Digimon Partnering Thread

[Tearen Wover]

Dave:

https://wikimon.net/Poyomon

https://wikimon.net/Gummymon

https://wikimon.net/Neamon

https://wikimon.net/Clockmon

https://wikimon.net/Knightmon

https://wikimon.net/Sleipmon


Yesterday when I was talking about Dave's partner in chat, I was told I should pair him with Shoutmon. I turned this down because initially it seemed too on-the-nose for a kid who likes music so much, but then I realized something. That is exactly the kind of thing that Dave needs to work on. Lemme explain.

This gets a little meta, so bear with me.

Dave Strider is a guy who likes to mix it up. He considers himself to be off-the-cuff, aloof and unique. This is, in part, due to an ingrained need to self-identify from living with his overbearing older brother. Dirk forced Dave to develop such a strong identity that Dave feels compelled to maintain his attitude pretty much at every moment, no matter the circumstances. The thing is that, Dave himself gets tired of wearing this identity all the time, and in his original series he can be seen exhibiting a desire to drop the facade every once and a while. But, people expect him to act a certain way, so he continues to be a cool kid, a sort of inverse accommodation behavior instilled by trying to survive Dirk Strider.

So, when he gets a digimon line that starts super chill, then turns into a clock, that turns into a knight, I can imagine that Dave might face a small but profound moment of despair where it seems that even the universe expects him to act exactly in the persona he has manufactured over the years. Of course he would end up with time and knight motifs. Why not? That's just who he fucking is. Why should he be surprised to get what's expected?

Well, that's the thing. This isn't specifically due to the universe pegging Dave for what he makes himself out to be; this is Dave just assuming that this is what happened. He's automatically assuming that he's once again being forced to assume a role that he's tired of playing, when really, the digimon itself is just a creature that happens to be a clock and a knight. Clockmon and Knightmon can help Dave to realize this by reinforcing the idea that, even though their forms might be sort of...to the point, they're still plenty unique in and of themselves as an individual. Once Dave can get over his hangups about perceiving other people's labels as the word of god, then we move on to Sleipmon, who is a giant mechanized horse monster with a crossbow, which has NOTHING to do with Dave Strider's usual personas and gimmicks, but by this point, he'll realize that that doesn't matter.

It's who he is and what he wants that's important: not what other people expect him to be.



Demetri:

https://wikimon.net/Puttimon

https://wikimon.net/Cupimon

https://wikimon.net/Patamon

https://wikimon.net/Witchmon

https://wikimon.net/Wisemon

https://wikimon.net/Piemon

Compared to Dave, Demetri is pretty simple.

Demetri is a man who despises power, at least in its traditional form of hierarchy and royalty. His home world was riddle with corruption and government overreach, so Demetri took it upon himself to steal the one thing from the system that is truly valued: information. He used the information he stole to fight against them before getting taken to the Omniverse, and those compulsions of needing to know and craving all available knowledge have carried over with him.

What I feel Demetri doesn't really fully understand that it's not royalty that is in and of itself a corrupting influence, its wealth and power. Knowledge can be as much of a corrupting influence as any other item, as those who have it can easily wield it against the ignorant. Demetri's digimon partner starts out innocent and a little dim, but as her evolutions progress she becomes steadily more and more filled with knowledge, but also, darkness.

Now that's not so say that Patamon will immediately turn homicidal when she finally reaches the level of Wisemon or Piemon, but the tendencies are there, and Demetri is perceptive enough to see these. Realizing that a compulsive need for knowledge and information can be just as corrupting as anything else will hopefully help the prince thief come to terms with the fact that sometimes he DOESN'T need to know. In turn, he can help Patamon cope with her darker adult forms and help guide her on the path of (relative) restraint and integrity.