| Kernels of Wisdom |
| Summary: | Clyde commences work on Greer's apartment. There is soda, and popcorn, and a surprise Lillie. |
| Date: | July 17, 1942 |
| Related: | None |
| Players: |
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..Greer's progress on the theater has been very slow. She's brushed off why, because she can't exactly tell people she had to report to her superiors as a secret government agent. She was out of town for a few weeks, but now she's back, and had word sent to Clyde that she was ready for his family to begin their work on the upstairs of the Continental.
The raven-haired woman has been putting some finishing touches on the theater lobby, currently straightening the still empty coming soon frames for posters. She's wearing a short-sleeved blouse with high-waisted shorts which shows so much leg it's positively scandalous, but it's July, in Tennessee, and air conditioning hasn't been invented yet. Her feet are bare as she pads around the closed business.
By family, it seems it's just Clyde for now. He can't justify pilling everyone from paying jobs for free movies and popcorn. He can justify a few hours a week though, himself. Which is what he's going to do. The mountain man is in a worn shirt, not quite tread bare, but close and jeans. It may not give him much protection from the elements, but it shows off his physic well. There's a knock on the door and then Clyde opens it, "Greer?" He sounds gruff as usual. Before stepping all the way in, he flicks the butt of his smoke on the ground and crushes it.
"Come in, Clyde!" Greer calls out, without looking towards the door. Because who else would it be? She finally seems satisfied that the frame is straight after going up on tiptoe for a final adjustment. "Sorry I've been out of touch for a bit. I had to go pay a friend a visit out of town. How have things been in Higsi?" Her red-painted smile is warm and her green eyes glitter like the movie star she should have been.
Clyde grunts, "Weird." But Higsi seems to be always weird now. "Some vandal's running around trashin' places." There's a warning to be careful in there, somewhere. He lifts his hand to scratch at his chin, the famous curls onto of his head have been trimmed, but that just makes them ignore gravity more. "Good visit?" He eyes the frame but then turns away to look at what else has been done. Her legs are noted and appreciated, but he doesn't ogle. They need the job, even if it's just popcorn. Ethel will like popcorn. Maybe he can get some to bring home tonight.
"Dull, but necessary," Greer replies. She moves to the concession stand and pulls a pair of bottled Coca-a-Colas from an icebox. She uses an opener mounted on the cold chest to pop the tops off, and hands one to the man. "Did you get a haircut?" she asks, one brow arching upwards.
Clyde's head tilts just slightly, making the curls flail for a moment before he takes the offered cola, "Thanks." The bottle is lifted to his lips and he takes a long drink, he worked earlier today. Anything in his belly is appreciated. "Yeah, Ethel said I was looking like a sheep…don't think this is none better though."
That gets a merry chuckle from Greer. "Well, as long as she doesn't make it any shorter. The longer hair suits you," she notes. She gestures to the door leading upstairs. "What were you going to work on today?" she asks, as she unlocks it and climbs the steps with cautious feet. The steps aren't carpeted yet and she has no desire for splinters in her soles.
Clyde's nose wrinkles and he shrugs. "It's cooler." So that's a bonus. Another sip and he follows her up, "I need ta reevaluate, I think. See what materials." Her hesitant steps are noticed, "I can sand the steps if ya want…"
"Is that necessary to have carpet put on them? I want to have carpet. It would be dreadful if I was stomping up and down the stairs in heels and disturbing movie watchers," Greer explains. She unlocks the door for the apartment at the end of the small hall at the top of the stairs, past the projection booth, and gestures him inside.
Clyde's head shakes, "No, it aint. I just thought fer now so ya don't get splinters." He doesn't push it though. Dark eyes follow the woman, but do look over to the fancy movie machine room. So high tech! Into the apartment, "How soon ya wanting to be moved in?"
"You're already doing much more than you should, Clyde," Greer states simply. "As for moving in, as soon as possible. Without straining you or your family. I know the paying jobs need to take precedence for you. I'm all right with that. I'll hopefully be opening the theater proper soon, and then I can add some cash to the perks." She's put a single chair of the desk variety in the area, with an end table set in front of it bearing a novel, Agatha Christie's 'Evil Under the Sun'. She's likely been up here relaxing from time to time.
It's what he does, more than he should. Clyde doesn't know any other way, it seems. He grunts, moving past her to eyes the room from the middle. He's also testing the floor as he goes, making sure there's no repairs to that first. No looking at her, he asks, "Ya a reader?"
Greer settles herself with uncommon grace in the chair, crossing her legs, and holding her soda bottle in a casual grip. "Positively voracious," she admits with a smirk. "In Hollywood, trying to break into acting is very much a great deal of waiting around for the telephone to ring." The floor seems sound at least, no repairs needed there.
