The Salle, Monday Morning

[bitchprince]

Between making Merlin move his stuff back into the dorms and picking up Brynmor from the 'pet shop', Arthur still managed to find himself in the salle at his usual time. He'd invited Zack to show up, after all, and if even half of the usual crowd showed up he'd have plenty of distraction for the morning.

He was even feeling fairly optimistic about living with Leto again for the next few weeks. It might help him get a few-- things out of his system that he didn't particularly want to have to deal with. Or shouldn't, if a certain someone's reaction was anything to go--

He took a practice sword, got into stance, and practiced off a dummy for a good while.

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Comments

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Morning, Arthur." Dinah walked in rather than bouncing, last night's bout with Jen taking care of any possibility of that, and headed for the sword rack a little more cautiously than usual. Bruises, yay.

[bitchprince]

Arthur watched her movements for a few moments, identifying what was what - showing up damaged to a training session, really, only he got to do that. "Dinah. Morning," he started. If she'd been a man, this would've been where he'd yell at her for a bit and then forced her to do the hardest drills he could think of.

This not being the case, he said, "Switch to your eskrima."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

But but but sword! Dinah gave them a yearning look, hand already on one, then winced again. Damnit. She tried to think of an argument. Well. A good argument. The pull in her side settled it for her, and she reluctantly went over to her bag to pull out her sticks. "I would argue with you about learning to fight while I'm wounded and all, but. Ow, darnit." She muttered under her breath and approached the practice dummy, shaking out her shoulders, and starting the drill at half-speed. Ow.

[bitchprince]

"You could have tried," Arthur agreed, "But you'd have lost."

Worst. Sword drills. He could have come up with. "You did get those bruises seen to, right?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah was getting better at splitting her concentration, so she nodded as she kept up the drill, left, right, abierto, cielo, and said, "Yup. Ibuprofen. Ice. Early night. Heat." Thud thud thud on each word. The knees were still a little sore, so she stopped to bounce and stretch them out for a minute. "Jen's sneaky." Thud thud thud, twirl-slap!

And wait, was that concern? ...Naaah.

[bitchprince]

"Jen's not sneaky, she's better than you," Arthur informed her mercifully. "Simply practicing your drills won't solve everything if you can't keep your mind occupied with what really matters."

[formerbrat.livejournal.com]

Elspeth arrived at the salle and after a few warm-ups, set to work attacking a dummy with a practice sword.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Which, being totally true, didn't get more than a roll of the eyes, before Dinah gritted her teeth against the urge to ask. It was only going to be another criticism. Did she want to know? Seriously? Uno, diez, ocho, siete... "Which would be?" She probably already knew it. But she had to ask.

[bitchprince]

"Lady Elspeth," Arthur called, once he'd noticed her. Mostly for the sake of politeness. "Good morning."

[formerbrat.livejournal.com]

"Good morning, Prince Arthur," Elspeth said. She paused in her exercises. "Interested in a spar today?"

[bitchprince]

"Which would be remember your opponent has other limbs," he said as the mun's puppy drooled all over her keyboard and ruined it, "Just for starters. Now go high."

[bitchprince]

"I've already made arrangements for the day," he said, which was actually true, and not just a good excuse to get out of fighting a girl (which it wasn't, all right?). "Maybe later this week."

[formerbrat.livejournal.com]

Elspeth nodded. "Any time you like."

[bitchprince]

"I'm sure we'll meet each other in the salle again," Arthur continued (he had no idea why he was continuing, but he'd steamroll along), "And I have no other plans this week."

Which almost made it sound like he was asking her out on a date. Lucky they weren't contemporary?

[formerbrat.livejournal.com]

"How about Wednesday morning, then?" Elspeth suggested.

[bitchprince]

... No way to get out of that one, then.

"If it pleases you," Arthur said, somewhat formally. Okay, a lot formally.

[formerbrat.livejournal.com]

"It would please me," Elspeth said. "But I don't want to put you to any trouble." She lifted her chin and narrowed her eyes slightly, the challenge clear even though her tone was light.

[bitchprince]

"Oh, trust me," Arthur said, for while he might often be dense, he could recognise a challenge in an eyeblink. "It will be no trouble at all, milady."

Bloody women.

[formerbrat.livejournal.com]

"Then I look forward to Wednesday," Elspeth smiled.

[bitchprince]

"Wednesday," Arthur agreed, nodded at her, "If you'll excuse me," and turned for another dummy.

He didn't massacre it, mind. This was a time to show off self-control, not anything else.

[puppy_fair]

Zack had been invited, and so Zack was going to show up!

Funny how that worked, really, wasn't it?

He kind of bounded in, a little late because he'd had class earlier, with his sword at his back and a grin on his face.

"Hey, Arthur!"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Awww, puppy! Dinah went high, doce, tres, cinco, and felt herself turning red for that one. "I didn't forget." She'd just been a little too gleeful for actually pulling off something that didn't usually work. "Okay. Sort of forgot." Quatro, abierto, punyin, side, side. "Didn't realize you were watching." Darnit. And add in the kicks to the drill here, if a little slow.

[bitchprince]

"You were making a fool of yourself, of course I was watching," he said, idly, and then threw in a few extra remarks upon her form as per usual.

[bitchprince]

"Zack," Arthur greeted, feeling on slightly more steady ground after speaking to Reno ironies of ironies. "I see you've actually managed to remember we were supposed to spar today."

For Arthur, that was 'hi, how are you, nice to see you!'.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Was not," Dinah said, stung, but didn't stop. Or ignore his comments. Might've speeded up a little, and yes, imagined the practice dummy was taller and blonder and more British manufacture. "I was doing well! It was a draw. And I was having fun. Do you ever admit you're ever having fun, Arthur?"