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[@Hammerman][@Scarifar][@KillamriX88]
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She still hated him. Sorry Christine, but dear immortal everlasting gods above did she still hate him. He just had to remind her why, too. Tonight of all night, her first night back, she's civil, she opens up for once and what does he do with that olive branch? Oh, yeah, that's right, take it and [i]stab her in the heart[/i]. She stood stock still, teeth gritted, white knuckled as every word Rurik spoke pushed her steadily through right through anger, past fury, way past livid, until she was so mad it was legitimately becoming hard to string together complete thoughts. 

"You fuck." She said, coughing up the words from somewhere deep in her throat like phlegm. "You...you murderous fucks try to have me...I apologize to you...you should...you can't even...gyahhhhngggg..."

She devolved into complete incoherence as she began to shake like an active volcano. The air around them began to heat up and the front of Katherine's dress began to smoke and dissolve as the heat from he scar burned through the material and shone through, looking for all the world like a lava filled crevasse over her heart and giving her a neckline that she would have never been comfortable with if she had been thinking about it. The words "incandescent rage" had perhaps never been more appropriate. 

And then, to make things worse, someone just had to put themselves in the way. A first year, one of the first years it sounded like. Her name..her name..her name...she searched through the rage clouds to try and find a name, anything to distract her from what she really wanted to do right now. Linda? Miranda? Rochelle? Michelle! Michelle, Belinda. Had that split personality thing going on. Good kid about half the time, kind of annoying the other half. What was she saying? This is a ball. A ball. Have some fun. Fun! Fun.

Fun.

Christine was having fun.

She focused on that, repeated it in her mind, and as she did she swore she could hear another voice chanting it like a mantra alongside her. Christine didn't need her sister being the drama bomb that ruined her night. She felt the shaking subside enough for her to think. Right. Right. Was she okay? Absolutely not. Was she in control? Hell yes.

"Yeah. We're all having fun tonight." She said slowly, turning to the pair in one of a first year and forcing a smile. "Thanks you two. Thank you so much. And as for you." She said, fixing her burning gaze back on Rurik. "You have a great night too. I'm really trying to mean that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go cool off."

With that she turned stiffly and stomped off, careful to keep her eyes to the floor as she picked her way through the hall. She hadn't spotted any ninja mask in the crowd tonight but if she did it would take a miracle to keep her from knocking his teeth out of his head as she was now. It would be better for everyone involved if she got out of here for a bit. 

She felt more than saw herself shove open the door and emerge out into the chilly nighttime air, plodding across the cobblestone path laid out before that lead to the adjacent park. Past the eager couples lining up for rides on big fancy carriages like something you would see out of a fairy tale. Across the carriage road, straight on past a bench, onto the grass, through a small cusp of trees whose stray branches sizzled as they brushed past her. Straight, straight, straight.

She found herself, eventually, at the edge of a pond. It was fairly large, so large it had a beautiful wooden bridge that was even now being crossed by one of the laughing couples on their magic carriage ride. She watched it, standing there on the shore until the laughter and clip-clop of hooves faded away. If she were a movie princess this was about the point in the plot where she would spontaneously break into song. Instead she spread her arms wide, tilted forward and let herself bellyflop right into the pond.

The water closest to her immediately boiled, erupting into a storm of churning bubbles as her heat dissipated into the water fixture. Wafts of steam began to rise off of it into the chilly air as Kath's head emerged, hacking and couching and blowing water out of her nose because she hadn't held it because she was a god damn idiot. "Worst princess ever." She said to herself as she tread water. This thing was surprising deep. They must never have intended for someone to jump in at all, least of all from the side she did. On the upside, the area she had plunged in was now at least as warm as a hot, relaxing bath. Relaxation was exactly what she needed, so she took a deep breath of the steam and felt herself beginning to mellow out. Nearby her mask popped up out of the water. She grabbed it and backstroked until she felt her back hit the bank. She held on there, wiping the hair out of her face and making sure she didn't have any more wardrobe malfunction. Finding none, she sighed and let herself sink a little deeper into the water.

"I'm trying, sis." She said to herself. "By the gods I'm trying."