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

Garner works on finishing his food while George pulls up and looks over the picture. He's not nearly so quick, but he doesn't have a lot to work on either.

"That was the initial thought, yes. Rae suggested a cover of an ex-boyfriend. Perhaps that or a long lost friend, depending on the audience we're asking. It won't be so hard to pretend you're along to help me in my handicap as that's, in a way, exactly what you're doing. Gives you a good reason to keep your eyes peeled."

Wait... "What's a bindle stiff?"

Edited 2022-06-15 04:16 (UTC)

"I can't pull boyfriend off, but long-lost friend, sure." He shakes his head and takes a quick swig of coffee. The number of people who think he can just go from what he's used to to whatever passes for social mores in 2022 boggles him sometimes.

"Yeah, I can do that much easy. Back in my day, that was what they called hobos. Drifter folk. Bindles are bedrolls." And the moment he opens his uneducated mouth with his coarse accent, he knows some doors will slam in their faces. So he's going to keep his mouth shut and his eyes open. Play indifferent or shy depending.

Garner shrugs. He'd meant for him to be the long lost boyfriend, but it truly didn't matter to him either way. He would likely need George for help filling in details if asked, so long-lost friend it was.

"Back in your day..." He smiles and reaches for the water he'd brought to the table to take a sip. "I believe 'vagrant' and 'wanderer' are the most common terms where I'm from. Though there are meaner and kinder terms both in certain circles. Either way, I did not realize there was a particular 'sound' to them that might be recognized."

After all, he'd also technically been a wanderer for a bit and their accents were noticeably different.

"Yeah, back in my day, smarty pants." He snorts his amusement and works to butter the other half of his biscuit. "Been a while twixt here and there."

He takes a bite and chews, swallows, then washes it down with coffee. "Uneducated. I sound uneducated, 'specially compared to everybody else around here." It is what it is. There's no sense in trying to pretend or paint it as something it's not.

"And even though I been trying to ditch the old time slang, that ain't coming so easy."

"It might have been a while for most of the people here, but not for you. I think some patience for your natural slang is understandable. If you chose to keep it as a form of comfort, I think that would make sense." So long as he didn't refuse to learn, it didn't matter how he presented himself.

"As for your education, that is easily fixed with time and inclination and if you have neither, your cleverness will speak for itself."

He sits back a bit and tilts his head slightly. "Besides, there's something to be said for being underestimated because of other people's misconceptions."

"Awwright." He chuckles. He'll concede that point, that it's not so long ago for him at all. For the rest of it, he shakes his head and makes a negating noise since he knows he can't see it. "Ain't about comfort. I gotta blend in better, not sound like a transplant out a' the 1930s." Unlearn old slang, learn some new that makes him uncomfortable with the outright crudeness of it all.

"Kinda feel like that ship sailed a long time ago, but...maybe not with ADI. That is something to think about. I always had a head for figures." He taps his coffee mug with a jittery finger. "Think it might take a back burner to trying to save the world." He tries to play it off funny. It doesn't quite hit there.

"Been underestimated my whole damn life. People see a scrawny little sumbitch like me, think I'll go down like a one hit wonder. I licked a few would-be bullies in my day. Jes' because we's scrapping with words this time don't mean it'll go down any different if I can help it. So old friends. Where'd we meet?"

It doesn't quite hit, but Garner gives a thin smile regardless. Self improvement wasn't necessarily high on anyone's list, he just didn't like not knowing things, himself. Left over conditioning, he knew.

He needed to tell George he likes how he talks sometime, but this feels like an odd time to say it, so he turns his consideration on their cover story.

"Well, schooling is off the table, even beyond what we just discussed, we don't know the answer. It needs to be something simple or will trip on details and culture things we're both likely to miss."

Crowley had said Watts was likely similar to a modern day nobility, so- "Perhaps, simply, friends from younger years, met at a camp that brought in all walks of life and various ages and swore to meet back up again one day. You and I have found one another, now we're simply looking for our missing friend and hoping his father's event would be a good time to find him. If that sounds plausible to you."

