The Salle, Monday Morning

[bitchprince]

Fighting Ben still in SP last night had been somewhat cathartic. It hadn't been cathartic enough not to send Arthur back down to the salle with a sword and a mission to use it. So there he was, slicing clean but sure along the lines of a dummy with said practice sword.

There were few times in the week he felt anywhere near at ease. This was probably the most reliable.

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[bitchprince]

Her focus was as bad as Zack's was in a fight. "Dinah," he said, after a few beats, "Don't tell me there's anyone you'd expect me to slap, now."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

That got him a look of pure horror.

"Concentrating! I'm concentrating." And killing things. Imaginary hormones. Right. That worked.

[bitchprince]

At least she wasn't making any complaints about how he was treating her badly or something.

But that just led to bits that hurt, so Arthur would... just try not to think about it. "So you say," he said, "But I'm not seeing it. Wake up."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Awakening." Dead hormone. Dead endorphin. Step, step, lunge, twist, parry, block. "Awake!" A frown and another twist. Considering. "How would you fight someone who couldn't drop their sword? Anything different?"

[bitchprince]

"...Who couldn't drop their sword?" Arthur asked, eying her. "What's that supposed to be?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Um." Okay, this was unnerving to remember. "The alien invasion, the one you didn't get in on. The aliens were shapeshifters, so they could turn their hands into weapons." Dinah cleared her throat. "So, no way to disarm them, or even get them off-balance on their grip, because their hand was the sword." She fidgeted, not looking at him. "So, what. Concentrate on the legs more? The head?"

[bitchprince]

"Chop off the hands," Arthur said, eying her. "It's not much of a science. It's still disarmament."

No, he wasn't going to dwell on the pun.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Oh." Dinah frowned. "I wonder if that would've worked?" shesaid aloud, moving into a series of low cuts. "Or if their hands would've just re-formed... hunh." She shrugged, going back to concentrating. "Not that I had a sword with me, but yeah. Next time."

[bitchprince]

"The other option would be to take off their heads, of course," Arthur said, attempting to keep his voice somewhat kind, but probably winding up sounding more callous than was strictly usual for this time.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Which had Dinah stopping entirely, and staring at her sword. "Yeah." Her voice was strained. "That would have worked too." She swallowed. "Maybe it would've been faster. Right."

[bitchprince]

"Beheadings generally are," he said, "Unless gutting them would have worked."

... Probably not a good topic to delve much further into here, though. He cleared his throat, not so much because he thought it was wrong, but because it put Dinah off.

Let it never be said he couldn't pick up on some cues.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Don't know," Dinah said, her voice detached. "I shot one with his gun, so. Didn't have to find out." She blinked, and looked around, then re-centered herself very carefully, grip tightening on the sword as she blew out a breath. "Right. Um. Okay. Beheadings."

Sword-cut at neck height. Slash downward, to someone already on their knees. Cut upward, to someone taller than her. Face blank.

[bitchprince]

"Maybe it's best if we move back to the staff," Arthur said, after a few short minutes of that. It was making him uneasy this way.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah stopped, torn. Wanting to get it, but... What was it that Esmerelda girl had said? If you have to force the concentration, it's not going to happen. "Maybe that would be good," she said, her voice quiet.

[bitchprince]

He nodded once.

"Go get one, then," he said, his mouth quirking into something that almost looked encouraging, at that.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Relieved, Dinah returned the sword to its rack, and went to the staves, picking out one for herself, then going back to the enclosure, posture looser. She couldn't exactly thank Arthur for this, but she could nod, same half-smile being returned, before sobering. "Ready."

[bitchprince]

"Did you ever wind up climbing the Rocky Bits?" Arthur asked, idly. "Base drill, now."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"No. Well. I did a little exploring at the base, during that Reserves meeting," Dinah said, then started working her way through the first drill, two-handed, liking the weight of the staff as she twisted it diagonally, horizontal, vertical. "But not really climbing them. I didn't have equipment along." Wow, it'd been a long while since they'd talked about that. She frowned. "Terrain class had us practicing it again. Not out there, though. Danger Shop."

[bitchprince]

"Hm."

If any of this-- kept up, that might be an idea. Just for sanity's sake. "Fall off anything?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah stuck her tongue out at him, and rolled her eyes. "Only on purpose, and then we call it rappelling." She wrinkled her nose at him, going back to the forward strike, staff tilted forward, then underhand, then jabbing. "Did you ever get out there?"

[bitchprince]

"I felt it would be a better plan for another day," he said, observing her drills. "Top that up a bit, you're losing your arm."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah fell back into the drill, concentrating on using staff moves, not sword moves or stick attacks, and tucked that odd question away to think about another time.

Maybe she'd go out there, sometime soon. Scout out a path.