in the morning light [OPEN]

[selfrespecting]

Who: Martha Jones and OPEN.
Where: The grounds, near the gardens. (Also the clinic!)
When: 4/14 - 4/18
Rating: PG
Summary: Martha's determined to stay fit and be more prepared for any future dangers. The answer to that? T'ai chi.
The Story:
It's not that Martha's meant to slack off on her morning exercises. It's just that sometimes she has to work and ends up too lazy to get out of bed early enough to exercise before her shift. Either that, or there's an event that comes around and completely distracts her and throws her off of her routine.

Since February there haven't been any serious dangers that have hit the mansion, but that only makes her more convinced that something's coming, and soon. She's already given up one death out of five now, and she doesn't intend to let her life slip away from her again.

T'ai chi is more of a defensive form of martial arts, but it's a place to start, at least -- and with help from Blake, she's gotten decent at it. So each morning on this particular week, Martha forces herself out into the dewy mornings to train her body. She usually picks a spot out on the fields, not too far away from the gardens. It's also a way of clearing her mind, a meditation of sorts, and she finds that it puts her in a good place for the rest of the day.

Does she need to learn some actual offensive methods too? Most likely. But she hasn't quite worked herself up to ask around for that yet.

Later on in the day, Martha can be found in the clinic, as usual. She's just gone out of her way to make her shifts the afternoon ones, at least for this week, so that she can become more serious about her own training. Wonderland offers plenty of free time and she would rather make the most of it.

Comments

[selfrespecting]

Martha spots Alphonse taking a lap as she's going through her own regimen, though she isn't expecting him to stop. When he starts to walk over, she also abandons her movements, loosening up and glancing over with a smile.

"Good morning, Alphonse. It's called t'ai chi. Do you know John Blake? He's the one who taught me."

There had also been a spirit dream journey involved, but she doesn't mention that. The whole thing is rather confusing and she's not sure how she'd put it into words.

[seekingbrother]

"Yeah, I do! He's friends with Brother, Greed, and I." Al nods approvingly. "It looks really fluid, very good for defense."

[selfrespecting]

Martha's not too surprised to see that Blake's gone and made plenty of friends, despite his somewhat quiet nature. He'd reached out to her, after all.

She nods, though, Alphonse's words describing the principles behind t'ai chi rather concisely. "Do you know a lot about martial arts?"

[seekingbrother]

Al nods with a grin. "Yup! Mine and Brother's teacher taught us how to fight along with alchemy. It's not any particular school of martial arts, but it's works well enough for us."

[selfrespecting]

Martha doesn't think that it needs to fit into a particular school. If anything, it's a relief to realize that between his alchemy and his fighting skills, Alphonse can take care of himself rather well.

"Guess it's a little different trying to use that sort of thing on monsters, though..." Martial arts is designed for use against other humans, whereas something with four legs strikes her as a lot more daunting. She's not sure how she'll handle it the next time something deadly and snarling invades the mansion, which is why she's fairly certain that t'ai chi isn't going to cut it.

[seekingbrother]

"Yeah, I had to innovate a bit when we were trapped in those caves during an event. I know Brother's fought plenty of chimera before, but I don't remember it myself." He rubs his arm then, remembering a rather nasty bite he took. "I wonder if there's anyone that can shapeshift here, so you could practice using the momentum of a charge to throw a creature like that."

[selfrespecting]

Oh, Martha remembers those caves. That had not been a fun few days, and she'd gotten a gash down her side while fighting off one of those monsters. "I just grabbed a pick axe and swung it around at anything that got too close to me," she admits sheepishly.

She's really got to work on her form and develop her self defense skills. T'ai chi is just one step toward that.

At the idea of someone shapeshifting, Martha frowns and thinks it over. The only thing that comes to mind is a werewolf, but that's during the full moon only and werewolves don't exactly have control over themselves. Besides, Ruby is long gone, though Martha's heard rumors of others being here. She doesn't know any of them personally, though.

