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Who: Clara Oswald & ? (Open to anyone and everyone!)
Where: Staircase, The Library, & The Gardens
When: an afternoon early in the week.
Rating: G/PG - don't see there being any need for warnings
Summary: Clara's curiosity and boredom leads to a lot of note taking and "experiments".
The Story:

Clara's been here about a week now, and in that time she's quickly become bored. The newness of exploring leaves her with more questions and not enough answers, and that just doesn't sit right with her at all. She tries behaving herself and keeps to the library quite often. But after a week of so many books and not enough action, she's restless. Usually that would lead to her doing something that gets her into trouble. But in this place, she's left with a lot of note taking about everything she sees and playing around with random things she pulls from her closet.

Today sees Clara sitting atop the staircase that leads from the first to second floor. With her new favorite book placed upon her lap she watches a Slinky slowly wobble it's way down the steps. When it finally reaches bottom, she watches with great disappointment as it doesn't pick itself and go back up the steps. She's still of the assumption that things can go both up and down since this is Wonderland, and with a frown she opens her book to write down that no, regular gravity and rules of physics seem to still be in effect. Things don't just animate themselves and make absolutely no sense, much to her disappointment.

Midday has her sitting in the library with her favorite book of 10,000 Planets to See sitting before her. She's drawn a small map and a list on the blank front page, and is spending some time crossing out the names of rooms she's discovered. Despite having crossed out most of the words, there are check marks by some, question marks by others, and little x's next to the majority. She seems to be looking for something, trying to cross out locations as if she was playing a lengthy game of mystery detective. It's time consuming and doesn't exactly help her boredom, but it's good to have something to focus on for an hour or so.

Late in the afternoon she finds herself out in the gardens, with a variety of leaves sitting out before her. It's a lovely day, far too perfect to spend her time cooped up indoors. So she organizes this stack of leaves outside, holding them up to a page on her book one at a time. She separates them into two piles as she goes through each one. The reject pile is clear, they're a messy stack of skinny and razor sharp leaves. The second pile of bigger leaves is stacked much nicer, and is kept closer to her. They're the ones she's most interested in. She's itching for an adventure or action of some kind, but this is important to get done. The sooner she finds a leaf that's close to her original one, the sooner she can have a new first page in her new book. It will never replace the one she's lost, but she thinks it will be a good symbol of a fresh start. So she stays focused on the task for hours, only stopping occasionally to fall back and stare up at nothing in particular.

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As social as Martha likes to be most of the time, there are instances where she has to admit that some alone time is needed. It's not all that often, but she spends much of her time here in Wonderland having conversations with other people, whether it's getting to know someone better or because she's treating them in the clinic.

So she heads for the library for a bit of quiet time, and because there's something therapeutic about reading a good novel or flipping through a medical text. (What? She has to stay sharp with her medical knowledge somehow.)

Her intention hadn't even been to find a fellow companion, but when she sees Clara sitting at a large table with a book set in front of her, working diligently at something, Martha can't help but move toward her. She hasn't actually seen Clara in person until now, so it's nice to confirm that she's really here.

Martha quietly takes a seat next to her and smiles. "Hello there. Nice to see you face-to-face. You've run into the Doctor already, I imaging." Martha's figuring that if she found him, then the rest of the companions probably did as well. It's nice to have him here, but Martha knows that if a few days have passed with him around and they're still not out of here, then getting home really is going to be a challenge.

She glances up and over at Martha, offering her new friend a bright smile. She's glad to finally see the other girl face to face, and she's even happier that Martha's arrival brings a distraction from tedious work. She sets her pencil aside and nods to show that yes, she's definitely run into the Doctor.

"He doesn't know who I am." She frowns, staring down at her handwriting in the book. "Timeline issues aren't ever fun."

Her pouting is short lived, at least, and with a shake of her head she's moving right along onto another subject. She doesn't see the point in moping over the fact her friendship with the Doctor has to start all over again in this place, because she's trying to think of it as an exciting new adventure and not something completely lonely horrifying. But since they're on the subject of the Doctor, she nods down toward the page she's working on.

"We started looking for the TARDIS. I'm making a list of all the places I see, and put an x wherever it isn't."

