Episode 58 - Enemies

## Enemies

White water pipes surround the image. A white sledgehammer sits in the center. On top of the sledgehammer is a red mutated fish with tentacles.

### Author

William A. Wellman

Clara tries an exercise, Moth helps out at Glass City Farms, and Riot asks the real questions. The theme of tonight's episode is Enemies.

***Content Warnings:** Emotional Abuse, Animal death (Dogsmell as usual), Suicide Mention, Violence, Kidnapping and abduction, Death + Injury, Blood, Mental illness, Misgendering, Drowning, Body horror*

## Intro - Gold Rush

Nikignik narrates a Starwolf killing a Demon. Describing how the demon should have seen the Starwolf coming, witnessing as the demon turned from the man he was ready to kill too late to stop the Starwolf from tearing into his ribs. The Starwolf seizes his neck in their teeth and breaths in the unnatural fire of his soul as it left its shell. The demon's flaming weapons fall away and the Starwolf rips him into pieces and feasts and feel a peace. The man who they saved looks up at them in blood splattered awe, repressing his astonishment to thank them, looking at them with worship in his eyes. They recognise him, as being from their home, though he does not recognise them as they are. They look past him to see their city burning, reducing to ashes and ember.

Nikignik sits on the forest floor of the Hallowoods next to The Summer Campers. He describes four of them as 'very quiet', and that when they looked at each other they did not see friends. Sitting across from them was Winona Carline, their self-professed teacher and potentially a bigger threat to them than the woods.

## Story One - Other People's Blood

Clara Martin sits attempting to mediate with the other Summer Campers by a stream and breaks the silence to ask Winona how they would know if they were doing it right. The rest of the group stares at her (including Winona and with the exception of Friday Rescher), and Winona tells her that there was no grade for what they were doing as it was an exercise, and to try again. Clara tries again, but is unable to, and Winona tells her that she was 'thinking loudly', and that she should focus on the movement of her breathing, to "*Feel the weight of your body on the ground. Where the pressure falls on [their] bones. If anything hurts and where.*” Arnold Eggers comments that nothing was hurting for him, and Friday tells him that she could 'fix' that. Winona continues to speak, and Clara looks up to see Victoria Tepiani crying. Winnona calls a break for lunch, standing up to leave and immediately being followed by Arnold. Clara notices that Friday had already disappeared. Clara tells Harrow Blackletter and Victoria that she hadn't understood the point of that lesson, and Harrow and Victoria tell her that she'd only been at Downing Hill Public Library for a few months, so this was to be expected, and tell her to be weary of Friday before both also leaving.

Clara leaves by herself and follows the direction of the stream and is able to find Friday kneeling besides the water where the stream opened into a lake. Clara goes to ask her a question, but Friday looks up at her and hold er finger to her lips to tell Clara to be quiet before turning her attention back to the water. Clara steps closer and asks if Friday could see any fish, but Friday tell her that the lake was full of dead people. Clara looks a little closer and is able to see the Sleepers within the water. She asks what they were, and Friday explains what a sleeper is to her, also telling her about how easy it would be to go into the water ad join them, asking if Clara would miss her if she did. Clara tells her not to talk like that, and Friday tells her that she was just teasing, as if she left no one would feed Edgar 'the spider' Rescher. Clara laments about her no longer having her broom, and Friday asks what she'd let them take it, showing her that she still had her Void knife to prove the point. Clara asks how Friday had gone with the exercise, and Friday tells her that she didn't understand why she kept on being sent on the summer trips (see Episode 50 - Radios), that if she was lucky enough (see Friday Rescher) then C. S. Blackletter would be dead. Clara says that she might be able to see more ghosts, making a joke about Friday having any grandmother she'd want her to look at, before realising that this was insensitive and apologising (see Episode 21 - Mornings). Friday tells her that she didn't think that Winona was who she was claiming to be and wonders off, leaving Clara to keep up with her.

### Interlude - Act of Violence

Nikignik tells the Dreamers that the end of their world had not been an act of violence, no great battles were fought, it had been quiet and gentle, descending ever so slowly into silence. Humans had thought was was too late to change anything, and y the time they realised they could change it was too late. There had been rising temperatures, and rising waters, and rising black clouds (see Black Water) that covered nations like a blanket to lay them down to rest, and unable to bear the sight of it the Sleepers shut their eyes beneath still water with the blessing of the end, or within artificial dream (see The Prime Dream). But they should know that if they dream and they were human, they should know that their life to come had no malice, it opened its eyes to the sunlight, and it woke from the emptiness to find a world made new. They should hold back their dead and their weapons and their hatred, for it was not the new world's fault that they were born to inherit the world abandoned.