He...didn't actually know how different in ages they were from each other or even from Pyre, apart from he knew the man was younger and he suspected George was older, but so long as they looked reasonably close...?

"Might could work, yeah," he says thoughtfully. It's generic, but in this case generic is good, and if all their details don't quite match, they can chalk it up to having been kids at the time and seeing the world differently.

"It ain't interesting enough to draw a lot a' attention and ain't suspicious enough to question. You should say your family moved to England and you's jes' back to the States. You sound English to me." Otherwise, the accent would draw attention and questions. "Only if they ask, though. Don't jes' throw that out."

He polishes off the remains of his breakfast and the last swallow of coffee. "I'm ready whenever you is."

There's a small moment of confused consideration, but then it clears and he nods. "That makes sense. If we keep the conversations short and questions direct but casual, no one will push too hard." They'd likely remember, but they'd already accepted that risk.

He nods and stands. "I'm ready. Shall we take a walk?"

"Yeah. It's all casual, not the kinda things we'd be tripping over ourselves to explain." He nods. It sounds like a solid plan and something that shouldn't be too hard to pull off without raising suspicions.

"Let's do it." He stands, too, and moves with him to head out into the heat of the morning. He can already tell it's going to be another scorcher. Makes him sorely miss his hat.

Garner's fairly practical, but he likes to be hopeful. Unfortunately, in being hopeful, sometimes that meant you got those hopes dashed. Which was about how they were feeling as he settled onto a bench outside one of the shops downtown only a couple doors down from the last person they'd spoken to.

The priest had been most helpful, he had at least seen the boy and recalled something of him with Pyre's interest in Watts and FYRE, but most everyone...

"I suppose Watts was very good at pretending not to have a son...or making it clear it was a tidbit of information to be forgotten."

"Anything covered up that hard's something a man's desperate to hide. If we had any doubts, this sure points to fire under the smoke." He's hot and tired, and he'd spent more time talking to strangers than he has in a long time. It was all in support of Garner's mission, so it's not hitting him quite the same way. He still doesn't like seeing him down.

"I'm willing to press on if you want. Ain't givin' up, and we do have something to report at least." What they found out at the church.

He presses his hands flat together in front of him, fingers spread and pressing lightly to his lips as he thinks.

They could continue this, press in all the corners of this town until something leaked out, but the likelihood they'd find anything else seemed slim at this point. He pulls his hands away and shakes his head.

"I think we would be better served returning to the hotel. We might ask a few others on our way, but I do not think there is cause to prioritize." He pauses and reaches up to tighten the tie that kept his hair back.

"I will be the first to acknowledge there is much I don't know, particularly about larger cities, but I do know small communities. Gossip and knowledge flow like currency and privacy is something hard to maintain, when even possible. The fact Watt's son is unknown speaks of a stranglehold far stronger than a couple men asking around will overturn. The fact no one else has seen the young man except the priest who, assumedly, sees everyone else and hears from them, tells me he may truly be nowhere easily seen." Long story short, there was nothing left to learn of value with this method.

"I hear you." He has drawn a similar conclusion, very familiar with how small communities work and also how they pull together and circle the wagons if they feel like outsiders are pressing in too hard. He has to wonder how much of that could be at play here.

"Don't know about you, but after we turn in our report, I wouldn't turn down a dip in that swimming pool." He hasn't spent much time in it, just a little here and there. It's relaxing after a long day in the heat.

The tension that had settled in his brow momentarily increases with George's suggestion. There's a feeling that stirs up, a press to keep at it. To keep searching, keep...and then Garner takes a breath and nods, that tension forcibly easing. They really had been at this too long in too much heat.

"I think that sounds like a brilliant idea. We have done enough for today." Garner stands and reaches out to lightly brush past George's shoulder with a small smile. "Lead the way."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Event - Appalachia: Into the Pines

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