She thinks that her plan is a bit ridiculous and entirely time consuming, but she doesn't know what other choice they have, with the Doctor being just about as clueless as the rest of them. All that she can do at this point is hunt and hunt, and eliminate places by trial and error.

Oh, no. Clara's come from even after the Doctor's own timeline? Martha hadn't expected that. It had just seemed like no matter what, the Doctor would be from the furthest along. And even though Clara's trying to brush it off, Martha can only imagine how it feels. If she'd run into the Doctor and he hadn't known her, she would have been hurt as well.

She knows that it's possible to start from the beginning, but Martha still feels for Clara. She's taking it in stride, though, which is admirable in its own right. More than that, she's hard at work trying to help him.

Martha leans over and scans the list briefly, raising an eyebrow as Clara explains what she's doing. "Process of elimination, is that it? Very thorough." It's more than she might have patience for, but Clara almost seems at home doing this.

"The problem is, it might not be here at all. The TARDIS, I mean." Martha feels guilty by opening up that possibility, but she and the Doctor had already talked that over as well. It's looking like it won't be as easy as just finding the time machine and loading everyone in.

"Getting that." Clara sighs sadly, shoving the book away. With a grimace, she flops her head forward, gently hitting it against the tabletop. So much is going on here, in between the Doctor not knowing her, and becoming increasingly restless, and not finding their big blue ticket out of there. She feels awful, and useless. But she knows that at least she's trying, which accounts for something.

"Even if it was here, he doesn't know where I fit into the scheme of things. I don't think he'd take me with the rest of you." But still, she knows she'll keep working to find the TARDIS, keep working to find it for them. It gives her something to do, and a reason to keep bothering the Doctor with questions and findings.

"So, process of elimination it is. For now." She nods over to the chair beside her, inviting Martha to join her.

Oh no. It looks like Martha's just taken the wind out of Clara's sails. Which isn't really what she meant to do, but realism is painful at times. She's got the clinic to keep her busy, but plenty of other people don't have that kind of outlet, so she doesn't think there's anything wrong with what Clara's doing.

"Of course he wouldn't leave you behind," Martha says, almost offended at the thought. She takes a seat next to Clara, as offered, and shakes her head before working to meet the other girl's eyes. "Listen to me, I'm sure you've already proved yourself to him. And if he wants to leave you behind, then I'll just drag you along with me. Got it?"

It gives her a strange idea of how the Doctor may have changed, if Clara would even think something like that to begin with. Maybe she's just frustrated that the Doctor doesn't remember her, but... no, he wouldn't leave her. Martha highly doubts that.

Clara feels ridiculous for having sulked over it at all, so she grins widely when Martha asserts that there's no way she'd ever be left behind. She leans over to bump up against the other woman, giving a soft laugh. "I'll hold you to that, Martha Jones."

Out of all the other companions here, she feels that she's bonded the best with Martha. And the fact that Martha wouldn't just let her be left behind means a great deal, since she's not sure some of the others would say the same. Actually, she's not sure that some of the others wouldn't be above shoving her right out the TARDIS door in the middle of space, now that she thinks about it.

"No, he wouldn't leave me. I know that, I just -"

What was she trying to do with that? She's honestly got no idea, apart from the fact her coping mechanisms could use some work. And the best way to cope with things that scare her, like being left behind and forgotten, is to act like she doesn't have a care in the world.

"Moping about doesn't suit me, does it." Her nose wrinkles and she shakes her head. The book she's previously shoved away is pulled back in close to her, and she closes it so that she can hug it close to her chest.

Martha doesn't mind if Clara holds her to it, because she meant every word. The two of them have only had one conversation, but Martha's gotten a good enough read on Clara to know that there's no reason for her to be left behind. The Doctor would never choose someone like that.

She doesn't think there's anything wrong with moping or having a moment of weakness, either. Martha's had plenty of her own. Sometimes she thinks back on how she behaved around the Doctor when she'd first met him and she cringes, because she'd cared for him so much and had hurt so badly as a result of it. She wonders if Clara's the same, if her feelings for the Doctor run deeper than friendship, but she doesn't think it's something she should ask.