## Story Two - Thicker Than Water

Moth Scarberry thinks to mothself that if blood was thicker than water, then moth would prefer the water, sitting amongst the equipment for Glass City Farms, aquaponic pools and filters and farming tanks, vats full of fish and for plants. And as much as the water surrounded moth, so did blood with moth's uncle Gale Scarberry and Gale's re-married second wife Darla. Darla asks moth if "*Do moth need any help with that box*", as moth carried a box full of vegetables that were about to be handed off to customers. Moth tells Darla that moth was able to carry the box, and hands it off to Gale. Moth tells him that moth had something to show him, and moth leads him to the back corner of the warehouse with all the fish in it, Gale taking his sledgehammer with him. Moth points into one of the tanks and shows Gale one of the fish that wasn't a fish anymore because it's gotten hallowed by the Black Water that it was living in. Gale taps it with his sledgehammer, and it immediately attacks him latching onto the hammer's head, but Gale swings the hammer and slams the fish down on the concrete, killing it. He tells Darla to put the dead not-fish into the compost and she complies.

Moth asks him what had just happened, and he tell moth that the fish had 'went bad' and that it happened. Moth responds in disbelief, asking if the fish were in "*the bad water, that does that to an animal?*” (see Black Water), looking across the farm and realising just how much Black water surrounded moth, and that everything being grown contained it. Moth tells Gale that they needed to clean it all, as it was all contaminated and thus not safe, but moth looks up to find Gale glaring at moth. Gale speaks to moth in a low but harsh tone and orders moth to follow him before storming off and leading moth to an office. Gale tells moth that moth couldn't say things like moth had said in front of the staff as it would cause a panic. Moth tells him that moth hadn't been trying to cause that, but moth knew it was serious when an animal turned like the not-fish had. Gale comments that Bill Scarberry had sheltered Moth and tells moth that they had water from the sky and that Bill's conspiracy theories (see Bill Scarberry) were not true. Moth points out that the not-fish had had two heads, asking if Gale didn't think that to be a problem, but Gale just tells moth that that was life. Darla comes in and apologises to moth for having to witness that, and Moth ask when moth had missed that part where 'this' happening was just normal, asking if everything in Glass City Farms was 'bad'. Darla tells moth that 'bad is a bad word' and tells Gale to go and cool off, and Gale leaves. Moth asks Darla what moth had missed, and Darla confirms that all the water was tainted, but it was common sense. Darla leaves, and Moth decides that moth couldn't stay at Glass City Farms.

### Marketing - Where Fear Lives

Lady Ethel Mallory interrupts Nikignik's broadcast with her marketing segment. She tells the listeners, in this case her marketing students, that when it came to motivating people, you had to be aware of what makes them move, and it was rarely altruism. Bless those who woke up in the morning on the right side of the bed and wanted to make the world a better place in whatever inane way they defined it. But most people were motivated by self-interest, asking "what about me?", "what about what I want", and the root of self-interest was fear, "what if I don't get what I want?". She tells her marketing class to attach a name to fear and give it a face. Identify a group of people trying to take away what they consumer's perceived as their own, telling them that were fear lived motivation would follow. It was how you stirred up a population to engage with a campaign, it was how you moved mountains, how you ushered an entire country to purchase a lifetime survive. She tells them to name their greatest fear, then find a way to utilise it.

### Story Two, Continued

Moth, having already packed for moth to leave Glass City Farms, thinks to mothself about what the ethics of what moth was taking, consisting of a blanket from Darla, plastic cutlery from the break room, a small clock shaped like a frog, but moth decides that it was fair, as moth was still Gale'd brother's kid, and that was worth at least a blanket. Despite it being dark, moth puts moth's glasses on, finding comfort in them before stepping out of moth's room into the hall that lead to the walkway that wrapped around the farm floor, moth's boots on the metal floor being far too loud for comfort but moth hurried to the stairwell. Halfway down the stairs Moth hears the Gale talking to someone, despite it being approximately 3am, but moth keeps walking and moth reaches the bottom of the stairs, reaching the front door and fleeing into the night, and heads in a direction that moth picks at random because it was better than saying at Glass City Farms. Moth hears someone calling moth's name, and moth begins to run to the chain link fence around the border, looking back to see Gale staining in the doorway with his sledgehammer in hand. Moth runs past the fence and thinks to mothself that moth wasn't going back, running into the darkness.

