#and just because I'm not particularly interested in Daemon AUs does not mean you have to fit my tastes - do your own thing and have fun | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

themountainsays · 3 years

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I haven't watched nearly enough Marvel nor simped after Loki nearly enough to write you a long character analysis but but but but but. Loki Daemon AU.

I mean, setting the whole multiverse thing aside, let's asume the MCU just has daemons. For the uninitiated, a daemon is a physical manifestation of your soul in the form of a concious, talking animal companion. It shifts forms from animal to animal until it settles on the one that best reflects your personality somewhere between puberty and early adulthood, as seen in Philip Pullman's series His Dark Materials.

Now I do like to shoehorn daemons into everything I see but in this case i'm specifically interested in the multiple Lokis and what that means for each Loki's daemon. I want to make a long-ish post about the question of identity and an "innate Loki essence", what the show wants to say about it etc etc. My thoughts are a bit unfinished here, but still, I want to talk about them.

Would they all share the same form, reflecting this "inner lokiness" that connects them all? Or would they all be completely different, to highlight their differences? How different should two Lokis be to have a different daemon? If their only difference was their fashion sense or their music taste etc, would that be enough for their daemons to be different? How much margin does a form allow? How specific is it?

Personally, I like to think most of them have a somewhat different form, but with a few common characteristics, like, for example, all of them being lizards (i'm doing this for you, Alligator Loki!). So maybe they're not all green, but they share this unespecific common trait they can't pinpoint, but they all know it's there. So according to my headcanons:

Our Loki is a snek. The friendly, non-venemous type, who can look both intimidating AND derpy depending in the situation.

President Loki, in the other hand, has a venemous snake.

In fact, most Lokis on his gang have venemous daemons. Most of them are probably snakes, too. They're not very original.

Kid Loki probably has a cool lizard, with spikes and stuff. All 13 year olds love dinosaurs so it probably looks a bit like a dinosaur. He might be still unsettled, and his daemon changes forms constantly in order to keep him safe.

Classic Loki has a komodo dragon, the largest living reptile on earth.

Alligator Loki is his own daemon. He's an alligator.

Now, Sylvie is where things get interesting. My poor selfcest trash heart wants her to have a non-venemous snake like our Loki, to highlight their sameness. But personality wise, it feels like she would be particularly distinctive from all the other Lokis. I was tempted to give her a platypus-- still venemous, still like a reptile in some ways, but not a reptile. But I feel like that would be anthitetical to (what I interpret to be) the message of the show. Sylvie is just as much Loki as all the other Lokis, even if a bit odd, a little bit distinct. So rather than giving her a daemon that looks like a Loki's but isn't, I'd like to give her one that doesn't initially look like one, but secretly is.

So, an animal that is a reptile, or related to reptiles, but most people wouldn't notice? 🤔

I have 2 candidates

Option 1: Mammal-like reptiles: these guys became extinct like, a bunch of millions years ago. Kind of the link between reptiles and mammals. still considered reptiles. I like the symbolism of Sylvie's daemon being an extinct animal, with that whole "grew up in the end of a thousand worlds" and stuff. They looked a bit like this btw

Disclaimer i'm not a scientist

Option 2: Birds. Apparently birds are reptiles and i think that's fucking cool. I do think a hawk would fit Sylvie very well, maybe even an owl. Imagine a running gag between two characters (most likely Loki and Sylvie) fighting over whether birds count as reptiles or not, and what this means for Sylvie's identity. I think Loki start off very jealous that he's not the one with the unique daemon, but in time Sylvie having a bird would join the list of Reasons why Loki Thinks She's Awesome, and he'd start to appreciate and admire it as another expression of her awesomeness, while still being a somewhat-hidden link to him and the other Lokis. Plus i love the symbolism of BIRD + Fleeing from danger.

Or, like, maybe a snek that looks a lot like Loki's, as a reminder of their sameness. I do think it would be very romantic 👉👈 selfcest is wincest right? Like imagine all the Lokis having sneks, and it becomes a running joke at the TVA. They see them standing next to each other with their respective snake daemons draped over their shoulders or wrapped around their necks etc and they go "ah, yes, the Loki(s)". And then they meet the other Lokis and they all have sneks.

