greer (greerlove) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2020-09-22 12:39:00 |
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Entry tags: | #february 2018, greer, greer x max, max, vex |
Who: Greer and Max with cameos by Vex and Were!Carson
When: Who knows? Sometime!
Where: Gross Juniper - Over There
Status: Complete
Greer had no idea how long she had been in this place. On one hand, it only felt like a few days. On the other, it felt like years. After the initial shock of what happened, and then the onslaught of guilt and grief, she had stuck with Ty, the cop. This was a new situation for everyone and she didn’t expect him to protect them all while his life was in jeopardy as well, but he was someone with a sense of authority, and while that didn’t usually draw Greer in, it did this time. She supposed she needed some semblance of guidance here because otherwise she was just wandering around, desolate and desperate to be home. Dev and Rost were in her mind constantly. Occasionally she would sit, when they weren’t hiding, and try to reach them somehow. Mentally, of course, but Greer wasn’t psychic and even if she was, she doubted she would have been able to reach them in this place. It wasn’t home. It was Something Else. Something terrible.
Juniper was familiar to her, at least, and that was where quite a few of them had holed up for the past several days - weeks? It was gray and full of air that was probably toxic, though it hadn’t made anyone sick yet. Her clothes were a mess, as was her hair, but she was getting used to it. Since it seemed like they had some reprieve from the monsters outside, Greer walked down the sticky hall, her gaze falling on another figure several doors down. Max.
Without much thought, she walked up to him and took his hand, bringing it up to her cheek and squeezing his fingers for a moment before releasing him. “How are you?” she murmured, well aware that it was a stupid question, considering their situation. But sometimes it felt good to get it out.
It was a stupid question but Max had asked it too and he knew what it meant. How are you holding up? Are you breaking yet? He couldn't say for sure if he was anywhere near okay. He felt like he was as rotten as this place now, like the toxins in the air coated his lungs completely, filled his veins, rotted his brain. He'd never been this depressed before, this completely void of hope.
Finding Ty and his group had filled him with mixed emotions. He wasn't happy Greer was there - for her sake - but he felt safer now that they'd hunkered down all together and it wasn't just him and Jasper anymore. Greer's touch felt so human when nothing in this world did and he closed his eyes until she released him.
"You know," he said hoarsely but he managed a little smile for her, she just had that effect where most of the people he was stuck with in Not Quite Juniper managed to get under his skin. "Not bad for purgatory." How long had they been here now? Was this what eternity felt like? No seasons, no times of day, just endless gray light filtering through air that seemed to be thick with spores of some sort. If this wasn't purgatory he didn't know what it was. No hunger, no thirst, just being afraid and filthy and tired constantly.
Purgatory. That was a pretty apt description of this place. Greer had come to accept that this was some sort of punishment for what they had been doing in Point Pleasant. She still had no idea if Dev and Rost were alive and well. Maybe she had killed them before driving off into the night towards Witcham Road. It was a horrible feeling, one that continually triggered bile to rise into her throat. Rationally she knew none of this was really their fault. They hadn't wanted to get hurt and she knew that the majority of the people in this place would have never hurt anyone on purpose. But now it was what it was and Greer didn't think there was anyone coming to save them.
She supposed she could sink into despair and ruminate on it with Max, but instead she returned his faint smile with one of her own before lifting her fingers to brush it against his jaw and the facial hair that was growing there. "I like it," she said. "Gives you a very Grizzly Adams look. But in a good way."
"Oh man, I loved that show," Max murmured and while he'd never actually wanted to be a mountain man the thought of the clean, crisp air up their gave him a longing pang. "Used to watch it with my dad." He felt sluggish, his usual penchant for snark and humor so far out of reach and yet he still managed, belatedly, to give her a feigned quizzical look. "And what do you mean in a good way, Grizzly Adams was a fine specimen of a man. And he had a bear." His smile didn't quite reach his eyes but that was the new normal these days. Everyone was tired and scared, but at least they weren't hungry. Max wasn't sure if that was a good thing though, maybe starving to death was better than staying here forever. He was sure they could still die, considering the brutal slaughter he'd witnessed when they first arrived, but he wasn't terribly eager to test the theory.