Moth spots a gleaming white light in the distance, and stops for a moment transfixed by it, unfortunately this is long enough for Gale to finish catching up to moth and he swings his sledgehammer at moth, the head colliding with moth's shoulder, causing moth to collapse and roll into the side of the highway bank. Gale calls moth ungrateful, telling moth that they'd took moth in, given moth food, a job, in return moth had stolen from them and ran. Gale tells moth that moth had lied when moth had told him that Bill had gone to get help (see Episode 54 - Roads), demanding to know what moth had done with his brother. A blizzard of answers and thoughts run through moth's mind, asking both how Gale knew that moth had lied, and playing ignorant and asking what Gale was talking about, and telling Gale that this wasn't the time for this conversation. Gale tells moth that moth wouldn't be a problem again and lifts his sledgehammer to deliver moth a killing blow. There's a flash of pain in moth's side, the head if the hammer glinting in bright light, and Gale goes flying away from moth, replaced in moth's sight by Ray, who asks if moth was okay. Ray tells moth that they needed to leave as there was 'traffic' approaching from both the road (see The RV Gang) and the sky (see Botco drones (Flies)) and their situation was 'about to get hairy', asking if moth could stand up and get into his car. Moth passes out to the sound of another engine (The RV Gang) and the sound of the rotors from the approaching Botco drones.

### Interlude - A Thousand Swords

Nikignik tells the dreamers that he had no need for a sword for he could not wield it. when he was incarnate, he was only a little fur and teeth and vulnerable eyes. It was for this reason that he did not hold in his heart great vengeance. and although his family (see Indescribables) were neither caring nor kind, they were all that he had. They bickered amongst themselves, scrabbling over resources and dominion that actually meant nothing to them, yet they did not hesitate to enlist life to their causes and send them into battle like toys on a game board. Nikignik wonders if this was how they had felt when they'd drawn their weapons against Marolmar. But they were past that, and Nikignik had come to terms with it all, and he must take the healthy road forward. It was in the past, and for all his eyes (see Nikignik) he could not touch it and could not change it for a thousand swords.

## Story Three - Lady Bugeyes, Please Get It Together

The Clone of Riot Maidstone (will be referred to as 'Riot' for simplicity) thinks about what Danielle O'Hara told her in Episode 55 - Threats: "*You're not the real Riot*". She thinks to herself that every word was weird if one was to think about it, was anybody real? what did it mean to be real? Boxy asks her if she was currently experiencing any discomfort, and she asks it if she was the real Riot. Boxy offers to starts calling her 'The real Riot' and she tells it to go to sleep. 'Riot' stays up by the window and keeps thinking, thinking that if she wasn't the 'real Riot' then someone out there was (see Riot Maidstone), someone with her skin and her body, like a dissociative episode made real. Or had Danielle just been trying to 'wing her out'. She says to herself "*I'm the real Riot* ... *I'll fight to for it*" and decides that she sounded crazy. She grabs her blanked, waddles out of her room, and finds a combat drone, which she asks if she could see her mum. The drone doesn't respond, and she pushes though the door it was guarding walking into Valerie Maidstone's room. Valerie asks her if she was okay, and 'Riot' hums to let her know that she was as she sat on the end of Valerie's bed.

Valerie asks her what was wrong, and she tells her that she felt weird, and Valerie tells her it was probably what the Botulus Corporation had been feeding them, and that if 'Riot' started to grow any extra eyeballs to let her know. They joke about this for a bit before 'Riot' tells her that she had some 'big-ish news' and tells her that she'd met Ralph. Valerie responds with shock and asks if he was okay and 'still weird'. 'Riot' tells her that Ralph was fine, but she couldn't believe that Valerie had dated him, that she'd thought Valerie was a lesbian. Valerie shrugs and tells her that it was hard to put a label on things, she was just trying to pick a genus and "Lesbian plus Ralph" hadn't fitted on the buttons. 'Riot' tells her that the point was that she'd met her dad and that was weird, especially because she couldn't remember if Valerie had told her anything about him (see Clementine Maidstone). Valier tells her that she hadn't told her alot, the year before her and Riot had gone to the bunker were hell because of him, and she'd hated his guts for a decade after. But they'd wound up with Botco anyway and she supposed she was glad he wasn't dead. 'Riot' neglects to tell Valerie about Ralph's apparent fast approaching death (see Episode 55 - Threats). The door swings open and Melanie Flores stands in the doorway, telling them that she was sorry for the interruption, but she was wondering if she could steal 'Riot'. 'Riot' accepts, wishes her mother goodbye, and leaves with Melanie. Melanie tells her that she was going to need to get dressed as she was getting a surprise visit form Lady Ethel Mallory.

## Outro - Enemies

Nikignik waxes poetics to the dreamer about Enemies. He tells the Dreamers that it was an easy lie to believe that life only existed to survive. That was why life evolved, to exist and be alive, to live for the sake of living and experience everything there was within the confides of its first light and final darkness. To love and to lose, to care for those who could not repay them, to whisper a story into the darkness where there was no comfort to be had. Then what was an enemy but ones whose fear for food, for thirst, for safety, for acceptance, reigns over kindness. Perhaps the greatest fear of all was of being purposeless—that if no one stands in the sky to tell them how to be, that they have no reason to be at all. Nikignik tells the dreamers that they were alive, and that was a purpose, and in embracing it they may not find any enemies but instead fellow travellers, falling alongside them back into dust.