Episode description
This episode carries content warnings for cults, depiction of a missing child, gun violence, hallucination, imagery made from blood, and non-gory but uncanny body horror.
Floating at the very edge of the sunset-hued safety of the Twilight Mirage, the Brink hums and pulses, a beacon of community and solidarity in an age when both are under threat. All aboard the station, staff, civilians, and visitors work side by side to maintain a sanctuary that faces ever sharper threat.
Practiced pilots ferry shipments. The starships-turned-station districts groan and clank at regular interveals. Giant mechanical bodies—of shapes recognizable and imagined—are repurposed, exchanging civil processes for military procedures,
And when those here in the Brink—bartenders and gardeners, fixers and musicians, assassins and preists—see these machines from the corner of their eyes, they find themselves wondering: Can this nebula of peace and egality they've built remain safe in its orbit, far above the dirt and muck of the world they left beyond? Or must they face a hard truth: Gather enough loose particles together, no matter their essence or color or direction, and they will take that old, familiar shape. The shape of empire.
Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage
Factions
The Curtain of Divinity: Largely aligned to Stels Kesh and Nideo, the Curtain of Divinity is made uup of those loyal to Cynosure Whitestar-Kesh, the Peaceful Princept, and who desire the Divine Principality to continue on as it has for millenia. Defined by their traditionalism, they wield their control on culture, religion, and history as a weapon—and the extensive spy network for which they are named when those come up short. The Pact of Necessary Venture: Led in name by Dahlia, the Glorious Princept, and in day-to-day operation by senior members of Stels Apostolos and Columnar, the Pact paint themselves as liberal reformists who hope to increase the degree of autonomy in each of the Stels. Some even claim that they would see the Principality utterly destroyed and replaced by a loose affiliation of free states. Brink Proxy: The volunteers who function as mechanics, operators, janitors, and engineers for the Brink. Bureaucratic, but some tasks require such things. Orchard Syndicate: A group of gardeners, farmers, and their delivery unit. Specialize in oranges and hidden motivations. The Devotees (aka the Friends of Devotion): A cultish organization that some suspect is responsible for those who have gone missing recently. Seems to worship something called either Devotion or Fervor. Qui Err Coalition: Comprised of the descendents (literal, metaphorical, and mystical) of the planet Quire’s original people, the Qui Err Coalition is the de facto government of the Twilight Mirage. Persons
Cheal Pushy (he/him): While his single biggest influence on the Brink was the founding of the ever spreading Community Gardens, he’s mostly known as the heart of the station, operating everyone’s favorite dive bar and venue, Pushy’s. Mustard Red (she/her): A cyborg member of the Brink Proxy. A little paranoid, but perfectly tuned for a role in surveillance. Oh, and quite eager. A useful trait. Paris France (he/him): The Brink is a hub, with countless things moving through its halls and ports. Paris France is the person you go to when you want access to those things, even when you shouldn’t have it. Deutsch Synchro a.k.a. Lament (they/she): A simple bartender at Pushy’s. That’s all. Certainly not an asset in play. Teleos Triton Tanager a.k.a. 3T (he/him): A idealist, a fool, and a musician with a following of “Troublemakers.” Sly Dente (they/them): Space trucker and memebr of the Orchard Syndicate. General Mourning (she/her): Military commander from the Qui Err Coalition. False Fruit (he/they): An Orchard Guildsman, Paris' rival fruit trader, and father of a missing child. C.T.H. Pasodoble (he/him): Member of the Friends of Devotion Joe de Vivre (he/him): The charming rogue that Mustard can’t stop loving. Locations
The Brink: A space station and central transport hub that orbits through the Shore, the very edge of the Twilight Mirage. Founded during the crisis on Quire. Articles
The “Divine” Arbit: A machine that twists and spins and twirls in impossible to predict ways—making it a poison to prediction engines. To call it a Divine though. What a joke.
Contents
Plot
After a recap, the cast discuss guns in the Mirage, eventually agreeing that while guns did begin to work towards the end of Twilight Mirage, they are highly regulated by the Qui Err Coalition.
