Event - Appalachia: Into the Pines

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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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Ade Bennett | The Wess'har Wars | OTA

[landing_lights]

i. country roads

[ Small town America is not a place Ade ever thought he’d find himself, but now that he’s here, all he can feel is relief at being out of the stifling office park that was ADI’s headquarters and the surrounding areas. Gloucester wasn’t an urban sprawl by any means, but it still managed to feel cramped and artificial after Ade’s time on Bezer’ej. Wolf Pen, with its wide-open wilderness and clean, sweet air is a welcome change of pace.

Ade is most drawn to the hiking trails snaking out of the town and can regularly be found walking or jogging them in the early mornings—and, occasionally, veering off of them. Rock faces and cliffs are especially intriguing to him and it isn’t uncommon to find him standing at the base, staring speculatively up towards the top. On more than one occasion, he even makes the attempt to scale them—and often succeeds. He doesn’t seem cowed by heights and he climbs with an ease that bespeaks years of practice.

At other times, he can be found in the hotel lobby, keeping a discreet watch on the entrance in case any unfriendly or overly inquisitive types come knocking—or in case if any ADI personnel stumble back in a compromised state. Whether you’ve been injured in the field or if you’ve just had one too many while out bar-hopping, Ade will make sure you get where you need to be in one piece.

He also makes use of the swimming pool a couple of times during his downtime, usually in the late evenings when the air is cooler and there aren’t as many others about. With his upper body exposed, one can see the tattoo of the Royal Marine Corp’s insignia on his shoulder. Those that are particularly observant may notice something odd about the skin around the tattoo: namely, that it glows. Patches of teal and violet light pulse softly, growing in intensity and frequency when Ade enters the pool. It takes a while for him to notice the change, though eventually, even he can’t ignore the light show happening on his shoulder. He stands on the shallow end of the pool, poking experimentally at the bioluminscence. ]

Blimey. Guess they like the water.

ii. puppet show (open to first respondent, cw: compulsion, humiliation, probable themes of domestic abuse and PTSD)

[ It isn’t long before Ade is eventually drawn to the Woven Isle. After all, they’re supposed to be searching out supernatural phenomena and even Ade has managed to hear snippets of rumors about the supposed haunting of the place. It’s one of those things that could be a lead and could just be a bit of local folklore. Either way, it sounded like it was worth investigating.

He’s come with another member of ADI personnel just to be safe. As they wade towards the shore, Ade eyes the kudzu-covered treeline, searching for signs of prior habitation. ]

Think we’ll find a witch in there? [ he asks his companion, nodding towards the overgrown woods. ]

Hotel Lobby ~ Late Night

[bindlestifflost]

[George isn't so much compromised as dead tired after poking into every lead and talking to every somewhat disgruntled but at least willing unhoused person he can rustle up. He's a bit ripe and unshaven the better to blend in, his thrift store finds threadbare in places but adequate.

He'd intended to head to his room, instead spotting Ade and shuffling over.]

Late night for you, too, huh? Can't decide if I want to make myself a coffee or jes' go fall in the bed with my clothes on. Don't think Nick'd mind too much seeing how he don't sleep.

[landing_lights]

[ Sprawled out on one of the lobby's dark leather sofas, Ade gives George an affable nod as he walks over. ]

Yeah. Security wants someone on the entrance round the clock. Guess I drew the short straw tonight. [ Not that he minds. Thanks to his deal with Luka, his c'nataat abilities are still going strong and the symbiote has no problem dealing with a little lost sleep. He stretches and straightens in his chair, before gesturing to George's worn-looking clothes. He smells different than usual, unwashed and without the heavy scent of lye. ]

What about you? Rough night?

[bindlestifflost]

Not too rough, jes' a lot a' legwork and hitting the less beaten paths in town.

[He stretches and re-settles, covering a yawn with one hand.]

Gotta look the part. Ain't too hard when drifting's what I done for so long.

[landing_lights]

Yeah? That's a good idea. Bet they see a lot of things others don't.

[ Ade can't say he's too well-acquainted with that kind of life. He'd run away from home at sixteen, but in the end, he hadn't spent more than a couple of days on his own before he'd managed to find sanctuary with the Corps. Still, it could have been a very different life if they'd turned him away. ]

How long were you on the road? Back home, I mean.

[bindlestifflost]

[He nods. They sure do. Too much sometimes. Often.

He has to think about it. It's usually the kind of thought he avoided. It was too depressing then.]

Left home to start workin' when I was I guess...15? That'd make it 17 years thereabouts. Off and on. We'd bunk during jobs, but they was always jes' for a season.

