Episode 117 - Natures

## Natures

A black background with a white border made to look like vines, leaves, and flora. This border is present on the top of the image, but on goes halfway down on the left and halfway up on the right. Within the border a white bear skull is seen facing forward with its mouth open. The right eye is coloured red and leaves of trail of red smoke. Bellow this image but still within the border the words "117.NATURES" are depicted in white

### Author

William A. Wellman

Yaretzi reflects on the morning, Riot fights a beast, and Indrid walks in shadow. The theme of tonight's episode is Natures.

> ***Content warnings**:* *Animal death (Beast the Bear as usual), Violence, Kidnapping and abduction, Death + Injury, Blood and Gore, Electrocution, Birds, Gun Mention, Static (including sfx), Emotional Manipulation, Body horror, Consumption of Inedible Materials (Bert), Religious Violence, Child Sacrifice*
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## Intro - Alone In Nature

Nikignik narrates to the Dreamers someone who always liked to be alone in nature. Perhaps it was because no one to judge them. Perhaps it was because they were far away from a world that demanded so much from them, to conform and function. Perhaps they felt their past was forgotten, and their old selves could remain forever forgotten. Deep down, they knew it was because they know they were embraced by a forest that was itself in endless transition with the seasons.

Nikignik sits but a gated window during the morning at the Grand Crossroads Hotel overlooking Polly as he sits with his head on the reception desk and wonders if he'll ever outrun himself.

## Story 1 - How Long To Hunt

Yaretzi wakes next to The Countess, and gets dressed and goes downstairs. She finds Polly in the lobby with his head on the reception desk, and he bids her a good morning, asking if she'd slept alright. She tells him she'd slept sufficiently and asks if there were any new guests, and he tells her there were none, that they might be entering a quiet season. She comments that it made no difference as the soul fire that ran the hotel could not be bought easily. Polly asks if she thought Mort was alright (see Episode 103 - Crossroads). She tells him that she was sure he was fine and that she was prod of Polly for giving him the space to grow (see Episode 105 - Dependencies). Polly tells her that she shouldn't be as he wasn't pleased about it and worried constantly.

He briefly rants to her about all the things he had been worried about, Mort getting hurt, having to kill Rick Rounds someday (see Episode 89 - Terminations), Tiff going back on their bargain (see Episode 89 - Terminations). Yaretzi tells him that he seemed like he could use some sleep, but he ignores her and asks how long they were going to wait until Mort was really in danger. She tells him that it was longer yet, but if they had to, she could track him down, and Polly had powerful spells (see Polly's manual). He reminds her that he didn't have his manual anymore (see Episode 76 - Lungs). She tells him that she wanted him to go for a walk, and he agrees to this. Polly leaves, and Yaretzi wonders how long she'd have to wait to go get Mort before it was too late.

### Interlude 1 - Hiking Challenge

Nikignik tells the Dreamers that the world was filled with a thousand natural wonders, asking if they had tired of all of them, and grown bord. If so, they had no fear, new wilderness far beyond the earth waited for them. The Northmost Woods were dismissive of the laws of nature, this made it an exciting new challenge for even the most experienced hiker. With scenic gulches into the void, living and hungry greenery, colours beyond human sight, mountains that shifted and travelled across the horizon, and wildlife bent out of shape by the impossible gravity of the blood of a god seeping into the earth (see The Heart of Marolmar), they would find the Northmost like nothing they had ever seen before, or see again.

## Story 2 - Bear Teeth On A Blue Screen

Riot Maidstone stands on the ledge of a clearing in the North most Hallowoods following the events of Episode 116 - Forecasts. Olivier Song joins her by her side, and everyone in the group ready themself for a fight, but it's Mort who runs forwards first, yelling at Beast for eating Bert (see Episode 115 - Fishes). Mort punches it, knocking both Mort backwards and Beast off to Riot's side. Beast gets back up quickly, but Diggory Graves jumps onto its skull and begins hacking at its skull. Riot take the opportunity to run to Mort and ask if he was okay. He is but upset about Bert dying. She tells him that she was sorry for his loss, but they needed him to fight Beast, get revenge. She looks up to see Beast manage to get Diggory off its head and proceed to flatten them into the ground. After doing this Beast is immediately met with Percy Reed driving two bolts of phantasmal flame into its face, having come to Diggory's aid.

