Overview
Martin Hartford is a central character in “From the Branch.” He is a former student of MindTree who meets Jocy Elden at a Toronto bar after leaving a New Year’s party.
Biography
Martin first meets Jocy in 2003, when both are toddlers in MindTree’s carbogen gas exposure program. He is being carried out of the gas room as Jocy is being carried in, and their hands briefly touch.
At twenty-five, Martin lives in University of Toronto graduate housing and studies comparative literature and philosophy. He is physically disciplined, spends significant time in the gym, and frames much of his life through philosophical language and self-command.
Around New Year’s 2024, Martin leaves a party after an uncomfortable encounter and a panic episode. He goes to The Comrade, where he comments on a text visible on Jocy’s phone. Their conversation develops into flirtation and argument, with Martin talking about literature, exercise, winter, and his idea of ascetic decadence.
When Jocy recognizes a MindTree phrase, Martin says he attended the institution from pre-k through eighth grade. He asks whether Jocy made ascention or was inducted emerald, showing his familiarity with MindTree’s internal vocabulary.
Outside the bar, Martin comforts Jocy when she becomes upset. He rejects therapeutic language and argues that people can shape themselves through pain and freedom. Jocy responds that he sounds like MindTree, which wounds him.
After Jocy says Dr. Khurana is still running MindTree, Martin asks whether Khurana abused her and then confirms the same happened to him. He proposes killing Khurana, interpreting their meeting as a possible chance to stop him.
The story presents branches in which Martin is either arrested with Jocy before an attack or flees with her after a successful bombing. In the branch they choose, Martin goes home with Jocy instead. His last known situation is with Jocy: he drops out of his master’s program, eventually works in tech, matures over time, and builds a life with her.