VIOLENT DELIGHTS¹ ━━ John Murphy

𝖝𝖛𝖎. Heavy is the Head

𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖛𝖞 𝖎𝖘 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖉

FULLY PLANNING ON finally finding Murphy, Glass heads for the bar. She'll corner him. No, not corner - ambush him. Trap him. Attack him. Wait, no, not attack, she already did that once and this mission is not about repeating that. Annoy him? Probably her presence will annoy him.

So.

There are no windows, no candles, and yet somehow there is still light. Glass doesn't fully understand it - and by that, she means she doesn't understand it at all - but she doesn't feel like looking like an idiot.

When she enters the bar, though, she's pleased that the blinding white lights of the hallway are gone, replaced with dimmer, almost orange-y hues that gleam softly from the ceiling. Here it is much darker. Small tables are scattered out across the wide room, sparsely populated. There's a smattering of laughter, a low hum of what Glass assumes is Ark gossip because she's sure even the people from the stars love to share tongues and play into rumors. A bartender is running things from the back, and he is the first person to spot her.

Words are exchanged and spread like wildfire until every person is staring uneasily at Glass as she stands there in the doorway.

She looks at each of them in turn.

All along the tables are carafes of water and alcohols, dishes of some sort of dried food. If Glass hadn't sworn off alcohol, she would have asked for some. She could use it.

"Grounder," a man with shaggy hair fixes her with his almond eyes. "What do you want?"

Part of Glass wonders if she should just prove she is more than what they clearly think her to be; a weak and crippled Grounder staying with them because she is so helpless.

Finally she sees Murphy. He sits at a table, a glass sloshing with brown liquid in his hands. When he turns his head to see her, he stands quickly and strides towards her. His expression is remote and for a fleeting second, Glass wonders if he might take his revenge for her stunt in the hallway.

But he does not.

"You're a Grounder," he informs her, like she didn't already know. "You shouldn't go wandering around, it's not very safe. Especially since you insist on going around and stabbing everyone."

"Not safe for me?" He's helped her once, and already he's acting like he's never endangered her before!

"I'm assuming it'd be pretty bad for us if you died, wouldn't it?" He asks, ignoring her question.

"Obviously," says Glass.

"OK," he glances around the bar full of edgy Skaikru people, then takes her hand in his. "Then we need to get out of here."

He takes her out of the bar, back into the hallway. She squints at the return of the harsh lighting, and lets him take her to a more secluded part of the Ark. When he stops walking, just before releasing her, Glass looks into his eyes.

For a dizzy, stupid moment, she remembers when he held her at the tip of a knife. When she kissed him.

They still exchange looks of contempt. Enemies, wholly and utterly.

"I assume you weren't actually trying to kill me," says Murphy.

Glass makes a face at him. "What made you decide that?"

"I'm still alive."

She can't stop herself from meeting his gaze again, even when something dark sparks, dangerous and deadly as a bomb.