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Doctor Who, Daemon AUs, a Fanfiction Fragment and Idle Speculation ...
So, one of my favourite types of fusion crossover in the universe is AUs where characters have daemons, as in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series. (For some reason they seem popular in Sherlock fandom. I approve.) Every now and then I find myself speculating about how the souls of my favourite characters would manifest in animal form and wondering if I should write one.
Doctor Who, for example, might open quite differently if people had visible souls ...
"She lets her knowledge out a bit at a time, so as not to embarrass me: that's what I feel about her. She knows more science than I'll ever know. She's a genius! Is that what she's doing with history?" Ian asked Barbara.
"Something like that."
"So, your problem is whether to stay in business or hand over the class to her."
"No, not quite."
"What then?"
"Ian, I must talk to someone about this, but I don't want the girl to get into trouble. And I know you're going to tell me I'm imagining things."
"No, I'm not."
"It's her daemon, Ian." Astrian fluttered nervously about her head, reflecting her unease.
"It hasn't settled, has it? She's a little older than average, but nothing to worry about yet."
"It's not that, it's the forms it takes. He changes when she's nervous, and the animals - sometimes I don't recognize them."
"When I was a kid, Jerana turned into a dragon a couple of times," said Ian, ruffling his daemon's ears affectionately. She wagged her tail in response. "We grew out of it, as I'm sure Susan soon will."
"I'm not talking about dragons, or unicorns, or anything Susan could have seen in a book. I'm talking about things nobody in this world has ever dreamed of ..."
I do tend to think, though, that the Doctor's daemon would settle into Earth animals. (A different one each regeneration, of course.) He wanders the universe wearing Earth clothes, eating Earth food and mostly hanging out with human beings. The same would not necessarily apply to other Gallifreyans, or the likes of of Adric, Nyssa and Turlough. Being an alien on Earth might be a bit more conspicuous in this universe if your daemon wasn't small and easy to hide and/or you had holograms. (Unless convergent evolution in the Doctor Who universe doesn't just apply to bipedal hominids, I guess.) People would find Cybermen extra disturbing because conversion would kill the daemon but leave the person walking around in a metal shell.
I cannot help but think that both Two and Seven would have members of the Corvidae for daemons. Probably a Jackdaw and a Magpie. Noisy and attracted to shiny objects, but terrifyingly smart. One's would be something traditionally associated with wisdom but a bit mysterious and scary - a snake or an owl. My only debate about Five's is whether it would be a Cocker Spaniel or a Labrador. She would definitely spend that incarnation be something blond and enthusiastic that loves to play fetch. While physical resemblance to one's daemon is beside the point, I cannot picture Ten's as anything other than one of the Mustelidae, or one of the other creatures that resembles that family by convergence - a mongoose or a meerkat, perhaps. Something with a habit of sitting up on her hind legs to peer at people, anyway. The two I have no idea about at all are Eight and Nine.
As for companions - Jamie's would be a Border Collie. Not a purebred example of the modern version, but dogs of roughly that type have been rounding up sheep in Scotland for centuries. Peri's would be a brightly coloured bird, something we have actual canon evidence for from Vengeance on Varos. I'm guessing a hummingbird, lorikeet or something else that loves flowering plants. And I think Ace's would have to be wolf for plot reasons.
Doctor Who, for example, might open quite differently if people had visible souls ...
"She lets her knowledge out a bit at a time, so as not to embarrass me: that's what I feel about her. She knows more science than I'll ever know. She's a genius! Is that what she's doing with history?" Ian asked Barbara.
"Something like that."
"So, your problem is whether to stay in business or hand over the class to her."
"No, not quite."
"What then?"
"Ian, I must talk to someone about this, but I don't want the girl to get into trouble. And I know you're going to tell me I'm imagining things."
"No, I'm not."
"It's her daemon, Ian." Astrian fluttered nervously about her head, reflecting her unease.
"It hasn't settled, has it? She's a little older than average, but nothing to worry about yet."
"It's not that, it's the forms it takes. He changes when she's nervous, and the animals - sometimes I don't recognize them."
"When I was a kid, Jerana turned into a dragon a couple of times," said Ian, ruffling his daemon's ears affectionately. She wagged her tail in response. "We grew out of it, as I'm sure Susan soon will."
"I'm not talking about dragons, or unicorns, or anything Susan could have seen in a book. I'm talking about things nobody in this world has ever dreamed of ..."
I do tend to think, though, that the Doctor's daemon would settle into Earth animals. (A different one each regeneration, of course.) He wanders the universe wearing Earth clothes, eating Earth food and mostly hanging out with human beings. The same would not necessarily apply to other Gallifreyans, or the likes of of Adric, Nyssa and Turlough. Being an alien on Earth might be a bit more conspicuous in this universe if your daemon wasn't small and easy to hide and/or you had holograms. (Unless convergent evolution in the Doctor Who universe doesn't just apply to bipedal hominids, I guess.) People would find Cybermen extra disturbing because conversion would kill the daemon but leave the person walking around in a metal shell.
