Cross Effects- The RP

[Aiden]

Valda took a deep breath through her mouth at his suggestion, as if tasting the very air around them for the bounty he had just promised her. It was faint on her tongue, dull to her senses, but her proximity to him may have just spoiled it by comparison. Where he came from shampoo was not a simple concern; in fact he may not even know what it is, though he smelled faintly of some kind of soap that tickled her nose when she sniffed at his hair.

She relished the distant familiarity of such a rustic scent, bringing to her faint memories of beautiful sacrifices in her name. Especially the willing ones, who beheld her and knew it was right, had prepared themselves like this in the waters of her temples beneath the light of sacred flame...

And then to hear his voice go hoarse, well, she brought the fingers of her left hand to lay a soft touch over his throat. Her thumb began to rub along its length, as if to soothe whatever rough discomfort had overtaken Luka there. "Sadly, I can't seem to find enough here to taste," she said, sounding almost apologetic to him as if she regretted not being able to accept his suggestion.

"But there's another way you could feed me, Luka. It might satisfy me for a while... and I think you'd have fun with it," Valda suggested in turn, her voice low and thick with promise by his ear. It could have melted butter.

[lantzblades]

High in the sky a great white bird flew across the city, if anyone could look closely and more importantly carefully they just might notice that it was in fact merely a great many sheets of blank paper coalesced to form the shape of a bird.

[Bloble]

The bird flew alone for a while, and then the unexpected occurred.

A second bird, also initially appearing ordinary at first glance, flew up to the first folio from the opposite direction, catching up with ease belying its fragile appearance. Upon closer examination, it too was most certainly not biological in nature, but unlike its manuscripted mirror, the second was a darker shade, formed of twisted metal, wood, and plastic. Its feathers were tiny razors layered on top of each other, and its beady marble eyes gazed at the first bird intently.

The construct bird opened its tin can mouth as wide as it would go, and then wider, from within, a laughing, croaking caw emanated, itself sounding more like something from a blown out speaker than a real cry.

[YOLF]

There was only a sea of darkness. The murky, dense blackness wrapped everything it involved in stillness, and pressured all under its weight into silence. It was a darkness that did not allow one to see, where light didn't reach, a true abyss of shadow. And that complete unknown was frightening.

Frightening to who?

It was only natural for Humanity to fear the darkness. Humans fear what they cannot see, recoil from what they cannot comprehend, and in doing so they worship it, granting it power. A terrifying enemy that was strengthened by the very hearts of the men that it preyed upon. Fear was only natural.

He feared.

He once feared the darkness. And because of it, he wanted to conquer it. He wished to rule the darkness, and so he sought power. He dabbled in the forbidden arts for the sake of this morbid desire, amid those who considered him their better, unbeknownst to them that spoke the same prayers of magic as him. All to to increase his domain and selfishly satisfy himself. He reached out so far, that even the voices of the night called him.

"Won't you come over to this side?"

He was unfit to search for power. His identity as a human was changed by it. His endeavors brought out the rotting vices buried beneath the virtues of his soul. His perverseness lay bare, and he was rejected, chased and prosecuted. And so he cursed in return.

"Tsuchimikadoo!!"

He toiled, and toiled, but he was banished and destroyed.

"Just as Seimei drove off Ashiya Doman, the house of Tsuchimikado today bans you from this world, Ketsumoto Uchiten! Perish!"

Flesh and life end, but feelings persist. The bitterness of his lost life remained - and nurtured.

Hate

Hatred festered. In the shadow of the light of the capital, black wishes gathered, and negative feelings were drawn in. Resentment aged and grew in that sea of darkness, maturing like fine wine. It boiled with desire, bubbled with the need of vengeance. Darkness devoured darkness, growing larger, and eventually, its intent gave it form. The hatred that had once flowed through living veins was pumped through a body once more. His twisted heart beat madly inside his new form, and his persistent, embittered, twisted spirit finally regained awareness, reborn as a being of darkness.

