#his dark materials fic

[flowerpotmage]

mist & rue

It is night in a new world, and you've lost a dear friend.

notes & etc: reader, lee scoresby, and john parry. oneshot. HDM series. canon compliant with events of book 2. ambiguous relationships. angst!! more writer commentary at the end. 584 words. on Ao3 here

It’s unreasonable to have expected your choices to take you down any other path than this. You were always going to find yourself here.

Mist touches your skin, permeating through the relatively thin layers of your clothing and down through to your bones. You’d like to say that the cold air numbs your distress, shocks you enough to calm down and jolt out of it, but… truthfully, it has little effect on why you’re here, crying and swallowing shaky gulps of air with your arms around yourself and a silver turquoise ring in your fist. You don’t notice the osprey dæmon that soars overhead.

The soft sound of familiar footsteps draws another shuddering breath into your lungs, your hand wiping shaky and surreptitiously—you hope—at your cooling tears. You want to greet him, as you normally would, but you know your voice would betray you. Although, if he’s here right now, he already knows, and you’re taking much too long to say anything anyhow, and he’d be an idiot not to know anyway—

He comes to a stop near your shoulder.

“I hope you don’t mind,” he says in that smooth, enigmatically charming voice of his. “Sayan saw you, and I thought you might appreciate an ear.”

Your dry chuckle is exceptionally soggy, and you take a deep breath to steady yourself, breathing it out through your lips with closed eyes.

“Jopari,” you greet, looking out at the foreign stars. “It has been an exceptionally trying time. I don’t think I was ready.”

“Ah,” he says, and you can hear the rueful smile in the sound. “I don’t think most of us are.”

You turn to look at him over your shoulder. “John.”

You’ve come to know him well over these last years. Sayan can journey far, that’s true, but even a shaman with a witches dæmon is reluctant to part too far with their own very self, and shamans and witches alike need unassuming individuals to be their knowing eyes and hands in far off lands. None of you would never have gotten this far otherwise. So you understand immediately.

“You knew Lee would…” your throat closes up on the words.

“I did. I'm sorry.”

The tears come fresh, the heat of the saltwater on your face due to more than mere thermodynamics. It’s as if the anger at the man by your side is finding the only escape it can, through the water of your eyes, leaving room for growing dismay.

“Come back to the camp,” he says, nothing but gentle. “You’ll catch cold and we’ve a ways to go yet.”

You turn away again, looking down at the small furry body of your dæmon by your boot.

“Ah, so I will be continuing on further?” You regret the spiteful comment as soon as it leaves your mouth.

“This is not the world you’ll stop in,” John Parry says, cryptic as ever.

You turn to face him, the stones making their small sounds underfoot. He looks at you, sharp eyes apologetic. “I know you were close with Mr. Scoresby,” he says. “If there had been another way—”

“Then we wouldn’t win, in the end, would we?”

One side of his mouth lifts, once again rueful.

You sigh, and nod. The two of you walk back to your small, humble camp, and John, Jopari, Stanislaus Grumman and all his names, sits with you in silence by the fire. Before you know it, he will be dead, and you will be left behind to tell his son about him.

---------------------------------

i have sooo much fun facts about this reader in my head all of a sudden. in my mind they were a little bit in love with lee (a longtime friend) and john (platonically? romantically? we'll never know about either of these for either fella and neither will they bc theyre kinda messed up about it all!!) and they work with john and the witches towards asriel's big plan to Kill God. yippee!!

[zomeszone]

This is a random His Dark Materials fic I quickly wrote. I have written fanfiction in the past but this is my first His Dark Materials fic. It's a small moment where Lyra's and Will's futures are connected

This is on AO3 with a few edits

As they entered the theatre, Lyra made sure Pan had his seat. It was in contrast with everyone else in the theatre. They had their daemons touching them, some even curled into their sides. Lyra was more dressed up for the occasion, in a white blouse with a light tan skirt which had a small petticoat built-in with ankle boots, her favourite bag over her shoulder.

Films were invented a year before but it was the first time a cinema had opened and was open to the public. Lyra was eager to see the first film they showed to see how similar it was to that one time, years before with Will. Looking around, people were more dressed up than she was. Lyra knew that moving pictures could happen and it was common to go in Will's world. To everyone else in her world, it was a brand-new thing and they were known as 'moving photograms' but Lyra chose to always call them 'films'

The only other seemingly open seat was on Lyra's right side. She wished Will was occupying that seat and sat with snacks she would steal. Pan and Kirjava on the other side of them, watching the film like their owners, and their tails entwined.

As it started, Lyra expectantly looked to her right, hoping that Will had somehow figured out a way to get there. Instead, there was a llama daemon sitting there. If Will was in the land of the daemons, they would've been buzzing that they could watch movies in Lyra's world!

