The Salle, Friday Morning

[bitchprince]

There had been a moment where Arthur had flirted with the idea of not showing up at all. There were more pressing matters to deal with - the only problem was that the only thing he had right now involved waiting: for Liir to find something, for the Lady Zoe to hold her audience for the day, for-- something.

He wasn't up for much of Dinah's cheer, either, and he'd have preferred a male training partner just so he could have something to squarely beat the shit out of for his own nerves' sake, but it seemed he'd have neither.

He brought a staff with him into the salle, tapping it on the floor once before he settled into a stance. Any exercise might keep his mind off things until he actually got to act; he was fairly aching for some action.

There just weren't any answers he could use.

[[ arthur is expecting one, but the salle is a free and open space ]]

Comments

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah had woken up feeling physically better, emotionally a little... off. There had been nightmares last night; the soldier who'd tried to kill her had gotten up, and tried to finish the job, chanting he loves you the whole time. Which had meant reminding herself of what Tahiri had said, and what Sam had pointed out, over and over: not their fight, not the ones who started it. Still unnerving.

"Hey." Plus, there was what she'd heard on the Radio. She headed for the staffs. "Merlin's missing?"

[bitchprince]

Oh, right, radio. "I'm working on it," he assured her, giving his staff a twirl that was half-hearted, but in that way where you could only tell if you spoke fluid arrogant disdain.

Arthur was not operating at peak efficiency right now-- emotionally, anyway-- but the people he trusted with that information weren't to be found on this island. "Right now, there's waiting."

[withoutverona]

Romeo had practiced with his guns for about as long as he could bear without a break, and was heading back to the dorms to, he supposed, study Japanese again. That could wait, though; for the moment, he paused idly in the Salle's entrance.

"Good morning, Arthur."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Crap." Dinah sighed, rubbed her head, then grabbed a staff. "Tell me when you need back-up to deal with it, then." She turned to him, wondering if she was imagining that he was moving with less focus than usual. "This doesn't have anything to do with the invasion in the Preserve, right?"

[bitchprince]

"Romeo. Morning." For a moment, Arthur was tempted by the urge to challenge Romeo to a fight, but he supposed it was a bit dishonorable, beating up on someone who still lacked the skills to actually put up a good fight (Merlin didn't count; he was a servant, that was his job).

Shame. He turned, sweeping his staff firmly along and down to the ground (not that he was showing off; he wasn't in the mood. That was just natural aptitude).

[bitchprince]

"If anything's happened to him, it'd be far too dangerous," Arthur said, bringing his staff down, pointed at the floor, while he waited for her. "...Invasion in the Preserve? What are you babbling about this time?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Which was way unnerving, both the idea that it'd be too dangerous to help, and that Arthur didn't already know. "It didn't make Radio notes?" Dinah brought her staff into position, and set her feet. "Uh. It was dealt with." Because really, he had enough to worry about right now. "Sam Winchester organized some people, no one was seriously hurt, the green guys left." She took a breath. "Ready?"

[bitchprince]

"I was there, Dinah," he shot back, "The squirrels are blind in comparison."

He didn't move his stance much, but steadied the staff in his hands. If there was any weapon with which he was familiar, it was this one. "Let's see if you can manage anything."

[withoutverona]

Arthur's not-showing off looked a bit like showing off to Romeo, to be honest, and he took it as an invitation to enter. He stepped into the Salle.

"That's something like Reno's baton."

[OOC: it's up to you, but if he gets beaten up, I can have him feeling too sorry for himself to go to the newbie picnic tomorrow. Win-win from here.]

[bitchprince]

"It's just a staff," Arthur said, approaching Romeo, "I regret not getting a chance to spar him with one." Okay, so maybe showing off was something he did the way other people did breathing - but that was aptitude for you.

[withoutverona]

"He trained me with one a bit," Romeo said, eying the staff. "Not technique, really, more ... pounding on things. And not a true spar."

"He will be back." Romeo had to believe that.

[bitchprince]

"I'm sure he'll make an effort," Arthur said, idly, because that part wasn't the important part (reassuring as it no doubt was), "So you know how to fight with a staff?"

