Caleb is the cat in the hat (worth_therisk) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-06-30 20:42:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, caleb rivers, jonathan murphy |
Who: Murphy and Caleb
When: Recent!
What: Random encounter
Where: The Ranch
Rating/Warning: Low
Status: Complete
Murphy hated to admit it, but he was really starting to like the Ranch. It was better than any of the foster homes he’d been shuffled from before his stint in Juvie, and it was much, much better than Juvie had been.
The dreams were kind of helping with his appreciation as well. Murphy had always been more of a city guy. There was more to do, more people around, easier to get lost in if you were doing something like holding a knife to someone and stealing their wallet. But his dreams were nearly claustrophobic. In his dreams, he’d never felt the sun on his face. He’d never felt a cool summer breeze. He’d never gone swimming, or breathed fresh, non-recycled oxygen. The sound of machinery was always in the background of his dreams. The hum of the lights, the sound of oxygen being fed through the vents. To make things worse, he was in prison in his dreams, which meant he didn’t even get to go out and stretch his legs on the rest of the Arc.
When he woke up from the dreams, Murphy actually enjoyed going outside. Feeling the sun on his skin, the sound of machinery being replaced by birdsong. The closed in feeling would quickly fade and he’d be able to go back inside and get started on his day.
It was mid-afternoon when Murphy finally woke up that morning. He hadn’t had the luxury of sleeping in when he’d been in juvie, and found now that he enjoyed it on his days off from work. He didn’t lounge around in bed though, but quickly threw on a change of clothes and headed outside to get some fresh air.
It had been awhile since Caleb had last been to the ranch. Now that he had a dog, that got along with Neal and his dogs he decided to stop by the ranch with Techno. Of course he knew Neal’s dogs were probably at home with Emma but still the fresh air would be good for Techno.
Parking at the ranch he put a leash on Techno and climbed out of the car with him going for a little walk. He made his way down a path when he spotted someone who looked sort of familiar. It took Caleb a minute before he realized her recognized him from Valarnet. He was the dude that lived in the space station that killed criminals. “Hey,” Caleb greeted as they got closer, keeping Techno on a short leash so he didn’t jump up on the guy.
Murphy glanced over at the guy who’d just called to him. For the most part, Murphy was indifferent toward dogs. He didn’t dislike them, but that didn’t mean he had any special fondness toward them.
He gave the guy a once over. He looked vaguely familiar, though Murphy didn’t immediately place him. He didn’t think he’d seen him around the Ranch though, which meant he probably didn’t work there. He was probably visiting someone, Murphy decided, though he didn’t feel a burning desire to find out. “Hi,” Murphy said.
He didn't seem all that talkative. Caleb certainly wouldn't keep him chatting if the guy wanted to go. But he did want to make sure he was the guy from the space station. “Are you on Valarnet?” He asked keeping a good hold on Techno’s leash.
Murphy took another look at the guy, and his face clicked into place. “Yeah,” Murphy said. “You’re the guy who got shot, aren’t you?”
“That’d be me,” Caleb replied although he was pretty sure he wasn’t the only one to get shot. Jeremy mentioned how he had been shot in the dreams as well. “And you’re the guy on the space station from hell.”
“That’d be me,” Murphy said. “The Arc, where you’ll get killed for stealing, but if you’re a teacher and beat up a student while they’re in prison then no harm done.” He rolled his eyes. Apart from a split lip and a couple of bruises, his ‘fight’ - if it could be called that; Murphy knew better than to hit Pike back - in his last dream hadn’t left much damage, but it sure had smarted. He didn’t have much doubt that somehow it’d be Murphy’s fault though.
After hearing that Caleb was even more glad he had dropped out of high school. In both worlds, although in the dreams he did get his GED. “The teachers in my dreams just sleep with students,” he replied. Well just the one but still. “But seriously, I thought the system here was fucked,” Caleb would know, he grew up in it. “But it doesn’t even come close to your dreams.” At least that was how it sounded to Caleb.
“Pretty sure sleeping with students would be a quick trip to the vacuum of space,” Murphy said. He hadn’t dreamed of something like that happening, but it seemed most likely. “So probably not worth it for most teachers. That is kind of fucked though. The students in your dreams at least get good grades for it?”
