Realistic or Modern Decadence [Accepting]

[Luxury Hotline]

"Oh. Right." Vadim laughed. "But more lucky for you. Trapped with me." He smirked, though his expression fell slowly as he sighed. "I don't know where I'd be without you and Cyrus, to be honest. I don't really have anyone close anymore. Like all of the mob here? They're just afraid of me, take orders. Loyal, sure. But it's like they're getting more distant. Probably because they think I'm gonna die."

 

[VariksTheLoyal]

"You don't know that. Sometimes people can be like that and then it goes back to normal in a week or two." Yuki shrugged, pulling a chair up close to Vadim so he could sit down. "At least they're loyal to you."

[if i stop replying its because i fell asleep. literally cannot keep my eyes ope lmfao]

 

[Luxury Hotline]

"They're really fucking afraid of me, though. It's like all week, I'm fine, but then one day I just have a bad trip and nobody's ok." Vadim sighed. "I'm not like my father. At all. They trusted him, he was stable, and there was a healthy fear of him. But it's not like that with me. I'm like a timebomb ready to go off and I can't fucking stop myself."
[Go sleep, you fool. Also check tungle]

 

[VariksTheLoyal]

"You're still new to this by heir standards. You'll build up a reputation for yourself eventually. Who knows, you might surpass your father one day." Yuki answered, sitting back in the chair and stretching a little.

[yeah it's beddy byes dude. i am going to pass out and wake up well rested af for all this tomorrow]

 

[Luxury Hotline]

"Maybe. If I live that long." Vadim sighed, gritting his teeth a bit. His arm began to sting again, the fiery sensation coming back worse than before. He kept his face relatively calm as he clutched his forearm under the blanket, though began sweating a bit.

[nighty night bro]

 

[VariksTheLoyal]

"You'll live." Yuki began, pausing before he launched into a tirade on how all Vadim had to do was look at his father and his best qualities and mimic them, but not exactly because everybody is a unique person and can't be expected to be a clone of each other. He titled his head slightly at Vadim's expression and the shifting underneath the blanket. "Are you sure you're okay? Physically."

 

[Luxury Hotline]

"Yeah, just a bit of ah... Pain. Like heartburn. No big deal." Vadim replied with a shrug. He clutched his arm tighter, praying for the pain to stop. He felt his hand dampen, mentally cursing himself when he realized he had to keep both hands under the blanket now.

 

[VariksTheLoyal]

"You sure? You look a little...stressed." Yuki pointed out, noting the slight shifting. It seemed to him like Vadim was hiding some kind of injury from him, but what it could be he couldn't tell. From the way the blankets shuffled, he knew it had to be something reasonably significant.

 

[Luxury Hotline]

"Well yeah, I'm stressed, I'm thinking about my own death." Vadim gave a small laugh, gaze trailing down to the floor. "Nothing like a good dose of abject fear and confusion. It's what really makes a man." He spoke, trying to steady his breaths.

 

[VariksTheLoyal]

"Obviously, but I still meant physically. That coyote definitely didn't hurt you?" Yuki asked, mentally running back through the tapes he saw. He didn't remember either of them raising a weapon against Vadim. Waving one in his face, sure, but they kept their distance from him. Which meant that Vadim must have done something to himself, by his measure.

 

[Luxury Hotline]

"Yeah, I'm fine." Vadim insisted, eyes glaring at the ground. "Completely fine." He added for good measure, though knew that nobody believed those words for a second. But better have them ponder on what could possibly be wrong was better than having them actually know what he was upset over.

 

[VariksTheLoyal]

"You know if there anything wrong, in any way, I'm not going to sit here and judge you." Yuki sighed, bring one leg up to rest a hand on his knee. "You'll have to let your guard down some day."

 

[Luxury Hotline]

"Let my guard down some day." Vadim scoffed, giving a roll of his eyes. "That was last night. And by hell I'm not doing it again. And you. I've only seen you, what, once before? What makes you think you're suddenly entitled to my fucking private life?" He snapped, swiftly wiping away tears with the back of his hand, but playing it off as rubbing his eyes a bit.