In his world, Will had sat down on a first date with a girl named Imogen. They met when the guy Will had briefly dated had introduced them on a night out. They'd agreed to it after Will had broken up with James. Will and Imogen had a horrendous Pizza Express dinner, in which they didn't seem to get along. He hoped that "Back to Black" would distract him from her.

Imogen was the polar opposite of Will in every way. She wanted to be in the middle of everything when he was more comfortable blending in. He knew that opposites could complement each other, but he and Imogen just clashed. She was a bit on the taller side with short ginger hair, wearing a black dress with a yellow overshirt and yellow high tops. He was in his go-too random t-shirt with dark jeans and fleece combo with his old faithful trainers.

He sat in his seat with Imogen on his right and an empty seat on his left. As the sound of Amy Winehouse's voice filled the theatre, he looked at the empty seat, thinking to himself, "Lyra, look at this!"

A lesbian couple was sitting on the other side of that seat. One of them had bleach-blonde hair and was sitting where he envisioned Pan and Kirjava being. He liked the idea of their tails being tangled together.

[mithrilwren]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: One Piece (Anime & Manga) Word Count: 11,322 Relationships: Roronoa Zoro/Sanji Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Alternate Universe - His Dark Materials Fusion, Developing Relationship, Roronoa Zoro and Sanji Bickering, Misunderstandings, Consensual Daemon Touching, Whole Cake Island Arc Spoilers, Childhood Trauma, mentions of past daemon/animal harm, Protective Roronoa Zoro, Protective Sanji (One Piece), Trust Issues, Angst with a Happy Ending

Sanji and Zoro don’t get along. Their daemons, Sanji is disturbed to discover, do.

My gift for @akwolfgrl for the One Piece Secret Santa 2024 (@op-secret-santa) exchange! I ended up going with ‘Daemon AU’ from your list of favourite tropes, but I also took a little inspiration from your second wish (about a small, cute creature stealing from Sanji’s pantry). I really hope you like it!

[dreasdreams]

Lord Asriel x Marisa Coulter moodboard

"She and your father, they fell in love as soon's they met."

[idkaguyorsomething]

The Problem of Susan Fic Recs

For many reasons, The Last Battle is probably the most contentious addition to the Narnia canon. The standout, though, has to be the infamous Problem of Susan, wherein the Pevensie children are all killed in a train crash and brought to Narnia 2 Electric Boogaloo aka heaven, then declare that Susan is no longer a friend of Narnia because of her interest in “lipsticks and nylons”. Hardly any time is spent on this, but the implications have been the ground for a lot of argument and discussion. What exactly would happen to Susan, and should it have happened? Over the years, dozens of fic writers have thrown their hats in the ring and weighed in on the subject, making the Problem of Susan almost a prism for the fandom: everyone shines through it a bit differently, resulting in a wide spectrum. Here’s some of the highlights under the cut.

http://shedletsky.com/blog/the-god-who-loves-you

Starting with the fic that coined the term, written by Neil Gaiman himself, this fic is a reflection and deconstruction of the idea that Susan would be able to find Narnia again by delving into the trauma that the experience of losing all her family at once as well as the social injustices that a young woman of her time would’ve faced, something that the narrative of The Last Battle never really addresses. It took off for a reason, as it presents a lot of good food for thought, but it’s also got some pretty weird shit that can feel like it’s conflating adulthood with edginess. Well worth a read for all the points it raises, but if you’re fond of canon you probably won’t like the way it takes a hammer to it.

Now this one is exactly what you’d want to read if you wanted some feel-good time. This story is probably the closest to how C S Lewis would’ve written Susan’s return to Narnia, detailing her rediscovering all the things she put away as well as what led up to her rejecting Narnia in the first place. It falls more to the end of being almost uncritical of canon, with the focus on Susan basically having the same sort of religious rediscovery that C S Lewis himself had in his life. Because of how she was treated in canon, that can be pretty frustrating, but the ending feels nothing short of joyous.

Swinging back to the other end of the spectrum, this fic is very critical of the idea of The Last Battle being a pretty happy ending for everyone, unambiguously stating that life is always worth living for all the Pevensie kids. It explores what their lives could’ve been like if they didn’t die, being a rebuttal of C S Lewis’ themes rather than a continuation of them while feeling equally as happy as the fic directly above.

And this story feels like a midway point between the above two. It dives really deep into the emotional damage that Susan would’ve suffered before and after the train crash in some absolutely gorgeous prose, showing both her and Aslan with great sympathy while maintaining that what happened to her is not a punishment in any way. Bittersweet and very, very good.