He cursed. He laughed and delighted, excitement building up inside of that body. He laughed while cursing his enemies, bellowing with promises of retribution, and he shivered from the power that coursed through him. He had remade himself from his grudge alone, and in the process become more. He had joined the realm of Yokai. And relishing his dark feelings, he was a specter of revenge that could strike with the power of a thousand calamities.

That's right, his power was to wish harm on others and bring about disaster. With that...

He was a 「CURSE」.

He had cursed. He had cursed, and killed, destroyed, sowed chaos, spread despair and tormented the souls of Man. Again and again he had brought his revenge down on the descendants of those who had killed him, and those that would oppose him. They fought many times, and destroyed one another. The death and suffering he brought about had been joyous. In the end, to the battle of the modern age that had ended him, that was what mattered to him. He had killed, he had struggled, he had spread despair, and he had sowed chaos. He had had his selfish fun. So he had won.

The sea of darkness shifted. Deep within it, the specter of Ketsumoto Uchiten was awake. His existence had no vanished yet. He still wished for strife. He still desired mayhem. He still spited humans. He still resented.

Once again, that resentment anchored him to the world, and restored him.

In Nexus City, the selfish desires and negative feelings of people gathered, and the evil spirit of Uchiten reappeared again to torment the living.

[Cherry Lover]

Tsukasa-nee..., thought Kiyoshi, sadly, as the girl disappeared into the shadows with the rest of her family excepting Satoshi.

Fighting back the tears, Kiyoshi listened to Toshi's explanation, and Aunty Rin's response. Whilst he did sympathise somewhat with his Aunty Rin's viewpoint, and was really happy to hear her act so protective towards his mother and, even, to him, Satoshi was still his brother, and deserved the benefit of the doubt.

Aunty Rin was right that his justification was a little flimsy, but he clearly didn't mean any ill-intent, and the fact that Aunty Rider was not currently attempting to add a few nail-shaped holes to his body meant that, not only had he clearly not harmed Kiyoshi's mother in any way, but she clearly believed there was no realistic likelihood of him doing so in the future.

Similarly, whilst she was right that Satoshi had provided no evidence for his statements, unlike her Kiyoshi saw no reason not to believe him. His status as Kiyoshi's brother and Shirou's son meant that Kiyoshi was inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“Where did Tsukasa-nee go? She's coming back, right?” Kiyoshi asked Satoshi, tears welling in his eyes.

“Satoshi, whilst Aunty Rin is right that what you did was a little mean, you're my brother and you never meant or caused any real harm, so if Aunty Rider can overlook it then so can I. I don't know if what you say about yourself is true, but I've not seen you hurt anyone, and you're my brother so I'll trust you until you give me reason not to”, he said, sniffing.

Then, he turned to Rin.

“Thank you for standing up for me and mummy, Aunty Rin”,  he said, smiling through the tears. “But, please don't attack him. I understand how you feel about him, but if he was in any way a threat to me or mummy he would have a couple of nails in his back by now, and he is still my brother, so I want to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Plus, if you scare him off then Tsukasa-nee won't come back....”

Finally, he turned back to Satoshi.

“I would like to know what is in that chest, though...”, he said.

[Aiden]

The evil spirit Uchiten reappeared to torment the living... on a barstool.

Indeed, the first stimulus to reach his senses was the smell of alcohol, sweat and a whole assortment of rotting flowers. The second was the sensation of his rear plopping down onto a stool just in time to deprive a mortal patron their opportunity to grab a spot at the bar.

Others had to be content with the tables spread around, filled with that sweet rotting flower fragrance much more potently, and wait for their chance. Envy filled the room, mixed with lust and a slow burning rage deep in the hearts of men and women and other things.

And it was all focused on the redhead in the tattered mantle in front of him and across the counter, eyebrow raised in curiosity and her hands paused in the middle of cleaning a tall glass. Then Rose squinted and leaned forward just a little to get a better look at him.  "Well, look at you there little sir cadaver. I don't recall anyone letting you in... ah! I see now."

She put the glass down in front of him and smiled. "What will it be?"