"I'm not sure. I'd have to ask around, and it seems like that might be a touchy subject. I'll keep an eye out, though." Because it's not the worst idea, if Martha finds a set of circumstances that are safe enough.

[seekingbrother]

"I think I just got stuck with an old shovel or something," Al admits with a faint grin. "Better than nothing, though." And freaky dogs are better than zombies any day of the week. Ugh.

"Mmm, but if it comes up..." Al shrugs. "It's a thought at least. I could help you with practice against a human attacker, though? Unless Blake is already doing practice sessions like that with you." He doesn't want to go stepping on toes, after all.

[selfrespecting]

The important thing is that both of them made it out alive. Or so Martha hopes, she doesn't actually know what Alphonse went through in those caves and she's not about to go prying either.

The offer surprises her, but she would feel strange taking lessons from someone so young. Not because she doesn't trust him or find him competent, but because hitting a teenager, even a well-trained one, rubs her the wrong way.

"I haven't brought it up with him yet, but I've been thinking about it. Not sure who I want to be my teacher, I've got to figure that out." She smiles, a bit uncertain, and shrugs her shoulders. "This is all sort of new to me, so I suppose I'm dragging my feet a bit."

The Year That Never Was had given her some experience, but mainly with stealth, tracking, and infiltration. She hadn't had to do much hand-to-hand, or even much shooting.

[seekingbrother]

Al chuckles a bit. "I can understand that. Brother and I didn't much like having to learn how to fight as first, either."

[selfrespecting]

"Then how did you move past that? It seems like you must have learned awfully young." Martha's still trying to wrap her head around the idea of harming someone else, someone who she should be stitching up rather than wounding. She plans to mainly use her skills on monsters, yes, but there's no denying that humans can be just as dangerous.

[seekingbrother]

He shrugs. "Teacher always said you need to train the body to train the mind, so we wound up looking at it as a weird sort of exercise. And Brother getting competitive when I got better than he did kind of helped," Al adds with a grin. Certainly Izumi had been adept at showing physically the concepts she was teaching the boys, and it had been a good outlet for their youthful energy as well. Goodness knows they would have been even more notorious trouble-makers around Dublith without that to keep them occupied.

[selfrespecting]

It must have helped to have a sparring partner that he felt so comfortable with. Martha wonders if she should look for one herself, though she's not sure who she would even pick. The idea of accidentally punching one of her friends too hard just makes her upset.

"Hmm, well, guess I'll have to see if I can find someone suitable to train with." It's clear that she's reluctant and dragging her feet over it, but the idea is stuck in her head now, which is something.

[seekingbrother]

Al notices that reluctance, having seen a similar sort so many times in Edward, and crosses his arms with an amused smile. "Well, I just offered, and if I know Blake at all I know he'd be happy to help you, too! Al you have to do is ask."

It's a little weird to be the child half-lecturing an adult, especially one as responsible (and awesome) as Martha is, but if she's serious about it she shouldn't try to make excuses.

[selfrespecting]

"You're right," Martha replies with a nod. "And I know. Everyone here is extremely helpful. Just got to take the plunge, don't I?"

It's nothing she doesn't already know, but that little extra push is certainly of help to her. Martha's never been one to shy away from things, but this is a little bit different. "Thank you, Alphonse," she says, reaching out to set a hand on his shoulder.

[seekingbrother]

Al nods with an understanding smile. "Uh-huh. I know it's a little scary, but you'll do fine."

He fairly beams at her thanks, his smile growing wider. "It's no problem! I'm always happy to help my friends."

[selfrespecting]

"I think I'm going to get back to my workout, unless there was anything else you wanted to ask?" Martha doesn't want to make Alphonse feel as if he isn't wanted, but she also doesn't want to cut things short when she was just getting into the groove of things.

Granted, he should know that he can swing by the clinic any time that he wants to chat.

[seekingbrother]

Al shakes his head, understanding perfectly. "No, not really. I've got my run to get back to, anyway. I'll see you later!" He waves and turns to jog off again--he'd like to stay and watch her go through the forms, but he can always ask her to show him later.