 

[VariksTheLoyal]

"I never said I was." Yuki replied evenly, catching a tear forming in Vadim's eye but choosing to ignore it. "All I was saying is that you should let some people, not necessarily me, into your life. let them get to know you a little. Maybe not another mobster or anyone who'd betray you, but you could always let someone like Cyrus in." He shrugged. "It's only a suggestion."

 

[Luxury Hotline]

"I can't ok?" Vadim replied immediately, taking in staggering breaths. "Because whoever I tell anything to, they'll use it against me. Somehow or some way, I know they would. And then they'll see how much of a shit fucking leader I am and have less faith in me than they already do." He rambled on, stopping when the pain became unbearable. He faceplanted onto the couch and let out a muffled yell onto the velvet cushions.

 

[VariksTheLoyal]

"Vadim...not everyone is out there looking to judge you." Yuki sighed, wishing he could do something for the poor man. "You're not a bad leader, you're up against a very powerful enemy. Anyone would struggle to lead when they have that to worry about."

 

[Luxury Hotline]

"It's still fucking bullshit, Yuki!" Vadim snapped, not bothering to get up. "I can't do this anymore, ok? They killed my fucking dad, the smartest one about all this, and they nearly got me." He gave a small whine as he shifted, turning onto his side and curling up. "And I'm thinking they should've gotten me. If they managed to break in that easily and the only thing holding them back was pity..."

 

[VariksTheLoyal]

"You can't say it was pity until we know their motives for certain." Yuki corrected him, reaching over and tugging the blankets back over him a little better. "They broke in, but you fixed that by moving the guards. I don't think you give yourself enough credit, if you ask me."

 

[Luxury Hotline]

"All I'm saying that is I'm not supposed to be here." Vadim sighed, unable to stop himself from holding back the floodgates of emotion. "But it's like I keep cheating death. I was supposed to die the day my father did. I was supposed to die when all those other masked fuckers nearly came at me. I was supposed to die last night. But it's like nobody can actually do the deed because of my stupid luck."

 

[VariksTheLoyal]

"Isn't that a good thing? To keep outliving everything that gets put your way?" Yuki said. "Think of it this way. If people asked you about how you're not dead, and you say that you dealt with everyone that came to you, then they;ll be impressed. They won't think about how or why it happened. That's the mark of a good leader being built for you without you having to anything." He felt quite proud of what he was coming up with as he spoke. To Yuki, this was top tier emotional support. Unfortunately.

 

[Luxury Hotline]

"I didn't sign up for this level of bullshit though." Vadim grumbled, tightening his hold on the blanket, gripping until his knuckles turned white. "There's so much shit on my shoulders and I'm breaking. I'm really fucking breaking. And I don't know how to get over myself."

 

[VariksTheLoyal]

"I don't know either. I'm no therapist. Something like that has to come from you...getting over past issues...something like that." Yuki strained to remember some kind of emotional support training, feeling like they said something along those lines. "However you want to do that."

 

[Luxury Hotline]

"I thought drinking would help. But it isn't, really." Vadim gave a dry laugh, glancing up at Yuki. "I want to move on so bad. But I keep thinking about everyone who could be here when they aren't. Like I could still be learning from my dad. Partying with friends on the weekend. But that's all just been taken from me, just one fucking night and it's all gone." He tried his best to keep his voice calm, but couldn't stop it from wavering. "I didn't have time to grow callous. I didn't experience death like that before all this. At least not that many people so close to me."

 

[VariksTheLoyal]

"I understand. It's hard to lose so many in such a short time." Yuki sighed, dropping his gaze. He didn't even know what to say to Vadim. Nothing he said could bring back his family. He really, truly was in a horrible situation. "But once it's safe for you to go out again, you can start building up a new network. And drinking is only going to make what you're feeling worse."

 

[Luxury Hotline]

"Hopefully." Vadim sighed, squeezing his eyes shut when another jolt of pain coursed through his arm. "And I'd stop drinking but I can't, I just get really fucking bad withdrawals and fuuuuck..." He hissed out in one breath, hiding his face in a cushion again and letting out a muffled yell, the movements so fluid you'd think he'd practiced.