🇷🇦🇻🇪🇳 🇷🇪🇾🇪🇸 (mechabadass) wrote in thedisplaced, @ 2018-03-06 18:35:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log/thread, luna, raven reyes |
Who: Luna, Raven Reyes
What: Hanging out and chatting at one of the bays in Middle Earth
When: Backdated to February 21
Where: Middle Earth
Warnings: Discussion of death by radiation before Praimfaya, pretty G otherwise
Luna stuck close to Raven since she got out of the medbay. She wanted to stay on the boat, wanted to watch the waves. Luna knew that she had to get Raven moving, however, so she consulted a map of Middle Earth. Harlond sounded like a good place to go and they hopped a ride through a portal. It was adjacent to Minas Tirith and had breathtaking ships.
The girl from the sea wasn’t sure about being surrounded by so much land. It reminded her of when she was younger and living near Polis. When Raven said she might be slow, because of her disability, Luna thought she should show the other woman that she could still do things. Raven was very capable of doing lots of things, but she seemed to be focusing on the injury. Luna wasn’t sure, but decided to take her friend on a sightseeing tour anyway.
Luna leaned against a railing near the edge of the water. “Isn’t it beautiful?” she asked, with something almost close to a smile on her face. The waves lapped up against the side of the walkway and Luna was as near to a being giddy as she could be.
“You might think I’m silly for being so attached to the water. Do you?” She could read people, could calm them, could manipulate them. But instead, she decided to let Raven speak for herself.
Raven couldn’t even begin to explain her relief upon discovering Luna had shown up, and from before all that mess with the conclave and the bunker the others had told her about. Ever since the others had told her of the events that had taken place after leaving her in the bunker, she had been rather sad over the news. Then there was the issue of someone walking around who was basically an exact copy of Finn. That had been quite a surprise and Raven wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about that. That had been so long ago and she thought she had gotten over it, but she couldn’t help the mixed feelings that had arisen. She planned to ignore and avoid that boy as long as she could. She didn’t know him and she didn’t want to. Luna was an entirely different story. She had been a friend, one that hadn’t betrayed Raven, as far she had known. Hers was a welcome face.
Raven hadn’t seen much of Middle Earth besides the Shire, and she had ventured into Bree once. Apart from that she hadn’t felt much like exploring. The place reminded her too much of the Ground and she couldn’t help that knee jerk reaction to pull a gun (which she hadn’t been allowed to bring with her) anytime she heard or saw something suspicious. She didn’t like she couldn’t use a weapon she was trained to use, but she supposed these daggers were as close to her pocket knife as she was going to get. At least she hadn’t had to use it.
She felt less apprehensive about exploring now that she had someone to explore with. Maybe they wouldn’t see as much as they might have liked, considering there were only a few days left to look around. The water, the waves, it was peaceful, and Raven could understand why someone would enjoy it. “No,” Raven shook her head as she looked out at the water. “It’s about as silly as me loving machines the way I do.”
Luna looked over at Raven, eyes moving over the other woman’s face for a moment. “I suppose that’s the same thing.” Luna knew that Raven had an affinity for technology, she witnessed it in Becca’s lab. Luna herself hadn’t messed with any machines, hadn’t dealt with anything other than boats and nets in so many years. As a grounder, it was a given that she didn’t deal in any sort of thing like that. She was all right with that.
She pushed herself up off the railing and walked a few feet off to the other side of the pier. She waved Raven over to her, “Look.” There were large fish swimming near the edge of the water. Even though the water was murky, you could see their movement.
“I wish that I could be a fish,” she said quietly.
It was true that Raven had a deep love of machines and their inner workings. Maybe sometimes it was a little unhealthy, because she could get so caught up in her work that she wouldn’t sleep or eat for days until someone reminded her to take care of herself too. Bellamy was pretty good at reminding her to eat and sleep. She just had an insatiable need to focus on her projects until they were complete. So what if she lost some sleep or missed a meal? Sometimes her work was more important than her personal health.
Raven glanced over to Luna then and walked over. She leaned against the railing and peered down into the water. The fish there seemed different. They were probably healthier than those back on their Earth. No radioactive waste, as far as she knew.
Raven couldn’t help the little grin that appeared on her face. It was a funny thought, but at the same time she could understand it. “Seems like it’d be pretty peaceful,” she said thoughtfully.