Heading back towards the more critical end of the spectrum, this fic presents a Susan who is not interested in finding Narnia again, only her family. She is very much a character straight out of an ancient myth rather than a teen trying to make sense of a senseless situation here, filled with determination as much as desperation. It’s probably the closest fic on here to having something close to a plot as well as a character study, with the exception of The Queen’s Return and one other:

Being a crossover with what’s pretty much the antithesis of the Chronicles of Narnia, His Dark Materials, it’s probably easy for you to guess which side of the spectrum this story falls on. It’s more of a HDM story than a Narnia one, but the two worlds blend together surprisingly well, and it gives us a rare look into a Susan who’s lived decades of her life when the story picks up. She’s pretty much the Professor and it is fascinating, as is everything left to interpretation by this gem of a fic that is ambiguous yet deeply satisfying.

¡And here’s Susan as a Doctor Who companion! This isn’t directly a Narnia story so much as it is one about two people much older than they look mourning the loss of their worlds, with a Susan who is a queen wise beyond her years. Reading it is like taking an ice shower. It doesn’t hold back on the grief, and as a result it manages to feel honest as it reaches a warm ending.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/24311

Despite also being a crossover, this is in some ways the opposite of touch the sky with two arms. Susan is more of an everyday young woman than a queen, and [SLIGHT SPOILERS] Narnia itself does feature directly. But y’know, that’s part of what makes fandom so interesting. Not everyone is going to have the same take on everything, and the ending of this leans more happy than melancholy.

¿A shipping fic that’s also a crossover with Peter Pan that features neither Neverland or Narnia? Yes, this one probably has the least to do with Narnia or Aslan, but it tells a very compelling story about living life and growing up, something that isn’t perfect but can be good if you find someone you want to spend your life with. Susan Pevensie and Wendy Darling are a really good couple, pinky promise.

Technically more a series of ensemble oneshots, but Susan features very prominently in a lot of them, and they will make you feel every feeling that everything else on this list might’ve given you. Satisfaction, devastation, simple joy, just go give it a shot.

[runawaymarbles]

handbinding project: He Says He Is An Experimental Theologian, part 1 of @bicatperson's WTNV/HDM crossover.

This is a remake of one I did three years ago (lent it to a friend, he moved, making an entirely new book seemed like less work than coordinating with the friend of a friend he left it with.) The original typeset was a 6x9 so I had to readjust it to fit 5.5x8.5, and I also changed out the symbols so they'd print more easily. The new ones are a font made by the wonderful rosed from the Renegade Bindery discord.

Fun fact: the arrangement of the hands on the cover also correlates to specific alethiometer symbols because I got that in the weeds about it all.

This cover was a motherfucker and a half because heat transfer vinyl is out to ruin my life: on the original version, I applied the spine art it to the fabric before putting it on the cover, so that I could make sure it was centered. I then tried to use the same HTV to put the symbol on the cover, which did not work no matter how many times and how much heat I tried. (I realized later I'd forgotten to heat the cover first.) So then I tried to peel it up, and it didn't come all the way, so I took that cover off (hooray for wheat paste) and tried putting the vinyl on the fabric before I made the case. despite measuring multiple times, the circle ended up waaay off center. Possibly because I was trying to do this at 11pm. Eventually I just went to Joann's and bought adhesive vinyl, and only adhesive vinyl, even though there was a sale and all vinyl was 40% off. I ended up having to replace the beehive with the night vale eye, because the beehive symbol was a bunch of little lines the adhesive did nOT like, but I think the Night Vale eye looks better anyway.

[thedemonofcat]

In the final trial to become a witcher, their dæmons are severed from them. Geralt recalls his dæmon, Dandelion, looking at him and promising to return one day. Elsewhere in Lettenhove, a baby named Julian was born.

Julian Pankratz, better known as Jaskier, had always been different. He was born without a dæmon, a rarity that marked him as unique. Perhaps this peculiarity drew him to Geralt, the witcher who found the bard's lack of a dæmon intriguing.

Unknown to either of them, Jaskier is actually Dandelion, keeping his promise.

[tragicotps]

Young Masriel au [part 1: First meeting]: Recently returned from one of his expeditions, Asriel plans to crash one of Edward Coulter's exclusive dinner parties for networking purposes. At the door he's greeted by a mysterious and attractive young woman, who turns out to be married to the party host and coincidentally one of his biggest political rivals.

[horsegirlwarcrimes]

I have come back am I allowed to ask about more WIPs from your list. I am so so curious about "Shen Yuan Gets Two Daemons", the intersection of daemons with transmigration is so interesting to me. (I may be back again later but I am trying once again to not do So Many Asks At Once)

omg thank u for the continued asks!!

for this fic, the concept is that when shen yuan transmigrates into shen qingqiu, he takes over the OGs body but not his soul. therefore ergo, shen qingqiu is gone, but his daemon is still there. shen yuan reluctantly makes a deal with the og scum villain's daemon—xiu ya won't turn him in for the body snatching if shen yuan works on finding a way to resurrect shen qingqiu. shen yuan's own soul is very excited to suddenly have a body of her own AND a bonus brother.

