#the party in the bg

[snarkspawn]

some floating heads of my boy Asher, his guardian and his favourite people to go adventuring with ♥

[nopanamaman]

What’s the deal with Tsar and Arthur?

Today we’ll look at the two most popular members of Sanya and Yura’s friend group, Tsar and Arthur, a.k.a. Anger Management. How did they meet? What’s their life like? And most importantly, why the hell are they so angsty?

Let’s start with the older one.

Arthur Sokolov

Joining the orphanage

Arthur was brought to the orphanage not long after being born. He never met any of his parents.

Growing up in a state-funded shelter meant developing a clear understanding of what kinds of behaviours will and won’t result in getting your shit kicked in. You can’t be too cocky, and you can’t be too weak. Follow the hierarchy, but don’t let your fear of elders show.

Arthur learned to navigate that little society well. He had earned respect among kids his own age and younger, and avoided being pushed around by the older teenagers too much. Less due to a noble heart and more because of being too proud to act like a doormat. 

However, that didn't make him immune to peer pressure.

Correctional psychiatry

Business trip.

Many low-end orphanages across the former USSR had been essentially transformed into incubators for future gang members. “Businessmen”, either by bribe or threat, came to these institutions to recruit impressionable children into their organisations. One such uncle visited Arthur’s foster home.

For kids like him, the course of action was simple:

misbehave;

get sent to a mental institution for corrective treatment;

sneak as many bottles of trihexyphenidyl as you can into your bag during your stay;

leave the hospital as normal;

transfer the trihexyphenidyl to a gang representative and get your paycheck.

Under that business model, Arthur became a frequent guest at psychiatric wards. Having witnessed their indifference and medical callousness firsthand, he had developed a massive disdain for all kinds of mental health professionals.

It started even before joining the gang, of course – way before. It’s hard not to foster a vendetta when you get thrown to the looney bin for any misstep. At first he tried to honestly convince the doctors working there that he was fine, but he eventually realised it was futile: they were always in on the punishment.

Hustling continues

Arthur and Ivan at 15 and 17 respectively.

As Arthur grew older, he got more deeply involved with the gang’s activities alongside other kids. This meant participating in transfers, standing watch during certain deals, acting as a “treasure man” (i.e. hiding drugs in agreed upon places for clients to pick up), and so on. Fights were frequent.

He knew it was a slippery slope, but getting out was not an option – not an easy one, at least. This was the period during which he grew close to Ivan, who was commonly assigned to work with Arthur and other children from their institute.

They bonded on the basis of wanting to leave the business, though for different reasons: most of all, Ivan didn’t want to disappoint his grandma.

Getting out

First meeting with Yura.

The sudden disbandment of the gang was a relief to both Ivan and Arthur. A major member got caught and ratted almost everyone out, except for the dozens of orphans involved. So while Ivan went to turn himself in, Arthur got to walk free.

Before going, Ivan suggested Arthur replace him at his pop’s car repair salon. The boy seemed to have a knack for fixing things, and the two had developed a trusting relationship over their time working together.

While everything was looking fine, Arthur still wanted to destroy all traces of his activities - even those that couldn’t reasonably be tracked down to him. This led to him encountering Yura. Despite the very rocky start of their acquaintance, they went on to hang out together pretty regularly.

As of today, Arthur continues to do part-time at the workshop alongside Ivan. Both are committed to never getting back into the criminal business. Unless you count Sanya's Dynamo. Which you shouldn't. Having experienced what actual gangs are like, Arthur finds it hard not to look down at the girl's little roleplay.

Tsar

Joining the orphanage

Before coming to the orphanage, Tsar lived with his grandma. She died when he was 6. Since his parents had lost their parental rights due to alcoholism a couple years prior, there was only one place for him to go.

Tsar had a very hard time adjusting to the rigid hierarchy of the foster home. He was lucky enough to catch Arthur's attention and, in a sense, got scooped under his wing. The boy disliked relying on the older kid too much, but was too weak to stand on his own.

