ARCHIVED

               @painworn   /

          eyes narrow on him as he comes stumbling out of the woods near her cave, lips pressing firm together as she watches. he’s from the sky, that much she can tell by the way he walks, no matter how weathered he looks from his time on the ground. from where she’s standing, klark can see dried blood caking the side of his face, and she wonders idly what happened. gaze shifts, flickering to where he’s heading, finally clearing her throat to announce her presence.   “careful of the trap,”   she warns him, motioning to the bear trap that she had been cleaning after her last catch. the last thing she needed was for him to bleed out on her land because he wasn’t paying attention.

           “i’m going to shove a ghost hand up your a—”   her word is abruptly cut off when she catches a glance of the mentioned missing piece, shoved into the other end of the couch. how he had managed to reach all the way down there without her knowing, clarke wasn’t sure. but she has absolutely no problem with knocking every single piece on the board over as she reaches for it; effectively ruining their game. wide blue eyes look down at the board, innocent smile curling her lips as she looks back to him.   “oops?”   yeah, okay. that wasn’t sincere at all. and they both knew it.   “i think that means we both lose. you because you’re a big cheater.”   words are a grumble, grabbing her missing queen to toss it at his forehead lightly, not wanting to injure him.

John Murphy has appeared! What to do?

Throw salt

Play dead

Make them mine

          “ buy you a drink? ” murphy slides up beside the woman at the bar easily, taking a seat on the stool beside her. he’d seen her from across the room as she walked in and couldn’t help but stare. sure, all she had to do was shoo him away and he’d leave her alone, he wasn’t a creep after all, but maybe she’d at least indulge him for a minute or two while she had a drink. “ bartender’s pretty good, can make anything you ask. ”

               @painworn   /   didn’t ask for this, but.. oops.

           all in all, it had been a good day. they’d spent the early part of the morning getting the structure of their cabin built, having finally decided to simply build them one together. the plan was to have two separate rooms to have their privacy, but together for security. not that anyone had bothered them where they had hidden away in their own little world, but it was better safe than sorry. and there was safety in numbers, even if it was only two.   the day had turned hot, and work was edging on the point of giving themselves a heat stroke, so they’d moved on to simpler things. collecting herbs, berries, and nuts. little things they could snack on during the day when they were trying to save the meat they’d caught. but in the end, even that had been too hot, and they’d returned to their little shelter that was nothing but a tent that clarke had thought to swipe when she’d left the dropship. it wasn’t much, but it was cool inside, and that was what they needed in the moment. when she’s settled on the bedroll next to him, clarke licks her lips and starts to grumble towards him.   “i thought winter was supposed to be coming.”

          “ that’s not what i said. ” he sighs, pushing a hand through his hair, arms going across his chest out of defense. being on the ring hadn’t exactly been smooth sailing for any of them. it was a lot to get used to. for the majority of them, they’d been here before. but for emori and echo, this was all new to them. and well -- he and echo didn’t exactly have a spotless past with each other. he still harbored conflicting feelings about her. but there really wasn’t much he could do about that up there besides go elsewhere for a little while. but here they were, a back and forth between them because words don’t always get interpreted correctly. “ i said i didn’t know. and i’m not lying. i don’t know if i can ever forgive you. you stabbed my sister and pushed her off a cliff, echo... ”

          “it’s not even a very good secret.”   alright, maybe it was. clarke figures that in the right hands, the secret could be devastating. after all, the ark was alive only because of the order that the council kept. keeping secrets, deciding what happened where and with who, that was what they did. but sometimes… sometimes, the people needed a choice. clarke agreed with her dad about that. but the way everything had happened? she sighs, shaking the thoughts from her mind once again. there’s no point in getting lost to them. she had spent too many hours going over everything that had happened in her mind. it would only drive her insane. a quiet chuckle leaves her lips as she focuses back on his voice, eyes rolling as she clears her throat.   “sleepwalking? really? do you think they’d buy that?”   clarke didn’t. but that was her personal opinion. from what she had seen, most of the guards were fairly observant. smart. that didn’t mean there wasn’t a rather… slow one. it all just depends.   “i’m serious, john. i don’t want you getting in trouble sneaking out to talk to me. or steal me paper. i appreciate it, i really do, but it’s not worth you getting in trouble.”   clarke would be very upset if the boy got in trouble over her, not that she’s sure she would even know. after all, he could just decide to stop visiting one day.

           “murph, nah, c’mon—”   head tips with a wrinkle of her nose, lips pursing together as she gives up on finishing the sketch that she was working on. she’d come back to it later. for now, it gets placed to the side and her eyes once more find him.   “would it just be you and me celebrating? cause i don’t feel like being around a big group right now.”   normally, clarke wouldn’t have any problem with getting together with their friends and causing some trouble. but it had been a quiet day, and she wanted to round it out with a quiet evening. if it was just dinner and drinks with murphy, she could handle that. hell, that was a nice relaxing way to end the day  —  normally. but if he wanted something more elaborate…   “we could order in. i’ve got some wine in the fridge. beer, too, if that’s what you’re feeling.”   she usually kept an assortment of different alcohols on hand, given that their group of friends drank such different thing on varying occasions.

          the noise at the door barely registers in clarke’s mind, eyes closing as she sinks into the couch. her body longed for rest, exhausted to the point where she was afraid she might pass out. the blonde knew that whenever she actually let herself sleep for longer than an hour at a time, she was going to be out for a while. it’s only murphy’s voice that makes her head snap up, lips pursing at his words.   “what do you mean stuck—”   oh no. head shakes as she forces herself up, moving towards the door to see what the hell was going on. nose wrinkles at the way it’s refusing to move, groan vibrating up her throat.   “it can’t be stuck.”   clarke couldn’t be locked inside. she simply couldn’t. feet step up next to the other, grabbing hold of the handle to give a tug as well.   “i thought you had this thing propped open!”   eyes flicker to murphy, panic settling in her chest at the idea that they were stuck in the lighthouse. together. for an undetermined amount of time.