The Universe's Mixer

"Not again Lyra, we've climbed this one about forty times by now-"

"Oh come off it Pan, where's your sense of adventure?"

"Safely on the ground where i left it."

"Well it ain't much good down there."

A scrawny, rascal of a girl scaled what appeared to be a run-down, old looking house with apparent ease. She didn't flinch when the brick she had stepped on slid out from beneath her, narrowly missing the large blackbird that was hovering anxiously below her. She simply kept on climbing, until she reached the the top.

The rooftop was pretty much the only place where Lyra felt truly safe. Perhaps a part of her felt 'untouchable' from such a great height, away from the ghosts of her past that wouldn't leave her alone. Her mother, her father, and poor Roger....

She picked up a pebble, and tossed it down onto the street below. Roger would have liked this place, she decided. He would have thought it was a marvelous place to be, away from their minders, and Oxford - out in the real world. Well, a strange world anyway. It was a bit of a lonely place, she missed her friends, and strangely enough her father, for some unfathomable reason. At least she had Pan, bloody hell! If they had been separated....She couldn't even bear the thought.

Bzzzzz. Something gold whizzed past her ear.

"Gerroff, Pan! You know I hate it when you turn into a bloody bee!" She flailed her hands about in annoyance.

Bzzzzzzz. There it was again, only times two.

"Its not me!" Pan huffed, trying to peck at the whizzing thing as it flew past. "I'm no more fond of them than you are."

The glitter of gold flickered in her peripheral vision, but this time she caught a better glimpse of what it was. It looked awfully familiar, like something she'd seen not so long ago back home. In fact, it reminded her of...

A knot formed in Lyra's stomach. It couldn't be...

"SPYFLIES!" She slid down the roof at breakneck speed, and somehow managed to climb down without breaking a limb, breathing heavily through her nose. She scrambled over to a near by trash-can, and started to paw through the garbage - Because if she was correct? Not only were those things deadly, but they would report back to their owner. Blast it! There was nothing of use in the bin, and the flies were now circling around her head, making her dizzy.

Instinctively, Pan knew what to. He created a diversion, giving Lyra enough time to scramble over to the brick that she'd knocked out earlier. It was a bit of a long shot - last time she'd only caught the fly, so she wasn't sure if this method would work so well. But it was really the only option she could think of.

SMACK!

One fly fell to the ground, and with a few lifeless wiggles, it became still. Not taking any chances, it was scooped up into an old jar that Lyra had found, and tucked away for safe keeping - or at least, until she could figure out what to do with it. The other, despite a broken wing had flittered away unnoticed.

And back to his mistress.

Lyra couldn't remember how she had come to be in this strange and creepy place. The only jumbled thoughts she had were of waking up in an uncomfortable bed made of starchy sheets, and lime green jello being thrown against the wall. They tried to take her compass away, but she had kicked up such a fuss that they decided to let the child be, and dose her up with some nasty medicine.

Everything made her feel sleepy, despite not wanting to sleep. She fought as much as she could, but it was really no use, and there was no way to fight off the horrid dreams that plagued her sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she'd see her mother's cold, calculating smile as she slowly began to sever the invisible bond between herself and daemon, Pan. Her ears filled with the screams of the soulless children crying out in despair, or perhaps they were her own? she couldn't quite tell. Either way, she woke up screaming, thrashing in a sea of starchy sheets.

Today the nurses had ushered her out into a large common room, and dug up some old dolls for her to play with. They remained untouched, and she instead flopped in front of the strange box which played moving pictures - was it called a television, or something? She couldn't quite remember. It had been such a novelty the first time she'd seen one in The City, now it became more of a hinderance. She just wanted to be able to think, but her brain felt dead, as if a zombie had taken a bite out of it.

"Its no bloody use" She muttered to the wilted tabby cat that had sprawled out on her lap. "This place is driving me bloody bonkers."

Jack was dressed to the nines tonight. Tonight was a special night, a night out on the town. He and his 'date' were slated for some marvelous activities that would certainly bring them closer together on a personal level. For such a night only his finest suit would do, hair perfectly coiffed and complexion flawless. Nothing less would do.

"Come on," he said, tucking his 'date's' arm under his own and proceeded to walk through the gardens. From here they would go for dinner and a few drinks, unless something distracted him along the way.