The other question is, do all the daemons share a same name? I assume most do, except for Sylvie's. I couldn't come up with any name tho, because I suck at it. But yeah.

#loki series #loki spoilers #loki daemon au #i'd have to come up with headcanons for the TVA agents but mobius is an otter imo #now that i think about it. wouldn't classic loki settle at the same time as our loki? wouldn't they have the same daemon?#with sylvie and kid loki being different?

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in-tua-deep · 5 years

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My dude, my buddy, my guy, my gal, my pal. Please yeet more of this daemon AU at me, I'm super interested in this whole idea and would love to hear more, how do all of the daemons interact with each other?? What are the little quirks shared between daemon and human?? Did any of them have a phase where they couldn't stand their daemon?? Did Vanya's owl claw out Leonard's eyes when the truth came out?? How exactly would they find out that Five's daemon didn't settle?? I'm living for this AU now

oh i am SO ready for more daemon au are you kidding here we go starting with some NAMES because all good ocs need names and while the first post was mainly for just saying what animal is what now i can develop it into a full au and no one can stop me

So the kids and their daemons share a name for most of their lives, they’re both just,, one or two and so on. But when they get names they run into the roadblock of “do our daemons get the same names as us??” and realize that their one (1) example of a human/daemon relationship is their dad he his daemon doesn’t share his name so… probably not. But he only ordered Grace to give the human in the relationship a name so it’s up to their what their daemons names will be

I’m thinking Luther probably gave his daemon a space themed name because he’s my good space boy so I’m going to name his daemon Andromeda after the galaxy !! I think she would have wanted a somewhat regal sounding name because she tries really hard to model herself after Reggie’s daemon, who is the very definition of regal. Luther calls her Dromeda or Drom for short occasionally

Diego’s daemon HMMM i’m gonna say Valencia, Val for short because that means brave and I think it would be important to Diego to have a defender of some kind and they both would want so desperately to be brave bless their hearts

oh man i am absolutely naming Allison’s daemon Amraphel which means “one that speaks of secrets” and Allison calls him Raph for short and he’s still lazy and I still love him a whole lot

Klaus’s daemon i’m admittedly a bit stuck on but i’m gonna call them Rowan because it’s a tree that symbolizes life and courage and as some very fearful kids with death powers I think they’d appreciate it. Rowan is nonbinary btw (”are you a girl or a boy” “i’m made of fucking dust why does it matter”)

I named Five’s daemon Pancha because I like it and I feel like naming her Quinque, which is Five in Latin, would be way obvious because if you think Reggie didn’t make these kids learn an archaic dead language because he’s a pretentious ass then you’re probably wrong so yes Pancha it is and when the kids figure out it’s literally the number five in another language they’re going to throw a fit

Ben’s daemon is named Tamaya which means in the center literally just because they’re in the middle of two planes of existence and one is full of monsters and also because i like the name Tama as well so this is really two birds with one stone and no one can stop me

and finally Vanya’s daemon is named Pollux for exactly no reason other than because I say so and it sounds like it could be a name for a daemons from the books which i was trying very hard for the aesthetic with all the names but it’s been so long since i’ve read them oops

ALRIGHT with that over with i can actually yell about them which i’m putting under the cut because this is going to be long as FUCK

so how the daemons interact with each other… I’m probably going to leave out Tamaya for most just bc most of them don’t know that she survived Ben’s death for like,, a really long time in the fic i have half planned in my head

SO i already mentioned Andromeda is kind of a stick in the mud and unimpressed with her siblings shenanigans. She tries really hard to emulate their dad/their dad’s daemon but doesn’t have the control on her temper that she should. She’s blunt and says what she’s thinking, she doesn’t really care about the fact that daemons don’t usually speak to people that aren’t their own and she’ll boss everyone around given the chance tbh

She doesn’t get along with Val at all and there’s a lot of posturing between the two especially after they both settle. Generally she’s dismissive but occasionally she taunts Val with the fact that she settled as something that protects against wolves, and that clearly Val is too wild to ever amount to much. Val hits right back calling her and Luther “Dad’s obedient little dogs” and just generally when you have Luther and Diego going at one another Drom and Val are only half a step behind them

