Sascha Smirnov

⚠️**CAUTION: Potentially sensitive material is written on this page.⚠️**

#### Early Life

**Sacha** is a character of the Sylem plane who grew up during the civil war in Russia. Sacha was born into a poor family of trading merchants who generally sold anything from clothes to medicine and home-brewed alcohol. Sacha was raised into the trade and therefore would continue to grow into a merchant himself as he got older, following in the steps of his parents. Sacha primarily lived with his grandmother (Kira), his mother (Alisa) and his father (Nikolai).

Sacha spent most of his time with Kira during the war as Nikolai was enlisted to fight in the war, Sacha himself being far too young to be enlisted. Alisa would disappear for weeks at a time to sell the family merchandise in the city (which both Sacha and Kira usually stayed at home making), meaning that she was rarely around for Sacha during his teenage hood.

Kira has a speciality in producing potions and medicines, this particular speciality being passed down to Sacha who seemingly enjoyed foraging for ingredients and brewing various substances for safe and beneficial consumption. The results of their daily brewing would usually end up on the market every couple of weeks.

Later down the line, the war is to settle down and Sacha is to lose Nikolai in the conflict, which as to be expected, left quite a mark on the family. For a little while the only individual pulling their weight in the household was Sacha who worked very hard to feed his family, even at the young age of sixteen. Kira began struggling to support Alisa who spiralled into a deep, seriously unstable depression which eventually resulted in her becoming dependent on alcohol. Alisa would steal vodka from the stockroom, and occasionally directly from the brewery, sipping at it from a flask which she kept hidden in her coat most of the time.

By the time Sacha turned eighteen he was beginning to deal with most of the travelling sales, taking over from his mother. At the end of every passing month, Sacha would bring back just enough money to feed his family for the next few weeks. Sacha would then collect the goods of which Alisa and Kira had made before setting off on foot once again.

At the current day, Sacha spends most of his time roaming in and around the zones, brewing his own special medicines for his loyal customers that he has made over the passing years. Alisa has long since gone missing, the truth of her disappearance never really being uncovered by either Sacha nor Kira.

## Background

**Sacha** is a travelling salesman, spending most of his time roaming in and around the zones of Russia, marketing and selling most of his products to travellers and those who may live within the zones, mostly due to poverty. Although Sacha was raised to sell clothes, medicine and home-brewed alcohol, nowadays he specifies in selling hand-crafted, highly addictive medicines to his loyal customers. Sacha gained most of his knowledge in regards to medicine from his grandmother Kira who would take him foraging between seasons, gathering and collecting various safe ingredients to craft potions and medicines with.

At the end of every passing month, Sacha used to bring back just enough money to feed his family for the next few weeks. It wasn't until his last remaining family member, Kira, recently passed away that this tradition ultimately came to a stop.

Sascha generally stays at home for a full week whilst he crafts more stock to sell within the zones. After his stock has been replenished, he will set off again, only to return a month later. Whilst he would previously return with money to feed his family, Sascha only returns to rest and replenish his stock, which is all of course hand-crafted.

Sacha is known to tell tales about the zones and the monsters of which inhibit them. Some tales are of complete truth, whereas others are usually exaggerated or twisted due to consistent drug abuse at the time of witnessing said monsters. Sacha typically attempts to deter civilians from wandering too close to the reactors within the zones - not due to the high levels of radiation there though, more so due to the creatures that apparently reside there during the night.

Sacha states that the monsters are afraid of fire, and therefore will typically carry around home-made flammable canisters which can be lit and thrown in order to deter them. The fire itself tends to be green in colour, this being due to the copper which Sascha solders onto the nozzle of the canisters for affect.

Sacha has a strong affinity with animals and is actually a vegetarian. His family could rarely afford meat whilst he was growing up, therefore it was never a problem for him to stop eating it altogether. Sacha does occasionally carry canned, meat-based rations which he feeds to the hungry stray cats he finds alongside his travels.

## Milo

When Sascha was nineteen, he met **Milo**, a **Puerto Rican** warehouser, who would later became his boyfriend. At the beginning of their friendship, they were nothing other than merchant and customer. Milo would return to Sascha's camps frequently, even when he wasn't looking to buy anything from him. Milo would stop by to sit with Sascha, and the two of them would typically talk for hours on end.

Milo was able to get Sascha to open up about his personal life, which was not something that Sascha typically does, especially when it comes to strangers. Considering Sascha was suffering from a thick cloud of loneliness at the time however, he did let his guard down rather quickly, especially due to Milo's flirtatious and open personality. Sascha appreciated Milo's company, and whenever he was visited, he would have a big smile on his face.

