apocalypsehowcomm | Event - Appalachia: Into the Pines

Entry tags:

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?"

➥ Links

OOC Questions - LINK
NPC/Mod Response Prompts - LINK
General Setting Prompts - LINK 1 & LINK 2

↬ Main Navigation

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Hunter isn't wrong, but Eda isn't having the easiest time making one when her powers are on the fritz and she doesn't know if he has any back at all right now.]

I don't know what's working--

[But she has to do something. They can't keep outrunning this thing and she's not sure whether either of them can fight it at the moment. They need to try and lose it.

She stumbles slightly as she slows down just enough to riffle through another pocket and shove a piece of paper at Hunter.]

Invisibility. If you've got any juice--touch this, hold your breath--long as you can.

[She speaks fast and a little breathlessly, no mincing words and none of her usual flippantness. She's not sure if she'll do the same or try something riskier, but she wants the creature's attention off Hunter.]

[With the paper just shoved at him Hunter takes it without thinking, glancing down at it. That's another one of Luz's glyphs, but it isn't one he's seen before. Eda's explanation confirms that, though it also makes him stop, pushing his mask up so he can glare at her properly. At the same time he holds his hand out, and Flapjack transforms into his staff form.]

Flapjack and I don't have a lot of power, but we can still fight!

[He doesn't want to hide, he isn't some child!

... Even though he basically has no magic right now. Flight is out of the question, he isn't sure about any offensive blasts. He might be able to manage a teleport or two, he isn't sure -

Unfortunately, this really isn't the best time to argue, because the creature behind them is closing the distance - something that probably was inevitable, given how fast it's barreling through the trees like a freight train.]

Dammit, you're as bad as Luz! Can you just-- [Eda sounds a lot more frustrated than angry, and she cuts herself off before she actually gets as far as just do what I say. Hunter's probably gotten enough of that, all things considered. Though she wishes he would right this minute.

Eda lets out a frustrated growl and spins on her heel. It almost looks cool, except that she catches her foot under a root. Fortunately it's only a brief falter. She claps her hands together and one of the glyphs crumbles as a burst of golden light briefly stuns the monster.

...And there's that little tingle in the back of her mind again, when she manages to throw it off balance. It's awfully faint, but it's there.]

[Hunter is more than ready to argue with her on this. What does she know, anyways? It's not as if she's his superior, she's just a wild witch who has to rely on Luz's glyphs to do magic!

Which... is more than he can do right now, he suspects, but still! This is probably just - a trap or something. He doesn't get why she's so intent on protecting him, honestly. She could probably use her palisman to fly away and be no worse for the wear.

He sees her stumble and takes that as an opportunity. The monster comes to a skidding halt, stunned by the sudden bright light directly in its eyes, and in another flash of gold Hunter has disappeared.

He reappears next to the monster, bringing the end of his staff down hard on its head. It responds quickly as well - swiping a huge clawed paw at him. Hunter starts to teleport again, there's another flicker of gold, but it isn't the same as the previous one.

His magic shorts out right as the thing's claws rake over his torso.]

[As she sees the staff crack against the creature's skull Eda is almost, for a second, ready to concede that fine, maybe Hunter can help. But then he doesn't teleport right and oh--oh that looks bad. There's no time to stop and check how bad, of course, not if she wants to keep things from getting worse.] Kid--!

[There's no time to think, either. Eda's just angry. Before she has a chance to consider how bad of an idea it is, she springs forward and something finally clicks into place inside her. She doesn't know if it's sheer force of will or if it's the fact that very suddenly her intent isn't to get away or to hide so much as it is to turn the tables, fight this thing, hurt this thing, scare this thing, hunt--

She lands in a crouch and lets out a sound that a witch really shouldn't be able to make. It starts as a growl and rises into a bird of prey shriek layered with strange harmonics. It's a predator sound, the kind of sound to cut through thousands of years of civilization and straight to the sort of racial memories that remind people that maybe they haven't come so far from cowering in caves to avoid the things lurking in the night.

