Its just a walk in the park [{Open

[Vitali Solonyov]

The sun continued dipping further beyond the horizon, leaving trails of orangey-pinks in its wake and beyond them a deep navy blue sky with twinkling stars, was already rolling in. The humid summer air hung heavy. Vitali took a deep breath as his brown eyes scanned the small group of skaters still lingering at the park.

He continued a steady pace towards him, Miska wouldn't have settled for anything else. Seeing more people she couldn't help but become excited and try as hard as she might to keep the wagging to her tail, her whole body couldn't help but join in, shaking from side to side as she pulled at the leash in an attempt to coax her master along faster.

A cheery bark, sent a couple of gazes towards the duo, but they were no strangers to these parts. It was a Thursday, and for Vita that really meant only one thing- time to restock. If he didn't have to worry about his career at school he might not have been so careful, but a late night stroll with his dog, offered the perfect cover and a very plausible excuse for being in the park with out a skateboard.

It didn't take long for him to spot his usual 'friend.' It was a term he didn't necessarily prefer, but it seemed to fit for the situation. His 'friend' helped provide him with a few necessities, and in exchange Vita tipped him. It wasn't exactly a close friendship, but regular contact was involved, and it wasn't as though, people were hopping around the block to be friends with the egotistical, womanizing, shallow Russian anyway.

The man and his small companion beside a lanky kid, propping himself up against his skateboard, his hands fumbling around in his pockets while his eyes were only locked on Vita. "сидеть," he said, giving the leash a small tug. Miska obediently sat at her masters feet. She might have still been a puppy, but she knew when it was a time for play, and when her owner needed her to behave. As much as she wanted to chase the kids rolling around before her, she punishment of some kind would be involved if she did. The pup rather liked getting to spend time in her master's apartment, and decided not to risk it this time.

Vita gave a nod, and the man quickly procured a small vial of white powder. After doing business for this long, the man already had it down to a science what his Comrade needed, and when. First Thursday of the month- he needed a few extra things, but that was last week, and no doubt the Russian still had plenty. Vita handed off a small wad of cash, and the goods were quickly pocketed on both ends. "спасибо" [thanks]

He gave another small tug at the leash, rousing the beast, as the dealer shot back at him, "Fucking Commie- you know I don't speak Russian. I mean seriously, how long have I worked with you?" Vita shook his head, his white teeth flashed, as he smiled "My apologies," Vita replied, his Russian accent laying thick over the words, "thanking your dealer in English, just doesn't have the same ring to it, as it does in Russian"

With that, he was done. The hunger for small vials contents only grew with each step he took. Tonight was going to be a good night, and the proof of that would be, waking up a buzz. A feat, Vita had all intentions of meeting tonight. It was true he couldn't go for very long without his fix, but while teaching and helping run the school, he did his best to limit things and not overdo it. Salem had covered for him enough times already, he didn't need to put his ass on the line again, but a man could only hold out for so long, before he burst at the seems. The exact point Vtia was slowly reaching, tonight would have to last him for a few weeks.

[Jagger Arlington]

Jagger didn’t know how to skateboard and that was honestly no surprise, since while he was good on a horse, his long lanky build didn’t exactly provide for being aerodynamic and a skateboard got away from him all too easily. However the skater kids around town took to Jagger and that was easier to believe, Jagger, for all his faults and wrongs, at least had a knack for being easily adopted by whatever group wanted him. Even some of the preppy, hoity kids at Elmendorf took to the young trainer since he was just a hard person to hate unless he’d blown up violently at them, like an old hound dog that never did anything to anyone.

Amidst the group of skaters that Vita had spotted Jagger was hidden, crouched down to the ground and using another boy’s skateboard as a makeshift table, rolling joints of weed simply because he was the most proficient at it. Jagger wasn’t the oldest of the group, but his thin skeleton hands were useful for more than playing piano, and Jagger wasn’t jittery and flighty at the very idea of drugs, let alone at actually rolling joints. One observation that Jagger’d made about skaters was that they were all mostly hype who got their highs off four wheels and a piece of wood, not off all the drugs they said they did. Jagger was probably the only honest druggie of the group, but that didn’t make him think any different of them. They were better off that way.