After a month or so of frequent visits, Milo told Sascha that he was in love with him, and that was why he just couldn't himself from visiting so often. Sascha was very weary at first, especially considering Milo was so much older than him. Sascha decided to give it a chance, on the terms that things would go slowly. At this point in time, Sascha did not have the same feelings for Milo at first, therefore for the first two weeks he would just pretend to be into Milo until he eventually grew an attachement.

Considering Sascha had never been in a relationship before, he allowed Milo to make all of the moves without any complaints. This did become an issue later in their relationship as Sascha began getting pushed around, and even when he was not comfortable with something, he allowed it to happen, only to cry about it later on when Milo had gone away.

Sascha was blind to it first, but between all of the tender memories he and Milo spent together, Milo had only ever seen this relationship as way to get whatever he wanted from Sascha, who was young and easily manipulated.

Milo was after Sascha's supplies and would frequently steal from them, only to abuse the substances with his friends. Although Sascha had noticed this happening early on in their relationship, he was too afraid to say anything to Milo in fear that he would break up with him.

Within two months of dating him, Milo had gained such a tight hold on Sascha that he was able to push him into do practically anything he wanted. After enough nagging, Sascha purchased and stocked new supplies as of personal request by Milo. These supplies were from the city and they were much stronger, more costly and most importantly, they could not be brewed at home by Sascha. Sascha was even encouraged to begin abusing these substances with Milo, which he eventually gave into out of love.

After what began as a few exciting late-nights involving tasters of the new supplies, Sascha found himself craving a particular sustance of them called **whip**, which he later found out that Milo had previously been brought into rehab for upon multiple occasions. Sascha was itching for more of it, and throught their relationship, Milo and Sascha sunk deeper and deeper into a terrifying void of addiction.

Whip made the two of them hyperaggresive, and they would fight over the substance like wild animals. Although Sascha did not want to abuse the substance as it was a part of his stock, Milo would encourage it so often, and if he did not get it, he would threaten to hurt himself. Sascha did symphasize Milo's pain however, as he would often be brought to scraping the skin of his arms and legs off without the drug in his system.

Whenever Milo and Sascha were high together, they were able to cope with one another better, however, when they would experience their come down, they would both become completely different people. Milo was severely paranoid, questioning Sascha, pacing back and forth with his hands on his head. Sascha found himself at the point where he no longer wanted to talk to Milo, spending long periods of time in complete silence; however when he refused to answer Milo, he would get screamed at. Milo was always at his worst when the two of them would run out of whip, depending solely on Sascha to supply more. Milo would get so stressed that he would scalp himself if he went too long without it.

It wasn't until Sascha tried to put a stop to his relationship with Milo that he finally realized how far it had already gone. Toward the final month of his relationship with Milo, Sascha met a familliar face who later go on to becoming his most cherished, beloved friend. That individual would turn out to be Rudolph, and it was thanks to him that Sascha was able to get himself out of the situation with Milo, alongside his addiction to whip.

Rudolph suggested that Sascha should make attempts to stop doing business with Milo, and that he should stop going to the lengths that he did in order to stock whip. This was unfortunately easier said than done, however Sascha did try his best. Milo began by threatening his life, which Sascha was able to tolerate, however toward the end of this relationship, Sascha was covered in bruises from head to toe.

Unfortunately, on one of the private nights that Sascha was spending with Rudolph, he was caught red-handed while showing Rudolph the bruises Milo had inflicted upon him. Milo approached aggressively, demanding to know who Rudolph was.

Rudolph held Sascha close, protecting him. As Milo struck forward to pull Sascha away by the wrist, he held Sascha by the throat, he demanded an answer. Sascha was suddenly pulled back by Rudolph, falling to the floor. A small scrap inevitably broke out between Rudolph and Milo, Rudolph quickly causing Milo to flee the scene after a pretty one-sided beat down.

Sascha had evidently spent more time with Rudolph during his recovery. Rudolph would frequently visit Sascha from that point on, taking care of him and looking out for him. The two of them would grow much closer to one another as time went on, eventually becoming what some may visualise as lovers.

## Present Day

As of very recently, **Sascha** unfortunately lost his grandmother, **Kira**. Sascha had a strong bond with his grandmother, and granted he was the one to find her body, he was left traumatized. Kira's death left an incredible impact on Sascha's life, and during the time of his mourning, Sascha suffered worse than he ever had before. For the first couple of weeks, Sascha didn't even leave his home, and he barely ate. His mental wellbeing seemed to dwindle further, even as he finally began to stray outside of his home.

Sascha could not travel far from home, since he had farm animals which needed daily care, such as food and water. Without a mobile phone, Sascha was unfortunately unable to contact any of his usual company in order to inform them of his whereabouts and what was going on for him at home.

Sascha made promises to his customers that he couldn't keep, and he wound up getting attacked by one of them for failing to supply the requested medicines multiple times in a row. Without Kira, Sascha simply couldn't keep up with the orders that he had on the line, especially since he was the only one around to create and harvest more stock.

