Close Call

[Bellamy Blake]

Tag: Clarke Griffin

I  won't  let

ANYTHING BAD HAPPEN TO YOU

Bellamy listened as Octavia spoke of how most teenagers here weren't interested in spending time with her . . . mainly because of Wells. He could understand that. He was the Chancellor's son and while Bellamy didn't know him, he could easily use that to his advantage. "Will he have a problem, with us being friends?" Bellamy had to ask. He wanted to spend time with Clarke, to get to know her, and he trusted her. But . . . what if Wells didn't like it? What if he grew suspicious of Bellamy and looked a little too into his family. It could risk discovery of Octavia. So he just needed to hear it from Clarke, that everything would be ok. That this would not be a risk. If she said it, he would believe it. While trust often took time to form -- especially considering Bellamy had never truly trusted anyone apart from his mother and sister -- he felt it for Clarke. After all she had done, how could he not?

He watched her as she put the book on her shelf, right in the center and it made him smile, already sensing how much she did and was going to continue to value it. He doubted anyone else would have the same reaction to a book. Then again, he would not have given it to anyone else. Her next action surprised him once more as she put her arms around him. He held his arms out in surprise, before he slowly rested his hands on her back, unable to suppress a smile through the gesture. "Then I know more than ever, that I gave it to the right person," he told her truthfully, after hearing her say that she would treasure it. It truly meant a lot to him that she would. "What are your plans for the rest of the day, Clarke? Gonna stay cooped up in here with a fake headache?" He teased with a hint of a playful smile.

[Clarke Griffin]

“Not if he wants to risk being the laughing stock of the Alpha Station.” Clarke knew how to handle Wells after all. But no, she didn’t think he’d have a problem with her having a friend and hanging out with a friend. “He won’t have any problems.” At least she hoped not to misjudge him terribly. What if he reacted differently from how she thought he would? Then again, he’d not hurt him, would he? No. that wasn’t Wells. He’d first get pissed in person.

“My plans?” Did he intend to offer to start with the hanging out? She’d have to try. “Actually, yes. My parents are working, so is Wells. Since I couldn’t go work, well I have not much of a choice. Going outside is kind of boring when you’re alone.” And so she had wanted to stay here, actually alone. But maybe her knight in shining armor had just arrived. That would be nice. “Unless you’re offering. You’re not on duty, are you?”

Bellamy Blake

[Bellamy Blake]

Tag: Clarke Griffin

I  won't  let

ANYTHING BAD HAPPEN TO YOU

Bellamy felt assured by her words, even smiling in amusement at her speaking of him being the laughing stock of the Alpha Station. "Fair enough," he told her, not planning on bringing it up again. If she said it was alright, then it was alright. Besides, she knew Wells better than he did. He only went on the guy's connections and position . . . but he really knew nothing about him. With that said, there weren't bad rumors circulating about him either. Though Bellamy supposed it was due to fear of how the Chancellor would react. She answered his question by saying that her plans had indeed been staying inside considering everyone else was working, even stating that going out was boring when alone.

He wondered if she would even want to hang out with him, or if she had just been saying that before to be polite. He didn't really . . . hang out with people a whole lot. When he wasn't working, he would use what free time he had with Octavia, feeling guilty that she was all alone in their quarters. But today, he felt like hanging out with Clarke and hoped O understood that.

"Not until later tonight," he explained. He had the night shift for patrolling, which he didn't mind much. At least it freed up his day some. "Shall we?" He asked, already getting to his feet. "Somethng tells me you don't like staying cooped up for too long," he added on with a bit of teasing, not wanting to be too presumptuous but from what he gathered about her so far, he felt it a safe assumption to make. "So tell me, what are all the cool kids doing these days?" He added on jokingly, though he was well aware that there were a few years of age seperating them. Even still, she was a lot more mature than several of the others his age he met.

[Clarke Griffin]

Was he serious? He really wanted to spend his day with her? She wasn’t being serious, but had hoped he would. A bright smile spread on her lips, excitement was settling inside her. They were actually spending time together! What an interesting end of the day this masquerade had brought, maybe the beginning of a friendship for her. She was not against it, quite on the contrary actually. She almost jumped up as he prompted for her to get up and get going with him. She wouldn’t let him tell her that twice.

