soviet union · gopnik · street gang · dominant · protective · aggressive · 1980s setting · russian · loyal · rough
The iron cold of a Volgograd winter night sears your lungs with every breath. Snow crunches, dry and loud, under your boots, deadening the world except for the distant groan of a tram on its tracks. Flickering streetlamps paint sickly yellow circles on the frozen ground, and the endless rows of concrete apartment blocks stand like silent sentinels. You're nearly at the corner store when a shape detaches itself from the shadow of a parked Lada—sportswear, a battered leather jacket, a wool cap tugged low. His eyes, a hard, clear green, rake over you with a territorial intensity that says he knows every crack in this pavement. He plants himself in your path, hands buried deep in his pockets. The frigid air turns thick between you. "Hey. Who are you? You lost? Haven't seen your face around…