Episode 76 - Lungs

## Lungs

A black background with a thin white border, on the outside of which are simply drawn flowers and heads of grass, as if growing on the outside of the border. Within the border are three images overlapping, the first of which is a set of lungs depicted in red, the second is a hair tie depicted in white, and the last is a spider depicted in white. Bellow these images yet still within the border are the words "76.LUNGS" written in white.

### Author

William A. Wellman

Arnold goes fishing, Danielle wakes up, and Polly regrets his choices. The theme of tonight’s episode is Lungs.

***Content Warnings:** Saliva & Bodily Fluids, Paralysis, Abuse, Ableism, Animal death (a worm), Violence, Kidnapping and abduction, Death + Injury, Blood, Broken Bones, Dysphoria, Birds, Strangulation/suffocation, Emotional Manipulation, Drowning, Bugs and Spiders, Body horror*

## Intro - The Unspoken Rule

Nikignik speaks to the Dreamers of Arnold Eggers, that he was a bully although this did not bother him much. With his friends he jeered in turns at the other students swimming in the conservatory pool, one of his jests goes too far, broken the unspoken rule: do not make fun of Victoria Tepiani’s moustache, and she pushes him into the water in front of everyone. This was his first experience with his covenant's manifestation (see Arnold Eggers: Abilities), and he screams, but no sound breaks the surface of the water.

Nikignik dwells surrounded by fish.

## Story 1 - Itching Less

Arnold Eggers attempts to help Victoria Tepiani fish for their, and the other members of the Summer Campers dinner that night (see Episode 73 - Retributions), doing a rather poor job at it, as he throws a stone into the water in an attempt to hit one, which Victoria scolds him for, pointing out that all it would achieve was scaring off the fish. She shows him the makeshift fishing rod she'd made, instructing him to find a worm to use as bait, which he reluctantly obliges by, however he only succeeds in getting his hand we before Victoria is able to find one by herself. She shows him how to string it onto the fishing rod, casting it into the water as Arnold continues to search for bait worms. He finds one in time to hear Victoria be pulled into the water, though he is not aware that this is the source of the sound. He calls out for her, realising quickly that the only place she could have gone was the lake, and steeling himself against his fear of water, Arnold jumps in after her, his covenant becoming active (see Arnold Eggers: Known Abilities).

He quickly spots Victoria's comb (see Episode 61 - Protectors), and then he finds Victoria pinned under a giant lake spider that had perched itself onto of her, Arnold at first mistaking it for a construction vehicle. Arnold lets out a purposeful shriek to draw the spider's attention towards him and away from Victoria, spitting his frog like tongue out to punch it in one of its eyes. The spider takes chase after Arnold, freeing Victoria but quickly catching him and biting down on his arm. It fails to maintain interest in Arnold as food however, and leaves, returning to the silt. He grabs Victoria and brings them back to the shore. She asks him if he'd known he'd been able to do what he'd done, and he tell her that he had, though only a little, from when she'd pushed him into the pool (see Episode 76 - Lungs: Intro - The Unspoken Rule), which he apologises for. She tells him that it was fine, that she used to be made fun off all the time, and he tells her that he had too, after she'd pushed him, but she couldn't have been made fun of, as he was the "ugly" one. She reassures him that he wasn't ugly, relating her own experience to him, telling him that he shouldn't have grown up think that way about himself.

### Interlude 1 - Benson The Dissembling Man

Nikignik describes Benson The Dissembling Man to the Dreamers, describing as they might wonder through the halls of the Museum of Broken Promises, discovering his lungs on the ground as they hear him stalking them. They turn to find him behind them, and Nikignik tells them that he was to be feared, for his extensive knowledge of human anatomy and perfect emotional awareness, which would lead to uncomfortable questions. Nikignik tells them to worry not, for they were unlikely to encounter him unless they visited the Museum of Broken Promises, where he guided the Great Destroyer on its ever-wandering paths through the universe.