Luna saw firsthand at how Raven got wrapped up in her work. Before they left her at Becca’s lab, she witnessed Raven beating the stuff out of Murphy because she was frustrated. Raven had told her that she got the remnants of the AI out of her head by shocking herself. The story made Luna frown when she heard it, not liking that Raven put herself into that kind of danger. But then she thought it was probably better than dying in the radiation.
The fish here looked wonderful and Luna wished she had a rod or net to scoop them up in. It was better to just let them swim, anyway. “I think it would be.” She turned and leaned her back against the railing, looking at Raven.
“How long have you been here now?”
Raven didn’t have any regrets in the way she had approached healing herself. At the time she knew it was all hypothetical and entirely possible for her to have died from the experiment. However, she had wanted to fix herself and get that damned AI chip out of her head once and for all. It had gotten so out of control that she could barely function. Of all the things she had endured upon her arrival to the Ground, that had been the most intense, and Raven didn’t regret it in the least.
Raven continued to look down at the water, watching as the fish swam back and forth, and disappearing into weeds. She suddenly wished she had some sort of food to offer them.
“It’s been almost four weeks,” she said as she remembered the dates and counted the weeks in her head. “We’ve been on the ship all this time. The others said they were all pulled onto it near the beginning of the previous month.” She glanced over to look at Luna momentarily before returning her attention to the water. “How do you like Middle Earth?”
Luna nodded her head, unsure of exactly how long she had been on this adventure herself. Time kind of just went by for her, without much notice. She wasn’t exactly sure even how old she was.
When Raven spoke, however, she stopped looking at the fish and watched her friend’s face. “It’s nice. Much prettier than the landscape back where I’m from. The water is nice too, I’d like to get on the boat and cut through the water.”
She looked away, “Bellamy said everything is free here. How does that work?”
When Raven had been losing her mind she hadn’t cared about days or time. It was different now. There were calendar’s at their fingertips now, so she could use her own to help her remember what day it was. Raven was work oriented. She needed to be able to give herself a deadline and be able to stick with it.
“I’ve been told that even with how beautiful it is here, it’s just as dangerous in some places,” she said with a look around at the surrounding area. Raven was no fighter by any means, and this wasn’t the type of place she could find scrap metal or materials for potential explosives. In reality, it made her feel quite vulnerable. But she also didn’t like how confining the boat felt. She nodded slowly and glanced back to Luna before looking out at the wanter once more. “I don’t like being stuck on the boat.”
Raven looked down at the bracelet she wore and held up her arm, moving her wrist side to side. “These things. Everyone on the boat has one and they have unlimited credits so you can buy whatever you want, even whenever we dock at places. So basically, everything is free.”
Luna nodded in Raven’s direction. “Dangerous, is that why you have those daggers? Are you prepared to use them?” She toyed with the hem of her sleeve. She was wearing her clothes she arrived in, ratty and cobbled together. Luna didn’t look too out of place, somehow.
“How often do they do stops? Has anyone told you? I don’t mind being on the boat. I probably won’t leave the deck when we get back on board.”
She looked at her wristband, “Yes, it unlocks the door too. I don’t know if I like it very much.”
Raven frowned at the questions. She simply nodded at first. There were no right words except for the truth. “If I have to,” she said quietly. At least Raven hadn’t had to fight anyone. Her fights were usually with herself or the AI chip she once had in her brain. Raven could threaten anyone, but that didn’t necessarily mean she’d follow through.
She shook her head, “We only know when the next one is coming and where we’re going.” She offered a little smile, “I’m sure the boat feels right at home to you.”
Raven nodded again, “Yeah, but I’ve been told if you ever lose it you’re issued a new one.” She glanced down at hers. “Neither do I, but it’s our only pass between the ship and ports, and I don’t swim or anything so being able to leave the ship and walk on dry ground is nice.”
Luna shrugged vaguely. “It’s better to not fight. Maybe we should avoid the dangerous places.” Luna offered a small curl of her lips. She knew she could protect Raven if needed, but would rather not.
“The boat does feel better to me. I was on the rig since I was a child, after leaving the conclave. I wasn’t really a child anymore, at that point.” She didn’t want to talk about that part of her life anymore, so she stuck with talking about Raven.
“I was told there’s a pool on board. Would you like to try and swim sometime? I can hold onto you. It feels nice to float.”
Raven nodded, absolutely in agreement about Luna’s statement about fighting. She hated fighting, she didn’t like her friends fighting, but in the end she knew it was an inevitability and she had learned to live with it. That didn’t mean she had to like it. “Good idea,” she said with another nod.