Greer managed a soft laugh, which felt a bit foreign in her ears. When had she last laughed? Her throat hurt too, considering she hadn't been talking much since they got here. "You're right. Grizzly Adams was a compliment. The amusement faded almost as quickly as it had risen inside of her and Greer hugged herself, her hands rubbing up and down her arms. It took a moment of her standing there in silence for Greer to frown. "I'm sorry. I just... not too eager to be alone right now. I've been wandering around, trying to figure out what to do. But there's just nothing. You would think there would be some source of entertainment in purgatory." She attempted to inject some humor in her tone, but it simply fell flat. "Can I sit with you for a bit?"
"Not even books," Max huffed quietly, then nodded and moved next to her, wrapping one arm around her shoulders to lead her into the room he called his own. It wasn't a nice room, nothing was nice here, but it was better than sleeping outside. "Let's make our own entertainment, talk shit." He didn't sound excited about it but there was nothing to be excited about. He felt safer now that they'd boarded up the windows and cooped themselves up in Juniper but it was a fleeting sort of safety and they all knew it. If something out there really wanted to get in, it would. Still, it was nice to pretend while he could. "Think we could rouse the rest of the gang into a riveting game of charades?" That wasn't going to happen, they were all afraid of being loud so they never spent much time in a group. That was fine with Max, he didn't like most of those people and even their shared trauma didn't change that.
"Would you believe I've never played charades before?" Greer leaned into Max's comforting embrace and walked with him into the room. It was nothing like the Juniper where she and Dev were staying before they met Rost. The layout was the same, and yes, everything was in the same place, but... it was so dark and desolate. Sometimes when she laid down, she imagined getting swallowed up by the bed and disappearing forever. There was simply no happiness in this place. "But I have talked shit before, so we can do that." It was better than crying and wondering if she had killed the two men she loved more than anything else. "Everyone seems to be okay though, other than the occasional meltdown."
Max was selfishly glad she was there and then a little guilty for feeling that way. She was his kind of people and most of the others were not. They were okay, probably not very like themselves anyway since they were all going through heavy trauma but Greer had a soothing effect on him, like she just didn't want to allow herself - or him - to get swallowed up by all this darkness. He plopped down on his makeshift mattress, not yet fully able to ignore the way strange dust puffed up when he put his weight on it but that was everything in this place, nothing was clean. He waited until she joined him then settled against her, shoulder to shoulder. "Charades are fun," he told her. "With the right people. You can either laugh your ass off for hours or feel frustrated as fuck." He had a feeling that any attempt at games here would be the former and they had to be so damn quiet. "I wish we had playing cards at least."
It would be so easy to let the depression eat her whole. She could sink down into a corner and just fade away. Maybe. Greer wasn't sure this place could kill them beyond the creatures. She hadn't had anything to eat or drink in... days? Weeks? But she wasn't starving, or thirsty beyond that vague craving of something sweet, or coffee. They should have all starved to death by now. Settling beside Max, Greer felt the comfort from the physical touch, as small as it was. Affection was something that had kept her going her entire life. Touching someone's hand, hugging them, kissing. Being in this place, aware that she couldn't very well walk up to someone and cling to them... it was difficult. Thank goodness for Max. "I would say we could search the drawers for playing cards, but knowing this place, they would probably disintegrate in our hands. There's Rock, Paper, Scissors. Or... well, that's it." Greer laughed, her voice sounding a bit hoarse. "I wish I had my tarot cards. I could read your palm, but I don't think I would like what I saw."
There weren't a lot of games they could play, she was right, and Max - who had always thought he wasn't the most physical person - actually found he missed stupid things like ballgames and wrestling. Even running. Here he couldn't do any of those things, he was scared of breathing, let alone more. "I'm thinking of a person," he muttered, even as he tried to think of someone good. That was a game they'd played when driving sometimes, that or 'I spy'. I spy something beginning with spores... No, that was definitely not a game to play in purgatory, there was nothing to see here and sometimes Max thought they would all eventually become one with the strange growth all around them, fade away into nothing but dust and grit.
