The Salle, Monday Morning (before classes)

[bitchprince]

Not a lot of actual practice for Arthur today: the visible bruise on his neck was only a small nod towards the damage he and Reno did to each other last night. He'd be back in full fighting order by tomorrow.

As it was, he merely waited for his students to arrive. At least he could make them work for it - he'd be doing something useful one way or another.

He was trying not to think about the flagrant flaunting of his father's law he'd embarked on last night and then some. Beyond necessity or duty into friendship - was that a good idea? Being Arthur, he was failing spectacularly at the exercise.

[[ open salle, open post! ]]

Comments

[bitchprince]

Arthur had absolutely no idea what coach meant. It sounded disturbingly deferential, which caused a lift of a brow but nothing else. At least she was attempting to show some respect? He shook it off.

"Better," he said, to both training and tone, and came to a stop to focus on her movements.

He repressed the urge to say was that actual respect I heard there, Dinah? because although it was true and he desperately wanted to say it, it wouldn't contribute anything at the moment.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dead. Dead. More dead. But carefully dead. Gotta make it clean....

Dinah got through the drill and felt the burn of muscles and calm of accomplishment, and yay, that bit with the backswing was coming along nicely.

She turned to Arthur and smiled, in a better mood now, too. "More? Or eskrima?" He was dead now. Dead dead dead. She could be nice. Aaaaand... he'd helped. Still a good coach, even if a huge prat in a Common Room.

[bitchprince]

"More," he said, somewhat satisfied - but only to a point.

Arthur didn't do well at being completely satisfied with anyone he was training. While he was training them, at least.

"I expect you to focus on the sword today. When you face Alice, remember that you are not yet anywhere near capable of a contest of speed. Consider it a two-ways' drill."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah nodded in understanding. "Counter, and block, and counter." Which was good, doing it at speed would only lead to her falling over something, probably. Dead Coach Arthur was good at explaining stuff, at least.

She checked her grip again, and went through a tricky part of the drill, frowning. "This doesn't feel right. Am I not strong enough yet, or have I got the wrong angle?"

[bitchprince]

"You've got your arm bent like you're trying to strangle something," Arthur said, and started towards her with intent to correct the bent of her arm. That was when he remembered, and halted, inches away from her skin. "Straighter," he said, after a beat.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah caught the hesitation, and turned darker red, then whipped her eyes front, back on the sword, loosening her grip. She ran through it again, twice, three times, and yeah, that did feel more balanced.

Mention it? Don't mention it? Maybe.... Other training would be the kind of thing a coach would want to know, right?

"Tahiri and I threw each other around here with padding, Thursday." Um. Okay, maybe not. But. Keep going. "Professor Ghanima's pleased at my progress on the other stuff. Blocking. Shielding." That would get the idea across. Hopefully.

[bitchprince]

...

"Is she," he said.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Yes." Was she not supposed to mention it? Keep it terse. "Better focus. Endurance." Just say it. "Not likely to read anyone by accident." There. Nothing to be scared of. Not that he ever would be.

[bitchprince]

"And now we can all sleep soundly," Arthur muttered. He was choosing not to think on any of it too hard. He leaned out of her space completely. "I don't need any details about your magic," he said, "Beyond speed, range and accuracy."

Damn professional curiosity.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah blinked at the shift into General-mode, and then gave him a look for the leaning away. "Not magic." She was not gonna let that go. "I can't read anybody I'm not touching," she added, keeping her voice level. "Just, nada. Nothing. Close or far, doesn't matter. I can't read them." Which may not have been what he meant, but maybe he'd quit leaning away then. Jerk. Her shoulders hunched for a minute, then she straightened.

The other question was more interesting, really. And at least he was asking. She frowned, turning back to the drill. "Depends a little on the weight. The lighter something is, the further I can throw it. A five-pound weight, hmm--" Dinah tried to remember the furthest she'd thrown one of the boomerangs. "Two hundred yards? I haven't checked, New Gotham doesn't have sight lines that clear. I should probably do that on the beach." She glanced over at the practice dummy. Same weight as Tahiri. "That, probably about a hundred feet, with no warning. The Weight-Master bag in the gym," two hundred and fifty pounds, written all over it, "that'd be about forty feet. Maybe fifty these days. Still, no warning."

Yes, she could've thrown him into the wall any time. Some days that thought cheered her up a lot. "The bigger, the easier to hit the target. Small stuff is harder to be precise with."

[bitchprince]

Arthur maintained his position. He wasn't much of a toucher in general - well, at least not compared to some people (and swatting Merlin in the face with his feet while they were out on camp didn't count. It was just necessary). "That's a principle that goes for most forms of combat," he said, neutrally. "That can work to your advantage."

Not that he was inclined to give her any tips unless the situation called for it. He cast her a look. "If this were Camelot, there'd be no use for you," he said, honestly, and stepped away from her with ease. "But here, your powers may just contribute."

Morgana was going to smack him.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Will contribute," Dinah snapped at him, jolted. Then back to the form. Die, Coach Arthur. Stab stab stab! "Has contributed," she said, a little more calmly. "Powers or not," she concluded. Still disgruntled, but trying to make a point more than vent her temper. "Your approval, or not. I'm not sitting on the sidelines, Coach. I'll just find another place to make it work. And help," she finished on a mutter.

