From the Beginning

[Nina Eaton]

Things were about to change. Not only for Nina, but for everyone else on the Ark as well. The idea of sending all one hundred of the delinquents down to Earth to see if it was inhabitable was exciting. It was also scary but she attempted to focus on the exciting aspect of the adventure she was about to have. Concern was not something she had when it came to going down to Earth. She knew she should, given that she could die from immediate radiation poisoning. But in a sense, she found that to be a better death than suffocating on the Ark. Nina had never been privy to that sort of information, but little things had continued to add up. Something was wrong and that was why they were choosing now to send the prisoners to the ground. Not only would it free up oxygen, but it would test to see if the Earth was survivable. They were killing two birds with one stone and no one really cared. Nina knew that the kids in the Sky Box were considered expendable. No one had received immunity from Jaha upon their eighteenth birthday for as long as she could remember. She was sure it happened but no one really spoke about it. 

Nina had volunteered to go down to Earth with the delinquents. There had been no thinking about it. She had not weighed the pros and cons. She had simply gone to her Commanding Officer and told him that she wanted to go. She knew she had to convince him. Why would he send a member of the Guard down to Earth only to die? No one was saying it but no one really thought the Earth was survivable yet. These kids were being sent there to die. Nina was able to convince him, claiming that if it was survivable then they would need someone older and someone with authority. They would need to be able to create a society before the rest of the people from the Ark came down. Otherwise, they would all die from all of the chaos that they would create. So that was how Nina managed to get a spot on that drop ship with the rest of the others. Nina hadn't even bothered telling her father, knowing full well that he probably wouldn't even care. If he had done nothing to save his wife, then he sure as hell would do nothing to save his daughter.

The chatter on the dropship was distracting. Everyone was wondering what was going on, but Nina knew. Some people were able to figure out what was going on by using the clues around them, but there were still some kids who weren't smart enough to figure it out for themselves. The message from the Chancellor played and everyone gave their own commentary while Jaha spoke. Nina paid no attention to the video because she didn't care, but already knew what it would say. It seemed that the council was trying to give the delinquents a purpose, trying to drill something into their minds before they were unleashed on the world. But Nina knew better. She knew that more than half of these kids didn't give two shits what happened to the remaining people on the Ark, and Nina was almost able to consider herself one of them. Sure, she had been in the guard but she knew the system was messed up. She knew that people being killed for stealing food for their children was wrong. She just hoped she didn't have to deal with anything like that on Earth.

They crashed and landed. It wasn't until the machine hum stopped that people began to unbuckle their seatbelts. Nina followed suit and went down the ladder with the rest of the kids that had been on the same level as her. When she got down the large door was already open and kids were sprinting outside, enjoying the fresh air and freedom. Nina took a small moment to close her eyes and tilt her head back, allowing the sun to shine on her skin for the first time ever. Once her little moment was over, she walked over to a group of kids that were huddling around something. She wondered what it was but realized it was a map when she got closer. Why would they need a map? No one had really told her anything other than to make sure someone contacted the Ark once they landed. But she wasn't really thinking about that. She was thinking about what they were going to do now.

Walking up next to a boy with goggles on his head, Nina glanced over at him before returning her gaze to the map. "What's going on?" She asked. She tried to listen in on their conversation but wasn't having much luck, given their hushed voices. Nina was growing a little impatient already. Staying still was not one of her strong suits, even though it had been something she was forced to control during her training at the Academy. But now she had no one to chastise her so she was going to be as impatient and antsy as she wanted.


@jasper420

[Deleted]

Earth was amazing. Jasper hadn't seen much of it yet, but the sun on his skin felt good, and smell of Earth and foliage around him gave Jasper a happy, hopeful feeling. The dirt under his feet had a nice give to it, unlike the riged metal on the Ark. He'd spent more than a year in the Skybox, a good portion of it separated from his best friend because apparently having fun was a crime in the Skybox too. Now he was free. He had Monty back. There was a big world right in front of him, and he wanted to explore it. Part of why he'd gotten in trouble on the Ark in the first place was because the Ark was too small for Jasper Jordan.

Of course, it helped Jasper's mood significantly that they hadn't all melted as soon as the door to the dropship opened. And there were pretty girls (and good looking guys, for that matter) and probably private places to go with them. And even if Jasper's first attempt to flirt with Clarke (he'd leaned her name since the initial flirt) had wound up turning out badly and he'd narrowly avoided a scuffle thanks to that Murphy boy, he'd somehow inserted himself back into her conversations with Finn, huddled around a map.