Shen Yuan returns to the world of the living with a scream.  Not his own, as it turns out. He awakens laying in bed, something warm and soft and weighty laying in his chest. There’s a soft thump thump thump that beats in time with his heart. For a moment, he feels perfectly at peace—like the best ASMR ever, sending tingles through his whole body and making every muscle relax.  That’s when the screaming starts.  Shen Yuan shoots up and instantly regrets it. The weight on his chest goes flying off with a discontented noise, and the room spins around him. He’s caught between a need to get up, to find and soothe the source of the sound, and an arresting vertigo that steals the air from his lungs. The result is him flailing half way out of bed in a tangle of—silk?  Two large, firm hands catch him around the shoulders.  “Shidi, please, stay in bed. Everything will be alright. I’ve called for Mu Qingfang. A-Su is doing what she can. Just stay still.”  Shen Yuan doesn’t recognize the latter name, but the former pings something in the back of his mind. He looks up blearily as those hands gently press him back into the mattress.  The man leaning over him has a broad, handsome face that, combined with the dark eyes and gentle, worried crease to his brow, immediately puts Shen Yuan in mind of his older brothers. He allows this to be his excuse for folding right away, letting himself be manhandled back into bed even as half of his brain is clawing for him to move, to help. He looks over the man’s shoulder, searching for the source of the agonized screaming. It sounds like someone is being murdered. What he finds is a sight his mind can’t fully comprehend. There is a large dog in a corner of the room with its paw holding something down. The thing under its paw is a shifting mass, leaking strange golden dust. One moment there is fur, then feathers, then scales. It screams all the while.  “What’s wrong with him?” Shen Yuan asks blankly.  “I’m not sure,” the man says, “but we are going to fix it.” His eyes look sad.  There is a little scrabbling noise, barely audible over the creature in the corner’s yelling. A fluffy white cat jumps onto the mattress and climbs up onto Shen Yuan’s chest.  “Ah,” he says, and his hands instinctively come up around her. She must be what he accidentally flung away before.  She makes a sleepy grumble and gets comfortable. Shen Yuan finds his energy and his ability to comprehend his surroundings fading rapidly, now that she is there, warm and solid in his arms. He bats away the human hand that reaches for his wrist absently.  “Xiao Jiu, that—”  The man next to the bed looks strangely horrified as he drifts off. Shen Yuan has no idea who he was talking to.

[kaizsche]

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES

CHAD POWERS

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE

SCREAM QUEENS

NORMAL PEOPLE

HIS DARK MATERIALS

MR. PLANKTON

BLOODHOUNDS

MOON LOVERS: SCARLET HEART RYEO

BAD AND CRAZY

LITTLE WOMEN

VALORANT

LOVE AND DEEPSPACE

HONKAI STAR RAIL

SILENT HILL 2

TWISTERS

SET IT UP

HIT MAN

TOP GUN: MAVERICK

ZACK SNYDER'S JUSTICE LEAGUE

BATMAN V SUPERMAN

MAN OF STEEL

THE FLASH

THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY

EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!

SPEAK NO EVIL

ANYONE BUT YOU

ALIEN ROMULUS

SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS

DEVOTION

THE RUNNING MAN

LOVE IN THE BIG CITY

FRESH

WICKED

ON SWIFT HORSES

THE GORGE

G20

INTERSTELLAR

GLEN POWELL

DAISY EDGAR-JONES

TWISTERS PRESS

TWISTERS FEATURETTES

IN THE END (IT WILL BE JUST US)

LET GO, LOVE. I'LL CATCH YOU.

STELLARIS-ARCHIVUM

THE MONSTERS IN HER HEART

HAPPY GLEN POWELL DAY!

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hi, Steph. I'm hoping you can help me find a fic I read years ago. I'm pretty sure I read it before S3 came out.

It's an AU in a world where everyone has some sort of companion animal. John's companion is a friendly dog. Mycroft has a beetle he keeps in a metal tube welded shut in his pocket. He says she feels safe and secure that way (spoiler, that's a lie). And Sherlock just. doesn't. have. one.

This is super strange because everyone has one. If someone's companion animal ever dies, the person generally goes insane and dies too. John and his dog once in a field tries to see how far apart they could get from each other before it became unbearable.

Sherlock also talks to and touches John's dog. It's generally frowned upon to touch someone else's companion animal.

