Episode 55 - Threats

## Threats

A white coffee cup sits on a diner counter. A white coffee pot above it pours red coffee into the cup. The coffee overflows and spills onto the counter, resembling blood.

### Author

William A. Wellman

Brooklyn gets a day off, Riot goes to dinner, and Mrs. Wicker begins negotiations. The theme of tonight's episode is Threats.

***Content Warnings:** Ableism, Abuse, Animal death (Heidi as usual), Violence, Kidnapping and abduction, Death + Injury, Homophobia, Emotional Manipulation, Religious Violence*

## Intro - The Receiving Light

Nikignik narrates to the Dreamers someone receiving a phone call from a phone that hadn't rung in over a decade and the following one-sided conversation. They tell the person on the other end of the line that they did still read scary stories and asks who it was they were talking to. The answer makes them loose the feeling in their fingers and the blood leave their face. They tell the person on the other end of the line that he was dead, that they'd gone back for him, and their mother and they were both gone. They begin to cry, seeing the light on the receiver and they know that the voice will soon be gone. They tell him that they forgive him, that they'd went and had a better life, telling him hello from their partner, and hello from their home in the shadows.

Nikignik stands knee deep in the ocean within the Prime Dream, the grey waters lap up on strange and conquered shores, store fronts serving as homes for fish. If the water was a question, then the Dreaming Box in the distance was a promise and a terrible answer.

## Story One - A Day Off

Brooklyn Williams sits on the shore of a beach within the Prime Dream and looks up as Marco Torres runs up to her, telling her that he liked this place, and standing up to walk with him along the ocean she tells him that it suited him, that she could picture him living on a beach somewhere and not working as a security guard for Lady Ethel Mallory. Marco tells her that there wasn't a chance of that as there were some things that he quite liked about his job, such as the company food. She lightly shoves him, and tells him not to worry about Ethel, as she'd been 'beastly' as of late on account of Melanie Flores, but Marco scolds her, telling her that it was her day off, so she wasn't allowed to talk about work stuff for once. Brooklyn laughs at this and asks him how he was liking Box Andromeda, and if he missed his partners in Box Orion. Marco talks to Brooklyn about his partners, which turns into them trash talking Lady Ethel. Marco asks her what Ethel was planning on doing in regard to the RV Gang, but Brooklyn tells him that she didn't know as Ethel hadn't mentioned it.

Brooklyn hears a buzz on the wind then and sensing that Ethel was approaching changes the dream to be a board room and her cloths to be more professional, instructing Marco to do the same. Lady Ethel Mallory enters the dream, and starts to vent to Brooklyn, telling her that Anderson Faust was 'a disgusting beetle of a man', Marco commenting that he would never trust anyone named Faust. She continues to rant, saying that Faust's 'amplifier' wasn't working to they kept 'glitching with that other program', he'd made Also Riot ('Riot') for Oswald Biggs Botulus without so much as asking Ethel first, and now Oswald was playing games, Melanie was a petty press secretary who wouldn't know a brand identity of it came up and gave her a presentable wardrobe. She tells them that she'd heard that 'Riot' was going to meet with Ralph, Brooklyn questions this, and Ethel tells her that it was absurd. Marco tells her that she might like to take a day off, and Ethel turns to him and scorns him, telling him that if she wanted life advise she'd call her career coach. Ethel tells them that she had ‘state of the union’ in ten minutes and leaves. Marco asks if it was too late to go back to the beach, and Brooklyn sighs at him and tells him that she was going to go do 'damage control'

### Interlude - Anxious Questions

Nikignik tells the dreamers that he'd noticed after dwelling in their dreams he'd noticed that humans were full on anxious questions. The world around them did not ask these questions, it stirred, half on the edge of awakening, and stretches out to reach for new soil. The Watching Trees document the changing of the season, and the animals make their dens and nests, and the Hallowed are bestowed their gifts in dark groves and sunlit fields. The greatest fear to the dreamers' lives as they once knew them held no fear, or hatred, or malice, it simply grew, and opened it eyes to find the world in its thrall.