Gang involvement

How come mom lets you have two trips to the mental ward

Since Arthur got dragged into gang activities earlier than Tsar, the younger kid felt jealous. He, like most other children, fully bought into the romanticised idea of criminal life that was pushed by the uncles visiting the orphanage.

But as years went on, he saw the toll it had begun to take on Arthur. Tsar had taken a couple of correctional trips to mental wards as well, though he'd never participated in any illegal schemes. Those times were bad enough - he couldn't imagine going there again and again on purpose.

By the time Tsar would be old enough to get recruited into the business, Arthur forbade him from it. The kid still wanted to join to prove his worth, to earn his share, to show his guts. But his trust and respect for Arthur were stronger.

As much as he hated the idea, he stuck to the sidelines.

Contact with parents

Teatime with family.

Tsar’s parents reached out to him a couple years after he was transferred to the orphanage. He could only meet with them under supervision up until he was 13 years old. Afterwards they were allowed private meetings.

Today, he occasionally comes to visit them at their apartment. They still drink, but to Tsar, they just seem quiet and pitiful. He usually lends them the pocket money he receives from the orphanage. He knows they won't return it.

Anger Management

Ural models are known for their incredible durability and a baffling number of switches.

Tsar found a creative release in music and wrote songs to vent his frustrations. The orphanage had an old acoustic guitar that he learned to play, but it got completely broken when the boy was 13. After Arthur joined the workshop, he bought a black Ural from Ivan’s dad for cheap, upgraded its port, and gifted it to Tsar.

As it turned out, Ivan’s dad was hopping from one band to another in the 80s-90s, so he was happy to accommodate the kids' creative endeavours. He allowed them to use the spare garage space to practise and even supplied an incomplete drum set.

Tsar begged Arthur to back him up with drums. The latter begrudgingly agreed to learn them, but ended up really enjoying hitting barrels with sticks. Right now their band has a tiny local following, mostly in the face of Sanya Kazarina.

Some notes

I remember sitting down and reading about actual orphanage experiences in the post-soviet space – it was eye-opening, but also gave me a lot of material to work with, as heartless as that probably sounds. A lot of things simply clicked into place.

I didn't go into too much detail here, but FYI, I've downplayed the severity of certain situations. Trauma aside, I'd say both Tsar and Arthur got quite lucky in the end.

[yonkiibums]

🩸 ̶̵̲ ❤︎ 𝄞. ¨*:·. ਉl̈́ਉ .·:*¨

. My Finger on your Lips . ❤︎♬♪ 

I Stole Something Precious  ⁠❤︎♬♪ ⁠❤︎

[wieqo]

━╋ ࿒ཽ ̷۪۪ᰰ🫀 𝜗℘ CANNiBALiSM #🦷 【🪦】 ੋ࿔

[auriidae]

eepythubs :)

[ragingtrees]

sleepy sappy doodles

[carbon8dhellsludge]

they are making cupcakes! hopefully nothing will go wrong!! :))

[lizleeships]

A happy and safe holiday to you all, and big thanks for your support this year. 

...And no, I have no idea why the sunglasses were necessary, but they just...were. 

(Don’t repost) 

(My Ko-Fi | My Patreon) 

[noctude]

youre telling me this chest is trapped? well maybe if we take its bra off it will be more comfortable. im just gonna unclasp the

[svndollz]

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ❛ ʬʬʬ ❜ 🕷️⠀⠀⠀⠀I don't feel the 𝓅⍺in o𝒽 ,⠀⠀⠀ ⠀I on𝓁y fᧉel the c◌ld. ‎    ` ♰

[iraprince]

if u like listening to music while u work but find urself getting distracted fiddling with queueing stuff/finding The Perfect Playlist/etc my recent hack has been just throwing on youtube videos of dj sets

book club radio is a good channel to start w bc they usually have the overall Vibe of the set in the title (i.e. "dreamy pop mix", "energetic techno mix" etc) so u can pick the general tempo or w/e u want but then it just kind of blends into the bg and u can set it + forget it

any time i put my own playlists on i'm just too familiar w what could be coming up and i end up wasting so much time skipping/scrolling 2 look for specific songs and stuff. dj sets are like putting a post-op doggy cone on me. it;'s out of my hands

[islandlobster]

i connect three joycons to ssbu and have them all play together instead of fighting

[nopanamaman]

getting the polycule together

[misotsukiiyeooo]

“SURPRISE!!…?”