The only other things I remember are that there's a scene where Sherlock and John have cornered a suspect, and Sherlock shoots the suspect's companion animal. John is flabbergasted. And there's a big reveal about why Sherlock doesn't have a companion animal of his own.

Hi Lovely!

OH GOSH, this sounds SO familiar; I THINK it's a His Dark Materials or Daemons AU... Here is what I found doing a tag search on my MFL list, perhaps it's one of these?:

Asteroidea Series by etothepii (E, 16,253+ w. across 3 works || Series WiP || His Dark Materials Fusion || Daemon Sherlock, Untagged Stories) – In the pocket of his trousers, next to his phone, Mycroft carries the standard-issue steel capsule meant for protecting arthropod daemons. When people ask about it, he smiles and tells them she's not fond of the light, or of people other than himself. This is a lie.

Unsettled by AxeMeAboutAxinomancy (E, 33,879 w., 10 Ch. || HIs Dark Materials AU || Daemons, Dark Themes, Non-Con) – Sherlock's dæmon hadn't settled. Once John realised that, so much made sense. Though so much else didn't, because it practically wasn't possible. Part 1 of the The Utmost Edge of Hazard series

The Republic of Heaven Series by Blind_Author (E, 128,844+ w. across 3 works || Series WiP || His Dark Materials / Daemon AU || S1 Compliant, Witches, Bears, BAMF John, Mutual Pining, Oblivious John, Evil Moriarty) – John and his dæmon, Amarisa, have never quite fit in, largely because she settled as a wolfdog. Sherlock and Raniel are similarly isolated, mostly because the woman they call Mummy is a witch. These two men and their dæmons end up sharing a flat together and the rest, as they say, is history. And with a witch-clan out for John's blood and a man known as Moriarty emerging from the shadows, they're certainly not going to be bored.

=====

I haven't read any of these, but my money is on the "Asteroidea" series given the description mentions the stuff you're looking for!!

If anyone knows for SURE, let us know!!

I hope one of these are it, though, Lovely!

[beauregardstaxicab]

My Soul In Your Hands: A Coldflash 'His Dark Materials AU'

Teaser for the first part of a new fic I'm getting ready to post on AO3! It'll be one long one-shot.

“Can’t really blame the kid for giving you up,” Leonard said as he pulled off his goggles. “You or his brother? Come on! I put him in a tight spot. Same kind I got you in right now.”

He pointed at Barry to emphasize his point. It was difficult to see clearly with Barry’s face in the shadows, but he could tell he was glaring back at him. Leonard smirked and opened his mouth to continue, but he got distracted by a strange buzzing sound. 

It was loud in the silence of the moonlit forest, and as he peeled his eyes and looked around, he saw something moving quickly around the circle, particularly around Barry. It looked like Barry’s dæmon was an extremely large bumblebee.

Well, that’s adorable, Leonard thought with a grin. 

“Can’t really stop me now that I know who you are,” Leonard continued. They taunted each other back and forth a bit, and Leonard ignored the way Ruby was getting stirred up by the incessant buzzing and started scurrying around Leonard’s feet. 

“I won’t let you keep stealing whatever you want, whenever you feel like it. It needs to end.”

Leonard stared him down and said, “Can’t do that. It’s what I—” 

Suddenly, Barry’s dæmon flew right in front of his face and hovered there. The moonlight poured over her and Leonard’s breath caught as her vibrant green chest radiated like a handful of emeralds. No, she was even more beautiful than that. 

He’d never seen a hummingbird so close before, though he’d seen plenty of pictures. It was amazing how small they were and yet held so much power in their little wings. They were nothing more than a blur… just like Barry.

“Hallie, come back.”

She zigzagged a bit in front of Leonard’s face first, and he got the impression that she was sassing him. He didn’t mean to smile at her, but it was difficult. A person’s dæmon was very telling of who they were. The ravenous racoon at his feet was proof of that. He couldn’t wait to dissect this later.

As she flew back to circle around Barry, Leonard blinked, feeling like he was awakening from a trance. He tried to remember what he’d been saying, but Barry was quicker.

“Then find a new line of work.”

Leonard shrugged. “Don’t want to.”

“Why’s that?”

“The same reason you keep running after guys like me. The adrenaline. The thrill of the chase. I love this game, and I’m very good at it.��

“Then go play it somewhere else.”

Barry opened his mouth to continue, but he frowned and looked to the left. Leonard followed his gaze and rolled his eyes. Ruby was climbing a nearby tree, stopping occasionally to reach her grubby little hand out at Hallie. 

“Ruby,” he said in a warning tone, but she just kept growling excitedly as she scurried onto a branch to get closer to the hummingbird flitting around her. He glared at her and snapped, “Ruby!”

