Partners in Crime

"What a strange place this is," Lyra said.

"I dunno, seems kinda awesome to me."

"Pan, being awesome and being strange ain't mutually exclusive."

"Ah, you got me." Her daemon smiled and scampered up to her shoulder. "Still, pretty awesome."

Lyra supposed it was. But if one asked the question as to whether it was more awesome or more strange, her money would be on the latter.

In many ways, this place, named Ryme City (Lyra didn't know what it even rhymed with), was a lot like her world and Will's world. Like, a bit bigger, and a lot dirtier, and there were so many screens that she was sure she was getting a headache from them. But still, it was recognisably human. Cars. Buildings. Roads. Sky was still blue and it had clouds in it, though it was hard to spot them among all this metal. And unlike Will's world, all this world's daemons were outside their owner's bodies.

"Gotta say," Pan said. "I'll take this place over some of the weirder worlds we've been to."

Lyra grunted and kept walking.

"Like, remember that world with that daemon lion, and all the other people thought he was the Authority?"

"I remember."

"And remember that world where daemons were digital, and would keep evolving back and forth regardless of the human's age?"

"Yep."

"And remember that world where daemons were actually demons, like, D-E-O-M-O-N, and everything was on fire, and-"

"Shush Pan."

"Oh, right." He gave her a smile. "Forgot we don't talk about that place."

"God damn right we don't."

"Heh. Although, there was that world were daemons were in watches, and-"

"Pan, you're my daemon, and therefore my soul, and I love you very much…"

"Aw."

"But would you please, please, please just be quiet for a moment?"

"Oh. Okay."

Pan sounded depressed. Under normal circumstances, Lyra would offer him some comfort. Still, these weren't normal circumstances, because she was in a world where she was sure that just didn't make sense.

Like, for instance, she could see a bunch of firefighters putting out a car fire. Beside each of them were blue, turtle-like daemons who were joining in. What she wanted to know was how was it that each of those firefighters managed to have the same personality and therefore, the same daemon. Like, they'd each chosen their own career path, but there had to be some differences between them. Like, for all the similarities between her parents, they'd had different daemons at the end of their lives.

Or what about that strange, giant, four-armed daemon that was guiding traffic. Where was its host human? And that wasn't to say anything about the giant, fluffy, sleeping daemon that was causing the traffic to be diverted in the first place. Again, where was its owner. And why was it so big? Pan was smaller than most daemons, but even the largest were still dwarfed by their human owners (if 'owner' was even the word to use).

"So strange, these daemons," Lyra murmured.

"Um, Lyra?"

"Not now Pan," Lyra said as she watched the four-armed daemon continue his work, while monkey-like daemons climbed the trees nearby.

"Lyra, have you considered that these might not be daemons at all?"

"What?" She looked back at Pan. "That's ridiculous. Of course they're daemons."

"More ridiculous than dust, and the Authority, and witches, and knives that tear through realities, and altheamawhotshimacallits, and-"

"Okay, okay," Lyra snapped. She looked around. "Y'know what. We'll ask someone."

"Ask someone?!"

"Yes, ask someone." She searched through the crowd. "Say…him." She walked over to the man who was walking by her. He had glasses, was wearing a black jacket, and he struck her as the type of person who wanted to lay low. Therefore, all the more reason to ask him. Because reasons. Also because his strange yellow daemon was wearing a cap, and was just so cute.

"Um, excuse me sir," Lyra said. "Could I talk to you for a moment?"

The man looked at her, as did his yellow daemon. "Um, kid, this isn't really a good-"

"Oh, it won't take long." Lyra extended a hand. "Lyra. Lyra Belacqua. Also Lyra Silvertongue, but I don't use that name much."

The man gingerly shook it. "Okay Lyra, name's Harry, and-"

"I mean, I sometimes use it when I'm travelling between worlds, and dismantling any lingering allegiance to the Authority, and-"

"O…kay…" said Harry. "Listen, that's nice, but I'm actually kinda busy right now, and-"

"So, this is my daemon Pan," said Lyra, gesturing to the small pine marten beside her. "And I'm guessing that's your daemon there?"

"Pika?"

"Pikas? Is that what you call daemons here?" Lyra asked.

"Chu? Pika pika?"

"Huh. Your daemons can't talk proper English then." Lyra smiled. "But he's just so cute though!"

"But I'm cute…" Pan murmured.

"Chu," said the yellow daemon, looking a little pleased with itself. Still, cute as it was, she returned her gaze to the man. "So, mister Harry-"

"Fascinating," he said, looking at Pan. "I've never seen a pokémon like you before."

"Pokémon?" Pan exclaimed.

Harry blinked. "Um, did he just talk?"

"Oh yes, absolutely," said Lyra. "My daemon does that all the time. He won't just shut up about it."

"Hey!" Pan exclaimed.

"But I guess your daemons don't," Lyra said.

"Daemons? You mean pokémon?"

"Oh, you call them pokémon?"

"Well, yeah," Harry said, giving her a strange look. "Pokémon, as in pocket monsters."

"Pocket monsters? Oh that's not very nice." Lyra squatted down and began squeezing the yellow daemon's cheeks. "He's not a monster, are you? Are you, you cute little thing?"

"Chu.."

"Lyra, you don't want to do that."

"Chu-chu-pika…"

"Aren't you? Aren't-"

The yellow daemon gave her a zap. Lyra let out a yell. Across the street, a psyduck said "psy," and a reporter began to wonder if there was a potential headline in all of this.

"You okay?" Harry asked. He extended a hand to Lyra.

She nodded, and she took it. "Yeah. Sorry. I actually forgot; no-one should ever touch anyone's daemon."

"Well, don't know about touch, but-"

"Just ain't proper is it?" She began patting Harry's jacket. "You okay? I remember when someone touched my daemon, and it wasn't very nice then either."

"Yeah, kid, um…is daemon code for…y'know…"

"Code?" Lyra asked. "Don't know about how codes."

"Oh, okay, but-"

"Anyway," Lyra said. "Nice meeting both of you."

And with that, she headed off, her daemon trailing along. Leaving behind a confused pikachu, a confused detective, and a psyduck with an even greater headache than normal.