That was interesting.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"You were?" Dinah blinked, confused. "I didn't see you there at the ship fight... Hunh." She shrugged, and made a note to go listen to the Podcast, then took a breath.

Not as familiar with the staff as with eskrima, but still way better with it than the sword. "Now."

She started out with a sweep across the middle, then upward toward his jaw.

[bitchprince]

His hands shot over with his staff to deflect her blow rather effortlessly. "No, at the causeway," Arthur said, realising that he'd probably misinterpreted something or whatever but he wasn't going to let her know about it. Nor did he particularly care. "Is that it?"

[withoutverona]

"I know how to hold one and hit a dummy," Romeo reiterated. "A true fight might be a bit beyond me."

Then, considering (with his pride in mind as much as anything else), he added, "I did skip my training session Monday."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Not even," Dinah said, although she had to focus harder from the conversation, now that she'd realized he's misinterpreted what she'd said, and she'd gotten what he said wrong. "Later, I'll tell you later." Maybe. Sometime. It wasn't like she wanted to think about it. Or about Merlin being missing, agh, although now that was bugging her too.

Whap-whap, and go for the knees this time, and a shot to the foot as well.

[bitchprince]

Arthur was just going to hear what Arthur wanted to hear. Although by the sounds of it, Romeo wouldn't be much of a challenge. And beating up on Merlin was fairly impossible right now (which he just wasn't going to think about. he was going to fix this). He swept the staff up in a good imitation of the way he knew to twirl a sword.

"A spar, then," he said, "Make sure your muscles don't get lazy."

[bitchprince]

Honestly. She was going to have to do a lot better than that. He brought his staff up to block it from below, bringing it up. If she hadn't been a girl, Arthur would have taken a sweep at her face by now.

As it was, he was playing it mostly to the staff, sweeping the other end easily towards her shoulder.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah blocked that, gritting her teeth at the impact, and snapped the other end up fast, aiming for his elbow. Not fast enough, not fast enough, but the moves came easily, at least, and she wasn't thinking, she was reacting.

Another fleeting thought of Wednesday, stomped on hard. No. Practice. Spin and whap.

[bitchprince]

He blocked again, of course, as natural as breathing; that last one caused him to step backwards, switch up his staff so that it was held firmly in only one of his hands, blocked again. "Come on!"

It would've been in danger of making him feel a little normal again if it wasn't that she was a girl, and woefully inexperienced.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Arthur's goading was too much like Helena's not to hit that point in her brain that said fighty-fighty-fighty-win! Dinah's eyes narrowed as she adjusted her stance as quickly as she could, spinning and swinging the staff around one-two-three-four, knowing he'd probably counter it, but looking for an opening, any opening, if only to rap his knuckles. Ha.

So much better than thinking, especially about things she couldn't do anything about now.

[withoutverona]

"It would be something to do in this dull week," Romeo agreed, though there was some hesitation in his voice; if he'd been willing to back down from a fight, he might have backed down from this one. He went over to the rack of staffs and selected one with the approximate heft of Reno's baton, then shifted to a defensive grip. "How do we begin?"

[bitchprince]

And if he'd said no, Arthur would have gladly taken it, mainly because he wasn't so sure this would last terribly long. Still, he had hope it'd carry longer than the one with Hannibal.

(It was probably a good thing, all things considered, that he hadn't gotten it into his head to challenge Leto yet) "Usually," he said, idly, and shifted into his own stance. "You begin by trying to kill me."

[bitchprince]

With that one-handed grip, he deflected one-two-three-four as well, and as soon as she'd finished he struck out-- still, his first instinct would have been the head, but he directed it at her torso instead, where it could be countered.

Arthur was not in fact planning on landing her in the clinic.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah would have been so, so annoyed at the girl thing. But grateful not to go to the clinic, or having to ask Ronan to fix busted ribs again.

She caught that blow on her staff, just barely, and had to let it slide downward instead of being able to return it right away, mad at herself, and pushing forward to counter it. He was good, fast, but not as fast as Helena, so it didn't feel hopeless like the swordfight had. Keep you elbows bent. Automatic correction. Knees too. Ditto. Did he even have any tells? Grrr.