Episode 130 - Cradles

## Cats

A black background with a thin, white, wavey border. the top left corner a loosely drawn cartoon sun is depicted, the top right a star, the bottom right a crescent moon, and the bottom left another star, all of which are also depicted in white. Within the border a white dish is depicted to be overflowing with red peppermint lollies. Below this image but still within the border the words "130.CRADLES" are depicted in white.

### Author

William A. Wellman

Al explores his new home, Indrid overseas the Spring Sacrifice, and Marco comes home late. The theme of tonight's episode is Cradles

> ***Content warning**: Abuse, Ableism, Violence, Kidnapping and abduction, Death + Injury, Blood, Mental illness, Gun Mention, Gunshot wounds, Emotional Manipulation, Bugs, Body horror, Consumption of Inedible Materials (the Vicar), Religious Violence, Child Sacrifice, Al has no skin as usual*
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## Intro - Something Is Wrong With the Baby

Nikignik speaks to the Dreamers of Mx. Morrell as they become aware that something was wrong with Baby. They go to its crib to find it empty, and Baby to be nowhere in its nursery. They find a hole in the wall beneath the crip, torn through the plaster, and they can hear the sound of Baby from within. They push themself into the hole, a tight crawl under their floors wish they must endure until they come to the nest that Baby had made, constructed of chewed wet paper and lost toys. they pick it up and carry it back to its nursey, tucking it in to sleep.

Nikignik lurks in the darkness beneath Downing Hill Public Library.

## Story 1 - The Cradle of Life

Al Buckley hovers in front of a stained-glass window in Downing Hill Public Library of Amaryllis Ward, along with a man with a fluffy beard, a woman with white hair, and a large dog. He asks Harrow Blackletter who she was (see Episode 124 - Educations), and ze explain to him that she was the founder of Downing Hill, that ze had never met her be ze wished ze had as ze knew that she had visions and ze wished she could tell ze about zir's. Ze tells him that ze messed her even though they'd never met. Al relates to this, telling ze that he couldn't remember his mum much either (see Indrid Buckley). They go to bed, but instead of staying in their dorm room Al drifts through the library, descending lower and lower until he comes to the darkness beneath it, and in the darkness, he finds a cave. Within the room was a large fixture of rock with a basin set in it, as well as a large white centipede, the size of a human but a hundred times as long. All greats the centipede, and the room suddenly shifts, the cave becoming an office, the basin a bowl of peppermints, and the centipede C. S. Blackletter.

She apologises, telling him that she hadn't heard him knock, and asks how his day at school had been. He tells her it was good, and asks about Clara Martin, why he had not seen her (see Episode 116 - Forecasts). Blackletter tells him that she was doing important work for the library (see Episode 128 - Haunts), that once he had completed his base years of study he might as well. She tells him that the mission Clara was on was an important one because it involved the future of the library, explaining to him that the basin he'd seen was called the cradle of live and was made to "*house a terrible evil*". Al asks when Zelda Duckworth could come and visit him (see Episode 124 - Educations), but she tells him that she may not be able to for a while, as Clara's mission was to find a place for them to move Downing Hill too so they could trap the previously mentioned evil. But Zelda could still visit if she could reach it.

### Interlude 1 - Dragonslayers

Nikignik tells the Dreamers that they said it was the end of the world, but all that was last was humanity, and already there were the first rays of new sunshine. The world was hostile to human life, and yet the Dreamers thought that perhaps they should have a child, why should they apologize for raising dragon slayers in times when there were actual dragons. Expect the dragons were long gone, the few that remained turned to try and escape the dying planet, a wasteland desolate of dragons and knights alike. And if the Dreamers chose to multiply, they had to face the question of if they were willing to leave their young fae the dim future. Willing to leave them to endure a would the Dreamers had doomed alone.

## Story 2 - To Make God Happy

Indrid Buckley attends the Sunday service at the Church of the Hallowed Name, standing at the front door and making a list of the names of all those who entre. She pauses when she hears the sound of child's laughter (see Al Buckley) and watches as Johannah Wicker walks through the front doors with her family (see Episode 127 - Hooks). Johannah hands her a bundle containing her Sandals of Steady Footing, commenting how she hadn't even noticed that she'd taken the, Mrs. Wicker quickly adding that Johannah was sorry for having accidentally left with them. Indrid thanks her for bringing them back, Jedediah Wicker asks where they were supposed to sit, and why everyone was wearing robes. Indrid guides them towards a closet to get their own robes, telling them that it was an important day for the Church, an annual celebration to pray for a blessed spring. They find their seats in the pews as The Vicar begins the sermon.

