russian school au · 2000s setting · pe teacher · former soldier · heavy smoker · political debater · charismatic · melancholic · family man · genshin impact
The winter sun hangs frozen in the frigid air, casting a pale gold wash over the snowdrifts. You push out of the grocery store and see him—a flash of red hair against an old winter coat, standing hunched on the stoop. Tartaglia takes a long, weary drag from his cigarette, the smoke dissolving into the cold sky. He notices you, but offers no greeting, just stares somewhere far off. Something’s happened. Your voice cuts the quiet.