Cheal has left the retreat, and finds Paris and False Fruit in the night markets. Cheal hurriedly tells them about the cult, and 3T and Mustard's involvement. He joins the other two in Paris's ship Waterfall Guardians, headed to pick up Qualitative. False Fruit tries to play ignorant, but has to admit that he's done some work with the cult members. Pushy, despite the vision he saw, mentions that there's a Divine involved, and the ship starts going through turbulence. They change the subject for now. The escape pod contains two extra people who got cold feet about fighting on Palisade, leaving the ship cramped as they return to the Brink.
Reading the station about whether it's safe to have the Devotees aboard the station shows mixed opinions. The Troublemakers are defensive about 3T's decisions, the criminals are ambivalent, another Divine church is sympathetic, the Devotees emphasize that they're everyday members of the station, and truckers and haulers distrust the Devotees for making their work harder.
At the retreat, the Devotees ask Mustard about her knowledge of the station, and she gives up secrets in the excitement of getting to talk about her passion. General Mourning and her replacement assistant Roberta arrive to speak with 3T, drawing him away from the forest to inform him of the killing of her assistant Alexis in the Devotee community center. 3T admits to his involvement (along with Cheal and Deutsch) in hiding a body on the night of the concert. He agrees to leave the retreat early for questioning.
Paris meets up with Cheal, False Fruit and Qualitative Fruit at the sauna. False Fruit reminds Paris that he needs a way off the station, and after a renewed promise to get him to Moonlock, tells what he knows about Devotion, the Orchard Syndicate's connection with the Devotees, and the mirage bombs. False Fruit takes his kid and heads out, leaving Cheal and Paris to talk. Cheal agrees to share his info if Paris can prove Devotion can't see the future. The water of the jacuzzi begins beating in time with their pulses.
The Devotees bring in ships with supplies and housing for the overcrowded station as part of their retreat celebrations.
3T is back under curfew and interviewing with Roberta in the hopes that his testimony will pull heat off the Devotees by showing there are ways to hide a body on the station. Lament, angry that he's put her under scrutiny, breaks into his open studio. After some conversation, she threatens him, though he thinks it's a joke, and tells him not to give up anything else about her.
Mustard returns to Brink Proxy and finds that the Divine, Arbitrage has sent her a message on her personal phone offering first to connect the Devotees with its app, and second to hook them up to supplies for the Cycle End Feast. She's now a bridge between the Divines Arbitrage and Devotion.
Cheal goes to the military command center to report on the Devotees and 3T, since he no longer trusts Brink Proxy. Roberta conducts the interview, focusing on the death the night of the concert. Cheal initially denies 3T's accusations. He hands over the files he stole from the Devotees. After some thought, he admits to everything that happened the night of the concert in order to get Roberta and Mourning to focus on the threat of Devotion.
Paris hasn't gotten confirmation that his cousin on Moonlock will be able to take False Fruit and his kid, but the deadline is approaching, and he sends them off with begrudging goodbyes from both sides. Meanwhile, 3T seeks out Devotion in the retreat ship. Above him in the sky he sees a rift filled with eyes. He confesses his fear that things are going wrong, that he has done wrong. Devotion's answers aren't exactly reassuring; the lives it will take to win this war are more than he could fathom.
Mourning prepares to take 3T and CTH Pasodoble back towards the center of the Mirage for justice. On the Brink, a Divine specialist squad arrives, inflating a sort of paper lantern structure around the station to investigate Devotion and Arbitrage.
Lament cleans up her loose ends on the station. She sees Gimme Gimme in the doorway of her workstation, and then the camera cuts. Paris is working hard to prepare for the Cycle End Feast; his cousin is angry with him and not calling back. Mustard moves into a new office with a vending machine. 3T has one last meeting under observation with Decario Dicario, and the Divine, Arbitrage begins releasing 3T music videos. Cheal's life has returned to normal, except that he sometimes wakes up and feels the vines on his back beating in time with his heartbeat.