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fandomocweeklyTitle: a world in white gets under way (then)
Fandom: His Dark Materials
Characters: OC - Mary Brigid Mohan & Orion; Dr. McKay
Rating: G - General Audiences
Warnings: Mary Brigid is a severed child, so… (She lives.)
Word Count: 333
Prompt:fandomocweekly "Divide" + fffc Regular 24.24 "Separate" + lyricaltitles Duet Challenge: Different lyrics from the same song (1/2)
Song: "New Year's Day" - U2
Notes: Introducing Mary Brigid and Orion. I had the idea for this character since I was, like… 11? 12? and it was inspired by this song.
“Good morning, children!” The man with the lemur demon clapped his hands together like a nursery teacher.
There was a wary “Good morning” in reply, murmured throughout the classroom. If they had been so sullen and unenthusiastic with one of the sisters, they would have been reprimanded, but the man continued onwards in a chirpy voice as if he was talking to the youngest children at the Sisters of Saint Jerome Foundling School.
“You children have been specially chosen to help with an important study. Would you like to help us?”
Mary Brigid resisted the urge to curl her lip; she was nearly eleven, too old to be spoken to like a baby and she didn’t believe him that they had the option to refuse. The other children in the classroom were all in her year, or one level above or below. None of the very youngest wards were there. Throughout the room, dæmons fluttered and chirped at this announcement. Orion, a sugar glider, poked his head out of his customary place in Mary Brigid’s front pocket and climbed down her arm.
The man continued, unawares. He didn’t seem to be looking straight at any of them but reciting from memory, occasionally glancing up as if looking for answers. “My name is Dr. Arthur McKay. I am a postdoctoral scholar affiliated with Calvin College at the University of Cambridge.”
Orion twined through her fingers. Mary Brigid stroked his soft head.
“Mother Dita has given her permission for you to accompany us to our research station in Svalbard.” This got everyone’s attention. Heads popped up and a whisper went through the room. Svalbard? Svalbard! Where’s that? Is it far?
“You can all send letters to your school friends once we arrive. Our journey north will be very exciting so I’m sure you’ll have plenty to tell them.” Dr. McKay beamed around the room.
“You have an important job to do when we get there. You’ll be helping us learn more about how dæmons settle.”
Title: though torn in two (now)
Fandom: His Dark Materials
Characters: OC - Mary Brigid Mohan & Orion; Dr. McKay
Rating: T - Teen and up
Warnings: Brief mention of passive suicidality
Word Count: 373
Prompt:fandomocweekly "Divide" + fffc Regular 24.24 "Separate" + lyricaltitles Duet Challenge: Different lyrics from the same song (1/2)
Song: "New Year's Day" - U2
Mary Brigid slammed her dormitory door shut behind her. Orion leapt from her shoulder. Midway between her and the bed, he changed from a magpie to a sugar glider and drifted gently down onto the pillow.
Mary Brigid flopped down beside him.
They were 19 years old, too old for Orion not to have settled. All day at the library, during classes, and while they ate their meals in the mess, Orion stuck to his magpie form. It wasn’t easy to pretend. Orion was still quick to shift from form to form but that had to stay a secret. If people knew he wasn’t settled, they might guess the other, bigger secret it hinted at.
Other than Mary Brigid herself, her history was known only to her advisor, Dame Hannah Relf, and her adoptive mother, Ma Mohan, a Gyptian woman who had taken her in after the destruction of Bolvangar and the liberation of the children living there. Her classmates, her professors, her friends - even Betsy, who she hoped might someday be her girlfriend - didn’t know.
Dame Relf arranged for Mary Brigid to have a private room, usually the privilege only of the graduate student scholars at St. Sophia’s, ostensibly because of her chronic migraines. There was some truth to that but the honest reason was that Mary Brigid and Orion needed the chance to change after pretending to be settled all day, every day.
Orion crawled into the nest of Mary Brigid’s hair and nuzzled his tiny nose against her neck.
They had chosen their faux-settled form of a magpie in imitation of a Gyptian man who carried them most of the way to Brytain on his back, his dæmon clucking encouragingly at Orion when all they wanted to do was lie down in the snow and die together.
But Mary Brigid hoped that, when Orion settled, he would be a mammal, something warm and soft so they could snuggle like this and their thoughts would flow naturally from one to the other. That’s what she had come to St. Sophia’s to study: dæmonology and experimental theology, to discover how to undo what had been done.