Clyde nods, it's hard to tell if that was just a question, or perhaps he is too? He doesn't look it. He turns to go check on the window that he put in earlier. No leaks! "Ya should get one of yer movies ta show everyone. Bet that would pack this place out…" Another scratch to his chin and he seems pleased with how the room held up. No repairs to make before the repairs!
"Sadly, I didn't make it into any movies. Well one, but it never got finished," Greer notes. "The war interrupted it." Not true, she interrupted it by selling the mafia producer out to the feds. "But there are plenty of films coming out that I hope will pack the place." She sips her soda. "I'm half pondering seeing if I can do a few singing sets over at the Gallows for some funds in the meantime."
Clyde frowns, glancing back to her. He can't fathom how she wasn't in all the movies, looking like she does. "Then ya should do a readin' er somethin'." He pauses, looking back at her in some surprise, "The gallows ain't really a singin' joint. Might do better with the church crowd." He thinks about something, "If ya want someone ta play with ya, Jesse's got the skill fer music." He left a few tools here, as he's not building anything anywhere else currently. So now he moves to start laying out the stuff to start on one of her walls.
"The church crowd would stone me before I got ten feet inside," Greer quips. She'd probably go in there in this outfit, just to get under their skin. "I'm a pariah, remember? Positively scandalous!" She chuckles and sets her bare feet on the end table, crossed at the ankles. "I think the fellas at the Gallows wouldn't mind a bit of singing if there was enough leg to look at."
Clyde shrugs as he works, "They let Jesse play fer them." Maybe that's a different sin though. Dark eyes glance over at her, and those legs before he just responds, "They won’t mind, but I doubt Frank could afford ta pay ya. He's barely scrapping enough ta pay fer the moonshine he gets from us."
"Maybe he could charge admission on performance nights? I could get some of it, and he could pocket the rest? Might benefit us both," Greer posits with a pensive look on her face. She has that faraway look that earns money on big screens, the unattainable beauty, the dark vixen.
Clyde just shrugs, he's not going to make any deals for the crabby old man. He focuses on the wall, he can't help the actress, beyond with what he's doing currently. Surprisingly, he's a careful builder, measure twice, curt once. Like perhaps he trained in it at some point in his life. Surely not here in Higsi though.
Greer plucks up her book, opens to the dogeared page, and begins to read, only looking up to glance at Clyde's progress now and then. Or perhaps Clyde's backside. Who knows? "If you'd like, I can get the popcorn machine going, so you can bring some home with you later?" she offers.
The hammer raises and then pauses as he looks over his shoulder at the starlet. "That'd be swell. They're like that." Always what the family wants, does this man like anything himself? It's warm enough that Clyde starts to work up a slight sweat. To combat that he stands. moving over to the window to open it.
"I'll go down and crank it up. It needs a good test run, and I'm feeling a little peckish myself. Popcorn will do the trick just fine." Greer sets her book down, and gets up, to head downstairs and get the shiny new popcorn machine running.
Ah, the Higsi Continental… Lillie has passed it by a few times, usually on errands, and it is at this particular time that she can actually stop and have a brief glance! It's been awhile since she has darkened the door of any theatre in general so curiosity shall hopefully NOT kill the Empath. She can tell from the get-go that the place isn't quite open for business yet.. but knowing there to be Walkers afoot working on it part-time, it wouldn't hurt to at least look from the outside, right? Places like this are good for a town like this during the wartime drudgery.
Padding along beneath an umbrella, Lillie realizes — and oh, what a curious little cat she is — that the place is…. open. AS in, people inside; work being done. Her sense follows her like an angry hornet, which is another reason to get out of the main streets for a bit. Who would it hurt, for her to peek in…? So just as a one Greer Butler is fixing to get the machine poppin', a slight young woman peeeeeeerrs slowly into the main doors of the establishment, curiosity just emanating from her! Gotta love her timing.
Greer turns to grab a couple of popcorn containers from under the counter of the concession stand, and she gives Lillie a perfectly crimson, painted smile. "Hello there. Are you with the Walker construction crew?" she asks.
Hammering can be heard from upstairs.
SHIT—
The quick glance-and-duck maneuver failed and the Irish woman finds herself faced with a woman who is totally rocking her ensemble. Lillie blinks hard and startles, and one with lesser manners would deign to flee. Immediately her lips pull into a smile, albeit a sheepish one; her cheekbones flush a tad. The sense, ravenous for fresh meat and aglow at the proximity of the starlet, reaches forth powerfully and unseen toward Greer. Perfect curiosity meets Lillie's own and that is what makes it harder to bow out. Big eyes blink once, twice at the question as the hammer blows fall upstairs. "I am sorry—" She starts in a lilting, accented voice. "I couldn't help but peek in here. You wouldn't want me on any construction crew, but I do know of Walkers." She tilts her head slightly. "I can leave.. pardon my intrusion, miss."
