Who: Raven Reyes and John Murphy What: Raven's arrival/Murphy finally gets the collar off! Where: Outside, then moving to Apt 2-E When: Saturday, June 6 Warnings: Not really Status: Closed, Complete G-doc
Murphy had been in Goodland a week or so. Long enough that he was starting to realise he was stuck in the town, stuck in some kind of alternate reality. Whatever it was, Clarke was here but no one else that he knew. Maybe that was a good thing. Emori hated him, Bellamy had no use for him, Raven...well. After their time on the Eligius ship, and judging by how she reacted when McCreary brought him to her gagged and collared, maybe she cared. But she wasn’t in Goodland, so what did it matter?
Murphy might as well be on his own. He could handle that. Maybe this was his chance to finally spread his wings, so to speak, and find out who he really wanted to be without the past hanging over his shoulders like some kind of death shroud. Just when he was starting to think that was a real possibility, of course there would be a wrench thrown into his path.
He sighed and stretched his neck, looking for a little relief from the collar that was still around his neck. Clarke had tried to help him get it off, but after they were both shocked multiple times, he’d had enough. He’d live with the damn thing, apparently, because he wasn’t letting anyone else near him with intent to take it off. Except maybe her.
“Raven.” She had the bewildered look of someone who had no idea what was going on. Having been there himself just a few days earlier, he could relate. “Welcome to hell. Also known as Goodland.”
This place seemed brighter almost. Something that she wasn't entirely thrilled by. She's not even sure where she was. Even if it screamed Earth, but it couldn't be. The place was far too damn busy. She did, however, know that she needed to find a way back. If that was even possible.
Pain shot up through her left leg and she did her best to ignore it. Focusing on the world around her was easier than focusing on something she couldn't control in that moment. Everything was falling apart or, at least, that's what it felt like. She still couldn't believe what had happened.
She whirls around at the sound of his voice, nearly toppling herself but managing to stay upright. Raven, for the moment, felt like a deer caught in the headlights as the saying went.
"Murphy?"
If this was some trick, it wasn't funny.
As much as he wanted to just like hug her, he didn’t allow himself that indulgence. He wasn’t someone who hugged under normal situations. He really didn’t like person to person contact, in most cases. He’d been assaulted too many times, and he hadn’t been one for hugs since he was an innocent kid. Had he ever been an innocent kid? Seems like a lifetime ago.
“The one and only,” he said, flashing his cocky, all too familiar grin at her. “Clarke’s here too,” he told her, so she’d know. “And a bunch of people from other times, other places. This is some sort of alternate universe nexus or something.” Her spazzy little brain would probably love that, where it was only a vague fascination for him. He was much more interested in hot showers and the endless bounty of food, than the science and science fiction of Goodland.
A part of her relaxes when she sees that all too familiar cocky grin. She'd been worried about him the moment that he'd executed her plan. A plan that could've easily gotten him killed. So, she's glad that he wasn't dead. She's not, however, sure to feel about Clarke being there. They hadn't known where she was.
"An alternate reality, huh? So, whatever all of this is has thrown us into a multidimensional nexus with other people?" From what he was saying, it was with people from other places and points in time too. Something that she would definitely want to investigate. She does, however, notice the collar still around his neck. Just like the one that adorned her throat.
"We got tools to work with around here?"
Forget the fact that she was in a place she knew nothing about, she'd find Clarke and talk to her later, but for now she could focus on getting these damn things off their throat.
“We should get out of the open.”
Despite the bustle of the place and possibility of being able to blend in, they needed out of the open.
“We can get tools.” He’d trust her to get his collar off without shocking the hell out of him, so long as she had the proper tools. He was pretty sure there was a screwdriver, at least, in the apartment. Maybe some other stuff Raven could work with.
“Come with me.” He almost reached for her hand, but stopped himself. And then he went for it, grasping her hand in his. His palm was moist with sweat, but he wasn’t going to worry about that. If Raven jerked away, he’d let her hand go. Otherwise, he held on, and led her to the apartments.