Greer glanced at him, one brow raised curiously before she tapped her finger with her chin. "Is it a woman?" It was so silly that they essentially had to hole up here and try to find ways to pass the time when they weren't hiding from creatures that could tear them in two. All Greer could do was be thankful that she wasn't alone, although she certainly wouldn't wish this on anyone. And she couldn't help but wonder what Dev and Rost were doing, if they were still alive. Were they looking for her? Did they think she abandoned them? That she had died? The tightening in her chest had started again so she tried to stay focused on Max.
Max had finally thought of someone and so he shook his head. "No," he murmured, sinking down against the wall a little and straightening his legs out in front of him. He missed snacking on things, a game required snacks and soda or beer and talking about charades made him think of his family, of how much his dad always made them laugh when it was his turn to extravagantly act out his words. Max missed them so much but at least he knew they were okay now, he'd been removed from the equation in time to save their lives. He dutifully answered her guesses with yes and no until they had narrowed it down to an asian male actor and that should narrow it down a lot, he thought.
Greer tried to think, though her mind continually drifted from the game to other things. That was happening a lot, she had noticed. But she tried to focus, all the while resting her head against his shoulder. "I wish I watched more movies," Greer said after a moment. She generally preferred to do other things than watch the television. But now she wished the televisions in this place worked. At least she would have something to focus her mind on instead of crippling fear. "John Cho? That guy from Harold and Kumar? That movie was fun. I wish we had some pot here."
"No," Max murmured and thought about dropping more hints but that wasn't the game. She had to keep asking and all he could do was say yes or no. "I'd kill for a streaming service right now, even if it was shitty TV with ads every five minutes. Just something. But wishing for it, you know, makes me worry all of those dead TVs are gonna come on and I'm not gonna like what I see on them." It was probably morbid and she didn't need the added fear but he wasn't thinking about that, just rambling his own thoughts and worries. "You got more guesses for me about male, Asian actors?"
Greer wrinkled her nose. The thought of the nasty televisions flickering on to show morbid, horrible things to them was... surreal and unlikely but still put images in her head that she didn't like. Though how could she think anything was unlikely when she was sitting in this place? This was clearly not the real world, so who knew what could happen? "Male, Asian actors," Greer murmured, trying to get her brain refocused on the game. It took her a couple of moments of silence before her eyes widened and she lifted her head to look at Max again. "Oh! The martial arts guy! Bruce Lee?" She had seen some of his movies on television a long time ago, when she was a kid.
"Wow," Max murmured. "There really is an embarrassing lack of Asian celebrities in Hollywood, Kerry was right." She wouldn't know who that was so he waved his hand vaguely around. "Guy in prison, kept spewing social justice stuff and you know, sometimes it was over the top but when you hear it day in day out it kinda sticks. So yeah, Bruce Lee, master of martial arts and a legend. This game was too short." And he didn't feel much better. For all he knew they'd been playing for hours though, time felt off here, everything felt off. "Tell me something about your life," he murmured, deciding that listening to her talk would be nice, even if it'd make him miss things on the other side.
Greer's chuckle was a soft one, but Max had a point. And she probably ought to watch more television or movies. Though... that was more wishful thinking than anything else. Greer was pretty certain that she wouldn't be watching anything on the television ever again. "Something about my life," Greer said. She fell silent as she thought things over, wondering what she wanted to tell him. She was generally an open book but this place had made her mind so foggy. After a while, her lips curved slightly. "My real name is Greta. It's so weird saying that, as I don't think anyone's called me that since... I was eight years old? A boy in my class couldn't pronounce my name for some reason and he called me Greer. Everyone laughed, but it sort of stuck. Even my mom started calling me Greer after that. Greta feels like a stranger to me now." She nudged Max lightly. "Your turn. Tell me something."
