Apt enough for a sled dog, Nik's primary mode is to run away from his problems. And "problem" has a broad definition: anything remotely unpleasant, uncomfortable, or with the potential to generate emotion. He's here to party, and nothing else. But he can't even commit to that. If some human catches his eye, he'll try to get them to take him home with them immediately; by the next morning he'll be gone. He never stays anywhere long enough to even have friends, because if he did his immortality would become too obvious. This makes for a lonely life, one he covers up with flirtation, sex, and long sessions at the gym.

Nikifor's mother was a Spirit Skull still connected to her species' original purpose who gravitated towards gulags; she hoped to ease the imbalance created by the camps and the cruelties associated with them. After Stalin prisoners began to be released, and she happened to fall in love with one of them. She even went so far as to abandon her immortality and age with her love, a huge taboo in Spirit Skull culture.

Her death came when Nik was in his mid-twenties, and that was the age he chose to look like; he hasn't appeared to age since the 1970s. That meant he couldn't stay in one place for too long, which suited his restless nature anyway. He certainly didn't want to stay in his hometown, so remote from anything, the main place of interest a prison camp. He attended university in Saint Petersburg (then known as Leningrad), dropping out some time before achieving a degree in theatre arts.

From there Nik drifted for a while, left the Soviet Union behind for good. He tried out life in several big European cities but a combination of immortality and character couldn't let him stay in any one place for long. He began the 1980s in New York City until the AIDs crisis chased him away. He said it was because it was too much of a downer; while this wasn't untrue, it left out that he didn't like to see suffering. It reminded him of the Spirit Skulls' original mission, which he was doing his best to forget.

Never one to do anything in moderation, he fled all the way across the country to Alaska. It actually turned out to be a pretty good fit for him. In human form he's a personal trainer with no compunction about sleeping with clients; and among local dogsledders it's well-known that if a certain grey husky turns up demanding to lead your team, consider yourself lucky because you're probably going to win your race.

Even in human form Nik has the slim well-muscled figure of a fit sled dog. He's fairly tall with pale skin and grey hair that seems incongruous on a man who looks so young. To make it less odd (and more stylish) he gives it silver highlights; it's thick and worn in a shaggy cut long enough to fall in his eyes, which are also grey. Rising from the hair is a pair of dog ears, and the skull characteristic of his species. Other signs are more specific to his husky form— his fingers are grey, his legs below the knees are dog legs, and he has a thick-furred tail.