[lantzblades]

Satoshi stepped past the three to take a seat and began to pull colorful plastic parts from his pockets. "I am not great or special, I have never claimed such nor do I wish for such distinction. I acted in the name of saving lives. And in my actions no one has come to harm." he paused having finished assembling the legs of the model.

"Archer clearly demonstrated why I couldn't ask nicely. He, and the other version are dismissive. When dealing with him I've found that the only way to make him back off is like with animals, look as big as you can and they cease their aggression." he continued finishing the body.

"The only regret I have is never finishing my verbal assessment of the situation so I could show Shirou where he failed. He may be on the wrong path but that doesn't mean he should be given up on." he added finishing the head.

"Whether you choose to believe me Rin is up to you. I cannot and will not force someone to believe as I do. In addition, while I understand your concern for Archer I can't help but be utterly insulted. Not only would Archer have a ridiculous advantage on a rooftop in a fight but more importantly you're accusing me of having the ability to kill my own father." he finished assembling the model.

"High grade Zaku two, Char custom." he said standing it up.

"Tsukasa is either holding the teleport in the same spot or is either outside or more likely upstairs. Your familiar should be able to track her power. As for the box, I have no idea but in the future Rin, take your own advice and ask nicely." Satoshi finished waiting on their replies.

[Cherry Lover]

Rider heard Jack's words. The fact that he claimed to be able to kill her without her even seeing it coming was something she was a little wary of, but attacking him right now would be a very bad move indeed, and there didn't seem to be any reason they should coem into conflict, so she simply chose to ignore it for the time being.

Then, Forest spoke, telling him the truth about her, before discussing Kiyoshi. Rider listened and, when she had finished, replied to her.

“Yeah, I'm not a Dead Apostle”, Rider admitted. “I'm sort-of-like a vampire, though, I died a long time ago and I require the magical energy of others to survive in my current form. Usually I obtain that energy from the person who summoned me, my master, but it is also possible for me to obtain it by drinking blood or through sex.

As for Kiyoshi, as you say, I'm his guardian right now, until his mother gets here. If anything were to happen to him she would be devastated, so I need to protect him no matter what. Letting him make his own mistakes is good, yes, but not when those mistakes are potentially fatal, and don't seem an awful lot like mistakes until they are. Like Jack said, there are things out there that would kill him without a second thought, and he does tend to provoke them. He needs to learn not to do that before he runs into one of them.
 
And, yes, he is a little spoiled, honestly. His mother wants to make his childhood as happy as it can possibly be, so she gives him everything he could ever want and hates punishing him. Plus, she wants him to live his own life, so she avoids telling him what to do unless she really has no choice.

I know that's not necessarily the best approach to parenting, but she has very deep personal reasons for being that way, and she's a really kind and loving mother who would do absolutely anything for her children”, Rider added.

Finally, Rider addressed Forest's final question.

“And, yeah, I can live with him”, she said, pointing at Jack, “he doesn't seem to have any intention of harming me or any of my family. Honestly, though, I think I'll come back up with you. I want to check up on Kiyoshi...”, she said.

[Bloble]

Luka was many things. A Hero, a slightly henpecked partner, and often, a playmate for several monsters powerful enough to level a castle, many of them unwilling to do silly things like wait for their turn or acknowledge the existence of the no doubt fictional construct known as consent. Many would call him a bit clueless, and rightfully so. He was, however, not a fool, or  at least, not entirely.

The warmth was spreading to his body now, reminiscent of when he called upon Salamander's power. Yet this fire was gentler, somehow, stirring up his body, quickening his heart beat, and calling upon long suppressed desires. Desires that needed to stay sealed. As he opened his mouth to deny Valda before things went too far, he felt the woman's hand caress his throat, her fingers moving over his skin ever so lightly, ever so gently.

