Who: Lyra Belacqua and Nick Fury When: Saturday, December 28. Where: Fury’s apartment. What: Lyra meets her guardian. Warnings: None. Status: Closed | Completed GDoc
Lyra had no idea where she was, or why she was here. Yes, the welcoming committee had given her an explanation, but she’d barely listened. Not that it had been that great of an explanation to begin with. She had taken the cell phone and cash that they had given her, and logged the name Nick Fury into the back of her mind. Apparently he was to be her guardian here. Not that she felt like she needed a guardian, but she had been provided one anyway. Apparently people under the age of 18 needed guardians, and as she was 12…
She knew the address of where she was supposed to be staying, and she eventually found her way to the apartment she was supposed to be sharing with this Nick Fury person. Her daemon, Pantalaimon, was close by, as always. He had taken the form of a bird, flying a bit above her as she walked. As they entered the complex, he turned back into an ermine. It was small, and relatively suitable for apartment living.
“Here goes nothing, Pan,” she murmured, and she knocked lightly on the door of the apartment she was to be sharing with this strange man.
Fury had gotten a call informing him he would have a guardian. He was willing to have one, despite what others might think on the subject. He didn’t like the idea of simply declining and having a new arrival’s first impression of the Dome be a hostile one. Nick was armed with just a name - Lyra Belacqua - and that she was age twelve. He did not know what to expect, but when the knock came, he was ready to answer it.
He knew his appearance might be a little off-putting, particularly his eyepatch, but he couldn’t do much about that. Since he was at home, he didn’t have his long black coat on. He was in a simple, comfortable black sweater and black pants. As part of the holiday season and in part to show he had some humour, along with the all black attire, he wore green and white socks with elves on them. ‘Twas the season, after all.
He opened the door and smiled a little - more than most people save Carol or Phil were used to seeing - and took a step back so he wasn’t towering over her. “You must be Lyra.” He noticed the animal with her, but didn’t say anything at the moment about it.
Lyra remained silent for a moment, her head tilting slightly as she studied the man. “Are you Nick Fury?” she asked, her English accent a bit thicker than usual. She blamed the fact that she was more nervous than she usually was. She didn’t know this man, and she was supposed to be living with him. She supposed he had to be a good person, or else he wouldn’t be made a guardian. Or, so she hoped.
She glanced down at Pan for a moment, and shook her head slightly. “He’s okay, Pan,” she said, as he climbed up her leg and into her arms. “This is Pan. My daemon. ...where’s your daemon?” she asked, curious. “You’re not a witch are you?” Only witches could go far from their daemons, and this man didn’t seem to have one. She’d never seen someone without one before, not someone who wasn’t a witch.
“Yes, I’m Lyra,” she said, remembering he’d mentioned her name, as though verifying she was who he was expecting.
Pan was a daemon, then, not that he knew what that was. Apparently he was supposed to have one and despite liking cats, had yet to acquire one for his apartment. “I’m not sure what a daemon is, but I don’t have one. I’m from a different world than you.” Or he was pretty certain, anyway. He had confidence that he’d know about daemons if they existed in his world considering the amount of people he had working for him across the world. “I am. You can call me Nick, if you like, but Fury in public. It’s a safety thing.” And it was. Considering Nick was one of the few people who were aware of aliens who could mimic people - save Loki, of course - he knew anyone who called him Nick was probably an enemy. Even Coulson only used it when he really needed to.
“You can come in, if you like. There’s a room for you. It’s spartan at the moment. You can feel free to make it your own, should you like.”
This was a lot to take in. First, he didn’t have a daemon. Second, he said he was from a different world than she was. And then there was the whole safety thing in calling him Fury in public. It was all very strange, but Lyra was adaptable. She could handle this. She stepped into the apartment, and put Pan down when he started squirming in her arms. She looked around the apartment, taking everything in. It was different from the places she’d lived, but so was this Madison Valley. She should have expected it.
“People here don’t have daemons?” she asked, deciding to go with that question first. Because she was full of questions. “Everyone has them, where I’m from. Pan is… part of me. I can’t be more than a few yards from him at a time.” Pan then chose that moment to turn into a moth, and fluttered by her ear. She paused for a moment, listening to him.
“He wants me to ask you why it’s safer to call you Fury in public. I will, but why?” She looked around the apartment once more, considering. “Is it always cold here?” she asked. “Not in here, but outside?”
She then gave Fury a bit of a sheepish look, “Sorry. I don’t mean to ask so many questions.”