"It's fine," she says. "You're allowed to. Just so long as you pick yourself back up again." As Martha offers a smile, she notices the book that Clara's holding onto. She'd spotted it when she'd seen Clara's original transmission as well. It seems to mean something to her, with the way that she's been carrying it around.

"Can I ask... what's that book you have there?" It must be something Clara found around the mansion, though that wouldn't explain why she's been treating it like it's something important.

Clara nods, and hands the book over to Martha. Inside are 10,000 different planets, with reasons to go see each one. Pictures of most all of them, too. The spine's well stretched out and at least half the pages are dogeared, ready for Clara to go back to look at later. She's only had the book a week, but it's definitely been well loved in their time together.

"It's the first thing I found here. It was just sitting on a library shelf, waiting for me to find it."

But that's not really what the book means to her, why it's so important. "Growing up, my mum had a book. It was 101 Places to See. She gave it to me when I was nine, and ever since then I've kept it with me and promised myself I'd go see all the places in that book."

Of course, she conveniently leaves out the part where her mother passed away and she hasn't gone to see any of the places because of university and then nannying. They aren't important to the story, not as much as what the book here means to her in the long run.

"Thought this one was a good replacement. Now I take all my notes in it. I keep track of just about everything in the cover and first blank page."

When the book's handed over, Martha takes it gently, the touch of a doctor who's used to handling people who are in pain coming into play because she can tell that the book is special. She sets it on the table and starts to page through it slowly. 10,000 different planets... it's this sort of thing that reminds her yet again of just how small she is. Even with all her time spent with the Doctor, she's only gone to a handful of these places.

But as Clara starts to explain about her past a bit, Martha makes sure to give her full attention. It sounds like Clara's had a need to travel ever since she was a child, a kind of wanderlust that the Doctor can so easily satisfy. Every companion has their different reasons for agreeing to his terms, and Clara's is clear as day.

"It's quite the wishlist," she says. "There's a few places in there I wouldn't mind seeing, and I'm supposed to be done with all that." Martha shuts the book, not wanting to be too invasive, and hands it back.

There is something she's been wondering about since they first talked, though, and this seems like the perfect time to ask. "So how did you two meet in the first place?" She doesn't think she needs to specify who she's talking about.

Oh, there definitely doesn't need to be any specifying. Clara laughs a bit, because her story's really not all that great compared to Donna's. She's thinking that Martha's is probably better than hers too.

"He just showed up one day. Showed up, and acted like he knew me. I think he figured I'd know him. That's probably why he was so surprised when he got the door slammed in his face." That had been weird. The whole day she met him was weird, but especially that first encounter. Now that she thinks about it, it's really really odd. But that's just the Doctor for you.

"Saved me from being uploaded to a computer system. Twice. I helped a bit." She slides in that last part because otherwise it makes her sound increasingly pathetic, and like an incompetent child that needs the Doctor to rescue her from things like computers.

"He stayed outside my window and guarded me, then asked me to come along when it was all said and done. I told him to come back the next day, there wasn't any way I was just gonna run off with a guy in some box."

It's that that this isn't the sort of story that Martha had expected. The Doctor usually runs into people by chance, from what Martha understands, so him treating Clara like he already knew her is... odd. Unless he handles things differently after his regeneration. Martha doesn't know how he met Amy, after all, so she might have to ask about that when she has the chance.

And it's not like she can even discuss Clara with the Doctor, since he's from a point before he's met her. Which just makes it an odd question mark in her mind that she'll have to do her best to set aside.

The bit about the computers sounds about right, though. Martha's been involved in bizarre situations like that enough times to recognize when the Doctor's stamp is all over something.

As Clara finishes her explanation, Martha laughs. "Well, that was rather mature of you... taking a night to sleep on it." She knows just how difficult it is to say no to the Doctor when he gets all excited about inviting you along. "I was only supposed to get a trip out of him, you know. It was a favor for me helping him with something that went wrong, but in the end he asked me to come along more permanently." Nothing's ever permanent, though.

She realizes something at that point, that perhaps Martha is taken from a time that's after her travels with the Doctor. She thinks back to their first conversation, but can't recall specific details on whether or not she asked. She glances up at Martha out of the corner of her eye, trying to be sneaky about watching the other woman's face.

"Are you still with him right before you woke up here?"