She looked back at him and hissed. Barry’s eyes widened, and he quickly covered his mouth, hiding a grin. From the way Hallie was staying just outside of Ruby’s reach, Leonard almost thought she was baiting her. Barry didn’t seem to have the guile capable of that, but it made him wonder.

As the branch under Ruby began to snap under her weight, Leonard sighed and trudged over to her. He grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and hauled her down. She screeched and fought him off, but he kept a firm hold on her as he went back to the spot he was in. He could deal with the pain it inflicted on himself, but he knew he’d be hearing about it later from her. It was her fault though for acting like an idiot in front of his nemesis.

“Sorry about that,” he said, dropping her unceremoniously at his feet. “She likes shiny things.”

Barry put his hands on his hips and cocked an eyebrow. “Can’t say I’m surprised by that. What were we—?”

“I said I wasn’t about to quit being a thief.”

Nodding, Barry said, “And I was about to tell you to leave Central City.”

“Can’t do that either. I love it here.” He breathed in the cool, night air and said, “This city is my home.”

Barry reminded him of what he was capable of as he slowly walked closer to Leonard. Barry put an emphasis on stopping Leonard from killing or hurting anyone else, particularly those closest to him. It came as no surprise. He always knew Barry’s priorities always revolved around protecting human lives, something that was so easy to exploit.

Leonard cataloged every little thing he said while vaguely noting how handsome Barry was now that his face was no longer in the shadows. He should really mess up his hair more often.

“... I’m putting you away.”

Leonard’s eyes trailed down Barry’s body. Flash meant it as a warning, but it wasn’t a bad deal. He was good enough to do what he loved without killing anyone else, and he already had the leverage he needed against him. 

“I guess your secret’s safe, Flash… for now.”

He was a little disappointed when Barry reached back to pull his cowl over his head, indicating the end of the conversation. They cleared everything up, sure, but he bet he could needle a bit more out of him with a bit more talk, more than Barry intended to give away. He’d already given Leonard a lot, after all.

Once Barry’s head was trapped in his red condom mask, he saw Hallie sticking closer to him as if she was waiting for something. Now that she wasn’t moving so quickly, though, Ruby scampered closer to Barry and jumped up and down a few times, trying to snatch the hummingbird out of the air. She couldn’t even get close to her.

Barry stared down at her and then looked up at Leonard. “She’s not trying to eat my dæmon, is she?”

Leonard simply grinned back. Barry rolled his eyes and cupped his hands. Hallie swooped down and cradled herself between his palms, and Leonard watched intently as Barry slipped her into a special compartment on his belt.

He hummed. “I was wondering why you needed such a big belt since it wasn’t the most… aerodynamic embellishment. I just figured you were compensating.”

Barry huffed out a laugh. “I’m not really the compensating type.”

“No?” Leonard asked with a tilt of his head.

“Regardless, she’s well protected,” Barry said in a colder tone as he shot Leonard a warning look.

He held up his hands. “Relax, Flash. I’m not a nice man, but as a thief I have an admiration for aesthetics. I’d never harm a little jewel like that.”

Barry’s lips parted, but he said nothing. 

Leonard looked around and said, “Oh, I don’t suppose you’d give me a ride back to town, would you?”

Barry grinned and sped off, leaving Leonard and Ruby alone to fend for themselves. He couldn’t say he was surprised. 

“The Rogues,” he said, chuckling. “Cute.”

“I’m so glad you’re having fun,” Ruby grumbled as she sat on her haunches and glared up at him. “Why’d you have to spoil mine?”

“Sorry, Rubes. That’s one jewel you can’t keep.”

She huffed. “We’ll see about that.”

“How about I go sneak you some emeralds from the local jewelry store instead?”

“Nooooo! I want to play with her. She’s pretty and soft and her wings go brrrrrrrrrr. I bet she’d feel great in my mouth.”

He tilted his head. “You actually want to eat her?”

“No! I just want to hold her in my mouth. There’s a difference.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” he said, grimacing. He walked toward her and held out his hand for her to grab hold of. Once she had him, he swung her up on his shoulder and began walking in the direction of the city. 

After a few minutes, he said, “Don’t forget the rules, Ruby. No touching other people, and no touching other dæmons, unless—”

“We’re going for the kill, which I guess is out now, too.”  She hopped into the hood of his parka, curled up, and heaved a big sigh. “Spoiling all my fun.”

“Now, now… We’ll still have plenty of fun.” He smirked as he remembered the tension crackling between him and Barry as he stood close to him, the challenging look in his eyes. “We’re still playing the game, Rubes. It’s just that the rules have changed.”

