Fish of Oblivion

Digimon: Fallen Knights

Sasha Koslova

As the apparent reality of her situation set in, Sasha took another look around the others assembled in the strange place she'd somehow been transported to. Most of the others there were girls like her, presumably around the same age as her. Each of them seemed to have a very particular dress sense, ranging from all-black to hoodies and shorts to what looked like a punk ensemble, and their heights further made their exact ages a little hard to determine; and for a moment, a cold pit formed in her stomach and the hairs on her neck began to stand on end as she wondered if she'd been abducted by someone with motives. A moment later, however, and she shook her head, noticing there were also a handful of boys; so whatever it was they were here for, it probably wasn't that. Their ages were a little easier to clue out, with one of them looking like a grown man, dressed in warm clothing not unlike one of dad's younger coworkers, another looked to be a similar age to her and the other girls, with a similarly elaborate style of clothing and one outright appeared to be a small child.

Said child(?) then proceeded to jump into an impromptu song and dance routine, their glaringly pink apparel flashing about like the display of a bird of paradise, and one of the older boys yelled something in excited response loud enough for Sasha to wince as she was snapped out of her thoughts. Well, clearly not everyone was as confused by their current circumstances as she was. Maybe they knew something more about all this than she did?

"It never occurred to you that the humans might speak different languages?" At the new voice, however, she flinched and turned to see two new individuals amongst them, a man and a woman; and while they looked human at a glance, their height and wings stopped that train of thought dead in its tracks.

The two spoke between themselves for a moment, in voices that weren't heard so much as felt. Though their mouths were moving, the words they spoke seemed to resonate and reverberate through her head, as if they were bypassing verbal communication to transmit their thoughts directly into her brain and only providing a comforting imitation of speech. She wondered, again, if they had been abducted by aliens; she'd read some of her dad's old collection of science-fiction stories while he was teaching her Russian, and many of the beings from beyond the stars described there communicated their minds rather than through spoken words.

A moment later, however, and the man(?) called up a cluster of lights and sent them flying towards herself and the others assembled there. On instinct, Sasha threw up her arms to block the one he'd sent her way; but not only did it easily pass through them, as it did it seemed to disappear into her, and the bizarre sensation of the beings' voices faded. Now, as she lowered her arms and looked at them, their voices registered as no different from those of the other humans. She still didn't understand exactly what he'd done; but she didn't get much of a chance to dwell on that, as he promptly continued.

"I know you have questions, and if you want them answered, you're going to have to calm down and listen." Now that she wasn't so overwhelmed by the man's(?) words, his voice and manner pricked at her a little. He just grabbed them all up out of the blue and expected them to be alright with it? But nothing prepared her for what came next; "I'll start with the most likely thing you're wondering: 'Where am I?' This answer might be difficult to believe, but right now you're in the Heaven of the Digital World."

... Heaven!?! Was she dead? Just like that? Another one ripped away from dad, Nic and Kat without rhyme or reason, just like-

'No, no, calm down.' She whispered to herself, taking a deep breath to air out the panic and long-buried grief before they could swallow her up; she was stronger than that. She didn't know what was going on yet, but as quick pinch of the skin on her left hand elicited an involuntary wince of pain, it at least seemed like she was alive. And as much as that was the barest minimum she could ask for, it was a comfort nonetheless; enough to embolden her to look at the two beings and speak up.

"Excuse me, but you- you say that like we should know what it means." She said, crossing her arms and levelling a light glare at the man(?); perhaps not the most authoritative display, however, as her voice came out a little shaky, and she could feel herself trembling slightly from the residual shock. Nevertheless, she pushed on before she could doubt herself. "What on earth- or off of it- is the Digital World, and why did you just snatch us all here?"

Digimon: Fallen Knights

Sasha Koslova

"Ngh..."

Last Sasha could recall, it had been late evening, the kitchen warm and full of the scent of a freshly-cooked pot of stew. But as she opened her eyes, the sun was long since set, the air now cool around her and the aromas of her earlier endeavours long since faded.

“Must have been more tired than I thought,” she grunted to herself, as she her elbows to lift herself off the table she was slumped over. She remembered now; Nic and Kat were away for the evening, one on a school trip and the other staying at a friend’s. Dad was meant to be home this weekend, so with free run of the house afforded to her, she’d caught up on some outstanding chores- the others had been a little sloppy as of late- and put on some stew to welcome him back.  She must have dozed off at some point, and the clock on the kitchen’s wall confirmed it was coming up on half eleven. That was no real problem; the stew would keep if she got it in the fridge as soon as possible, it wasn’t so ungodly an hour that staying up a bit longer would tank her sleep schedule, and there was still half an hour until-

She jolted fully upright. 

