why swords are the perfect companion to man? Because they are both beings of conflict. But so are the gods, so why is the sword held by man greater than theirs? It is because men are short lived things. It is because their flame flickers that it burns so bright, and when tempered with their heat and careless will a blade could cut all things. It was that passion which drove Meti, but it was not something as dependent on mortality as others. It was found in the act of self destruction, of being a sword, in guiding its will.

Bah! All this ruminating did nothing for her. But if it could help then why not take the offer? "If you want something of the world then I won't help you. If you want something that can only be found in its division then I will be your sword. So long as you help me, anyways."

And there was something strangely human on her face. Something that looked so out of place compared to the previous sharpness of her features. The relative mundane nature of a girl who was once trained to rule an entire clan. "After all, you didn't really think that I thought this was all about me, did you?"

[SINIB]

Shirou

Shirou frowned at her words, realising that the creature would, in his current form, be quite useless to them. But, yet, despite that, Shirou couldn't find it in himself to reject the cute creature which was reacting so happily to the attention he was giving it. It was just so adorable.

"Would he become stronger if we did fight him ourselves?" Shirou asked, curious. "I probably shouldn't, but I think my wife could with her magic."

He was also interested in the "stone" thing. Could that perhaps be a shortcut to obtaining a stronger creature which could assist them in battle?

"Also, what do you mean by an 'elemental stone'?"

Oka Kurosawa

"Well, you saw the various evolutions of eevee in the brouchure, right?" Oka said calmly. "Many of them are caused be eevee's unstable genetic code interacting with the radiation produced by the stones, which causes then to evolve."

"And yes, he should get stronger the more he fights, period."

[SINIB]

Ron

"Just kinda turned up one day." Rider was really making this hard for Ron. He didn't want to give away quite yet what he was, but she was asking the kinds of questions that made lying pretty hard. Thankfully one of his ex-girlfriends from high school had a convenient pet name for him to use there. A joke on his last name. "I've, uh known girls who called him Brownie, so I guess it kinda stuck."

Rider

Rider couldn't help but notice that something seemed a little... forced about Ron's reply, but Sakura seemed happy enough, and the man seemed nice, so she saw no reason to follow it up. However, whilst they were waiting for the waiter and she finished off the last bites of her delicious food, she saw no reason not to find out more about this wolf-like dog.

"Where did you get a dog like that?" she asked. "What's it called?"

Sakura Matou

"It's clearly a mutt, Rider." Sakura said as she swallowed the last of her food and leaned back, comfortably resting her body as she prepared to digest her meal.

Eventually, after a bit more waving, the waiter came back over with their check. Sakura gave Ron the evil eye as she paid, warning him not to try anything funny and try to pay himself. She liked treating other people. It made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

[Thedoctor]

Shinobu

The blonde vampire contrary to the younger one's whishes got up from the chairs and stood up infront of her sporting a slightly annoyed look while doing so. "Is it not obvious why I am not sleeping? I would never want to do it while on a date."

She put a hand on the girl's blue hair as she began patting her affectionately. Her hair was as soft as always. "Now will we continue with our shopping, my most cute minion?"

[yinsukin]

Medaka Kurokami

Medaka grinned as Shinobu rubbed her hand on her head. Still lying on her belly, the blue haired girl perked her head up at the word "date". With a graceful flourish of her body, she pushed her self upwards into a standing position.  "Very well." she said excitedly, her lips stretched into a smile.  Dispite the neutral connotation of her word choice, her voice was perky.

She jumped off the table, landing by the chairs where Shinobu had laid down.  "What are you waiting for?  Lets go!" she said, her face a bit red, even as her words sung with enthusiasm.

[Aiden]

Neptune

"Histy follow me here? Don't say such scary things. She'd turn into a demon and rain fire all over the city, you haven't seen her when she's angry....she's gets like really angry." The purple haired goddess was nervously looking around, half expecting the demon to pop up from a bush and bring ruin to her day. When nothing happened after a moment she seemed to calm down.

"Or she'd just open a portal after looking for the dimension for a few years, like last time. Yeah gotta stay positive Neptune. The heroine can't die from a simple accident."

"These angel guys really sound like a group of stuck ups. I might not be the most hard working and all but I care. I know every nook and cranny of Planeptune and I met new people every day. Searching for retro consoles is pretty hard these days OK."

Gadreel

He chuckled at her somewhat paranoid reaction to the notion of her friend showing up and coercing her to be productive. At least Neptune was taking this with some good cheer. "That would, indeed, be foul play on the part of providence. We will endeavor to avoid such buffoonery."

... that was, indeed, the proper way for divinity to interact with their followers. At least from the perspective of Gadreel the humanist. "They believe they are doing the right thing. But yes, I believe 'stuck up' is a fine understatement of their perspectives and actions."

[Umbra of Chaos]

Oren

The Fae giggled and continued for a bit before eventually stopping. "You're so cute! But if you don't tell me your name I'll have have to name you myself. Hmm... I'll call you Mini Me! You can be Ore, or Or, or O, or Oren Junior! What do you think?"

[Cherry Lover]

Shirou

"Oh, I see", Shirou responded, continuing to play with the cute creature.

"Well, how much would these stones be? And, would they work now, or would he need to be stronger before we could use one?" he added.

