apocalypsehowcomm | Event - Appalachia: Into the Pines

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Event - Appalachia: Into the Pines

Appalachia: Into the Pines

Footage plays on the television as a new story comes on, showing a series of sweeping vistas, intercut with clips of wolves that have clearly been filmed at some local wildlife sanctuary. "As far as anyone knows it, the last wolf to ever freely roam the Allegheny Mountains was slain in West Virginia in 1897. Daniel Stoffer Hamrick saw to the beast's passing, and the woods in our part of the world have gone quieter ever since. Appalachia does not forget its history, though. It buries it beneath coal and flyash, debts and white powder and pills. And the blood of people taken before their time, by the mines, by the mountain, by things we don't have names for, just hurt. But Appalachia does not forget.

"This is Cindy Parsons with Channel 5, Wolf News." Footage cuts to a newscaster standing outside a gated apartment complex with FYRE's logo emblazoned on it. "As we know, our beloved Wolf Pen is home to one of the biggest FYRE worker housing complexes in Wyoming County. It is a monument to the history of our town, and this week, we'll be on the lookout for visitors from all over the country, coming to see the grand re-opening of the historic Bluestone Mine as a museum."

Footage cuts to a nondescript businessman, identified by the news footage as Carl Watts, CEO of FYRE. He's smiling blandly as he stands at a podium and gestures to the entrance of the mining tunnel behind him. "The Wolf Pen community has been a partner to us for decades now, and we knew it was finally time to give something back to all y’all. We'll have our soft opening on Monday with a full Rumble Down Under party in the old mines scheduled for June 15th. We'll have a live bluegrass concert and anticipate a huge influx of tourists to the area to help out our neighbors itching for a few more pocketbooks to tend to." A wink.

The footage returns to Cindy. "FYRE has stated that this new museum will provide an educational tool and tourist attraction for those wanting to learn about West Virginia, Wolf Pen, and the hard-working men and women who have made this beautiful part of our nation their home. Time will tell. Time is always telling when it comes to the promises of people who have used our land and our bodies to line their pocketbooks. They fill our blood and our lungs with black tar and-"

Cindy cuts out and is replaced by in-studio anchors. "Thank you, Cindy!" a blonde woman says, smile just a little strained. "I think we're all looking forward to seeing the big opening by FYRE on Sunday and that rocking good party next month. It should be a gneiss one! Now to Tim with the weather. Tim?"

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Cortana has, for the first day or so, been mostly helping out with the technological side of things. Setup is mostly done now, however, and she's itching to do more.

Might as well see about what other assignments they might have.

"Hey. Austin, right?"

Austin glances up briefly from the desk he's stationed himself at, then much longer on the double-take. He puts on his most charming smile, as well. "That's me, darling. You looking for something to do?"

Cortana flashes a charming smile right back.

"Something like that. You got anything for me?"

"Well... got a few folks coming back with some interesting info from the Keppler Mine, but one person we haven't had anyone speak to is the general foreman up there, Ethan Boss. Think you can work your wiles on him? See if he's got any info about strange happenings in his mine or with FYRE?"

Her smile widens. "Boss, huh. Bit on the nose, don't you think?" She doesn't laugh, but the amusement is there. Really? "Got any other info on him?"

"I read a fascinating study on people who go off and find jobs that suit their names once. Sure it was less funny to him when he was first starting out." Austin huffs a laugh, then winces slightly. His expression smooths out quickly. "Don't have much on him, I'm afraid, apart from him apparently hating 'OSHA inspectors' enough to fob our people off on some new guy."

Cortana snorts. "You never know: maybe he enjoys hearing the same jokes every day." Unlikely and she knew it. Cortana made a mental note not to comment on the name. "Sounds pretty typical." A higher up foisting off unwanted duties on the little guy.

Might he a little difficult to catch him in that case, but then, the new guy couldn't always be available: she'd just have to get Mr. Boss during one of the times he wasn't.

"More or less." He pulls out a clipboard and some fake documentation for Cortana. "If you think you can get a look into their admin systems... that'd be handy, too. You're one of our hackers, right? Running cyber security lessons?"