As soothing as the sensation was, it was also completely foreign. Gentleness? In such a situation? It was unheard of, yet Luka couldn't get enough of it. The boy's senses expanded on their own, and he took in everything. The smell of charred ashes, and burning wood. Other scents he couldn't name, only attribute to Valda. The familiar pressure against his back called up another pressure in his body, this one much lower. This was much worse than being beaten down. Luka's very desire to resist faded, not from some sort of mystical art, but from seduction that not even a succubus could match.

He... was a hero, right? And heroes helped those in need. She needed something, and was offering, so he had to help, right?

In the end it wasn't the feeling of Valda's chest on his back or her breath in his ear that settled it. Not the tightness in his pants, her arms around his waist, or the warmth spreading through his body. No, it was the hand lightly tracing over his, whispering of a promise with gentleness he had never experienced before.

Within Luka's mind, a breathless voice whispered: "Yes."

He melted. "W-well, I guess... if it helps you, then I suppose this one time is fine."

[YOLF]

The evil spirit Uchiten reappeared to torment the living... on a barstool.

Indeed, the first stimulus to reach his senses was the smell of alcohol, sweat and a whole assortment of rotting flowers. The second was the sensation of his rear plopping down onto a stool just in time to deprive a mortal patron their opportunity to grab a spot at the bar.

Others had to be content with the tables spread around, filled with that sweet rotting flower fragrance much more potently, and wait for their chance. Envy filled the room, mixed with lust and a slow burning rage deep in the hearts of men and women and other things.

And it was all focused on the redhead in the tattered mantle in front of him and across the counter, eyebrow raised in curiosity and her hands paused in the middle of cleaning a tall glass. Then Rose squinted and leaned forward just a little to get a better look at him.  "Well, look at you there little sir cadaver. I don't recall anyone letting you in... ah! I see now."

She put the glass down in front of him and smiled. "What will it be?"

Suddenly immersed by the smells and sounds of the locale, taking in the raging emotions around him, the vice in the air, the open hearts of corruptible men and women; and most of all, the not quite human redhead with the feeling of something other about her, standing there like a drug of presence alone, with the poise of a queen of sin among her her slaves; Uchiten lost it.

He burst into loud laughter. Seriously, he thought he was gone for good, but all of sudden he found himself unnaturally restored, and overwhelmed by dark and enticing sensations as soon as his body materialized. And right in front of a supernatural being of such high poise as this one. Haha, what was this place, even? Such a den of easily exploitable emotions and human weaknesses all strung together, played by this woman...

It was such a pitiful spectacle that it made him laugh. His mood was roused, and it made him unable to even be confused about how he had ended up there or come back from disappearing. He did not mind them, but he noticed, the expressions of shock and turn-off on the faces of the other patrons at his reaction. He had to bring a hand over his mouth to restrain his giggles. This congregation of barely disguised human ugliness, how amusing it was.

The laughs coming out of his throat slowly started to settle. A hand went underneath the dark red lenses of his glasses to wipe away the tears of humor in the corner of his eyes, while another smoothed down his semi-formal choice of tie-less grey suit and black shirt. Ahhh, coming in from limbo and being subjected to such a sight all of sudden was too much for him.

He managed to regain his composure enough to finally address the woman who was in a way, responsible for his outburst. Smiling widely, he answered her earnestly.

"Saké."

[Alice]

Lancer sighed at Millie's answer and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Look Lass, at the end of the day, the person's opinions who matter are yours and those you love.  You did well today, with your circle.  Even Scathach would have been impressed, well as much as she could be, with your talent with ruins," Lancer told her.

He gave her shoulder a friendly squeeze and said, "Live for yourself and those who you care about.  Everyone else can fuck themselves."

"She... she would have?"

As she blushed yet again at the squeeze to her shoulder, a number of questions and thoughts ran through Mille's mind. Had it been wrong of her to take what those boys had said so seriously? What others had said? Had she been so blinded and bound by the standards of others that she had lost sight of what she'd gone to the Clock Tower for in the first place. ...Had she been wrong about Rin?

Her mother and father and Finn. They had always praised her. They were always so proud of her, always looking at her accomplishments with smiling faces. Every good grade, every bit of magecraft successfully performed, it was always met with adoration. But there was a voice in the back of her mind. One that said that this wasn't enough, that they would sing her praises no matter what because they were family. And so she ran away.