Pairing: Choi Seungcheol x F! reader

A/N: I know he's very much healed now, this is just for the skit.

Genre: Fluff (hint of crack)

Word count: 3.5k

Synopsis: While you have a little surprise party at home, Seungcheol arrives home leaving you speechless.

Waking up, you get ready to kiss your birthday boy only to find out he's not even in bed.

Getting up to search around the house, he's nowhere to be found. Finally, you check your phone receiving a message.

Pollie Cheollie 🍒❤

Today at 11:34 AM

I know you're probably just waking up, so I'm outside with the boys now. They wanted to go out earlier because I wanted to spend the rest of the day with you.❤

Y/N

Today at 11:40 AM

hmm I see, well have fun and tell them I said hi! Also, don't do anything dumb okay? ik how those boys are.

Pollie Cheollie 🍒❤

Today at 11:41 AM

Alright alright, I'll make sure we don't do anything we're not supposed to, Love you, Princess.

After returning the same words you lock your phone and head to the bathroom to freshen up.

After some time of hard work, you going to the grocery store to you buying balloons and party supplies, you finally finish the cake. Wiping your forehead, unknowingly wiping some frosting on your face.

Wiping the last bit of frosting on your apron, you open the fridge grabbing the freshly picked cherries you know Seungcheol likes.

Placing the cherries carefully on the cake, you hear the door unlock, but no one enters. Raising an eyebrow you take off your apron and walk up to the front door until you hear his voice.

"Princess...?" You immediately run quietly to the kitchen and get the cake, lighting the candles you walk back to the door.

"SURPRISE!!...?" Your smile dropped at the sight of him. "Seungcheol? What happened!?!" He looks at you, nervously smiling as he's about to explain himself. "I was playing with the boys outside and I might've tried a bit too hard." He looks down. "You think?? You're in a wheelchair!"

"I know baby...I'm sorry. But look, I'm okay it doesn't even hurt that bad." He attempts to stand up but you put the cake on the nearest table to sit him back down.

"Stay seated. I can't believe you hurt yourself! I told you not to do anything dumb!!" Seungcheol holds your hands locking eyes.

"Listen, It's not as bad as it looks, okay? And are you really going to scold me on my birthday?" His pouty face and big eyes makes you weak. "You're lucky you're so cute right now..."

"Now let's get back to you surprising me, Yeah?" He wipes the frosting off your face making you giggle out of embarrassment.

"Princess, this cake is really good! but you know, you don't have to feed me..." Shaking your head, you continue to feed him.

"You can't move so much, and you're not doing well..." Seungcheol ruffles your hair as you're pouting. "Okay fine, I'll let you feed me for now even though my hands work perfectly fine."

"You know, I had a lot of stuff planned for us for the evening...but now we can't do them." He hums as you talk.

"But now, we can relax and watch movies in bed.?" Seungcheol tries to change your mood, succeeding.

"Hm...that doesn't sound like a bad idea..."

After cleaning up, you and Seungcheol lay in bed as you eat snacks and watch movies. "Are you sure you're leg doesn't hurt?"

He looks at you as you are lying on his chest, "Of course it doesn't, I'm strong remember?" He flexes his arm as you laugh.

"What? You don't think I'm strong enough anymore?" You watch him pout. "Aw, my Cheollie. You are so so so strong baby. But you'd be even stronger if you didn't hurt yourself."

He massages your scalp, playing with your hair. "Yeah, you're right...first thing I'll do once I heal is head straight to the gym."

You chuckle at him. "First, let's focus on healing."

Req are open!!

Taglist!

@jjunie-0 @minminghao @allieyaaa @honglynights

[wieqo]

(✱✱✱)𒀀🈖⃨⚰️⡷❝🗡️ ⃨ FULL OF SCARS 蘭 —⠀ ͏͏͏ 𓂂໊ 𓏶゚𓈒

[amaberisamanda]