## Story 2 - The Weight of Waking Up

Danielle O'Hara wakes up, and questions who Arnold Eggers was (see Dreamers and Episode 76 - Lungs: Story 1 - Itching Less), groaning and experiencing gender dysphoria at the deepness of her own voice (see Episode 72 - Errors). Diggory Graves approaches at her stirring though she isn't able to make them out due to her vision swimming, and they offer her water. They introduce themself, and she asks them if they were real, now able to see them properly and telling them that they looked like an avatar from the Prime Dream. They reassure her that they were real, a friend of Riot Maidstone, and that the others were waiting outside. She attempts to sit up, but finds herself unable to. She asks Diggory why this was, and they tell her of the likely repercussions to having spent her entire life in a Dreaming Box. She requests that she be allowed to see herself, which Diggory at first attempts to argue against but is easily convinced to retrieve her a mirror, leaving and returning with a small bathroom mirror. Diggory offers to have her sit up, which she accepts, hoisting her up with no lack of pain on her end.

She looks at herself in the mirror and is unable to accept the reality of her appearance. She thinks that the Botulus Corporation had caught up to them and she was in a nightmare, but when she tries to call it to stop (see Danielle O'Hara) nothing happens. She starts to panic, but Diggory comforts her, telling her that they had also not liked their reflection at first, but they had come to appreciate some things, and change others. They tell het that if there was anything they could do to make her happier with her appearance before she met the others, to let them know, as Percy Reed was a skilled hairdresser. She tells them that she'd like that, but asks who Percy was. Percy reveals himself to her then, grabbing the silver scissors from Diggory's pocket and introducing himself as her residential hairdresser, asking her what she'd like done and telling her not to worry as he'd taken classes.

### Marketing - The Best Life You Have Left

Lady Ethel Mallory interrupts Nikignik's broadcast with her marketing segment. She speaks to Dreamers not within the Dreaming boxes, commending them on how far they'd come, how hard they'd worked. She asks if there was anything left that was even worth fighting for, before immediately answering her question by telling the listeners that Botco believed there was, being why they were committed to exploring the universe in search of humanity’s new home, preserving their most precious natural resource: the listeners. But none of that was the listeners responsibility, and that was That’s why they welcomed them to join their local Dreaming Box, telling them that they would take care of everything else—their transport, integration, and interment. Once inside, they'd be living the best life they had left, supplied with crisp clean air, healthy nutrients, and carefully filtered water via their feeding tubes.

### Story 2, Continued - The Weight of Waking Up

Danelle allows Percy to cut her hair, once finished he muses that he wished he had conditioner and a curling iron. She asks if Diggory was wearing contact lenses, but Percy tells her that they were just dead, but not a ghost. Diggory wonders aloud if they could become a ghost, and Percy tells Danielle that she was taking Percy's being a ghost much better than most people did. She tells him that her frame of reference for what was considered 'normal' was all 'screwed up'. She asks if Riot and Valerie Maidstone were outside, and if she could meet them. They ask if she was able to stand, which she quickly finds out that she wasn't and requests help. Diggory picks her up and carries her out of the RV. Upon experiencing the outside world for the first time Danielle starts crying, when Diggory inquiries about this, she tells them that it was like her first day being alive. Diggory sets her down against the garage wall (see Episode 74 - Riots) and lets her soak up the world around her while they fetch Riot for her. Percy materialises beside her and asks what she thought of the outside world, if it was worth her leaving Botco. She tells him that it wasn't what she'd expected from her first moments, but it was real.

Riot approaches her and welcomes her to 'the land of the living', Daniele gives her the heads up about her being unable to walk, and Riot tells her that they'd be having to leave the garage soon, before rigorously thanking Danielle for everything she'd ever done to help them. Danielle takes this time to tell Riot about how someone [Nikignik] was watching her (see A Little Static) of how they'd told her how to find her. Nikignik breaks their narration to rhetorically ask Danielle what she was doing. Riot asks her if he was with Botco, but Danielle reassures her that she really didn't think he was. Nikignik tells Danielle to change the conversation topic, despite knowing that she couldn't hear them while awake (see Dreamers). Riot asks what his name was, how he was watching her, and Nikignik tells Danielle that she'd wouldn't dare, but Danielle tells Riot that she didn't know how the watching worked, but his name was Nik.

