VL: To Those Who Thrive in The Dark, Ch. 6 "Anthropocory"

Patreon Supporters hear these mini-series episodes first.

This episode kicks off part two of the miniseries and is shared with all. By day, Aurora Ashcroft spends her time remembering. She remembers her community centre, her work, her friends. The strange girl with the green eyes, who stopped her from spiralling out of control.

By night, Aurora dreams of a peaceful garden, where she’s young and happy and free. Except tonight. Tonight, there’s a black cat slipping through her fantasies and an old tree in the wrong place, with a very familiar looking lift trapped its old, splintering trunk.

Cast (in order of appearance):

• Cuckoo Stone, Narrator: Cynthia Lowman
• Aurora Ashcroft: GP MacKenzie
• Victoria Bigglesworth-Hayes: Amber Collins
• Merritt Bigglesworth-Hayes: Louie Pollard

Author: Christopher Long of Long Words
Score: Nico Vettese of We Talk of Dreams
Sound Design: Maddy Searle, of Snazzy Tapir Productions.
Art: Jeanette Andromeda of JeanetteCreations.com

A 9th Story Studios, LLC Production, All rights reserved. | Foytik, Collins, Vettese

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THEMES:

"The Lift Arrives, (Opening Theme Music):
"Victoria's Music Box, (Victoria's Theme)"
The Lift Closing Theme Music
Composed and Recorded by Nico Vettese of We Talk of Dreams
www.wetalkofdreams.com

FX:Sound FX: Snazzy Tapir Productions, freesound.org, audioblocks.com
Producer / Editor / Creator: Daniel Foytik
Executive Producers: Amber Collins, Nico Vettese

Visit The Lift: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Victoria's Twitter

Victoria's Lift and all core characters, places, and situations are property of Daniel Foytik, 9th Story Studios, LLC and may not be used in any form without explicit written permission.

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Ninth Story Studios giving Story a voice. Welcome to the list, Get ready
to take the ride. Hello,I'm Daniel Foytech, and I thank you

(00:42):
for joining us for a special episodeof Victoria's Lift and Merry Christmas. Today
we're presenting the sixth chapter of ourspecial ten part mini series by Christopher Long
to those who Thrive in the Dark. This series dives deep into the mythos
of Victoria's world and features Victoria facingancient gods, faith, folk, ghosts,
monsters, old enemies, and acertain little brother with ulterior motives.

(01:06):
Before we get started today, abig thank you to those of you who
are supporting the show. Those supportingthe show at the five dollars a month
level and above will hear these episodesfirst, since it's you who have made
this project possible. This series willalso be released as a novella at the
end of the run, with anexpanded story that takes you deeper into our
world. Now, hold on tight, and let's go for a ride into

(01:27):
the shadows on Victoria's Left. Victoria'sLeft to those who Thrive in the Dark,

(02:30):
Chapter six, Anthropocory by Christopher Long. When it gets this late,
the dark outside these windows can startplaying tricks on you. Customers, reflections
get up and walk off down thestreet by themselves. Car headlights completely disappear

(02:57):
when they pass that corner booth,and sometimes the old railroad crossing near larson
Bridge lowers. Only no train evercomes fast, none that we can see
anyway. I'd love to say it'sjust Anne when Meadows, but this sort
of thing happens everywhere. A friendof mine snuck into their local theater to

(03:23):
watch a production of Macbeth. Theplace looked crowded until the lights went up.
Turned out there were only three peoplethere, including her. She said
it was like waking from a dream, only she had to walk home.
I guess all the strangest delusions dohave a habit of feeling like they've crept

(03:46):
out of our nightmares. Of course, that's not a hard and fast rule.
Some illusions can be a blessing.There's a woman called Aurora Ashcrop.
He won't have heard of her.She's not famous, she never made the

(04:06):
news. When she was a littlegirl, her father would take her for
walks in all seasons. They'd trekkedthrough the fields around their little town,
and he'd teach her everything He knewabout plants. As she'd gotten older,
the hobby blossomed into a love ofbotany. Only sadly, Aurora had other

(04:30):
hobbies, ones her father would neverhave approved of, ones which left her
drowning in threats and debt to digherself out. She'd harnessed that passion for
plants and started developing some illegal substancesof her own devising. She might have

(04:53):
kept going that way, except onenight, her elevator wasn't her elevator anymore.
She found a little girl waiting forher. There, all blond curls,
green eyes and questions. The twoof them went to a place where
poor Aurora Ashcroft faced some terrible personalnightmares. When it was over, she