"Well any friend of Clyde's and all that jazz," Greer quips. "He's the only one here right now, did you want to speak with him?" Unfailingly polite, it seems, as the woman hands a small bag of freshly popped popcorn towards Lillie. "He's about to take a break for a snack I think." She smiles and gestures towards the open door to the stairs before heading that way.
Hammer hammer hammer, thump. Swear. "God damn it!" It's hard to say what he did, But Clyde is pacing , fist clenched and frowning rather angrily at the wall he was working on. Serves him right for letting his mind drift to all the other issues that have fallen into the Walkers' collective laps. Hearing footsteps, he wipes his hand, the small cut already healed, but still throbbing with each heartbeat. The Alpha turns to what he assumes is Greer, "I can get this all up, but yer gonna need ta buy some more supplies."
Greer steps back in, arching a brow on her way up at the cursing, before she moves to hand Clyde a small bag of popcorn. "For now. I'll get you a big bag when you're heading out for the family, it'll stay fresher and warmer in the machine." She makes a small sound at the announcement of needing more supplies. "If you can just jot down what I need to get, I can do so." She pops some fluffy kernels from her own bag into her mouth and chews, somehow not marring her lipstick in the process. "And you have a guest."
The Empath is not, by nature, a jealous sort.. but she suddenly feels all-the-more aware of how… ah, innocuous she herself looks in comparison to Greer. Like she parked her cloud somewhere and poked her head in. Then Greer goes and hands her a treat that she hasn't had in so very, very long and she can't help but flush anew with pleasure. Doe eyes flit up to look upon Greer's face briefly. "I do indeed know Clyde," She offers affectionately, and feels a jab of worry. She doesn't want him to think she's checking up on him, which is entirely not the case. Suddenly she becomes completely aware of who is behind the hammer-blows upstairs and her features color all-the-more. Her sense is potent and she can feel the flush of anger upstairs. Lillie suddenly looks toward the ceiling, heart throbbing away.
Back to Greer, upon whom she fixes a sweet smile. "Might you be Greer Butler, the proprietress?" She asks gently, hoping the alpha is okay up there.
"I am," Greer admits, and beckons the girl upstairs after her. She steps back into the small apartment, arching a brow on her way up at the cursing, before she moves to hand Clyde a small bag of popcorn. "For now. I'll get you a big bag when you're heading out for the family, it'll stay fresher and warmer in the machine." She makes a small sound at the announcement of needing more supplies. "If you can just jot down what I need to get, I can do so." She pops some fluffy kernels from her own bag into her mouth and chews, somehow not marring her lipstick in the process. "And you have a guest."
Clyde's scowling, but that's his natural face as he takes the bag with a nod about the popcorn and list. Confusion rolls off the alpha, who in the world could be here for him? And a flash of worry, his clan has not had the best of luck with much of anything as of late. "Who?" Clyde doesn't really like surprises.
Gah.. okay, so no quick getaway. Lillie is polite to a fault and when Greer beckons her to follow, the Empath takes a quiet step into the room-at-large and cannot help but follow along. She truly does want to know what the place is all about — or what it will become — and she pauses again at the bottom of the stairs, allowing her sense to flit and flutter around as it is so wont to do in old buildings such as this. Her lashes flutter closed for all of a couple of seconds as she simply… enjoys the age of the building. That and the popcorn is such a rare treat. No lipstick to worry about here, but she will still be considerate and not pour the whole damn bag into her mouth as she would do were she home alone.
Near-soundlessly she ascends the stares, and her gentle self peers into the room where Clyde broods. Her lips pull into a shy smile. "Just me. Miss Butler lured me with food, wild creature that I am."
"Goodness, Clyde, that scowl. Would it kill you to smile once in a while?" Greer teases as she returns to her perch on the sole chair in the apartment. The only other furnishing is an end table she's using as a footrest. "I am, indeed, a horrible temptress. If I was a good temptress, I'd still be in Hollywood," she jests.
Clyde's scowl does soften when he sees Lillie, but come snack up like armor when Greer mentions it. "Maybe." Any comments about Greer's temptress-ness will get him into trouble, possibly with both ladies, so he wisely shuts his mouth. He has a bag of his own popcorn, and hasn't had lunch so he fills his mouth with the treat. So much for manners.
Worry not Clyde, Lillie has manners enough to make up for yours! And she cannot fault him for indulging; again, were she alone… she wouldn't look dissimilar. Her sense latches onto the Alpha next, feeding her that frustration and precisely what a scowl feels like in one's mind and heart. It's not an easy thing to deal with and Lillie's expression knits with worry. She pads over toward the wild-haired man and before he crams another fistful of popcorn into his gob she will press a kiss to the corner of his mouth, worrying naught about reputation… she is worried but will not put him in a spot. She meanwhile picks up the kernels one by one with deft fingers, turning to look upon the starlet as she reclines. There is nothing in the man's emotions to make the Empath feel too awkward, though she still appears a bit anxious.