“Questions are good. It’s important to know everything you can.” Fury was probably the best person to demonstrate that too, though it was all about the right questions. Of course, he didn’t think Lyra was going to ask questions he didn’t want to answer or ones he’d have to provide a lie for to keep people safe, so that made things easier on him.
“No, it doesn’t always stay cold.” He’d start from the bottom and answer the questions in a variety order. “We’re in winter now, but there are four seasons. In a few months it will be spring, which will be milder and maybe with more rain. Then summer which is hot. Fall is after and that’s where the temperature drops again. The world here cycles through those seasons over a course of twelve months.” He gestured towards a small peg board near the front. There was a calendar on it. “There’s a calendar there that will show you the days and mention any major holidays observed.”
He decided it might be better if he wasn’t standing, so he leaned on the back of the couch. “No one really calls me Nick. My line of business back home was secrets.” More or less, anyway. “People know me by Fury and address me as such. If someone calls me Nick, it’s a good tell not to trust them and that something is off.” She would need to know that, anyway, if she slipped up in public and then he started to suspect she had been duplicated or something.
“As for your other question, I think you may be the only one who has daemon as you know them.” He had, thanks to his copious amount of time with weird back home and in Madison Valley, not flinched when Pan changed into a moth, though it did make him wonder if Pan could change into any creature. “What happens if you’re separated from your daemon for too long?”
“So kinda like London,” she said, after a moment. “It gets cold there, but not always.” That was good, at least. She liked the cold, but not all the time. She liked the changing of the seasons, and was glad that the seasons changed here as well. She stepped toward the calendar, and studied it. “What is Christmas?” she asked, pointing to the square for the 25th of December. “We don’t have Christmas back home.” She had never heard of it, anyway, so they probably didn’t.
“Would you prefer I call you Fury all the time?” She knew that people had a preferred name, and she didn’t want to call him Nick if he preferred to be called something else. She didn’t always respect people, but she respected the fact that someone might have a preferred name.
She arched an eyebrow at Fury’s next words, “No one here has a daemon?” That was likely going to be the main thing she was going to have to adjust to. She was so used to people having them, she thought that any creature that didn’t have a daemon must be quite lonely indeed. “I can show you, if you want.”
Pan then turned into a wildcat, and Lyra nodded at him, as though giving him permission to give a sort of… demonstration for Fury. Pan started wandering deeper into the apartment, and Lyra stayed still for as long as she was able. As he went further into the apartment, though, she felt a tugging. She resisted the tugging as long as she could, and Pan dug his claws into the floor, almost dragging himself away from her. She had to take a few steps forward, because his going too far was painful.
“Pan! That’s enough,” she said, as she noticed she had started crying the further he got from her. It was painful, physically and emotionally. “It hurts,” she explained, softly, as Pan leapt back into her arms. As a wildcat.
“Christmas is a holiday celebrated by some people. The secular version is an exchanging of gifts. Some people add a religious component to it. There are still people with decorations up around town, should you wish to look at them, but I’m afraid the holiday has passed. The next one coming up is New Year’s Eve where people celebrate the end of a year and the beginning of a new one.”
Fur shrugged a little at her question. “You can call me whichever one you think you prefer more.” Which was a courtesy he didn’t give everyone, not that lyra would know that.
At the demonstration, Fury watched. He had an unsavory idea of what could happen and when she started to cry his brow knit - sometimes he didn’t like it when he was right. So it was dangerous for them to be apart. Fury took note of this. “Then we’ll have to make sure you’re always together.” He definitely did not like the idea of them separated, although he did take note that if someone from her world showed up that needed to be taken care of, separating the daemon could be a good way to go.
“Do you need anything? Food? Drink?” He hadn’t taken care of a child in a long time.
"What year is it going to be?" she asked. "I don't really remember what year it is back home, but everything seems so different here." She rummaged through her pockets, and pulled out the cell phone. "What is this? We didn't have them. But the lady insisted I take it. Along with something that I think is money?"
She considered his offer for a moment. "I think I'll call you Fury. If that's what everyone else calls you…" She might call him Nick every now and then, but she would call him Fury more often than not.
Lyra then offered him a grateful smile. "Thank you. It hurts so much whenever we're too far apart. And it's like…. we're tethered together. We can't go too far without the other following."
She considered his question for a moment. "Some water maybe?"
“2020. Not everyone here is from this type of calendar system, though. You’ll find some people count time differently. There are people here from all sorts of worlds and timelines. I know London. Been there a few times. Lots of people here are from Great Britain, it seems.” At least from what he observed.