The creature's stance falters as it realises it's not the only thing lurking in the night, and both Eda and the beast whose feathers are now bristling through her skin enjoy that realisation just a little too much.

While Hunter won't be able to see what she actually looks like at the moment, her human disguise probably seems at least a little... off, and perhaps a bit taller. If it were any other situation, she might take a moment to point out that one time he called her delusional for thinking she could turn into a harpy.

But it isn't any other situation, and the white furred creature shakes off its initial reaction and lunges. Eda dodges to the side and aims a kick with her talons.]

[For a split second Hunter thinks that too, that he can be of help in this fight. And of course, his hopes are dashed as the swipe from those claws sends him crashing to the ground. White hot pain shoots through his body and he knows he isn't getting up from this.

Of course, his assumption with Eda is that she's going to book it out of there and leave him to die, because why wouldn't she? This is a good chance to save herself, they certainly aren't on the same side, and despite her insistence on helping him escape before he can't see her putting in the effort to help him now. If he can't stand up to a simple creature that resembles a slitherbeast, then he isn't worth the effort.

That's why he's hit with a wave of shock when he sees her move and hears that monstrous-sounding cry. It's enough to make him unconsciously shiver and he looks over at her, while he only sees Eda through the darkness he knows that noise definitely came from her. The creature does too, as it takes a few moments to properly size her up, now that she's made it clear she's a fellow predator and not just prey.

He does his best to drag himself back, but there's only more pain shooting through his chest, enough to nearly drop his staff. Unfortunately, it means he realizes that he doesn't have any other options here, so he takes as deep a breath as he can and smacks his hand against the invisibility glyph. Then he's gone.

That means the monster's full attention is on Eda. It's hit square in the side by her kick and stumbles several feet, though it quickly regains its balance and lunges again, this time going after her with a swipe of its claws.]

[Eda launches herself into the air just in time to avoid the brunt of the attack, but she still lets out a yelp as the claws graze her side. There's not much room to fly--were the trees always this close together?--but she beats her wings to gain a little height over the monster.

She notes that she doesn't see Hunter, but she doesn't have time to try and figure out if that's because he managed to run or because he used the glyph. She's too preoccupied with the fact the creature is already taking another swipe at her. She knows she could take the opportunity to leave, but that doesn't mean it feels like an option to her.

She raises just out of reach before suddenly tucking her wings close to her and going into a spin as she drops towards the creature, talons first and going for its head this time.]

[Hunter takes this chance to drag himself behind a tree and take cover. He just barely manages that before he has to take another breath, one that makes his lungs feel like they're on fire due to his injury. But... when he looks down, he doesn't see any blood, not even something as simple as a tear in his cloak. It's like the creature's claws didn't even touch him.

It certainly feels like it did though, and he isn't sure he can stand, so he peeks out from behind the tree in time to see a flurry of movement. The creature is hit square in the head by Eda's drill spin, her claws tearing into its fur, and the attack is enough to make it back away from her and maybe reconsider this predator vs. predator fight.]

[After digging her talons in Eda jumps back to land in a crouch in front of the creature again. She stares it down, growling and spreading her wings in a way that would make her look larger... if the wings were visible. She stalks forward slowly as the thing backs up.

Just when she thinks it might be giving up this easily it suddenly pounces, managing to catch her across the shoulder and send her sprawling this time. She rolls, braces herself on her back and kicks her talons up into its throat as hard as she can. The monster lets out a distressed roar and finally turns tail to run as she scrambles back to her feet.

Eda has to hold herself back, because the thing is running and prey runs and it's everything in her not to chase chase CHASE--

But checking on Hunter is more important. She clutches at her shoulder as she turns to look around the clearing until she spots him behind his tree.] Kid...? [She hurries over, not noticing just yet that he doesn't actually look injured.]