Under his arm, the Cher Doll was dressed to the nines as well, in a long purple mermaid gown with lavender boa. The two of them were far more prepared for a night on the red carpet than just being out on the town, but none of that mattered to Jack. He was here to attract attention to himself, to draw attention and the eyes of many.

It was going to be a glorious night.

Shameful. It was absolutely shameful that he'd been within the City for this long and this was his very first visit to its Museum of Natural History. Wash was far from being a scholar of Earth-That-Was, but had always had a healthy appreciation for the subject. Wash had thoughtfully wandered through the exhibits of ancient civilizations, local flora and fauna but it was no surprise that his eyes went delightfully wide as he followed his complimentary map into the large hall of dinosaurs.

Wash's eyes followed the elongated skeleton of the Apatosaurus as it climbed higher and higher to the ridiculously small head atop that long neck. The pilot cracked a smile as he looped around that first display. He'd seen quite a few things in his lifetime, back and forth form one end of the 'Verse to the other --but these gigantic creatures still captivated his imagination. Albeit an imagination that quietly gave them silly voices and traitorous plots for global domination. Folding the museum map, he shoved it into one of the leg pockets of his fatigue green cargo pants. He didn't need any more assistance, he was exactly where he wanted to be.

George's temporary solution to the cupid dilemma was to walk around The City under the protection of the umbrella. It wasn't the falling in love part that bothered her, it was the potential for sleeping with someone and never getting a call back that the reaper didn't wish to repeat. Sometimes the living caught glimpses of Cupid. It was sort of like a graveling in that George could follow its movement perfectly. Cupid was bloated and pudgy like a baby with an old man's face.

It sort of scared George.

Staring up ahead on the street George spotted a kid. This struck George as a very bad idea. She didn't want to see some creepy adult man get shot with an arrow and while George was loathe to get involved, she started booking it forward. "Hey! Kid! Look out!"

If they could get indoors somewhere, maybe they would be safe from the insanity outside.

The snow was really quite lovely, it was also nearly the only thing that reminded her of home. Everything here was so strange, carriages that ran themselves without benefit of horses, people who dressed in so little as to be parading around in their underclothes and yet it was not remarked on. Women of grown age with hair as short as a man's.
It was simply not at all what she was used to but this, the falling white, it was like home. At least at first it had been. It just kept falling. Marian had taken to the street when she had trouble opening her door, she walked down the road, soon having to trudge through banks of snow up to her shin. Everywhere looked as blanketed in white as everywhere else and soon enough she could not tell from which direction she had come.
All these buildings looked so similar, with the temperature dropping and no end to the snowfall she had no choice but to seek refuge somewhere. By the time she fought her way up the steps to the nearest door the snow had piled knee deep. She had to shovel it away with her hands just to get to the door properly, leaving quite the trail behind her in the mounds of white.
Marian swung the door open calling out to the interior. "Hello? Please forgive the intrusion, but ...I simply must come in from the cold. I will not misuse your hospitality for long." Marian stamped the snow off her shoes and shook it from her heavy woolen cloak. She stepped deeper into the home and was delighted to find a blanket draped over a chair. Used to harsh winters Marian wrapped herself up and curled up in the chair, eyes peering out the window, yet more of that expensive clear glass that seemed everywhere. Beyond the pane the snow continued to fall.

Once they had passed through the gateway of the Northern Lights, Lyra and Pan found themselves in a very strange world indeed. The first thing she noticed was the pace. – everything was moving so fast, the cars, the people, even the snow. It was a good thing she was dressed for such weather.

Lyra stuck to the sidewalk, slowly drinking in the strange world. It looked absolutely fascinating! The buildings all looked so modern, nothing at all like the ones back in Oxford. She was simply itching to start exploring!

“Pan,” She frowned, gazing at some of the passers by. “Where are all these people’s daemons?”

“Perhaps this is a world where daemons…don’t exist” Pan mused, shuddering slightly. He couldn’t imagine not being with his companion.

“’Spose we could always ask the compass.”

Trudging through the sidewalk, Lyra sat herself down on the pavement, outside some kind of coffee shop. She probably looked like quite an odd sight indeed; a scrawny little girl dressed for the Antarctic, with a snow fox perched beside her, holding a large golden compass.