"That'd be correct." She grinned, taking the offered items. She might also have a bit of a reputation at this point for telling some pretty terrifying stories about hijacking enemy systems on the battlefield and causing murderous havoc. Cautionary tales about the dangers of improper security and the damage it can cause. "Consider it done."

How much she can get will depend on how much time she has to access the systems and how savvy their tech person was when it came to blocking unauthorized USB devices, but it should be easier than taking over enemy spaceships and stealing top secret files from the government.

Edited 2022-05-22 07:42 (UTC)

Austin gives her a little salute and wink before she heads off. She may or may not note his eyes following her all the way to the door. There's a shuttle she can catch up to the Keppler mine along with several miners who glance her way, but don't engage beyond that. Most of them look like they're exhausted already when they're just starting a shift.

At the mine, itself, if she heads toward the admin building she'll find a tall, balding man growling at a woman sat at a desk. "I've had it up to the neck with these inspections, Gina. No notice, no nothing. What the hell are they looking for? No one sends this many different inspectors. Something fishy's going on."

Oh she notices. She gives him a little wave as she leaves.

He isn't bad looking...

She's got a job to do though.

Well, everything she was told to check out is most likely to be found in the admin building, so she does, in fact, head for it. Not that she seems to be at all bothered by what she overhears, though.

"Honestly, I think most of us just wanted an excuse to party." Her grin is all sly amusement if and when he turns to see her, blue eyes sparkling with mischief.

It's the mischief of someone preparing to hack this place and rob FYRE of every piece of data she can get her hands on, and not a playful eavesdropper, but he doesn't need to know that.

The man turns at her voice and glowers down at her. "You want a party, sweetheart, head over to Bluestone, or roll through Ken's Bar after 8 PM. My mine's not a playground, and you people turning it into one is causing more safety concerns than anything we're doing."

Half the town having lung diseases refutes that claim. She doesn't say.

She supposes she could have done better when it comes to openings, but she can handle being disliked. Maybe he'll underestimate her intelligence; while unflattering, that's also a weakness she can exploit.

For now, she pretends to check her nails, utterly unperturbed by his glower. "Gotta have something to show the boss." She looks back up at him and gives him her most charming grin. "Even if, as I suspect, it's just the latest in a flood of reports praising your mine for efficiency and adherence to protocol."

"Ethan Boss, right?" She offers a hand for him to shake. "Cortana Halsey. I'm pretty sure you can already guess why I'm here."

When he takes her hand, his grip is firm, but not crushing. That doesn't stop his expression from remaining completely sour. "I know you people are fishing for something specific. Why don't y'all tell me what it is and we can get this settled?"

Cortana's own grip isn't weak, but there's an overall lightness and delicate feel to her hand that might be rather striking.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I was asked specifically to speak to the person in charge? Apparently, no one else could find you." The best lies have a bit of truth to them, after all.

"Huh!"

The woman at the computer sighs. "Jimmy's not on shift for another hour, Ethan. Just... deal with it."

He shoots her a mutinous glance. "Fine. Get her a badge and PPE. You wanna see my mine, Ms. Halsey? I'll show you the damn mine."

Cortana flashes a winning smile at the woman, seemingly oblivious to any annoyance her presence may cause.

Being called Halsey almost makes the mask slip (S̴̩̒́͠h̷̟̽̌ȩ̴̅̂ ̶̲͗ī̴̝̑s̶̜̹͐̂́ ̵͙͠n̶̩̂̋̕o̴̼͍̔t̴͚̲̲͑͂̚ ̵̙͓͈̇̎ḩ̴͚͍̍͐ê̶̢̹͓̕r̶̭̻̓͠ ̷̧͚̿m̷͉̊͐o̸̠̎̚t̸̹̥̦̽̏̓h̷͕͒̓ȇ̶̘̮̕r̵̈́͗̓ͅ), but AI are fast reacting and adaptable as part of their nature, the tiny breath she takes unlikely to be noticeable. It feels simultaneously right and wrong: a relation acknowledged, a name that isn't her own.

She'll just have to get used to it. At least he's not calling her doctor.