“Ignore the fucking ostriches. They’re little shits.” He hadn’t had an encounter with one, not directly. He just didn't like the look of them, and didn’t trust them.
He took her inside and to the elevator. His apartment was on the second floor. Hopefully his roommate wouldn’t be there, but he didn’t care one way or the other. He led Raven to the bedroom, so they could shut the door. “Sit tight, I think there’s some tools in the closet.”
He came back with a small toolbox.
"Good."
Tools would go a long way in their life. At least, to get the shock collar off and maybe anything else that needed fixed around the place. She probably needed to retighten the brace a bit, as well.
She's tempted to ask where they're going before she feels him grab her hand. That was different, but she doesn't pull away from him. It was easier to stick close to him this way in all of the hustle and bustle. Not that they could go too fast, not at the moment.
"Ostriches?"
She really wasn't sure that she wanted to know. However, she slows a bit when they end up inside of an apartment and through an elevator. None of this should've worked. Which made her wonder what was powering everything.
The place looked livable enough and she'd explore it later. Once she wasn't in his bedroom with the door shut. That wasn't lost to her even as she moves over sitting down on the end of the bed, more to get pressure off her knee than anything else.
"How long have you been here, Murphy?"
Even as she asks she takes the small toolbox from him, setting it on the bed beside her and opening it up. She had to see exactly what kind of tools were there for her to work with.
“A week,” he answered. He’d been in Goodland a week. Long enough the newness was wearing off. The thought that it was a fevered dream, or a hallucination brought on by entirely too much electricity jolting his system and frying his brain seeming less plausible as time went on. He was really here. With Clarke, and now Raven.
“Clarke tried to get it off. It didn’t go well.” He didn’t blame Clarke for that. She’d tried, but she wasn’t Raven. Raven was the mechanic. The engineer. If anyone could get it off, it would be Raven. And if Raven couldn’t do it, well. Then he was screwed, but he’d resigned himself to being stuck with the damn collar anyway. Then she’d showed up and gave him a ray of hope.
“Try not to kill me, okay?” He expected to get shocked. She was good, but he didn’t for one moment think she could disable the collar without setting it off in the process.
"You've been here a week..."
Had it been that long since they'd set her plan in motion? If that were the case then she'd really have to re-evaluate things. A lot of things that she didn't want to think about in that moment.
"Are you really that surprised?"
As much as she didn't mind Clarke, she wasn't an engineer. The blond was medical and damn good at it. That wasn't something that Raven would ever dispute. If either of them needed medical attention after this then they could go find Clarke.
"I'll try not to fry your brain. Now sit down and get comfortable."
Murphy gave her a look with narrowed eyes, but he sat on the bed. He moved back to press against the wall.Under different circumstances...No. He wasn’t going to go there. He loved Emori. Even if she hated him right now. She had every right. He’d been a jerk, he’d pushed her away.
And she wasn’t in Goodland. She might show up, Raven had. Augh. He grabbed a pillow and put it over his lap, his hands gripping it like he needed something to hold on to. She’d probably see right through that, but he didn’t think she’d call him out on getting a hard on.
“Right, let’s do this.” He stretched his neck, getting his jaw as far from the collar as he could, to give Raven room to work.
The narrowed eyes didn't bother her one bit. She'd been around Murphy and everyone too long, for something like that to bother her. A part of Raven was still reeling from being in a new place. Murphy gave her something to do, something to focus on. He gave her work to do.
Her eyes watch him even as he grabs the pillow to cover himself. Not that she's going to say anything about it. There was no reason to. Besides, she wasn't the type to tease like that. Raven pushes the toolbox just a bit closer to where he's sitting before slipping further up onto the bed, so she's right next to him.
Grabbing out a flat head screwdriver, she opens up the panel of the collar. She was going to do whatever she could to avoid shocking Murphy. “Try to stay as still as possible.”
