entrancelogs | in the morning light [OPEN]

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Minato had made it sound so ordinary at first, so when he started talking about the end of the world and selling his soul, Martha thought she might fall over.

Instead she stared at him with wide eyes, her mouth slightly ajar and her whole face colored with concern.

"So what does that mean? You're doomed to guard it forever?" That sounded terribly lonely.

Minato shook his head. He was used to be lonely, except for his last year on earth when he was reminded again what it was like not to be lonely.

"Not forever, only until feelings of despair, hopelessness, and longing for death disappear."

So that did seem like forever. Minato found himself wondering sometimes if he would've felt those feelings more strongly had things been different. But then he smiled a bit and thought he should offer another solution.

"... Or until Souji saves me."

"Are those your feelings? Or someone else's?" Maybe it was the feelings that were hidden behind that door that were threatening mankind. It sounded a bit strange to her, that feelings alone could cause so much danger, but she'd heard stranger things.

She glanced over at the mention of Souji, mirroring Minato's smile. "Right, you said that he's from your future. Maybe he can find you."

Not that they had figured out a way to preserve memories, but it was still something to keep in mind on the off chance that they did eventually crack that mystery.

"A long time ago, I did." Minato was honest about that, and it was actually the first time he had admitted something like that out loud. "But everyone has or had them at some point."

And then when everyone had them all collectively and so intensely, that's when the world would seemingly collapse in on itself. But Minato didn't have to worry about that kind of thing here. Most everyone here was determined to go home and live their normal lives as they should rightfully so.

"It'd be nice." But it was okay if Souji didn't either. "Do you have someone from your future here too?"

It was true, everyone had low points in their life, times when things felt like they were never going to get better. Martha had always been a rather happy person, but even she'd struggled with depression a time or two, usually brought on by stress.

At that question, Martha smiled and shook her head. "No, not at the moment. There was a time when there were people here from my future, but they've left."

Amy, Clara, and the regenerated version of the Doctor had all been from Martha's future, and while she'd heard bits and pieces of what that future held, she hadn't wanted to overdo it. Spoilers and all that. "There is someone from my past here, though," she added.

"Oh, can I ask who that is?" Minato might've had a guess as to who it was, but he didn't want to outright assume. Lots of people had more than one person arrive from the same home world.

"And have you ever gone home this time around, only to come back?"

Minato wondered what else it would be like to have people from the future come and tell someone from the past about what they will experience or what will happen. Wouldn't that sometimes make someone want to stay here?

"He goes by the Doctor! He's very excitable and rather hard to miss, so you may have come across him already." Martha couldn't even keep track of everything that he got up to, but she could only imagine he was making loads of friends. That was his way. If it were up to him, he'd probably take half of Wonderland on adventures with him in the TARDIS.

Which, to be fair, sounded like quite a bit of fun, especially when compared to this place.

"And no, I've never gone home period." Sometimes she wondered if that would make this place a little easier to bear, if she had some sort of break. On the other hand, it might only make it more frustrating, to know that home was so easy to return to and yet she could never make it there herself.

Minato smiled, happy that he knew someone that she knew too. "Mn, I've met him. He's nice." He was more than just nice, but Minato thought that that should've summed up enough too about how he felt about the Doctor. He did agree though that he really was excitable and full of energy on top of that.

Not going home did seem to make things easier too since people who had been here for so long remembered their entire stay here. It was the memories of home that got taken away instead.

"I think that's okay. The hard part is seeing people come and go though."

Nice didn't rank too highly on the list of words Martha would use to describe the Doctor. He could be outright mean and rude on top of it, if he wanted to, but he had a good heart and that was what stood out in the end. "Nice" was such a mundane word, though, and the Doctor stood for so much more than that, at least to her.

Hero worship was a thing of the past, Martha would admit that, but he still counted as a dear friend. Someone she'd lay her life down for, if the need was there.

"Hmm, it is difficult," she said on the topic of people leaving and returning and leaving all over again. "I don't really like the idea of Wonderland mucking with someone's memories that much. But then there's the other way, when someone leaves and never comes back, and you're not sure you'll ever get the chance to see them again." Like Aerith. Like Ruby.

Not that Martha wanted to dwell on something so upsetting. "Anyway! That's beside the point, isn't it? Did you want to start your lessons now, or come by another time?"

Minato nodded, and didn't mind switching over to something more positive. He was glad that she hadn't minded either starting so soon.

"If now isn't a problem, then now is okay."

He had time, save for during events like everyone else, and he hoped he could spend that time in the best way possible.

"Of course. We can just go over general clinic protocol as a starter lesson."

Strange, that she was actually reaching a point where she was used to teaching like this. Martha had been so uncertain about it at first, but it seemed to have worked out so far.

She stood up from her desk so that she could take him around the clinic to explain everything and show him where all the supplies went.

Minato followed Martha around the clinic, taking in everything that she was telling him. The clinic wasn't too hard in itself to learn. He just had to keep in mind that supplies needed to be restocked and the clinic itself should be neat and tidy and of course, clean.

He couldn't let her down, and he did want to be helpful in any way that he could be. He hoped too that should she need it that he could help her in return.

in the morning light [OPEN]

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Did you want to handwave / fade to black from here?

Sure! That works for me, thanks!