Aria Sokolov

Aria Sokolov, better known just as “Red” is a main character and new EO in the Toska series. Her powers stem from a panic disorder and desire in the face of fear to make everything fine by reversing time back before things went wrong.

Appearance
Aria tends to fall under the guise of a walking Russian stereotype. With a petite frame and lithe build, she accentuates things like her tiny waist and long legs. Her expression tends to be one of disdain or mild amusement, conveyed with a full pout, deep-set brown eyes, an angled button nose, and a wash of freckles she tries to hide. Aria’s hair is dyed a bright red and is cut at about her chin length with blunt bangs covering her forehead-- thus giving her the pseudonym Red.

Personality
In the simplest of terms Aria is an addict. In the more complicated sense, she is a deeply flawed individual with a slew of mental disorders likely stemming from a nice mix of genetics and childhood trauma.

Her choice of vice started with stolen cigarettes and whiskey from her deadbeat drunk of a father; this substance abuse in her teen years only served to exacerbate the predisposition for an anxiety disorder and schizoid tendencies. Often Aria would become overwhelmed by a sense of panic and the ever increasing fear that nothing she experienced was real. These fears combined with a lack of love in her childhood allowed her to become the sardonic son-of-a-bitch that the Colors Club would come to know and love.

Taking on the role of a femme-fatale Aria can come off as either exquisitely seductive or entirely repulsive depending on the individual’s opinion regarding sex workers. Often used to being diminished to nothing more than a drunk whore, she fell into a role much like her father where viewing the world through a cynical gaze she knew it was all a kind of sick self-fulfilling prophecy.

Life
Born and raised in the slums of Brooklyn, Aria was the first child of an already failing marriage. Shortly after her younger sister, Carol, was born their mother fled the crime-ridden city with the new baby, leaving 3-year-old Aria alone with her father. In the early years Aria is sure it wasn’t so bad, but she often remembers spending much of her childhood alone with the echoes of her father’s rage heard through the walls of their shabby 2-bedroom apartment.

She attended public school, scraping by with average grades and little to no social interaction until junior high. Once she learned that having access to alcohol and cigarettes made her one of the cool kids, she started spending as much time away from home as possible-- usually at a rich kids’ party or roughing it with dealers on her block. Early into her senior year of high school, it was found that Aria was self harming and the school’s guidance counselor attempted to get child services involved. Rather than allow them to find the hell-hole she shared with a drunk father, Aria decided to give up on finishing school and run away instead.

She found herself on a train to anywhere and landed herself in Merit. Her first night in town she bumped into the owner of the Colors Club, and found herself a room and a job as a resident Color of the renowned strip club. While working there, she met Ira Johnson who would later become her connection to the underground EO society.

Death
It started out innocent enough. A street smart 20-something turns to the redlight district to make some fast cash, then finds out she’s actually kind of good at it. At selling a fantasy, selling herself— night after night, party after party. Somewhere along the way, however, it stopped being fun. In fact, it started feeling really quite shitty. Eventually the drinking and the drugs weren’t just for parties, it became a way to cope. More bad habits on top of other bad habits, ultimately leading to her death.

Dragged along for an evening of partying with her roommate/drug dealer/somehow best friend, Violet, Aria expected nothing out of the norm. However when it turned out that the two would be stood up by their supposed clients, Violet suggests to find them at the hospital where they had been called into work. Unable to find the client, Violet decides to steal their bag in hopes that it might have the keycard to their hotel room. It wasn’t until they had made it out into the parking lot that Violet realized it was the wrong bag, instead of their client’s suitcase they swiped a bag full of the newest narcotic on the market, Nova.

Excited by their accidental findings, they decide to try the drug right then and there. Aria takes three pills while Violet calls their uber, almost instantly she begins to feel unwell and panics. As the fear of an overdose sets in, she urges Violet to go get help and ultimately succumbs to the drug. It is only when she wakes up in a psych ward a few days later that she begins to become aware of her new EO capabilities.