They would find a way to repair what had been broken or they would die trying.
Fandom: His Dark Materials
Characters: OC - Mary Brigid Mohan & Orion; Dr. McKay
Rating: G - General Audiences
Warnings: Mary Brigid is a severed child, so… (She lives.)
Word Count: 333
Prompt:
fandomocweekly "Divide" + fffc Regular 24.24 "Separate" + lyricaltitles Duet Challenge: Different lyrics from the same song (1/2)Song: "New Year's Day" - U2
Notes: Introducing Mary Brigid and Orion. I had the idea for this character since I was, like… 11? 12? and it was inspired by this song.
“Good morning, children!” The man with the lemur demon clapped his hands together like a nursery teacher.
There was a wary “Good morning” in reply, murmured throughout the classroom. If they had been so sullen and unenthusiastic with one of the sisters, they would have been reprimanded, but the man continued onwards in a chirpy voice as if he was talking to the youngest children at the Sisters of Saint Jerome Foundling School.
“You children have been specially chosen to help with an important study. Would you like to help us?”
Mary Brigid resisted the urge to curl her lip; she was nearly eleven, too old to be spoken to like a baby and she didn’t believe him that they had the option to refuse. The other children in the classroom were all in her year, or one level above or below. None of the very youngest wards were there. Throughout the room, dæmons fluttered and chirped at this announcement. Orion, a sugar glider, poked his head out of his customary place in Mary Brigid’s front pocket and climbed down her arm.
The man continued, unawares. He didn’t seem to be looking straight at any of them but reciting from memory, occasionally glancing up as if looking for answers. “My name is Dr. Arthur McKay. I am a postdoctoral scholar affiliated with Calvin College at the University of Cambridge.”
Orion twined through her fingers. Mary Brigid stroked his soft head.
“Mother Dita has given her permission for you to accompany us to our research station in Svalbard.” This got everyone’s attention. Heads popped up and a whisper went through the room. Svalbard? Svalbard! Where’s that? Is it far?
“You can all send letters to your school friends once we arrive. Our journey north will be very exciting so I’m sure you’ll have plenty to tell them.” Dr. McKay beamed around the room.
“You have an important job to do when we get there. You’ll be helping us learn more about how dæmons settle.”
Title: though torn in two (now)
Fandom: His Dark Materials
Characters: OC - Mary Brigid Mohan & Orion; Dr. McKay
Rating: T - Teen and up
Warnings: Brief mention of passive suicidality
Word Count: 373
Prompt:
fandomocweekly "Divide" + fffc Regular 24.24 "Separate" + lyricaltitles Duet Challenge: Different lyrics from the same song (1/2)Song: "New Year's Day" - U2
Mary Brigid slammed her dormitory door shut behind her. Orion leapt from her shoulder. Midway between her and the bed, he changed from a magpie to a sugar glider and drifted gently down onto the pillow.
Mary Brigid flopped down beside him.
They were 19 years old, too old for Orion not to have settled. All day at the library, during classes, and while they ate their meals in the mess, Orion stuck to his magpie form. It wasn’t easy to pretend. Orion was still quick to shift from form to form but that had to stay a secret. If people knew he wasn’t settled, they might guess the other, bigger secret it hinted at.
Other than Mary Brigid herself, her history was known only to her advisor, Dame Hannah Relf, and her adoptive mother, Ma Mohan, a Gyptian woman who had taken her in after the destruction of Bolvangar and the liberation of the children living there. Her classmates, her professors, her friends - even Betsy, who she hoped might someday be her girlfriend - didn’t know.
Dame Relf arranged for Mary Brigid to have a private room, usually the privilege only of the graduate student scholars at St. Sophia’s, ostensibly because of her chronic migraines. There was some truth to that but the honest reason was that Mary Brigid and Orion needed the chance to change after pretending to be settled all day, every day.
Orion crawled into the nest of Mary Brigid’s hair and nuzzled his tiny nose against her neck.
They had chosen their faux-settled form of a magpie in imitation of a Gyptian man who carried them most of the way to Brytain on his back, his dæmon clucking encouragingly at Orion when all they wanted to do was lie down in the snow and die together.
But Mary Brigid hoped that, when Orion settled, he would be a mammal, something warm and soft so they could snuggle like this and their thoughts would flow naturally from one to the other. That’s what she had come to St. Sophia’s to study: dæmonology and experimental theology, to discover how to undo what had been done.
They would find a way to repair what had been broken or they would die trying.
