The Salle, Monday Morning

[bitchprince]

Yes, Arthur was still technically wounded (and wearing that infernal sling so he couldn't actually use his regular sword arm), and if all had been normal, he wouldn't be here. Unfortunately, circumstances dictated that his only other alternative would be to be stuck in one room with Leto and a gaggle of screaming children instead, and he was fairly sure that was what other people meant when they talked about Hell.

The salle was the better option. At least he'd-- imprinted them all with the importance of discipline and swordcraft. Right now, it was a brilliant way to distract the little bastards. With any luck, Gawain would show up (or simply vanish into thin air, because weren't these things supposed to last two days) to make the insanity complete.

He was dragging Reno off to go drinking once this was finished.

He eyed Arawn. "Check your posture," he ordered, "You'll just ruin your arm like that. Morgana, don't point that at-- Down. It's called discipline."

It was going to be a long day.

[[ open to all, especially to insane au relatives of doom (tm) ]]

Comments

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah showed up, looking bleary-eyed and frustrated, Gawain trailing behind her. "Morning." She shot her son a look when she saw the other two Pendragon spawn. "Don't you dare start something. It's way too early for that."

[newlances.livejournal.com]

Gawain's response twas to ignore his semi-mom and nearly skip over to the sword rack, chanting what he'd been thinking for two days: "Sword sword sword. Finally!"

[bitchprince]

Morgana looked as if she was about to say something--

"Silence," Arthur commanded.

She did not look impressed. "WHATEVER!"

"I'm not training with him!" Arawn said, throwing in his three cents. Not that he'd been happy about training with Morgana to start with, but at least she was just a girl.

"I said," Arthur said, with all the bloody patience in the world (you could really sense the palpably contained irritation here), "Silence."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"If you can't behave, we'll leave," Dinah warned Gawain. He sent her an outraged look, and she shook her head. "But I know you can do better than that, right?" At his eyeroll but lack of comment, she breathed a sigh of relief. "C'mon. Swords."

There might, finally, be a little bounce there herself. Her kids hadn't quite wrung all of her energy out of her.

She grabbed her usual practice sword, waited for Gawain to pick one light enough for him, then grinned. "Okay. Show your ... um.... dad, what you can do." Then started her own drill.

[newlances.livejournal.com]

Gawain started off very carefully with his drill, which was easy after two years, ignoring Arawn and Morgana because they were babies, ha. It was funny that Mom wasn't better than him yet.

"Mom, you're leaving your side open!"

[destinybitch.livejournal.com]

"It's not like yours is any better!" Arawn hurled at him.

[bitchprince]

"Haven't I taught any of you about proper discipline?" Arthur asked, "Silence, or I'll-- put you in the corner." He was not going to look frustrated. He was going for annoyed.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"She's coming to Art Club with me," Katchoo said, showing up in the doorway of the salle and looking like this wasn't even going to be a matter of discussion.

[bitchprince]

"Art club?" Arthur asked, staring up over some blonde heads holding very non-lethal practice swords. Non-lethal. They better remember that. "What's she going to do there?"

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Help me set up," Katchoo said, deadpan because of course that was a preposterous notion. "Look, teach her to beat stuff up all you want, I got no problem with that, but if she likes art too, I wanna find out and oh geez I'm acting domestic, kill me now."

[bitchprince]

Arthur blinked at her for a moment. Oh, right. Morgana was a girl. It was a little hard to tell underneath all the rage. "Right," he said, "She'll need to learn some womanly arts, I suppose."

Not that Arthur knew a lot about those. Except that girls needed them if you wanted to be able to marry them off later.

... The only woman Arthur had grown up around was Morgana, and she was half a man as it stood.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

You could have practically seen the icicles (sharp, stabby icicles) hanging off the look Katchoo gave Arthur.

". . . womanly arts," repeated the girl in ripped, paint-splattered jeans, battered sneakers, and hair that hadn't seen a brush in two days. "Womanly arts."

[bitchprince]

"There's a sewing circle," Arthur said, thoughtfully, "You could get her involved with some... needlepoint. Or... something."

The sad part was that he was being entirely earnest.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

This would be when Dinah started badly wishing for some popcorn. And trying not to let the kids see her giggle.

Go, Angry, go Angry!

[future_sandworm]

He had had fewer children to look after this night, but Jess had compensated with that by being hyperactive and pushing things around. A rather sleepy-looking Leto appeared in the Salle, carrying his youngest child in his arms.

"Hi hi hi!" Jess shouted as she saw everyone present, and then: "Mommy!"

[bitchprince]

"Oh, GOD," said two blonde Pendragons in absolutely equal disgust. "It's YOU."

Arthur just rubbed his forehead. "Quiet," he ordered, "Show Lord Leto some respect."

The respect that Arthur generally didn't.

[future_sandworm]

Leto ignored the young Pendragons, as he had decided that was the best strategy. It occurred to him that it was probably a very good thing that he and Arthur had not ended up with a child. That would never have ended well.

"I'm just returning Jess to her mother," he told Arthur.

"Hiiiii!" Jess shouted when she saw Arthur. "Swords!"

[bitchprince]

"No swords for you yet, young Atreides," Arthur spoke, unwittingly mimicking Gaius just a bit. "Don't want you to hurt yourself."

The very idea of having children with Leto was enough to make Arthur think fleeting joyful thoughts of a large building and jumping off of it.

[future_sandworm]

Leto shrugged. "She should start with knives soon," he said. "She is Fremen."

"Swords!" Jess repeated, wriggling in his arms.

[bitchprince]

"Move it up gradually," Arthur agreed.

Arawn poked him in the thigh. "My Father," he announced, "has a far better sword than you back home. Best sword ever and you can't have it."

"You're LYING!" Morgana.

Arthur pulled a bitchface.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah shot Gawain a look of absolute warning, then came forward to take Jess from him. "Hey, Leto. Hi Jess. Were you good for Daddy?" And that would be raised eyebrows at Leto.

[future_sandworm]

"We played!" Jess announced happily. Leto handed the girl to Dinah, giving her a tired look. "She did. What did you feed her?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah winced. "Macaroni and cheese. And I guess we had cookies, after." She shook her head at Jess. "You were supposed to sleep, silly sheep!"

[wee-atreides.livejournal.com]

"Didn't want to. Princesses don't need sleep." Such a fibber. Jess squeezed Mommy tight, then started squirming down. "Swords!" She paused to stick out her tongue at Gawain again, then Arawn for good measure. "Can't stop me!"

[future_sandworm]

Leto groaned. "She flung things at me," he told Dinah. "No more cookies."

And he had managed not to use Voice against her. He was quite proud of that.