The Salle, Friday Morning

[future_sandworm]

He could not afford to grow lazy. Having slipped out of bed early, Leto now stood in the middle of the salle, the blades in front of him on the floor. He pulled his shirt over his head and flung it aside, then stretched out his muscles, forcing away any remaining sleepiness. With a swift movement he grabbed the blades and hurled them spinning into the air, where they separated, so that a total of seven deadly sharp disks were spinning, hovering in the air. Best not to overdo it today. He reached out for the knives, waiting for the attack.

The blades attacked him from all directions. He dodged and parries, avoiding their trajectories. There was no time for mistake; he had to know every part of his body at any given moment. Pushing his body to extremes, he felt that stillness of mind that came with this training. The spinning discs kept retuning until he had forced each one of them off its path, making it strike and get caught in a hard surface. Leto crouched on the floor, breathing heavily.

[Open of course. If you want to know what this looks like, check here.]

Comments

[withoutverona]

Romeo was on his way to the gun range when he paused at the Salle. His glance in had been idle, but it turned into outright staring when he saw the discs whizzing about.

"How are you doing that?" he blurted from the doorway.

[future_sandworm]

Leto looked up and gave a nod in greeting. "That would take a long time to explain," he said with a small smile.

[withoutverona]

Romeo shrugged a little. "I've nothing but time. I finished my class for the day."

He was trying to decide if this was Leto or Gavin.

[future_sandworm]

The blue-on-blue eyes might give it away. "I meant more time than I have right now," he said with a grin. "And most likely more than I'll ever have here. But there is a basic principle: My mind affects my reality."

[withoutverona]

And as Romeo quit looking at the blades and took a second glance at the other man, the eyes came into focus. Leto. "That doesn't sound as if it would be easy to explain quickly," he acknowledged with a slight smile. "Do you mean you steer the discs with your mind?"

[future_sandworm]

He shook his head. "No, but my body. To an extent that I can control the world around me. Did you come here to train too? I did not mean not to leave space for anyone else."

[withoutverona]

"No, no, I was just passing by -- I go to the gun range sometimes and it's near. I'm sorry to disturb your work."

[future_sandworm]

Smiling, Leto said: "You were not disturbing me. I had almost finished." He laughed. "I need to remind myself not to grow lazy here."

[withoutverona]

"It's easy to get out of practice," Romeo said, shifting to be a fraction more serious. "There are few real threats, here. I've been here a year and no one's been killed."

No, that was never going to stop being surprising.

[momslilassassin]

Ben had come down to the salle to get in some lightsaber practice (yes, before gym class. Ben was odd), but the hilt to his weapon came dangerously close to clattering onto the floor as he watched what--definitely not Gavin, but someone--was doing.

"Astral," he breathed.

[future_sandworm]

Catching his breath, Leto looked up at Ben. "I didn't mean to occupy the whole room," he said with a smile.

[momslilassassin]

"That was soooo..." Ben couldn't come up with words for it. "You're not a Jedi, though. Where'd you learn that kind of control?"

[future_sandworm]

He got to his feet and stretched. "No, I'm not a Jedi. Is that a similar kind of training?" After a pause, he added. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Leto Atreides."

[momslilassassin]

"Ben Skywalker," Ben replied with a nod of his head. "You look like an admiral I know back home, but he's not nearly that bendy."

[future_sandworm]

That made Leto laugh. "An admiral?" He picked up the blades from the floor. "And are you related to Anakin Skywalker?"

[momslilassassin]

"He's my grandfather," Ben said. "He would love to see this workout. How long did you have to practice before you stopped losing bits?"

[future_sandworm]

Anakin Skywalker didn't look like anyone's grandfather, but then he had a twin sister here who was older than he was, so Leto didn't question this. "I take his Ethics class," he said, adding with a smirk: "But it doesn't involve physical exercise. And you don't start with the blades."

[outofthecage.livejournal.com]

Éowyn had come to the salle in the hope of doing some sword work, but when she caught sight of Leto, she could do nothing but stand transfixed. She had seen many finely skilled fighters in her time, but none came close to this.

[future_sandworm]

Leto looked up, smiling at the unknown girl. "Good morning," he said. "Please, there's plenty of space here."

[outofthecage.livejournal.com]

"I do not wish to disturb you," Éowyn said, taking a step back. "I imagine you must require a great deal of concentration."

[future_sandworm]

"What is the point of weapons training if people around you creat too much distraction?" he asked with a laugh. "I don't think we've met. I'm Leto Atreides."

[outofthecage.livejournal.com]

"I am Éowyn," she said politely. "I've never seen anyone move like you. That was amazing."

[future_sandworm]

"Thank you," he said picking up the blades from the floor along with his shirt. "Although I'm not the only one who has this kind of training here. What kind of weapon do you use?"

[outofthecage.livejournal.com]

"I have my sword," she said. "I believe one blade at a time is my limit."

[future_sandworm]

He smiled back. "It's not the quantity of blades but how you use it," Leto said. "You are not from this world?" he asked, making that assumption based on her appearance and way of speaking.