The Salle, Monday Morning

[bitchprince]

Yesterday night at Reno's had involved more drinking, but unlike Saturday, Arthur had taken some care in what he consumed. That meant he was reasonably free of a hangover as he strolled into the salle early that morning, taking his usual practice blade for the time being.

Merlin had followed him there, of course, and was now present in the salle going about his morning duties. He occasionally cast the boy a glance between drills, mostly to determine if any of the previous night's weirdness still held up.

[[ open salle, and merlin modded here with permission ]]

Comments

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

There was no affection weirdness!

Merlin was very casually sitting in the corner, poking at his phone. This texting bit was proving to be rather interesting!

[bitchprince]

Which might have been why, after yet another drill, Arthur put his sword aside to go for his Blackberry.

Not that he couldn't talk to Merlin, considering that he was right there, but it would be an interesting experiment.

He fiddled with the keys for a moment.

youre doing it wrong

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin squinted at that for a moment. And then at Arthur. Phone. Arthur. Phone.

Huh.

After more than a few moments he managed to text back.

prat.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Whatcha dooooing?" Dinah said, bopping over to bug Merlin. Because he was there.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"I'm texting people." Oh, Merlin. So proud of that.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Like for instance:

FRANCINE. THIS IS EASIEER THAN I THOUGHT

Someone tell him about capslock, people.

[thatsamilkshake]

Hey, she was just impressed that there was only one extra E.

Hi Merlin! Good job! You can turn the capital letters off too. Nifty, huh!

See, it's not a critique; it's a feature.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

Fiona came nice and early and made her way straight to the practice blades to get things started right away.

...fear, Arthur, she's cheerful again.

[bitchprince]

Well, that just meant there was something horribly wrong with the world.

"Fiona. Glad to see you've managed to turn up," Arthur said, with his particular take on grace. He turned to watch her while he waited for her to get hip ready.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

"I told you I would," she reminded him as she walked over, her steps still light.

"And I showed up the last time. Just left before you finished a drill. What're we doing today?"

[withoutverona]

Romeo took a long hot shower that morning, then went to the diner for a pot of strong coffee and bacon and eggs that he ended up shuddering at instead of eating. But by the time he got to the Salle, he felt fairly human.

Like a human who wasn't going to drink again for a long time, but human.

"Good morrow," he said, as if this were a normal day and not his last here. "Staffs?"

[bitchprince]

"If you think you can manage it," Arthur said, gracefully, and lifted his chin up at where the staves were kept. "One more time."

[withoutverona]

"For now. I'm not letting you out of trying this again at homecoming," Romeo informed him firmly as he selected a staff and tried to twirl it.

It was ... getting easier. Not fluid yet, but he no longer looked like a complete incompetent.

"How are you feeling?" he added.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Hey, Romeo." Dinah looked up from her last drill and smiled. "Are you leaving soon, I thought I heard? Jenny has Pixie Dust now?"

[withoutverona]

"Dinah!" Romeo grinned, from the mat where he had quite possibly collapsed was cooling down. "Aye. We leave for Tokyo after lunch."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah hadn't been drunk at all this weekend, or gotten beaten up at Fight Club, so she was both cheerful and energetic as she bounced in. "Hey, guys." She headed over to the sword rack and told Arthur, "A friend of mine might be stopping by to watch before we do some extra practice. Griff. That's no problem, right?"

[bitchprince]

"Are you trying to gather a crowd of spectators around yourself, Dinah?" Arthur asked her, sounding amused once he'd broken off his own drill. "Do you think your abilities are well enough to handle it?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah made a face at him. Trust him to find it funny, the reaction she hadn't anticipated. "No. I just told him I was here anyway, and-- my abilities have gotten a lot better!" she couldn't help adding.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

Dinah got a big happy wave after Fiona finished one of her drills before she could go onto the next one.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Fiona!" Dinah bounced over on one of her breaks, and grinned at her. "Griff's coming by. We're doing a practice thing when I'm done with my sword practice. You can stay and watch, if you want? If you stay far enough back."

[youcantfollow.livejournal.com]

Showing up when Dinah told him should be toward the very end of her time with Arthur, Griff found his way to lean against a wall and watch what was going on, if anything.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Griff!" After the sparring and practice with the sword, Dinah carefully placed her weapon back in the rack and made her way over to him, beaming and wiping off her forehead with the back of her wrist. "You made it, yay. What'd you think?"

[youcantfollow.livejournal.com]

"Impressive," he said, greeting her with a smile. "You were working really hard out there."

[bitchprince]

Arthur shot the newcomer a look from the corner of his eyes. "Dinah's poor audience, I take it," he called.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

Fiona was there, as Dinah had told her Griff was coming, and gave him a quick little wave; she didn't want to bother him when he had a good reason to be here, after all. She just wanted to watch what they were going to do.