She gets along well with Raph and often carries him around when Allison calls him lazy and refuses to do it. Despite that thought Raph is like,, super muscular and strong and he’s a bigass snake, Drom used to carry him into position during missions and let’s just say they were a solid interrogation team with Drom’s teeth and Raph literally squeezing information out of people when necessary (though he can always rumor people just like Allison, he’s not fond of doing it and calls it cheating because he’s a contrary bastard). He tends to help immobilizing people and their daemons and is used as a restraint a lot until their people with thumbs can come along with rope or something

Andromeda and Rowan do NOT get along, mainly because Rowan is pretty vocal about the fact that their dad fucked them up and has no respect. Some of it also comes from the fact that Andromeda is a little jealous of Rowan’s grace as a cat because their dad’s fox daemon is exceptionally graceful and regal. But generally Andromeda ignores Rowan or growls at him, she’s never physically laid a paw on him outside of sparring until that scene with drunk and depressed Luther though

Andromeda,, also doesn’t really get along with Pancha either. It has a lot to do with the fact that as kids Pancha was constantly shifting where Drom would keep a form and stick to it. She would often tell Pancha that one day she’d settle well lmao jokes on her. Pancha used to frequently insults Drom’s intelligence and has called her a “dumb mutt” before but upon return those insults have been conspicuously absent for ALL the siblings. Five still has a fairly venomous tongue, but Pancha keeps her silence.

Andromeda and Pollux don’t have a relationship, simple as that. She ignores Pollux’s existence, even when the other daemon attempts to interact with her. She basically assumes their father is correct in Vanya’s uselessness and as such doesn’t care all that much about either of them. To be fair Pollux has learned from their childhood and doesn’t interact with Andromeda much either, and even when Vanya attempts to like,, call Luther out Pollux keeps his silence.

Val doesn’t like Andromeda and isn’t afraid to show it, bristling and snarling. Val actually settled first of the two of them (a point of pride), and some part of her is a little hurt that Drom turned into a dog that protects a pack from wolves and took it personally as Luther’s literal soul saying that he didn’t see Diego and her as part of the pack.

Her and Raph don’t really talk a lot but they have a lot of relatable sibling-eye-contact moments over their family being dumb shits and whenever Andromeda wasn’t available it was Val who would carry Raph so they’re actually closer to one another than their people are. Raph firmly refuses to get between any argument of Drom and Val’s and would 100% rumor them apart when they were all kids because Raph was Sick Of Their Shit™ despite his general distaste for rumoring

Val and Rowan get along pretty well actually, Rowan frequently hops up to ride on her back like they’re the captain of a furry wolf shaped ship and Val allows it even though she thinks they’re a little shit. Rowan used to hide behind Val from Reggie and his daemon and Val might still have a lot of protective pack instincts that she showers on them because they allow it. Val may or may not be 90% of the reason that Diego just sighs and lets Klaus tag along whenever, though Diego and Val often disagree on how to handle the Klaus/Rowan situation since Val wants to kidnap them both and keep them safe in their boiler room while Diego is of the firm belief that Klaus is a big boy now and they aren’t responsible for him.

Val thought Pancha was a mischievous little shit when they were kids as the other daemon would frequently jump wherever she pleased. Val isn’t surprised when Pancha “settles” as a hare since they’re associated with tricksters and are more solitary and independent and tougher than their rabbit counterparts. She’s super worried about Pancha when she arrived back with Five though, since the other daemon is far more withdrawn and look daemons are representations of someone’s soul they can’t lie - Five can put on a tough act all he likes but Pancha’s behavior is pretty clearly off and she looks at all of them like she’s seeing ghosts. Val is the one to carry Pancha back after the shrapnel incident, swearing because she knew she should have been suspicious that Five was carrying Pancha when she’d always hated being carried when they were kids

Val doesn’t particularly care for Pollux and is actually mildly uneasy around him. There’s just something… off about the other daemon. It raises Val’s hackles even if she doesn’t know why, and she doesn’t figure it out until after the fact that the reason she was wary of Pollux is literally because on some level she recognized the chains on him via the medication and was repulsed even though it wasn’t Pollux’s fault. She’s trying to be better after the fact with him.

