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

[bitchprince]

"If that's supposed to entice me to ask, you're misjudging just how little I care," he told her, then fell back into his usual watchful stance as she went about it.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Nope." It was supposed to make her grin even wider, since now he'd have no warning, and she'd have the excuse that he hadn't wanted to know. "It's cool." She pushed new kids and new insanity aside, and carefully went through the drill, correcting her feet half-way through (damnit) but keeping the elbow correct.

Almost through the drill, she asked, "Is the Reserve tomorrow still meeting behind the dorms, or out at the campground?"

[bitchprince]

Arthur heaved an exasperated sigh. "It's at the Rocky Bits," he said, "I thought the-- tiny singing men last week would've passed that on."

Then he paused.

Give him a moment to look stricken with the insanity he had apparently gotten used to.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah stopped to stare at him for that, then grin. "I saw the incursion, but I turned around and figured you'd stomped through them and threatened to make stew out of them, not recruited them as pages." Hey, it's what Edward had done, and usually he was more easy-going than Arthur. "Rocky Bits it is, yay!" Low, middle, high blocks. "Anything else that should've gotten passed along by the Mariachi Wonders?"

[bitchprince]

"I didn't recruit them," he said, "And I didn't know you took me the kind to go around threatening strangers."

Because, really, he was raised better than that. "A defensive drill after this one," he instructed, "There was nothing else."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"I try not to guess what you'll see as a threat, Arthur," Dinah said. "Since you're a lot better at it than I am." Truth. Flattery. Sarcasm. Triple score! She started the defensive drill, attention shifting back to that, trying to remember what else she'd been going to ask him about, then bounced when she did, before settling back into the pattern. "And Merlin's back! Yay!"

[bitchprince]

"I'm better than you at a great deal of things," said Arthur, who was going to ignore two out of three parts of that score, thank you. "So he is. Keep your feet under you."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah readjusted, smiling at her sword, relieved on that score. "I didn't go say hi, he and Francine were too busy sucking face." Um. "I mean, catching up." With a beard!

She really needed to talk to Francine soon.

[bitchprince]

"..." Arthur eyed her. "'Sucking face'," he repeated, "Now there's an image."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Kinda was in person, too," Dinah mumbled, not meeting his eyes. "But I'm glad he's back safe." And let's not mention the whole, still-can't-get-home? thing. Nope.

She finished up the defensive drill, and then mentioned, "Morgana said she'd spar with me sometime. She's really good, right?"

[bitchprince]

Arthur muttered something under his breath about special flowers that he would never admit to if actually questioned. "For a woman, Morgana is a great swordsman," he said, right afterwards. Sure, he might insult her half the time, but there was pride to be taken in that.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah heard that, but not being able to make sense of it, just stared for a minute.

Immediately distracted, she said, "Oh. Okay." Because if Arthur was saying that, she really had to be good. She raised an eyebrow at the qualifier. "So, she couldn't beat any of your knights?"

[bitchprince]

"Of course not," Arthur said, flippantly.

Back when Morgana bea-- fought him to a standstill, he'd still been a squire. So there.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

A moment, then: "Has she actually fought any of your knights?" Dinah asked, unable to let this go.

[bitchprince]

Arthur eyed her as if she was insane or something. "Of course not," he repeated, "She'd get hurt."

And would probably hurt him if she heard him say that.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Which got him another incredulous look. "Arthur. What happens the day there's no knight to rescue her? Or me?" She snorted. "Like I haven't had five hundred of those days already," she muttered, thinking of New Gotham, and her first day off the bus.

[bitchprince]

"She does know how to use a sword," he reminded her, "But a knight is in a class of his own..."

It was clear Arthur was about to launch into another tirade about honour and fortitude, yes.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah's head was hurting as she stared at him again. "Okay, so, we're only supposed to defend ourselves from-- guys who don't know how to use a sword? Arthur! There's plenty of swordsmen out there who don't have honor! Or jerks just like guns and clubs and brass knuckles! And... how do we get better, if we don't get to fight the best?" She paused, having found her point. And having a good idea of how Arthur was going to refute it, at least as applied to her.

[bitchprince]

There was a short silence as he stared at her.

"Dinah," Arthur started, finally, sounding utterly and thoroughly offended, "We're talking about knights, not common swordsmen!"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"I'm not saying your knights would be a threat," Dinah said carefully. For waaaay a lot of reasons. "But. You know this Island." She met his eyes. "Are you really sure someone else's won't show up, someday? And their honor demand, I dunno, taking Morgana hostage?" Leave herself out of it, for now.

[bitchprince]

Arthur was going to headdesk. "I'm not saying that women don't have the right to defend themselves," he said, because Arthur did, in fact, kind of have to stand up to that point considering what he'd done in Ealdor, "But combat spars against a knight? It'd get them hurt. It's dishonourable to treat women like that."

Even if many of them were incredibly annoying.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

That was actually kind of sweet. And so dense. Dinah had a feeling there was no way she was going to win this one.

"Arthur? I know we're smaller, and I'm a bad example 'cause I don't know what I'm doing yet-- but some of the female alumni I saw a couple weeks ago could so kick a guy's ass. And I'd bet even a knight's. One woman was fighting Leto in speed-mode and doing really well." She took a breath. "They had to learn somehow, right?"

[bitchprince]

"Leto fought a woman?" Arthur asked. Because clearly, that's what he was going to take from that. "I'm not surprised."

Give him a moment--

"Speed-mode? What in the name of God is that?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"You haven't seen that?" Dinah would get back to that other comment in a second. "The first time I was in here with Leto, he showed me-- well, I'd seen his sister do it too, by then. First here, then over there, really really fast. Like a blur." She raised her eyebrow on the other comment. "And I doubt he dragged her onto the mat, Arthur. She looked like she was enjoying herself."

No, that is not disgruntlement. Maybe ruefulness? Yeah, let's go with that.

[bitchprince]

"So you're telling me that Leto knows magic," Arthur said, ignoring the rest of her ramble. Of course he did. He shot a well fuck me rigid, fates, of course look up at the ceiling.