#(as in Fundamentally Unfit To Live In A Society. not the same backstory hehe.)

[daz4i]

ooooooh nikolai clearly has trauma related to freedom. not just his whole Thing with it, but the fact his ability gives him a quick and easy escape and especially a way to go around rules - even the rules of physics! and going by the assumption that your ability manifests in relation to past trauma, i really wonder what made him this way.

my first thought would be imprisonment of some sort. being chained somewhere, unable to leave. perhaps in a cold place, thus his idea of escape is also tied to an overcoat? it seems a bit too on the nose doesn't it?? esp with the bird in a cage metaphor

@/creantzy's fyolai comic made me think of brainwashing of some sort. definitely works with how terrified he is by it

i think a spicy take would be. that he was just a normal guy. just kind of Off, brain wise. so the monotony of a normal life drove him insane. or maybe his parents(/some other guardian bc everyone in bsd is an orphan fr) had great expectations of him that he failed to meet, and he felt metaphorically chained by that. maybe they were very protective of him and didn't let him out or do things he wants, so he felt caged by that

actually the more i think about it the more i like this idea, of a very grounded, realistic, common trauma for this character that's anything but normal in a series where everyone has these tragic larger than life sob stories. it can be a very nice subversion of expectations and imo make him even more interesting - because a backstory like that is so common even for us real life people, if he became That, there must be something wrong with him. and i think that's really poggers