## Story Two - Half Empty

Also Riot (will be referred to as 'Riot' for simplicity) looks up at a remembered New York City within the prime dream, and within a blink she was standing inside of a diner with worn booths lining the windows, checkered floors, and a faceless figure in a pink dress brewing coffee. She finds all the tables empty except for the one in the middle where she finds Ralph sitting, who stumbles out of the booth to greet her upon her entering. The first words he says to her are "*Oh my god, ... My kid grew up so cool.*” 'Riot' greets him, asking if he was Ralph, and Ralph tells her that he was, he was her dad. She tells him she knew he was her dad. He asks her if she wanted to sit down and begins telling her over how happy he was to finally be meeting her. He tells her that the diner was one of Valerie Maidstone's favourite places, that they'd used to go there before she got famous, and asks if 'Riot' wanted anything, but she tells him she didn't as eating in her dreams tended to mess with her apatite. He asks her what she thought of the Prime Dream. She confides in him that it was overwhelming, that she felt like she'd come out of a cave, and everyone was living in the space age. He tells her that it was 'home schooler's regret' but she'd figure it out.

'Riot' asks Ralph why Valerie never talked about him, and he at first tells her it was because he was the only guy she'd ever dated, but eventually tells her that it was probably because their relationship had ended on a bad note on account of Ralph having wanted for Riot Maidstone to grow up in a Dreaming Box and Valerie hadn't. Valerie's big plan had been to live in the Bunker, so ironically Riot still grew up in a box. 'Riot' points out that Ralph had wound up doing the 'recommend a friend program' and told Botco where to find Riot and her mother, and Ralph tells her that it'd been difficult for him, growing older each year know thing he had a daughter out there, but he'd done nothing for Valerie's sake. 'Riot' asks him why he had chosen now to do something. Ralph looks at her odd, then he lifts a finger to his lips and nods to the back of the diner. And within in a blink 'Riot' finds herself standing with Ralph in the diner bathroom, looking through the doorway to see her and Ralph's bosies still sitting at the table. She asks him why they were in third person now, and he tells her it was called a loophole, like those dreams where you dream you're dreaming, telling her that he might be a customer, but he wasn't a sheep. He tells her that he had a secret, he was dying.

### Marketing - You Deserve Better

Lady Ethel Mallory interrupts Nikignik's broadcast with her marketing segment. Telling the Listeners that as they knew Botco had worked for decades to create their home, and together they had overcome so many challenges. And as such she was proud to announce that Botco had officially put an end to the Stonemaid movement. There was no more Anarchy, no more destruction within the dream, and that if there were any former Stonemaid listeners she was glad they'd had a change of heart, and glad that they could help them re-build what they had damaged.

She tells them that she was proud to see this, as she'd been with Botco since it was in its early days, she'd been there to guide the listeners to the prime dream when it'd first come to the market, and she was here now, having watched the new world be built form nothing. The crisis was over, and the Listener could rest.

### Story Two, Continued

'Riot' expresses shock at finding out this news and asks what he was dying from. He tells her he wasn't sure, but his stomach was feeling weird all the time. That his health checks were all coming up green, but if it was all fine, he'd feel fine, so they had to be hiding something from him. And it's made him think suddenly, wow, life's so short and fragile, and more than anything else he'd wanted to get to meet his daughter. 'Riot' tells him that he'd waited too long, scolding him for it having taken a 'weird feeling' to come and get her out of the bunker. She asks if Valerie knew that he'd been the one who'd called the reunion organisers, and he tells her that he didn't think so. She asks him how much time he thought he had left, and he tells her that he had no clue, but at least he knew he was going to get to die happy because he'd gotten to meet her, and he begins to cry.

She asks him why he hadn't come to see her in real life, and he tells her that it could take week, sometimes months, to get adjusted after leaving a dreaming pod, as it was too risky. She asks him why he didn't use a Dreaming Visor like she did, and he tells her it was because he'd still have to wake up and do stuff, chores, take care of himself, he didn't have to do that stuff anymore, telling her that it wasn't a half bad way to live. She asks him what he could tell her about the Stonemaids. He tells her that they were a disgrace to Valerie's music, how it'd always been about helping people in the end, but then the Stonemaids had taken the name of the Stonemaidens and done terrible stuff. He tells her that they should go back to the table, and they do. 'Riot' begins to ask him what she defines as "normal" questions, like about his hobbies, but she then sees the woman standing behind the counter, who (although at this point Also Riot doesn't know who she is) has been replaced by Danielle O'Hara. Danielle simply looks at her and whispers her "You’re not the real Riot" before disappearing.