Raven nibbled on her bottom lip as she listened to Luna. Raven had come to understand Luna’s stance on fighting. She had learned a little about her past all those years ago. She couldn’t blame her. Raven couldn’t imagine what Luna had gone through both physically and emotionally. She had only been a child and fighting had been forced on her.
“Yeah, there’s a pool,” she said, feeling a knot begin to form in her stomach. “I,” she hesitated,” I don’t know. I don’t know how to swim.” A grown woman who didn’t know how to swim, but who could blame her between living in space almost her entire life and having to wear a leg brace just be able to walk?
Luna reached out for Raven’s hand, putting her palm on top of Raven’s knuckles. She puppeted the other girl so that her hand made a stuttered flowing motion. “You just rock with the waves, Raven. I can show you how to swim, or at least how to float. We can stay where the water is low.” She wanted to share this with Raven, thought maybe she’d find some peace in it.
“Didn’t you say you liked to walk in space? I imagine it feels the same way. We could get you… a flotation device. Or you can hang on to me.” Luna placed Raven’s hand back on the railing gently and pulled her hand away.
She then shrugged, “It’s just an idea, I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. I just want you to know how good it feels. You deserve good things.”
Raven couldn’t even run. She was pretty sure she’d end up dropping like a rock to the bottom of any pool or river, or wherever she ended up. Her dark eyes just watched as Luna took her hand and imitated that floating motion.
Raven nodded, “Yeah, but that was before the Ground. Before… my accident. And the last time it was a straight shot from the rocket to the Ring. It’s not like I was space walking.” Raven had once worked hard to earn that spot to be able to space walk. Then it had been dashed because of a heart condition.
She frowned, wondering why she had to be so negative about it. Maybe she was just worried about sinking, or maybe she was more self conscious about how she would look. She wasn’t entirely sure. “Maybe. I’ll think about it,” she said quietly.
“We could go when no one else is in the pool. I’m sure night time, everyone is in their beds.” Almost as if she could read Raven’s embarrassment. “Maybe it would help your leg.” She threw that out as a small offering, knowing that water made you stronger, made you weightless at the same time. It was a beautiful thing.
“So the rocket made it up to space. Did it make it back?” Luna wasn’t sure of what exactly happened there. There was mention of six years passing. She didn’t know how long it would take for the radiation to clear out this time around.
Raven hadn’t considered that. “That…” she shrugged, “that could work.” At least she wasn’t completely knocking down the idea. She wasn’t jumping for joy, but she also wasn’t saying no. It did make her nervous, the idea of getting into any body of water without any swimming kills whatsoever. Even with a strong swimmer there to help her.
“Yeah. I fixed it to seat and support eight people. But we didn’t make it back. We had to wait out the time for the Ground to be habitable again.” Raven couldn’t explain it, but all she could really remember was making it to space, turning the air back on so they could breathe again. After that, it was more or less a blur of fixing the Ring and surviving in space.
Luna tilted her head, “It could definitely work.” There was a small smile on her lips, which disappeared a moment later. She let out a sigh and started to walk away from the water, hoping Raven would follow her.
“Right, that’s why there was a bunker. The Nightblood situation didn’t work out.” She didn’t frown, but her voice had a tone of displeasure. After all that they went through, it didn’t work. What was the point? That man died for nothing. Part of her was still angry at Emori for that, but didn’t bring it up for John’s sake. He had no idea.
Raven took a final look at the water before she turned and followed behind Luna until catching up with her. She nodded. “From what I understand, the bunker worked out.” She frowned and glanced over to Luna, “It worked, Luna. Clarke survived on the Ground even with praimfaya. His death wasn’t entirely in vain, even if it shouldn’t have happened.” Raven had been one of the only of them who had argued against using anymore of Luna’s bone marrow. As per usual, she had been ignored. Even if it worked out in the end, Raven regretted the decisions that had been made that day.
Luna stopped walking for a moment, then continued. In those few seconds, she wondered if one person dying for another was appropriate. Maybe a mother dying for a child, a lover for a lover. But to die without being asked if you want to? No, that wasn’t right. It was good that Clarke survived, but it wasn’t under good circumstances.
“It was still stolen from him.” Luna walked down the pier to some shops. “Are you hungry?”
Raven stopped momentarily, quietly watching Luna. “I know… it was something that should never have happened.” It was something she wished they could take back. She nodded and walked alongside Luna again, “Yeah, I am.”