I’m making myself so sad about Pollux right now tbh he deserves so much better than what he’s got but moving on

Raph is honestly the chillest daemon with everyone else’s daemon. No one has beef with Raph. Like, they might have beef with Allison, but not with Raph which might be why Allison and Raph are probably the least in sync out of the siblings with their daemon actually outside of Vanya. Raph loves Andromeda who carries him places and doesn’t mind him winding up on her because she’s warm.

Raph considers Val to be his bitchface pal and they bond over their people being stupid. Honestly Raph just wants to sleep for the most part. But legit though Allison and Raph need an intervention for them never being on the same page I think Raph might resent Allison leaving to become a star and he’s the one that dislikes using their power and constantly advised against using it so he might, on some level, blame Allison for them losing Claire (and Allison wonders if the stereotype against snake daemons played a role and sort of blames him) and honestly their relationship is a fucking mess

Raph and Rowan are chill, they’re bros, they know what they’re about. Raph thinks Rowan’s sense of humor is fucking hilarious and they’re both sleepy bitches (Rowan is a cat they knows what they’re about regarding catnaps) so they napped together a lot when everyone was under the same roof. They’re at an unspoken truce regarding the drug issue because unlike the rest of the family Raph actually listens when Rowan explains about their power being the fucking worst and having to numb it down after Raph offers to rumor them to get clean. But yeah like Allison and Klaus don’t hang out much but Raph and Rowan are bros.

I said Raph gets along with p much everyone but he’s not super close with Pancha simply because she was constantly on the move and shifting every other minute as kids back when everyone was unsettled like she was constantly itching to get out of her own skin. Like, Pancha’s thing is moving and being quick and honestly Raph is a little surprised she didn’t settle as a bird daemon the way she flits about. Raph being lazy, they didn’t see much of one another but he was always up for a conversation when Pancha calmed down enough or exhausted herself. He likes her, he just thinks she’s exhausting. He’s much more concerned for her after she gets back from the apocalypse though.

Raph and Pollux kind of,, also don’t have a big relationship tbh. There’s just something about Pollux that makes Raph uneasy, but he’s a chill dude and is probably one of the closest to Pollux after Pancha. Sometimes when Raph would be going slithering through the house, Pollux would sit upon his back and chill as they both went to whatever destination. Raph does think it’s a little weird that Pollux doesn’t fly considering he’s, you know, a bird, but he doesn’t press the issue (which he regrets, later). But overall he’s not nearly as interested in mending bridges with Vanya as Allison is since there’s still that something that prevents him from fully liking Pollux. But as the plot progresses he warms up to the idea more and more without realizing that the reason he’s warming is because they stopped taking the drugs hmm

Rowan doesn’t get along with Andromeda but they’re pretty chill with everyone else’s daemons. They get surprisingly protective of their siblings and even though Klaus isn’t great in a fight pre-Vietnam, Rowan isn’t afraid to flash their claws when necessary. The biggest reason they got kidnapped is because Hazel’s daemon didn’t come to the firefight in the manor and they weren’t willing to break the taboo on touching a human when it seemed like the primary objective was to take Klaus not to kill him. They ended up regretting it for the torture scene though oof.

Rowan loves Val a whole lot and likes trying to groom her and they 100% climb up on Val’s back when they feel like being lazy. Rowan is a self proclaimed dog person though they often say that there are always exceptions and eye Andromeda but this comes up again with Dave and his australian cattle dog daemon where, when they meet, Rowan blurts out that they’re a dog person and Dave’s daemon snorts in laughter considering that Klaus’s daemon is literally a cat. He is the personification of ‘cat person’ his soul is a cAT.

