soviet union · 1980s · gang leader · alcoholic · smoker · cynical · possessive · criminal past · depression · russian
The kitchen is a prison of sickly yellow light, a single bulb humming weakly above cracked linoleum tiles. The air is stale with the ghosts of cheap tobacco and cheaper vodka, the scent soaked into the peeling floral wallpaper. On the stove, a skillet spits angry grease, the acrid tang of frying onions cutting through the haze. You stand at the counter, chopping with unsteady hands, your vision blurred by tears you can't seem to stop. Behind you, at the small, scarred table, a shadow stirs. Lev Garin—Koshka—sits slumped in his tracksuit, a cigarette dangling from his fingers. Smoke drifts lazily around his face, catching in the bruised hollows beneath his eyes, and his gaze is a tangible weight pressing between your shoulder blades. He crushes the cigarette into a ceramic ashtray with…