Not that he could afford one of them right now, of course, but knowing if there were any restrictions was still important.


Sakura

Having put everything she had into that last attack, Sakura was now drained, panting heavily as she taxed her reserves of mana to the limit. Nevertheless, she continued to assault the creature with her tendrils, aiding Paladin in his wrestling match with the creature as best as she could.

Then, suddenly, she saw a bright, shimmering light emerge from the creature, Paladin shouting at them to attack. Guessing that the light must be some kind of magical core, she redirected her tendrils to attack it, hoping they could finish off the creature before it could hurt anyone else.

[SINIB]

William

"Ah I suppose I could have some of them. What's that milkshake you were talking about earlier? It sounded rather suspiciously made up." So she could resist when he used this much strength, that was interesting. He'd observe for now and see what drove her, finding out her motivations would be a first step. "Fine I'll take that one then."

IRON=SAKURA

"Neato." Sakura responded, pulling him over to a table and sitting down. After flagging down a waitress, she smiled cheerfully at her and placed her order. "Hi, can I get three super double chocolate-mocha milkshakes?"

She then turned to William with her usual cheer and looked at him with a face both serious and playful. "And how many would you like?"

[Kat]

Rikuyo

"Rikuyo, I guess. It's not my only name, but I like my human name. Nice and short." Plus possessing a body of a mortal really rubbed on her in many ways. "And huh, he's still alive, right? He looks as if I killed him in the heat of battle at first, but he's just more wrecked than me. I'm not in mood for finishing him off anyway."

A loser could always get up and try again. While she believed in kill or be killed nature of the world, she made some compromises for the sake of her own entertainment.

[Kat]

Mitsuba

"You speak of connections, but words are the wind. I guess you're not willing to show proof that you have enough backing match the government's? If not, that's my final word. I may be a professional, but I'm careful about overextending myself." If he responded to her words with hostility, she and her partner would cut him down. Even if their cooperation wasn't exactly perfect, Mitsuba did train not only to try to counter Muramasa if she ever turned on her, but also work with her relatively efficiently.

[Cherry Lover]

Rider

"Oh, OK", Rider responded.

She was a little suspicious about the way he was answering, but Sakura's response sounded like she would rather Rider drop the line of questioning, so she didn't continue any further, instead finishing off her delicious meal whilst Sakura waived for the waiter.

[Panda]

Michael

In spite of his best efforts, Michael couldn't help as Vanguard made his pitch. He could certainly understand where the man was coming from, but this simple acquiescence to what surely seemed to be inescapable fate to him as not something he could accept. Well, perhaps. The immortal had never really thought about what would happen to him further down the line during in his younger days, and his immortality had effectively made any considerations along that line of thought useless in one regard, while opening up a whole new avenue for it at the same time. In that regard, he supposed he saw more in common with Meti, but all the same, he couldn't abide by Vanguard's limited view. Of course the world would seem that way if you forced it into such confines, though he found himself wondering just whether he'd always been like this or if this view had been forced on him through his own long life.

"Yet again, wisdom from the mouth of children," Michael said at last, "I might be inclined to apologize, Vanguard, but it wouldn't be sincere. There is no reason she can't seek an impossible goal."

"Of course, I must admit I've been seeking a division as well," the immortal continued, turning to Meti, "Of the sort that would let me find more than one interesting at a time. If nothing else, chances are very good that there will be worthy foes for you, if you are willing to wait a little for things to play out."

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

Vanguard would have laughed heartily at the girl's response, had he truly underestimated the current generation such? There was no escape, even he couldn't deny these facts. And she did not even flinch or react, how intriguing! She was not restraiing herself, but truly acting like a mindless weapon! In a way, she was worse than him. This just made him want to rub that hair of hers.

That is, if that man kept his mouth shut.

Vanguard sighed and glanced at Michael impassively, sternly even. It was the lack of a particular expression that made one realize just how hard his face was.

"Indeed, but one needs the time to wait. But of course one like you would say that, when time is the only thing he has. I wouldn't speak of things if I wasn't absolutely certain of their existence without a mere shadow of a doubt. I have seen it over and over and over again with my own eyes. It isn't something you can agree or disagree with, it's a fact."

Then, he turned to the girl and a ghost of a smile flashed on his face. He shrugged as if giving up, but in truth he had only just begun. This unfair world, this cruel world... he had seen it with his own eyes, the strings that puppet it all. But of course, there is nothing he'd yearn from this world made of strings, all there was left was the wish to to cut them.

"I suppose there is no need to hide it then. I don't need a sword that rusts over time, it will only birth a dull blade. Of course, this won't be for free. You may call me mercantile, but there is not a thing in this world that comes without a price."

Suddenly, his expression turned very grave, solemn, as decisive as a final blow. As he uttered these world, it was almost like the whole world came crashing down  clasped on her head, rubbing her head like a cute small child after all. Very small.

"Will you trust me?"

[Thedoctor]

Neptune

The goddess sent him a short glare as he chuckled at the very real threat of a tiny demon appearing to ruin the day. Nevermind that though there were other things to do. "You got that right, ain't gonna be any trouble with me around to save the day. If only I had some nice pudding now, I could celebrate getting a new friend but it's not like it's just gonna conveniently fall from the sky or anything even I'm not that lucky."