bakerstreet | daemons

daemons

In the universe of the His Dark Materials trilogy (see: The Golden Compass Movie, His Dark Materials on HBO, the books), every person has a creature called a daemon that accompanies them all their lives, and is emotionally and metaphysically a part of them. Daemons are often described as sort of external souls (while the part of the personality in a human's body is the spirit).

Basic Daemon Facts:

They take the shape of animals
They can talk, no matter what their shape
Children's daemons can change form at will; around puberty they 'settle' and become one animal permanently
Neither the person or the daemon chooses the final settled form, but it always reflects their personality (although not necessarily in obvious or simple ways)
They are almost always the opposite sex as their human
If a daemon feels pain, so will their person, and vice versa
Being physically apart from one's daemon causes horrible emotional and physical pain
Daemons frequently talk to and touch each other, in ways that reflect or complement their persons' interactions, but daemons talking to humans other than their own is considered strange, and touching humans not their own is extremely taboo; it generally occurs only between long-time lovers. Touching someone else's daemon without permission is a terrible violation.
If a daemon feels pain, so will their person, and vice versa

How it works:

Just design a daemon for your muse and put as little or as much information as you like about them (shape, name, link to a picture or species wiki if you are so inclined) in a top-level, with your muse's name and series in the subject. Check out other people's daemons and let your daemons interact too.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[[ OOC: I mean, the first time was so nice, why NOT do it twice? ]]

[Guess who's been reunited with his daemon? This dude! Sadalbari is a female spotted hyena. Prior to settling, she often opted for a domesticated dog form and continues some of those behaviors, like wagging her tail to show when she is friendly.]

[Sadalbari is sometimes called "Sadie" by Jason (and the short list of people that they call friends are allowed to use the nickname, too). The two of them banter and tease each other often, and Sadalbari is definitely a playful sort. They're also used to people making negative assumptions based on Sadie's settled form, and the consequences of that like being asked to leave shops and restaurants or people giving them a wide berth in public spaces. To be fair, it might also have to do with the fact that Jason is 6'2" and built like a tank...]

[Tim's not sure he likes Mickey much, but what can he do about it, right? It's a sweltering hot summer day and despite that, the rain has been relentless. And Mickey's just there, mouth open in that dog-grin with mature, yellowish teeth while she pants for relief. Mick, who used to always be so quiet and small. Tim had bet his firstborn that she would stay a rat.

Hence the name, get it? Mickey mouse, because like many of the great Drake men before him, he'd been gifted the creative streak of a clam.

Tim was always a bit of a late bloomer. Mick had finally settled in Iraq. Leggy, loud, larger than any of her forms before. No wings, no wise and sharp eyes. Just sharp teeth. A coyote. A thing that eats carrion, is skittish and always hungry, that howls for family and is never satisfied in the pack, and that's never really wanted. Tim hadn't really been wanted when he'd be carrying around a brown rat in the hood of his jacket or inside the sleeve of a tux, but like... that had made sense, and had even been funny sometimes.

She had had this really soft fur, and now... Tim lays a hand on Mickey Mouse's head and gets a wet tongue to the palm in turn.

It's not the best.

She's the one who yips when she smells Sadalbari, and Tim kinda wishes she'd be quiet for once. But now he's obligated to raise a hand and wave when he finds Jason. Oh, and it's still raining.] Hey.

[And,] What are you doing out here?

[Which is, What Are You Doing Out HERE and not What Are YOU Doing Out Here and

Tim thinks he has a headache coming on.]

(Ooc: sup I'm with family out of the country and miiight be spotty with signal. hope you don't mind another tag from me!)

[[ OOC: All good! Always glad to play with a talented writer! ]]

[Sadalbari, who returned to the land of the living separately, has never met Tim or his daemon before. She glances up at Jason when Tim waves and calls out a greeting, and Jason mouths third one at her. She trots over to Mickey, tufty little tail wagging like a dog's to show that she's friendly.]

