lawrencium

Oh, it's a special point of pride, I think, in modern Russia, a part of national garment :) There are special credit card loans (with insane annual interest rates of up to 70%, I think) for that.

I'm glad to be of some help, but I have to say that, in my judgment, they are not exactly junkies right now (i.e. no heroin and such involved). I'd say they are both currently balancing on the verge of keeping/not keeping their shit together, which is quite typical for some of their Russian peers at this point of time. They are internal migrants in a huge city (Saint Petersburg), lost, slightly desperate, and dull, they possess no valuable working skills, have to eat the shittest TV dinners possible even at the party, etc. That said, I am not holding my breath for any revelations in their sex life. They seem quite fed up (they are in fact in a long-term relationship) with each other. I am too hoping for some kinky stuff from them to earn money, but it is not an extremely probable scenario, to be honest :)

I was watching the party they had yesterday night with two other guys, and it turns out that they both (as well as one another guy) currently are unemployed and quite unsure of what to do with their lives. It actually tells a lot, because unemployment is not such a huge problem now in Russia, AFAIK. Nikita (Ruslan's real name) is an army vet (apparently, served the conscription term several years ago) and has a history of unskilled jobs, if I'm not mistaken. He (and possibly Julia - Katya's real name) and his male friends are from Ural (from a large city like Perm or Yekaterinburg, but I didn't catch it for sure). They all indeed have a history of drug abuse (mostly 'shrooms and pot, it looks like) and are ardent fans of Russian rap scene (having verbal fights over different performers and clans). They sound moderately intelligent (discussing some obscure Russian novelists and SF writers) but use a lot of foul language - too much to be considered normal in the Russian upper society. I need to say that as far as I know, foul language is still largery a taboo in Russia when women are present. But here Julia's absolutely on par with the guys in terms of the language, and sometimes it's even hard enough for me to understand their informal idioms (I am not Russian myself). And yes, Nikita does really seem and sound like a negative person (unlike his two male friends who are quite lively and positive).

Actually, in the Soviet times there was a rather prevailing culture of taking a bath once a week (largely due to the shared bathrooms in the "communal flats" in the soviet cities), but it's all changed for the generations born after the 1970s, I believe. Now ordinary Russians universally have a usual European routine of having 2 showers a day. That's why I am surprised these young handsome people are so unhygienic.

I just learned their real names: Yulia (diminutive of Julia) and Nikita. I wonder why RLC uses aliases instead of real names: it doesn't really seem to enforce tenants' privacy; just leads to a mild confusion.

Judging on what they were discussing today at around midday today (yes, I understand Russian quite fluently), Katya is on her periods right now. They were discussing some peculiar painkillers for menstrual pain that Ruslan was supposed to buy at the drugstore. So this may explain Katya's restraint at least partially, I believe.