But was that a mistake? Had they been able to see her worth all along when she could not? And here was a hero of legend, giving her such high praise! Magecraft worthy of Scathach's respect even! So then... was she wrong? She didn't regret the training so much, but... As the years had gone by, it almost felt like something had gone. Seasons passed, Mille worked and trained endlessly, and yet somehow it'd felt... meaningless. The spark that was there was gone.

Her mind wandered to recent events. Her trip through the portal, the werewolves, the Bounded Field and the ring of fire. She had to admit... She hadn't felt so alive in a whole decade. Did that mean then... that it was because she was so obsessed with winning praise from those that had deemed her unworthy that she had accomplished so little?

Did I do nothing but run away and hide?

She sat there and pondered over everything. Gears turned frantically. The silence was a long one.

At last, she came to a conclusion. A tenuous one, one that was based off of what little she could piece together from the jumbled mass of thoughts, but it was a conclusion none the less. A decision.

I won't hide anymore. If they judge me for good or ill, so what? They can't see me if I don't make myself visible.

She turned towards Lancer. A determined expression was on her face. There was some uncertainty there too, her vulnerability still showed. But oddly enough... somehow she seemed a bit stronger, too.

"I... I'll do my best. The Association's opinion of me be damned, if I become worthy in their eyes or not, it doesn't matter. I've wasted enough of my life trying to please them. I'll try doing things my own way. I won't run away anymore!" She blushed. "A-and... m-maybe try to have a little fun sometimes too."

"Aww, someone's starting to remove the stick rammed up her butt~"

The winged pentagram finally fluttered into sight. Just because she wouldn't interrupt a sad moment didn't mean she wouldn't interrupt a triumphant one.

[Elf]

Archer looked at the young looking man bearing the same taint as he did.  This Satoshi reminded him eerily of Saber, not in his bearing, but in his looks.  It was a reminder of a time he really didn't want to think about.

Then the kid started talking.

And talking.

And talking

And had somehow produced a Gundam model from his person and started to build it while he was talking.

Archer calmly folded his arms over his chest and said, "Yare, yare, aren't you just a mess? And I don't mean the blackening.  To stand there and say your actions have caused no harm?  To save someone you must harm another, it's a simple fact."

He eyed the Zaku and said, "First you come to me wanting to talk, then you insult me?  Kid, your diplomatic skills suck."

******

Lancer nodded, grinned and said, "Aye, in her own crabby way.  That's the spirit though.  Live for yourself and do what makes you happy."

Then that freaky stick came in the room to taunt Millie.

He stood up and headed for it.  "Oy, you want me to throw this thing out the window or something?"

******

Forest listened to Rider's tirade about how Sakura was a loving mother who spoiled her children and so on and so forth.  When Gabriel had been born, Forest had been more worried about hiding his existence from Faerie and keeping him safe.  She also didn't want to mollycoddle and raise someone who was parasitic on society.  Which considering what wonderful things she'd been hearing about Rider's master, it was all too possible.

Luckily the kid apparently had some good genes that pointed him more towards being a super hero and fighting bad guys than to leech of his trust fund.

She looked at Jack and said, "Well, dawn's approaching so you're free to spend the night here Jack."  Then she looked at Rider and said, "Of course.  Kiyoshi will be happy to see you and you might be able to talk him into getting to bed after he gets a spot of supper.  And maybe I can continue to amuse you."

She smiled at Tom and said, "Oh this is Tom.  Tom, this is Rider."

******

"I fucking hate this Sword and Sorcery magic bullshit," Frost said to himself as he saw the giant ball of death come crashing towards his forces.  Gnashing his fangs, he put his finger to his ear for his blutooth.

"Evac now!  There is some apocalyptic shit coming right on your heads!  So, get the fuck out of there now," Deacon Frost bellowed, at least knowing his forces were replaceable.