He went to go get her water like she asked from a spout on the fridge. When he returned with the glass of cold water, he held it out. If she wanted to call him Fury, then he was happy to oblige.
Fury pulled out his own phone. “This is a phone. Kids your age usually use it just to text people.” He pressed a few buttons and brought up the network screen. He held the screen toward her and pressed a few buttons on the keypad randomly, then lowered his phone and deleted the garble. “You can also use it to call people and talk to them.” He held up his phone to his face. This was a little less popular with the kids. “It also has other functions. I imagine you’ll learn through playing with the thing.”
She took the glass of water, and took a hesitant sip. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Fury, or trust that he brought her just water. But she wasn’t positive that the water here was the same as the water from home. Things were so different here, it was hard to tell what was to be the same, and what was going to be different.
But it turned out to be water, just as she was used to. And it was nice and cold as well. Which was nice.
She watched Fury closely, when he started to show her how to use the cell phone. It made sense, and it seemed simple enough. She thought she could manage the cell phone easily. She just needed some time to get used to using it was all.
“I’m actually from Oxford,” she explained. “Originally, at least. Jordan College. My father left me there when I was a baby. For my protection, or some rubbish like that.” She shrugged a bit at this. “I never knew he was my father. I was always told he was my uncle, whenever he came to visit.”
-
Fury took note that her father had put her in school for her protection. While she might have dismissed something like that, it told him there was more to the girl than met the eye. It also told him that if others from her world appear, she might be in danger. These were all things that were filed away and the people he had working for him on the side would see if they could look into. At the very least, she’d have a network of people to keep an eye on her from time to time when new arrivals showed up.
“They’ll expect you to go to school here, if you’re willing.” Was there a small hint she could if she could make a good case not to go he’d listen? Maybe. There were other ways to get your education. Of course, she’d make more friends if she went to school and he knew at her age friends were important.
She made a face when Fury told her she was expected to go to school. “I’ve never had proper schooling before. Except for whenever the Scholars had time to teach me. I don’t like the idea of school…” At least she was being honest. Fury would likely soon find out that she wasn’t always honest.
“They’ll let me bring Pan, right? I can’t go to school without Pan…”
That implied that she was willing to at least consider school, if Fury thought it was best for her. As long as she could bring her daemon. “I suppose I’ll give it a shot.”
He spread out his hands a little. "Pan is a part of you and you can't be without him. They have to let Pan." Or he'd talk to the school and make them see the error of their way if they refused her. "If it doesn't work out, we could talk about tutors." He wasn't opposed to that either.
"Would you like to see your room? If you'd like it to look like home, I know of some people who can come here and help with that." Magic was convenient like that.
She considered this for a moment, then nodded. “I will go if they allow Pan.” She paused for a moment. “Tutors are an option?” she asked. “I would prefer tutors. That is how I learned back home.” Though she had just said she hadn’t gotten the greatest education back home, so she wasn’t sure if Fury would be open to that straight off the bat. “Though I would like to make friends, too… I don’t suppose I can do both, now can I?”
She considered this once more, trying to determine which she would prefer. “I will do either,” she said, after a moment. “Whichever you think is best.” She didn’t usually allow grownups to decide what was best for her, but in this case she would. She felt she could trust Fury’s judgment. On this matter, at least.
“I would like to see my room,” she decided. “I haven’t slept in a proper bed in ages. Is there a proper bed?” she asked.
“Since you’ve never tried it, why don’t you see if you like school. If you hate it, I won’t put up a fight to withdrawal you.” It seemed like a good compromise, plus Fury wanted her to make friends. She wouldn’t make too many friends if she was mostly hanging around him.
“There is a proper bed.” He led the way to the second room and opened the door. There was a proper bed with white sheets, pillows, and a big duvet. There was a dark oak desk with a reading lamp, a small bookshelf of matching wood that was empty at the moment and beside it was a dresser. She also had a closet, a full length mirror and space in one corner to do with what she’d like. “We can change things out, if you like. I didn’t have a lot of notice, so it’s sparse right now. We can go shopping.”
It suddenly dawned on Fury he’d need to provide things like allowance. If Carol could see him now.
“Alright.” He paused at the doorway, leaning on it and letting her enter what was now her own space. “Before I say what I’m about to say, because I think I know already.” He eyed her for a moment. “Tell me truthfully. Other than scholars, what have you gotten up to at home?” He got the sense she could take care of herself pretty well, but he wanted to know for certain before he allowed her some freedoms he might not a different twelve year-old.
