The salle, before classes

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Luckily, Dinah's alarm had still gone off-- Black Canary had set it very conscientiously, in order to be up early to talk to the local government agencies. That was about the only lucky thing about this morning. Because she was supposed to be training with Arthur, first thing.

Dinah had too much to think about. So she was practicing the Way of the Weekend Warrior, and not thinking, whapping the practice dummy to death with her eskrima.

[for a former Roman; but open for your other salle needs.]

Comments

[bitchprince]

Arthur had his thoughts to ponder as well, but there were few things that helped line things up as some good physical exercise.

Not the kind that involved tackling an idiot servant. He'd already struck that off his list that morning. "Dinah," he greeted as he stalked right on in.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Hey, Arthur." At about half-volume and half-enthusiasm. Whap whap whap. And an automatic correction of the arm, now that he was here. And she wasn't Black Canary any more. Extra hard whap for that.

She sneaked a look at him sideways. Well. He looked okay. His arm was hurt again. So weird. "You're... recovered, right? From this weekend?"

[bitchprince]

"No, Dinah, I'm currently screaming mad down in the dungeons," he said, dryly. He'd come to a decision that morning regarding his position on the island, no longer able to afford half-measures: fight or flee.

Arthur didn't really like fleeing.

"Don't think the weekend gets you out of anything." You could almost mistake it for idle.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, like that would ever happen," Dinah muttered under her breath. She resisted the urge to ask, how would we tell the difference? because that would just give him an excuse to be more pushy. She straightened more, wondering how it was possible to remember exactly how to do this, but not being able to do it perfectly any more. God. So like Cinderella. Back to the ashes. Grrrr.

WHAP WHAP WHAP WHAP WHAP WHAP WHAP WHAP

Anger wasn't great for focus but it did up the energy.

[bitchprince]

Arthur picked a light training sword for himself, not so much to practice- he realised that he wouldn't get much of that in with Dinah around - but to have something. "Stop that," he said. His voice may have held a kind note, but he was busy inspecting the sword. "Don't push it."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah slowed down, gritting her teeth. "I knew how to do it!" She hadn't planned on talking about it, and she shot him a horrified look. Then hit the bag again, extra-hard, before resuming a more normal rhythm. "I did," she said under her breath. "Perfectly."

Her muscles weren't trained into it, though. God, how long was that going to take?

[bitchprince]

"Just because you know of it doesn't mean you can do it yet," Arthur replied, testing the sword's weight while he watched her. "Don't run before you can walk." Not just kind, but maybe a little sympathetic.

He could understand the frustration all too well right now.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

That was very weird, even if it did make her feel better. Hunh. It also made Dinah wonder how being Artorius had messed with Arthur. Not that she was going to ask, no way. That couldn't lead to anything good.

She remembered to work on her leg positioning too, from last week, and Jen getting her during their spar, and tried not to pout as she settled back into practice. She sneaked a look at the sword, hopefully. Maybe she'd get a chance to learn more of that, too?

At least Arthur didn't know she'd been wearing fishnets. That was worth something, right?

[bitchprince]

He swung the sword loosely once, then settled back with it. Arthur watched in silence for a while, channeling his thoughts into the effort of staying sharp on her movements. "Feet, Dinah. They're meant for moving on." And he was back to sounding utterly normal.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah resisted the urge to say "I liked the other guy better" because that would give away way too much, plus, that had been Black Canary liking him better. Grr. And re-adjusted her feet, bouncing a little as she moved.

She finished up the drill and dragged a wrist across her forehead, taking a breath. "I could practice more. I could be here every single day doing this. Instead of every other day."

Maybe that would work?

[bitchprince]

"You haven't been yet?"

One of Arthur's eyebrows flicked up for a moment. Yes, yes she should. "I can respect wanting to learn how to fight," he said, "But you have to be diligent." He flipped the sword in his hand again, testing for grip.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Classes. And workouts at the gym. I've been alternating." But really, it wasn't enough. Even if she kept the workouts light some days, she needed the practice. "But I do have the time, so... yeah." Dinah gave the sword another hopeful look. "Sword now?"

And winced at how like a five-year-old asking for a cookie she sounded.

[bitchprince]

Arthur sighed. He didn't wince at how much like an exasperated parent he sounded. "Sure," he said, as he picked a dummy for himself he knew he wasn't going to find the time to use until after she left.

"Dinah?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, Liir found himself there.

He hadn't done his forms for a week or so and the pure physicality of his irritation over the weekend required some manner of movement. Without much preamble or even caring how his things were dropped on the floor, Liir started in on the stances, shifting fluidly between them in an impromptu, ad-libs sort of tai chi.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah stopped to watch on her way out, envying Liir how easily he did that. God. It was going to take her forever to catch up.

"Nice," she said, adjusting her bag over her shoulder. "You're really good."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He blinked as he heard a voice and turned to her with an expression that was still annoyed at first before melting into a smile.

"Oh. Um. Thank you. This is all I know, though. The stances and moving between them."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"You haven't used them in a fight?" Dinah asked, looking confused. "They're really good for defense moves."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He shook his head.

"I can't fight. We never got to that point and... I'm rather useless at it anyway," he told her honestly.

"I've used them to dodge, though. They're very effective in that sense," he added, hoping he didn't sound too much like a coward. Which, well, it wasn't that he was afraid of hitting people. He just didn't really... want to. Ever. Whatever circuitry was in a brain that made someone snap into violence, it wasn't in him.

"Pathetic, I know."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"It's not pathetic," Dinah said, genuinely surprised. He was a civilian, that's all, from what he said. A smart civilian. "Do you know how many people don't know when to get out of the way? Or how? They just freeze up. Totally. If you're a natural fighter, or don't like it, letting other people do it is good."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"It doesn't help if there's no one else around to do something about what's happening, though," he told her, terrible at accepting compliments or praise and even worse when it was over something that frustrated him.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah hesitated, not sure how to explain her thoughts on this. "But you can get away and get help. That's just as important. You don't become a casualty. Unless-- do you want to learn how to fight? It's not something people learn overnight. But you've got a good start."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Or you're in the middle of nowhere and there's no help to be found and they tie you up and leave you in the barn," he said, as matter-of-factly as he could manage. It was actually rather matter-of-factly at that. That part had merely been embarrassing, after all.

He dismissed his own answer with a shake of his head.

"But I'm happy to take lessons in anything," he told her plainly, "only Ino tried for a while. We never really got past the stances, but when we tried other things, it didn't exactly go well."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah nodded slowly, taking his word for that. Some people just weren't physical fighters. She bit her lip, thinking. "There's getting-out-of-knots lessons too, you know. Not that I've gotten very far. But still." She sighed. "Not that helpful, hunh?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't mind that in the least, actually" he said brightly.

"I'm probably going to get tied up at least a time or two more with everything, after all. It'd be lovely to know how to get out. I've got something of a trick for it, but it's sort of, um, limited."

He smiled at Dinah.

"Would you show me?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Sure!" Dinah bounced up on her toes, looking happy to be helpful. "Um. I don't have any rope with me today. Or twisty-ties for the hard ones. Or handcuffs." Barbara and Helena believed in being very prepared. "But, maybe after classes? Here, or at the gym?"