“Гавно!” She belted out, jumping up from the table and making for her room. She’d meant to go to the store earlier to pick up an order that had come in for dad, but had decided to put it off until she was caught up with the housework. Now she was half an hour out from closing time, staring down the end of the day with nothing to show but a slightly creased sweater where she’d fallen asleep on the counter!

The store wasn’t too far away, she thought to herself as she opened her closet and pulled out her coat. The main roads were a long trek, but she knew her way through the in-betweens and alleys that offered a shortcut, and so long as she minded her own business and ran there she could make it up to Mr. Jacobs for the last minute drop-in later. Dad had been working so hard for them, least she could do was make sure his package was here for him when he got back in the morning.

A few minutes later, and she was back in the hall, getting her shoes on. Her phone was on the table by the front door, charging; she’d have been perfectly happy sticking with her old flip-top, but Nic and some of her friends had point-blank forced her to upgrade when they bought her the smartphone. She hadn’t been happy at the time, but it seemed like it was finally going to start being something more than a distraction. She could load up the receipt now while she was still on the wi-fi, have the number ready as soon as she got in. Her fingers quickly and blindly worked at the screen as she pulled the door open, clicking at the first email that came up as she stepped out into the light and closed the door behind her-

---

... Wait, light? It was coming up midnight, why was it suddenly as bright as day?

She turned around, looking either side of her. Gone was the front of her house, and the cool darkness of the midwestern night. Instead, she found herself in what could only be described as an atmosphere of perfect neutrality. All around her was featureless white marble, light and room temperature alike seemingly perfectly perched between warm and cold, and a space that was neither too open or too enclosed; perfectly measured for herself and the group of people around her.

She looked between them, one by one. She paused.

"... Is this like the movie with the spinning top?" She asked, trying her best to make sense of what was going on around her. Short of an alien abduction, all she could guess is that her dreams had suddenly got a lot weirder; and a lot more real-feeling.

Digimon: Fallen Knights

Does California actually exist? I thought Red Hot Chili Peppers made it up.

Digimon: Fallen Knights

Sasha, 16 going on 60

Sasha Ilyinichna Koslova

Age: 16

Appearance: At 5'7" with a slim build, Sasha's posture and restrained dress sense gives her the air of someone significantly older than her actual age. Despite her slim frame, she's deceptively strong, and rarely seems to show any outward stress; at least, not until she nods off at the first opportunity to rest.

Personality: Sasha is a peculiar and often disarming mixture of maturity and naivety, the telltale signs of a child who's had to grow up perhaps a little too fast. Though a little sharp-tongued and stubborn at turns, she's kind and perceptive, talking firmly and confidently to be heard and listened to and keeping an eye on anyone she feels 'responsible' for. Moreover, she seems quite comfortable talking to people much older than her, and more than comfortable in talking back to them like they're half her age if they talk down to her; her logic being that if you act like a child, you deserve to be spoken to like one. At the same time, however, she's still more than a little childish herself; thrust into a position of responsibility almost overnight, she hasn't yet had the chance to develop a strong sense of character judgement or a sense of her own limits. While she'll admonish others for being irresponsible or pushing themselves too far, she'll rarely if ever extend herself the same mindfulness, and her family's reliance on the kindness of friends and neighbours has numbed her sense of who can be taken at their word and who shouldn't be.

Background: Sasha was born in a small rural town in Indiana, the oldest of three children born to a third generation Russian-American father and a local working-class mother. They met when he moved from the East Coast to work at a plant that a major steel manufacturer had opened there, and while they didn't plan to have Sasha, the surprise wasn't an unwelcome one; they married while she was pregnant and stayed together, managing to carve out a niche for themselves as their little family grew and became part of the community around them, a younger brother joining them four years later and a younger sister three years after that. Despite more or less living paycheck to paycheck, they did well enough for themselves, and Sasha grew up a happy and hard-working child alongside her parents and siblings.

Things didn't quite last, however. A slump in profits saw the plant procedurally lay off a number of workers, before outright closing up as the company behind it decided it was more trouble than it was worth to keep going. At first, it seemed as if this would just be a temporary bump in the road- both were still young and there was other work going in and around the town- but six years ago, when Sasha was ten, her mother was killed in a vehicular collision while commuting to a new job. Her father had already been struggling after the new accident, but now he was left as the sole carer for Sasha and her two siblings.