[Even though Eda still looks very much like a witch and not a harpy Hunter can tell that this isn't a typical witch fight. She isn't acting like a witch, she's acting more like the creature she's fighting, and Titan is she ever ruining that thing's day. Since he's less concerned about, you know, bleeding to death, he remains where he is and watches as she keeps on fighting until the creature is turning tail and running.

And as he sees it retreat the thought that he did nothing, he hid like a coward instead of fighting too, starts sinking in. He flinches unconsciously when Eda turns and approaches him.]

I'm okay. That thing hit me, but....

[He looks down at his chest, at his uniform which is scuffed and dirty but otherwise in one piece.]

But it didn't leave a mark. [He holds off on saying it feels like he's injured, since it has to be all in his head if there's no physical marks left behind. He can power through whatever mental effect the creature had on him, so using his staff as leverage he drags himself to his feet.]

[Eda blinks in surprise, moving a little closer to look him over. It certainly looked like it hit him, and it certainly felt like it hit her. She looks at her shoulder and then down at her side, only now noticing the lack of blood, of her arm trying to separate from her body, or even of damage to her dress.]

That's... weird. [She wonders now if she overreacted to the danger, but it's not like she had a way to know it was illusory. Was it illusory? She's not sure. She runs her hands over the the spots to feel for injuries and winces, taking in a sharp breath through her teeth even though she can't actually find any.]

Still hurts like hell, though. [This is a less of a complaint and more an observation, along with maybe making a point that she's guessing he's probably still in pain too. She holds out a hand in case Hunter wants it to steady himself, but stops short of actually touching him.]

[Hunter awkwardly glances away.]

A little. [No, Eda is right. He's just trying to make it sound like no big deal, but she's right, it hurts like hell.

He looks at her hand for a moment but decides against it, instead leaning against the tree. He shouldn't need her help, he shouldn't have needed anyone's help to deal with that thing, but here he is. If Eda hadn't protected him he might have died or - something. He doesn't know.

It makes him feel sick that he failed so badly.]

We should get out of here.

[Eda backs off without argument. She doesn't want to crowd him if he doesn't want the help.]

We really should. [Normally she might suggest they take a few minutes to rest, but that seems like a bad idea when the monster is probably just licking its wounds. The danger might only be in their minds... but it might not, and she doesn't love those odds.

She starts to look around the area to figure out which way she came from, and she also doesn't love the fact that... she's not quite sure. She should be able to spot something familiar, or at least hear the town, but right off she's not having much luck with either.

She starts talking as she looks, mostly to avoid showing how worried she is just yet.]

Hey, at least now you've gotta admit I'm not delus--aw dang it, I still look human?

[She hadn't stopped to think about it when she'd checked herself for injuries, but now she looks down at one of her hands, nose wrinkling in irritation.]

[Rest is the for the weak. Hunter is intent on getting out of here as soon as possible since he knows he can't fight, and he's going to start just walking in a direction. Flapjack shifts out of his staff form back to his bird form, flopping tiredly onto his shoulder. The poor bird is exhausted.]

Yes? What do you - [Oh, wait. He remembers now, and he rolls his eyes soooo hard.]

Don't tell me you're still going on about that harpy thing.

[Eda decides to follow, it's probably better than staying where they are if nothing else. Owlbert flies down from a branch and settles on her shoulder again, peering into the trees as he realises that he's rather turned around as well.]

I'm going on about it because it's true. [Or did he not just see what she did just then? She doubts it would make a lot of sense without the claws or the wings. On a whim, she spreads a currently invisible wing and nudges Hunter with it, not especially hard but it still ought to be tricky to miss the huge feathers brushing against him.]

[Hunter is just inwardly cursing himself for using up Flapjack's energy on a whole lot of nothing. If he had been smarter then maybe he could fly above the tree tops to get their location.]

You're still - [Delusional is what he'd like to say, but something is nudging him even though she obviously isn't touching him, and he jumps.]

What was that?? Was that you?!