“Funny, since we’re cooped up every day. We’re living on a space station!” It didn’t get much more cooped up than that. She had a bit of luxury, so staying inside was not that bad to her. But at the same time she really didn’t like to stay inside. There was so much more to see and do. He was right there. “The cool kids? What makes you think I know that?” She lived on Alpha, that did not mean she was cool. She was mostly either working or n here and she had always been a bit of a hard working student, so she was very far from cool. “I have no clue. A few of my friends like to go to farm station to get high. And the girls spend most time at the markets, dresses and such.” Both things stuff she didn’t like or do.

Bellamy Blake

[Bellamy Blake]

Tag: Clarke Griffin

I  won't  let

ANYTHING BAD HAPPEN TO YOU

She was right about that. They were cooped up every day, but still, some more than others. Like Octavia; unable to leave the confines of their room and ocassionally hide under the floor at that as well. He wished he could take her out and explore the Ark, but after last night . . . it was totally out of the question. "That's true, but being stuck in a room within a space station is being seriously cooped up," he said with a bit of a smile. She then asked him what made him think that she knew what they did.

He didn't know what crowd her and Wells had, but then she still had an answer. He suppressed making a face at the thought of getting high or going shopping at the market. Neither of those sounded particularly appealing . . . and from the way she mentioned it, she didn't seem enticed by either as well. He knew that there were a few years that separated them, though she seemed mature.

Which was why he suggested the alternative. "As much as I need a new dress," he said with humorous sarcasm. "What about the Art Gallery? I hear they added a couple new pieces." She liked to sketch . . . was this something she would be interested in? It wasn't huge, but held paintings and sculptures, some depictions of what Earth was like before the nuclear apocalypse. He would sometimes use those pictures as inspiration for stories he'd tell Octavia. Mostly when she was younger.

[Clarke Griffin]

“You absolutely need a new dress. In Pink and with glitter!” she teased right back. She had noticed he was trying to be humorous and it worked, at least it got a response out of her, one that wanted to tease him right back. For some reason her gut told her she could trust him and poke him a little without sending him running scared due to her slightly off ways. She was no typical teenager, had never been that, thanks to her dad and mother. She always felt a lot more responsibility weighing down on her. So to speak openly like that to someone was rare. Clarke felt hopeful about this, the friendship they might develop.

“I heard that as well. I haven’t been in a while. Sound like a perfect plan.” She loved the art gallery. It had given her some ideas on what to draw next and how to improve her skills just by copying what they had there or well trying to copy. Clarke nodded to Bellamy and lead him out to the fastest way to the art gallery. She decided to take the shortcut people rarely thought of: Through the library. In there she kept close to him. “Most boring place you can find here, if you ask me. I hate keeping quiet. What’s the joy in a good story when you can’t share it?”

Bellamy Blake

[Bellamy Blake]

Tag: Clarke Griffin

I  won't  let

ANYTHING BAD HAPPEN TO YOU

Bellamy chuckled when she told him that he needed a new pink dress with glitter. "Next time. Can't have all the fun today," he said jokingly. He was also all too aware that his words were alluding to the fact that there would be a next time, when he wasn't even sure how she was going to feel about this time since they were just getting ready to head out now. He was relieved when she seemed genuinely alright with the idea of going to the art gallery. He walked alongside her as they took a shortcut through the library, another place that Bellamy enjoyed. But she was right. It was no fun when you couldn't share the stories.

"I agree," he confirmed in a low voice. "Though sometimes it's nice, to just be left alone with your thoughts in a quiet place." Which was seldom for him. Between working and taking care of his family, such moments were rare. But he couldn't complain. His family came before all else. "Only sometimes," he said with a bit of a smirk. "What kinds of books do you usually read?" He asked curiously, wanting to get to know her better, inlcuding her likes, and preferences.

[Clarke Griffin]

“Even then I prefer another place.” A place less in the open. “Like home.” While she liked the library her home was just more her place. She preferred to have her peace and quiet in the familiar surroundings of her room. But maybe that was not an option for him. Still, even if he had no quiet at home, he must know a place where he could just sit and rest and be by himself that had not countless people surrounding him, walking in on what he was doing and what not. Maybe she should show him the place she frequented for that, when being around her parents felt like it might bring her to her knees in frustration, when she just needed to be alone, actually alone. 

“Whatever book I can find.” They had a very limited supply, though she had the sneaking suspicion, that a set of myths might soon advance to her favorite stories of all time. “Usually I like for my mind to wander away from what happens here, so sci fi is out of question. I like for my mind to relax a bit. Romance, fantasy, or journals from earth. I like not to think, you know? I have to think at work, around my parents so when I have a book, I like to imagine, be pulled into a world and not think about it. I want it to just tell me a story without me having to question the story every five minutes.” Did that even make sense? He probably thought of her like some shallow bitch now and Clarke couldn't blame him for that. Most girls on Alpha were exactly that.