“Just do it.” Murphy wanted the damn collar off. His neck was bruised from it, and it was just a general nuisance. He grit his teeth, and closed his eyes. He trusted her. This was Raven, after all. He’d trusted Clarke, initially. But Clarke didn’t have Raven’s skill. He believed Raven could and would get the collar off without incident.
He sat frozen, not so much as a finger twitch. He closed his eyes, and squared his jaw.He didn’t breathe, didn’t even swallow while she was working. And she didn’t disappoint. He felt a wave of relief when the collar snapped open, and Raven pulled it off him.
He slowly flexed his fingers. He’d been holding the edge of the pillow in a death grip. “Fuck.” He rolled his head, stretching his neck, rolling his shoulders until there was a series of cracks and pops. “God, that feels good.”
He brought his head back down, and looked at her. “Knew you could do it.”
Raven understood the impatience of wanting the collar off. Knew the feel of it wrapped around your throat. Murphy knew it better than anyone else, though. For him it was probably like the noose that they'd hung him with so damn long ago. Something that she wasn't on the ground for at the time.
While she worked on his collar, one hand stayed slightly above and to the side of his head to keep herself level and barely unmoving. It put a lot of strain on her bad leg, but she pushed through that. Just like she did everything else in her life. As long as he didn't move, he wouldn't get shocked.
She gives a bit of a smirk when the collar finally snaps open and she takes a hold of it and sits back. "Souvenir, Murphy?" It's a bit teasing even as she holds out the collar to him. Honestly? It could be tossed across the room to be thrown out later.
"Now you get to do me."
He took the collar from her, sneered at it, and shoved it aside. “Wait, what?” Somehow his brain hadn’t registered the fact he was going to have to return the favor. She was collared too. And he...well. He knew there was no way he’d get the damn thing off her without shocking her like Clarke had shocked him.
“You want me to…” he gestured at her neck. “..do you?” He said, using her words. Which could be interpreted to mean something entirely different, and not just the collar. Of course his brain would go there. He would have liked to indulge that fantasy, but there wasn’t time for that. He blinked, cleared his throat, and tried to shove those impure thoughts from his mind.
“I don’t know, Raven. I’m not…” he shook his head. She didn’t really want him to attack her collar with a screwdriver, did she?
"I didn't stutter, Murphy."
Did he really think she was going to remove his collar and just keep her own? That wasn't how this was going to work. He should've seen it coming. Or, at the very least, had an idea that it would come up eventually. The sooner the collar was off, the better.
She hadn't even thought about the way her words could be interpreted. If she hadn't been in a shit ton of pain, she probably would've. Moving a bit she sits down stretching her legs in front of her, more to alleviate the pain than anything else. Her back to the wall and sitting beside him.
"Murphy, I'm right here. You'll do just fine."
He wanted to suggest they try to find someone else to remove it. But he’d been in town for a week, and he hadn’t found anyone to take his collar off. No. He was her bestbet. “Okay. Yeah. Right. Okay. I can do this. Just...okay.” He took the screwdriver out of her hands.
His hands were shaking. He tried to hide that fact from her. He was anxious enough for the both of them, without adding to her stress. She had to be nervous. He sure as hell was.
He closed his eyes, drew a deep breath. “Okay. I’m doing this…” He went for the control panel, popping it open without incident. “You’re gonna have to talk me through this, cause I have no idea what -”
He cut himself off by sending a jolt through the collar, shocking them both. He jerked away, which ended the current running through him. “Shit.”
Even if he had suggested they find someone else, she'd of been against it. There was no way that she'd allow a stranger anywhere near her throat. Last thing a stranger had been near it, she'd ended up with jewelry that she couldn't take off. Then tortured with it.
She could see just how badly his hands were shaking. That wasn't something that could easily be hidden. Not when she was sitting right there. He wasn't an engineer like her. Couldn't be as still as possible unless it benefited him. Like when she'd just taken off his collar.
"You're going to be fine, Murphy."