[Before she settled, Sadalbari often took the form of a domesticated dog -- a bull terrier, actually -- and she still uses those mannerisms sometimes to put people and other daemons at ease. And of course, when Jason was acting as Robin, she took on the shape of an American Robin both for theming and so she wouldn't fall behind as they ranged the rooftops. Her permanent form as a hyena was unexpected, and brings its own problems, but Jason has always lavished her with attention and love when he had her by his side. That they are together again is an unexpected joy, the healing of a wound that seemed destined to bleed forever.]

'Hello!' [Sadalbari says in a cheerful voice as she comes closer to Tim's daemon. Now that the distance is much less, it should be easy to see that Sadie is decked out in a clear vinyl doggie raincoat and that the dark fur on her paws is actually covered by black waterproof booties.] 'I'm Sadalbari. What's your name?'

[Jason snorts, and smiles like he can't help it.] It's a free country, yeah? I know I was gone for a while, but Gotham's still home. [Beat. Then,] Running an errand. Got guests coming for a visit.

[It can at times seem like Maedhros has no daemon, for ever since their bond was streched during his captivity in Angband he has been used as something like a scout by him. Sercampa might look fierce and intimidating, but he is quite calm and level-headed most of the time.]

Edited 2023-08-30 17:58 (UTC)

( Demons don't have daemons, don't be stupid. What Crowley does have is a super-normal crow who follows him around to make him look like he's human. He made a deal with it and gave it immortal life in exchange for pretending to be his daemon. That's totally what happened. No, Psellus did not manifest her (and sometimes him)-self very, very slowly over the course of six thousand years, mind your business. )

'I guess that's one more place to cross off the list,' [Sadalbari comments, in a tone of forced cheer. Her accent, pure New Jersey, might stick out some even in an international city like London. The pair who are speaking to each other -- a very tall and broadly built man in a black leather jacket, and a female spotted hyena -- also stick out just based on their appearance.]

[Her human, who keeps his right hand on her since she's pressed just a little against his right leg, grumbles,] Can't accommodate a daemon of your size, my ass. The kebab shop last week was way smaller and they were cool...

'Don't worry. We'll find a nice place that won't fuss about me. They can't all be snobs!'

[ Elise is a female red-tailed hawk. Though she didn't settle on her final form until much later, the moment he awoke as Bahamut's Dominant she would only shift between different flying animals to ensure she was never left behind (and to give him pointers on how to fly).

She's a confidant for Dion, advising him as best she can and has an unnerving tendency to simply stare at other people in the room from her usual perch on his shoulder/arm, only ever talking when she and Dion are alone. She has spoken in Terence's presence, however; sometimes to talk about him which is kind of embarrassing even if she never has anything bad to say. Obviously, the two are deeply protective of one another. ]

( Alya is a cougar who settled very late but is now basically inseparable from her human and is often found lounging somewhere nearby. or headbutting any daemon of any person james is even vaguely close to )

[Gator was generally curled around Henry's wrist -or sometimes his upper arm- like some kind of bangle during shows, but on the road or just off-stage, was most often tucked into a breast pocket or lurking under the collar of his jacket.]

[Hlupha had been aptly named. Only in part because when he'd settled, he'd done so as a vibrantly purple betta fish, something that had forced Shuri to come up with a mobile bowl for him, when he wasn't in the wall-sized tank in her lab.

Which she had done, and had made multiple 'mini-mechs' for the bowl to attach to, allowing Hlupha range of movement on multiple types of terrain.]

[Bambi is a majestic creature, and neither he nor Petit will hear any argument to the contrary. He's a good lookout when she's working, and at least as fearless as she is when doing roof-level parkour.]

[Jacobi settled as a raccoon early on, because Mina needed something that could keep her warm when they were traveling in cold places, but also needed something that had grabby hands for helping with first aid or carrying supplies or even locking doors and boxes. The two of them can stand to be fairly far apart if needed for a job, though they prefer not to do that.]