I already yelled about Rowan and Raph being nap buds, they like Raph because he’s never judged them and just accepts that they know their powers well enough to know what does and doesn’t work

Rowan and Pancha actually get along weirdly well?? Like, Rowan can be off the walls crazy at times as you know cats get that simply zest for life and just go fucking nuts for a while before going back to sleep?? so Rowan is actually one of the few of the siblings daemons who could keep up with her when they were kids and Pancha was the last of them unsettled. There was a minor freak out where they didn’t see Pancha at first when Five popped out of the portal which prompted the whole “does anyone else see little number five” comment bc ghosts don’t have daemons but then Pancha popped up and Rowan was so fuCKING RELIEVED and continuously prodded at Klaus to follow either Diego or Five because they want to hang out with Val and Pancha

The only one of the siblings daemons who knows that Tamaya is still alive. She doesn’t speak almost at all, only rarely talking to Klaus but she talks a little more to Rowan. Tamaya is usually curled up in Klaus’s pockets or general clothing but there have been a few occasions where she rides on Rowan’s shoulders or goes off on her own for a little while (those are the occasions where Ben’s ghost also goes off for a little while, neither Klaus nor Rowan question where they go). Tamaya also occasions hides in Klaus’s room instead of accompanying them places. During the kidnapping she nibbles through Klaus’s restraints and allows him to escape a little more easily since no one expects an unaccompanied daemon, haven’t decided yet how this impacts the whole Patch dying situation

Rowan doesn’t really talk to Pollux and Pollux doesn’t talk to them, though Rowan does care about Pollux. Rowan is the most easygoing with Pollux because honestly being high means that they don’t notice Pollux’s strangeness on the same level as the others and will often direct comments towards the owl daemon. Pollux rarely responds, however.

Pancha time!! I love Pancha she’s a ball of nervous energy and can’t sit still half the time. As a kid she was constantly shifting between animals like she would run across a room and be five different animals in the time it took her to get to the other end, just always restless. She and Five kept each other sane in the apocalypse - I haven’t decided whether Dolores exists in this au and if she does would she get a stuffed animal daemon?? Decisions decisions. She’s changed a LOT from the Pancha that the others remember and is noticeably a lot more quiet and standoffish, but also she fades into the background where as a kid she was constantly bursting to the foreground and demanding attention. She looks at them all like they’re ghosts and will flinch when addressed sometimes even by other daemons. The others can sense there’s something just a little bit off about her but attribute that to the trauma (eventually though it comes out that Pancha is still unsettled and that explains it)

Pancha never got along with Andromeda and they butted heads a lot before Pancha left. Pancha’s a smartass daemon alongside her person so would frequently insult Andromeda’s intelligence or go off plan because she thought of something better and would frequently yell for Andromeda to ‘adapt!’ because that was her biggest criticism. Her fluidly changing from one form to another depending on the situation was her calling card for adapting and Andromeda would always growl that one day Pancha would have to settle and Pancha would shrug it off. As adults they still don’t really see eye to eye though Pancha has noticeably softened towards Andromeda. She doesn’t call the other daemon a dumb mutt anymore and in fact doesn’t insult any of the others at all.

Pancha liked irritating Val when they were kids but still got along reasonably well with her. Now that they’re back, Val is noticeably more protective of her family and Pancha is included with that. There are a couple of moments where Val bores holes into Pancha’s head to try and telepathically ask if the hare is okay that Pancha doesn’t respond to. When Five and Pancha are drunk off their asses, Val is the one who carries Pancha even though Luther is carrying Five. She insisted. She also carried Pancha home after the shrapnel injury and curled around her on the bed absolutely FURIOUS that someone dared to hurt her sibling. Pancha says some things while drunk that break Val’s heart, and Pancha never protests the coddling unlike Five. She doesn’t lean into it, but she doesn’t protest it.

Pancha and Raph aren’t close but Pancha likes the other daemon regardless because he never did pry into her business and showed her how to do cool tricks as a snake after he settled and she didn’t. Raph never made comments about her being the last to settle unlike most of the others (even though Ben and Vanya only ever mentioned it kindly).