"Greta," Max echoed with a little smile. "That's very European. German, no?" He studied her, for some reason picturing her with braids in her hair on some Swiss mountain top before he realized he was thinking of Heidi. Though that name now sounded Swedish to him for some reason. He was probably getting them all mixed up and it made him feel more confused than it should have, like he was losing his mind in this messed up place. "My name is just Max, no fun story there. My mom was a musician, like a really good one. First years of my life she was touring with her band and I grew up in a tour van - a bandwagon." He let out a weak little chuckle and shook his head. "I don't remember it, but there are some cool pictures in an album somewhere. You probably already knew everyone in my family is a witch. My mom wasn't, but she might as well have been, the way she played."
"It's German," she confirmed with a smile of her own. "It means a pearl. And Max... Max means greatest." She nudged him gently. "And growing up in a tour van? To me that sounds so whimsical." Greer remembered meeting Max's sister, which then reminded her of being inside Max's house. She recalled not wanting their help, though she tried to pretend otherwise. Deep down she had wanted whatever was happening to her to keep happening. It had felt so much bigger to her than... well, anything. It made her stomach hurt to think about now. "Are you musical at all? Do you sing, or play?"
Max felt like it was easier to think of his mother than it was to think of his living family. His mother's death was old pain and one that had nothing to do with him being a fuck-up. The rest of his family just reminded him that he'd been on his way home to hurt them - he didn't know how, just that he'd really wanted to show them what was what and he didn't want to think that thought through. Logically speaking he wouldn't have made it that far but that meant Knox would have had to hurt him and he didn't want to think about what that would have done to him. It was just a shit show. Thinking of mom was easier. Greer's question was even better and he nodded. "I'm a bit rusty, no guitars in prison, but yeah, I play. Guitar, a bit of drums. I pretty much grew up with music so you could say it's in my blood." It was about the only thing he felt like he was any good at really, not good enough to go on tour like mom but it was something he had like his siblings had magic. Not nearly as useful, sadly. "What about you? Where are your special talents at?" he asked. "I know you're a little psychic with your cards and palm reading, do you play anything?"
She liked thinking of Max with a guitar in his hands. She was willing to bet he had made the girls swoon back in the day. Greer knew she was always a sucker for a musician, especially when they could sing too. "I like to sing, but I'm terrible at it," she admitted with a soft laugh. "Music was... is... Rost's talent. I could listen to him play for hours." Realizing that she would likely never hear him sing again, Greer felt a sharp stab to her gut. It was painful and she closed her eyes to try and calm the despair that spread throughout her body. "I suppose my special talents lie in people's palms." Her voice was slightly strained, but she smiled softly through it. "It's not as creative as music, but I like doing it. And it brings in a little bit of money every now and then."
The silence around them was so crushing, there was nothing to distract Max from listening to her and picking up on every little crack in her voice. It echoed his own feelings, he didn't have a great love he was missing - or two, as in her case - but he still felt that deep seated sorrow when he thought about his life before this. "I don't know about creative," he murmured. "But it's pretty cool." He held out his hand and wiggled his filthy fingers to request her hand, then pulled it closer to look at it. "Let's see," he muttered and in his case, palm reading would absolutely be creative. He didn't have a psychic bone in his body, or at least he hadn't though he had no way of knowing if this experience had altered him permanently or not. He'd known things he shouldn't have known, like the names of the people who'd put them here, so maybe something like that lingered. He doubted it, it felt like he'd sobered up when they arrived in this hell hole.
Greer's hand was as dirty as his was, hard to keep clean with no running water, but everything was the same and Max was every bit as gross as this place they found themselves in so it was hard to be disgusted by anything anymore. Like he'd become part of it. "I see great horror in your lifeline," he muttered, rubbing her palm with his thumb with no idea which of these lines even was the lifeline or if that was an actual name for it. He thought it was; lifeline, loveline, destiny line? But he was no expert. "But it ends eventually. You'll see your loved ones again." As much as he didn't believe in placating people with lies, this was different. They'd likely die here, why not grasp at straws and believe in impossible things.
