The Salle, Monday Morning

[bitchprince]

It had been a week consisting of a real dearth of training. Beyond the archery practice, anyway. Swinging a sword around on Kellerman's grounds hadn't seemed too diplomatic a choice, and Arthur had been aching to get back to it the moment they set foot back on Fandom grounds.

Training in the salle that morning was, to put it mildly, spirited, although no dummies were involved for the occasion. Just long, precise drills, which Arthur executed with all the dedication and pleasure most people put into watching a good teevee programme.

... They had their ways, he had his, and with Merlin on the bench it was an otherwise utterly normal Monday morning.

[[ open, although I disappear in a few hours ]]

Comments

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin's way was to poke at his iPhone and attempt to look up relationship advice. This 'Dear Abby' woman seemed very promising!"

...Yeah, Merlin was so very dim.

He hummed and tried to think up a witty name like 'Lost in Los Angeles'.

This meant time to text Arthur! Who was about fifteen feet form him. Shhh.

aRe you done yet??

[bitchprince]

... Merlin's message, even if he got it into his head to send it to this Dear Abby person, would probably not meet the English levels required for publishing anyway-- so why did Arthur feel sheer fear coiling up his spine despite being unaware of the boy's plans?

Arthur finished off a particularly magnificent, collected series of blows before bothering to answer. No, I am not. Why, are you in a hurry to get anywhere?

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"No!" Merlin answered cheerfully.

[bitchprince]

Arthur shot him a look. "What are you doing, at that?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Looking things up. This wy-kee-pee-dee-ah thing is rather fun!"

Now that he'd closed the Dear Abby link.

[bitchprince]

Arthur squinted at him. "The what?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"It's like a dictionary!" A very, very addictive one with facts that can be changed easily.

[bitchprince]

"But it's not an actual dictionary," Arthur said, then shook his head once to clear it of any confusion. "Right. You looking up spelling words, then?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Well, it's more definitions. And you can look up things at random."

He was now looking at root vegetables used in cooking.

[bitchprince]

That better not be a lead-up to Merlin actually cooking.

"Try to look up the word 'good'," he suggested, smirking, "Or 'competent'. You may learn something."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"I could look up 'prat'," Merlin suggested. "Do you think it has your picture?"

[bitchprince]

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Absolutely not," he said, "The people who designed this 'wy-kee-pee-dee-ah' have rather more good sense than that, I suspect. But try the entry for 'idiot', I know you've been looking for a good self-portrait."

He felt somewhat proud of that barb.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin pretended to push a few buttons. "No, it just keeps giving me your picture."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah was there, relieved to be back to normal training too, even if she'd used the entire vacation to run around like a maniac.

"Hey!" Dinah gave them both cheerful grins, and went straight into her drill. Humming.

Dinah's mental TV show had a soundtrack, that was all.

[bitchprince]

Arthur rolled his eyes and got to helping her for a good while before even bothering with conversation.

"Well, at least you seem to have retained some of your abilities over the week."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Swimming, biking, rafting, hiking and some archery, it's not like I'd go stale in just seven days," Dinah pointed out. "And I didn't even get to bug you guys, I was so busy."

Awww. Oh well. She'd have to live with having had a very good time.

[bitchprince]

"If anyone could manage, it would be you," he said, idly. "And I do mourn your absence that week. Really."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Diplomat," Dinah said, managing to make it sound like an insult. See, she learned more from him than just swordplay! Step-lunge-slash, and then swinging the sword over her head. "How'd you keep busy?"

[bitchprince]

It was a step, but she was still far off from the kind of venom Merlin could put into the word 'sire'.

Anyway.

"The archery range wasn't too bad," he said, "Nor were the hiking or riding trails. And the foosball was entertaining."

Yes, Dinah, he played foosball.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Which didn't quite make her trip, but did make her stop and blink at him, trying to get that image to gel. "Seriously?" She paused. "And you didn't break it or anything?"

[bitchprince]

"No, but Francine made a valiant attempt to put an eye out," he muttered. "Not that she'd ever hit me. She has the grace of an underfed colt." Which he meant as kindly as possible. Really.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah looked outraged on Francine's behalf, and said, "Hey!" Then had to stop. "Um..." Okay, Francine's grace was more theoretical than actual, and 'underfed' was not an adjective she'd associate with her, but-- "I'm sure your reflexes compensated?" Step and swing and block again!

[bitchprince]

"Of course they did, Dinah."

Seriously.

"Although the staff left a few things to be desired."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"They were perfectly nice to me," Dinah said, frowning as she moved into the tricky bit with the high-side-low blocks. "Always offering to get me another towel, or a drink, or whatever. What didn't they manage for you?" She paused, and added, "Plus, they're all really good dancers."

[bitchprince]

"I don't care about their performing abilities," he said, "--And for god's sake, straighten your arm!-- but it took me ten minutes on the phone before they bothered to agree to bring up breakfast. If we'd been at a proper hotel, breakfast would've been there by then. Nevermind the complete ineptitude at the archery range."