Mort charges forwards and hist Beast hard enough in the ribs to knock it over, but it kicks him and sends him skidding away. Riot begins her attack, asking for Olivier to give her a boost. She gets close to Beast's face and remaining eye (see Episode 114 - Organs) and Olivier sends an arc of lightning down Riot's sword, stabbing the conduit blade directly into its skull. Beast goes still for a moment, but quickly moves again, grabbing Riot and mauling her.

### Marketing - More Of Nevada

Lady Ethel Mallory interrupts Nikignik's broadcast with her 'Marketing' segment. She asks the Dreamers how there was so much nothingness in Nevada. She tells them that she felt like she was walking on the surface of Mars, if Mars had been planted with weeds. One lightly brown road, surrounded by lightly brown grass and small stones, stretching from one horizon to the other like a suture. Perhaps she should be grateful. That she was so alone for this part of her journey (see Episode 106 - Departures) because time alone is time to think. Maybe she hated the landscape because it reminded her of New Mexico (see Lady Ethel Mallory).

### Story 2, Continued - Bear Teeth On A Blue Screen

Riot suddenly finds herself back in her old Bunker, accompanied by Danielle O'Hara who sits beside her on a couch in front of the TV in a onesie. It is evident that Riot is dreaming. Danielle tells her that it'd been hard to get a hold of her recently, asking if she'd been sleeping okay, and Riot tells her that she hadn't. She asks why where Riot was, if everything was okay, and Riot looks to the screen to see it flashing with images of Beast mauling her, and she asks if she was dead, explaining to Danielle everything that had happened in the mission since Episode 112 - Watchers.

Danielle asks how she could help, offering to send in Scoutpost Two, but Riot tells her not to send anyone, that it wasn't her decision to make but she didn't want anyone to die. She tells Danielle to tell Valerie Maidstone that she loved her, and that she was right about how the smart thing to do was stay at the Scoutpost. Danielle stares at her for a moment and opens to mouth to speak but the volume on the TV is suddenly much louder and she can't hear what she's saying. She sits up in the real world again and shrieks. She finds Olivier next to her, who beings to comfort her and tells her that she'd hoped Riot would be under for a little longer. Riot looks around to see everyone fine, Cindy Lockheart mending a hole in Mort's armour and Beast laying still with both its eyes dark. Riot asks if they'd done it, and Olivier tells her that they had, before magically forcing one of Riot's broken ribs back in place. Riot screams but silently celebrates having won another victory against the world.

### Interlude 2 - Cold Dead Asteroid Cities

Nikignik tells the Dreamers that if there was a universe filled with life, they must wonder what it was like, and why they had not encountered it in their journeys through the stars. The answer to both of these questions was that thy did not want to know. What was also life - besides what they were familiar with in identifying it, what also bore a soul in the universe was so far beyond their criteria of what life was that to explain it would be useless. But it was like them in some senses, wherever they went. It was here only a brief moment before it tore itself apart. In the end, they wither at their own hand, leaving their temples and cities and worlds cold long before the next civilization rose somewhere distant.

## Story 3 - Empty Vessel

Indrid Buckley resides in the outskirts of Downing Hill Public Library, surveying the scene. She was lead there by an artifact compass supplied to her by The Vicar, thinking that Winona Carline's sword would have been useful at this time (Nikignik commenting that the sword was one of his eyes which he would very much like back at some point), but shit instead had a pair of binoculars which she used to observe the front doors. She decides that now would be a good time to sneak in, so she puts her compass away and pulls out a stone ring, putting it on and becoming enveloped in darkness so that she may walk unseen.

She begins to approach the library but stops when she heads the sound of Zelda Duckworth and Virgil Kane entre the clearing (see Episode 112 - Watchers), Zelda carrying her shotgun and Virgil a javelin. They don't notice her, heading straight to the stone lions, so she continues to watch from afar. Zelda kicks on the door, demanding them to open up as she wanted Al Buckley back (see Episode 101 - Disciplines). The two enter the library, and Indrid takes this as a blessing as visitors would keep Downing Hill's attention for a while, and she could get in and out with Johannah Wicker easier (see Episode 111 - Winds). She begins to scale the wall with her sandals.

## Outro - Natures

Nikignik waxes poetics about natures, asking the Dreamers if he and they were animal, or something more? This was the great temptation, to see themselves as unique and special and better than the vast majority of life, made in God's image. God was disgusted by their image, on Indescibables scale of life, the Dreamers were as countless as the insects of their earth were to them. And the Indescribables, by the same measure, were just as insignificant to the Outsiders. No matter their magnification, they were all animals, their instincts compelled them to feed and prey and protect and create and destroy. In that despite the vastness of their differences, they were across the universe the same.