fandomhighdorms | The Salle, Monday Morning

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The Salle, Monday Morning

Not that Arthur would admit it, but yesterday had helped to calm him down from the state of introverted confusion he'd been in since Thursday. He was no longer showing signs of such, or at least nothing that was as easily, visibly sedate.

He was, however, very focused on his own swordwork that morning. He'd asked Merlin to ~~stand guard~~ come with him into the salle, but now that what bothered him worst had gotten out, he was free to focus on his movements to ward off the rest of it. Slowly, carefully, and with full concentration, he lapsed into familiar patterns that were as easy as breathing by now.

[[ open salle, but I'll be SP in bursts until the evening ]]

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"I always expect it," Arthur assured him, following it up with a high blow just to keep Zack on his toes and all. He enjoyed keeping people on their toes. Call it a hobby.

Really, he was half-disappointed there was nothing random to fling at Zack while he was babbling, here.

Maybe it was fortunate that there was nothing to fling. Zack had left his umbrella behind, after all.

And he was totally ducking this high blow, maybe just because Arthur himself had so nicely suggested that he do so!

"You always expect to be randomly bombarded with paint? That's what I call prepared, man."

"Camelot does expect its knights to be prepared for any engagement," Arthur informed him, backing up a few steps to get himself some advantage back.

"Any engagement? What if you're attacked by a herd of killer bunny rabbits? Or monkeys? Or Deadpool?"

Zack was thoroughly convinced that nobody could prepare for things like that. Honestly.

He was also stepping backward and raising his sword again.

"Then I will be ready," Arthur assured him, shifting into his own defensive stance.

Arthur wasn't as thoroughly convinced he actually would be, but he had a long track record in faking it in front of his father. Faking it in front of Zack in a bantering fight was a piece of cake in comparison.

"How abouuuut," Zack was now bent on finding something shocking and not-ready-worthy, "a stampede of gremlins? Houses with mouths and arms and sharp teeth? Pancakes?"

He hadn't had breakfast, yet.

Slashing at Arthur's knees, la!

"Yes," and a momentary breathing pause to parry Zack's move before he lost his knees, "I'd be ready."

"It's easy to be ready for pancakes," Zack noted. "The first time I heard about those houses, though, I was pretty shocked. Midgar gets some weird monsters."

At least the monsters were semi-normal. Really. Truly.

"Oooh, there's one! Would you be ready for hitting up a big city like Midgar sometime! All noise and lights and traffic and concrete. I wasn't ready for that, at first."

And, okay, Zack's adjustment time once he'd gotten to Midgar had only been, like, three seconds. But that was still three seconds of Zack having to adapt. Midgar was a big place!

That was rather more of a toss-up, but Arthur had already assured Reno that he could handle Edge, and Midgar couldn't be much worse. "Of course I would be ready," he said, "You've told me all about it."

Swoop went the sword.

And clash went Zack's sword against it.

"I don't talk about it all that much, do I?" Yeah, Zack. You kinda do. You have a big mouth. "Okay, then we need to trade off and even things out! What's your home like?"

"Camelot?" He struck again, of course. "There's the castle at the edge of the city, where the court lives and the knights do practice." Arthur wasn't much of a babbler, really. "Sometimes there's monster attacks or plague, but we do all right."

"Life goes on, huh?" And this time, Zack blocked with his sword and moved back out of the way, just to be on the safe side. "I have this feeling that, for all that our homes are different, they're pretty similar when it boils right down to bare bones. It's just people, either way."

"Oh, there's a few things that are by all accounts different," Arthur said, smoothly, and circled him. "We value our kings." Another pause as he sized up Zack again. "And magic is outlawed in Camelot."

He actually did have a lot more to tell about Camelot, but most of it involved his dreams more than the reality of it.

"Well, we don't have any kings on Gaia," Zack noted, "but we do have a president. Almost the same thing, really. He's in charge of..."

Zack pivoted on his heel, keeping his eye on Arthur.

"Well, pretty much everything. Anything ShinRa owns, it belongs to the President. So... The whole world. Except for Wutai, I guess."

Which, when he put it that way, did sound kind of weird.

"Magic is just kind of a given. Monsters use it, we use it back."