Someone stepped up beside him and spoke, and without looking up, Jasper said, "The geniuses in charge dropped us on the wrong mountain. We should be there." He pointed at where Clarke had said Mount Weather was. "But we're here," he added, pointing at their current location before lookingup at the girl next to him. He blinked at her, his gaze darting down her body and back up. She was pretty. Very pretty. "Oh, hello," he said, putting on his most charming smile and holding out his hand. "I'm Jasper."

Tag: Nina Eaton

[Nina Eaton]

She scoffed and shook her head. Why wasn't she surprised? Of course they dropped them on the wrong mountain. It wasn't like this could start off on the right foot. Something had to go wrong, other than those two boys dying during their landing. Nina felt bad about that, but she had also heard that they had been warned to get back in their seats and buckle up. Carelessness would certainly get them killed, and it appeared that it already had. But Mount Weather looked like it was far and while Nina had never done the whole hiking thing, she already knew she wasn't going to be a fan of it. She was fine with any type of physical activity, but the whole uphill thing did not appeal to her. She hoped that everyone would be willing to go find the mountain but she knew it would be a difficult task to complete. People wouldn't want to be given orders right off the bat. But she also knew that they couldn't just stand around without any supplies. They didn't even have any water and while she knew some of these kids weren't the brightest, she hoped they understood the consequences of not having any water.

The tone of his greeting made her chuckle and she looked over at the boy standing next to her. He was tall but sort of lanky with black hair and goggles resting on his forehead. Nina put him around sixteen or seventeen years of age (considering he couldn't exactly be eighteen given that he would have been floated by now) but she thought he was cute nevertheless. Nina reached forward, grabbing his hand and shaking it before letting it drop. "Hello Jasper. I'm Nina," she introduced herself. She grinned at the boy and nodded her head in the direction of the map. "You plan on coming to find the mountain?" She asked. It was a tough call to make, but Nina sort of wanted to go. She wanted to explore and see everything she could. But she also knew that people couldn't very well be left alone out here. It was going to be difficult, but she would figure it out as the time came. She wasn't normally a 'fly by the seat of her pants' type of girl, but she figured she would have to change while on Earth anyway, might as well start somewhere.


@jasper420

[Deleted]

Jasper just kept smiling, enjoying the way she'd laughed at his greeting. He knew his game was on the dorky side, and didn't care. He flirted for fun first, and if it got him something, perfect. A laugh wasn't necessarily a rejection. "Hell, yeah, I plan on going," he answered her. He looked over at the woods, and gestured toward the trees. "Big beautiful world out there. I wanna see all of it."

"Care to join me?" he added. "The buddy system is important." He gestured at Clarke and Finn, then to himself. "I'm currently buddyless," he said, making a face. She was wearing a guard uniform, so she had to be older than him. Early 20s, at least. But that didn't faze Jasper. On the Ark, given the things he got into, he would have avoided someone in that uniform as much as possible. But on the ground, none of that mattered.

Tag: Nina Eaton

[Nina Eaton]

She grinned at his obvious excitement. Nina found it refreshing and knew that having Jasper around was going to be a blessing in disguise. He would be a distraction and a hilarious one at that. Nina felt like this was the start of a beautiful friendship and she couldn't wait to spend more time with Jasper. "Couldn't have said it better myself," she said with a grin. Nina was excited to see the world and everything that it had to offer. She had never been terribly interested in her studies, at least before the academy, but the pictures of Earth had always calmed her down if she ever needed a moment of air. Now she would always have those visions around her and she was thankful for the opportunity.

"I would love to join you, Jasper." Nina smiled and began to follow Clarke and Finn. "The buddy system is very important. I'm glad you remembered that," she said. She knew she wouldn't want to be out in the woods by herself, at least not until they learned the layout of the place more. She knew it was likely that she would escape into the woods to drown out the constant chatter of the group. But for this trip she thought that the buddy system was perfectly acceptable and she was glad that she was stuck with Jasper. "So what did you do to get yourself down here?" Nina asked. She knew some kids had committed horrible crimes but Jasper seemed like a good guy and she doubted it was anything horrible.


@jasper420

[Deleted]

This was going pretty well, Jasper thought, as he started off into the woods with Nina, a few yards behind Clarke and Finn. He pulled his goggles off his head and ran his hand through his hair, hoping it wasn't sticking out at odd angles. Though he knew, even as he put the goggles back on, there was just as much a chance that he was making his hair more of a mess as there was that he was taming it.

