Episode 24 - Storms

## Storms

A white drawing of storm cloud, with three lightning bolts reaching down. Two red hands are in the center of the image: The right hand holds a conductor's baton pointed towards the lightning, and the left hand is open, with the tips of the lightning bolts touching the fingers. There is a white border of faint, wavy lines around the image, with a key, a piece of chalk, a fly, and a piano key in the corners. The white text under the image, but inside the border, reads "24 • Storms."

### Author

William A. Wellman

Riot rides north, Diggory makes a stand, and Marco's job gets stranger. The theme of tonight's episode is Storms.

***Content Warnings:** Static, abuse, violence, kidnapping and abduction, death + injury, blood, sexism and misogyny, hateful language, transphobia, homophobia, birds, strangulation/suffocation, misgendering, emotional manipulation, body horror, electrocution, car crash*

## Intro - Dark and Stormy

Nikignik speaks of the Dreamers as a dark and stormy night. You are full of emotions expressed in hurricanes, thunder, lightning, and tides of rain. Your lover is the earth, thirsty for your rain. Living things are terrified, but the trees reach up to you as you bend to kiss them. The living hide, but the undead know you like a parent.

Nikignik is sitting in a spruce tree, next to ravens who cannot see them but sense them in the night. Beneath them a white hearse races north.

## Story One - Better Words and a Blizzard

Riot asks her mom if she'll grow up strange without other kids. Valerie responds that she'll grow up cool, like her. When Riot complains about the food, Valerie lectures her on how privileged she is. Rizwana left them the bunker, though it was meant for her and Cindy. If she were alive, Valerie doesn't know where she and Riot would be. Riot leaves, telling her mom that she isn't hungry. She regrets now not saying a better goodbye.

In the present, Riot sits in a car with Walt, Diggory, and Percy. Solomon is following them in the rain. The rain begins to turn to snow as they approach the Shuddering Peaks; the hearse skids on ice and runs off the road. They all climb out of the wrecked hearse with their weapons, and Walt stands to face Solomon while the others head into the trees.

Solomon approaches, carried by his ghosts, and asks Walt to surrender Percy and the key. Walt refuses, and tells Solomon to stay away from the Scoutpost. He warns Solomon that if he doesn't leave the forest, Walt will force him out. Solomon promises to rain destruction on both Walt and the Scoutpost, and commands his ghosts to attack.

### Interlude One - Blizzard Warning

Nikignik warns the listeners of a sudden, unnatural blizzard. It is not the effect of climate change, but full of rage and betrayal, and driven by a dark purpose.

## Story Two - A Small Silver Bell

Rizwana tells her father that she loves a woman, and he tells her to hide her feelings. She is a leader, with the eyes of the entire world on her, and she will be in danger if they know. He begs her to keep it secret for her own safety.

A small girl is being pulled away from her friends, from guitars, and from skateboards. Her father screams at her to act more like a girl.

A boy lies awake at night and listens to ghosts. The ghost in the ceiling was killed when he invited the wrong man home. When the police discovered his body several weeks later, they said he'd had it coming.

Percy rouses Diggory from their memories, and tells them they need to go now. Walt and Riot are facing Solomon in the clearing, and Diggory hurries to join them. Riot manages to smash a few instruments on Solomon's back, and he summons Abigail to stop her. Percy yells at him to stop, and both Solomon and Abigail freeze. Solomon asks if that's his daughter, and Percy replies that his name is Percy. Solomon asks Percy to come back to him, that he can still be forgiven and cured, and Percy flatly refuses.

Solomon accuses Diggory of turning Percy against him. He steps towards Diggory, but Percy defends them. Diggory tells Solomon that they burned the piano and asks if Solomon knows how much misery he's caused his son. Solomon demands that Diggory hand over the piano piece, which Diggory refuses. Turning, Diggory sees Walt get attacked by two ghosts. He fights one off, but the other knocks him down and chokes him. While they are distracted, Abigail steals the piano key from Diggory's pocket. Diggory tries to tell Solomon that Percy doesn't want to go with him, but Solomon ignores them.

Diggory is furious, and begins to go after Solomon, but freezes when Solomon rings a silver bell. The sound brings up something old in Diggory's mind, and they fall unconscious in the snow.

### Marketing - Struggle

Lady Ethel Mallory gives one last warning to Nikignik. She claims that the dreamers outside the Dreaming Boxes need to hear her voice if they want to be safe, that the Dreaming Boxes are the only safe place in the world now. She says Nikignik does not understand their target audience. They are damaging her marketing campaign, and she will not tolerate competition. She will enjoy ripping them apart.

### Story Two, Continued - A Small Silver Bell

Nikignik laughs in the face of Ethel's threats and reassures his dreamers that they're not going anywhere soon. They were here long before humans evolved, and will be here long after they are gone. They will not remember Lady Ethel Mallory.

Rizwana asks Barty how much farther they have, and he estimates about two days, though the distance is strange. Then, she goes below deck to get out of the cold.

The point of view shifts to Evelyn, who is losing at a card game. August assures Rizwana that they're still on course, and Ruth adds that they're still hidden. Chance asks why they're hidden, and Ruth explains that the black rains have been twisting the animals below them for years now, and it would be too dangerous to go down there.

They look at the Northern lights, which are far brighter than usual and very green. Rizwana knows the Heart is close.

Diggory wakes up back to the present. Walt tells them to not go after Percy, but Diggory feels a deep sense of loss and feels they let him down. They promise to return before sprinting into the storm after Solomon. The voices of their past selves echo in their head, but they focus on their goal in the present.

The night darkens and the wind knocks Diggory off the road, and Olivier appears. He attacks with lightning and accuses Diggory of ruining his life. He wants his life back, but for now he will enjoy ripping Diggory apart. As sharp hail strikes Diggory, Olivier tells them to stay dead.

### Interlude Two - I Have Seen Storms

Nikignik expressed their disappointment in whoever has been sharing their dreams with Lady Ethel Mallory. They go on to say that they aren't afraid of Botco, but it might be a difficult time. Botco probably can't affect Nikignik though, and they aren't afraid. Hopefully the people in their nightmare stories will save a little of the dying world.

## Story Three - A Change in Weather and Plan

Ethel is upset about the snowstorm. Marco apologizes, explaining that it was not in the forecast. She remarks that she was hoping to feed her flies, which disgusts Marco. Brooklyn notes that they've got Riot in camera view, and Lady Ethel wonders where they're heading to. Brooklyn explains that Riot is in a car with an older man, and something else with no heat signature. When the car goes off the road, Lady Ethel orders them to land.

The Instrumentalist and his ghosts appear on the screen, and Lady Ethel asks what she's looking at. Brooklyn says that they're not human, but identifies class-two specters. The man is controlling them, and the instruments are producing impressive readings.

Lady Ethel decides that the instruments are more important than Riot, and that they should follow the Instrumentalist rather than stopping him.

Brooklyn reassures Marco that this is important for Lady Ethel's project, and that he should be glad because this is important. She hasn't seen the Lady so excited in a long time.

Brooklyn puts on her dreaming visor, and Marco continues to watch Riot on the screen. This is not what he wanted from this job, he decides.

## Outro - Storms

Nikignik finds no comfort from the idea that storms are necessary to make you appreciate sunny days, or that storms make you stronger. They wish for you to have stormless days and nights.They have faced storms and lost everything they loved in the process. This is part of life. Still, storms end and leave behind a changed world that is still beautiful.