[landing_lights]

[ He nods. It sounds like a tough life. Ade had been moved around plenty, but at least he got to stick around mostly the same people. It had felt like a family, wherever they'd been stationed. ]

I enlisted with the Marine Corps when I was sixteen. Guess it's not much of a comparison, huh? [ The moving around part might be the only similarity there is. Ade leans back, contemplative. ] Don't think I could cut it, being on my own like that. Or did you have people you stuck with?

[bindlestifflost]

Military'd be a lot tougher, I'd think. At least to me. I was 13 when we got in the War. Too young to go myself. My old man went and didn't come back. Somebody had to take care a' things.

[Until there was no one left to take care of except Lennie.]

I had a guy I traveled with. We come up together as kids. Weren't so bad.

[Because this is how he has been telling it, and it's just easiest this way.]

You from Earth?

[It's almost enough to get him laughing, the absurdity of the question, something he'd never have asked the day they met. A lot has already changed.]

[landing_lights]

[ Quietly, Ade wonders what war George is speaking of. Must be a big one if it's just "the War." ]

It is tough. But after a while, you learn to rely on the people around you and that makes it easier.

[ He knows he'd sound like a right tit if he said it felt safe after what George shared about his father, but it does. Even after witnessing what happened to Dave Pharoah, the Corps had been the first place Ade had ever felt truly secure. It'd certainly felt safer than home.

The question startles Ade out of his thoughts. ]

I was born on Earth, if that's what you mean. But that wasn't where I was living when I got zapped here. [ He smiles. ] Why? Wondering if I'm an alien?

[ Truthfully, George wouldn't be entirely incorrect if he were. ]

STABS FLAG INTO THE TRAUMA THREAD

[conning]

[ Neal eyeballs the island, frowning slightly. ] I hope not.

[ He's not keen on the idea of running into an actual, real witch out here. Even if he did text Malcolm and his roommates to let them know where he was going and who with. Neal looks sidelong at Ade, at how... utterly unremarkable he seems. For some reason that puts Neal on edge. No one who's that good at looking like nobody is nobody.] I'm Neal, by the way. Neal Caffrey. I don't think we've officially met.

🎉

[landing_lights]

[ Meanwhile, Ade is perturbed by Neal for reasons entirely unrelated to the way he looks—instead, it's the way he smells. The citrusy scent undercut with wood is a dead-ringer for male wess'har pheromones, albeit with an oddly artificial tinge that makes it all the more unsettling. If there was ever a smell that could inhabit the uncanny valley for a wess'har (or a wess'har-human hybrid), it's the smell of this man's cologne. ]

Ade, [ he says in response. Breathing through his mouth doesn't really help. Ade can almost taste the smell at the back of his throat. ] I'm still pretty new here.

[ The island ahead of them isn't really big enough to loom, though the kudzu-draped forms of the trees still manage to look menacing, rising up from the island like the green back of some slumbering beast. As Ade steps out onto the shore, he finally notices a potential entryway—a path into the forest where the kudzu grows thinner, dangling between trees but not enough to prevent passage. He motions to Neal, waving him over to the spot as he himself approaches. ]

Look over here—maybe this used to be a path. [ A now overgrown, uninviting path, but a path all the same. Ade eyes it warily. ] Should've brought a machete. [ He pushes some of the kudzu aside with a hand, then looks back at Neal, eyebrow raised. ] What do you think? Might be a good place to start.

scream i thought i sent this ages ago

[conning]

[Neal eyes Ade, keeping his wariness on lockdown, though he can tell there's something off about the vibe between the two of them.

Neal follows him ashore, silently hating the feeling of his jeans clinging to his skin from the water and trying not to think too hard about how he's going to dry his soggy boots. They're not as water-tight as they're supposed to be. His socks feel gross. This is terrible.

He grumbles as he follows Ade into the undergrowth, glaring at their surroundings.] I hate nature.

[Still. He takes a deep breath, then nods.] Looks like as good a place as any.

no worries!

[landing_lights]

[ Ade chuckles. ] Beats an office park. Guess I'm in front, then.

[ He can't really fault Neal. Unlike Ade, he and most of the other people with ADI seem to be civilians. Thus, Ade makes no word of complaint as he takes point, pushing aside branches and vines to make way for the other man.

He's in his element here—if anything, after years in the Royal Marine Corps' Extreme Environment Warfare Cadre, the little island is a cakewalk. The ground is solid beneath their feet and the straggling vines of kudzu aren't enough to block out the bright afternoon sun above them. If it weren't for the foreboding stories lingering at the back of Ade's mind, the island might've made for a pleasant outing. ]

Just shout if you see anything weird, [ he says, moving purposefully towards the center of the island. ] Even if it's just something that looks out of place.

