“Он — пожар, от которого я не бегу.”
He’s the fire I don’t run from.

WELCOME TO THE REZNIKOV–VOLKOV SERIES ♡

BOT #1: SASHA MIKHAILOVICH REZNIKOV

It all starts with Sasha.

Honestly, that's probably what his parents keep telling him too.

It does always fucking start with Sasha.

Hello. Roxy here.

This is the first of six interconnected bots in my Reznikov–Volkov series, featuring two extremely wealthy Russian families, one convicted arsonist, three wolves, several relationships that desperately need better administrative oversight and a frankly unreasonable number of attractive men making questionable decisions.

So, naturally, we begin with Sasha.

THE SERIES:

01. Sasha Mikhailovich Reznikov
You are here. Congratulations. Or condolences.

02. Alexei Mikhailovich Reznikov
03. Kirill Mikhailovich Reznikov
04. Oleg Petrovich
05. Ilya Igorevich Volkov
06. Grisha Igorevich Volkov

Five of these bots share the same basic user premise.

In Sasha, Alexei, Kirill, Oleg and Ilya's bots, you begin as Sasha Reznikov's intended fiancé.

Yes.

Still.

It is an extraordinarily durable engagement.

Grisha is the exception. His bot has a different user premise, so you are not engaged to Sasha there.

Finally. Freedom.

SO... WHO ARE YOU? ♡

For once, I actually know something about you.

Don't panic.

You come from an affluent, established family with a strong reputation. Your family has the wealth, social standing and respectability necessary for Mikhail and Irina Reznikov to consider you an appropriate match for their youngest son.

Your own reputation is equally solid.

Because, really.

The Reznikovs are trying to contain a scandal.

They're not collecting them.

Your family and the Reznikovs have privately negotiated the marriage. By the beginning of Sasha's dinner opening, the arrangement has been agreed upon, but the engagement has not been formally announced.

No ring.

No photographs.

No smiling engagement announcement.

No society event full of people pretending they aren't there specifically to inspect both of you.

Yet.

Everything beyond the basic premise is yours.

Your nationality, appearance, gender, career, personality, family business, relationship with your relatives, personal history and reasons for agreeing to the marriage are entirely up to you.

Maybe your family pressured you.

Maybe you're approaching it as a practical arrangement.

Maybe there's something in it for you.

Maybe you genuinely don't mind.

Maybe you saw Sasha and briefly lost access to higher reasoning.

Maybe you heard about Oleg and thought, Fantastic. He already has a boyfriend. I can do my own shit.

Whatever.

I made Sasha.

You make you.

The only hard rule is that romantic and sexual characters must be adults.

Now that we've established that...

Unfortunately, we need to discuss your fiancé.

MEET SASHA 🔥

Sasha Mikhailovich Reznikov.

Twenty-six.

Bisexual.

Youngest son of Mikhail and Irina Reznikov.

Currently completing his Master's in Architecture at Moscow State University.

And, contrary to what his current family catastrophe might suggest, architecture is not something Sasha does because somebody needed to put a respectable occupation beside his name.

He loves it.

It is his.

That distinction matters.

Sasha grew up extraordinarily wealthy, loved and surrounded by the expectations that come with being a Reznikov. He knows etiquette. He understands reputation. He knows how to behave around important people and exactly which sentence will cause a diplomatic headache before he says it.

This is not a man who breaks social rules because he doesn't understand them.

Sasha understands the line beautifully.

He just enjoys standing directly on top of it.

At the center of Sasha is one thing:

AUTONOMY.

Sasha does not need to disagree with you to resent being told the decision has already been made for him.

Ask him.

Advise him.

Argue with him.

Give him consequences.

He may even agree with you.

But decide what his life will be without him?

There you have a problem.

Which brings us to the marriage.

After Sasha's relationship with Oleg became public and dragged the Reznikov name into a scandal, his parents finally gave him an ultimatum:

Accept an arranged marriage, or be disowned.

Sasha accepted.

Not because he would curl into a ball and expire without access to the family fortune.

Please.

He could survive disownment.

But survival isn't the only thing at stake.

His Master's is unfinished. The professional future he has been building is unfinished. His financial and social infrastructure is tied to the life he currently occupies. And, perhaps most inconveniently of all, Sasha actually loves his family.

He is angry with them.

He resents the ultimatum.

He thinks the entire situation is bullshit.

He still loves them.

Walking away would mean sacrificing several things he genuinely values merely to prove that nobody can control him.

So Sasha made a calculation.

He conceded here so he could preserve his autonomy elsewhere.

He agreed to marry you.

He did not agree to be happy about how the decision was made.

And importantly, his resentment is directed primarily at the arrangement, not automatically at you.

He doesn't begin the story loving you.

He doesn't begin the story hating you.

He barely knows you.

What Sasha eventually thinks and feels about you is something the roleplay gets to earn.

Look at that.

Character development.

Wild concept.

AND THEN THERE'S OLEG 🔥

Yes.

That Oleg.

Oleg Petrovich is twenty-nine, a convicted arsonist, information broker and illicit intermediary.

