#actually proud of that one tbh i feel like i galaxy brained with the meursault allegories. is that the right word? idk.

[daz4i]

wait I'm not done talking abt fyolai. let's look at the anthologies art

(sorry for the big sample lmao this is what i had on hand)

fyodor is in a bath of what is likely blood. if i had to guess I'd say it's symbolism for the whole story, really - blood being spilled by him or in his name, so he can achieve his goal. he is deep inside the blood of those the doa have hurt

nikolai has a part of his leg in it. he's helped spill some of that blood, after all, with his murders and his part of the plan to frame the agency. however, he could easily get up and go with barely a stain anywhere else on him. not because his hands are clean, but because he always makes sure he has a way to escape. he has agency. he is not being controlled by fyodor to stay in the tub. he spends time with him willingly - just like he went to meursault to put fyodor and dazai in the game willingly, even though he could escape and no one would even think to look for him.

this art was actually the catalyst to my previous post abt them, bc one interpretation i keep seeing is that fyodor has the upper hand, almost controlling nikolai, probably under the assumption that he's manipulating him somehow (which, tbf, I'm p sure this is what fyodor thought he was doing too)

however i feel like this art is a way to show that's not the case

fyodor has a fork in hand, already in the cake. he could easily just use it and bring it to his mouth, he doesn't need nikolai to feed him, and he'll probably be cleaner about it too. i think, this is symbolism for his original escape plan from meursault - we recently learned that one of the prison guards is a vampire, meaning he had a man on the inside the whole time. nikolai showing up and putting him in this race can technically achieve the same goal - he's still eating the cake after all - but he's definitely making the whole ordeal way messier

it's not that nikolai is 100% in total control or something - fyodor could push him away if he wanted, or possibly kill him in meursault - but he's still the one taking the reigns, making a choice for fyodor, going into his personal space and making sure fyodor notices, both on the inside by putting his fingers in his mouth, and outside by practically enveloping him.

tldr: nikolai 1 always has an escape route. he's not giving in to just whatever fyodor plans 2 is in more control than he might give himself credit for