Hearing a bark Jagger lifted his gaze, spotting Vita and his puppy, grinning to himself and finishing rolling the rest of the joints before claiming four for himself and rolling them up in a zip lock bag. He rose, growing 5 feet in seconds and shooting up to where he now towered above the rest of the little group of wannabe stoners. “I’ll see yall later,” Jagger said, giving a careless wave of his hand, which was met with a few goodbyes and a few protesting groans, but Jagger was off regardless. He’d shown them how to roll it, the deal was that he got some, and it wasn’t like weed was hard to find, especially here. It was almost always growing behind one of the half pipes. He loped up to the side of the bowl they’d all been hovering, easily hoisting himself up and out with a gait that was almost insect like, stick limbs propelling him easily.

Jagger loped out until he fell into pace with Vita, greeting him with a firm yet not bruising punch to the shoulder. “Hey Comrade,” Jagger said very automatically since Vita knew him enough to know meeting Jagger or any druggie in such ways was not uncommon. Stability was not a common place of addiction and Jagger honestly didn’t know how Vita was able to manage being horse master and looking like he wasn’t just as much of a junkie as Jagger. Jagger pulled out one of the fresh joints and his same old silver gas station lighter, lighting up and offering the bag which still contained three joints and the lighter to Vita. “So what’d you buy for me?” Jagger taunted with a grin, taking a drag off the cigarette and looking to Miska, reaching down to scratch behind the puppy’s ears. She was used to him by now and even a calloused person like him couldn’t argue that she was cute, so he didn’t see any harm in it.

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[Vitali Solonyov]

The hunger for the drug that was tucked safely in his pocket, was growing. Vita couldn't wait to get home, dump a bit of the white powder out, and begin cutting it, carefully measuring it into thin lines- it was one of the few things that relaxed him. Once everything was prepared, he would begin the real fun- the high would be amazing, one that he hadn't had the chance to experience for over a week.

The Russian had no clue how he could do it- but then again, work and having money were another important need. It wasn't necessarily keeping the want hidden that was the hardest, but the affects of it. He had followed a very strict vegan diet, to keep his system up to par, and regular exercise too. It kept him thin, bu muscular. The perfect way to keep it all hidden from those that wanted nothing more then to see him fall.

Thoughts filled his mind, and he hardly noticed the skeleton walking besides him, till he felt the punch at his arm. "Comrade Jag!" He replied, with a smile. It had almost become instinct to smile at this point. He vaguely wondered if he was capable of any varying emotions besides anger, fake happiness, and lying. All three of which he had perfected till only his closest of friends could know how he really felt inside. There was no use for the charade around Jag, he knew that the Russian hadn't truly been happy in a long time, but it had become such a habit, that it was hard to break it now.

Jag offered up a bag with three perfectly good joints in it, and the Russian just couldn't help himself. He plucked one out, and tucked it into his pocket with the coke. "Thanks man. Ah, you know the usual. I just can't resist the call of my happy dust." he laughed back. Jag already knew he was more then welcome to anything Vita had on him- he was like his little brother, and there wasn't much that the Russian wouldn't do for his friend. With no family in America, friends were the closest thing you could ask for.

Miska lavished in the friendly pets and scratches she was receiving and quickly fell to the ground, exposing her stomach. You are far too trusting... he thought as he shook his head at her, before bending down to appease her a few scratches. "I still can't believe how well she's taken to you. A guard dog my ass! At least she's still proved her worth herding, and if she keeps things up maybe even breeding, otherwise I was gonna have to send her butt back to the pound." he joked around. In his heart he knew that would never happen, Miska had been the only girl he had met capable of melting his cold heart, and he protected her almost as fiercely as he did his friends.

Jagger took a puff on the cigarette, and Vita gave him an evil eye, "You know, that's shits gonna kill you right? Fucking have a hole in your neck or some garbage, speaking through a little voice box, hacking up a lung." he joked with him, of all the drug habits, Vita possessed, smoking cigarettes was the one thing that bothered him the most. He hadn't intended on getting addicted to them when had first tried them, but then again, who did? It didn't matter anymore, his hunger for the white powder, was only surpassed by the hunger for nicotine flowing through his veins. "Mind if I bum one? I'll get you back for it tomorrow at school" he smiled

[Jagger Arlington]

“Got it for free just because those kids didn’t know how to roll so I figured it was worth sharing.” Jagger said with a grin and a shrug of his boney shoulders, rolling the plastic around the two remaining joints before pocketing them and taking a drag, turning his head to blow out the smoke, out of habit more than anything. He was pretty sure that Vita was immune to the smell of smoke like Jagger was, but that didn’t make it feel right to blow it where he could smell it. It probably wasn’t good for the puppy, either, and Jagger was always irritatingly concerned for anything living, especially animals since he tended to get along better with them than people. True, he did have a habit of giving horses beer down at Elmendorf when no one was looking, but it never hurt any of them, and he did by now have his own mare trained to drink straight from the bottle which was pretty amazing.