I cannot help but think that both Two and Seven would have members of the Corvidae for daemons. Probably a Jackdaw and a Magpie. Noisy and attracted to shiny objects, but terrifyingly smart. One's would be something traditionally associated with wisdom but a bit mysterious and scary - a snake or an owl. My only debate about Five's is whether it would be a Cocker Spaniel or a Labrador. She would definitely spend that incarnation be something blond and enthusiastic that loves to play fetch. While physical resemblance to one's daemon is beside the point, I cannot picture Ten's as anything other than one of the Mustelidae, or one of the other creatures that resembles that family by convergence - a mongoose or a meerkat, perhaps. Something with a habit of sitting up on her hind legs to peer at people, anyway. The two I have no idea about at all are Eight and Nine.
As for companions - Jamie's would be a Border Collie. Not a purebred example of the modern version, but dogs of roughly that type have been rounding up sheep in Scotland for centuries. Peri's would be a brightly coloured bird, something we have actual canon evidence for from Vengeance on Varos. I'm guessing a hummingbird, lorikeet or something else that loves flowering plants. And I think Ace's would have to be wolf for plot reasons.
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Six's would be a cat, of course.
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Thank you - sometimes I spend way too much time thinking about this stuff.
Six's would be a cat, of course.
Apparently this is so obvious I didn't write it down! Because, yes. Standoffish and haughty with most people, but deeply affectionate if you could win her over. And inclined to bite occasionally for no discernible reason.
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The UNIT guys would probably all have dogs, but what about Liz? For some reason I'm picturing a bird, something like an ibis or an egret.
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As it is, she has to settle for clawing things she's not meant to claw, sitting on things she's not meant to sit on, and tripping people over.
The UNIT guys would probably all have dogs, but what about Liz? For some reason I'm picturing a bird, something like an ibis or an egret.
Oooo, yes. An ibis is especially appropriate given the symbolic association.
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The speculation about Susan's daemon is an awesome opening!
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Oooo, that's a good idea. It would certainly be something that looks tough but is secretly gentle with people it cares for.
The speculation about Susan's daemon is an awesome opening!
Thank you - the Doctor is probably going to regret taking her to so many places. Having your daemon turn into a shanghorn when you're nervous has to be a terribly conspicuous quality in a schoolgirl.
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Romana I's would be a Gallifreyan Flutterwing. Dunno about Romana II; it might be an Earth animal, but I'm not sure what. Possibly a cat of some description, but I tend to be biased in favour of cats.
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I am not 100% sure on that. An otter, maybe? Curious, friendly, looks like Ten's but is actually quite different, inclined to fall off things in an amusing way ...
Romana I's would be a Gallifreyan Flutterwing.
Of course! And humans would say 'that's an unusual butterfly' and get a twenty minute lecture about its life cycle.
Dunno about Romana II; it might be an Earth animal, but I'm not sure what. Possibly a cat of some description, but I tend to be biased in favour of cats.
Cat fits well, actually. Possibly a breed or even subspecies not seen on 20th century Earth. She would sort of blend in, but people would give her daemon odd looks.
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I cannot get the image of Eleven with a whale out of my mind, but given the lack of oceans... ;) Or a horse (but that would still be...cumbersome).
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Thank you.
I cannot get the image of Eleven with a whale out of my mind, but given the lack of oceans... ;) Or a horse (but that would still be...cumbersome).
I thinks she would try very hard not to turn into anything that would need water to live, given the circumstances under which the Doctor tends to regenerate *g*. Else Seven might have ended up with a cephalapod. (Lots of tentacles to get into everything, frighteningly intelligent and good at forward planning, likes to use bright colours to throw its enemies off ...)
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The thought had crossed my mind *g*. Apparently that thing about the five-second memory is a myth, though. (Well, a myth about goldfish. Eight's propensity to amnesia is scientifically documented.)
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I'm guessing that evolution would converge in a certain way, like the way marsupials have pretty much the same functions/position in the food chain as placental mammals of the same size.
And somehow you've made the Cybermen even more terrifyingly horrid.
>>something blond and enthusiastic that loves to play fetch.<< Is every Labrador ever, including the black and chocolate ones ;)
I love the idea of Jo being something bright and feathery but good at escape acts. I'd say a budgie but this may be personal bias.
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Indeed. There might be some superficial differences - kangaroos don't get around the same way as gazelles - but I dare say alien planets have animals that have specialised in the same things.
And somehow you've made the Cybermen even more terrifyingly horrid.
The worst part is that just like the Cybermen in the regular universe, they'd think they were better off. They would keep telling people that they would be better off without their daemons and not understand why everyone objected.
Is every Labrador ever, including the black and chocolate ones ;)
Indeed *g*.
I love the idea of Jo being something bright and feathery but good at escape acts. I'd say a budgie but this may be personal bias.
Having known a few budgies, I like that idea!