He huffed a laugh at Nina's question. "Do you want the long version of the story, or the short version of the story?" he asked. "The short version is that my best friend is shitty at being sneaky." He winked at her, then turned his attention to the woods, taking in the sights.

Tag: Nina Eaton

[Nina Eaton]

The sound of leaves crunching under her boots was foreign but one she enjoyed. She could get used to this, that much she knew. The sky was beautiful and the trees moved in the wind. The change of scenery was needed and she was thankful that she would never have to stare into space again. She had so many options down on Earth and she was certainly going to abuse those options. Nina had never seen the beauty of a sunset or a sunrise, but she had seen pictures and she thought they were all beautiful. She was going to see one in person and she couldn't wait. Hell, maybe she would even be able to convince Jasper to get up really early in the morning to see one with her. He seemed like the kind of guy who would want to experience anything at least once.

Nina raised an eyebrow at Jasper as he spoke of his friend not being good at sneaking things. She had no idea what he was referring to but she thought it sucked that he had gotten caught because of a mistake his friend had made. "Okay well clearly none of this would have happened if you were hanging out with me," she said with a grin. Nina didn't care about the stupid little things on the Ark. She cared about people taking advantage of the system or doing anything to screw those less fortunate. Nina grew up privileged, she knew that. But that didn't mean she thought the system was fair. She knew it was fucked and she knew it had to be changed. But she didn't have to worry about that anymore now that she was down here on Earth. Everyone could get equal shares and no one would have an advantage over someone else.


@jasper420

[Deleted]

Jasper laughed at her reply. Obviously, she considered herself sneaky. That was a good thing, in Jasper's book. He may have avoided a guard on the Ark, but he'd always attracted to strong women. Strong people, in general. He was fine with people who were shy or timid--he could talk to just about anyone, really--but he knew himself well enough to know those sorts of people couldn't handle his personality in the long term.

"Maybe, maybe not," he said. "I tended to avoid people in uniform on the Ark." He'd gotten into far more trouble than he'd been caught for, that was for sure. He glanced over at her again, looking her up and down again. "It's kinda doing it for me now, though," he said, waggling his eyebrows.

Tag: Nina Eaton

[Nina Eaton]

It could have been out of spite for her father, but Nina was one of the more lenient guards on the Ark. She didn't take bribes but it just all depended on the situation. If she saw someone give another person some of their rations, she didn't care. There were so many stupid rules on the Ark that she didn't care about and that's when she let it slide. If Jasper had been making moonshine or been stealing food for some kids, she wouldn't have cared. If he was stealing food because he was getting high off of marijuana and getting the munchies, then she would have definitely had a problem with it. 

She watched him check her out, not even trying to hide it and she laughed. "Okay Casanova," she said through a chuckle. Nina reached over and ruffled his hair a little, even though he was fairly taller than her. "I love your goggles by the way. There a story behind those?" She asked. Nina could definitely go for a good story. And she made a note to ask him again about what he had done because she was still curious. 


@jasper420

[Deleted]

Jasper grinned as she ruffled his hair. She'd touched him when she didn't need to, but she'd also jokingly called him 'Casanova'. He couldn't tell if his flirting was working, per se, but she at least seemed amused by it and not bothered.

"Uh, thanks," he said, automatically adjusting his goggles on his head after she'd ruffled his hair. "I guess there's sort of a story," he told her, looking down to find his footing as the terrain got a little more uneven. He reached down, picking up a dried leaf and inspecting the veins in it. Nature was beautiful. "I got pretty good grades on the Ark," he said. For what everyone said about pot smokers, Monty and Jasper had defied stereotypes. Monty maybe more than Jasper, but Jasper still got shit done. "But chemistry was what I loved. I wanted to be a chemist. And my best friend, Monty? He's more like a brother. He bought these for me as a gift. No occasion. It wasn't my birthday or anything. He just gave them to me when he saw how much I was getting into chemistry. I wasn't even doing anything that required them yet." God, he was happy to have Monty back. "I had my parents bring them to lockup for me. They're just... special." He shrugged. That probably sounded dumb, but it was the truth.