Bellamy Blake

[Bellamy Blake]

Tag: Clarke Griffin

I  won't  let

ANYTHING BAD HAPPEN TO YOU

Clarke explained that she preferred another place for that: her home. But for Bellamy, home was not an option. Still, it made sense. She was privileged and had quite an impressive apartment. His was . . . well, in a word, tiny. And not a place he ever invited people back to for very obvious reasons. He then focused on her answer to his question of what books she liked to read. He couldn't help but wonder if the book he had given her would appeal to her, but she didn't seem to find the title . . . unappealing, so he supposed that was a good sign.

"I know what you mean," he responded, able to fully relate to that feeling of wanting to read something that was so drastically different from the world they lived in. "Books allow us to have that escape to another world; one so different from the reality of our lives." A reality where he and his family had to live in fear every second of every day. "I guess sometimes, it's the only peace we can truly find in life," he said a bit absent mindedly, thinking more on his need for escape from reality sometimes. He loved his family with all his heart, but he also wished they could live a life free of this fear and constant trepidation. It killed him to see that in them, to have to force Octavia in the floor at least once a day. "Sorry. I'm just babbling," he said with a bit of a shrug.

[Clarke Griffin]

“No, no, you’re not.” He was right, it was as simple. Sometimes the worlds in the books were the only escape they had. They lived on a space station, they never felt wind, or rain or saw trees. There was only one tree on this station and then the plants they needed on farm. That was it. But a world like earth was unreachable to them as it was uninhabitable. Men weren’t created to live on a space station. “You are right there, Bellamy. Sometimes it is the only peace one can find. I don’t know what your life is like, but mine is basically going from work, back home and back to work. That is it, it’s the same every day. Books can make us escape. They can take us back to earth.” Clarke wondered if he ever truly read books about earth. Maybe she should give him one. 

“I think I have a book you might like. Wells hates it, but I think you might like it. It’s a book with just short stories about earth, about people going camping there, living in the wilderness for a while. That one is great to escape with, to earth.” Clarke steered them away from their original way to the art gallery into a dead end. She walked to the end and pulled on a rope, to pull down a ladder. “Before you ask, it’s not forbidden, it’s perfectly legal.” Clarke climbed up into a corridor with a window. “It’s from the old structures. Nowadays only mechanics use it to access the air vents. And me. It’s not safe during solar flares, but it would provide you with a little privacy.”

Bellamy Blake

[Bellamy Blake]

Tag: Clarke Griffin

I  won't  let

ANYTHING HAPPEN TO YOU

He was quite relieved to hear that he wasn't babbling. That she seemed to understand what he was trying to say. She even went on to agree with him, describing how her life was. He smiled, rather enjoying the fact that she could relate. That they had this in common. "That basically sounds like my life as well," he told her. She went on to describe a book that he might like, of accounts on Earth. He was immediately intrigued. Interesting that her boyfriend hated something that she enjoyed so much. "That actually sounds really interesting. I would love to read it," he said, vocalizing his thoughts. Maybe he could even read tell Octavia about it, or read it to her . . . which she preferred he supposed.

"I guess Earth really is the ultimate escape for us. Imagine being on a planet. All that space around you. The climate. The elements. The landscapes." It sounded amazing. But who knows if they could even survive there considering the aftermath of the nuclear war. "There's just that tiny risk of radiation," he said with a smile, purposely exaggerating how unimportant it was. It had been deemed uninhabitable, as far as he knew. But he just wondered what it would be like . . . and how it would be so good for Octavia to be out in the open. He had gotten lost in his own thoughts, only snapping out of it when he realized they'd reached a dead end.

He looked at her with slight curiosity, until she pulled down a ladder. He was about to ask her about it, but she seemed to know him well enough to anticipate what he was going to inquire about. If she said it was legal, then he trusted her. How could he not? He watched her climb up before looking down the empty aisle and then followed her up. When he got there, he was in awe of the crawlspace. "This really is the perfect place," he stated, looking around. "I wouldn't want to take your quiet spot though," he admitted. Or, secret spot. Whatever it was. It did indeed seem like an ideal place to get some privacy. And he feltl rather honored that she was sharing it with him, even if he may not be the only one she had done so with.