[Alice]

While Tom was intrigued by what was being said, in true cat fashion, he was still irked that he was being ignored.

At long last though, the conversation ended.

She looked at Jack and said, "Well, dawn's approaching so you're free to spend the night here Jack."  Then she looked at Rider and said, "Of course.  Kiyoshi will be happy to see you and you might be able to talk him into getting to bed after he gets a spot of supper.  And maybe I can continue to amuse you."

She smiled at Tom and said, "Oh this is Tom.  Tom, this is Rider."

Tom couldn't help but smile back, his expression softening. However, it hardened somewhat again as he turned to look at Rider. His greeting was but a simple nod.

***

Mille glared over at Ruby. "Go right ahead."

"Oh, what good would throwing me out a window do you?~ I'd just fly right back in~"

She began to fly back towards the door slowly, waggling a bit as she flew. "I guess you don't want to hear about the shadow magic that was just used to transport an evil black trunk that a version of Rin that's even more of an old hag brought in through the Second Magic that contains some sort of weapon that could potentially kill us all~ I guess that doesn't interest you one bit~"

Mille blinked and sat there for a moment before responding.

"Wait, what?!"

***

Rin held back a sigh. Kiyoshi had just complicated things. Now she found herself between a rock and a hard place. She still didn't trust Satoshi in the slightest, but she didn't want to upset the boy. Though she had no intention of attacking Satoshi unless he attacked her, so Kiyoshi would be satisfied on that front. No, her weapon would be her words, which she guessed Kiyoshi didn't think to exclude.

It did create a dilemma, however. If Satoshi revealed himself to be the snake he truly was, it would deeply hurt Kiyoshi. But if she sent Kiyoshi away, he would likely still think that Toshi was a good person, and get upset if there was a fight between them. And she didn't want the boy to cry again. Not knowing what to do, she pondered her options as she turned to Kiyoshi.

"Well, Sakura is my sister, and you're her son, so I'd be doing her a disservice if I didn't say or do anything to protect her. And I won't start battling with him. Not unless he tries to attack me first."

Then Satoshi began to speak.

Satoshi stepped past the three to take a seat and began to pull colorful plastic parts from his pockets. "I am not great or special, I have never claimed such nor do I wish for such distinction. I acted in the name of saving lives. And in my actions no one has come to harm." he paused having finished assembling the legs of the model.

"Archer clearly demonstrated why I couldn't ask nicely. He, and the other version are dismissive. When dealing with him I've found that the only way to make him back off is like with animals, look as big as you can and they cease their aggression." he continued finishing the body.

"The only regret I have is never finishing my verbal assessment of the situation so I could show Shirou where he failed. He may be on the wrong path but that doesn't mean he should be given up on." he added finishing the head.

"Whether you choose to believe me Rin is up to you. I cannot and will not force someone to believe as I do. In addition, while I understand your concern for Archer I can't help but be utterly insulted. Not only would Archer have a ridiculous advantage on a rooftop in a fight but more importantly you're accusing me of having the ability to kill my own father." he finished assembling the model.

"High grade Zaku two, Char custom." he said standing it up.

"Tsukasa is either holding the teleport in the same spot or is either outside or more likely upstairs. Your familiar should be able to track her power. As for the box, I have no idea but in the future Rin, take your own advice and ask nicely." Satoshi finished waiting on their replies.

Rin looked at the model. She wasn't impressed. A dark, well hidden part of her wanted to blow the figure into pieces, but that wouldn't have been elegant at all.

She let Archer speak first and found herself nodding in agreement before saying her own piece.

"So you blow off Kiyoshi almost entirely again. It's like you hardly care about him at all."

She gave Satoshi a dry look. "You say you don't think you're great or special, huh? That's hardly the impression I got. From what I heard, you regard yourself as practically a saint. False humility is even worse than none. At least if you admitted to singing your own praises you'd be honest."

She glared at him. "But I'm certainly not seeing what's worth all the praise. I'm hardly seeing a saint. Someone that compares my Archer to nothing but an animal is certainly no saint."