Tag: Nina Eaton

[Nina Eaton]

She listened to his story about how he wanted to be a chemist and how chemistry had been his thing. It explained the goggles. But she thought it was even cuter when he said that his best friend got them for him just because. That was a good friendship and Nina was a little jealous. She never had anything like that one the Ark. Sure, she had friends, but never the kind that did stuff like that just because they wanted to. "Sounds like a good friend. Keep him close." Given his story earlier, she guessed that he was down here on the ground with them. Everyone would need someone they could count on, and she was a little glad that Jasper had his best friend with him.

"No, I understand," Nina reassured him. "I think if someone you care about gives you something that has significance, it's special. It could be a rock for all that matters, so long as you know how important it is and how important the person is that gave it to you." She shrugged her shoulders and stepped over a log. "Besides," she added after a moment. "I think they look cute."


@jasper420

[Deleted]

Jasper felt a little better that she seemed to understand how something like a pair of goggles could mean so much to Jasper. He'd gotten into the habit of wearing them almost all the time, to the point that his head felt almost naked without them. When she said they looked cute, he laughed. "Thanks; I happen to agree," he said, grinning and rearranging them on his head in demonstration. He did like the way they looked on him. They may be a bit nerdy, but Jasper thought they were cool. Besides, it was conversation starter sometimes, just like it had been right now.

"So what about you?" he asked. "You have anyone down here with you?"

Tag: Nina Eaton

[Nina Eaton]

Nina thought about his question and shook her head. "Not really," she said. Sure, there were some kids that she knew but she wasn't close to any of them. Their knowledge of one another was just in passing. Then she remembered that Bellamy had gotten onto the dropship. Nina and Bellamy had been in the same class during training and had both made it to the Cadet status. Their friendship hadn't started off that great. Nina had caught Bellamy stealing medicine and she, in turn, had stolen food for him thinking that the medicine was for him. They eventually became friends and he had been there for her when her mother had been floated. Guards had found stolen rations in their apartment and her mother had taken the blame, even though Nina had been the one to steal the food for Bellamy. Bellamy had never asked Nina to steal the food, quite the opposite in fact, he had always insisted that she stop. But she didn't and it had gotten her mother killed. Nina had relied heavily on her friendship with Bellamy after her mother was floated and her father refused to intervene. "Well, I guess so. Bellamy is down here," she said. But she also knew that Bellamy came down here for her sister, which she still had a hard time wrapping her head around. It hadn't been until he was stripped of his cadet status that Nina found out about Octavia. Their friendship had changed after that, if you could even still call it that, but Nina still cared about her friend all the same.

Making a mental note to introduce herself to Octavia, she continued talking to Jasper. "But now I have this awesome friend with these sick goggles!" She exclaimed with a laugh. She felt a little stupid now that she thought about it. She had wanted to get down to the ground but she hadn't thought about anything after that. She was alone and she was just now realizing it. She wished she had a best friend down here with her, but that wasn't the case. Nina didn't like the idea of feeling needy towards people she had just met. But she needed some sort of social interaction. She couldn't function without it.


@jasper420

[Deleted]

Jasper nodded at her words. Bellamy. The older kid with the awful slicked back hair who seemed to want to take charge. Jasper wasn't sure yet who would make the better leader, should they need one: Bellamy or Clarke? But there was time to figure that out. Right now, he was going with Clarke to find supplies... and enjoy everything Earth had to see.

When she mentioned Jasper as her friend, specifically, he knew his flirting hadn't worked. He laughed anyway, though, un-fazed. "Wanna try 'em on?" he asked, tugging them off his head without bothering to straighten his hair.

Tag: Nina Eaton

[Nina Eaton]

She grinned and nodded her head at Jasper. "Hell yeah!" She said with a giggle. She took the goggles and put them on her head, attempting to mirror the way they had been on his only a moment ago. Once they were situated she looked at him and wiggled her eyebrows. "What do you think?" She asked. Another chuckle left her lips and she thought about how nice it had been of Jasper to let her try them on. From the short story she knew how important they were to him and she wondered if he usually let other people try them on or if they even came off his head for that matter. After a moment she took them back off and handed them over to Jasper. "I think they look better on you," she said with a grin.

Nina looked up and noticed that Clarke and Finn were out of view. She frowned and scanned the area, looking for the blonde or the spacewalker. She couldn't see them and she certainly couldn't hear them. "Uh Jasp," Nina said, nudging his side. She kept her eyes on the lookout for their partners but was having no luck. "I think we're on our own." Nina didn't like the idea of being lost in the woods without Clarke and Finn. She knew Finn was a great tracker and would have easily been able to lead them back to camp. But without them, they were sort of screwed. 


@jasper420