[hider=Rurik] [b]Name:[/b] Rurik Alexeev, AKA "The Sleeper"... literally just because he sleeps too much. [hider=Theme (explicit lyrics)] [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPf8w4jiVAY[/youtube] [/hider] [hider=Appearance] [img]https://safebooru.org//images/1227/0737ca2f95c54a3e9c2e822eb83a77fd3a478673.png?1278949[/img] [/hider] [b]Age:[/b] 18 [b]Grade:[/b] 2nd Year at Mephisto's [b]Biography:[/b] A bit of a punk, but not really a troublemaker. He was born to a family of farmers. Nice, humble people for the most part, but unlike him were perfectly normal. Everything was fine until a blight hit their crops, causing them to go poor in record time. One could argue this is what sent him down a bad path. Hard work had gotten his family nowhere in the end, so what was the point? Moving to the city of Rhea, they rebuilt their lives, but no longer as happy as they had been before. Rurik just became lazier and lazier as time went on, barely passing school. He spent much of his time with a group on degenerates roaming the streets. They would cause trouble and he would watch because sometimes it was funny and at least he wasn't lonely that way. That was good enough for him until they got in serious trouble, escalating from petty pranks to full blown crimes. Rurik was fortunately recognized as a bystander, not a true accomplice, but his parents were still furious and at their wits end. He hardly cared, but knew it would be even more problematic if things continued as they did. His life needed to get out of the holding pattern it had been in, and so enter Mephisto's. He could never have gotten into the far more reputable and illustrious St. Laurels. And besides, the crowd this school gathered kinda reminded him of his former friends. He'd fit in just fine, right? And yet somehow he still [b]got held back a year [/b]for egregious tardiness... Some habits never changed. --- [hider=The Extended Edition] His early days at Mephisto's were... rough. He went to classes, usually, and sometimes even showed up on time. However, the urgency that had led him to the school in the first place quickly faded and he slipped back into his old habits. More concerning though was the nature of the students. He'd expected it to be less reputable than St. Laurels, but he never could have expected the nature of the students to be so... malevolent. It didn't help that his attitude didn't endear him to his already quite aggressive peers. On the bright-side, he eventually met Christine before the year was out. She's one of maybe three people he isn't outright rude to. His second year was arguably worse, and started off with a bang. Almost day one, he walked onto the school grounds only to find a new student being harassed. He of course planned to ignore this until she started blowing everything up. Rurik for the sake of self-preservation took her side in the "argument" and at first it seemed they'd be friends of a sort. And she was kind of cute in the lovable, walking tank kind of way...? Unfortunately she was quickly accepted onto the student council and Clara proved to be a bad influence on her. That was to say she took it upon herself to "convince" Rurik to change his ways -- with missiles. And when that didn't work, more missiles. And when [i]that[/i] didn't work... Ironically, this has just made Rurik even more of a pessimist, but quite frankly there was never much hope for him to begin with. A few months in he stumbled his way into a fairly pleasant relationship with Christine. She seemed to be of the somewhat misguided opinion that he was a good person, perhaps because he'd been "nice" to Bak when they'd first met. Regardless of why, he did approve of this outcome, but it did next to nothing for his motivation as a student. He would show up to school, Christine was there after all, but he wouldn't necessarily go to classes. It wasn't like he could spend time with her in class, so he'd just lie around somewhere and wait til' she had time in between or after classes. As his relationship with Christine progressed, he began to draw yet more animosity from fellow students. He didn't pay it much mind, though -- unless it broke out into a fight. However, if Christine ever asked where the bruises came from, he just said he "fell down some stairs." He's pretty sure she knows he's lying, though not what about... That or she thinks he's the worlds biggest klutz. It was somewhere in the middle of all this that he became a member of the student council, much to everyone's surprise. Himself included. His irreverent and lackadaisical nature quickly earned him the ire of Clara. And, in the end, when everyone else passed on moved on to their next