The Salle, Monday Morning

[bitchprince]

His bruises had faded to a point where he could train again, so Arthur was, as usual, back in the salle to go through his morning routine, and to deal with his regulars as they showed themselves.

He was choosing to ignore anything that may have gone on over the weekend (although he was messing about with his Blackberry in order to finally let Reno in on what had happened on Friday. It was a work in progress, but he'd managed to work it down to ensorclld alli and he had hope that with time, he could both finish the last word, and add the 'golden fish' part. It was possible it would be easier if he simply figured out how to leave a voice-mail-- he was quite an expert in the field if he wasn't, in fact, lucid and sober) and took a good training sword instead to give his aching muscles something to remember.

Just an ordinary Monday morning, all in all. He had a vague hope it might actually stay that way for once.

[[ open salle as per usual! ]]

Comments

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

Fiona was there bright and early as she'd wanted to both make a good impression and assure Arthur that she took this seriously. She had her yo-yos with her, as she'd realized from Friday that she probably wouldn't hurt herself if she practiced with two of them along with one and the tessen, but didn't go seeking out the warfan just yet.

[bitchprince]

Well, that was a good sign, at the very least. Arthur paused in the midst of his own work (he was always ridiculously early; Father wasn't much fond of sloth) to turn, and to acknowledge her existence. "Ah, Fiona," he greeted. "I see you've chosen to turn up."

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

She had a snappish reply for that, but swallowed it down. She couldn't help the quick flash of irritation that flared in her eyes, though. Fiona could be respectful, but she wouldn't staunch the one emotion she could ever seem to get without trouble.

"Of course. It would be mildly ridiculous to request training and then fail to come for it."

She divested herself of the yo-yos, tucking them into her bag and leaving it on the ground for later.

[bitchprince]

"You would be surprised," he said, not unkindly, then nodded in the direction of the practice swords. "Pick one that doesn't fall too heavy on your arms. We'll deal with straining you beyond your limits some other time."

[puppy_fair]

After arts and crafts class, which was a demonstration in the futility of handing beads to Zack and getting him to make things with them, Zack grabbed his sword and made a beeline for the salle.

At least swordplay was something that he could handle!

"Hey, Arthur! How are you doing today?"

[bitchprince]

Watching part of your canon between pings.

"I'm fine, thank you," Arthur returned, idly, as he lowered his sword away from the dummy he'd been practicing on. "You're looking cheerful for once."

That was, in fact, a joke.

[puppy_fair]

Mwahahaha! It's pretty!

"Every now and then, I manage to do that," Zack replied, grinning. As per usual. "I guess I'm starting to get back into the swing of things after those monsters invaded."

The Pixie Stix had helped.

[bitchprince]

Far be it from Arthur to come between a man and his live sugar.

"'Swing of things'," he echoed. "That's an optimistic phrase for it." Hey, he wasn't heading anywhere beyond his usual level of disdain for all things today. "Here I was afraid you were going to wind up like a bruised damsel."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Fortunately this week's spar with Ino had left Dinah in much better shape than last week's, hangovers dissipate when faced with Yakko, and goldfish bites heal fast. Plus, she had a maybe-date to look forward to today.

"Morning, Arthur." Dinah headed over to the practice swords and started her drill after a bright smile for Zack and a nod to Fiona.

[puppy_fair]

Zack returned that smile with a grin and a bounce and a wave hello!

It was an awesome morning.

[I start the new job today, so I'll be away and gone in probably about an hour, but Zack totally had to acknowledge that he was smiiiiiled at!]

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

[np ans awwww!]

A bounce back! And gleeeee! And then re-focus on the sword. First things first, Monday mornings.

[bitchprince]

"Dinah, morning," he greeted in turn, and paused by her as she went to start her drills. "You've recuperated?"

He fretted about the girls. Hush.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Hoping he was talking about the invasion and not her hangover-- and then remembering that Arthur never listened to Radio, and would totally ignore that the Awkward in the Common Room had ever happened-- Dinah nodded and held up an elbow. "Ten showers and a ton of antiseptic cream, and the only thing to show now is some nibbles. I'm fine." She dropped her elbow and grinned. "You too, right?"

[bitchprince]

"After Merlin managed to prepare a salve that didn't have dung or peppermint in it," he said, dryly, "Yes."

He felt a little uncomfortable considering the whole Fiona spectacle. He already had trouble not giving into protective instincts and warning her, and now the whole fight with Leto was starting to crawl back up to haunt him.

"Dinah?"

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

Fiona waved from where she was working. It was a little hurried as she was obviously still a bit nervous about things, but nonetheless heartfelt.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah gave her an encouraging thumb's up, not wanting to distract her too much. Arthur *so* didn't love that. But hopefully she'd get to spar with Fiona a little later!

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

Once Fiona was done with her sword drills, she gave Dinah a smile back as she started looking for the tessen to work with her yo-yos.

[withoutverona]

It was a crowded salle by the time Romeo shut the shop for a break and made his way back through town. He flashed a slight smile at the activity, then took a place on the mats to stretch out.

"Good morning, Arthur."

[bitchprince]

"Romeo. Good morning," Arthur replied. He sounded almost chipper. Not that he welcomed the busywork as a distraction, or anything (nevermind not that Romeo was easier to deal with than the flocks of women he seemed to be attracting in here, and not for the right reasons). "You've survived the alligators all right?"

And if they had time to spare, Romeo could maybe explain to him how this 'text' thing really worked. Reno did have to be kept informed.

[withoutverona]

"I didn't go out much, just shot a few around the grounds and entirely handwavily" Romeo admitted, sounding a little ashamed of himself. "So I survived through that clever route. Did your reserves get put to good use?"

[saikyou-no.livejournal.com]

Kenshin nodded to Arthur (and Fiona) when he arrived, and made a bee-line for his sword.

After spending a few moments meditating, he got up, and started working through one of the basic kata common to almost all kenjutsu schools.

[bitchprince]

"Himura," Arthur greeted, with a nod. He kept to his own business until the whole meditation part had ended; then eventually, professional curiosity drove him to approach the slightest bit, to get a better view of what he was up to.

He'd been fairly good with that sword last Friday, after all.

[saikyou-no.livejournal.com]

His movements were quick. Efficient. Professional. Not the lightning-swift death he had been on Friday, but still very, very good.

((will be slow; Ikea delivery just arrived.))

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah nodded to the guy she didn't know, smile bright, then settled back into her own drill.

After a while though, she had to take a break to watch. He was really, really good. She didn't want to distract him, but it didn't really look like much would.

[saikyou-no.livejournal.com]

It would take an actual, serious threat to break him from his concentration just then; something more substantial than someone just watching.

He kept to ground-based training for the time being, moving from one kata to the next, a seamless stream of violence designed to do nothing but kill.

Quickly.