Her eyes narrowed. "And it's funny that you say that you won't force me to change my opinion. Because that's exactly along the lines of what you wanted to do with Archer. Even if the path he walked wasn't the right one, you think you have the right to force your vision of things on him? All you can do is act as a guide and keep them from going astray. After it's been this long, do you really think you can force him to accept your viewpoint? That's for him to decide, not you."

Suddenly Rin found herself glad that Archer's hands were on her shoulders. Otherwise she would have had to fight the urge to deck the smug bastard before her where he stood. "And what you claim about not being able to kill your father? Is a bald faced lie. You threatened to kill Hakuno's Archer. When he was just threatening the man who tried to shoot her so he wouldn't do it again. After defending the shooter for his actions. Right in front of Hakuno herself. Right after she'd nearly been shot! No, you'd never hurt anyone. You'd kill a girl's Servant right in front of her to protect her shooter, but you'd never hurt anyone."

She calmed down a bit as she said her last words. "As for asking nicely? I'll ask nicely when the person in question deserves being asked nicely." For some reason, Rin found herself shaking. How inelegant. How especially inelegant to let the shaking be caused by the heartless man in front of her.

[Aiden]

Valda

The last time she had done this was back in law school with her class' would-be valedictorian. Would-be, before she wore them out for the entire weekend right before the end of the final semester. They had to settle for second place after that pleasant distraction, but nobody was complaining. First tasted so very sweet for her... but not as sweet as Luka's consent and the taste of him between her lips when she gently bit down on his earlobe from where she knelt. Valda slowly rolled the soft bundle of skin between her teeth, while her nails teased lines against his neck where before they had only rested.

Then she smiled around him, flicked at the little piece of him she had trapped between her teeth with her tongue, and let it go. "You're such a nice boy, Luka..." she murmured in that mild German accent of her's. Her right hand gently pressed against his chest and kept him close to her, filling him with heat, and the tracing left made its way up to his face so her warm fingers could feel its contours.

Valda rubbed her face against the opposite side of his, so that his head was pressed comfortably between her. Then she graced his cheek with a kiss there, and worked her way lower. She was smiling against his neck, in the brief expanse that was left exposed to her attention by his ill-fitting scarf.

He tasted as rustic as he smelled all sweat, old unscented soaps and the very essence of nature suffusing his body, and it brought back even older memories as the faintest haze in the back of her thoughts. But that wasn't important right now; all that mattered was the wonderful feeling of his willing submission in her presence, and the satisfaction she was about to finally get.

Her hand on his chest began to slide under his shirt and work circles around him there. "This can't be anything new for you, can it? The girls of your world must adore you."

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

Rose

With the finesse of a painter touching up the faint highlights of a masterpiece she extended a strand of desire from the tips of her fingers to reach out to the patrons surrounding her. It would do them no good to focus on the strange stranger who insisted on being strange in her establishment instead of her, so she returned their attention firmly where it belonged. With a soft inhalation she took in the aroma of their feelings, better than the finest wine, and then focused on her 'job'.

Jobs were a fun little distraction, she thought to herself.

"Let's see..."

Rose reached under the counter and found the only bottle they had of this 'sake', rice wine, and she poured him out a glass of it.

"So, what is your story?" she asked him as she slid the glass his way.

[Daiki]

Shuya stood there, listening without reacting Satoshi's answer. The aunt and nephew had a different reaction to it. Kiyoshi was apparently okay with it, showing that he was willing to believe in him. Rin, on the other hand, was clearly not satisfied with that level of excuses. Archer didn't let himself get emotional at the insults thrown in his direction, which didn't really surprise the Oni descendant.

He stared at Satoshi, not quite sure what to make of him. The guy was clearly showing some level of arrogance. However, since the whole bait thing had been just a bluff, he was willing to not participate in this farce any longer. There was still the matter of the trunk content but, apparently, he, himself, didn't know much about it.