[Eda can't help letting out a snort at his reaction.] Sure was, kid. The wings are here just... [She waves a hand vaguely at what looks like thin air, still disappointed by the fact she can't turn off the illusion.]

Come to think of it... I could try and climb up enough to fly. [The tree cover makes it tricky though, and she doesn't love the idea of leaving Hunter on the ground while she goes to look, depending on how well he can climb. Maybe she can just pick him up if they find a bigger clearing along the way.]

[Hunter narrows his eyes, squinting slightly. He's still skeptical, because she's the Owl Lady and despite everything that just happened he feels like he shouldn't trust her. At least they've got the same idea, and he nods slightly.]

It would be a way for us to get our bearings, if you can actually do that. [He tone is smarmy as he folds his arms (biting back a wince at the action).] I still don't believe you.

I'll show you if. [Eda mutters this grumpily. She might be determined not to let him get hurt, but this kid still knows how to get on her nerves when he wants to.]

I can try from here if you're okay with staying put... or we can look for a clearing and I could take you up with me. [This part she says more seriously. She'd at least like to be able to keep an eye on him.]

[He isn't missing that smarmy remark, and he narrows his eyes slightly.]

I'm fine with my feet on the ground, thanks. If that thing comes back I'll yell.

You'd better. [She doesn't like the idea of him trying to fight it by himself, after earlier. But she's pretty sure he's smarter than to try again.

With that she backs off a bit and flaps her wings to make a short hop up to a nearby branch. From there she scales the tree in a fashion that would make a lot more visual sense if she was grabbing branches with claws and talons.

It feels like it takes her a bit longer than she expects to reach the top all the same, and once she does things just get more confusing. She should see the lights of the town from here.

She launches herself into the air and does a loop around the area. Why do the trees go on far? how do the trees go on so far? Is this more illusion magic?]

[It's really weird to see Eda hop and scramble up the trees like a chaotic gremlin. He's watching her with a thoroughly confused look until she's out of sight. She... might not be lying about the harpy thing.

Then his legs start shaking, and he sinks down to the ground, giving Flapjack several shaky pets on his head. He keeps his ears open, but he needs a few moments to gather his composure. Okay, okay they need to get out of here, they need to regroup back at the hotel.

More importantly, he needs to find a way to help Flapjack regain his energy. That means asking the Owl Lady how she's able to do so much magic. He needs the specifics, so he can formulate his own plan on... what, inducing fear in people? Is that how it works?

He sighs heavily, rubbing the bridge of his nose. This is ridiculous.]

[After only a couple of laps, Eda realises that she's getting tired faster than usual. She lights down on a tree and takes a moment to breathe before scrambling her way back down through the branches.

She pauses a bit above the forest floor and looks around for Hunter. It doesn't take her long to spot the boy sitting and holding his Palisman, and she can't help thinking that he really does look young when he's not making a point to act like the Golden Guard.

She gives him a couple more moments to breathe, then drops down to the ground near him. Part of her wants to pretend everything is alright, but that probably wouldn't do much good right now.]

Hey, kid. Wish I had good news... but something's not right here. It's all-- [and here she gestures vaguely to their surroundings] --trees, trees, trees. I think we're in an illusion, but not the kind we get back home.

[Not quite, at least. Maybe a combination of illusions and something else? Wild magic, if it's magic at all.]

[He doesn't realize she's giving him a bit of extra time, but oh boy does he need it. When Eda does reappear he jumps, then clambers to his feet as if he wasn't just taking a few moments to relax.

He sighs in annoyance at her report.]

Great. [He hates that they have no sense of location here. Tensely, he folds his arms.] All we can do is keep walking, then.

[Eda decides not to comment on the way he jumps. It's not like she isn't on edge too at the moment.]

For now, yeah. Better than staying put for when that thing gets hungry again, at least.

[She's still not sure if it could actually kill them, but she'd rather not test that theory if they don't have to. For now, she just starts walking in what she's pretty sure is the direction they were already trying.]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject