![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
apocalypsehowmods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
apocalypsehowcomm2022-05-16 08:09 am
- !event,
- !finale,
- !npc,
- bucky barnes (mcu),
- cornelius hickey (the terror),
- cortana (halo),
- edalyn clawthorne (owl house),
- hunter (owl house),
- kate cordello (original),
- katrina (siren),
- manji (blade of the immortal),
- zz_addison montgomery (grey's anatomy),
- zz_ade bennett (the wess'har wars),
- zz_ainsley whitly (prodigal son),
- zz_andrew jaeger (original),
- zz_beauregard lionett (critical role),
- zz_bruno madrigal (encanto),
- zz_callisto (xena: warrior princess),
- zz_donna noble (doctor who),
- zz_garner cinderbrooke (original),
- zz_george milton (of mice and men),
- zz_jeff calhoun (original),
- zz_john carter (er),
- zz_jonathan sims (tma),
- zz_luka kovač (er),
- zz_malcolm bright (prodigal son),
- zz_misty quigley (yellowjackets),
- zz_neal caffrey (white collar),
- zz_nick valentine (fallout),
- zz_orpheus (hadestown),
- zz_rye kalibash (original),
- zz_tim drake (dc comics)
Event - 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?"
no subject
"C'mon man, give yourself some credit, that was great," laughs Todd. "C'mon, you want to see the party spot? I give a mean tour."
no subject
Then he sighs softly. Knowing he was just being stubborn. "Alright, sure. Why don't you tell me what you know about this place."
no subject
It seems Manji's going to be stuck as part of a group for the foreseeable future if he goes along with this.
no subject
"Yeah? And what does hanging out with you get us besides your company?" He asks, partly to be a smart ass and partly to see if there was anything besides the kid's company that he might gain from going along.
(OOC: If it's easier on the mods we can handwave that Manji gets some basic information while on the tour about the mines and eventually reports back his very "important" findings that there is occasional "blue grass" in the caves. I'm happy to keep threading, but don't want to overload you with possible fluff content!)
no subject
He's already gesturing to the small group that's decided not to split off on their own, leading the way into a tunnel marked "The Coal Patch," its walls black and dusty with veins of coal.
[Appreciated! We can just time skip over the less plot-informative parts of the tour.]
no subject
[OOC: Sounds good! Also I love Todd. I'm having a lot of fun with this thread.]
no subject
"Good guess, but that's a terrible guess, my man. No, tommyknockers--"
A little girl raises her hand, making "ooh! ooh!" sounds, and Todd gestures to her to answer. "It's a little miner," she says, getting an approving nod from Todd.
"Yeah! Tommyknockers were little helper-guys who lived down in the mines and warned miners when there was about to be a cave-in. Old mines make a lot of weird noises and people would start seeing things in the dark, so they'd make up stories like that."
no subject
Besides, why knockers? They go knocking on the walls?" He rubs his hands against the t-shirt he was wearing in an effort to blend in better. Uncaring if he can't get the stain out later. "And maybe they always knew when cave ins were coming because they would cause them."
no subject
"Oh god," groans someone at the back of the group.
"I guess they're mean in some of the stories," Todd says more seriously. "But I like to think of them as being a little more helpful."
no subject
"Oh, haha. But, yeah, sure, sure. Little men running around telling people about cave ins. So they just doing it out of the goodness of their heart or some heart-warming shit like that?" People like that are few and far between in Manji's experience. He finds it hard to believe there is a group of people with their own name that altruistic.
no subject
Todd keeps answering questions (stupidly) as the group continues toward the area marked on the map (if Manji glanced at such a thing at any point) as the 'Cathedral.' There's minimal historic information in his tour; he seems more interested in just generally hyping everyone up about what they're seeing.
There's a family in the group, the parents chatting in the back and not really paying attention as their young daughter veers back and forth across the tunnel in the wake of the group, leaving sooty handprints all over everything she passes.
no subject
no subject
They come to an opening barred by a velvet rope rather than the heavier-duty "staff only" markings of the other offshoots, light coming from the other side. Todd grins and unclips the rope, gesturing for the group to go in.
"Just for you since you've been a great group, a sneak peek at our rockin' concert hall! This is what we call the Cathedral, and it's my favorite spot down here. This is where the party's going to happen!"
