I know we have a lot of headcanons about Ominis’ sleeping patterns and schedules. There are some who say that it’s because he doesn’t sleep peacefully when he’s back with his family at the Gaunt Manor, or that he doesn’t feel safe sleeping continuously throughout the night, and therefore developed insomnia.
While those headcanons can very well be true, I believe that his sleeping habits have something to do with trauma.
One of the ways a person deals with their unprocessed emotional conflict with trauma is to physically “shut down.” And yes, I’ve years of experience with this cause I’ve had my psychiatrist treat me with this one, too. So I really resonated with Ominis on this one.
In trauma psychology, we have different types of responses and coping mechanisms. While I’m personally not a psychologist or therapist, I’ve been diagnosed with narcolepsy due to extreme C-PTSD from physical, mental, and emotional abuse. And while not everyone who goes through trauma will develop narcolepsy or sleep related disorders, there’s a study that suggests that people who have had childhood trauma are more susceptible to developing sleep disorders.
Without getting extremely scientific about this, I think it’s pretty obvious that Ominis finds comfort in sleeping his troubled mind away. If you combine all of the headcanons about Ominis’ odd sleeping behavior with this one, I think it also makes sense that this could be the root cause of him just flopping down on the floor and sleep.
This is also why we have “depression naps” where people can just sleep the whole day away to lessen the mental load of all the subconscious trauma that’s waiting to be dealt with. It’s easier to sleep it away, and I think Ominis has this trauma response from being physically punished and basically abused throughout his childhood.
Not to add salt on the wound but I also noticed that Ominis likes to sit or lay on the floor when there’s perfectly comfortable couches beside him. I think… he’s got comfortable with the uncomfortable.
Maybe back in the Gaunt Manor, they used to make him sleep on the floor as punishment for not abiding to their family habits and culture. 🥲
I was sad this evening, so I am bringing back a very dead meme format to gush over Ominis
Ominis is sarcastic, he is anxious as fuck, he sucks at potion making, he’s a troublemaker, he loves banter, he’s snappy/rude if you annoy him enough, he knows how to be assertive, he thrives with a disability, he and MC learn from each other, he talks to goddamn snakes, he’s dealing with trauma and estrangement, he’s really keyed in to everyone’s emotions, he has serious wine mom energy, and he is absolutely, unequivocally the “gentleman in the streets, freak in the sheets” type.
My boy is pretty and sensitive and such a perfect choice for shipping, but he is also messy and weird and I love him for that 💚