Greer arched a brow when Max took her palm, but she let him, more than comfortable with it. How many hands had she randomly grabbed over the years? And the physical touch was comforting, something she had missed so much since finding herself in this place. At first her lips twitched as he "read" her palm but then Greer could feel her throat close up a bit with emotion. Would they see their loved ones again? Greer didn't know but she had to stay optimistic. She had to believe she would see Rost and Dev again... if they were alive. Perhaps they were and they wanted nothing to do with her now. Greer didn't know, though she wouldn't have blamed them for hating her. But still, the thought of seeing their faces again, of holding their hands and kissing their lips... it made Greer want to cry. "I hope so," she said, her voice hoarse as she curled her fingers around Max's, bringing his hand up to nuzzle against her cheek for a moment. "Thank you."
Max really hoped he wasn't straight up lying to her. He'd told Jasper that Knox would find him, no question about it, but that felt like forever ago. He would have lost hope completely but sometimes he found himself thinking that time just passed strangely here, that it was still January in their Point Pleasant even if it felt like longer in this strange place. It wasn't exactly a comforting thought all the time, it meant this could last an eternity or they might come home forty years older than everyone else or it meant they might one day come back and everyone they knew was already dead. He would have thought they weren't aging in here considering they didn't eat or drink but his beard and hair told a different story. There was change, it was all just weird as hell. "I'm just waiting for Knox to show up," he murmured, smiling faintly as his hand touched her cheek. "He's not human so if anyone can get in here and pick us up, it's him. I'll make sure to find you when he comes." When. Not if. He rubbed a finger at her cheek then squeezed her hand. "We'll get out of here."
She remembered Knox. Had she known that he wasn't human? Greer couldn't remember but if Max thought there was a way they could be saved, she would cling to it. Squeezing his hand in return, Greer lowered it, but did not let him go. She needed the physical contact to stay grounded at the moment. "What is he?" Greer asked, because she figured if she couldn't remember what Knox was, Max wouldn't mind telling her. Greer hoped that loss of memory wasn't a side effect of this place. She could still recall Dev and Rost's faces so well and she hated to think they might fade from her someday. "He's not a witch like your sister?"
Max shook his head. All these secrets didn't matter here and even if they did, Greer seemed like the kind of person who could know about his family. She knew about the magic already, they had met at a witchy party after all. "He's my family's familiar," he replied. "I don't know what that makes him exactly. He's not a spirit but he can turn into animals and he always seems to know if we're okay and where we are. He's the one who came to get me when I got hurt in the fog. I'm not sure exactly how he's connected to me since I'm not blood related to that part of the family but it worked out somehow, insert some magic jargon here I wouldn't even understand it if I tried." It felt good to talk about it, like it removed him from his current situation for a few seconds at a time, thinking about the other side, imagining Knox show up like some beautiful fucking angel, ready to take him home. "But yeah, he's like our big, sexy guardian and he and my sister are very close."
Greer knew about familiars from various legends and myths she'd read about. It didn't strike her as odd whatsoever that Max's family had one. Knox seemed otherworldly to her when they met, after all. And maybe if he could somehow find Max in this place? She would be indebted to him forever, because it meant possibly getting home. Greer huffed a soft laugh when Max emphasized the word 'close'. "Oh? And by close you mean they're lovers? She's such a small thing." Small, but powerful, Greer was sure. She could remember sitting at their table and Shayna Mae had taken control of the conversation with confidence. "I bet she misses you a lot."
Max's smile was a little wry. Could his sister miss him when he'd nearly killed her the last time they met? Of course she could, a small voice told him but it was hard to stay optimistic in this place and he couldn't help but think his family was better off without him. "I miss her too," he muttered thickly. "All of them." And even if he didn't miss a single soul over there, he missed that place so much now, even the things he had hated about his life just seemed beautiful and clean in comparison to what he was living now. He missed roaming, it wasn't natural to stay put in the same place for so long but there were no working vehicles here and even if there were, it just wasn't safe outside nor could he see much if he did venture out there. Just fog, endless fog and strange things scuttling around in it. He idly rubbed Greer's hand with his thumb, swallowing down his grief. "It's your turn to think of someone," he muttered. "Let's play a game."