There's a very hesitant delay in her next question being asked, because she thinks of Amy and Rose and how they didn't really seem to take well to the idea of not being with him anymore. She doubts Martha will be the same way, but you never know when you get a man like the Doctor involved. He really does have to stop luring young women in and stealing their hearts. It just isn't fair.

"The other girls, some of them think they'll be with him forever. Really, actually forever."

Martha hadn't realized that she hadn't made it clear before that her time with the Doctor is over at this point. Then again, it seems like most of them have been taken in the middle of their time with him, Rose included. Donna's a trickier one, because Martha still doesn't know what happens to her, and she doesn't know if the Doctor will ever tell her.

Because Donna is one of those people who told her that she planned to travel with him forever. Martha had tried to warn her that it doesn't work that way, that nothing in real life is actually like a fairy tale, but it's hard to get through to someone when they're in the midst of their travels with him.

She knows that well. The Doctor stole her heart, after all -- hook, line, and sinker.

"I know," she says after a too-long pause. "It's easy to think that way, I suppose. I don't think I ever planned for that. I think I always knew... there'd be a time when I couldn't travel with him anymore." She lifts her head, glances over at Clara and smiles sadly.

"By this time, I've already broken things off. Donna's been traveling with him since then, though I've gone on a few trips with them." Which hadn't been planned, but these things happen. Martha's still willing to help the Doctor from time to time -- it's the running off with him and leaving everyone else behind thing that she can't do.

Clara thinks that Martha's got a good head on her shoulders, probably the best out of all of them. Realistically, she knows that her time with the Doctor is limited. Eventually, her travels are going to have to end. It's going to either be the Maitlands, aging, or injury, or maybe even death. Something is eventually going to give, and she's going to have to go from the stars and back to the real world. She thinks that's why she makes sure to only schedule time with the Doctor once or twice a week, on her days off from nannying. It keeps her real life anchored to being a top notch adventurer.

"Do you miss it?" She wonders, not able to look up and over at Martha.

She thinks on some level, she's already formed an attachment that will be hard to completely sever. Even with the level of distance she keeps between her personal life and her Doctor life, she knows that giving up traveling in the TARDIS is going to be hard to one day do.

"He takes us to all these places, shows us all these things. And then something clips our wings and we're cut off from all that. It doesn't seem fair."

It's a question she's been asked before, by a number of different people, but Martha doesn't mind. It's the natural thing to be curious about.

"Well, for one thing... I clipped my own wings. It was my choice." That's how Martha had wanted it to be. The Doctor would have let her keep coming along for who knows how long, but she had known it was time. After everything with the Master and The Year That Never Was, after what her family went through because of her -- not to mention that hanging on for the sake of feelings that wouldn't be returned just hadn't made any sense.

"I do still miss it sometimes, though. Every now and then. It's hard not to. And it's nice to see him again, when our paths happen to cross" -- like they have here -- "but I think it's better to leave it at that."

She's willing to explain her reasoning if Clara ends up being that curious about it, but she doesn't want to dump it all on her either. Martha imagines that Clara's still toward the beginning stages of her time with the Doctor, when everything still seems perfect and it feels like it will never end. She doesn't want to bring that mood down with stories about the horrors she went through as a result of knowing him.

Clara nods, definitely getting all that. She definitely likes the idea of keeping a good head on her shoulders, in not getting too caught up in her travels with the Doctor. She realizes just how easy it is to get caught up in him and his life, to want to become an important part of his story. But Martha's a good example, someone to look to for how things should be. The Maitlands and her father, they're the ones she's got to always go back for. Without them, she wouldn't be who she is today. She can't just up and leave them for a life of adventure, no matter how much traveling calls to her.

"I can't leave the people I care about behind. Not for long. They're the reason I can't let myself have wings for too long." She smiles over in Martha's direction, glad to have someone here who really understands things on a deeper level than any of the others. All of the Doctor's other friends are lovely, but she really feels a connection with this one, especially in this moment.

"I was doing okay. I mean, before I woke up here, I was doing okay. I went with him, saw things I never thought would be possible, and it went okay. So I guess I'm happy about that. But being here's made me realize I need to do better than that. Just okay's not enough." She needs to be brilliant, she needs to be more than just a traveling companion. And just maybe, once she gets home, she'll figure out a way to be seen as more than just a nanny.

