[center][h2][color=CFD3C6]Rurik Alexeev[/color][/h2][/center]
[center][@Hammerman] [@6slyboy6][/center]
[hr]

Rurik sighed, staring at the ice-wall. He was glad Christine had pulled it off in time, but... now what? Sure, he could easily get past the wall, but why would he want to? There was a hoard of imps over there. No, they'd have to find another way up. 

[color=CFD3C6]"Welp... let's get going. They'll get through eventually, and I don't wanna be here when they do,"[/color] he told Christine. They didn't have to go far. Rurik stopped at the doors of the elevator. He pressed the button out of curiosity, but it accomplished nothing. [color=CFD3C6]"You know, I think most elevator shafts have ladders. Just gotta get the doors open. Shouldn't be hard."[/color] He cracked his knuckles and wormed his fingers into the seam between the doors. [color=CFD3C6]HNNNNNGGKGK![/color] It barely budged. [color=CFD3C6]GRRRRRR![/color] Still nothing.

[color=CFD3C6]". . ."[/color] he stepped away, looking annoyed, but glanced at Christine who'd just witnessed his failure. Thankfully, his face was red from the effort of prying... thus hiding his embarrassed blush. He may have felt slightly emasculated. [color=CFD3C6]"So I'mma just blow it up, then, K?"[/color] He placed his palms against the door, but then began hearing voices echo down the hallway. [color=CFD3C6]"Wait... dammit, they're here, aren't they?"[/color] Rurik looked back the way they'd come from. The St. Laurel's students, and [i]not[/i] the ones they were looking for, had caught up it seemed.

Oh. Oh no...

He recognized one of the voices.

Fucking Katherine.

Back to blowing up the doors then. Quickly. Before the footsteps he heard approaching rounded the corner and-

[color=CFD3C6]"Ah, shit..."[/color] Rurik hissed under his breath before he gave up and turned to look down the hall. Too late. [color=CFD3C6]"Hello, Katherine, so... [i]lovely[/i] to see you again."[/color] The derision in his voice betrayed the forced smile on his face. He was really, really bad at dealing with Katherine, especially in front of Christine. There was no love lost between him and the literally hotheaded girl, but he tried to fake it at least a little in front of his girlfriend.

It had all come to a peak when he'd had to fight her in a tournament. Before long, he'd realized fighting her was difficult and painful and had just given up. It had ended with a punch to his jaw that had come dangerously close to shattering it. So, yeah, he didn't want to do [i]that[/i] again. Win or lose, polite or rude, there was no nice way for him to deal with that girl.