Greer would have been able to relate to his desire to wander. She and Dev had settled in Point Pleasant for Rost, but there was always the knowledge that they could leave anytime they wanted, especially once they knew Rost would be willing to go with them. Now Greer couldn't even leave these walls, unless she wanted to risk death. This was the place where she had fallen in love with Rost and now it felt like a dead place. It was a dead place. Squeezing Max's hand when she heard the emotion in his voice, Greer rested her head on his shoulder again. "Okay, I've got someone in mind."
It wasn't so much about the game as it was about being close to another person and having something to think about other than their hopeless situation. Max got through the first three questions - are they alive, are they an actor, is it a man - and was about to ask the next when there was a commotion outside. He went quiet and still, squeezing Greer's hand as he listened. It sounded strange, not like something trying to come in but like a fight and Max gave Greer a worried look before getting to his feet. The two of them headed for the boarded up window and Max peeked outside through a gap between planks of wood. He was not wholly prepared for what he saw down there. He'd expected a monster for sure but not a werewolf and certainly not a human. Down on the street stood Vex, looking over the building while the werewolf - Carson, Max knew that much by now - flung a dead creature aside. It was weirdly wholesome really, anything that could kill those things was welcome in Juniper if you asked Max. "Look," he whispered. "We should let them in... no?"
Greer recalled seeing the werewolf, which might have been a more bizarre thought to have if she were stuck anywhere but this place. It had jumped on the teenage boy before they were all locked away in this place, but it hadn't killed him, or even tried to. She fretted for a brief moment before nodding at Max's question. "Yes. If we leave them out there they'll die." And she didn't want that on her conscience. They could be helpful and having the werewolf around might make them all feel safer. Which, again, was a very strange thought to have.
Max thought - or hoped, it was hard to tell the difference - that if Vex was able to roam around with a werewolf, it had to be safe for the rest of them. He barely knew the man, but he'd been one of them, affected by the fog and now stuck in this place. Max had seen Carson as an enemy but that was before when Max's brain was still fucked up by whatever had infected him in the fog. Maybe opening the doors to another monster was crazy but like Greer he was hoping it'd be more helpful than not. He gave her another anxious little look then led her out of the room, not tempted for a second to let go of her hand. It vaguely reminded him of those funny images of people in horror houses, how they always clung to each other in the funniest ways but damn he understood that urge now. There was nothing worse than being alone in this place.
Greer had no desire to let go of Max either and she clung to his hand as she followed him out of the room. It was still so strange to see Juniper looking so decrepit and dreary. It was hard to believe she and Dev had spent so many days and nights here. Well, not here. This other Point Pleasant. Her chest hurt to think of Dev so she tried to focus on Max and getting to Vex and the werewolf. "Do you know him at all?" she murmured to Max. "Vex, I mean. Do you think he's safe?" While she didn't want anyone stuck out there in that hellish fog, she didn't want to risk anyone else inside by letting someone unstable in.
"We have mutual friends," Max whispered back since Vex had been at the Castell Christmas party where Max first met Greer but that was the extent of his knowledge of the man. "Could be handy to have a guard dog," he added with a little shrug and a wistful smile. He half expected them to have moved on by the time he and Greer made it to the front door and with her help he moved the barricades so they could open up. They must have heard them coming, or had some other reason to stick around, because they were still standing outside when Max opened the door up just a crack. He had the random thought that this was another way this place was fucking with them, that it wasn't really Vex out there but something wearing his skin. Some part of him that was simply very tired of always being afraid though that if that was the case then they'd deal with that later. Right now he thought it could be a good thing having an actual werewolf that didn't seem to flinch at ripping apart one of those smaller monsters out there. "Hey," he said quietly, finding Greer's hand again as he opened the door a little wider. "You want to come in?"
Vex was quiet for a moment. He had chatted with Carson for a bit when they first met but after time went by - how long, he had no idea - he'd stopped talking. They communicated in different ways because it was safer and because Carson didn't have the ability to actually reply to him with words. He looked between the two frightened looking people in the doorway and Carson, then nodded slowly. It might be convenient to sleep in a place that was already boarded up and had other people and judging by the looks on Max and Greer, maybe their presence could be of some comfort to them.
