The Salle, Monday Morning

[bitchprince]

It had been very, very, very good for Arthur's nerves - not that he ever had nerves, thank you - to come home to an empty dorm room last night. He hadn't known where Leto was, nor had he particularly cared, and instead he'd abused the new space to get a chance to breathe.

The last week had made a fine attempt to do his head in. Arthur was, of course, better than that, and when he arrived at the salle that morning he was feeling remarkably fresh for the first time in far too long.

Starting in on an intermediate drill, he took the time to enjoy the fact that his muscles were finally moving properly again. God help them all: Arthur was actually feeling chipper.

The only thing that interfered with that at all was the thought that he was, at some point, going to have to talk to Leto in a way that didn't involve shouting.

[[ open like the salle is! ]]

Comments

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

She'd looked through some of the reference material in her pack to find the place; Uncle Aaron didn't do things without reason, after all, and she wasn't nearly as practiced as she should be with the only weapon she had. The yo yo was small, but well weighted, and she'd discovered last night in her room that it 'slept' easily enough. She'd learned, however, by nearly losing her microscope, that the room was a bit small for practicing what she wanted to.

Hence the salle.

She acknowledged Arthur with a nod before finding an open area and pulling out the yo yo; then she flicked a chipped nail in the groove to pull out the string. That was slipped around her finger as she grabbed the trick book out from under her arm and laid it on the ground open to the second page.

Yes, she had a lot to learn.

[bitchprince]

Arthur... would've been more than happy to ignore her if it hadn't been that she was using what looked to be a small round thing on a string in the salle. That? That was far too small to ever hope to aspire to being a flail of some kind.

The dubious staring may have been obvious, but by now he knew better than to open his mouth and acknowledge ignorance.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

The dubious staring was annoying, but she decided to ignore it.

She flicked out the yo yo forward. Up. Back. with startling speed. She moved to turn the page when she saw him again and turned with a huff.

"What?"

[notafairmaiden.livejournal.com]

After the week back home that she had endured, Gwynn was all too happy to be back in Fandom. This could be evident by how early she was in the salle practicing her sword work.

She nodded at Arthur respectfully when she caught his eyes and then turned back to her routine with her practice sword.

[bitchprince]

"Sir Gwynn," he returned, nodding his head, and forever mildly baffled with how to deal with the whole female knight thing.

And she wasn't a Jedi knight, which meant there was probably yet different protocol to follow. If there was any. Arthur had been more than a little confused on that matter ever since he got here.

[notafairmaiden.livejournal.com]

She paused in her work and gave him a small smile. "Good morning, Sir Arthur. How are you on this day?"

Spend a week in Briton and her accent and her mannerisms did indeed show through in her actions. "Was there any invasions or trouble while I was gone?"

Because, it was good to be prepared for such things happening so there were no surprises when coming back.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

Fiona was glad to see another girl in the salle. It made her feel a little more comfortable. She didn't quite wave, but she did smile.

[notafairmaiden.livejournal.com]

Gwynn smiled back at her. She was always glad to see another female in here.

[withoutverona]

Romeo wasn't necessarily in the mood for a spar (he was nonviolent enough that the one from Friday would last him for quite some time, thanks), but he wasn't about to simply take two weeks in a row off. And, too, he wanted to talk to Arthur without trying to beat his brains in.

So he stopped by that morning, but in his work clothes. "Good morning."

[bitchprince]

Beating brains in was, as a rule, how Arthur communicated with his friends. It probably explained a lot about his troubles recently.

"Romeo," he greeted, making note of the boy's clothes as he broke drill after a few more strikes and turned, "Good morning."

[withoutverona]

And Romeo tended to communicate in dirty jokes and rivers of emo. It might be a miracle that they found common ground.

"I'm not prepared for a full workout," he said, just in case Arthur had suddenly been stricken blind, "but I didn't wish to lose two weeks in a row entirely without at least talking with you. How have you been?"

[formerbrat.livejournal.com]

Without the rigid schedule she'd had back home, Elspeth was tempted to grab a few extra hours of sleep before her class. But with war looming back home, she daren't risk losing any bit of practice.

She put on a long-sleeved tunic and breeches suitable for physical activity and made her way to the salle. She found a practice sword and started running through warm-up exercises against a set of pells.

[bitchprince]

There was... yet another female swordsman. Swordwoman? It was that Arthur was used to seeing Morgana do it, at least back when they were younger. He didn't dwell too long, but he did shoot her a glance as she worked, trying to get some idea of her ability.

[formerbrat.livejournal.com]

She noticed he was watching and gave him a nod in greeting. After her warm-ups, she switched to some of the more advanced exercises Alberich had been teaching her just before she left.

It wasn't showing off, exactly. She needed to do them every day. That she chose to do them now, at the moment where she had a bit of an audience, that was just happenstance.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Hey!" Dinah smiled at the new girl, and brightened after she saw her drilling for a while. "You're really good at that. How long have you been studying?"

[formerbrat.livejournal.com]

"Thanks," Elspeth smiled. "I started when I was eight I'm Elspeth of Valdemar. One of the new arrivals."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah got up early to get her swords practice in, humming happily as she came in. Good week to start! And nothing too much to worry about now. "Morning, Arthur." And also... "So how's Morgana settling in?"

Yeah, that.

[bitchprince]

"Dinah."

Oh, sweet mercy, they'd met.

"She's getting there," Arthur said, his cheer dropping a few inches lower from where it had previously been.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I remember how that goes," Dinah said, more sympathy in evidence. Just because this situation made her happy, and Morgana seemed glad to be here, didn't mean she wasn't still having a rough time of it. She picked out her practice sword and walked over to the mat. "She's in my cabin for the next two weeks. Don't worry, I'll look out for her." And yes. She knew that was a scary idea.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

Fiona waved from her spot on the other side of the salle, utterly ignoring any other insulting, ignorant--

No, no, he wasn't worth the rage.

The wave got a little manic, but she was still smiling.

"We're still going out later, yes?"

[saikyou-no.livejournal.com]

Here, at last, was a place on this island that Kenshin could feel comfortable in.

Relatively speaking, anyway.

He let his eyes run over the other people in the room, resting for a moment on the other swordsman, before moving along, and taking in the room itself. It was similar enough to a dojo, though it lacked a shrine, and held a number of things that he would have had outside... Maybe the weather here was worse than in Japan though.

Satisfied with his perusal, Kenshin moved to and out-of-the-way corner, and sat seiza, laying his sword beside him.

[bitchprince]

With one last stab, Arthur finished his drill. He rolled his arms to loosen them, then turned to see whoever had just arrived. People in the salle tended to be... chatty.

And often incredibly annoying. Still, at least this one didn't look like an irritating girl, which was something of a change, even if his hair implied that he wanted to be.

Arthur was not always the world's most tactful thinker. "Good morning," he called.

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

Alice was hoping that Arthur wouldn't lecture her for her spotty attendance record. One could hope, couldn't one?

She glanced into the salle, somewhat surprised by the number of people inside.

[bitchprince]

"Lady Alice," Arthur greeted, formally, "It's been quite some time."

At least he was being polite, and not informing her of how much of a tosser the man she was seeing really was.

[[ aaand SP okay? ]]

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Yay! You're here! Spar!" Dinah chanted, glad to see her fencing partner. "How've you been, did you meet lots of new people, and are you up for practice today?"