At first it was just Octavia. She'd climbed into the tent Clarke shared with two other girls and sat cross legged on the floor beside her. Clarke would have feigned sleep if she hadn't been reading when O came in and instead pushed herself up from the uncomfortable bed on the floor and smiled welcomingly, if a little falsely.
"I'm bored"
"Where's Jasper and Monty, or Bellamy?" Clarke yawned, hoping the only slightly younger girl would take the hint and shove off.
"Jasper and Monty are making moonshine and Bellamy's no fun anymore, he's always stressed out, peering over the wall for Grounders"
"Well it's late Octavia, maybe you should get some sleep, who knows what tomorrow has in store for us"
Octavia huffed grumpily but made no move to leave, stubborn, Clarke thought, like her brother.
"What are you reading?"
Clarke reached for the book and held it up, hoping Octavia could see it under the stream of moonlight she'd been reading under and giving up on a peaceful night alone.
"I found it in the Bunker with the guns"
They had a library on the Ark but it was mostly filled with factual books about history or engineering, only making room for the information they thought could serve the future of their people, in other words, no room for fiction. Of course people told stories but they were limited too, with only a small pool of inspiration to draw from. Clarke had heard a lot of stories set on space ships and only a few misguided tales of Earth which was why she loved History so much, the Vikings, the Egyptians, the Romanovs and the Borgias; true stories with the blood and sex and intrigue of fiction.
Not that she didn't like the lighter stuff which was exactly what had drawn her to her current read; Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The illustration on the cover of a young girl in strange clothes looking up at a surreal smiling cat in a tree had caught her eye, making her smile in that way you smile at things you don't understand but want to know more about. Half way through she was pleased with her decision to bring it back to camp, full of wondrous, unreal characters and situations and riddles and rhymes and nonsense, that was it, complete and utter nonsense, nothing like the stress and anxiety of her day to day life.
"You can have it when I'm done"
"Oh… thanks, maybe Bellamy will read it to me" Octavia looked suddenly uncomfortable, a look Clarke didn't think quite suited her.
"Can't you… oh"
"I couldn't spend too much time out of the hole in the floor Clarke, let alone have our neighbours overhear Bellamy or my mom teaching someone to read, besides I guess they thought I wouldn't ever need to, staying in that room."
Clarke liked Octavia, probably more than anyone else in the 100, even Finn, though she guessed she liked him in a different way. Octavia was brave and curious and kind and now Clarke felt venom building up in her veins because the Ark had failed her while it pampered Clarke. She hadn't bothered to think about it but she was thinking about it now, about all of them, children abandoned by their own people, called criminals and sent to Earth to die. She wonders how many couldn't read or write, how many sat neglected while she and Wells and all her friends from the Ark enjoyed the library and the rec room and free run of the hallways.
"Well…" started Clarke, aware of Octavia's needless embarrassment and all too willing to change the subject.
"Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank and of having nothing to do"
At first it was just Octavia but a few chapters in and Clarke grew aware of the other girls in the tent sitting up and listening intently. When morning had come and sunlight shone through the sheer tent material they'd whined as she closed the book, using a picture she'd drawn of Wells to keep her place.
"I'll carry on tonight if you like" she said and it appeased them till the sun went back down and they'd hurried to her tent, now followed by Jasper and Monty who were happy to miss the beginning of the story if only for some entertainment now.
Booze and sex was all very well, the occasional death was keeping everyone on their toes but it takes a story to really capture the minds of youth, to inspire them and enthral them, Clarke supposed that was all Bellamy's speeches really were, stories he told of the future they could obtain if they're courageous and stick together.
They burned through Alice in Wonderland in a couple of days and the group of quiet, intent listeners grew until the tent was cramped full of glistening eyes and awestruck faces, teens falling asleep on each other to the sound of her warm voice talking nonsense.
Bellamy had stuck his head through the flap of her tent once after a head count had revealed over fifteen people missing including her and his sister but he'd missed the story, getting an eyeful of what he assumed was a mass orgy until he'd spotted Clarke and realised it must have been something much less fun and much more geeky.
Shortly after that the story sessions moved to the fire outside and practically the whole camp had joined them for any story they could scrounge up. Clarke had suggested, two hours into an almost destroyed paperback about little people with furry feet and bottomless pits for stomachs, that someone else continue from there whilst she gave her vocal chords a rest but was soon forced into carrying on, realising it wasn't just the book they enjoyed but her presence amongst the group and calming tone too.
"Later on he will understand how some men so loved her, that they did dare much for her sake." Clarke finished the last line of a book she rather enjoyed and decided she would read again on her own when she could really let the words resonate her without an audience, an audience that had only heard three chapters today and looked at her wantonly now, like she was made of ice cream and they were starving children.
That was the sixth book she'd read to them and the last book they had despite Octavia's attempts to convince Bellamy a scouting trip for literature was a worthwhile venture, dragging a rumbling laugh out of his chest that continued as he walked away to his tent.
"Sorry guys, that's it."
"Read the blue one again, I was guarding the wall for the middle bit" said Miller as she rubbed her eyes and tried to hide the grin forming at her lips because she was done, out of resources to do the job they'd forced on her on top of being their doctor and co-leader. It was honestly exhausting and she was starting to sound like a whiskey drinking old man with all the work she'd put her throat through.
"Alright kids that's enough now, leave mom alone" said Bellamy from behind her and a few laughs filtered out as the group got up and scattered.
"Thanks"
"It's ridiculous, tiring you out all day so you're too tired at night when I need you"
She quirked an eyebrow at his choice of words and he hung his head smiling, realising his mistake.
"We, when we need you"
"Nothing's happened in weeks. I'll trade blood and guts for mouldy pages and a sore throat"
"And if Grounders stormed the wall now? Half the camp would be drowsy and placated and you'd be half asleep, nursing your vocal chords"
Bellamy never actively showed up for story time but he was always around, standing guard nearby with his eyes trained on Clarke and his ears pricked up, listening to the way she put on gruff voices for the villains dialogue and strong, capable, leader voices for the girl characters. He even smiled from time to time when she'd get tongue tied and flustered and have to start a sentence over, in fact he lived for those moments, when she wasn't completely composed.
"Well we're out of material now anyway so you can relax" she shrugged as they walked side by side to her tent and stopped outside.
"You don't know Octavia like I do Wendy, it won't be that easy to get rid of her" he smirked and started to turn away when he caught a glimpse of her frown and she spoke up.
"Erm… you need to be more careful Blake, start getting girls names mixed up and you'll be in trouble"
She felt stung; amazed that he could confuse her with someone else, after everything-
"Wendy Darling" he replied with a grin and a knowing look, her pain evident on her pouting lips and furrowed brow.
"Yeah… still Clarke Griffin"
"It's a book Princess, thought you were well read"
She smiles relieved and he moves to turn away again when she catches his arm.
"Wait a minute, you're not going to tell me what book?"
"It's more of a play really, about a girl who tells stories to lost boys, just reminded me of it, all sitting around the fire, I don't know-"
"Sounds boring" she deadpans and shrugs one shoulder, unimpressed.
"Well there's also a magical land, a flying boy who never grows up and pirates… oh and fairies." Bellamy nods his head as he ticks of the plot points, finally rousing Clarke's attention.
"You'll have to tell it sometime, keep the lost boys entertained"
"And girls" he replies catching his thumb under her chin and shaking her head a little in a brotherly gesture she would have liked if she wasn't so eager for something more… physical.