Greer remembered Vex from the Christmas party, but they hadn't done a lot of interacting. If Max was comfortable with him though, Greer could be too. Greer managed a small smile for Vex, but her eyes had shifted to the werewolf. Some people might have tried to rationalize it as a very large dog, but there were too many strange features of the animal for it to be anything one might see in someone's backyard. She held onto Max's hand and stepped back so Vex and the wolf could enter the inn. Greer was recognizing how much this place was changing her. She was generally fearless. Outgoing to a fault sometimes. But now she was scared and wary. One wrong move, one bad decision and she could die. Maybe that was what she deserved but Greer was still clinging to the hope that they would be rescued. "Are you all right?" she asked Vex.
Max didn't know why he wasn't more afraid of the wolf, maybe he was just all out of fear or maybe his fear was stuck on the same high peak and couldn't go any further, it had become status quo. It helped that Vex stood next to it, dwarfed by it despite not being a very small man himself. He scooted to the side when the two entered and started barricading again, not wanting to deal with something else coming in after them.
Vex hummed at the question, glancing at the wolf as if he expected it to answer, then nodded that yeah, they were okay. Filthy as everything else, disillusioned and depressed but otherwise okay. He looked around the lobby of Juniper with a little frown, squinting to take in the state of the place. There was nowhere that was a proper sanctuary from this hell they now inhabited but he supposed it could be worse.
"I guess we should let everyone know you're here," Max muttered. They didn't need anyone stumbling across a werewolf and freaking out about it. "If you're staying that is." He paused what he was doing and gave the wolf an uncertain look. "Can he understand us?"
Vex looked at the wolf again and flexed his jaw a couple of times, as if preparing to speak. "His name's Carson," he muttered. "He understands enough. You're... Max." He pointed at Max, eyes narrowing further before he looked at Greer. "And I don't know your name."
Carson. Carson the Werewolf. Greer's lips twitched because if there was a way to diminish some of the werewolf's threat, it was to name it Carson. Her eyes met Vex's and she stood a touch straighter. "I'm Greer," she said. "I saw you at Zania's party but we never officially met, I guess." She had spent most of the night reading palms, loving on her men and finding an empty space to occupy with Max. By the end of the evening she had been pleasantly drunk so it was possible they had spoken, but if they had, she couldn't remember. "Almost everyone else is here, just... scattered about."
"And we've met," Max muttered at the werewolf, though he still had no idea just how much he understood. "We went to school together," he told Greer and that was such an absurd statement to make that it almost made him laugh. But this was unmistakably that Carson, even if Max hadn't known who he was beforehand, the name and the fact the wolf was missing a leg was pretty evident of that fact. "He was a lot shorter back then," he tacked on as a weak attempt at a humor but despite the amusement, he had found Greer's hand again, lacing their fingers together for that grounding and comforting connection.
Vex just grunted softly as they spoke, looking at Carson again - staring at him as if the two were having a conversation nobody else could hear. "We'll stay a bit," he muttered then. "We need to sleep." That was about the only thing they still needed in this place it seemed, to sleep and fight off or run away from all the things out there that wanted to rip them apart.
Greer lifted a brow at the idea that Max had gone to high school with a werewolf... then it dawned on her, much more slowly than it should have, that werewolves were generally people when they weren't... werewolves. She wondered why Carson was still a beast, if maybe he was stuck that way. How horrible. It made her want to hug him, to be honest. "We can let the others know you're here so they don't panic when they see him," Greer said, gesturing with her and Max's clasped hand toward Carson. "I think there's an empty room upstairs, the last one down the hall on the left."