[bitchprince]

"Which will last about five minutes before you manage to annoy them into oblivion." He wasn't anywhere near as unruffled as he sounded, but that was none of Dinah's concern. "Or would you choose to humiliate them first?"

That part still stung, buried somewhere in his pride. That, too, was none of her concern.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Except for how it was right out there in the open now, sure.

"Wait, what?" Dinah quit the form for a second to just stare at him. "You-- no! No humiliating! Why would you think that?" She pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead, feeling like her head was going to explode. "This is about not telling you right away?"

Okay, she'd known he didn't trust her after that, and that he'd been mad she lied, but she honestly hadn't thought he'd think she'd really been trying to play some kind of trick on him.

[bitchprince]

It was that, and about a dozen other things.

"I wasn't exactly going to have you executed," Arthur replied - sounding perhaps a little more offended than the cool composure he'd been going for would warrant. "You chose to go behind my back for what reason, Dinah?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Some of it wasn't about you! I don't just tell people all the time," she said, gesturing with the sword, then stopping herself by gripping it with both hands. "I forgot to tell Priestly forever, and Francine too." Okay, that was prevaricating about her motives. Lyyyying. She sighed, not quite able to meet his eyes. "I just-- I liked Merlin. And, you're his boss. And his best friend." She clenched her jaw, staring at the sword. "He'd pick you over me. Always. I knew that. You didn't like magic or weirdness. And it didn't seem like lying when I didn't know you. Just... being private. So he wouldn't have to choose." She closed her eyes, swallowed.

[bitchprince]

Arthur bitchfaced at the wall to his left as he thought.

His hands had wound up on his hips for some reason in the middle of that exercise. Finally, he returned to looking at her. "What I think is my responsibility," he said, "Not yours. You knew about our laws. You should not have lied to me."

You put me in a very difficult position, he didn't say, because that wasn't her concern most of all.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Remembering his memory of his dad, furious with his foster sister just for protecting a little boy, Dinah knew there was a lot more to it than that. Not that she really got it, even knowing about that, because wow, his dad was just... yeah. His king. Loyalty. Some of the feudal stuff she'd read yesterday came back to her, about vows and honor being about responsibility, awareness. So. Take on what you can.

"No. I shouldn't have." Finally looked at him. "I should have told you when you started training me. Not that first time, that was just comparing weapons, really." She chewed her lip, then nodded. "The second time, when you started to help me. Probably. Yeah. And told you I thought the laws were wrong," gulp, "and, and, just accepted if... Merlin wasn't going to be around any more. Or been up-front about ..."

Dinah flailed for a moment, then looked back at him. "I don't know, what, being enemies? If that's what you decided?"

[bitchprince]

"Our laws are our laws," Arthur said. Without his knowledge, a patience had snuck into his voice. "Whatever your opinion, I won't disobey my father's law."

Loophole: his father hadn't ordered him not to associate with Dinah or Reno or Liir just yet. It was an uneasy loophole, because he knew what his father would order given the situation.

"But yes: if that's what I decided," he echoed. Coming full circle, patience hit on firmness. "I know you only wish to serve, Dinah, but you're playing with fire." And she was young, and a girl, and naive as the blazes for such an accomplished liar, which made it worse.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah didn't know what to make of that. Okay, he was training her again. And now talking to her again. And she got it about the law for Arthur, she really did, but... she wasn't sure how it applied to her, exactly, not any more.

"I can't undo it," she said tentatively. "And... I'm telling people now. Early. Might as well get their reactions out in the open at the beginning. If they can't deal, they can't." She frowned. "But even if I didn't have powers, I'd be fighting. This is what I have to do. Have to do, Arthur. The powers just level the field a little. I don't count on them."

[bitchprince]

The law didn't apply to her, the law applied to him and right now he was breaking it a little more every day. And it hurt, somehow, in some stupid little place where he was still ten years old and bending over backwards for his father's approval.

"It seems to be impossible to take a step without running into a sorcerer on this island," Arthur said. Very... deliberately. "Nevermind the beasts it draws to itself. I'm aware of that."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah snorted. "And the random weirdness. Cereal from the sky and gremlins biting everybody." She had to grin at the memory of Funshine, then sobered again. She studied him a moment, then started the drill again, slower this time.

The one thing she'd counted on in all this was being heard out. She hadn't been sure what Arthur would decide after that, but had been pretty sure he'd try to be fair. He'd already decided she and Merlin could still be friends. And that he could train her. Anything else... well, she couldn't make him be friends. Maybe it was just too much to ask, with his dad lurking in the background somewhere. Awwwwwwkward. But. His call.

First position, second position, kill a dragon, stab a minotaur, stab Al Hawke, oo, that's fun....

[bitchprince]

"Because of that," he said, and studied her in turn. "I'll continue to train you. But if I ever catch you lying to me again..."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah stopped drilling. Stared at him and considered. Merlin had known about her. She knew stuff about Leto. Tony had said he'd get in Arthur's face himself about being a wizard, if it came down to it. A looot of fights waiting to happen. Lies by omission, except... Choice was the main thing, right?

"I know things about other people here," she said slowly. "That I can't tell you. Is that lying? 'Cause if it is, well." She bit her lip. "I guess this has to end here."

[bitchprince]

His head tilted with clear suspicion. "If it's anything dangerous," Arthur said, "Then you should not keep it from me." That would be betrayal. "But you are not one of my people, I can't-- order you to spill anyone else's secrets."

Much as he might sometimes want to.