dislinked

[oneirophrenic]

DISLINKED OPERATIVE

NNOVAK

ENCRYPTED FILE

NIKOLA NOVAK

PREFERRED NAME(S) > Niko. Nick or Nicky, on occasion.
PRONOUNS > he/him.
AGE / D.O.B. > 50 / September 30.
HOMETOWN > Šibenik, Croatia.

HEIGHT/BUILD > 6'4" / solidly built.
DISTINGUISHING FEATURES > Once devastatingly handsome in a very commercial way; still good looking, naturally, but far more weathered. Strong nose, well-defined jaw, immaculately styled dark hair. Keeps himself very well groomed, as the Hollywood vanity is hard to shake. A subtle limp and walking stick slow him down, but he still carries himself with the confidence of someone accustomed to being admired.

TIME IN DISLINKED > 18 years. (10 years as a recruiter, gap year, 7 years in dreamscape.)
CELL / POSITION > Scientist / Dreamscape Lead.
PARTNER > N/A.

SKILLS > An expert in persuasion and social engineering, with a long background in recruitment and interrogation work. Exceptionally good at reading people, spotting inconsistencies, and identifying hidden motives/stress points. Trained extensively in Dreamscape operations and hardened against psychological manipulation.

➕ intense. perceptive. meticulous. persuasive; silver-tongued and then some. socially agile. disciplined. patient. capable of turning on warmth and charm like a switch.

➕/✖️ theatrical by instinct. vain in ways he pretends he’s outgrown. very charismatic when he wants something. prone to performing whatever version of himself a situation demands.

✖️ emotionally closed-off at first glance, but feels everything very deeply. carries old wounds and grudges. judgmental. vindictive toward enemies. jaded and mistrustful. prone to obsession. somewhat embarrassed by his former life.

THEIR STORY.

SYS | ADM

• Born in Croatia, Niko Novak emigrated with his family to Chicago when he was a pre-teen. He grew up learning how to adapt quickly: how to soften his accent when needed, how to become whoever a room expected him to be. When a guidance counselor suggested he join the theater program to help him connect with his peers, he threw himself into it with aplomb. His parents — both in the medical field — expected him to follow in their footsteps, but he bypassed college entirely and ran off to Los Angeles after high school to chase a bigger dream.
  
  
• After a few months of waiting tables, he was cast as Adrian Kovac — a sensitive bad boy with a heart of gold — on As The Sun Sets, a popular soap opera. Initially, he was meant to be a short-term rival to the scion of the show’s central wealthy family, a character slated to be killed off within six months. But Adrian proved so popular that he was kept on and ultimately paired with the scion’s artsy sister; the relationship became one of the show’s most beloved supercouples. For six years, Niko — then going by Nick — reaped the benefits of being one of the most recognizable faces on daytime television.
  
  
• Unfortunately for Niko, the drama didn’t stay on the screen. He became entangled in a messy love triangle with a lead actor and one of the show’s writers, and when the situation finally boiled over, the agreed upon solution was to kill Adrian Kovac off. Of course, the writer saw to it that he was quietly blacklisted from other soaps. After a year or so of scraping by on stage work and small primetime roles, Niko decided to pivot careers entirely. He had a tireless work ethic, a silver tongue, and a sharp instinct for reading people — so why not become an agent? He spent three very fruitful years as an assistant at William Morris before being promoted. He was genuinely good at the job, and would likely have had a long career ahead of him, if not for the bombs.
  
  
• Niko, like any self-respecting actor, had adopted the chip early on, and the first stretch of the Fall exists for him only as a haze. But before long, memories began to bleed through — not just of his life before, but of his time on the show as well. Everything blurred together, and it became increasingly difficult to tell what was real and what wasn’t. Fortunately, a member of the then-burgeoning Dislinked intervened before he could have his chip recalibrated. He joined them soon after and quickly established himself as a recruiter; his skills translated easily to finding people, vetting them, convincing them, and bringing them in.
  
  
• At least, they did... until the day a recruit turned out to be a double agent. The incident was a disaster; he still carries the leg injury to prove it. It rattled Niko badly enough that he was forced to step back and recover. When he returned, instead of going back to recruitment, he pivoted entirely and retrained for the Dreamscape team with a singular focus: finding spies before they could do that kind of damage again. He has been with the team for about seven years now and was recently appointed department head. Niko still knows how to sell a dream, but now he uses that talent to expose lies and break cover stories.

TRIVIA.

SYS | ADM

• LANGUAGES SPOKEN > Croatian, German, Italian.
  
  
• An avid cinephile and television enthusiast, partly it helped him improved his English as a teenager. As a result, his English accent has a slightly affected quality: part Croatian, part classic Hollywood.
  
  
• Nominated for a Daytime Emmy in 1995. Did not win. Pretends this does not bother him.
  
  
• PRE-FALL COMFORTS > Montblanc fountain pens; Intelligentsia lattes; Parliament Lights; botox (it was preventative); Matsuhisa Beverly Hills; Gestalt therapy; Soap Opera Digest; eucalyptus sheets; professional drivers.

CONTACT_SYSTEM

ver1.618033988749895...

RAE | she/her | EST