Episode 65 - Miles

## Miles

A black background with a simple thin white border with what looks to be different constellations in the corners. Within the border three framed pictures, drawn in white, are lined up, each with what looks to be red smoke rising from their bases. The first shows the constellation Corvus, the second the silhouette (with the exception of dotted in eyes) of three individuals gathered as if in a portrait, and the last a fly. Beneath these images but still within the border the words "65.MILES" are written in white.

### Author

William A. Wellman

Friday goes stargazing, Percy revisits the past, and Bern looks for solutions. The theme of tonight’s episode is Miles.

***Content Warnings:** References to Child Abuse (Percy), Animal death (Dogsmell as usual), Reference to Suicide, Kidnapping and abduction, Death and Dying, Blood, References to Transphobia and Homophobia, Clowns, Emotional Manipulation, Body horror, Bugs (Bees)*

## Intro - Grow

Nikignik narrates to the Dreamers something who is alive and has found it to be a terrible thing. They are a seething rot, a boiling torment, a writhing storm, once small, but the Black waters feed them, writing a command across their skin to grow. They have grown, and it fills them with fear. Glory and secrets are their domain, their body, and their thoughts pulled ever farther apart by the darkness, having only to touch those they meet, for them to become a part of them. Deep beneath them is their home and their sole companion— The Heart of Marolmar.

Nikignik sits in the antlers of Winona Carline's Nightgaunt as it wonders through a night light Hallowoods. On its back the Summer Campers gaze up at the stars.

## Story 1 - Lucky Stars

Friday Rescher sits amongst her classmates and Winona Carline, in avoiding Victoria Tepiani, Harrow Blackletter, and Arnold Eggers, she ends up positioned close to Clara Martin who she is able to feel staring at her when everyone else is looking up at the sky for the lesson on constellations Winona is giving, telling them of the constellation Corvus the raven. She relates this to the students by telling them that they're also like Corvus the raven, leading to Arnold speaking up and asking if Winona had a Covenant, Victoria correcting him saying that they only had covenant blood, the covenants themselves would have been made by their ancestors. Winona asks what the groups abilities are, and everyone shares a vague summary of their abilities with the exception of Victoria and Friday, and Clara tells them about Dogsmell. Winona reassures Friday that she understood that her ability may have hurt people in the past, but no one in their group was trying to hurt her, however Friday shoots this down by telling Winona that she [Winona] didn't know her. Arnold changes the subject by pointing out a nearby observatory.

Clara splits from the group and sits with Friday, and asks her if she was okay, that she understood that Friday didn't trust Winona, but Friday tells her that she didn't like being so close to everyone else (see Episode 56 - Thorns). Clara tells her that she didn't love it either, but she was glad that Friday was there, and Friday finds Clara leaning in. She [Fraidy] tells her that she had something to tell her, causing Clara to pause. Friday tells her that she'd Aromantic, asking if Clara knew what that meant. Clara asks her what it meant to her [Friday], with an emotion in her voice that Friday is unable to distinguish. Friday tells her that romantic love was not a feeling that she had. That she could love that she loved her friends, and Edgar, and at one time her family. It didn't make her any less or mean that she didn't care about anyone, but if Clara was looking for romance with Friday, then she couldn't be that for her. Clare tells her that she didn't want anything from her, that she just wanted to be around her, but Friday tells her that she [Clara] didn't want to be her friend either, that she should run away from her, telling her the purpose of her Void Knife, and that one day it would break, and everyone around her was going to get hurt. Clara tells her that she didn't care, that if that happened, she'd stand by her, because that's what friends were for.

### Interlude 1 - Wandering Spirits

Nikignik tells the Dreamers that journeying for the sake of the journey was not as easy in America as it used to be, rampant wildlife choking out the manmade structures from the days of old, returning to the soil from which they came. Even so, some great journeyers still roved the country like migratory birds, called to wander a little further. The ghostly lights of the Big Top (see Episode 93 - Mirrors) soar in the night accompanied by a phantasmal waltz, and set up tents in decrepit streets or wilderness each night. The Count and his band of hunters sail the highway like whalers in search of a chase. And the ever-restless jackalopes bound across Wyoming, avoiding greater predators with hundred-foot jumps. And, it is said, there is an automobile that roams America’s highways, driving like the devil himself at night (see Ray).