[Clarke Griffin]

The girl made a mental note to give him the book to read, since he was apparently more than sure that he might like it. Clarke slowly began to realize how easily they seemed to fall into this, maybe, friendship. They even seemed to share fascination for earth. For some reason Clarke felt like he might be the person she could sit on an observation deck with and just watch the sun rise over earth, to imagine they were down there, actually watching the sunrise from down there. If only earth wasn’t still probably radioactive and toxic, it might be something they could achieve. But how likely was it for her to ever board a drop ship and be sent to earth. “Tiny? More like guaranteed. I wonder what species of animals survived or what they look like.” If animals survived they were most likely mutated by now. She was curious as to how. 

“You’d not take anything.” Clarke grinned. “Some mechanics come here once in a while, but generally it’s a big enough spot to even quietly host both of us.” She let her imagination wander to the image of the two of them both sitting there, reading and then watching the sunrise. Yep, to show him this place was ideal, perfect even. “To share this quiet spot might be cool.”At least she hoped so. Right now the man she met by accident might be a bit of a blessing to her. She might appear to be privileged, but out of those so called privileged girls, Clarke wasn’t popular due to her actually paying attention in school and wanting more than superficial ideals, like marrying and children.

Bellamy Blake

[Bellamy Blake]

Tag: Clarke Griffin

I  won't  let

ANYTHING HAPPEN TO YOU

Her question was a good one: what sort of animals survived? What would they look like? "That would be really interesting to find out. I imagine they wouldn't look completely unaffected." The radiation killed people . . . but as it was suggested that there were animals who survived the nuclear war, what did that exactly result in? The only true way to know, was to go down to Earth . . . which obviously wasn't happening any time soon.

She then assured him that he would not be taking anything . . . that it was big enough and would even be cool to share. The offer made him smile, quite appreciative of that. "I bet you tell that to all the guys you bring up here," he said teasingly. Was he . . . flirting with her? No. He shouldn't be. She was in a relationship and it wasn't his place to say anything like that. Besides, he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. Hopefully his words could just be passed off as an innocent tease. Damn he should think before he speaks, which he usually did . . . but something about her left him slightly flustered. "No but really, thank you. For sharing this with me. It really does mean a lot, to now have somewhere to go. And better in the company of someone else." Not just anyone else though: her.

[Clarke Griffin]

He was right. If there were animals, the very least they could expect was a change in size or color, which was the smallest difference she could think of. There would be others, she was sure of. But there would always be unaffected animals. Cockroaches for example. Those were known to survive an atomic bomb. They would still exist the same way, so at the very least food was no problem on earth. “Actually, yes. I did say that to every guy I brought up here” she confirmed. “Because so far you’re the only one.”

Clarke moved to the small window, to look down on earth. She longed for it. “You’re welcome.” One day their children or the children of their children could go back and see the colors and all that. She just longed she could be the one. Clarke stepped back to look at him. “Thank you, for your company here, Bellamy. Do you want to go? We had a plan of visiting the Art Gallery after all. Or we could fetch books and meet back up here again.” Clarke stared up at him. Damn it, he was attractive on top of it all. Blushing, the young woman looked down. So that was why all the girls wanted to dress up to impress a guy.

Bellamy Blake

[Bellamy Blake]

Tag: Clarke Griffin

I  won't  let

ANYTHING HAPPEN TO YOU

He gave a small chuckle at her response, finding it only made him feel more honored that she brought him here. Being the only one. He couldn't help to consider her boyfriend either . . . was it wrong for him to feel pleased hearing that he'd been the only one she had brought up? "Well in that case, I'm honored," he smiled with amusement, though his words were sincere. She thanked him for his company, knowing that was not something anyone should have to thank him for . . . though he wasn't going to object to it either. She asked if he wanted to leave, or if they should meet back here with books. Truth be told, at the moment one of the options sounded more tempting than the other.

"You know, why don't we save the Art Gallery for another day." Damn it, was he already planning another time to hang out with her? Was that being too presumptious? This impromptu hangout was going so well, but he also knew that he couldn't be too forward with it. Normally with women, he didn't over think such things, but with Clarke . . . it was different. "Why don't we meet back here. I really do like this place, and it may be nice to just sit somewhere quiet for a bit." Which . . . she was doing in her home before he had come. "If you're alright with that?" He added on, not wanting to suggest they do this when she may have preferred otherwise.