[hyperpotamianarch]

One of my favourite fanfictions ever is Dæmorphing, by Poetry (@featherquillpen on tumblr, hopefully you don't mind the tag). And I have given some thoughts as to the question why I liked it so much, since this could give me a hint as to what to look for next in my fics. I don't really have a definitive answer, but I do already have a couple of ideas.

There are two basic points I think may have been essential to why I liked Dæmorphing: one, how well it presented the non-human species and gave them characteristic, helping me to see the personhood of even the Yeerks; and two, how well it fuses the worldbuilding of His Dark Materials into Animorphs, almost seamlessly, making me think that in hindsight, the implementation of this element from HDM seems the most rational thing.

The former of those gave me the beginning of an idea for a recursive fanfic about Mulefa living on a different planet in the Daemorphing universe. Currently, this idea is going nowhere, and technically I didn't get greenlight from Poetry to publish it even if it was already written. So for now, I'll just put this aside. However, some weird thoughts about the nature of fusion fics led me to think of a fanfic that will do the reverse of what Dæmorphing is - instead of being Animorphs with HDM worldbuilding inserted, being HDM with some Animorphs details implemented. Is this possible? I don't know, let's see how many random nonsensical ideas I'll manage to pull off.

By nature, His Dark Materials is a story about the loss of innocence. It also has a huge battle-at-the-end-of-days, but it's explicitly background. There are Good and Evil sides, even if they're flipped from the traditional religious view (think demiurge, only he didn't actually create anything). And while both sides have proven that they aren't as Good as they claim to be, I think there is clear bias towards Lord Asriel's cause (though I don't think it's the most interesting thing about these books by far).

There is also an inherent difference between Animorphs and HDM in that Animorphs is serialized. This allows a start filled with a couple of separate episodes that only slowly grow to an overarching series. Also, Animorphs has a very clear endgame: the series must end with the defeat of the Yeerk empire and saving Earth, and the ending arch has to start with the Animorphs identities being found out. Or, well, you can drag it a bit more, but those are essential events. HDM, on the other hand, has more of an element of mystery ("eventually she would know more about Dust than everyone in the world", indicating this is to be Lyra's journey; but also the GOBblers and what's going on with them; who is the man who stole Lyra's Alethiometer and what is the Subtle Knife, and what is the prophecy about Lyra), though it doesn't have one clear quest throughout.

Lyra's quest starts with wanting to see more of the world and learn about Dust; then it becomes saving the children from the Gobblers; then she wants to go see her father and give him the Alethiometer (which she started assuming along the way was her main quest all along), and if it means overthrowing the King of the Armored Bears so be it; then she decides her quest is to save Dust, because all the wicked people hate it. That summarizes her quests for book 1 alone, but doesn't really summarize the book itself, but maybe we'll start with this odd concept: Dust is, after all, central to the plot of the book, and if Dæmorphing managed to insert severing of dæmons into Animorphs... it can work.

So... random ideas:

The Master of Jordan College and Lord Asriel are both the equivalent of Andalites. Are they actually Andalites? Are they maybe regular humans from a super advanced society or something? Am I speaking rubbish? Well, I think I can answer the latter myself, thank you.

Mrs. Coulter and the Oblation Board are a cover to the Yeerk invasion. Possibly the Magisterium at large is - though it's too powerful an organization, so it's probably only infiltrated by Yeerks.

The Master either gives Lyra an Escafil device in place of or alongside the Alethiometer. Either way, in this universe the Escafil device has much more to do with Dust.

How is that? Well, perhaps it functions on swapping the human and their dæmon. After all, the reason a dæmon settled as a predatory animal isn't that much of an advantage in a fight is because they can't attack humans. They can attack other dæmons, which is a power unto itself I suppose, but of only one side has access to this swapping technology...

That would probably mean it's especially useful for children, which I think might work with the overall themes of HDM - though there might be another difference, where even if it's not easy and is done differently, it's possible for an adult to relearn how to use it.

It may also be required to serve as the same sort of plot device that the Alethiometer was in the original HDM; maybe something about this swap allows one to read things in the Dust or something, if the usage is as limited as the Alethiometer's was in the original it could also be interesting.

The Gyptians don't necessarily know about the Yeerks, but they know something smells.

The severence is done in order to weaken children to be future hosts; it works only partially, and not well.

The Armored Bears stay the same, maybe Iufor is a voluntary host or something, though that would create a host of more problems.

Lord Asriel was not infested in captivity. If you want to add the Abomination anywhere you'll probably have to consider deeply who can randomly become an Andalite and whether this actually makes any kind of sense.