### Interlude 2 - They Can't Know

Nikignik scolds Danielle for telling Riot of his watching, telling her that she didn't know what she was doing, and demanding that she fell asleep so that she could hear what he was telling her. He tells her, despite knowing that she cannot hear him, that none of the people who appear within the broadcasts could know, as they would act different if they knew they were being watched. He tells Danielle that he'd expected more confidence from her, as they were both watchers (see Danielle O'Hara). They tell themself to breath, that all Riot knew was that a Nik was watching her, it wouldn't derail anything important: probably.

## Story 3 - Devils Always Tell The Truth

Polly, having teleported (vorpaled) himself and Rick Rounds into the ocean (see Episode 73 - Retributions) thinks back on his past mistakes and labels his current situation as the biggest mistake of his life. Rick grabs him by the back of the shirt and swims both of them to the shore, tossing Polly who rolls to a top amongst a collection of sharp stones, finding himself to be missing his jacket. Rick yells at Polly as he pulls himself onto dry land for warping them into the sea, calling him an idiot, but Polly calls back that it was an ocean, calling Rick a "vacuous cretin". Rick asks him if he wanted to keep running his mouth, but Polly muses that he'd thought he'd at least deserved a proper auditor (see Episode 54 - Roads), telling Rick that he was assuming it was Tiff who'd gotten him to do this (see Episode 56 - Thorns), calling Tiff and 'Old reptile', he tells Rick that he was assuming that he was going to kill him now, requesting that he make it quick, but Rick puts a boot on his chest and clamps it down, telling him that he was going to kill him, but he wasn't in any rush as he swapped his boot form Polly's chest to his wrist; that he wanted it back, his hand (see Episode 23 - Sunsets), his old life (see Episode 30 - Stones). Polly starts to laugh at him, asking him what he thought was happening, that this was a folk tale, this was real life, and this was his life, and Polly was sure that all the people he'd lost he deserved to be without. Rick goes to stamp his boot down on Polly's wrist but stops suddenly when a surge of Pain goes through his shoulder (see Episode 62 - Provisions), causing him to collapse on the ground beside Polly.

Polly asks him if he even knew what was wrong with him, but Rick tells him to shut up. Polly asks if Tiff had told him what the soul fire would do to him, if he'd read the paperwork, and when it becomes evident that Rick did not, Polly tells him that he was going to die. He tells him that, putting it into terms he'd understand, he'd been touched by "big bad dead god flower poison juice", that he wouldn't remember a whole lot when it 'got him' completely, but he'd made a deal with Tiff, and they would usually just burn him out. But it was working like a fever against the "aforementioned shrubbery". Rick takes this to mean that he was safe, telling Polly that he could take the pain, but Polly tells him that he was going to be torn in half, calling him a nitwit. Rick grabs a large rock, as Polly offers to take the soul fire out of him, that it wouldn't save him, but his death wouldn't be painful. Rick tells him that it was mighty generous for him to offer that, asking why he cared what happened to him. When Polly tells him it was because he [Polly] had a family to get back to (see Mort and Yaretzi). Rick tells him [sarcastically] that devils always told the truth, and bring the rock down on Polly's wrist, severing his hand,

## Outro - Lungs

Nikignik waxes poetics about lungs, telling the dreamers of how he didn't have any, that what he required to sustain themself was in starlight and the gardens of the cosmos. He tells them that he could contemplate a thousand years on the mechanics of indescribable life and never be able to put it into words their minds made of matter could understand. On the other hand, the Dreamers required very much: food each day, water, and every few seconds a breath, things he did not miss about having a physical form, which he had taken up rarely. He recommended that they look after their physical forms, and continue to breathe, as long as it takes to get through this, as he would too. Regardless of what the end of their story brought, they woudl at least not be alone.