Despite her own grief and young age, Sasha did her best to support him and stepped up to take care of her younger brother and sister and the house. She'd always been a helpful girl, cooking on nights where her parents worked late and taking her siblings to school on mornings they were working early; now as her father was forced to look for work outside the town to support them and spend long spans of time away from home in the week, she picked those responsibilities up nearly full-time and picked up more besides. She didn't resent the arrangement, and the family's friends in the town pitched in when they could despite their own troubles, but it was clear to everyone but her that she wasn't dealing with things anywhere near as well as she claimed. Despite the brave face she was putting on, she was still far too young to be saddled with such a responsibility, and she was losing the opportunity to properly grow up instead of being forced there by circumstances beyond her control.

As of the present, things have stabilized a little. Her father is still rarely able to be at home, but her younger siblings are a little more able to take care of themselves. But Sasha still clings to her assumed role; perhaps she still finds stability in it as life moves on around her, or perhaps her sense of duty has just let her unable to want anything more out of life. Either way, she seems stuck between a childhood that never ended and an adulthood that began too soon, unknowingly counting down the days to an experience that'll change her life forever.

Partner: Labramon (Anastasia)

Digivice G appearance: Perhaps due to her background, Sasha's Digivice G takes the form of a pair of welding goggles.

Misc:

• Voice Claim: Alexis Tipton

Anastasia, Most Restrained Dark Souls Boss

Anastasia

Species: Labramon

Level: Rookie

Type: Beast -> Demon Beast

Attribute: Virus

Family: Nightmare Soldiers/Virus Busters

Attacks:

• Retriever-bark: Creates a hyper-oscillation with a powerful bark.
• Cure Liquer: Restores and optimizes the data of weakened Digimon.

Evolutionary line:

Paomon -> Xiaomon -> Labramon -> Gargomon -> Manticoremon -> [DATA MISSING]

Misc:

• Voice Claim: Natalie von Sistine
• In spite of their feminine-sounding voice and nickname, Anastasia is both genderless and sexless; they don't seem to be concerned about how others refer to them, though they do display at least mild discomfort at being referred to as 'it'.

Digimon: Fallen Knights

Alright, I may come back and prod this, but I think it's good enough to post, so I'll shove it up before I have second thoughts:

Sasha, 16 going on 60

Sasha Ilyinichna Koslova

Age: 16

Appearance: At 5'7" with a slim build, Sasha's posture and restrained dress sense gives her the air of someone significantly older than her actual age. Despite her slim frame, she's deceptively strong, and rarely seems to show any outward stress; at least, not until she nods off at the first opportunity to rest.

Personality: Sasha is a peculiar and often disarming mixture of maturity and naivety, the telltale signs of a child who's had to grow up perhaps a little too fast. Though a little sharp-tongued and stubborn at turns, she's kind and perceptive, talking firmly and confidently to be heard and listened to and keeping an eye on anyone she feels 'responsible' for. Moreover, she seems quite comfortable talking to people much older than her, and more than comfortable in talking back to them like they're half her age if they talk down to her; her logic being that if you act like a child, you deserve to be spoken to like one. At the same time, however, she's still more than a little childish herself; thrust into a position of responsibility almost overnight, she hasn't yet had the chance to develop a strong sense of character judgement or a sense of her own limits. While she'll admonish others for being irresponsible or pushing themselves too far, she'll rarely if ever extend herself the same mindfulness, and her family's reliance on the kindness of friends and neighbours has numbed her sense of who can be taken at their word and who shouldn't be.

Background: Sasha was born in a small rural town in Indiana, the oldest of three children born to a third generation Russian-American father and a local working-class mother. They met when he moved from the East Coast to work at a plant that a major steel manufacturer had opened there, and while they didn't plan to have Sasha, the surprise wasn't an unwelcome one; they married while she was pregnant and stayed together, managing to carve out a niche for themselves as their little family grew and became part of the community around them, a younger brother joining them four years later and a younger sister three years after that. Despite more or less living paycheck to paycheck, they did well enough for themselves, and Sasha grew up a happy and hard-working child alongside her parents and siblings.