"Fair enough, you made your point." His eyes fell on Rin, the magus was boiling inside and shaking with anger. Getting too emotional would cause trouble for everyone. "You should let it go. The guy's clearly stubborn. If, by now, he didn't admit being cause of harm, he probably won't ever. Very unlikely you'll get an apology for something he doesn't consider an offense, no matter how much you berate him for it. I get that he rubs you the wrong way but, all that energy seems to be wasted on him. "

Shuya turned to Archer. "All that's left is pretty much to decide if you'll go have that talk with him or not."

And in that case, he was done here.

"I'll be on that very same roof for a smoke." He walked without a word until he reached the first steps. He gave a quick glance to the son of Arturia. "You know, for someone who never intended to cause any harm, I would say you're doing pretty badly when it comes to hurting feelings. Perhaps there's a lesson to learn here."

He took off after that.


----

Isa found herself alone. As expected of Vanessa, she wouldn't stay put no matter what. Part of her sister felt hugely irritated by it, the other loved it. With a sigh, she decided to go fetch for her before she would cause trouble to others. Peering outside her own room, she found the corridor empty. She stepped out, making her way while scouting for any sign showing Nessa was around. She also wanted to have a word with Shirou if possible.

She bumped into something which made her trip and fall head first. But before she could hurt herself, she was pulled back up smoothly. When she looked who helped her, she found out a little boy with purple hair and silver eyes staring at her with interest.

"Thanks," she said.

The child-looking person bent his neck on the side, as if to examine her further. She smiled slightly, not sure what was wrong with this child.

"Interesting, it looks very similar to the other one, yet her thought process is different. The eyes have a different color too. Couldn't it be they are artificial constructions of the same series? No, look like humans, magi even." The silver eyes seemed to glimmer for an instant.  "What are you?"

Isabella looked at the unknown kid with bemusement. "... Well, my name is Isabella."

The Familiar approached the magus and poked her on the belly. She stepped back with a small cry, more surprised than anything. Ruu looked at her with curiosity and repeated the same process.

"What exactly are you doing?"

"Ruu confirms the Isabella being a real human."

"You don't have to touch me for that, do you?"

The Familiar blinked.

"What is the other one? A replica?"

"A replica? Oh, you mean Nessa, my sister. She's human, like me. We're both magi."

"What's the reason the Nessa model tried to capture Ruu?" He frowned. "Did it try to bring it to other magi for experimentation?"

Isa scratched her head, feeling uneasy. Did her sister attempted to wound the poor thing?

"I don't know why she would do that but, I doubt it was to experiment on you."

Ruu looked at Isa with suspicion. "Ruu isn't a tool anymore," he said with what appeared genuine concern and perhaps a bit of fear.

She knelt to his level and looked in his eyes.

"You keep repeating this word, 'Ruu', is that your name?"

"No, the name is Luern Uuoruuocon. Lancer said 'Ruu' is better. So it uses Ruu, now."

She gave him a smile.

"A wise choice. Ruu, then. You don't have to worry, I won't hurt you, nor would my sister."

"Then why did it attack Ruu?"

"She likes cute things, so I suppose she tried to make you, well, hers."

"Ruu doesn't understand. It isn't a tool anymore."

He keeps saying that.

"What do you mean by 'not anymore'?"

"Ruu is a Familiar but it doesn't obey anymore. It wants to live with its friends, like Finn."

She looked at him for a bit.

"It seems a good idea," she answered, fascinated that a Familiar could develop its own personality.

"Ruu must go," said the Familiar with an air of importance.

"Where to," replied the girl trying to keep a serious expression.

"It is currently searching for the Landlady for an important business."

"Forest? I would like to see her too. Can I tag along?"

Ruu inspected her as if weighing his options. She was baffled to have to ask permission to follow a Familiar but, if he wanted to act as a person, she wouldn't deny him that.

"Would the Isabella keep the Nessa at bay?"

"Sure thing."

The Familiar started walking before apparently remembering something unpleasant.

"It shall not grab nor rub Ruu's face with its own."

"I won't," she promised, biting on her lip in order to not burst out laughing.

Ruu nodded and they went on their, somewhat, merry way.