Priorities

[Clarke Griffin]

“What do you mean?” Clarke asked confused. She had the feeling there was more to it than the first glance showed. What the guy was selling? What was he selling? Ideology over a fictional city? She was not in know of anything according Arkadia. She couldn’t help them, but it was clear it was no longer her place to do so. The only thing she could do, was to get Murphy to safety. They wouldn’t lock him up. And if they tried, she could try and use something for his advantage. She was too far gone for too long already.

“Or who you’re not locked up with.” Clarke had been no stranger to isolation now. She was in isolation on the Ark, for treason. It was no different in Polis. She was lucky she had been locked up with Murphy now, but before that it was Clarke and her room and nobody else. She knew isolation all too well now. It could make someone go mad. At least it was better on the Ark. Down here everything was different. “It was simpler on the Ark, I think. There we knew exactly what was meant to happen. We were locked up and we knew at 18 we’d get reviewed and floated in the end. Down here it’s so… unpredictable. And not even pretty. When I was isolated in the tower, I could watch the city, but I was missing the stars and planets and supernovae and blackholes and globule and asteroids. Even the waste floating around. Or earth. Down here… it’s death all around you, but you don’t know what expects you. Up there it was floating, down here it might be hours of torture. I’d love to be back in space, to be in isolation to get floated. And I guess being locked up with you is quite nice actually. You’re not a bad cell mate.”

John Murphy

[John Murphy]

"Jaha's got big ideas." Murphy considered if he should try to explain about A.L.I.E., as much as he knew at least. Along with the link to the so-called sacred symbol. The same one the girl Clarke had been so distraught over had on the back of her neck. He wondered how much Clarke knew of what Titus had extracted, she hadn't seemed to know what it was at all. He decided it was likely a bad idea to bring up the dead girl right now, midway through their escape, but the whole event seemed to tie in with Jaha and his new friend, if only the symbol itself. Murphy's captor had explicitly wanted to know more about the chip due to its imprinted image. "He's got himself a hobby. He's a preacher man now..." 

Clarke had a point. Being stuck with somebody you couldn't bare, or worse, a threat was bad enough. But being trapped alone was no fun either. Particularly if the confinement was extended... hours, days, months, alone. Perhaps the worst scenario was being locked up with only yourself. Such a prison could drive you to the point of desperation, he knew that much. Clarke's recollection of life on the Ark had Murphy thinking back to his own past up there. Sure, they'd both ended up in the Sky Box but their lives had been entirely different, just as they still were in so many ways. Even so, they had both faced death down here, just as Clarke said, and both had survived so far. Maybe he couldn't permanently dismiss the differences between them, their experiences, but for now perhaps they had faded. Their goal aligned; to break free and to live. "Well sure, I'm a joy to be around." He offered the retort with gentle sarcasm, along with a faint smile. "But let's make sure we get out anyway." 

Tag: Clarke Griffin

[Clarke Griffin]

“A preacher?” She didn’t even want to know what he was preaching now. The weird things he had said and done before he left, were speaking for themselves. Hell, he was even locked up. And she had another reason why she didn’t want to know. She had her experiences with a preacher now. That preacher had done some unspeakable things. “Forgive me if I’m not too sold on the idea of him, his preaching and whatever he preaches. I’m kind of done with preachers. I guess you know why. How did Titus get his hands on you anyway?” It was a bit curious to her. He said Murphy was stealing something, perhaps, but she didn’t know how much she could trust him and if he did, well there were worse things than to steal. To survive stealing was necessary. 

“We will get out.” Clarke assured him. They were already in the tunnels. Ahead of them she could already see a faint light, the end of it. It was not too close, but to focus a gaze and the end was always helpful. “Lets get a wriggle on. We need to be there by sunrise.” And if they weren’t it would get a lot harder. Otherwise they might get killed. But what if they didn’t make it? Maybe she could bring him to Niylah. Or to the bunker in which she stayed for a while. But she wanted him safe, that meant she would have to try for Arkadia first. “Murphy… if they lock me up… try to not get yourself locked up, please?”

John Murphy

[John Murphy]

"Good. You're better off as far away as you can get from him and anything he has to offer. He should have stayed put on his magical island... " Even if he had escaped the island with Jaha and the others and had been glad to leave it. An escape for him at least, but a journey and a purpose for Jaha who had been on his way back to 'his people'. Clarke's question brought his attention back to the grounders and along with it, the peril of their current situation. Not that he had forgotten. Nor the torture Titus had inflicted in his quest for answers. "His guards or whatever they were grabbed me out on the road, brought me back here and he got to work." His wounds were still fresh, body aching from his capture, but whether it was a blessing or not, it hadn't been the worst he'd been through. 

"I was stealing but only from people who'd have done the same to me. Food mostly... " He trailed off, his comments merely granting a little explanation rather than any defense, considering he figured he had absolutely no need to defend his actions. It was survival and he was still here. "He seemed more interested in you than me." As Clarke spoke up about moving faster, he picked up his already quick pace, though he almost slowed again as she continued. Instead, he gave a light tug on her sleeve as if to urge her along too. "Believe me, I've got no plans for that. How about we just help keep each other out of a cell? Or a grave."

Tag: Clarke Griffin

[Clarke Griffin]

“You don’t have to explain yourself.” Clarke began. She knew now how hard survival was, she would not have been beyond stealing had she been in his position, not even out there alone. She would have taken food as well, had she needed it, so she would not judge him for surviving. She would never again judge someone for merely ensuring their own survival. He was good at that, survival. He had been good at that when she vilified him in her mind and he still was fighting for survival. Maybe their people needed him. They needed his survival skills to navigate them through these times.

“You’re right, he was. He saw me as a threat to Lexa… Funny how he turned out the one to kill her, though he will no doubt frame it on one of us.” That would sound like them, like what has been established in Polis. A lot of backstabbing and scheming was going on, the attempt to dethrone someone chosen by… technology it would seem. She didn’t care to watch how it was done. All she knew it, that it was potentially dangerous. Both sides were.

“I am for that Murphy. No cell or death for either of us.” Clarke kept shooting him glances. He had survived, that rang insider her more than anything else. Both of them were removed from Arkadia for so long, but under different circumstances. They both survived and even though Murphy and no reason to be kind towards the Grounders, she never heard a bit of hatred from him. He seemed… to be far ahead of a lot of people in a way she couldn’t voice. Voice… They had to raise their voice. With the thing in Lexa being an AI and with Titus there had to be hope for her people. “And we’ll keep the others out of cells and out of graves. I have an idea. I can’t believe everyone is joining into this in Arkadia. If we feed the doubt we can stop this and save our friends.”

John Murphy