From the sound of it, Clara also has people relying on her back home. Martha isn't surprised to hear it, as it's rather hard to get through the world without some close attachments. And if Clara is a nanny, then that already speaks to her caring nature. The thing is, fighting to be an important part of the Doctor's life doesn't make much sense, not when they're all important from the start. Each one of them means the world to him, Martha's sure of that. Even if he moves on without them, that's just how he operates.

It's a relief to come across someone who seems to understand things in the same way that Martha does. Not that she begrudges Rose or Donna for their approach to things, because everyone comes from a different background and has their own set of problems to work out. But she and Clara are definitely on the same wavelength.

But then Clara starts in on something else, something that causes Martha to straighten in her seat and raise an eyebrow at her. "That's not true, though. I'm sure of it. If you're traveling with him, then that means you're already brilliant. You shouldn't worry about proving yourself or whatever you might think it is, because you already have." Martha reaches out and carefully sets her hand on Clara's shoulder. "Don't get caught up in thoughts like that, or they'll drive you mad." How many times had she thought that she wasn't good enough, that she was only second best? And it hadn't done her a lick of good.

She's not sure that Martha understands fully what she means, which is easy to do given that she doesn't necessarily speak out loud everything that's on her mind. "Oh, proving myself is nice and all, but I need to make sure I've got a future, something that makes me me."

Even with those words, it's not quite fully what's on her mind. After meeting the others, she knows that she's got to have something to figure out who she is as a person. Something more than just someone that's finished university, the Maitland's nanny, the Doctor's friend. She's still trying to figure out who she is, trying to understand her importance in the scheme of things. It's all still a mystery to her, but maybe she can figure it all out while she's staying here.

"You're a doctor, can't get much more important or needed than that. No matter what else, you'll always have that title to identify you." She tries again to make more sense, to get out her jumbled thoughts into something a bit less to do with the Doctor and more to do with her identity at its very core. But it's such a serious subject, something Martha doesn't have to sit through, so she just jumps into seeming lighthearted and over all of it entirely.

She glances over at her book, and taps at it with her index finger. "Suppose a title like Master Class Adventurer Slash Traveler might have a nice ring to it. Oh! I could be just like... oh, what's his name... Ah! Right, Indiana Jones. Clara Oswald would look amazing in that hat. Whip too, now that I think about it."

For a moment there, Clara shows a deeper concern, something that seems like it might have been eating her. No, this isn't just about proving herself, it's about defining herself. Finding out who she is, and how she figures into the world. That's one thing that Martha's never struggled with. Even before she met the Doctor, she had a plan for what she was going to do. While meeting him has shifted that around, it had been there from the start.

Important, needed -- those are words that Martha has never really attributed to herself. Not that she doesn't believe what Clara is saying, but she's never thought of it that way. She simply focused on what she had wanted to do, and that was help people.

Before Martha can try to formulate some words of wisdom for Clara (and honestly, what good would she be at that? But she'd wanted to try), Clara flips the subject around, turning it into more of a joke.

"I think you might pull it off better than Harrison Ford, given the chance," she responds with a playful smile. "But... I honestly don't think that's a bad title to have. Traveler, explorer, you want to find new things, make discoveries, is that right?" Martha nods down to Clara's book. All those planets, and there are so many more out there. So many secrets to unearth, and with the help of the Doctor Clara's got access to all of it. Is that not defining enough? Martha's not sure, because she don't know Clara well enough yet to know where all of this is coming from.

"Maybe not." Clara concedes, giving a short little bob of her head. "I just want to make a difference someday. That's all. Which would be really okay, maybe. If this were Mary Poppins."

She supposes her problem is she feels like she's always drifting, even more so when she travels and sees new things. She never knows quite where she belongs or where her place is. She knows that one day she'll be like that leaf that ensured her parents got together, the most important leaf in the whole universe, and she'll find a place to stop and settle. Somewhere to smack right into, a place that just fits. It just feels like being stuck in Wonderland makes her think too much on this subject. She's glad that Martha understands and is able to play right along into it, though.

