A/N: OK- I decided to make longer chapters by combining what was going to be multiple chapters into one. I hope you like it!
Dipper felt… weird. He felt sorta like that time when he was a ghost in the Mindscape. Which, now that he thought about it, could mean some things that were kind of creepy and disturbing. So he didn't think about it. Cracking open his eyes a bit, he saw that he was in a shallow hole covered by bushes with berries growing on them. All of the colors he could see were muted and dull- so not quite black-and-white, but not as colorful as the real world should be.
Tilting his head, Dipper could see a gray Maine Coon staring into space next to him. As he tried to get up to find everyone else, the cat snapped to attention. "Oh, good, you're up," the cat said. Dipper's head snapped towards it. "You can talk?" The cat snorted. "Of course I talk. I'm Aziral- your dæmon. Thought you would recognize me. I guess not." Dipper was flabbergasted. "Wait wait wait- you mean like from His Dark Materials?" Aziral nodded. "Ok… so I'm guessing you don't know where we are either," he said, realizing that he did, in fact, recognize the cat.
"Actually, I do," she replied, "because I was born and raised here. We're technically in the Mindscape, but for our purposes, we're in an in-between place. So, what you do here won't affect the real world, but you can't just think up something and have it happen. Capiche?"
Dipper nodded. "O-okay, but how do I get back? I don't want to be stuck here forever." Aziral replied, "You go to sleep. But when you go to sleep in the real world, you'll come right back here. And in the real world, your heart is only beating enough to ensure you'll be fine, so there really isn't a point to going back right now. And yes, I can still shapeshift, but I probably won't be able to in a few months, yes, everyone else is in this world, and, yes, they all have their own dæmons." Dipper nodded. Azirial hopped onto his shoulder. "Well, then, let's get going."
Ford was pretty sure that he was conscious. At least, it seemed that way. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was lying down in a cave, and that Stan was lying a few hundred feet from him.
Only a few seconds after he woke up, an owl fluttered down and landed on his chest. "Good, good, good, you're up, you're up… oh, yes, I can talk- don't look at me like that…" Ford blinked. The owl talked, and for some reason he got the innate feeling he knew the creature and that it wouldn't harm him. Sitting up, he managed to speak. "What are you?" he managed.
The owl replied, "Oh, your dæmon, spelt with an "æ", not an "e", very important difference… very important difference… oh, yes, you wouldn't know what that is, would you…? Very well, I may as well… to paraphrase a horrible adaptation of a good interpretation of what we are, a dæmon is an external manifestation of a person's soul in animal form- whether it manifests in the physical world depends on the dimension of origin of the person in question.
"In this dimension, dæmons are in this world, watching their person's life while their person is awake, and exploring this one and talking to other dæmons while their person's asleep. Because of the Zodiac, for complicated reasons that I cannot recall, while you sleep, you are sent here, in this obscure part of the Mindscape, instead of the Dreamscape. This will continue until some objective I also cannot recall is completed.
"The rules with dæmons are fairly simple. You cannot touch another's dæmon, for it's taboo; there is a limit for how far apart from your dæmon you can be; and the dæmons of children can shapeshift. Once the children reach adulthood, the dæmon cannot shapeshift anymore. Oh, and all dæmons take the form of animals, whether real or imaginary."
Ford took a minute to digest the information. Eventually, he asked, "Do you have a name?" "Oh, yes, yes yes, it's Divadal. Actually, there's one more thing I forgot to tell you- most dæmons are the opposite gender than their person… in fact the Zodiac set a record for same gender dæmons in a group of ten, I believe… yes, that's right. Quite interesting, in my opinion. When your brother wakes up, we'll go… yes that sounds like a good plan," Divadal answered. And with that, he settled down on Ford's arm. Ford absentmindedly stroked Dividal while pondering over what he just heard. He had a lot to think about…
Stan was lying… somewhere. He couldn't tell where. Sitting up (which came with a lot of back pain), he opened his eyes, and saw that he was in a cave. Ford was sitting a few hundred feet from him, stroking an owl while staring out into space for some reason. Before he could get him out of his trance, though, a snake slithered towards him. "Oh, I thought you were in a coma. Only didn't think you were dead 'cause I was alive. But, hey, welcome back to the world of the completely living," she said. Wait- back up. The snake just talked. Alright. He was going insane. Not that it really changed anything.