[ He remembers Hunter's close call in the junkyard, after all. Perhaps it's that experience that has him feeling oddly unnerved as they walk on through the trees, despite the sunshine and easy terrain. When he sees the remains of a structure up ahead, he signals for Neal to stop behind him. ]

See that? Maybe someone did live here...

[conning]

[Neal stops without arguing, even though his contrary nature wants to rebel against the signal out of pure crankiness. He shivers.]

Someone did, back in the 1800s. Late 1800s. [ There's something unsettling about this place that he can't put down to superstition. Not any more.

He reaches out to brush his fingers against one of the kudzu-wreathed trees.]

Kudzu itself got introduced to the US in the 1870s as an ornamental vine at the World's Fair in Philadelphia. People brought it south and marketed it as a cover plant, something to help prevent soil erosion. 'The Vine that Ate the South.'

[Suddenly aware that he's spouting information unprompted, Neal gives Ade a sheepish look.] I did some googling.

[landing_lights]

[ The information Neal provides first, about the place's former inhabitant, is quite relevant. The rest of it... less so. Ade stares blankly for a moment, wondering where Neal is going with the impromptu history lesson. The answer never arrives. ]

Right, [ he says after a moment. ] Well. Hope it doesn't eat us.

[ With that, he starts to make his way closer to the ruins. Shattered planks of rotted timber jut out from the kudzu, along with a few piles of stones, stacked haphazardly in a pitiful imitation of walls—the bones and teeth of a skeleton house. The thought makes Ade shudder. He stands in the midst of the wreckage, head turning as he sweeps the area. Of course, there's no one there, no one but him and Neal. So why does he feel like they're being watched? Ade's mouth opens, but he doesn't speak. Instead, he just breathes in deeply of the air, turning his head slowly—trying to scent out what he can't see. Still, there's nothing but the smell of vegetation, rotted wood, and Neal's disconcerting cologne. Ade steps away from the wreckage, frowning. ]

Don't like it here, [ he mutters. ] All that 'haunted island' bollocks must be getting to me...

[conning]

[ Neal finds himself mimicking Ade's deep inhalation, though he doesn't get anything remotely useful. Just the foreign, intensely green pressure of not a city. He combs his fingers through his hair, substantially unsettled himself.]

We're storytelling creatures. [This observation is actually going somewhere.] It's how we try to make sense of things. Someone says 'this place is haunted,' because it feels wrong... our minds take that kind of thing and run with it. It's inherently human, the desire to understand.

[ That said. ] Which isn't to say it isn't haunted. Considering.

[ Still, he follows Ade a little more closely now, frowning at the trees. He gestures to a pair that bow toward each other, laced together by a spiderweb of kudzu, then points past them to three more that have grown twined together in what almost looks like a cyclone of branches reaching upward, also clothed in the climbing vine. ] That doesn't look natural. ...By that I mean it looks man-made, or at least human orchestrated.

[landing_lights]

[ Ade only half-listens to Neal's philosophizing, distracted as he is by that pervasive sense of being watched. Is this what people had meant about the island being haunted? Or are the rumors themselves making him jump at shadows? Ade's never been the sort to put much stock into ghost stories, but then, he's never lived on a version of Earth where the supernatural is so readily accepted.

He's almost relieved when Neal points out the oddly-bent trees. At least that's something physical he can focus on—all the better if it was done by humans. Unlike witches and evil entities, humans, even hostile ones, are a known quantity to Ade. He walks over, head tilting up as he takes in the intertwined, kudzu-choked branches. ]

Think someone's been maintaining it? [ He reaches out for one of the thin trunks, searching for the marks of tools or other signs of human hands. ] Like a garden—

[ Without warning, something long and thin unspools itself from around the tree and launches itself at his hand. Ade's first thought is snake and he jumps back with a shout of alarm. Yet, it's not venomous fangs he feels, but the rough, woody bite of kudzu vines wrapping tight around his wrist. He pulls back hard, hard enough that any ordinary vine would snap in an instant, but these ones hold fast. ]

Get back! [ he barks at Neal, using his free hand to physically push the other man away from the kudzu-wrapped trees. ] The vines—

[ He's cut off by a sudden yank upwards that very nearly lifts him from the ground. He'd forced to his tip-toes, feet scrabbling for purchase in the dirt. A low susurrus fills the air as more of the vines converge on their position, another seizing hold of one of Ade's kicking feet. His stomach lurches as that, too, is lifted from the ground, robbing him of any chance of at finding leverage. Is this like the thing in the junkyard that had tried to drag Hunter away? Why is it dragging him up instead of down? ]

Go, get to the water! [ he shouts at Neal, voice commanding despite his own growing panic. ] Call for backup—go!