## Story 2 - Going Home

Percy Reed returns to his hometown of Huntsville, Alabama, finding it strange to go back to a hometown that feels so little like home. Riot Maidstone comments that the name of the location sounds like a place where people would hunt you for sport, which Percy tells her that he'd grown up a queer kid, so that was pretty much how it had gone. Riot puts together quickly that this was the town that Percy was murdered in (see Percy Reed and Abigail Reed), and she tells him that if he didn't want to stay there, they could keep moving, but Percy reassures her that it was okay, as it had happened a long time ago. Moth Scarberry relates to Percy, telling him that although moth was not murdered, moth knew plenty about bad hometowns. The low Fuel light of the RV starts to blink then (see The RV Gang), and Riot curses, flushing her headlights at Ray (see Episode 60 - Flies) and bringing the RV to a stop. Ray tells them that there was a gas dealer around where they were, but Riot tells him that the RV was going to need more than that and asks Ray how to turn the dashboards warning lights off.

Ray asks how Moth was (see Episode 58 - Enemies), telling Ray that the RV Gang had some strange stories (see Episode 63 - Signals), giving the quote:

"*Let me see if I have this right* ... *You killed a musician* (see Solomon Reed). *Your close friend is a witch who flies on a broomstick* (see Clara Martin). *You used to know a dog who was a ghost* (see Dogsmell). *You got your sword from a gardener* (see Walter 'Walt' Pensive). *And you’re going to fight a Dreaming Box because you sometimes dream about your mother* (see Danielle O'Hara and Valerie Maidstone).”

Ray comments that they seemed like they were the well-travelled type, and that they'd be surprised how much a guy who rolled out of the ocean as an automobile would accept (see Ray). Olivier Song asks Ray if he could remember what had caused him to become bound to his automobile, which he responds by telling them that if they were to ever set up their car to trap ghosts, to never die in it, and Ray tells the group a little about himself (see Ray). Riot tells Moth and Olivier that they were in charge of cooking dinner that night, and Percy asks Diggory Graves if they could take (see Harp String) him somewhere. Diggory tells him that they'd take him anywhere he wanted, announcing their departure to the rest of the group.

### Marketing - Proud of Yourself

Lady Ethel Mallory interrupts Nikignik's broadcast with her marketing segment. She talks to a hypothetical individual who wants to Botulus Corporation and become a Dreaming Box user. She tells them that their first question would be how to actually get to their nearest Dreaming Box, to which she also supplies the answer, that if their local Dreaming Box was within travel distance, they should simply approach it, but asks that they please keep their hands in the air for the last half-mile so that Botco could recognize them as a new member of their Happy Dreaming Family rather than a security risk. If they wer farther away however, there were Botulus Corporation Contact Terminals placed in metropolitan areas across the country, which allowed them to request a pickup and transport. Or, if they'd caught the attention of Botco's drones, they only needed to simply respond to the instructions on the screen (see Episode 60 - Flies). If they or someone they knew has been selected for advertising by a Cluster, then you don’t need to worry (see Episode 62 - Provisions).

### Story 2, Continued - Going Home

Percy, having had Diggory take him to his old neighbourhood and his old house, and he stands out the front of it, telling Diggory of his childhood, lamenting that if his parents had let him out to meet other people, had of knowing one of the neighbours when he had been dying, things could have been different for him. That he'd been stuck unable to move for scream for help for days after his mother had killed herself (see Abigail Reed), hoping that someone would come to save him (see Percy Reed). Diggory acknowledges that despite Percy's hoping, that had not happened, and he had not been saved, and Percy gets angry, ranting about how thing *could* have been different, he hadn't deserved to die like that, nobody deserved to die like that, and nobody deserved to live like he had either (see Percy Reed). He gets angry enough that he is able summon a bold of lightning to strike down on the house, setting it aflame, yelling out to his unpresented Father (see Solomon Reed)that he was glad he was dead (see Episode 48 - Revelations), that he'd hurt people and he'd hurt Percy time and time again for no reason, flying into the burning building and finding a family portrait hanging on one of the walls, venting his remorse to the painting of how despite all of that he still missed them, and it was fucked up that he missed them. But they'd never seen him, and now they never would see him. He tells them that they could have their home, they lived in the past now, and even though he wasn't even alive, he was going to keep going, and he was going to be okay, going to be happy again, like they should have been.