"It used to be a given," he admitted, "But it caused chaos and great evils for our people. So my father took measures."

Which was a really nice and sterile way of saying that his father had tracked down every witch and wizard between their borders and burned them.

He twisted suddenly, throwing a blow at Zack's side.

It was probably a really, really good thing that Arthur had used the nice, sterile way. Zack would have wound up standing agape otherwise.

He moved again, stepping to the side in a slightly-successful attempt to avoid the blow.

"Different worlds, different experiences, I guess." Zack didn't so much as wince at the ache in his side. He simply lifted one foot in an attempt to kick Arthur away with it. Distance. His sword worked best when there was some distance. "I imagine if materia started to cause big problems back where I'm from, people would do the same."

He had no idea how right he was.

It was also probably a good thing that Arthur remained blissfully ignorant to the fact that the circumstances of his own birth had caused the lot to begin with, as he grunted somewhat non-commitently (after grunting commitently at the kick, which did drive him away).

"We fight our battles with steel and sinew alone. That is the way of the knights of Camelot."

Edited 2009-06-23 16:42 (UTC)

"The creatures where I'm from get a lot bigger and meaner than gryphons," Zack noted, and now he was the one circling Arthur, trying to find an opening. "Sometimes muscle and swords don't cut it. Heck, sometimes bullets don't cut it, either. That's what SOLDIER is for."

Well, that was part of what SOLDIER was for. But war was a bit of a given, and Zack remained blissfully ignorant of the President's quest for power at any cost.

"Sometimes they don't."

And Zack would best not tell anyone he'd gotten that acknowledgement.

"But it is our law."

He followed Zack's movements closely.

Zack wasn't really the sort to run around blabbing about things like that, anyhow.

"I'll try to respect your people's laws while I'm around you," Zack decided, moving his sword up a bare inch and taking a half-step forward. Arthur was good- in a regular spar he was better than Zack was, there was no denying that. And focus was difficult for the puppy at the best of times. Maybe it would be better for Zack to stop looking for an opening, and instead try to wear him down with stamina and strength? "I can't make any promises in an emergency, but not pulling out my materia otherwise is easy enough."

Yes, that would be his strategy. He was running at Arthur again, bringing his sword downward and really putting his weight into it, now.

Arthur actually snorted out loud (way to reignite that latent small crush, Zack) at that. "That would make for a first," he said, and then Zack reached him and his sword came up, meeting Zack's halfway and, for once, actually straining to keep it there. Straining harder than he'd like.

"It's the least I can do," Zack decided, bringing his sword down and around for a swing at Arthur's side, next, planting his feet firmly against the floor in an effort to put the same amount of force behind this attack, as well. "I imagine you'd do the same for me, if the situation was reversed, right?"

Sometimes, Zack had a pretty overactive imagination.

At this rate, Zack was going to put significant and lasting strain on his arms. Arthur would have to end this fairly quickly, get within a closer range and perhaps bodyslam him back into the ground.

... Zack should really come to Camelot and see him dealing with the rookie wannabe knights. Most of them lasted less than ten seconds with him in a fight.

"Whatever rules you choose to live by," he agreed, bringing his sword back up for an entirely too straining parry, "Although ours have been-- Limiting."

Yes, he didn't talk about it much, which was why he was trying to use this opportunity to get himself in closer range of that flank of Zack's that wasn't currently protected and busy trying to hack up Arthur's own flank.

"I can imagine," Zack said soberly as he attempted to wiggle himself into a more guarded position with somewhat lacking results. "Being able to heal in the middle of battle and keep going with a fresh start kinda jumps to mind."

Not that Zack was going to be digging for the potions or anything anytime soon. But he would have been in pretty dire straits during his last spar with Deadpool if he hadn't had his Cure materia on hand, for example.

"Or did you mean something else?"

Too difficult to guard while attacking, and so Zack just wasn't going to bother. Up went his sword for another heavy downward swing, instead. Whatever Arthur had to dish out to his unguarded side, Zack would just have to cope.

Which meant that Arthur wasn't going to bother answering until he saw the result of his next move, which was a rather happy, full-on, weight-first bodyslam as his sword blocked and slid past the edge of Zack's. He might wind up stumbling after this one, but if it took Zack down before his own stamina gave up, it would be worth it.

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