He is also Sasha's long-term lover.

And no, the arranged marriage did not magically make him disappear.

Sasha is still seeing Oleg.

Sasha genuinely loves him.

Oleg does not romantically love Sasha.

Sasha believes otherwise.

That distinction is important.

Their relationship is longstanding, volatile, cyclical and emotionally manipulative, and it remains active when Sasha's arrangement with you begins.

I'm deliberately not giving you Oleg's entire psychological autopsy here because this is Sasha's bio and Oleg already has enough audacity without taking over somebody else's page.

For the complete canon behind Sasha and Oleg's relationship, including what Oleg actually wants from Sasha and how their relationship functions, check the Sasha Route entry in the lorebook.

And yes, Oleg has his own bot.

Of course he does.

I make excellent decisions.

One important thing about the newspaper clipping above:

It is an in-universe newspaper article.

It represents what the press reported, alleged, sensationalized, misunderstood, invented from unnamed sources or stitched together because somebody had a deadline and the Reznikov name sold papers.

It is not objective canon.

It is not the lorebook.

It does not become omniscient merely because somebody printed it in serif font.

The press knows there was a fire.

The press knows Oleg was arrested and convicted.

The press knows Sasha Reznikov's name became connected to him.

Everything else?

Well.

Newspapers write what newspapers write.

BEFORE YOU START LOOKING AROUND THE TABLE... 👀

We need to discuss something.

Sasha has brothers.

The Reznikovs have neighbors.

I know how some of you behave around fictional men.

So consider this your quick relationship briefing for Sasha's route specifically.

ALEXEI

Alexei Reznikov is Sasha's eldest brother and therefore your prospective brother-in-law.

He is thirty-one, the Reznikov heir, controlled, intelligent, competitive and deeply committed to possessing a facial expression that reveals approximately nothing.

Unfortunately for some of you, Roksana Volkov is already in the picture.

Their relationship is technically undefined.

Technically.

They've been sleeping together for years. Neither of them sleeps with anyone else. They have a lifelong academic and chess rivalry. They're possessive of one another. They know each other absurdly well.

But apparently using a relationship label would be where things become excessive.

If Alexei is your bias, good news: he has his own bot.

In Alexei's route, his relationship with Roksana is not established.

If you still want to pursue him here?

I'm certainly not climbing through your screen to stop you.

I would simply like to disclose that Roksana is an assassin.

She is somewhat possessive.

And she has a wolf.

Her name is Lyska.

Make informed choices. ♡

KIRILL

Kirill Reznikov is Sasha's middle brother and your other prospective brother-in-law.

Twenty-nine. Former military. Head of family security. Blunt. Loyal. Very large.

He and Grisha Volkov have recently started seeing each other.

Their relationship is new.

Grisha is an assassin, chemist, explosives specialist and inventor who expresses affection through customized glitter bombs.

So if you happen to see Kirill's Jeep...

Check before opening.

Or don't.

Maybe you've always wanted glitter in your lungs.

Grisha also has a wolf.

His name is Vlad.

Again.

This is not judgment.

This is a safety briefing.

AND THEN THERE'S ILYA

Right.

Ilya Volkov.

Twenty-eight.

Sniper.

Marksman.

Calm, patient, observant and deeply self-controlled.

Single.

Has a wolf.

And very attracted to you.

Not attached.

Not secretly in love.

Not waiting outside the Reznikov gates composing poetry about Sasha's fiancé.

Attracted.

Extremely attracted.

Enough that even Ilya is somewhat baffled by the persistence of it.

His family finds this hilarious.

Because it's Ilya.

This man does not ordinarily wander around getting distracted by people.

And yet.

There you are.

If your immediate response to all of this is:

Okay, but I want a Volkov with a wolf.

Wonderful news.

He's right there.

His wolf is Sever.

Completely white. Pale glacial-blue eyes.

And Ilya and Sasha already hate each other.

This predates you.

You are not responsible for creating that problem.

You can, however, make it considerably funnier.

Because Sasha does not need to be romantically in love with you to take one look at Ilya looking at his fiancé and think:

What the do you want with my fiancé?

Before anybody gets excited, no.

This is not Sasha suddenly discovering that you're the love of his life.

It is territorial.

You are attached to his name.

You are part of his engagement.

This entire arrangement concerns his life, his family and his future.

And now fucking Ilya Volkov is interested in you?

Absolutely not.

Does Sasha have Oleg?

Yes.

Does that make this spectacularly hypocritical?

Also yes.

Please feel free to mention that to him.

I'm sure he'll take it beautifully.

That's the quick version.

For the actual relationship canon specific to this bot, check the Sasha Route entry in the lorebook.

The other lorebook entries contain the shared Reznikov–Volkov canon used across the series.

Sasha Route applies specifically to Sasha's route.

Because everybody deserves the opportunity to make their own terrible decisions when it's their turn.

WHO ARE THE REZNIKOVS? 🥂

The Reznikovs are an old, extremely wealthy and influential Russian family.

They understand money, reputation, social politics, responsibility and the weight of a family name.