year... Rurik was not among them. [/hider] --- As far as fighting goes, he's average. He doesn't practice much and hasn't really tested the upper limits of his powers. Fortunately, or unfortunately if you ask Rurik, people tend to pick lots of fights with him, for various reasons. It's not hard to get into a fight at Mephisto's, after all. He's become a bit of a street fighter despite never actively looking for a fight. He has won most of his brawls thanks to his abilities being fairly powerful, more so than most people expect from him, him being such a laggard. And thanks to Bak Tsarevna assaulting him every day, he gets plenty of practice with his shield, so maybe her attempts aren't entirely fruitless. Honestly though, his greatest feat is just how much he's managed to squander his potential. [b]Powers:[/b] His powers allow him to energize the world around him, generally resulting in powerful kinetic blasts or turning objects into projectiles. The more energy, the more dramatic the result, but the longer it will take to charge, though rarely ever too long to be viable. There is an upper limit to how much he can charge and still maintain a proper projectile. Purely kinetic blasts are mostly transparent, only somewhat distorting the air and so are difficult to track visually due to their speed. However, more powerful blasts are kinda loud. 1. Bounce: Channels energy into a field that can only be focused through his hands, limiting the area he can cover. At low energy outputs, it merely drains the kinetic force from incoming projectiles, but at higher outputs he can redirect and/or send the projectiles back, potentially with even greater force than they originally had. Can be overwhelmed if hit by a too strong a force. Very limited protection from high temperatures and next to no protection from low temperatures. 2. Blast: Overcharges anything he touches to make it explode. Doesn't work on living beings. Can be combined with his bolt for projectile explosives. Like his bolts, it takes a moment to charge, with longer charges being stronger. Can store a charge in himself and transfer to the object he wants to detonate. Charges slightly slower than a bolt. 3. Burst: Energizes himself so that he can push off the ground for bursts of speed or enhanced melee attacks. 4. Barricade: Rurik covers his whole body in invisible energy, creating reactive armor that explodes on contact to cancel out incoming attacks. It goes off in chunks. Hitting his elbow for example would remove the armor from his hand to his shoulder. If he's given a few seconds to focus, he can restore the armor, but it doesn't regenerate automatically. Note: Bounce is the only ability that specifically requires his hands due to the amount of focus required. In theory, all his other powers/abilities can be channeled through any part of his body. [hider=Relationships] [u]Clara Erdrigan:[/u] Rurik to this day cannot fathom why he is on the student committee. He hardly ever shows up for meetings, skips classes, fails assignments, and every other thing normally associated with a terrible student. When he does show up, his suggestions are usually useless. He is pretty sure Clara would have kicked off of the council long ago if she had the authority. The two have come full circle at this point. At first she would give him simple reminders not to miss the next meeting. Reminders became icy scoldings. Scoldings became veiled threats. Eventually she stopped almost entirely, seeming more annoyed when he did show his face. Never anything grand, just the subtle tension in her jaw or the twitching of an eye. He's pretty sure Clara had at least a hand in having him held back. Ironically he now shows up more often just to watch her quietly fume. It's his best source of amusement most days. [u]Bak Tsarevna[/u]: A crazy ****ing robot girl or something who showed up one day keeps trying to blow him up. Fortunately her projectiles don't seem to do too much damage or he'd probably have quit school by now. Come to think of it, redirecting one of her missiles and almost hitting Clara might be another reason why she probably hates him... Honestly though he doesn't dislike Bak; she's good practice for his shield and he thinks her guns are actually kind of cool. Now if only she'd stop using them on him. There was also that one time she clapped when he made an explosion. [hider=First Meeting] Rurik had been at school for a week now. He was kind of regretting it. Was it really worth getting his parents off his back? He wasn't sure what normal high schools were like, but he had to imagine they were easier than schools for gifted kids with combat powers. Not to mention because of that, almost everyone had an ego. He also hadn't been quite prepared for just how, well, stereotypical evil some of the students at Mephisto's were. Maybe he'd get used to it. Maybe he'd just quit. Yeah, he'd probably just quit. As he lackadaisically wandered his way towards his first class of the day, almost making good time for once, he heard maniacal cackling and shouting. He had to stop and stare. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. Was... was that a freaking robot? No, wait. It was a person? Also no. Both? It was quite possibly the most disturbing thing he'd ever seen. No, definitely the most disturbing thing he'd ever seen: mangled flesh and metal melding together to create some sort of nightmarish hybrid. Were those missile launchers? She, at least he thought it was a she, was surrounded by a group of kids, yelling taunts and insults, no doubt having strong opinions about what she was. Rurik didn't really care; life was cruel, it happened. If he stepped in, he'd be the next victim and they'd continue making fun of her. Nothing would change and there'd be some other victim tomorrow. The only reason he even still stood there was because he still wasn't sure he was really seeing this. He knew some people had really strange powers, but holy hell. Also, about those missile launchers? BOOM! It seemed the girl had had enough. Taunts turned to screams of panic as a barrage of missiles flew from a pod on her shoulder. The chaos Rurik was now watching with wide eyes suggested that the girl was pissed. She began to turn around, tracking one of her terrified victims, and Rurik's jaw dropped. She wasn't angry, in fact he could have sworn she had a blissful grin on her face. In between explosions, he thought he heard giggling of all things. Was she having fun? Oh no. He'd been seen. She stared at him, presumably debating whether or not he needed to be blasted next. Rurik glanced about, there was no cover nearby. He raised his hands as if in surrender and then slowly bent a knee. He picked up a rock and pointed with his other hand at one of the kids who'd been taunting her, now huddled behind a row a bushes, hoping to go unnoticed, but Rurik had an angle on him. He tossed the rock at the kid and it detonated, sending the kid tumbling away and leaving a small crater where he'd been. Rurik gave the girl a shaky smile, hoping she'd understand he was on her side... if only because he didn't want to be next. He let out a sigh of relief, the girl's eyes had lit up at the sight of his bomb. Clank... clank... clank It seemed she was trying to clap, but her weapons and armor got in the way... Rurik couldn't decide if it was sad or funny. [/hider] [u] Christine Abigail:[/u] His girlfriend for almost a year now, though at a glance it's hardly obvious. The only real proof is that he spends more time with her than anyone else, but otherwise they may as well just be friends. Deep down, though, just being able to say they're a couple gives him a sense of satisfaction. It seems to be mostly that they're quite comfortable in each other's presence. As an added bonus, Bak doesn't usually shoot at him when he's with her. He also gets a kick out if people's reactions when they find out about them. [u]Katherine Abigail:[/u] Too high energy. Very annoying. Won't do or say anything about it for fear of upsetting Christine, but wishes she'd take it down a peg or three. Secretly finds her inability to power up without torching her clothes hilarious. [u]Michael Angie:[/u] Nice kid, but should quit with the Vigilante business; seems like a lot of busywork. Seems a bit jaded, but Rurik knows how that is. They'd probably get along well enough if Rurik ever cared to try. [u]Gilliam DeWitt[/u]: Most people would probably be creeped out by Bak, what with her malformed, half-human, half-machine body. Rurik, however, is creeped out by Gilliam. He has nothing against him necessarily, but knowing what he does and is capable of makes Rurik's skin crawl. And no one that horrifying should be that polite... He is one of the few people Rurik is actively nice to, if only because he doesn't want to be eaten some day. [u]Sidney Henderson:[/u] Who? Oh, right, the quiet kid with the flowers or something. Rurik is vaguely aware that he exists. He doesn't seem to fit in at a place like Mephisto's, but then neither does, say, Christine. [u]Andreim Volkazar:[/u] Kind of intense. Rurik would say he needs to chill, but... It's not that he's over the top, but, from Rurik's limited experience, the guy seriously needs to relax. [u]King:[/u] . . . what? [u]Alto Ganze:[/u] Seems like an outstanding, hardworking young lad. What a prick. So uptight. [i]Lame.[/i] [/hider] [/hider]