Fight Club Time Again (I had requests for it)

[light_of_willpower]

Who: Trunks Brief (light_of_willpower) and you!
Where: Training Gym
When: Day 20
What: The Usual Fight club training. Where people come to spar and practice and learn with each other.
Warnings: Occasional language and violence? Also guns/firearms.

This time Trunks didn't bother to announce the Fight Club over the ICP. Not beyond a short announcement of day and time. The Club was already mentioned in train literature and most people knew about it, or could find out easily.

So instead he did his usual set-up. Marking off an area safely for ranged weapons and fire-arms, ensuring practice weapons and mats were all available. Even making sure there were first aid kids and an 'off-limits' area just for safety. Then, he's there as usual--to supervise, but also to train just like everyone else.

OOC:general set up is 'Ranged area demarcated by cones' 'off limits/healing area demarcated by cones' and the rest of the space covered in mats with training dummies set up

Comments

[unrecovered]

Athena - the cat - jumps up onto Wash's shoulders as they start moving, catching a ride. Seriously, she wasn't scared. It's fine. Wash reaches a hand up to pet her as they walk.

You're no Rose doesn't mean a damn thing to him, and he tilts his head briefly - a substitute shrug while his shoulders are otherwise occupied. "Plenty of thorns, though." It's practiced self-deprecation and it comes easy.

He does relent a little when they enter the quiet car. "The first one has constellations in it." And the last one has flowers and is often occupied by Thanatos, and like hell does he want to deal with that mess right now. Might as well redirect.

[borntolove]

"...She was good at taking care of those." The Doctor seems to perk up at the idea of constellations in the car and upon entering, he realizes how much he's missed seeing the stars. He for sure, feels more at home, for the moment and more relaxed. But he also comes to the realization, of how everything, his Tardis, the stars, are all taken from him. The Train isn't so bad but it's not his Tardis. The Doctor makes himself comfortable and it becomes apparent, how his eyes seem to mirror the starry-filled cabin. Definitely, not human, along with the worn look on his face of having been through quite a lot. He is slowly, starting to come down. Ten is very glad, nothing more happened. He would have hated himself if it had.

[unrecovered]

...so either they're playing a really weird game of word association, or Rose was a person. Past tense. At least some of the pieces of this puzzle are starting to come together.

(He briefly wonders if Rose was killed by gun violence. It's a little too Occam's Razor for his liking, but it is a possible explanation.)

The constellations are simple - sharpie on the ceiling and walls of the car, painstakingly drawn, and accurate as far as Wash can tell - put up by someone who'd been a passenger and had long since left. It's nice, when you need a reminder that there's something out there that isn't the technicolor nightmare of the void.

He enters the booth after the Doctor, closing and locking the door behind them, before taking a seat across from the Doctor and settling in, Athena hopping down to sit next to him on the bench. For a few long seconds, he stays there, petting his cat and watching the Doctor. At least the Doctor looks like he's not about to bolt anymore, which is progress. Adrenaline's fading, probably. It'll be easier to talk soon enough.

(There's also something about him that suggests he's not human and simply wearing a human face. Wash isn't about to start digging there, though - if he's anything like Michael, it'll come up in conversation.)

(Then again, if the Doctor was anything like Michael, they wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.)

(...goddammit he misses Michael.)

He sighs and breaks the ice. "Before we get started, I have to ask: Doctor what? Do you have a name to go with that PhD?"

[borntolove]

The constellations may be simple, but The Doctor is seeing the real ones in his minds-eye and all the space, in-between. The gases, the super-novas, the dust. He for sure seems to be looking at more than what is there in reality.

When Wash speaks out, finds himself being grounded in a sense, "Just The Doctor." Even if The Doctor does have several PHDs from his time spent on Earth. He was calling himself, The Doctor long before that. Back on his home planet of Gallifrey.

[unrecovered]

Just the Doctor. All title, no name. He's one of those people. Great.

But the question looks like it brings him back to Earth, so maybe they can get started. "Good to know." He pets Athena again, scratching a bit behind her ears before he continues. "Have you ever lived in a situation like this before? Lots of very different people, very small, very enclosed space, not much shore leave?" If he hasn't, it lets Wash know just how much explaining he has to do; if he has, then he absolutely knows that his behavior was bullshit, and Wash can hammer on that instead.

[borntolove]

"Living like this, no. I'm a traveler. Just me and my ship and space." And the different humans that come into his lives.

[unrecovered]

Great, context it is. He sighs and leans forward a bit, bracing his elbows on his knees. "Okay. Take it from someone who's done this more than once: there is no privacy in this kind of living situation. You're going to see everyone here a lot, even if you're trying to avoid them." A beat. "Especially if you're trying to avoid them. You don't have to like everyone, or agree with them, but you do have to get along with them, for your sanity and literally everyone else's." Because one person's issues can become everyone else's issues really quickly in such a tight space. "Which means you need to understand you're not in charge, you're not always right, and if you have a problem with something, you need to deal with it. You can ask for help, but it's still your problem." Another beat - a second to let that sink in before he brings it back around. "Like, for example, your problem with guns."

[borntolove]

The Doctor continues to stare because he wants to say, sometimes he doesn't even meet others in the right timeline order but that would start more questions. That he really doesn't want to answer. But his hearts miss his Tardis and he makes a sad pouty face thinking about her.

"I've been around. I'm not picky, me. Just you know, so long you're a decent being." He doesn't comment about not being in charge but it's clear he doesn't like the idea. Like his frustration with free will and others not listening to him and then, usually something bad happening to them.

"My problem is that you, humans think that's usually the best way to solve a situation." The youthfulness in those eyes seem to vanish and there's something much, much older in that soul.