[Most people suspect Steve's daemon is something small, easy to hide in a pocket or a sleeve, and he's happy to let them think that, mostly because he and Ursula have had to learn to have some distance between them.
She's definitely not as small as people think, and while she's smaller than an actual grizzly, she's still big enough to have carried Steve off after a fight or two.]

[Shiny couldn't really remember what shape Ghost had been when they'd still been in the City, couldn't remember if he'd even existed then. But that hardly mattered now, because she knew the jewel-bright hummingbird was hers as much as she was his, and sometimes making sure he was safe and cared for was easier than taking care of herself, even though it amounted to the same in the end.]

[Hera was usually a reptile of some kind while she could still shift, and settled on a cobra before she'd settled on albino, having gone through a range of colors first. Interestingly, in dreams she shows up usually as some kind of fantasy lizard, a small dragon or wyvern, and usually a metallic cobalt blue.]

[Before everything that happened, Simon was a corn snake, maybe a foot long, thinner than a garden hose and pale blue with pistachio-green mottling.
Now, however, he's longer than she is tall, thicker than her wrist, and a deep cobalt blue with a scattering of equally deep green scales across his face. He takes his job of protecting her very seriously.

Equally okay with 'everyone lived' as I am with 'back from the dead', whatever suits!]

[Techie has Grace, a usually vibrantly yellow and green Leopard Moth, who keeps close, generally hidden up his sleeve or under his collar, mostly because MaMa Madrigal either tried (unsuccessfully) to sever them, or repeatedly threatened to, perhaps both.]

[11a, now known as Lee, is still capable of shifting, though not as frequently or as widely as he could even just a couple of years ago. He tends to stick to mostly-wild animals that still aren't out of place in a town like Hawkins, rabbits, raccoons, opossums and even a fox sometimes.
Also available in 'found by the Munsons instead of Mike Wheeler' flavor at

not_011, just let me know which version you'd prefer.]

[Rocco might look big and tough, but he's mostly a sweetheart, the same way Pixel can be prickly at first, but does have everyone's best interests at heart. In dreams, he's always a different kind of dog, and never the same kind twice in a row.]

[Irving the chipmunk is usually perched on Torii's shoulder or sprawled on her head, occasionally tucked into a pocket or just perched on whatever mannequin or dress form she's using at the moment.
Sure, he looks like a chipmunk, but he's always some color not usually found in nature, or at least, not natural for a chipmunk.]

[People look at Eddie and expect his daemon to be something like a rat or a snake, maybe a bat to match the ones inked on his arm, maybe a spider, even.
No one expects Betty. Which is how they like it.]

[ Phil has Holly a very focused border collie who can leap into action with the right command and herds junior agents around. ]

[She's got a little cardinal that hangs around, generally providing running commentary and giving an insight into the way that Big Sis Mag makes her way through the world (aggressively, usually).]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

daemons

Jason Todd | DC Comics (preboot) | gen only please

Hi I'm just going to jump in here lol

no subject

Maedhros | the silmarillion | ota

Anthony J. Crowley / Good Omens

no subject

Dion Lesage - FFXVI

james t. kirk | trek: snw

Henry Stillman | X-Verse OC | OTA

Shuri | MCU | OTA

Petit | X-verse OC | OTA

Mina / Urban Fantasy OC / OTA

Steve | Stranger Things | OTA

Shiny \ Fabulous Killjoys OC \ OTA

Apollo | Inception OC | OTA

Chrissy Cunningham + Stranger Things + OTA

Techie | Dredd | OTA

El | Weird Stuff Happens: The Series | OTA

Pixel | Inception OC | OTA

Torii | OC | OTA

Eddie + Stranger Things + OTA

Phil Coulson | MCU

Magne Hikiishi | My Hero Academia