### Interlude - Millions of Teeth

Nikignik tells the Dreamer that there was no shortage of danger amongst the stars, and there were even those who might raise violence against the Council of Heavens themselves. There were hunger worlds that consume all they touch; asteroids as eggs for fledgling nebulaic wyrms, great destroyers that slept in black holes, and the ice reapers that trouble the Ascended Scientists in the rings of Saturn.

But of course, the Indescribables had terrible powers of their own, such as Tolshotol's "Light of all days", and the spores of Rothogroth. But greater than them all was the Black Eternity, being too ancient to reason with and too vicious to have joined the Council of Heavens. He tells the Dreamers that they could not imagine the scale of Urnandurn, the expanse of pure nothingness that consumes the edges of an infinitely expanding universe, or the darkness beyond existence which it embodies.

## Story Three - To Protect and Prosper

Mrs. Wicker prepares to leave Fort Freedom, telling her children which of them would be in charge in her absence, and meets Buck Silver waiting for her outside of her home. He compliments her, and they walk off together towards a parked truck where Jacob Wicker is waiting for them, who immediately asks if Mrs. Wicker was sure about them making a deal with the Scoutpost (see Episode 53 - Rivers) as he didn't like the idea of sharing with strangers, and she tells him that was why they were going out, to see if the Scoutpost could offer what they needed. They depart and drive until they reach what remains of a research station, and she tells some of the people she'd come with to take 'the cargo' (being the Frogsticker, which they brough with them in the case of an attack) around the back, and she stays standing out the front with Buck, who asks her if she though the people of the Scoutpost would be nice, and she tells him that if they weren't this meeting would be over quickly, and if they were then they'd have some new allies. Buck tells her that it was alot of fuel to bring a truck this far out from Fort Freedom, and Mrs. Wicker comments about how no one would complain about fuel when Rick Rounds did his daily patrols. Buck tells her that he'd liked the patrols as he'd liked seeing what they'd being back, and Mrs. Wicker tells him:

“*Our fight lies with this place. This world is full of sin, James. It’s almost in the dirt itself. These are the end times, and we have a responsibility to see God’s plan through. We have to think not just about survival, but how we are going to prosper and protect our flock.*”

They hear the members of the Scoutpost approaching, their party consisting of Bern and Violet Keene, Virgil Kane, and Hector Mendoza. Mrs. Wicker greets them, introducing herself and Buck. Violet does the same for herself and her company, asking about how Fort Freedom's Froglin situation was, and Mrs. Wicker lies, telling them that their supplies had dwindled, and they had no weapons to fight them with. She tells them that they'd kept to themselves until recently, telling them about her eight children and her husband's passing on, and Buck adds on the detail about Rick having gotten kicked out (see Episode 30 - Stones), which Mrs. Wicker concludes by telling them they were trying to make friends in order to get through the spring. Vigil asks her what the population of Fort Freedom was, and she lies telling him that it was nearly five hundred. Bern ask why they hadn't brought more of their people then, and Mrs. Wicker tells her it was because she didn't want to alarm her when they were trying to do peaceful negotiations. Violet tells her that they'd be glad to work out an alliance, and if they could find somewhere to sit, they could discuss the details.

## Outro - Threats

Nikignik waxes poetics to the Dreamers about threats, telling them that many were the promises given to them, in deviance and defiance alike would be punished. One lived their live believing that the words of others could bind them into obedience, and yet if they were lucky, they might realise before their time was up that there were no walls around them, no cage foisted on their soul, that the threats of others are toothless maws and blunt swords, that one's manacles have no chains to hold them to the earth. He tells the Dreamers to run and fly freely. Those beneath them may rail and curse at their wings, but their words would fade on the winds of time, and the Dreamers would one day forget they ever raised their voice.