Raven wasn't sure if she was trying to convince herself or him. Or the both of them. Unfortunately, he hits the collar wrong and it sends a jolt through her body causing a cry of pain out of her, body arching against the shock that wracks through her body.
Only problem was it hurt that much worse because she was still slightly wet from McCreary deciding to dump water over her. So the pain rips through her. Once it stops, those eyes look towards him.
"Don't let the screwdriver touch the metal," she tells him, voice a bit hoarse from crying out in pain. "Take a deep breath, hold it for about four minutes, and then let it out." Even hurting talked, but she'd try to talk him through this. "Deep breath in and deep breath out. Try to calm down a little. It'll keep your hands a bit more steady."
Fuck. That hurt. Even without a collar on himself anymore, he felt the searing pain as if he did. Muscle memory was a bitch, because his brain interpreted the shock as if it came from his own collar. But it hadn’t, he was no longer wearing the damn thing. Raven had taken it off him without shocking him even once.
He couldn’t give her the same fucking curtesy. He closed his eyes, drew in his breath and held it like she told him. He didn’t make four minutes or anywhere close to it before his breath rushed out of him. He growled, but it was directed at himself.
“I got this. I can do this. Just. Give me a minute.” He got to his feet, paced the room, punched the wall. It made him feel slightly better, and after hitting the wall a couple times, he went back to the bed, kneeling and moving toward her on his knees. “Okay. Here goes nothing.”
He set his left hand to the wall beside her head, giving him something to counter his weight and brace himself. His right hand held the screwdriver and he did his best to keep steady.
"What did the wall ever do to you?"
The question was more rhetorical than anything else. It also hid the fact that he'd startled the hell out of her too, by deciding to punch the wall. If walls could protest, then that one probably would do just that.
Then he was in the same position she'd been in with him moments before. His body real damn close to her own. His hands were a bit steadier than they had been before, but still not steady enough. Which sends another jolt through her system and she does her best not to react to it. Except that it bows her back slightly due to the pain.
"Third time's the charm, Murphy."
“What if I can’t do this?” His voice wavered. He hated that he kept causing her pain. He didn’t want to cause her pain, but it was etched into her features now. Her eyes looked...well, haunted came to mind. Bloodshot. Tired. Because of him.
She was counting on him. She trusted him. Now he just needed to trust himself.
“Third time’s a charm,” he repeated. God, he hoped she didn’t notice he was hard, but as close as they were...it was impossible to hide it. He couldn’t think about that though. He needed to get the damn collar off her. He’d opened the control panel. He could do the rest.
He just needed to focus. And keep his fucking hands steady.
“Hold on. Be right back.” Maybe it was selfish of him, but he needed to take care of his boner. Maybe once he did that, and he didn’t have that distracting him, he’d be able to focus on her. He slipped into the bathroom, and made quick work of it, then washed his hands before going back to the bedroom.
He wasn’t naive enough to think she wouldn’t know what he’d done. He felt like a complete asshole, but when he disabled the collar without shocking her a third time, he knew he’d made the right choice. Even if it was awkward.
“Holy fuck. I did it. I fucking did it.”
"You can do this."
Even if she had to talk him through it again and again, he'd get through this. There was no way in hell that she'd go to someone else. Not at the risk of her own life. Or she'd have to live with the collar permanently around her throat. Something that she doesn't relish.
"That's right, third time's the charm."
It was a bit obvious what was going on when he disappeared off into the bathroom. Him having a hard on while working near her wasn't exactly a subtle thing. Wasn't something that couldn't be noticed. Hell, she was trying not to think about that.
At least him disappearing for a moment gave her a bit of a reprieve and allowed her to try and relax a little, ignoring the pain that she was feeling. Until he came out of the bathroom and went back to working on the collar. When it finally unsnaps she gives him a smile.
"You did. Good job, Murphy. Thank you."
He beamed a little at the praise. So few people ever bothered to thank him, or praise him even when he did something selfless or genuinely nice. He was used to being ignored, or being talked down to, it was a nice change of pace, and he felt a little heat touch his cheeks.