(05:16):
destroyed her crop, moved away,changed her name, and used the last
of her drug money to buy anold building where she started a community center
for troubled kids. It wasn't aneasy life, yet as she adapted,
it became another kind of botany forher. She was planting young seeds into

(05:38):
good soil, helping them to findthe light. She became a fixture in
that town, as respected as anypreacher or teacher, as feared as any
authority who stood over those kids,except she knew to show them a little
tenderness. After all, she'd madesome of their mistakes herself. Aurora was

(06:08):
given another gift along with her secondchance at life. No one knows exactly
why. Every night when she wentto bed, she'd dreamt of an endless
garden. She knew every path inshady corner, every tree and flower bed.
She never told anyone about it.It was her secret miracles superpower,

(06:32):
and she used it to escape toa place where she could be the person
she'd always meant to be. Shewas younger there, healthier and keen eyed,
whereas on the outside she'd become grayerand slower. She'd had a fall
which left her living in a carehome, leaving others to run her community

(06:56):
center. Aurora Ashcroft thought the firehad left her life completely until the night
she found herself surprised by an intruderin her dreams. Now, where'd you
come from? She'd never fully understoodhow her garden worked. She knew it

(07:21):
responded to her presence, she knewit stayed how she had left it,
and she also knew she couldn't doanything too impossible whilst she was there,
which meant no flying, no superhumanstrength for weeding, no way of bringing
her father back to see what she'dcreated. However, she could still be

(07:44):
pretty spry on her young legs,not that it mattered to the cat,
who clearly understood the rules better thanshe did. It didn't race off exactly.
Instead, it sauntered away, somehow, managing to stay just far enough
ahead that it could occasionally check backto make sure she was following. Hey,

(08:07):
come back here, I asked yourquestion. She followed that cat until
it led her to another unexpected visitorin her garden. You weren't here before.
It was a tree taller than anyshe'd grown, herself, older than

(08:30):
the ones who'd been waiting for herwhen she first found this place. Even
in the constant sunlight, it feltdark, grim, hungry, its leaves
reaching to obscure the sun, itsroots spreading, trying to conquer as much
soil as possible. She could feelit invading her dreamspace, trying to fill

(08:56):
it completely. Was like you've beenhere for years. She walked up to
it and gently pressed a hand againstits gnarled bar. The habit she picked
up from her father. Why doI know that voice? It's not like

(09:22):
I've spoken to a lot of treesin my time. Oh, don't think
I'm done with you either. Thisis my true I want some God,
will you look at that? It'sjust how I remember it? Only Why

(09:45):
did I dream it inside a tree? I don't think we're supposed to or
maybe you are. Oh, nexttime I'll dream of seatbelts. Where do

(10:07):
all these roots come from? Theycan't all be from that one tree.
This probably isn't the time to mentionthat I'm a little out of practice when
it comes to nightmares. No onecares. I'm a stupid bed, not

(10:30):
a bed. Just look like that'swho I heard. I'd know that voice
anywhere I am. Now, stopspoiling with fun. I want you lost
your mind prisoner. You're meant tobe afraid of me, I'm telling me.

(10:52):
Her voice sounds like it's coming fromeverywhere. Where is she? We
We don't need to anything except watchedyou, sir. But it doesn't feel
a lay down here, and itdoesn't like the feeling feel what emptiness?

(11:16):
Of course, it feels empty.I opened all the cages be ever eged.
I swear this place wasn't so abstractbefore. What are you talking about
the definitely weren't holes in the floorto make sense because all these free Oh

(11:37):
that doesn't look good. Maybe youstop. Who's the other kid? Huh?
That must not do anything? Please, we chased you all over the
tree lord before you just let uscatch you down here. I didn't let

(11:58):
you catch you can't because I'm ringthat Mary is going to be trouble.
There's no way that basement could haveheld anyone. So you've meant sorry,
why, I'm well, let's seesingle. Okay, that's it. We

(12:30):
need to put a stop to this. How do we get do? Oh?
Oh, what are you doing downhere? I let all the stragglers
go. Merritt was only just gettingused to his stolen power. Whereas Aurora

(12:54):
Ashcraft had been looking troubled kids inthe eye for almost two thirds of her
life. She knew the pale littleboy was stronger than he looked, Yet
she could also see his fear.He could clearly still sense a teacher,
even if they had just landed infront of him, covered in dirt and