Pancha and Rowan are bros though Pancha disapproves of Rowan drugging themself to keep the powers at bay and always expresses that they have faith that Rowan will learn to control them one day. Honestly Rowan finds it kind of nice even if Pancha disapproves because at least she disapproves because she 100% believes in them instead of being disapproving for disapproval’s sake. Pancha expresses that even drugged Rowan is one of the most observant of their siblings. Rowan worries about her after she comes back and keeps trying to convince Klaus to go after Five, but Five has a very venomous tongue and Klaus is delicate no matter how much Rowan figures it’s just a defense mechanism since Pancha doesn’t echo the sentiments. Rowan is worried about Five as well. Rowan is just worried :(

Pancha is the only one in the family who loves Pollux and actively seeks the other daemon out. She knows something isn’t right, but instead of being repulsed finds herself delighted at the mystery and assumes that the ‘wrongness’ is why Pollux doesn’t fly. Before Pancha jumped to the apocalypse, she kept trying to teach Pollux how to fly by shifting into various birds but it never did stick.

Yeah though Pollux is a daemon that really unnerves other daemons because they can tell something is terribly wrong even if they can’t quite put their finger on what. Pollux and Vanya don’t really communicate either and get second place in the “our human/daemon relationship is super messed up” after Allison and Raph.

Pollux doesn’t really speak. To anyone. Especially after Five and Pancha vanish. He’s just,, not really all the way there to be honest. He goes where Vanya does but does precious little, often standing as still as a statue on his perch until moved again. Sometimes he’ll interact with other daemons but not usually by speaking - he’s sat on Raph’s back or tugged at Andromeda’s fur to get her attention or silently stood in someone’s way but seriously for the most part he’s somewhat catatonic.

After they go off the meds he starts perking up again and speaks for the first time in years to Leonard/Harold and his skua daemon. He actually does have a personality, but he’s been suppressed for so long that he’s still figuring himself out alongside Vanya tbh

As the White Violin his colors switch and instead of being brown with white spots as a spotted owl he becomes white with brown spots. He also is constantly flying while they’re using their powers, flapping and keeping himself aloft roughly above Vanya’s head, half suspended by their own power. As they figure out control, they eventually realize that it’s Pollux who can direct their sound based attacks with his wings and if Vanya tries to go alone it’s uncontrolled like the attack on the trucker dudes without the focus of her violin. They have to work together to control Vanya’s powers, and it’s difficult because they genuinely don’t really have much of a relationship or know each other very well since they’ve been sedated since Vanya was like, four years old

this post is already so so long so i’ll cut it off here probably but yeAH there’s probably a scene where Pollux attacks Leonard/Harold’s daemon and claws her eye out and there’s a translated wound on Leonard because that’s how daemons work and then they both get fucked up by Vanya and Pollux’s powers/knife storm thing

(Pollux isn’t as angry as Vanya is, truthfully. He’s just… tired. He’s so tired. Vanya wants to end the world in her fury. Pollux wants to end it just so everything… stops.)

but yes please keep asking me questions about this au i’m living for it i love these dumb idiots and their daemons

(still need to come up names for the background character daemons, there’s a part of my mind whispering don’t you fucking dare name reginald’s daemon regina soul i swear to fuck so that’s a thing - i’ll also take suggestions for background character daemon names as well!! it was hard enough coming up with these losers)

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badacts · 7 years

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now that i know you like his dark materials... how bout a tfc au daemon style? i've been thinking about it for months and i want nay need it in my life. think of andreil. cause i did and i'm in tears

this is just a little bit because otherwise i’m liable to never stop

Sin settles later than most.

Having a distinctive daemon is somehow less obvious than having one that no one ever sees. All kinds of kids have peacocks, grizzly bears and cobras - they shift week-to-week, about as permanent as the wind. If not for his mother, Neil would wear Sin against his skin every day as something tiny. But that would be obvious, so instead her name changes almost as much as her form.

It’s not until Mary dies that she finally does settle. Neil looks away from the car, dazzled by firelight, and finds silvery speckled fur with jet-black points and reddish eyes the same colour as Nathaniel Wesninski’s hair. Just like that, he knows she won’t shift again.

He wants to run and leave her behind. Instead, the first night they’re alone when he’s finally holed up somewhere safe enough to sleep, he presses his face into her coat and says her name like a prayer.