[ Already, he can't turn around to see if Neal listens—he can only hope that he even has time to do so before the vines seize him as well. ]

hiking trails

[myfavoritemurder]

[Oh hey, that sure is her "roommate" that she briefly met and then completely ignored (something that is very easy to do when she's barely been in their shared room to begin with). He sure is a lot more interesting now than he was indoors.

Without any further ado, Callisto finds the nearest good handhold and starts to climb after him.]

What do you think I'll do when I catch you?

[It's technically a threat, but one delivered without any real malice or intention of follow-through. Sorry, Ade; she's just incapable of being normal.]

[landing_lights]

[ When Ade hears footsteps down below, he's surprised to see his new roommate—a young, brusque woman in leather armor—at the base of the rock face beneath him. He's more surprised when, before he can call out any sort of greeting, she's climbing up after him with that odd question.

He gives a nervous chuckle, more worried about her falling than he is about the strange threat. ]

Dunno. [ He thinks about the leather armor she wears. ] Skin me, maybe.

[ That'd be a tall order given the rapid healing granted to him by c'nataat, but she could certainly try. After another moment or two of watching her, in which he ascertains that she is at least skilled enough to not be in any immediate danger, he turns his attention back upwards and keeps climbing. ]

Kind of hoping not to find out.

[myfavoritemurder]

[Ooooooh. A sharp smile flashes across her face, and she focuses in on him, speeding up a little as she climbs.]

Is that a challenge?

[Despite her lack of real goal or intent to harm, she's certainly happy to take it as one.]

[landing_lights]

Nah. Think they call it a "statement of intent."

[ Said with a small, mischievous smile as he, too, begins to ascend faster up the rock face. Even then, he's methodical, testing handholds and footholds before putting his full weight on them. He's determined not to have a repeat of the climbing incident he'd had on Bezer'ej, in which he'd ended up lying on his back for hours while c'nataat repaired his broken spine. Just because he'd survived—and would survive again—doesn't mean it hadn't been unpleasant.

He's more than halfway to the top now. Looking down, he sees that Callisto is gaining some serious altitude as well. ]

You're good, [ Ade says, sounding genuinely impressed—and maybe a little relieved. Technically, he could heal her if she took a fall, but given the side effects c'nataat seems to have on other people here, he's hoping it doesn't come down to that. ] Where'd you learn to climb?

[myfavoritemurder]

Oh, the same place I learned everything else.

[She says, swinging from one handhold to another, farther one, fearlessly letting go of the first before she's able to grab hold of the second.]

Myself.

[This isn't strictly true: Callisto's progress in all physical pursuits, from climbing to fighting to riding horses, had always taken some amount of observation of or instruction from others, at least at the start. But no one had ever taken her under their wing; no one had ever decided that they wanted to help her. Everything she'd learned from others, she'd learned because she'd sought the lesson out of her own volition, and as far as she's concerned, that makes the learning her doing, not theirs.]

[landing_lights]

[ Ade gives a breathless laugh at that. It's not at Callisto's expense; that's a genuinely dazzling answer.

Not that he's going to let it distract him too much. Seeing that Callisto is gaining on him, he instinctively begins to push harder, reaching for higher, riskier handholds and relying on strength and luck to see him past the follow-through. Soon, he's near the top of the rock face, Callisto close behind.

He reaches for the ledge and levers himself up, pulling up one leg and then the next until he's sitting on top of the precipice. He turns to offer a hand to Callisto, but it's more than likely she's already clearing the ledge behind him. His hand drops to his side and he grins at her, glad to see she made it unharmed. ]

You probably would've had me beat if it weren't for that headstart, [ he says. ] Don't suppose there were Royal Marines in your world?

[ Because she'd be a shoe-in for the Corps. ]

[myfavoritemurder]

[She's just far enough behind him that she could make use of the outstretched hand, but she doesn't: she completely ignores it, swinging up on her own, then making a show of brushing rock dust off of her otherwise impeccably cared-for armor.]

There might have been.

[She says, dropping down to sit at the cliff's edge, her legs dangling over the side.]

But not in Greece, and I've never been anywhere else - except Tartarus, of course.

[landing_lights]

[ Tartarus? Ade looks puzzled at that. It sounds vaguely familiar, like something he read about in school, but he can't quite place it. Maybe it's next to Greece?...

Or used to be. Callisto's armor, though well-maintained, is old-fashioned to say the very least. He wonders exactly how out of time she might be—she's likely even more so than he is. ]

They're the ones who taught me how to climb. The Marines, I mean.

[ He eyes her curiously, wondering how best to go about figuring when she's from. ] You ever hear of the FEU? Or Britain?