Both sides are bad is something both Animorphs and Northern Lights/the Golden Compass agree on, to a degree. I think equating Lord Asriel's side to the Andalites doesn't work becuase the former purport to fight for the betterment of humankind without sarificing more than one civilian. The Andalites are willing to completely destroy Earth to defeat the Yeerks. It's true that both Asriel and the Adalites supposedly focus on the big picture, but... well, actually Asriel was never persuaded that the problem on his own world is something that needs direct attention. And in the end, building "the Republic of Heavens" is more of a spiritual struggle than a physical one. There are quite a few differences.

This should probably have not seen the light of day.

Thank goodness it's night here and I'm bored enough to actually publish this.

Thank you for reading if you managed to get this far.

[rhaized]

Golden Auroras—Chapter 36 (Completed Fic!)

At looong last over ~5 years(!), I've finally finished my multi-chapter fanfic Golden Auroras, which features Mrs. Coulter tagging along with Lyra throughout the events of The Subtle Knife:

Comprehension entered Lyra's gaze now as she glanced from Mrs. Coulter to the monkey to the portal and then back again. Pan fluttered back down to the tip of her shoulder, leering over at Mrs. Coulter, too. "I suppose there's no way to avoid it," Mrs. Coulter said after a few beats, aware of the Magisterial forces inching closer and closer. "We'll have to go through." — or— What if Mrs. Coulter had seen Lyra on the mountain in Svalbard, and what if Lyra had been too tired to fight? A story of Mrs. Coulter and Lyra sticking together through the events of The Subtle Knife, in which Mrs. Coulter wants to be better.

You can read the chapter here, and check out the first chapter if you haven't come across it before!

This fic has been a fun one to write, and I've written it across several periods of my life from a 25 year-old PhD student living with my mom during the pandemic to (currently) a 30-year old academic with a house engaged to a wonderful woman (and our dog currently snuggled next to me as I post this update).

Life is so wild, y'all. It's quite an adventure, just like this fic. I'm so happy to have finally had the time and muse to finish it and to make my grand return to the world of HDM and fanfc writing :)

Thanks so much for checking it out, if you do, and happy new year to all!

[chaosandwolves]

I feel incredibly stupid

I just rewatched the golden compass movie and googled why there was never a part 2 and.... I just found out that the "His dark materials" series is exactly that story!???

WHY DID I NOT KNOW THIS????

Like I even read the first book but I never knew that's what the series is called

Omg wtf

WHY DID I NOT KNOW THIS???

On the bright side... Got a new series to watch... So I guess... Yay?

Edit:

Wait... James McAvoy stars in this???

Again....

WHY DID I NOT KNOW THIS?

[thatonecrookedsmile]

From the depths of the studio - where darkness prevails and the voices of the puddles grow louder - a message is echoed to the rest of the world. A promise filled with hatred and,at the same time,with conviction. Words coming from someone who was more than confident that their blasphemy would come true.

A message that is directed to one creature,and one creature only...

"I will become the very being You never could be"

----- "A Promise Sent from Below" - Return to the Studio AU.

Oh hey, I have an AU, I forgot about that (lie)

I've had a similar idea in my head for a month now. It wasn't possible to do it last month, but no problem. May would make more sense. I did something with this little guy for 414 last year, and I wanted to do something with him again. April 14th of this year would not be possible, but May 14th or 15th? Oh yes. These dates are better because it was between these two (actually it was the 14th I think, but I consider both dates) days that I created this guy above! Consider this drawing a celebration made for…well, me. Of course, he wasn't created with the design above in mind. His original, main design is quite different from this alternative (and less original) iteration. The drawing above shows his current situation in the "current" moments of the RTTS AU.

His creation, which dates back to 2020, was the result of some Bendy-related thoughts of mine intersecting on the day. These being about new things in canon lore that came out at the time (plus speculation about this new information), a theory that at the time I started to understand better (which maybe based on the drawing, you probably know which theory I'm talking about ) and a funny bug found in one of the games (do you remember Ghost Bendy by any chance?) And then,boom. I created Atlas. I remember at the time I was thinking of other names for him because Atlas was just a codename that I had in mind to refer to him while I thought of a definitive name for the guy. But the codename ended up sticking. Plus, Atlas is a cool name and I wanted to give an OC that name.

Even though some details changed over time, I think I eventually managed to solidify his place in the AU. Not that his story is 100% thought out and completed. Hell, my AUs that I have are still not 100% thought out either, so what to expect from their characters. But I think that, currently, I have at least decided on the general idea of his place and purpose in RTTS, and I am happy with what I have come up with.

I don't know when the next time will be that I will show him again. In general, showing things from my AUs is not and probably will never be my strong point lol. But I'd like to draw him again eventually. So uhhhhhhhhhhh, one day. When that "one day" will be, it's up to you to decide

Happy Birthday Atlas. You and your other 2 alternative versions are cool to think about. Here's to another 4 years of chaos for you. 🙌

I can't believe it's been 4 years now, damn.