“Uh,” Caleb honestly wasn’t sure what Aria’s grades were. “I think so,” he shrugged. It was honestly a bit surprising that Hanna and her friends hadn’t been held back with all the school they missed running around chasing A or doing A’s bidding. “I sort of became friends with said teacher now. Despite the dropping out of high school,” That’s what happened when you had to team up to save your kidnapped girlfriends. “So I’m glad he doesn’t live in a place where he’d be sucked into space. Actually I’m glad we all don’t. Sorry about your sucky dreams.”
“Hey, a fellow high school drop out,” Murphy said. “Not that I decided to become friends with any of my old teachers.” He wouldn’t even know where to start even if he did have the burning desire to hang out with his ninth grade english teacher. He shrugged at Caleb’s sympathy. “It doesn’t really sound like anyone has any dreams worth being envious about.”
“Trust me, I didn’t either,” Caleb replied honestly. “It was only in the dreams. The guy, he was around here for a bit though. Taught my girlfriend’s English class.” He had no clue what happened to Professor Fitz now though. Hanna hadn’t mentioned him lately and Caleb hadn’t seen him around the past few times he went to see her on campus. “Anyone else from your dreams around?”
“You might want to make sure English is the only thing he taught her,” Murphy said dryly, though a bit of a smile very briefly tugged on the corner of his mouth. “I don’t think anyone else from the Arc is around though. But it’s not like I know everyone who lives there or anything, so who knows.” His parents had been the same as his dreams, but they were both gone now - in his dreams and in real life - so there was no point in bringing them up.
“Don’t worry. It was.” For one he trusted Hanna, but he also knew how grossed out she had been by Professor Fitz. He wasn’t the slightest bit worried on that front. “Ah, well hopefully you’ll run into someone. It helps, but it also makes things complicated. At least if you have the same girlfriend in both places.”
Murphy snorted. He wasn’t really interested in anyone who he’d met yet; especially not any of the people who were in lockup with him. The girl who lived under the floor was good-looking, but Murphy really didn’t have any interest. “No doubt. I’m really not too bothered about it either way. It’s not like there’s anyone I have a burning desire to see.” At least, no one who wasn’t already dead in both this world and that one.
“Yeah there aren’t many I want to see either,” Mostly just Hanna. Well her friends were okay too and he wouldn’t mind having Toby or Lucas around. Okay so maybe there were a few he wanted to see, but that was just a small chunk of the people in his dreams and most of Rosewood was fucked. He wasn’t even going to touch Ravenswood.
“Enough dream talk,” Caleb decided. “You work here?”
Murphy was more than willing to not talk about the dreams anymore. They were kind of depressing, to tell the truth. “Me? No,” Murphy scoffed. The idea of him working at some ranch was almost laughable. “No, I live here.”
Fair enough. Caleb couldn’t imagine working at a ranch either. Shoveling horse shit? No thank you. But if he hadn’t already gotten his life mostly together when he ran into Neal he probably would have ended up living here too. “Ah,” Caleb said with a nod. “I hear it’s not a bad place to live. Better than inside a high school, or a fucked up space station.”
“It’s not,” Murphy agreed. Really, it was kind of nice. And that Neal guy was, well, he was alright. He raised an eyebrow. “I take it you have experience living in a high school?”
“Sort of. It was a dream thing. I didn’t actually stay in high school long enough here to live there.” But they agreed to not talk about the dreams. “Anyway if you live here I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.” Well not super often Caleb didn’t spend too much time at the ranch but he did visit Neal on occasion. “If you ever want to talk about dreams or how lame high school is let me know.”
Murphy’s eyebrows rose slightly as the idea of sleeping in a school in your dreams. Didn’t seem very comfortable. Then again, at least schools had showers. That was a commodity that his dreams now were sadly lacking. Staying clean on the Arc but showers were one of the many things that didn’t survive the nuclear apocalypse.
“Yeah, I probably will see you around,” Murphy said. “I’ll let you get back to whatever it is you’re doing here then,” Murphy said, and he actually leaned down to give the dog a scritch between its ears.