So she gives Martha a smile, something that appears far more confident and sure of herself than she really is. "Sorry, dunno why I launched into all that. Guess sometimes you just get a thought in your head and it expands before you have a chance to realize what's happening." She thinks that happens to the Doctor frequently, actually. Too many small thoughts explode into huge, long, rambling ones that leave the person he's speaking to feeling like they hardly have a chance of keeping up.

"Thank you, Martha. For...well, being you."

"Now, now, there's no reason to be down on Mary Poppins," Martha says. It's clearly meant as a joke, though. While she'd been awfully fond of the movie as a child, she can understand what Clara's saying. It's easy to feel like you aren't doing enough, like you haven't quite reached that level of being successful and having a job or a position that means something. It's why becoming a doctor had come so naturally to her, because it means that she never feels as if she's irrelevant in a situation.

There's no need for Clara to apologize as far as Martha's concerned, and so she shakes her head vehemently in response to that. "Don't even fret. I'm more than happy to lend an ear." And it also means that if there's ever a time when Martha has something she needs to get off her chest, Clara will probably be there to listen.

They've only had two conversations so far, but Martha is quick to make friends when she clicks with someone and she feels like Clara is someone she can really understand and connect with. Probably because they've both been through similar experiences, and they both have a desire to help people.

"You're very welcome," she says in reply to Clara's offer of thanks. "It's really no problem. And if you need help with any of your projects here, you know where to find me, yeah?"

Clara nods, knowing very well that Martha is one of the first people she'll go to when she needs help with something. "The same goes for you." And she means it, she doesn't know how much help she can really be, but she's always willing to give it a try.

She still feels quite foolish, for getting so much off her chest, and in the middle of the library. It's childish of her, something she hasn't done since she was a teenager. But she supposes that Martha puts her at ease enough that it feels genuine and alright, and not at all the same as talking to someone like her father or the Doctor. It just comes easier, and doesn't feel like anything's expected of her once it's out there in the open.

"Have you spoken to him recently? The Doctor." She's all too eager to completely change the subject, and figures that's a good topic to go over. He needs people to watch over him and make sure he doesn't blow everyone up, she's convinced of it.

It's really no surprise that the subject has changed back to this. The Doctor is someone who's hard to forget, especially considering the fact that Clara's from a point in time where she's currently traveling with him.

Martha has to shake her head, though, because she hasn't been spending as much time with him as she would have expected. It's not that it has anything to do with his change in appearance and demeanor, but more that this place is large and she's got her own responsibilities, so finding the time and opportunity to chat is easier said than done.

"I've only spoken to him once so far. I ran into him shortly after he arrived and showed him around a bit," she explains. It's probably not the best idea to leave him to his own devices for so long, but Martha also suspects that between her, Rose, Clara, and Donna, he's got more than enough people to keep him out of trouble.

"I think he's busy turning his room into various stages of mayhem." Which means, as far as Clara's concerned, that he's safe enough. There've been no explosions or accidents...that she knows of. So she's doing a decent job watching out for him. But with the others here, she's curious as to how often they see the Doctor, how involved they are in keeping track of him. She's glad to hear that Martha has seen him at least once, though. It makes things feel less awkward somehow.

"Between all of us, he'll be just fine." She doesn't want to fully get into her worries about the Doctor being trapped in a place like this, without his TARDIS. She doesn't think that mundane life suits him, and that it will end up going very well at all.

With her book still clutched close to her, Clara moves to scoot her chair out and stand up. She's starting to feel a bit restless herself, and her legs could use a good stretch.

"I'm sure of it," Martha agrees, even though she has some of the same concerns about the Doctor. The two of them had been forced into a more-or-less "normal" life together once, when the Weeping Angels had sent them into the past. Martha had spent a few months working as a shop girl while the Doctor -- well, the Doctor hadn't known what to do with himself.

She's thankful that it had only been a few months, as that had been hard enough with the way that he'd carried on, turning the flat that they'd rented out into his own personal project. The thing is, the Doctor wasn't meant to stay in one place. Martha can only hope that Wonderland will be interesting enough (and change itself often enough) that it won't wear on him too much.

When Clara stands, Martha glances up, drawn right out of her thoughts. "You heading off, then?" She doesn't want to presume too much and ask to come along if Clara wants some time to herself.

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