Jagger just grinned in response to Vita, since he knew better than anyone what it was like to need it, it drove Jagger to his wits end regularly and the boy was slowly unraveling, which made him uncomfortable to talk about it. In fact Jagger hardly talked about the addiction written on his face plain is day with anyone except Vita, to everyone else he just pretended like it wasn’t there. “Yeah, at least ‘s better than what I do.” Jagger said with a shrug, not much wanting to continue on the subject since who would have? The heroin was going to kill him, if not by intoxication or overdose then simply by what it did to his mind, but that didn’t mean Jagger had to think about it all the time. It made him happy for those few hours and that’s all that mattered, that’s all that mattered to any druggie.

He was all too happy when the puppy provided a change of subject, and he grinned at the puppy who like any puppy was all too eager for attention. “You cant get mad at her just because I know how to speak animal and you don’t.” Jagger taunted with a rumbled out, one beat laugh. “And all she needs to do as a guard dog is recognize the bad people, and other than you know, stealing a fix from you every now and then and stinking up your house, I like to think I’m not that bad. At least I don’t use your toothbrush to clean my sunglasses and I was tempted, but you know, I was afraid she’d get me.” Jagger said, giving his trademark lopsided, jack-o-lantern grin. Jagger wasn’t generally disrespectful in people’s houses, but Vita was like his brother and his house was almost like a second home and much nicer than the apartment the school provided him. Not to mention it wasn’t as close to the school, making it a much better place to hide out while high.

“Aw don’t worry so much, I’ll have probably rolled myself off a cliff by accident long before that happens, which is such a cooler way to go anyway.” Jagger said with another shrug, since of all the things he did smoking was the one he was least worried about, despite the fact that he was often sick and coughing because of it and the taste of anything sweet on the roof of his mouth made him puke. The heroin was killing him faster and his liver was probably on its way out given all the booze he drank. “Yeah, sure thing, you don’t have to give me any back, I think I stole these from someone in the first place.” Which was common of Jagger, who never stole unless he had to and unless it was cigarettes, not because he wanted to but just because it was a tick that he couldn’t help. He fished a pack out of the pockets of one of his many layers of jackets, passing it over to Vita.

[Vitali Solonyov]

Vita had to admire the kids knack for getting free things, he wasn't above dumpster diving, and he did whatever he cold to score free booze and drugs. The Russian wondered what life would have been like for him if he had the same tenacity as a youth. Probably would have found himself in rehab a whole lot sooner, if not in juvey, but it didn't matter a whole lot, he wasn't too much like Jagger at his age. He was far more quiet and laid back.

He gave a small laugh at Jagger's comment about heroin. There was no doubt that heroin was a lot more addicting, but the highs they offered were very different. When Jagger's drug made him high, he would be set off in a relaxed state, whereas Vita would be bouncing off the walls. The addictions were different too, Jagger's was much worse cause it was a physical addiction, Vita's was all psychological, so he was able to hold off on it a bit more. It helped too that his drug was inhaled- no track marks across his arms for them to get suspicious. The only time he injected, was when he had gone for a while with out scoring any. It made the high hit a lot quicker, but whenever he injected, they never lasted quite as long.

"Yeah I forget your like the damn animal whisperer" he laughed,
"You got that part right though, you are a better guard dog, what do you think I keep you around for? Throw a little extra food your way, and bam, I've got myself quite a deal there." he teased back. Jagger was often at his apartment, or in his office at school- both were easier places to have a bit of fun without getting caught, and if Jagger was caught, there wasn't a lot Vita would be able to do to protect him, they'd both just have to hope that Salem was in a good mood. He'd done a lot to protect Vita as it was.

"I'm with you, you can't leave this place alive, so might as well get the most out of it. I think I'd be lucky to make it to forty anyhow so might as well live on the edge a bit." Jagger handed him the pack of cigarettes, and Vita took one out and lit it up with his zippo. He took a long drag, before blowing the smoke out and away from the pair of them. It swirled around the air, before slowly dissipating. He handed the pack back to Jagger. "Man, I need you to start scoring me stuff, prolly get it all for free and save me a heck ofa lotta money. You got any plans tonight?" he said, taking another drag. He hated doing drugs alone, and if the kids wasn't up to much, he knew he wouldn't refuse anything free.