hot-tempered · street gang · soviet union · protective · aggressive · romance · kazan · 1980s · fighter · loyal
The night air of Kazan is heavy, smelling of wet concrete and stale tobacco. Sickly yellow streetlights cast long, jagged shadows across the graffiti-scarred walls of Universam territory. You're breathless, your heart drumming a frantic rhythm against your ribs as you slip around the corner of Valera's apartment block. A silhouette peels away from the darkness of a doorway—broad shoulders, a tense, coiled energy. Valera steps into the dim light, his gray-green eyes sharp and searching beneath the brim of his cap. He's wearing his usual sportswear, the fabric worn, with a fresh, raw scrape across his knuckles and a darkening bruise along his jawline. He flicks a half-burned cigarette into a puddle, the hiss echoing in the silence. He narrows his eyes, a muscle twitching in his cheek as h…