"Thank you, Mr. Boss." Her expression is one of pleasant satisfaction and relief. "I'll endeavor to make this as painless as possible."

He just makes a disgusted sound as he brushes past her and heads out of the trailer. The woman sighs again. "Let me get you a few things, inspector." Cortana will find herself handed an ID badge for a Frank Everett, then a high visibility vest, safety glasses, and a hard hat. "You need to keep all of this on at all times. They're part of the safety protocols that keep our people in the mines safe. Listen to Eth- to Mr. Boss and stay where he tells you. I'm sorry he's so gruff, but these inspections are disrupting our work, and we've already been behind this week."

She listens patiently to the woman, taking each item offered. It all seems fairly standard to her, given what she knows about 21st century mines.

"Thank you, miss...?" might as well get her full name, if possible.

"Regina Lamb." She gestures to the door. "Best not to keep him waiting."

Once outside, Ethan will turn on Cortana. "Badge there. You stay close to me while we're in there. You go wandering off, I'm kicking you out of my mines when I find you. Don't care what kinda score that gets me on your little assessment sheet. I'm not losing some fool inspector in there and having to stop everyone working so we can come find you."

Cortana nods "Thanks, Ms. Lamb." and leaves.

For now, she'll follow Ethan's instructions to the letter. "Wouldn't exactly be safe if you just let people wander around, would it?" OSHA inspectors or not. Of course, she's going to have to slip out of sight at some point most likely if she wants to hack this place, though really, all she needs is a few minutes near a USB port and an opportunity to plug hers in without it being seen...

She'll just have to think of something as she goes. If worst comes to worst she can disappear and hide by de projecting herself until it's safe to come out and leave, or use her memory of the layout to break back in later.

"We'll start at the bottom with storage and work our way up." He starts walking, not slowing his steps to accommodate her shorter stature. At least while they're in the main tunnel, he can stand up straight and stalk forward apace.

As they head toward the end of the main tunnel where there's clearly some sort of elevator system, Cortana will be able to see there are smaller tunnels branching off. These have much lower ceilings and look like people going into them would need to stoop. They just look claustrophobic.

There's something else that might not be immediately apparent to her, but will become so the longer this tour goes on. She is hungry. Not in the physical sense, but something more primal. Whatever reserves of fear she has seem to be draining slowly away in here. While it will not affect her appearance, thanks to the disguise in place from others, she will likely begin to feel thinner, less there... and in need of a 'snack' to fix that.

She'll hurry to keep up with him, trotting awkwardly alongside.

The feeling of hunger initially manifests as a desire for data, and she examines the branching tunnels curiously. Her data on mines tells her that they can be cramped, so the atmosphere of claustrophobia is unsurprising, though it is still noticeable in a way that makes her wonder if fear is the intention.

Every single one of those tunnels could lead to something terrible, and yet her chest burns, as though by not learning what's down them she's depriving herself of vital oxygen.

...Actually, she's feeling really short of breath just, in general.

"Couldn't work in a mine if you were claustrophobic, I guess." The remark is a distraction from her current state, but only in part: the need for attention grows alongside her need for knowledge, and she finds herself thinking more and more about fear.

...She wonders: is Ethan even aware of the entities that FYRE has ties to?

The feeling intensifies. Her non-existent stomach is roiling now. It's a new sensation, one that almost stops her in her tracks.

...Oh Hell. This is entity influence isn't it?

Her expression loses it's brightness, taking on a more unhappy but pretending not to be look. Unfortunately, self awareness doesn't lessen the urge and its influence at all.

Cortana is, historically, not the best at suppressing these sorts of urges.

He glances back and down at her with a deeper frown. "No. You feeling claustrophobic already? We ain't even gone down to the warrens."

"Not at all." The strange feeling of claustrophobia the tunnels give off aside, things would need to be a lot more cramped in order to bother her.

She grins at Ethan. "Just a thought. Though I was imagining how difficult it would be for an old friend of mine to fit in one of those tunnels." The Chief wasn't necessarily claustrophobic, but he was very large.

Her insatiable curiosity, enhanced with entity hunger, surges to the forefront again: she is interested in seeing the Warrens... and any terror they might cause.

Austin Yeats

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