It wasn't until Sascha was paid a vist by his old friend, **Rudolph**, that things began to finally brighten up for him. Rudolph had noticed that Sascha had not been present within the zones for quite a while now, therefore he decided to pay the farm a visit after work one evening. Rudolph was quick to gather what had happened with the absence of Kira, and was quick to comfort Sascha. The two of them spend the night together, and Rudolph takes time cleaning Sascha's wounds from the attack.

Rudolph initially insisted on taking Sascha to the hospital, however Sascha politely declines as he couldn't leave the farm unattended. Rudolphs sings Sascha to sleep as a new day dawns.

#### The Next Morning

Sascha had woken up in Rudolph's arms, and for the first time in several months, Sascha felt at ease. Later that day, the two of them discuss some important matters. Sascha agrees to rehome the animals that he has there on the farm with him, since he was struggling to take care of them alone with the current circumstances. During this discussion, Sascha is asked if he would like to spend time with Rudolph in the city for a while.

Sascha visits the city for the first time in his life, and despite his bewilderment, Sascha settles in with ease. Rudolph takes Sascha shopping, and Rudolph picks out some brand new outfits for Sascha to wear. It is notable that one of Sascha's favourite items from the shopping trip is his black zip-up hoodie, as pictured below.

During the time that Sascha spends in the city, he meets a lot of new faces. Rudolph introduces Sascha to some of his closest friends, including his best friend, **Anton**. Sascha and Anton seem to get along well together, and it is clear that there is some sort of a chemistry between them, even if Sascha is shy around the topic. Sascha appears to admire Anton, gazing over at him often and spending a lot of his time thinking about him.

#### The End of November

Toward the end of November, Rudolph promptly asks Sascha if he would like to move in with him. Rudolph insists that Sascha is in danger if he is to continue living out in the zones, and is worried for Sascha's safety.

**SASCHA:** *“Mne nuzhno skoro vernut'sya k rabote. Slug is merchant, Slug needs money. Slug has tradition to fulfil, you know?”*

**RUDOLPH:** *“But I can take care of you here, Sascha. You don’t need to go back home, you don’t need to work at all, you need to rest-”*

**SASCHA:** *“But Slug likes to be busy. Slug was born to be merchant, sell, trade, da?”*

**RUDOLPH:** *“Sascha. It’s too dangerous, your wound is barely scarred over yet, and it’s so cold out there-”*

**SASCHA:** *“Slug will be okay. We will work things out, da? Slug will teach you how to make medicines. Tebe eto ochen' ponravitsya, Rudol'f.”*

Sascha kindly declines Rudolph's offer, in favour of his traditional life. Rudolph understands despite his personal worries, and allows Sascha to return to his work, however he purchases Sascha his own smartphone, which the two of them use to communicate with one another once Sascha returns to the zones.

Rduolph calls Sascha every night, checking up on him. The two of them typically speak with one another late into the night, just simply enjoying the company that they both have.

Sascha regularly returns to the city from this point on. The visits change between weekly and once or twice every few days.

## Trivia

* **Sacha's** nickname derives from a shotgun slug. The name was given to him by a particular customer who shares a long-running inside joke with Sacha in regards to the name. This customer happens to be **Rudolph**, and this interaction was their very first introduction to one another. Rudolph asked for Sacha's name, the question being mistaken for one asking about the shotgun munitions which he was selling at the time. Cut a long story short, the dialogue went something like following.

**RUDOLPH**: *"So, what was your name?"*

**SACHA:** *"This name? Slug. This is slug. For the shotguns? Hahaha."*

**RUDOLPH:** *"Really? I've never met anyone called Slug before."*

And from then on, whenever the two would meet, the customer would tease Sacha with the name. "Do you have many Sacha's for sale today, Slug?" Eventually the name stuck, and Sacha began introducing himself to brand new customers with the nickname.

* As mentioned above, Sacha oftentimes has his own fun with the homemade drugs which he brews in order to sell to his customers. Due to the consistent drug abuse that he gets up to, Sacha can oftentimes come across as a little shot away to those he meets first hand.

## Relations

* Rudolph (Friend)
* Anton (Friend)
* Mika (Friend)
* Roxanne (Friend)
* Victor (Friend)
* Kojiro (Friend)
* Radko (Friend)
* Milo (Ex-partner)
* Kira (Grandmother)
* Alisa (Mother)
* Nikolai (Father)

## Gallery

Sascha travelling in the zones without his protective gear.Sascha wearing Rudolph's jacket.Sascha wearing his protective gear.Sascha putting his flammable canisters to work.Sascha with his present hair, which is much longer and wavier.Rudolph cuddling Sascha.