Max thought about it for a moment then nodded that yes, that room was vacant. "We'll tell everyone you're here," he said. "Save you any possible hassle." At the moment everyone seemed to be locked away in their own rooms though he had no idea if they were sleeping or staring blankly at the overgrown walls. "Don't suppose you had a deck of cards on you or something when we went through," he added with a faintly hopeful smile that faded fast when Vex shook his head. "Oh well. We're just all kind of going crazy from boredom." It wasn't even like they could have sex to pass the time, Max had never thought the idea of fucking would turn his stomach but it did in this place. He gave Greer's hand a little squeeze as Vex and the werewolf started moving again, curiously making their way toward the stairs.
"Be seeing you," Vex muttered, and for now his focus was obviously on getting somewhere safe to shut his eyes for a while. He and Carson both looked exhausted though it was hard to tell if the werewolf's slouch was from tiredness or as normal posture for it. For him.
Greer watched Vex and Carson move away and waited until they were out of earshot. "Everything I've ever known about werewolves is that they're... predatory, right? How strange that he hasn't attacked anyone here. It's like he's just a trained dog, following his human." She wasn't going to complain about that in the least, but it was still a bit fascinating. "You said you went to high school with him? Was he... you know... afflicted back then too?" Greer vaguely remembered hearing about some attacks in town on the full moon... animal attacks. Had those been werewolf attacks every time? Carson? Someone else? If he existed then surely there had to be others.
"Maybe," Max said and frowned as he thought about it. "Probably not though, I think he was in Afghanistan or some shit, hard to hide that kind of thing on active duty. Maybe it's all backwards here, maybe he'll turn into a human for a night sometime and we can ask him." He doubted it, there didn't seem to be much here that even resembled the sun or moon so it really didn't feel like time meant much. "Let's go tell the others," he sighed, though he wasn't exactly dying to talk to them. Maybe they could just tell Ty and let him deal with the rest; there were some certified assholes stuck in this hell with them, that was for sure.
Greer's frown deepened. It didn't sound as though Carson had had a very easy life. And now he was here, stuck in that form? Again, the urge to go find and hug him was strong. Since she couldn't do that, she brought Max's hand up to her cheek to nuzzle for a moment before nodding. "All right. Hopefully no one will panic. I can probably talk to the women, if you want." Greer had found that one or two of them were a bit... high maintenance and not at all pleasant to be around. But she felt like she could handle them all right... probably better than Max could, or would want to.
"That means I get to talk to Archer?" Max snorted. "No thanks." It was no secret he didn't like the guy, what little he'd seen of him made his hackles go up and he knew he wasn't alone in that. "I'll get the cop to talk to most of them, how 'bout that? He's got a good handle on the yuppies." The Overlook gang looked down on people like Max and Greer and Max wasn't so convinced that sharing this horrible fate had really erased that pompous attitude. He got along best with Greer and there were a few others there he liked, two more now that Vex and the wolf had shown up. "I think he's in his room, wanna talk to him first?"
Greer laughed softly. "Okay, we'll talk to Ty instead." And then leave it at that. It probably wasn't fair to dump everything on one person and expect him to take care of things, but Ty had taken a bit of an authoritative stance when they all got to Juniper, so she hoped he wouldn't mind. "When we're done I should probably try to get some sleep. It's hard to really get any rest in this place." Maybe Max would lay with her for a while.
Max was fine with talking to a few more people, just as long as he didn't need to deal with the ones he disliked. Granted that still left Ty with most of them but it could be worse - it could be all of them. "Come sleep in my room," he said, thinking along the same path as Greer was; there might not be much to do here but sleep but he still found it hard to do that, so sure that something would slip into the house while he was out, either one of those giant tentacles or something tiny and horrific. At this point he wasn't really sure which would be worse. A giant monster would likely crush him fast but something small could slither into his mouth or worse. It felt comforting to sleep with someone else around and since Greer had come to him again he wasn't overly eager for her to leave his side. "
Greer was thankful that he had offered, although she might have just helped herself to his bed regardless. She needed the company, and the comfort and she knew Max better than the others. She trusted him. "I think that would be nice... or as nice as it can be in this place." Greer couldn't worry about the monsters. If she did, she would never sleep. Whatever happened would happen and she didn't think any of them really had any choice in the matter anymore.