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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
Naw, nothing like that. You jes' said some things that first day that sounded like you was living a long way off.
[At least what he remembers of it. He wasn't in the best way himself that day.]
All kinds a' folks here, though. Probably wouldn't be the strangest thing if you was.
no subject
[ He doesn't remember what he'd said that first day. Those initial few hours after he'd appeared in this place had been an overwhelming blur. Still, he's lucky George had been the first person to speak to him. It could've been a lot worse if there hadn't been anyone to talk him down.
George's words now make Ade look down, fiddling with one of his sleeves. So far, the only people who know that there's anything abnormal about him biologically are on ADI's medical team and even they don't know the full extent of it. Ade'd been open about c'nataat's rapid healing properties—less so about what it had done to his body and DNA. George is right, though—there's all sorts here. ]
You're roommates with the robot bloke, right? [ Ade says suddenly. He remembers seeing the man—or the android or whatever the correct term was—at the card night George had hosted. ] How's ADI treat him? Do you know?
no subject
That's right, Nick.
[This time it's a head shake.]
Nick ain't much of a complainer. If somebody was doing him dirty, I'm not sure he'd say so.
[He is sure if somebody did him dirty, Nick would jump right in. He's just that kind of guy.]
Don't think he'd mind you askin' him. He ain't a liar, so if there is something, he'd prob'ly tell you.
no subject
[ Ade rather regrets not talking to Nick at the party. In all honesty, he'd been afraid of making a fool of himself, of saying the wrong things. He'll have to make an attempt the next time he sees him. ]
I was living with aliens before I came here. The wess'har. I was... infected by something on their planet. Something contagious I didn't want coming back to Earth. That's why I almost lost it on that first day when I showed up here. [ He feels like he owes George that much information. He still remembers snarling at the man to get the fuck away from him after he first arrived. The memory makes him wince. ]
I don't have to worry now, though. The doctors here, they did some tests. Found out the little bugger can't survive in anyone else's bloodstream but mine. Something about quantum genetics, multiple universes... [ He waves a hand. ] The important part is, there's no risk of lifelong infection or secondary spread. [ A slight smile. ] Guess it's a silver-lining of showing up here. I get to see Earth again without mucking the whole place up—and in a lot better shape than when I left it, too.
[ ...Well, aside from the whole Entities business. ] Environmentally-speaking, anyway.
no subject
Well, that's good to hear. I was worried about you, but not knowing exactly what was wrong, there wasn't too much I could do.
[Except just...be there and hope it was enough.]
Glad Earth is better for you. Ain't the same for me. Environment's screwed up. Can't even hardly catch no fish, and supposedly when you do, you might not want to eat 'em.
I ain't sure I want to know how much worse it could get.
no subject
[ Mass extinctions, uncontrolled global warming, dwindling natural habitats... To say that it's a right mess would be a woeful understatement. Being just 350 years in the past feels like a literal breath of fresh air compared to his Earth. ]
The good news is, there's a fleet of aliens en route to Earth with the tech to turn back the clock: restore the environment, resurrect dead species, fix the climate. Bad news is, unless us monkey-boys play really, really nice, it won't happen without casualties. A lot of them.
[ He hopes humanity as a whole has the good sense to shut up and accept the Ebqas demands with as little resistance as possible, but he doubts they will. Just like the humans who died on the Actaeon, there will be too many who believe that these aliens can be shamed or bargained with. But the Ebqas don't bluff and they don't negotiate. They state their intentions—and follow through. ]
Guess it's kind of like culling predators to the Ebqas—like humans did with wolves, right? Except we're the wolves now and they've got the guns.
no subject
If that's your idea a' good news, Ade, I ain't sure I want to hear your idea a' bad.
[At least he's not likely to be around for any of that. Small comfort.]
no subject
[ Not Earth, not his home, and certainly not his family. The older and further away he gets, the more it feels like he'd escaped from some years-long nightmare. Maybe that's why he'd felt so at peace on Bezer'ej—25 light-years away is about the furthest anyone has ever been. ]
Let's talk about something else, [ he murmurs, tapping at the arm of the sofa. ] What do you think about Wolf Pen? Never been in a town like this myself...
no subject
Same shit different year and place. In NorCal it was migrant workers. Here it's coal miners. Least we never got no black lung.
[He clearly has feelings about it. Despite how tired he is, he's animated, voice strong.]
no subject
Makes sense it's a prime target for the Entities. They've got a lot to feed on, by the sounds of it.
[ Fear of death, fear of poverty, fear of losing the ones you love—no wonder the Entities feed on humans. They don't even need supernatural encouragement to inflict fear on one another. ]
Makes me think, [ Ade says with a sigh, ] we could stop this ritual tomorrow and it wouldn't make the fear go away. It'd just be humans profiting from it rather than the Entities—and once that happens, it's no longer ADI's job to fix it.
[ He says it entirely without satisfaction. All in all, it's not too different from being in the military—you complete the mission and get out. You don't question the state of those you leave in your wake. ]
no subject
[It's a stark reality. Most of it is still better than what he saw in '29 and after. Whether it's pragmatism, humility, or living a life largely defeated by circumstance and barely keeping his head afloat, it makes it hard for him to conceive that they could do anything else.]
Lemme tell you. If we manage jes' this much, we's ahead of the game. And so're they. They get the luxury a' not knowing. Sometimes that's enough.
no subject
[ It's not like their position at ADI is any more enviable; fighting cosmic horrors for a world that isn't their own and that they'd never chosen to come to. Maybe just keeping others blissfully ignorant really is the best they can do for this world.
...Blimey it really is like the military. ]
Well, [ Ade sighs, ] One thing I know—if we survive, we need to cut loose once we get back to Gloucester. Go out on the town or something. [ A ghost of a smile. ] Make some memories that aren't so bloody depressing to talk about.
no subject
That's somethin' I'll be more'n glad to drink to when we get back. You jes' tell me when and where, and I'll be there.
wrap?
Alright, it's a plan. [ He sits up a little straighter, already looking cheered after their grim conversation. ] Just give me some time to find a decent pub when we get back, yeah?