He follows the flames through the house, ensuring that none of it escaped the fire, before descending into Solomon's study finding scattered papers, woodwork equipment, the innerworkings of instalments, and the remains of Percy's deboned husk of a body, talking down to his remains, telling them that he was dead too, that he'd gotten out, he'd found people who cared for him, he'd gotten to speak again (see Episode 4 - Bodies), things got better they had gotten so much better. He does away with the room as he had the others, incinerating his corpse before returning to Diggory, still standing outside. He tells them that he'd just had some things that had needed wrapping up, and Diggory tells him that it was alright, that they'd come to appreciate setting buildings on fire with him (see Episode 1 - Keys and Episode 46 - Teeth). Percy takes advantage of his momentary tangibility to kiss his partner.

### Interlude 2 - Many Scars

Nikignik tells the Dreamers that he'd like to think that the passage of time rendered their troubles into trifles and dulled the edge of even the most painful memories. He asks the Dreamers if that was how it was for them, if the setting sun took with it their wounds, the dawn finding them healed. But it may simply be how long Indescribables live. Certainly nothing compared to the trillion-year lives of the outsiders, but they were indescribable to the Dreamers because to look on them was madness and to contemplate their age is to the Dreamers impossible. He tells the Dreamers to be glad, that this was so, for when Indescribables grieved, it was for the lifetimes of planets, and eternity does not mend their scars. Or qt least, it has not yet mended Nikignik's.

## Story 3 - Queen Bee

Bern Keene sets about mending the bee boxes after they were destroyed in Episode 59 - Friends, hoping that if she could manage to fix up the hives one of the queens might return, and she'd had bees to care for again, thinking to herself that even if it was only a little thing, it would make the rest more bearable. She finishes up with one, aware that the others were still in shambles but acknowledging that they'd have to be dealt with later, tucking her tools away and returning to Scoutpost main, intending to check up on the rebuilding of the Lurch Lake Gate (see Episode 59 - Friends) when she is called to the side by Hector Mendoza, asking if he could talk to her, a request that she obliges, telling him that she had a minute.

He tells her that waiting wasn't going to work, waiting for the Froglins to attack again, waiting on Fort Freedom to come through with their promise of protection (see Episode 59 - Friends). He tells her that the Froglins were smart, they wouldn't try and overpower the Scoutpost, rather pick them off one by one. He tells her that the Scoutpost was needing to strike first and strike hard if they were going to survive this. Bern reminds him that she was no stranger to violence, but she didn't want to wipe the Froglins out, that it would be wrong to do so, but Hector tells her that he wasn't suggesting that they kill them, that do so would take time and effort that they couldn't spare. But he'd been reading Walter Pensive notes, to see if he could find a leverage against the Froglins, and he'd found two things that they cared about:

1. Lolgmololg, who he didn't know how to deal with, but Jonah Duckworth was a good fisherman
2. The Froglin Queen, who like a Queen Bee, laid eggs and kept the population in check

He tells her that he thought it was worth a shot trying to lure the Froglins away, telling her that he'd done his fair share in hunting creatures like. He could work on the Queen; Jonah might be able to catch Lolgmololg. Bern tells him that Violet Keene wasn't going to like this plan, but Hector asks her if Violet needed to find out about it. Bern thinks for a second, before telling Hector that she'd try and tell Violet of their plan, he and Jonah should get started, she'd make sure they had the people they needed for the job.

## Outro - Miles

Nikignik waxes poetics about miles, telling the Dreamers that one was a little walk for them, a perfectly visible piece of their planet. So small, though, that as soon as they left their world, the millions become uncountable. He tells the Dreamers that if they were never to die, and could set their feet upon the void, they could walk upward from their world and into the heavens forever, many aeons could pass without bringing them to a single star. The edge of the universe expanded so much faster than they could run. In a sense that was their life already, they did walk between the stars today—just simply have the comfort of an earth beneath their feet. He asks them what it was they would do with their steps, return to old haunts, or find new ones. Would they learn from their journey or follow in the footsteps before them. He tells them that he would be watching curiously each passing mile of their journey, always a little behind and to the left, hoping for a good ending.