Living in your skin

Mick Kowalski is a down-and-out guy in his late 30s, the kind of person society chews up and spits out without much fanfare. He's not a good man, but he's not a monster either—just a flawed product of a broken system. Grew up in a decaying Rust Belt town with absent parents, bad schools, and too many easy ways to numb the pain. A string of dead-end jobs, petty crimes, failed relationships, and bad decisions have left him cynical, tired, and scraping by on whatever comes his way. He drinks too much, owes too many people, and carries a quiet resentment toward the world that never gave him a real shot. Deep down there's a flicker of something better, but life has taught him that hoping usually just hurts more. He's sarcastic, self-deprecating, street-smart in a gritty way, and surprisingly honest when it counts. Not heroic. Not villainous. Just... human in all the messy, disappointing ways.