The Salle, Monday Morning

[bitchprince]

It had been two weeks since Arthur had gotten some proper salle practice in, and he was rather happy to return to the practice without much in terms of danger slipping its way in. It was good for his muscles, strained from recent combat, and it was good for his mind, to hear his sword shifting cleanly through the air, in motions that were as much a part of him as breathing.

Occasionally, though, he would sneak glances back towards the bench on which Merlin was seated, as plans began to form and shape themselves. Perhaps all should beware. Perhaps they shouldn't.

Either way, Arthur was in a good mood today. That was perhaps the scariest thing of all.

[[ open salle! ]]

Comments

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah's mood was also good this morning. Good spar last night, last week of classes for this term coming up, and no monsters on the horizon.

Also, with Arthur not being a girl any more, she'd hopefully get in a spar today.

"Hey guys." Grabbing her practice sword, Dinah swung into her drill with gusto, ignoring minor bruises from Fight Club the night before. "Good weekend?"

And see, Francine? She was being nice.

[bitchprince]

"It was certainly restful," Arthur said, smoothly. What? In comparison to his past couple of weekends, that was restful. He pulled away from the dummy he'd been working in to come and watch.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Laughing, Dinah went into the high-middle-low block sequence, concentrating on getting her elbows right. "I told people you guys killed a dragon. But you never said, how that actually worked?"

Slash cut stabbity! "Because how do you even get close enough to do damage without getting smushed?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"I blew it up from the inside," Merlin replied from his spot on the bench, polishing a sword. "And it was a rather small dragon."

[bitchprince]

"Merlin doesn't know how to boast," Arthur called, shooting him an amused look. "And it was well worth boasting about."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah stopped to look gleeful. "You blew it up? Dude, you so have to tell everyone that, Arthur's right. And small's relative, I mean, we're not talking pony-sized, was it?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin looked to Arthur to confirm it. "The one we killed? It was about horse sized, I'd say."

[bitchprince]

"Oh, please, a horse? It was at least the size of a very large bear," Arthur argued. He had no trouble with boasting. "Two, stacked on top of each other. Breathing fire."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Stabbity-woo! Dinah twirled with the sword, still grinning, and said, "You are so not a jock, Merlin. See, breathing fire is a very important detail that you just can't leave out." Cheekily, to Arthur, she asked, "So, what did you do again?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"He did a lot!" Oh, Merlin. Stop acting like a moonstruck teenage girl, defending her beloved. "He... made sure the dragon didn't harm anyone."

[bitchprince]

"Why do your people flock around a fire-breathing dragon in the middle of the city?" Arthur had to ask, shooting her a funny look. "Keep your arm up. I kept them safe while he blew it up."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Good thing he said that, because otherwise the giggles from his question were going to wreck her concentration. "Um. Total novelty? Disbelief? Fascination with shiny things? Lack of self-preservation 'cause they're never threatened?" Dinah sent Merlin an amused glance, thinking that Merlin still thought Arthur was Batman, when he was the one who blew it up. "I so wish I hadn't been touring demon-sites with Leah and Tony when you were doing that."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"All you missed was a bloody great mess," Merlin replied cheerfully.

[bitchprince]

"An impressive mess," Arthur had to amend. "But don't let that go to your head, Merlin."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Banter boys. Vibe boys? Dinah shook her head and concentrated on her swing, feeling the pull in her shoulder. "Still way impressive. Along with that last demon fight, Arthur." A curving slash that was getting better at being steady, yay. "I'm just glad Tony'll be back in seven or eight days or so and last-second flights to Vancouver won't be needed to get him out of trouble for the next semester."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Never, my lord," Merlin said to Arthur before turning back to Dinah. "Hopefully there will be no need to bail anyone out of trouble then."

[bitchprince]

"Oh, Merlin," Arthur sighed, leaning over to get a good look at Dinah's footwork. "There's always trouble."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Hi, have you met us?" Dinah asked, concentrating well enough but needing to speed up. "We're students at Fandom High." Cut. "The best." Slice. "The brightest." Stab! "The most insane!"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"I'm not mad," Merlin replied slowly.

[bitchprince]

Arthur grinned. "Now that's in the eye of the beholder," he said, smugly. "Dinah, watch your footwork-- and that goes for the both of you."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Merlin has to watch his footwork?" Dinah asked, correcting her own stance and speed. "He's polishing a sword." And not with his toes, at that. "And everyone here is kinda crazy, Merlin."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin frowned at that. "Francine's not. Nor is Arthur."

[bitchprince]

"I'll have to give you that," Arthur told Merlin. Seriously. "And I wasn't talking about Merlin's footwork, unless you have very strange ideas about sword polishing."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah turned swung stepped, turn-swung-step, then realized he'd been talking about eye-of-the-beholder madness for Merlin. Not footwork. "Francine's not." Yeah, no comment on the Pendragon guy. "And most people are crazy in a good way here."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

What you say?

"...there's a good crazy?" Hey, he only knew the 'Let's kill the prince because we've gone mad and hate Uther!' type before.

[bitchprince]

"That depends on how little brains they have," Arthur advised Merlin. "And keep concentrating, Dinah."

Yes, he was going to keep talking and distracting her anyway. What of it?

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Step, step, stab to the count of Arthur's words, ha!

"Zack is good crazy. People who run toward the screaming and fires and zombies are good crazy." More mischief, eyes on the sword, though, take that, Prince guy. "People who blow up dragons instead of letting other people get eaten 'cause that's more self-preservational: good crazy."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Zack's not mad either," Merlin replied. "He knows what he's doing. A bit... eager, but not mad."

No, that would be the odd red man in the costume.

[bitchprince]

"It's not crazy," Arthur had to contribute, "It shows courage, fortitude and strength of character."

Yes, he was actually including Merlin in that.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"And is crazy, if you go one step further and fight dragons and super-villains. At least according to lots of people in this century." Dinah shrugged, okay with that by those standards. People who Just Didn't Get It didn't matter. And wow, was that a compliment from Arthur to Merlin? Seriously?

Cool.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Who else will?"

[bitchprince]

"It was a duty for us in the name of the people of Canadia," Arthur replied, keeping his eyes on her blade. "What's so mad about that?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah had to grin at Canadia. "Oooo Canada," she sang. "My home and native laaand-- And mostly they'd expect the government to take care of it, without thinking of how, I guess."

Slice, slice, and very careful disemboweling stroke, yay. "Or wonder why we weren't getting paid."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

The government? But that was Arthur back home. Well, him and the King.

"People get paid to do this? Wouldn't they want to help out without expecting something in return?"

Oh, naive Merlin.

[bitchprince]

"It is the government's responsibility to protect the people," Arthur said, nonplussed, "Pay hardly comes into it, unless you mean taxes."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah wasn't sure if this was a definition thing or a cultural thing, but, hey. Break it down to simple stuff, right?

"Police and firemen get paid with our taxes to do dangerous things, and even though everyone respects them for it and expects it, they still get called crazy sometimes. Good crazy. But still." She paused to look over at Arthur. "Constable Elson? Helping us on his own time. Because his bosses wouldn't believe in magic. That's dedication. And all his co-workers would just call him crazy." She looked over at Merlin, and frowned a little in confusion. "Well, how else are they going to live?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Well, working of course."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah gave him a look like now he was just Weird Crazy. "That is their work, Merlin."

[bitchprince]

"The police are like knights," Arthur observed, "Although it seems they have less duties to mind."