The Salle, Monday Morning

[bitchprince]

The fight last night had worn away the more passionate edges of anger, and left Arthur in a pensive mood as well as bruised and battered. He didn't mind bruised and battered. Bruised and battered meant that he could now turn his focus inward, make himself a little smaller.

His drills that morning were hence under tight control, slow and focused, like every blow came with a unity of concentration and thought that left little room for anything else. He didn't know if Dinah or Romeo would show up that day, and neither, really, did he care very much.

[[ salle is open, of course, although i might be slow ]]

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[withoutverona]

Romeo was a little later than normal -- he'd been at the shop a good hour before he remembered there was another promise he had made -- but he made it there with muscles warmed up from the dash back from town.

Arthur looked like he was concentrating harder on his drills than Romeo concentrated on much of anything; Romeo coughed, almost not wanting to break whatever spell he was under.

[bitchprince]

He registered the cough, of course, but he didn't let it knock him out of his concentration until he was fully finished, one final sweep of his weapon before his posture settled. For his standards, he was downright sedate as he put the sword aside. "Romeo," Arthur greeted, "Good morning."

[withoutverona]

"Good morning," Romeo returned. "I know I'm late. I went to the shop first for some reason."

It had been because his head was in that terribly stupid book, really. Which was also why Romeo was only vaguely remembering something about Arthur and Merlin on the radio that he'd half-heard the night before.

He smiled briefly. "I am actually ready to train this week, though."

[bitchprince]

"For once," Arthur acknowledged, working up at least some of his usual level of pleasantry. He walked towards the practice swords to dispose of his own for the moment. "Let's see if you haven't forgotten anything in the meanwhile."

A pause as Arthur leaned over to put the sword away.

"Have you seen Leto at all?" he asked, idly.

At the rate things were going, Arthur was getting the distinct impression the man was avoiding him.

[withoutverona]

The usual level of pleasantry was entirely usual at this point, and nothing Romeo's temper needed to bother itself about. He made a brief snorting noise of well, we'll see and went over to the mats.

"The day with the raining glitter," Romeo nodded. "It made him homesick."

That last was a little rueful; Romeo knew the oddest things made him homesick, too.

"I did talk to him for some time about a week ago," he added. "About the reserves. Why, are you looking for him?"

[bitchprince]

"I am," Arthur said, and bravely refrained from adding such things as he's being an utter girl and I need something to be stable in my life and it might be a bad idea to muck this one up if I ever want to sleep with my eyes shut again for many reasons, some of which involved his pride, and others his state of mind.

That didn't mean they didn't flit through his consciousness. He followed Romeo to the mats once he was through, loosening the muscles of his arms with a few stretches. "But I haven't caught him. I didn't know if he'd turned into a tree again."

... It was possible.

[withoutverona]

"If he has, it happened in the last few days," Romeo said, which he knew was so terribly comforting. He stood.

He wasn't going to bring this up, but Arthur was asking, so ... "He had some concerns about the reserves without Reno, when we spoke. He might be saving them for a time when you aren't attending to other things."

Or waking up in the woods in compromising positions with his manservant, or however Arthur liked to spend his time.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

Fiona was here for her usual practice. She found it sort of funny as she walked in; before everything had happened, she'd hated fighting. Now, she found it both necessary and exhilarating and wondered if part of her mother's game had involved making her hate it to keep her abilities from her.

That didn't, however, explain why Eliot had had no rhythm so she was willing to give her mother the benefit of the doubt.

She gave Arthur a respectful nod and even added a smile, as she was in a good mood, before she went about her business looking for the tessen Himura had mentioned. The short sword was good but limited and she was well aware from her reading that the tessen would require more training anyway.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah was almost ten minutes late, because while Alfred had calculated correctly how long it would take her to get back and dressed and to the salle, the didn't add in time spent cuddling a dramatic kitten who'd missed her. She figured Arthur wasn't exactly expecting her, though.

"Hey, Arthur." She smiled as she headed to the swords, too tired and thinky to bounce. "What'd I miss this weekend?"

[bitchprince]

"If he has any concerns, I'd appreciate it if he brought them to me," Arthur said, almost deceptively mild. "Now, are you ready?"

Romeo was very, very lucky not to have brought up any of the bits about his manservant. Thank you.

[ sorry! LJ swallowed all of my notifs ]

[bitchprince]

"Nothing of note, don't worry," Arthur returned, idly. Very, very idly. "Your family's survived what troubled them?"

[bitchprince]

...She was nodding and smiling at him. If he'd been in any other mood than this, Arthur may have even remarked on it. As it was, he simply returned her nod, then launched into another one of his drills.

He was not in a mood for starting any fights, or conversations of any kind without prompt.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Hunh. Dinah kinda wondered about that, but resolved to listen to the podcast later to find out the warped basics. "Tony caught up with you? Good. Yeah, we did. With an assist from an old friend. Bad guys caught, going to jail. Barbara out of the hospital at the end of the week." She smiled in relief at that, still. "It was... weird. But good." She smiled, then twirled her sword like he did, feeling satisfied with the job being completed. Still a lot to think about, as Alfred had said. Time away had shifted her perceptions of how the job got done, for one thing.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

She found the tessen (http://www1.kamakuranet.ne.jp/sankaido/parts/photo/tessen.jpg) amongst all the rest and eschewed the dummies for the moment to start working out how to use the thing.

Arthur was watched for a moment or two, mostly out of a bizarre sort of concern, but then she shrugged and got to her own practice.

[she's mostly here to be here; arthur ignoring her's fine][poor boy...]

[bitchprince]

"Good," Arthur repeated. With that, the subject was closed, as far as he was concerned. He held up his own practice sword. "Time for a new drill," he said, adding no particular insult or inspiration to either point, and twirled his sword the way it should be.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah rolled her eyes at him, then smiled back, and got into first position. "Ready to be coached, Coach."

[bitchprince]

Arthur may have sighed in exasperation at the name. "High," he instructed, and did just as much.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

High it was. Dinah did the high blocks and counters, ready for instructions on the variation.

[withoutverona]

"I think one of his concerns is that he doesn't feel he can bring them to you," Romeo answered, in as mild and offhand a tone as he could manage. He stood in a defensive crouch. "And as ready as I will be. Shall I begin again by trying to kill you?"

[bitchprince]

And Arthur kept going on that note for a while, leading her through the drill twice before stopping. "Now I want to see you repeating that," he said, turning away so he could put his own blade aside.

It just wasn't that kind of day.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Okay. That was just off. "Are you hurt?" Dinah asked bluntly. "Or getting sick?"

[bitchprince]

"Of course he doesn't," Arthur muttered. Leto was, at many times, a complete and utter girl about anything he could get away with being a girl about. "I'll take it up with him before he involves anyone else in it. And go ahead. We'll see if you've managed to learn."

[bitchprince]

"I'm fine, Dinah, thank you for your concern." He put the blade back, then turned. "Get moving."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

So very off. Not even a jibe about caring too much and throwing herself at him there. Dinah kept her eyes on him as she went through the drill, trying not to frown.

[bitchprince]

Arthur paced around, of course, making the usual comments - her arm was up too high, she was leaning too much weight onto one foot, that sword wasn't a club, Dinah.

For all that he committed himself to it as per usual, he sounded pensive.