He cleared his throat. “So, yeah. Uh. You wanna get cleaned up? The shower runs hot, feels like heaven.” Not that he’d really been able to enjoy it, with the collar on. He’d carefully avoided getting wet around his neck. Which had meant washing his hair was a fun experiment with leaning over and staying out of the spray. Well, that wasn’t going to be an issue anymore.
He wouldn’t blame her if she just wanted to sleep, though.
That smile of his was hard to ignore. It wasn't that she'd never seen him do so, but it was few and far between. Even if it was something simply from helping her and her being proud of him, so be it. He needed to hear that more and if it only came from her, well, she'd do it more often. Just to see that smile.
"Sounds like heaven."
Raven can't remember the last time that they'd been able to get cleaned up properly. Hot water. Not some stream somewhere or something on a damn ship. An actual shower with hot water. Even though she wanted just that, she wasn't sure it was going to happen.
"I'm not sure I'd stay standing long enough."
She was too damn tired and in too much pain to bother with trying to keep herself standing for a shower.
“Sleep first, then. Shower’s not going anywhere.” He shifted a bit, rolling back to sit on his butt on the bed. He shimmied a little, to a better position to put hands on her leg brace. He’d never actually touched it before, there’d never been any reason to, but he’d watched her take it off a time or two, and felt like he could do that a hell of a lot easier than he could take the collar off her neck and he’d managed that. After two false starts, but still.
He looked to her face, to make sure she wasn’t going to object, before he moved to unlace her boot and slide it off, then the brace. “Don’t argue,” he told her, as he worked the brace off and set it aside. “Let me do this.”
Murphy didn’t often do things selflessly, or for the benefit of someone other than Murphy But this was a time he felt it was warranted.
"Yes, sleep first."
Honestly? She could probably fall asleep right where she was sitting, leaning up against the wall. They'd slept in odder positions and places. Not that she wanted to think about that. His bed was definitely soft compared to anywhere else they'd slept.
It throws her off when he's suddenly on his ass closer to her leg and those words. Don't argue with... well, okay. That was the last thing that she'd expected. That was something she could do herself, but she wasn't going to argue. "Okay." Even if a part of her wanted to ask why he thought he needed to do that.
The brace coming off actually felt good. Didn't stop the pain that coursed through her leg, but having it off did a bit. "What is it you're doing exactly?"
“I’m gonna massage your leg,” he told her. He knew her leg had to be hurting something fierce. It wasn’t something she talked about, but it was something he knew. He knew because he was the one who shot her, and caused her injury. It wasn’t something he talked about, but it was something that weighed heavy on his mind anyway.
“And you’re gonna relax.” He moved a bit. “Lay down.” So he was going to put her to sleep in his bed. He sure as hell wasn’t going to make her sleep on the couch. He’d probably end up sleeping out there.
He waited for her to get comfortable before settling in himself, sitting beside her and facing her, and set his hand on her leg. He started with her calf, fingers digging into the tense muscle.
"You do realize that you don't need to do that. Right?"
It's not that she didn't appreciate the gesture, she did. Just because she'd removed his collar didn't mean he needed to do this. Besides, he'd gotten hers off in turn. Though the 'you're gonna relax' has the engineer raising a brow.
For a moment she barely even moves. Her body didn't want to cooperate in moving. Not when she was oddly comfortable sitting up against the wall. So, it's a moment before she turns and lays down with her head on the pillow, half closed eyes watching him. The hands on her calf getting a soft sound out of her.
Okay, she could letting him do this for her. If that's what he really wanted to do.
“That’s it. Close your eyes.” His hands moved to her knee. He had no idea how tight the muscles would be, but he was determined to loosen her up. Not that it would take much once she fell asleep. He didn’t stop just because she fell asleep, but continued massaging her bad leg and then her good one too.
When he finally moved his hands off her, he had no desire to go out and crash on the couch. Not when there was a perfectly good and unoccupied side of the bed.He kicked off his shoes, and slid under the covers.