"Well, hello to you too," Stan replied. The snake scoffed. "You know, I would think that I would get a bigger reaction from you, what with being a talking snake and all, but I guess 'going insane' is reasonable. If false." Stan decided that since he apparently had nothing better to do, he may as well play along. "Well okay then, I'm not going insane. What are you, and who are you?" "I'm Adalia- a dæmon. Your dæmon, to be accurate. Not as in evil, as in… spirit animal, I guess. Not the best description, though."
"Okay. And where are we?" Adalia thought for a moment. "Let's just simplify things and say the Mindscape. But, to be clear, I've got to tell you something else- well, two things, I guess. First off, no touching anyone else's dæmon. On a 1 to 10 horribleness scale, it's an a 100. Also, I can't be more than a few yards away from you. Annoying, I know. And… I think that's all there is. Let's go get your brother then leave, huh?" After that, she wound up Stan's arm onto his shoulders.
Standing up, Stan went up to his brother. "Hey, poindexter." Ford jumped, and the owl on his arm fluttered to his shoulder. "Oh, Stanley. You're up." Stan snorted. "Yeah, and I have been for fifteen minutes. You were pretty far out." Ford blinked. "Oh. Well, we should get going now. I don't know if this place has a day-night cycle, but it seems to be getting darker out…" Stan stretched. "Then let's get goin', huh?" Divadal flitted up to Ford's head. "Yes, yes, yes, we should get going…" And so, the left the cave into the great beyond.
Mabel was sprawled out on what felt like, smelled like, and probably was, wet mud. She quickly sat up, stretched, yawned, and opened her eyes. She immediately noticed something was off. The trees weren't green enough, the water and sky weren't blue enough… in fact, nothing had enough color except her and the mysterious golden lump beside her. Oh. Right. Golden lump. Despite knowing that if Dipper saw her he would be yelling, she prodded the lump.
It responded swiftly. As it turned out, the lump was a golden retriever. It jumped on top of Mabel, licking her face. "You're awake! You're awake!" A talking dog! Even better! "Oh hello!" Mabel giggled, scratching the dog behind its ears. The dog rolled off of Mabel. "I'm so glad to see you! Awake, that is. I've been here the whole time, of course. You know what I mean. Oh! My name is Lilyana, and I'm your dæmon. Like a spirit animal. Not something evil," Lilyana said happily.
Mabel was pretty sure she heard the word "dæmon" before, but couldn't remember where or when. Then she remembered- with immense satisfaction- how Dipper told her about dæmons while he was reading the His Dark Materials trilogy in 7th grade after she told him she thought it was a neat idea.
"Like from Dipper's geeky books?" Mabel asked Lilyana. Lilyana nodded. "So… we can't be very far apart… and no touching other people's dæmons?" Mabel inquired, unable to recall any further details. "That's the gist of it," Lilyana replied. "And just so you know, we're in a weird part of the Mindscape where your greatest wishes can't come come true," she added reading Mabel's thoughts. "Oh, is everyone else here?" Mabel asked. "I think so," Lilyana answered, "but just in case, let's go find out!" Soon, Mabel was running through the forest with Lilyana at her heels.
A/N: Well, that was a doozy of a chapter to write- over a thousand words! Please review saying if you want more frequent updates with shorter chapters or less frequent updates with longer chapters- that would be great! And now I'm off to do… something. Probably continue to read The Subtle Knife, then eat dinner. Bye!