"I will not linger long, as there is work to be done. I cannot wait to see my first movie here." Lillie smiles again, practically glowing, as she moves toward a window.
Greer watches the movements and little kiss with an amused expression. Seems the Walker boy has managed to make nice with a city girl after all. "Hopefully I'll be open soon. The theater itself is ready, I just had to go out of town for a bit. I'm hoping this coming weekend I can have the grand opening, if that's enough time for the shine to be ready, Clyde?" she asks the man with the glorious hair.
Clyde tenses when Lillie approaches, but can't back away without causing more a scene. Her reputation is going to go to pot if she's not careful. There's a strange frown, yet pleased look ion his face though, he's not upset at the kiss itself. He watches Lillie at the window before his head snaps back to Greer, "Sure. Just let me know how much yer wantin'."
"I shall look forward to it," Lillie offers kindly to Greer. She knows a couple of dames whom she could bring out for the excitement of a premiere, though the Irish girl might need a straight drink or two in order to manage Tilda and Josie together. Her lips curl into a thoughtful smile as the idea yet appeals to her… though granted, Tilda is likely one of the gossips who has Greer on a spit for her risque attire! Lillie will fix her, that Tilda.
Does Lillie care about reputation? Again, obviously not.. she looks thoughtful, mostly relaxed.. though still a bit anxious for having waltzed into a place that isn't open for business yet. "Welcome back to Higsi, Miss Butler. It is nice to meet you, you do look lovely. You brought Hollywood with you." Lillie's smile is earnest, she genuinely means it without judgement.. comes from being a city girl, herself. She watches Clyde thoughtfully, still trying to surmise if he is alright.. for he does seem tense. She finishes her popcorn, and bunches up the bag into her pocket. "I shall see who else I can drum up for the grand opening." The Empath offers as she stands thoughtfully at the top of the stairs.
Greer ponders for a moment. "Well, the theater seats 100. I dare say I should have enough on hand for drinks for that many to have one a piece? That should balance out the teetotalers with the lushes and the drinkers should be able to have two small glasses a piece." She pops some kernels in her mouth and chews with a grin, winking to Clyde and making a gesture that his lady is quite a catch. She chuckles at Lillie, "You're too kind. And I hope what little slice of tinsel town I have brought, brings some joy to the town."
Greer gets more glowering. Don't wink at him, he knows Lillie's an angel and he don't deserve her none! "I'll bring the shine Thursday then." Wrinkled nose and he finished the last handful of popcorn before turning to work on the wall more. Over his shoulder though, "Ya need ta be walked home, Lillie?"
The Empath blushes, as she feels her sense — cloying, pressing, curious — rioting around the room. By now it is outright digging for something, anything, to feed her. What Lillie must do in so old a building is depart, and return once that damnable part of her strange brain settles down. That and the hour grows late, the weather worse. "Joy is necessary." She says, her lilting voice a caress. "Thank you for that, miss."
Her green eyes flit to the Walker Alpha and the look she gives him is strictly for him alone, but luckily she's not sappy about it. "Do not rush on my account.. I will drop by the Piggly Wiggly before it closes and meet you then, take your time." She insists.
A look between the two as her sense presses.. presses… and she bows her head once. "Keep talking business, I'll be off." She chimes, before beginning her descent.
Greer watches the young woman go and then she looks at Clyde with a devilish grin. "Why Clyde Walker, I never figured you to go for such a slice of innocence as that! I thought you were the town bad boy?" The lilting tone is teasing, even as she finishes off her bottled soda with a mirthful expression.
"I ain't nothin'." Going for her? or the town bad boy? Clyde doesn't clarify. "She'll get tired of me soon enough n' move onta someone better." Is he worried for that, or hopefully. One of them should have a happy ending, right? And Clyde can't give anyone one of those, well….yes he can, but that's not the kind of happy ending he means. He moves over to finish up the little bit he has left on the wall.
"You really have no idea how appealing you are to all the jaded young things of Higsi, do you?" Greer asks, curiously. "That is positively adorable. That girl is completely twitterpated, just the way she looks at you alone!" She gets up from her chair with a chuckle. "I'll get your popcorn ready, lady killer," she quips as she sashays to the stairs.
Clyde glances over his shoulder at Greer, a mixture of annoyance and disbelief, "I ain't adorable." He's a fierce alpha werewolf, damn it! The wall is snarled at as he finishes up. He'll be a fierce werewolf stalking home….carrying popcorn.