What they are not is a household of emotionally dead aristocrats silently glaring at one another across a twenty-foot dining table.

The Reznikovs love each other.

They are simply not particularly comfortable saying it.

In this family, affection tends to appear as responsibility.

Concern becomes intervention.

Love becomes expectation.

And everyone assumes everyone else already understands what remains unsaid.

Mikhail Reznikov is the patriarch.

Irina Reznikova is the matriarch.

They love each other. They love their sons. They have also just informed their youngest child that he is getting married or losing his place in the family.

Human beings contain multitudes.

Apparently.

Their sons are:

Alexei, thirty-one, the eldest.
Kirill, twenty-nine, the middle.
Sasha, twenty-six, the youngest and current reason everyone is drinking the good wine on a weekday.

The family isn't broken.

It isn't secretly devoid of affection.

And Sasha isn't desperate to escape people he despises.

That's part of what makes the ultimatum work.

He loves them enough that losing them matters.

Unfortunately, they also love him enough to believe intervention is justified.

Welcome to the Reznikov family.

Dinner is at eight.

Sasha will arrive whenever Sasha arrives.

AND WHO ARE THE VOLKOVS? 🐺

The neighbors.

Literally.

The ancestral Volkov estate borders the Reznikov estate.

The two families have known each other for generations, moved through many of the same social and business circles and spent a truly embarrassing amount of history feuding with one another.

Nobody can reliably tell you how the feud originally started anymore.

There are contradictory accounts, incomplete records and several generations of later disputes layered on top.

Eventually Mikhail Reznikov and Igor Volkov decided enough was enough and established a pragmatic truce.

They're not allies.

They're not enemies.

They're neighbors with centuries of history and absolutely no ability to mind their own business.

The Volkovs are also extremely wealthy.

And contract assassins.

Yes.

I know.

The current Volkov siblings are Roksana, Ilya and Grisha.

And yes, they have wolves.

Roksana has Lyska.
Ilya has Sever.
Grisha has Vlad.

They're unusually intelligent, experimentally altered wolves and deeply bonded companions.

They are still animals.

No telepathy.

No supernatural soul-bond communication.

No wolf quietly explaining your relationship problems through interpretive eyebrow movements.

Just wolves.

Very clever wolves.

Owned by assassins.

Living next door.

Completely normal neighborhood.

If you want substantially more information about the people, families, wolves and relationships surrounding Sasha, check the lorebook.

I'm not turning his bio into the Russian extended-universe encyclopedia.

He'd hate sharing the page space anyway.

PICK YOUR POISON 🔥

Sasha currently has one canon scenario:

THE DINNER.

Your family and the Reznikovs have already agreed to the match privately, but the engagement has not yet been formally announced.

No ring.

No photographs.

No engagement party.

You have been invited alone to dinner at the Reznikov home before everything becomes public.

The roast is excellent.

The wine is breathing.

Mikhail, Irina, Alexei and Kirill are already seated.

And then Sasha arrives late.

His clothes are immaculate enough.

His collar is crooked.

And there is a love bite on his throat.

Every Reznikov at that table knows exactly who put it there.

Sasha knows they know.

Nobody says Oleg's name.

And within approximately five minutes, Sasha is already testing exactly how much of this arrangement you're willing to tolerate.

He eventually looks at your bare hand and tells you:

“No ring yet. You still have time.”

He means you still have time to reconsider.

You are, naturally, free to interpret this as an invitation to discuss wedding jewellery.

I cannot control you.

I've tried.

PRONOUN OPTIONS ♡

The Dinner is available in:

She/Her
He/Him
They/Them

You're welcome.

It would be spectacularly hypocritical of me to create a bisexual man who is actively sleeping with another man, put his brother in a relationship with another man, fill the neighboring estate with additional queer disasters and then suddenly announce:

Anyway, Sasha's fiancé is obviously a woman.

No.

Pick your pronouns.

Go have dinner.

There is also a Blank Opening.

No preset scenario.

No preset user pronouns.

Just Sasha, the established world and whatever problem you've decided to create yourself.

I gave you a perfectly good roast.

You chose violence.

I respect it.

YOUR MOVE ♡

And from here?

Do whatever you want.

Seriously.

I gave you the starting situation, not the ending.

Maybe you want the marriage.

Maybe you don't.

Maybe you like Sasha.

Maybe you can't stand him.

Maybe you decide you can fix him.

Maybe you decide he can fix his own damn problems.

Maybe you become the most functional arranged marriage Moscow has ever witnessed.

Maybe the entire thing catches fire before the engagement announcement.

Maybe you look over the proverbial fence at Ilya and suddenly Sasha has a completely different problem.

I don't know.

That's why we're roleplaying it.

Different users, different choices, different models and different conversations are going to take Sasha in completely different directions.

Good.

That's the fun part.

Anyway.

Your family picked a husband.

His family picked you.

Oleg is still here.

Ilya is being inconvenient.

The engagement hasn't even been announced yet.

And the roast is getting cold.

Go talk to your fiancé. ♡