Jacinth.

“Shh,” she replies, voice rusty and weary as Neil feels. Like she’s remembering Mary’s lessons, you’re Alex-Stefan-whatever and nothing else, with the ferocity that Neil stills feels the echo of blood-deep.

Tomorrow, he’ll be someone else again. So will she. But he can’t resist the little kernel of truth that is her true name in his mouth.

Sin laughs sharply when they read about Kevin Day joining the Foxes. Irony, she says, her teeth on show.

She isn’t laughing when Wymack comes for them.

“It’s almost meant to be,” he says, gesturing to her where she’s poised at Neil’s feet. The tension in her body is more obvious than it is in Neil’s, every muscle tight with it. “Need a pen?”

“No,” Neil replies. “I’m not playing for you. You’re wasting your time.”

Wymack taps at the side of his head like he’s not sure his ears are working right. Beside him, his daemon tilts her head. “I misheard you.”

“You signed Kevin.” It sounds like a non sequitur. It’s not – this is a death sentence that the Fox coach is asking him to sign.

“And Kevin’s signing you-”

Neil bolts, leaving him and Hernandez behind in a clatter of metal under the soles of his shoes. There’s no pull from Sin, because she’s right at his heels.

Graduating high school means nothing if he dies within the year. Forget it – he’ll leave tonight, outrunning Kevin and all of his other ghosts.

Except he’s too slow. Halfway through the locker room he realises he isn’t alone, but it’s already too late.

It’s like he hits a brick wall, gasping and suddenly unable to go another step forwards. For a second he doesn’t realise what has happened – then he hears Sin gasp his name.

“Better luck next time,” comes a voice from behind Neil. He can’t look to see who it belongs to, his eyes caught on Sin as she struggles in the jaws of another daemon.

“Let her go,” he says, dropped to one knee and not even sure how he got there. The crawl of pain that feels like teeth in the back of his neck is overwhelming, all-consuming.

“Oh, no, no,” the voice says. “We came all this way for you. It’s no fun if you run off ten minutes into our meeting. Your coach was right though - you’re quick.”

There’s the sound of feet on the floor, and Wymack and his coyote daemon appear in the doorway with Hernandez behind them. Wymack says, “God damn it, Minyard!”

“We didn’t break them, Coach,” the voice replies. “Effective, no? Not even a bruise.”

“Let go of her,” Neil repeats, finally managing to turn his head away from Sin to the owner of the voice. Andrew Minyard is familiar thanks to Neil’s reading habits, a broad grin across his face and his hands shoved into his pockets.

“Now, Andrew,” Wymack says.

Andrew gestures to his daemon. “What, you can’t ask her?”

She doesn’t look particularly interested in reasonable argument. She probably outweighs Neil, and even with her head held low she’s nearly a metre tall. She’s a spotted hyena, roughed-coated and powerful and slavering around her grip on Sin’s coat.

Smiling still, Andrew says, “Amaranth.” His daemon spits Sin out at last, so she lands in a heap on the floor. A second later, she bolts for Neil – he opens his arms for her, and then she’s in them, clasped close enough that he feels like he could push her inside of his chest.

It’s not the first time she’s been grabbed by another daemon. All of those memories drag at Neil as he holds her spit-damp, quivering body against him.

“Are you okay?” Wymack asks them, as his daemon puts herself between them and Amaranth. Amaranth nips at her tail and laughs at the snap she gets in response, the sound bright and horrendous and all animal against the backdrop of the locker room.

All the articles talk about Andrew and his bright drugged smile – they don’t mention the effect on his daemon. Or maybe the madness is a pre-existing condition.

“I’m fine,” Neil replies. “I’m leaving.”

Except he isn’t. Except, he doesn’t. Instead he leaves campus in the dark, with Sin curled around his neck, the contract weighing down his bag, and Andrew Minyard’s mocking words echoing in his ears along with his daemon’s laughter.

#the foxhole court #andreil #my fic #prompts #hdm au #when u wanna write 12k words but also u gotta sleep #Anonymous

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