@Scarifar@Gentlemanvaultboy
Cassius had made it to the ball, but... he couldn't find Katherine. Or even Christine. Or... anyone. He couldn't find a single person he knew.
It took the boy far too long to realize that this was because he'd gone to the wrong part of the event. There was a separate area dedicated to people who'd fought against the cultists, mainly the students of the schools involved in the tournament, but he'd just gone to the part where all the rich donors who hadn't fought were hanging around.
That also explained why it had been so boring.
He finally made it to the right part of the ball, and just in time to be given the perfect opportunity to locate Katherine. It was easy, because he could
smell how angry she must have been. It was a smell he'd gotten accustomed to, because she got mad a lot and her clothes tended to suffer when that happened.
"Hey! I was wondering when I'd run into someone I know!" Cassius immediately cringed and swore he felt a twinge of pain in his chest at the voice of Vala Ace. "I don't know a lot of people and it's a big crowd, you know?!" THe girl jumped right in his path of tavel. He tried to lean around her, but she leaned as well in an attempt to maintain eye contact. "Um, um, Cassius, right?"
"Err, y-yeah." Cassius pursed his lips.
"Yes! I remembered!" Vala clenched her fist happily. "So, are you having fun? I'm trying to have fun! It's a lot different than most parties like this I've been to! People are actually trying to have fun here! It's great! I didn't expect to feel so out of place, but I don't mind!"
It took Cassius a second to realize what the girl meant. He noticed now, looking around, that a lot of the people his age were in... festive costumes, rather than traditional high-class attire. Vala, meanwhile, was wearing a rather lovely
gown. He actually had to do a double take. It was like she was a completely different person... although she still acted the same. If anything, what made her seem most out of place was how she was still behaving while wearing the dress.
"Well, um, you look nice, so it's not so bad, right? B-but if you'll ex-" He tried to quickly duck by again, but...
"Yeah, and I still got one of these mask thingies!" She held up a little mask on a stick and placed it over her eyes. "I always liked these!"
"C-cool... but..." He took a deep breath. He really needed to stop being so nice.
"Look, I need to talk to someone, OK? I haven't seen Katherine in weeks and I've been worried about her!""Oh! Why didn't you say so?! I'll go with you!" She grinned. Cassius had to take another breath.
Unfortunately, when she stepped aside... Kath was gone. Worse, Rurik was there. Well that cleared things up, didn't it? That must have been why Katherine was so mad.
. . .When Katherine walked away without trying to burn multiple craters into his body with her fists, Rurik raised an eyebrow and glanced at the girl who'd interrupted them.
"Huh... I'm impressed. Normally there'd be a lot more scorch marks by now." Rurik then shrugged.
"Whatever. Saves me the trouble-""You just can't help yourself, can you!?"Rurik just grit his teeth and suppressed a groan. He was
trying to leave!
"Hi, you two!" Vala called out from behind Cassius upon seeing Michelle.
"Uhh, do I know you?" Rurik glanced about, before pointing to himself in confusion.
"Wasn't talking to you, but hi anyway!" Vala smiled. OK. Apparently this one had a few screws loose then.
"So what did you do this time, huh?!" Cassius crossed his arms.
"Who says I did anything?" Rurik frowned back at the boy. Perhaps the greatest compliment Rurik would ever pay Christine was the fact that he hadn't broken up with her simply to avoid having to deal with
this shit. Unfortunately, Cassius just kept glaring at him.
"If you mean Kath, that was just her finally apologizing for all her bullshit."". . . what?" Cassius hadn't expected that answer of all things.
"Yeah. Crazy, right? I mean, I told her to fuck off, but it still happened. Honestly I think we're making progress.""You what?!" Cassius couldn't believe it, but yet there wasn't a hint of deception coming from Rurik, he could tell at least that much.
"You're pathetic. She didn't even owe someone like you an apology to begin with!"Rurik remained silent for a second, perhaps the only sign that Cassius's words hadn't completely bounced off of him,
"Wowww, someone like me, huh?" And now he could even hear the gossip mill churning in the background.
"He was so rude to that girl!"
"Wasn't that Katherine? That Katherine?"
"What do you expect? Isn't he one of those Mephistos?"
"Did he suggest he has some sort of relationship with Christine?"
"That's a scandal waiting to happen. You think someone would do something."
"What do you expect? She's a Mephisto too isn't she?"
See? This is why he avoided people. Or at least places where he wasn't allowed to hit said people.
"Big words coming from the dipshit who stormed my school and attacked me. Or do you think you're above it all?""I gave you a chance to talk, you just wouldn't take it!" Cassius insisted.
"No, you just refused to accept my answer." Rurik didn't seem remotely amused at this point. If anything, he was just looking down his nose at Cassius with utter contempt.
"But hey, it was about Kath right? That bitch'll drive anyone to the brink."The next moment, Cassius was grabbing Rurik by the collar of his shirt,
"Shut up! Stop twisting things!""Fine, fine. You want a high horse to sit on? Well here you go!" BANG! Suddenly Cassius was sent skidding across the floor on his back. Rurik let out a laugh.
"Mephisto's, right?! Bunch of violent thugs! Never know when we'll go off!" He rolled his neck back and forth, as if loosening himself up.
"Ah, well, probably not a great place to get into a fight, so I'll head out. Here, kid, you earned it!" He suddenly took the knife he was carrying as part of his costume and pushed it into Michelle's hand for some reason. It was probably fine. It was just a prop knife, right? Surprisingly weighty though, and with a very realistic metallic sheen- No, no it was definitely real.
Rurik may or may not have slept in during one of his naps and he may or may not have grabbed the wrong knife on his way out.
And he may or may not have handed it off after seeing security eyeing him just now... And with that taken care of, he began walking, quickly, toward the nearest exit.
Meanwhile, Cassius pushed himself to a sitting position, aggravated that he'd let his guard down and been sent flying by Rurik
again. He hadn't even had a chance to even the score, this time. That said, looking around at the crowd, setting off explosions probably would have been a bad idea. He grit his teeth and slammed his fist against the floor. This wasn't like him, losing his cool. He'd learned a long time ago to
not have outbursts. Someone like him couldn't afford to. If he picked fights, the second he started winning, the powers would start coming out, and Cassius's powers were just... too much. If he fought back with them, people, including himself, would get hurt.
And... he'd done that, hadn't he? Suddenly Rurik's words felt a lot heavier as they repeated in his head.
"Dammit..." he cursed under his breath.
"Um, are you OK?" Vala asked him.
"Yeah, I..." He sighed.
"I'm just gonna... go..." Without giving the girl another chance to interrupt him, he got up off the floor and just walked out of the ballroom.
"Oh. OK!" Vala blinked and then looked at Michelle. "Crazy, huh?! I like this city, way more stuff happens here than back at home!"
. . .Once Cassius was out of the ballroom, his eyes were drawn to something. He hadn't really had a plan, but... well Kath left a really easy trail to follow. Footsteps burnt into the ground, charred plants that she'd brushed past. Only a few minutes later he'd easily tracked her down. He crouched down at the edge of the pond, just staring down at the patch of shore in front of him.
"Hey, Kath. Long time no see, huh?" He tried to sound happy to see her, but, if he was being honest, he'd had the enthusiasm beaten out of him.
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