Things didn't quite last, however. A slump in profits saw the plant procedurally lay off a number of workers, before outright closing up as the company behind it decided it was more trouble than it was worth to keep going. At first, it seemed as if this would just be a temporary bump in the road- both were still young and there was other work going in and around the town- but six years ago, when Sasha was ten, her mother was killed in a vehicular collision while commuting to a new job. Her father had already been struggling after the new accident, but now he was left as the sole carer for Sasha and her two siblings.

Despite her own grief and young age, Sasha did her best to support him and stepped up to take care of her younger brother and sister and the house. She'd always been a helpful girl, cooking on nights where her parents worked late and taking her siblings to school on mornings they were working early; now as her father was forced to look for work outside the town to support them and spend long spans of time away from home in the week, she picked those responsibilities up nearly full-time and picked up more besides. She didn't resent the arrangement, and the family's friends in the town pitched in when they could despite their own troubles, but it was clear to everyone but her that she wasn't dealing with things anywhere near as well as she claimed. Despite the brave face she was putting on, she was still far too young to be saddled with such a responsibility, and she was losing the opportunity to properly grow up instead of being forced there by circumstances beyond her control.

As of the present, things have stabilized a little. Her father is still rarely able to be at home, but her younger siblings are a little more able to take care of themselves. But Sasha still clings to her assumed role; perhaps she still finds stability in it as life moves on around her, or perhaps her sense of duty has just let her unable to want anything more out of life. Either way, she seems stuck between a childhood that never ended and an adulthood that began too soon, unknowingly counting down the days to an experience that'll change her life forever.

Partner: Labramon (Anastasia)

Digivice G appearance: Perhaps due to her background, Sasha's Digivice G takes the form of a pair of welding goggles.

Misc:

• Voice Claim: Alexis Tipton

Anastasia, Most Restrained Dark Souls Boss

Anastasia

Species: Labramon

Level: Rookie

Type: Beast -> Demon Beast

Attribute: Virus

Family: Nightmare Soldiers/Virus Busters

Attacks:

• Retriever-bark: Creates a hyper-oscillation with a powerful bark.
• Cure Liquer: Restores and optimizes the data of weakened Digimon.

Evolutionary line:

Paomon -> Xiaomon -> Labramon -> Gargomon -> Manticoremon -> [DATA MISSING]

Misc:

• Voice Claim: Natalie von Sistine
• In spite of their feminine-sounding voice and nickname, Anastasia is both genderless and sexless; they don't seem to be concerned about how others refer to them, though they do display at least mild discomfort at being referred to as 'it'.

Digimon: Fallen Knights

Sorry for the delay, almost done with my sheets. Should have them up either later tonight or some time tomorrow?

Digimon: Fallen Knights

Alright, settled on an idea and a rough trajectory. Might be a bit slow-going on account of work but I'll see if I can get my two done ASAP?

Digimon: Fallen Knights

Currently leaning towards Plotmon -> Gargo(yle)mon -> Manticoremon and got a few options cooking for the Mega, main thing is finding something that doesn't feel like a total aesthetic downgrade from 'most restrained Dark Souls boss'.

Digimon: Fallen Knights

@Cleveraptor That checks out, on both counts. I'll sit down and go through my options, but right now I'm floating either an Impmon/Wizardmon descended from some of the Demons left behind after the war who's had to deal with a lot of the fallout from it and is looking for answers on how/why it started, or a Plotmon/Gargo(yle)mon created to fight in the war who gets revived and has to deal with the clash between their original 'programming' and what they've learned through lived experience as their memories slowly come back?

Not quite sure where I'm going with the human yet, but they're probably on the younger end of things and a bit more normal by comparison. We'll see.

Digimon: Fallen Knights

Dang, I missed a lot while I was asleep.

Got the day off today so gonna work on a concept alongside other things, had a quick look over everyone's stuff so far and that's helped me pick some distinct aesthetics/abilities. Digimon's lived rent-free in my head for twelve years so whatever line I ultimately go for will probably be dependent on the angle I go for with my humie, but I do have a couple lore/world questions to help narrow things down:

1- Considering the backstory and emphasis on corruption, is there anything I should keep in particular mind for Demon Digimon? Most of my ideas are leaning in that direction one way or another, so just curious if there's any extra history (both before and after the war itself) that I should be aware of, how they're generally viewed and treated today, that sort of thing?
2- Getting the impression so far that this is a continuity where partnerships are more incidental than preordained, but could a partner have been active long enough to be met in their Champion/Adult form (whether they get to stay in that form by default is another matter, of course)?

One hint for how we're getting to the Digital World.

@Cleveraptor