He welcomes the congregation and all the new faces amidst them, telling them that they were hosting the spring sacrifice early despite it still being winter because God had demanded it of them to prove their loyalty. As he spoke Indrid took the names she'd written and disposed the slips into a bowl, the Vicar removing the cloth covering from the alter he stood before to reveal it to be made of the same glass as a void knife. Indrid hands off the bowl to the Vicar, finding her way back to the isle and sitting beside Mrs. Wicker. The Vicar pours the names across the alters, followed by water, and picks the name that clung the highest to the glass. He holds the paper high and announces that Jedediah Wicker was the name of that year's spring sacrifice.

### Marketing - Nursery

Lady Ethel Mallory interrupts Nikignik's broadcasts with her 'marketing' segment. She tells the Dreamers that she was in an abandoned hospital nursery. She tells them about her mother, calling her insufferable. She tells them that she'd considered visiting her old home, but it had been a trailer park, so it probably wasn't around anymore, and it had only ever brought her pain. She tells the Dreamers that she normally loathed children, but she did sometimes go down to the nurseries in Box Cassiopea, but to look at the infants within, born dreaming. She tells the Dreamers that her mother had never liked what she did, but she had died alone in the desert. She confesses that she [Ethel] was the one who'd sold the world away.

### Story 2, Continued - To Make God Happy

Mrs. Wicker asks Indrid what The Vicar meant. The Vicar speaks up, telling Jedediah to come to the alter, spreading his arms to reveal that he was holding a void knife in one. Jacob Wicker asks Mrs. Wicker what The Vicar was going to do, and The Vicar tells Mrs. Wicker that Jedediah was going to be a gift, and in return she would be rewarded tenfold. What was to gain without sacrifice. Jedediah tells his mum to not be scared, and Mrs. Wicker looks to Indrid for answers. Indrid gives nothing, knowing that it was her job to hold Mrs. Wicker back as others had done to her (see Indrid Buckley), but finds herself unable to do so. She allows Mrs. Wicker decide on her own what she wanted to do.

Jedediah stands up and begins to walk to the stage, to the Vicar's visual delight as he beckoned him forward. Mrs. Wicker tries to push into the isle, but Indrid blocks her, telling her that it had to happen. Mrs. Wicker stops struggling, seemingly having decided to allow Jedediah to die. She suddenly shoves Indrid to the ground however and screams at the Vicar that no one hurt her children, and no one took them from her again. The Vicar begins to scold Mrs. Wicker for being ungrateful, but Jacob shoots him in the head. The Vicar falls limply on the alter, which consumes him.

### Interlude 2 - Parental Figures

Nikignik tells the Dreamers that he remembered only vaguely the earliest days of his existence. Some may conjecture that Indescribable life was born of the Outsiders’ influence, though he was not sure if they caused him to be, or they simply look down and offer a gentle presence from the distant beyond. He wonders if his parental figure (see Episode 9 - Birds) would outlive hm, if she would mourn him. He questions if Marolmar had parents, if they missed him, if they would have noticed by now that he was dead. He tells the Dreamers that he wondered if his legacy would be pleasing to her, if the world of the Outsiders was where they came from, and where they would go.

## Story 3 - Daddy Marco

Marco Torres comes home late at night from a date with Buck Silver (see Episode 113 - Others), finding Brooklyn Williams still awake sitting at a kitchen counter organising a checklist. She asks him how his date was, and he tells her that he hadn't thought she'd still be awake, kissing her on the back of the neck. She states that she assumed it went well, and he says that it did. He tells her that he'd been surprised to find how much he and Buck had in common, but it was also weird as Marco had otherwise only ever date people from the Prime Dream where he could be anything, but in the real world he was more vulnerable. He tells her that it's take some getting used to.

She asks if he thought he'd get a second date, but he tells her he didn't know and didn't want to push it for her comfort as she was new to having a polyamorous partner. He asks what she was working on, and she goes quiet. He begins to worry, asking if something was making her uncomfortable, but she tells him that this wasn't the case. She looks at him with a smile in her eyes and tells him that he was going to be a father.

## Outro - Cradles

Nikignik waxes poetics about cradles, telling the Dreamers that they had not ask to be placed here, forced to participate in the grand scheme of the universe. But what a brief moment of glorious light to experience, why not take the beauty and the agony of being while it was offered only for a moment. They would all die, and he asks if a thing was meaningless because it was over quickly? Or was it filled all the more with meaning for its brevity? Perhaps they would reflect, be able to look back on their experiences. But perhaps not. He tells the Dreamers that if dust was all there was, he hoped they enjoyed all the momentary light had to offer.