fandomhighdorms | The Salle, Monday Morning

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The Salle, Monday Morning

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! ]]

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"The worst I had to deal with on Friday evening were a few bruises and the sewer smell," Zack laughed. "Saturday morning was worse. I don't know what I did to deserve detention, but they made me clean."

Dried up gator goo. It had been an adventure.

"The school does have interesting ways of disposing of anything foul," he agreed, approaching Zack more readily, his own practice sword still in hand. "Look on the bright side - at least you know you're good for something."

"And here I was starting to worry that people were keeping me around as a decoration," Zack mused, glancing at Arthur's ~~wee tiny!~~ practise sword. Totally bemused. Really. "It's good to feel needed for things like scrubbing guts off of the front gate, too."

And raiding sewers. And such.

Oh, Zack. Decoration was only about two-fifths of the reason. "How did the raid on the sewers go?" Arthur segued, "I haven't caught you since."

He was kind of glad about that. It must've reeked worse than anything.

"More people showed up for it than I thought there would be," Zack replied, straightening a little. He was so proud of that fact, dangit. "Mostly fighters, but Ino showed up to tend to the wounded, if something happened. It actually went really smoothly, I think."

And that was considering the fact that they'd been joined by a trigger-happy bunny rabbit, at that.

"We all got out alive and well... Though a little smelly."

Okay, the reeking would've bothered him for all of thirty seconds if he'd actually been there, which was why Arthur felt a little twinge of guilt he hadn't realised he had, giving way. "That's good," he said, and if those words were rather overtly sincere, then he'd just--

Well, he wouldn't have to blame something. He should've been there. He swallowed that one back. "Were there many wounded?"

"Aside from the alligators?" Zack gave his head a shake.

"I kind of have to wonder if Ino was getting bored down there, actually. We didn't have to haul anyone off to the clinic or anything."

This was kind of a big deal and it was also very awesome, perhaps Arthur could tell by the way Zack was grinning over it.

Arthur really wouldn't blame him. "That's good," he repeated, then reached across to (hopefully) pat Zack on his ridiculously cheerful shoulder. It was hard not to talk to Zack like he was... a puppy, or something, but still. "You performed well," he said, "Anyone would be proud to stand beside you."

... Listen, this sort of thing was necessary, yeah. Certain actions set off some kind of bizarre princely motion sensors.

If Zack got any more proud of himself, there, he probably would have burst.

"Thanks, Arthur!" Do not hug the Arthur, do not hug the Arthur...

Okay. He was good.

"You did a really good job handling the troops in the park, too. It isn't every day you see huge battles like that go so well."

The only way 'hug the Arthur' could've gone worse would be if Leto would've been there as well to watch the entire scene.

Well, and maybe Merlin. Then it would've really been a disaster.

He crossed his arms behind him, his shoulders steeling a little more to settle the picture.

"It's one of my duties." Sure, it was a self-appointed one, but it was either that or go insane. "The warriors of Fandom are still rather disorganised, but we're getting somewhere."

"Considering I didn't hear about any serious injuries, and no casualties at all on the radio that night, I'd say 'getting somewhere' means that you're doing really, really good. It's an honor to be a part of your reserve corps."

Well, it was an honor, and it also happened to keep him out of trouble on Tuesdays. Which was very important!

He paused, then nodded. "Speaking of such, Zack," Arthur said, happy for the chance for the segue, "Have you ever considered any leadership positions at all?"

He could do princely if he wanted to.

"Leadership positions?" Zack blinked, took a moment to consider, and then nodded and grinned again. "I'm not kidding when I say that I'm going to be a SOLDIER 1st Class someday, you know. If someone thinks I'm capable of handling the rank, I'll take it. And if they don't think I am, then I'll prove it."

"I think you have proved yourself thusfar," he continued, diplomatically, "As does Leto."

"You do?" A beat. "He does?"

Make the boy explode and die of pride, why don't you?

"I was really just doing my job. But it's good to hear that you guys think I'm doing it well!"

It was adorable. It also meant Arthur was going to have to pop it somehow eventually, because it was what he did. "We're in need of a third to watch the reserves," he continued, "We wished to extend to you an apprentice position."

Somewhere, Reno was probably amused.

Either amused, or extending his deepest sympathies to Zack for having to keep those two from killing one another. But mostly amused.

"Ooh, I'd love to take the job!" A beat. "What do I have to do?"

A job! Work doing stuff! He could do that! ... Whatever it was!

Yay!

"Show up every Tuesday, help us set up activities for the reserve, be a force of authority if anything crops up - which I think you've shown you're capable of," Arthur listed, "And the occasional meeting with Leto and myself."

That being kind of the big reason why he wanted to have Zack there.

The other 3/5ths, if we may.

"I can do that!"

He could! He was more than capable of showing up to meetings, both the Tuesday ones and the ones with Leto and Arthur, and setup was fun! And heck, if being a force of authority just meant bouncing at people until they agreed to follow him into knee-deep sewage, then he was absolutely the man for the job!

"It would be an honor to work alongside you and Leto while working to keep Fandom safe."

No. Hugging. Arthur.

Okay. He was good.

Arthur gave him an encouraging nod. It was probably a good thing he didn't realise just how much trouble he was heaping on poor Zack that way, as of course he should be proud.

He offered Zack his hand.

He was just trying to get hugged today, it seemed.

Handshake, Zack. Haaaaandshake. Shaking of the hand. In a civil, totally handshakey fashion.

Take the hand. Okay, good boy. Now, shake it. Like so. There you go, Zack. You're completely on a ro--

Oop. Attempted glomp.

Dammit, Zack. You were doing so well, too.

Oof.

Well, now he was getting glomped. Blinking in surprise, Arthur... patted him on the back. He could do touching. Right. Yes.

Although he wasn't sure where 'arms full of overly bouncy warrior' qualified as just 'touching'.

Squishy hug-thing!

It took Zack a moment to get his fill of random, unannounced squishy Arthur hugs, but he eventually did. And he pulled away with a slightly sheepish grin on his lips, too.

"Uh. I mean... Thanks!"

There was a moment where Arthur stared at him as if he was insane. Then the expression slacked into something slightly nicer.

Arthur Pendragon did not get a lot of hugs, nor was he going to admit they were kind of nice.

"Right," he said. "...Welcome."

Everybody needed hugs. It was a fact of life. A life without hugs was like an orchard without fertilizer. Sure, maybe the trees didn't die without, but there wouldn't be any delicious fruit after a while, either.

Or something like that. Zack would probably puzzle out a half-decent analogy someday. Maybe.

"Is there anything I should bring with me tomorrow? Or anything like that?"

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