(13:18):
leaves and twigs. Who do youthink I am? Boy? Your little
friend here told you that I canmake myself look like whatever I want.
What's that supposed to make. Itmeans I can look like whatever terrifies you
the most. I believe that wouldbe optiquiss slim me hungry Optimus. Shut

(13:43):
up. You prisoners aren't allowed tospeak. I'm here to claim my prize,
your prize. We made a deal. I'm changing. I remembered I
don't makes with snacks. Snacks youcertainly looked bite size to me. Well,

(14:05):
you can't eat me, and youcan't have any prizes. It's mine.
I've waited so long. You can'thave it. No, no matter
how many ten calls you grow,you hear me, you can't have it.
Good riddance, you little Doug.You made it back. I was

(14:30):
starting to wonder where you got too. That was a bust thinking jumping down.
You're like that, miss Ashcraft.If I had any gold stars,
you'd get at least five, maybeeven six. Jumped you think I jumped.
Something snuck up on me. Andif this wasn't a dream, you'd
be calling an ambulance right now.Don't worry, It's not as far as

(14:54):
it looks. Distances can be treatinghere, especially at the moment. No
kidding, this place has really goneto the dogs, all the bears,
the bears. It doesn't matter.You might say, we're runding new management.
It's one of the reasons I needyour help. I suppose I should

(15:15):
have come to you sooner. Reallynow, not to rush you, but
is there any charge he could helpme get out? I can't see to
slip myself free. And he'll beback as soon as he works out you
tricked him. He has quite thetemper. I'm not sure I know how
to untie tree roots. Merritt leftus all over there just to torment me.

(15:37):
Great come acause, he laughs.Swalling through floors demon kids would work.
This is turning out to be somedream. I see you've not aged
a day since the last day Isaw you. I didn't say the same
sash Book, except you're not fallinganyone going around like that, not maybe

(16:00):
himself. Yeah, yeah, Ihave a record. I don't think i'd
ever have been able to help withthis, even when I was younger.
What made you think I could?You used to brag you could make anything
or anywhere. I guess I dida long time ago. I'm hoping you
might also be able to stop something. Bro. Do you mean the tree?

(16:23):
I think you might have left ittoo late to do much about that.
Time doesn't really work. This allhappened in a matter of inner minutes.
Of course, that's got a bitmore complicated since I lost my busy
box. You have a music boxthat controls time? Nepho, my little
brother, just we need to stealit back. There we go. Well,

(16:48):
this dress has certainly seen better days. Maybe I can dream you up
something more modern. I've never triedclothing before. And again, I'd never
dreamed a lift in a tree untiltonight. Why do you keep saying that
this isn't a dream, miss Ashcrow, Don't worry. My dreams can be

(17:08):
a bit tricky as well. Yourcat over there came into tonight's one.
This tree too white, This treehad grown into your dream. Sure,
that's basically how we found you.If this tree got into your tree,
then whatever that will be started hereisn't just letting him into your world.

(17:29):
It's letting him into people's dreams aswell. We're going to have to change
our plans, our plans. Weneed to deal with him first before he
does any more harm. And thisis before we tackle your evil little brother
with a temper and steal back yourtime controlling music box. That's right,
miss Ashcrow, do try to givethem. Thank you to our supporters for

(18:14):
making this show and this mini seriespossible. Today's episode featured Cynthia Loman as
Cuckoo Stone, Our Tales narrator,Ambercollins as Victoria, Louis Pollard as Merit,
and GP Mackenzie as Aurora Ashcroft.Sound design was created by Mattie Ciril
of Snazzy Taper Productions, our newestsound designer, and what an amazing job

(18:34):
she did. Today's custom score wascreated by our resident composer, Niko Vites
of we Talk of Dreams. FindNico at wee Talk of Dreams dot com
and streaming on Twitch. Artwork isby Janette Andromeda, illustrator, artist and
all around amazing human. Find herbeing creative at Jenette Creations dot com.

(18:55):
Our author is Christopher Long. Youcan find him at Cjlongwords dot com.
Chris has been featured on Victoria's Lift, Shadows at the Door, and The
Wicked Library multiple times. More ofhis work is available on Amazon. Story
editor and producer is Daniel Floyzeck ofNinth Story Studios LLLC. Until next time,
keep your music box Wound and followVictoria on Twitter at lift Guide and

(19:18):
of course, Merry Christmas.