Night Vale, His Dark Materials | C/C, scientists, townspeople | T | Experimental Theologian, part 1

Title: He Says He Is An Experimental Theologian (1/?)
Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale, His Dark Materials
Characters/Pairings: Cecil/Carlos, scientists, Old Woman Josie, Erika, other Night Vale residents
Rating: T
Contents: Canon-typical (to both canons) death, disappearance, violence, emotional trauma, and so on.
Disclaimer: Night Vale and everything related are the property of Commonplace Books. His Dark Materials setting and ideas are all Phillip Pullman's.

The daemon AU. Or rather, a full His-Dark-Materials-setting AU.

Carlos and his Magisterium-approved team are on a mission to study Rusakov particles in the most scientifically interesting community in Hispania Nova. They are in no way prepared for anything they're about to meet. (A partial list: angels, witches, hooded spectres, portals between worlds, and a man who walks around with no daemon in sight and knows things he shouldn't possibly be able to know.)

For reference: a map of in-universe North America, and a glossary of AU vocabulary. More worldbuilding notes at the end of the chapter.

Thanks to LilyArgentfricai for the Spanish translation!

( He may get a little carried away talking about the amazing properties of Rusakov particles, trying to transmute the scholarly precision of his English on the subject into the more casual emotion of his Spanish. Isaña has to nudge his leg to make him wrap it up. )