The chamber he leads them all into has a high, arching ceiling strung with fairy lights. Its outer walls are dotted with entrances to other tunnels, a few of them lit with safety lights, many of them dark. It looks like they haven't come through and marked off the ones not meant for public access yet.
Pyre smiles and steps toward the nearest gaggle of adults, which happens to include the girl's parents, and starts pointing out the controls that he can use to change the colors of the lights, talking about the technical aspects of the setup. The child, of course, quickly loses interest and goes haring off to check out another part of the chamber.
no subject
Surely her parents will keep an eye on her.
Although it's not too long before his ears pick up what his eye lost track of. Where did the kid's goggling go? Peering around the room he doesn't spot her anywhere in the main area. "Hey, where's the kid?" He's not worried just yet, but he is concerned.
no subject
Manji's question sets off a chain of people looking around for the child first nonchalantly and then with growing concern as the answer turns out to be "not in the Cathedral, that's for sure." Some go back to the main tunnel they came from; others (her hyperventilating parents among them) peer down the other tunnels leading from the room, all while Todd discovers that his phone has no reception and starts frantically asking members of the tour group what he should do. There are a lot of tunnels she could have gone down, and Todd worriedly points out that some could lead to open shafts where she could fall and get hurt very badly.
no subject
"Alright, what tunnels are relatively safe?" He asks Todd and once he has his answer he breaks off a couple willing group members to go with the light of their phones to check those tunnels for her. "Keep one hand always on a wall. Never lift it." Manji clearly not having learned the logic of not splitting up the party.
"Search and call for her for about ten, twenty minutes. She can't have gone that far." He reasons. "Then turn around and follow the wall you never stopped touching back. Don't you go getting loss too." A couple others he orders to head back to the entrance to go get help. Or at the very least rope before they start getting too lost down the tunnels themselves.
Her parents he will order to stay at the Cathedral in case she comes back. Mostly because he doesn't trust them to make rational decisions if they went looking themselves and he wants them out of the way.
Uncaring if people start listening to his orders he'll head down one of the tunnels Todd pointed out as being dangerous. After all, even if he fell, it wasn't like he could die. Still, he didn't want to get stuck for eternity down a hole so he walks carefully. Good luck to Todd if he tries to stop Manji, but the former samurai won't stop him from following if he insists on coming along.
no subject
But there are only a few of those, and no sign of the girl in any lit tunnel. Still, Manji's recruits head down a few tunnels that at least aren't steep or filled with rubble, hands on the walls as instructed. Todd keeps flitting back and forth worriedly, calling after each of them to be careful, he doesn't think they should go in there, maybe they should go back to the surface and call for help? He doesn't stop Manji from exploring down one of the darkest tunnels, staying back to comfort the parents...or at least to talk at them. He doesn't seem to be much comfort.
The tunnel Manji's chosen is relatively flat, at least, but the floor is cluttered with rock debris and the air is thick with coal dust.
no subject
"KID! Jokes over! Where are ya?! You're giving your folks a heart attack!"
no subject
"I can't see!" she cries, voice echoing shrilly off the rock walls.
no subject
The echoing doesn't help pinpoint her location any quicker. Hard to tell if she was close or far, but he doesn't give up. Still moving carefully to avoid falling into a pit Todd warned him about, but trying to pick up his speed. "What's your name, kid?" He asks in an attempt to keep her calm.
no subject
no subject
He's close. He feels like he must be close. Silently he curses that he left the blade he 'forgot to return' to ADI. A light up blade would be very useful right about now. "Hang on! I'll be there soon!"
no subject
"I hurt my knee," Abby calls out mournfully. "It got dark and I tripped. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to--I just want to go home!"
He's quite close by now. Without a light it's nearly impossible to make the child out in the dark of the tunnel until he's all but on top of her. She flinches when she hears him come close.
no subject
Seeing the girls outline flinch suddenly in the darkness has Manji scrambling back a step or two and cursing under his breath. Startled that he's nearly stepped on her. "There you are, Abby. Ready to go back to your parents?“
Once she answers Manji will turn his back to her. Encouraging her to climb up onto his back. "How's the leg, kid? Think you can get onto my back and hang onto my neck?"
no subject
She climbs on as best she can; Manji's going to be covered in sooty dirt and, yes, a bit of blood after this. "Who are you?"
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)