She nodded at Fury’s suggestion. “Alright. As long as you promise that I can have tutors if I don’t like this whole school thing.” She had a feeling that he would be good on his word, though. He didn’t seem like the type who would go back on his word.
Lyra followed Fury into the bedroom, and looked around. It was bigger than any room she’d had before, even at Jordan College. “This is all mine?” she asked, almost in awe. She made her way to the bed, and sat on the edge of it. Testing it out a bit. “This is very comfortable,” she told him. “Shopping?” She liked shopping. Or, at least, she had with Mrs. Coulter before she realized who (and what) the woman was.
She remained quiet for a moment, trying to determine how much to tell him of what had happened to her back home. She decided that he deserved to know almost everything, seeing as he was supposed to be her guardian now. She dove into a detailed account of everything that had happened before her arrival in Madison Valley. About the Gobblers, the gyptians, how the Gobblers cut children from their daemons. The death of her friend Roger at the hands of her father. And the fact that her mother was the commander or something of the Gobblers.
“And then there’s the alethiometer,” she said, after a moment’s thought. “I have that here with me.”
Fury listened intently, nodding when he should nod and remaining quiet at the other parts. He was not as animated listening to her story as others might be, but Fury wasn’t a very animated person. His suspicions, he noted, were correct. She was much more able than her years should suggest.
“The alethiometer?” While he had been going to say something, that caught his attention first.
Perhaps she was being too trusting of Nick Fury. But something in her gut was telling her that he could, in fact, be trusted. So she pulled out an item from deep within her pockets, an item wrapped in a dark velvet. She offered the velvet-wrapped item to Fury, so he could look it over. It was a compass-like device, golden and brass and copper.
“It tells the user the truth to any question. Only a few people can read them, and most people need to study a book in order to be able to use it. Somehow I was able to use it without the book.” She shrugged a bit at this. “I don’t know why I can use it, but I can.”
She hadn’t really tried to figure out why, either.
Nick turned the item over in his hand, his eye taking in its intricacies. An item that could tell any truth to a question would be valuable. There was no doubt why she had been hidden or why she hadn’t had such an easy life. He wondered momentarily if she could ask truths about the Dome, but at the moment, he decided to let that train of thought go - she had just arrived.
He held the item back out to her. “The fact that you can is probably why people are so interested in you.” He paused. “While there doesn’t seem to be other people from your world here, I’d be hesitant to tell a lot of people about that item of yours. People are generally good here, but curiosity and desire can make people do some crazy things.” It would be a shame for Fury to have to kill someone.
“As for you and me, I understand your age to the townspeople is still someone who needs a lot of oversight. However, seeing as you are a capable person, I am willing to give you a little more freedom than someone else of your age would have.” He paused. “I would, however, ask that you check in with me once you get used to your phone. Simply so that I don’t need to send a team to see you are alright.” Was he joking? Probably not.
She considered his offer for a moment. He didn’t think that she needed too much guidance from adults. Which she had to agree with him on. She had spent far too much time on her own, without much adult supervision. To have to answer to an adult too terribly much here would be a bit suffocating to the young girl. So she was pleased when Nick stated that she didn’t have to be as confined as she thought she would have to be.
“I will come here every day,” she offered. “I will let you know where I am, and what time I plan to be home. If you believe I am planning on coming home too late, you can let me know.” She nodded a bit at this, deciding it was a good idea.
“I think you and I will get along just fine,” she decided. “I will try to behave myself and listen, but I can’t make any promises.” Which she thought was fair enough. As long as she tried, right?
Fury actually chuckled - a sound only a few people had ever heard from him. She was definitely a spitfire in her own right and reminded him a little of Danvers. Matt had accused him of recruiting twelve year-olds and now here he was with a twelve year-old ward who one day might actually be an asset to a team. Murdock was going to have a field day.
"I agree to your terms." He nodded with a small smile. They would have to learn each other's idiosyncrasies, but he knew that would come with time. "I'll make us something to eat. It's almost dinner time. I'll leave you to get settled. Maybe you and Pan can make a list of things you need and things you want for your room."
She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until Fury stated he could make them some food. That was about the time her stomach spoke up and grumbled a bit. Rather loudly, in fact. She gave Fury a bit of a sheepish look when she realized the stomach grumbling was likely audible to him as well. “I think some food would be good,” she admitted.
Lyra nodded slightly at his words, she knew she would likely need some things while stuck here in town. Clothes, mostly. Maybe some food, too, but she had a feeling that was obvious. And that Fury would likely feed her even if she didn’t put food down on the list.