Event - Appalachia: Into the Pines

[apocalypsehowmods]

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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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Comments

[edalyn]

[Once Eda steps out of the building, she reaches into her hair to hand off a tracker to the tiny owl hiding there.]

If you see a good chance before I do...

[While she doesn't actually hurry, she makes her way downtown and eventually spots the police station, in time to see a man eating a sandwich on his car.

On a whim she does her best to plaster a distressed expression on her face (it's fine, she'll decide what crime she's reporting by the time she gets over there.)]

[pennedin]

[Porter's gaze scans back and forth along the street as he chows down, fastidiously managing the messy sandwich with a handful of napkins. It doesn't take him long to lock eyes on Eda, a curious little frown forming on his face. Once he sees she's coming his direction he starts wrapping the sandwich back up in its paper, trying to get it put away and to wipe off his face before he has to deal with whatever crisis is coming his way.]

[edalyn]

[Eda might be just a little bit amused by the man scrambling to put away his lunch, if only because any chance to make a cop's day slightly worse. She doesn't show it, though.]

Hey, are you the sheriff around here? [She asks as she walks up. She might as well, it doesn't seem like that strange a question, although she's not used to telling the local uniforms apart.]

[pennedin]

[He just barely wins the race, setting his food aside and getting to his feet as she reaches him. His head cocks curiously, but the gesture transitions into a nod.]

Sheriff Ron Porter, yes. Is there something I can do for you, ma'am?

[edalyn]

[What should she complain about? Murder? Too much effort, albeit maybe fun to fake if she needed a longer distraction. Arson? She should have thought of setting something on fire ahead of time. Saw a giraffe jay-walking? Nah, she didn't want to mess with those guys.]

Someone stole my bag, it had my wallet with all my snails in it. [Nailed it.]

[pennedin]

I'm sorry to hear that. Do you know who it wa--

[His brain catches up with her full statement.]

Did you say snails?

[edalyn]

Money. I definitely said money. [Damn, forgot those weren't the local currency for a moment. She hadn't actually meant the animal or anything quite that strange, but he wouldn't know that.

During his confusion, Owlbert decided that it was a good time to wiggle out of Eda's hair behind her back, drop down to the ground and hop under the Sheriff's car to watch from there.]

[pennedin]

[He stares for a beat too long before deciding to just roll along with it. Everyone makes slips of the tongue now and then, right?]

...Okay.

Did you get a look at them? Was it anyone you knew?

[With Ron focused on Eda, Owlbert will be able to make his sneaky way under the car.]

[edalyn]

Didn't know the guy, but I got a look at 'em and which way they went. [Might as well see how much time she can waste.

Owlbert peers out from under the car. It would be easy to hide the tracker there somewhere, but that wasn't quite the instructions. He tries to spot pockets that would be easy to get to instead.]

[pennedin]

[The sheriff nods and grabs his sandwich off the hood, ready to move.]

If you'll come inside with me, ma'am, and give your statement, we'll do our best to track them down.

[Owlbert will have some tough options here. Ron has hip pockets and back pockets on his trousers and he's likely to feel something being put in those if he's not thoroughly distracted. He also has breast pockets, which are problematic for obvious reasons. Finally, however, there is the option of the upturned cuffs of his trouser legs - easy to slip the tracker into, but more likely for it to fall out, too.]

[edalyn]

Yes, of course. I'll tell you everything I remember. [She doesn't really want to be inside a police station just on principle, but she wants to waste his time and see if she spots anything interesting. Especially anything interesting she might be able to steal.

Owlbert quietly hops behind Ron as Eda keeps him talking. After a bit of debate he decides to go for tucking the tracker into one of the man's trouser cuffs. It's probably not the best place, but while he's a very smart bird he's still a bird.]

[pennedin]

[Tracker placed! It will stay there long enough to do its job. Mostly.

The statement-taking is mostly standard for Earth, though whether or not that means it's standard according to Eda's experiences...well. He'll walk her through filling out some paperwork, wanting to take contact information. Inside the station there's not a whole lot going on; there's Ron's office and an attached jail with a couple cells. As for things to steal, that depends on whether she wants something minor like office supplies (or the remaining half of his sandwich), or if she wants to get industrious and try to steal some handcuffs or the keys to the cells, which are not sitting out anywhere she can see. There are cameras in this building, though no apparent security measures beyond those and the presence of Ron himself.]