fandomhighdorms | The Salle, Monday Morning

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The Salle, Monday Morning

It was a Monday.

It had been a normal weekend.

Arthur, ergo, was in the salle, practicing his staffwork for once. He did have a battle with Mat due tomorrow ~~which was going to be pushed towards next week due to a sudden case of the fox, SPOILERS~~ and it wouldn't do to show up in anything but perfect fighting shape.

He made for a few impressive sweeps through the air as he practiced, showing off for his (Merlin-y) audience as usual.

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"Bring a real sword and you can practice with that," Arthur said, idly, "Provided you don't cut yourself."

He was still in the middle of his drill, though, so he finished the set pattern of almost dancelike maneuvers before continuing.

"Really? Yes!" Of course, there was probably a catch there... like sparring with Arthur and getting cut instead, probably. "I'm supposed to be fighting the beginners today. Edward said I'd learn more restraint that way." Which sounded like a good idea, just difficult. She a little nervous about that with live swords.

"That's a good lesson," Arthur agreed, wandering towards her with the staff in hand. "Actually, I think restraint is something you have to learn in general."

Dinah stuck out her tongue at him, kind of proving his point. "I can restrain myself," she insisted, then looking thoughtfully at the staff. "Most of the time I just don't feel like it... Besides, winning without going all out seems kind of counter-intuitive. Staffs today?"

"Sometimes restraint is the only thing that stands between you and worse fates in battle," he said, giving his staff an idle flick. "For me, yes, but I was thinking we'd return to the sword. Unless you're feeling unsteady in your abilities elsewhere."

Dinah restrained an eyeroll, but still looked unconvinced. "No, I had a good eskrima practice with Tahiri last week. All-out." Because that helped, see? "Swords are good." She stretched a little with hers, then got into guard position, trying not to bounce. Much.

Arthur ignored her for a moment or two. He swept a look over at the practice swords, then dismissed them-- instead, he suddenly lashed out with the staff, a simple blow aimed towards her shoulder, seeing if he could catch her off guard.

"Ah!" No, she hadn't been expecting that, so her response wasn't as fast as it should've been, clumsy and low. Although she wasn't so unprepared that it got all the way through, her arm stung from the impact, and she backed up, eyes wide. "Hey!"

"It's been months, and you still have shoddy reaction time," Arthur judged, settling into an actual fighting position this time, the quarterstaff upright in his hands. "Come on, then."

Dinah turned red and managed to exercise some of that self-restraint in not saying Bite me, then grimly muttered, "Head in the game," and started to circle, sword up at guard, footwork correct. Looking for the next opening or next move there, aware that Arthur had way more reach with the staff.

"You're not always going to be able to face an enemy blade to blade," he said, circling along with all the grace of a big cat toying with some prey, "So you might as well try to work out some tactics that take that into account."

Dinah swallowed, and nodded, brow furrowing. What would help? Getting him off-balance-- but harder to reach him with just a sword. Except-- Right. She switched directions suddenly, a step back, faster than before. Thank God for all that training with Azula, that her speed was improving. What else...?

"Don't let the fact that a sword can cut through a staff get in the way," he instructed, "It's easy to underestimate someone armed with one until they've already disarmed you."

His staff shot out towards her sword-bearing hand. Just lightly. He wasn't putting in his full effort.

Dinah was on guard this time, and slashed out, putting most of her strength behind the return blow, hoping he'd lose his grip. "The staff's longer, but takes more effort to balance, doesn't it?" she asked, eyes still on him, switching directions again, as fast as she could. "Going for the arms is smarter?" Another slash, to test that theory, although she was pretty sure Arthur would block it.

"That would be an effective way of disarming your opponent," he said, dryly, daring back. No blocking.

Dinah made a face at that, but kept both hands on her sword, watching Arthur for an opening. She feinted to the left, then slashed up, striking for his wrists.

With a twitch up of his eyebrows and a winning smirk, Arthur darted away again, making only the faintest motions towards her hands to parry any hint of that.

This was getting annoying. Dinah knew she was missing some opportunity here-- or maybe Arthur was just that much faster? Darnit. She slashed high, then low, trying to figure out what advantage her sword had that a really long stick didn't. "Nuts," she muttered.

Somewhere in between slash-high and slash-low he suddenly darted forward, taking advantage of the open space to lash the stick out at her hand in close proximity, moving fast to try and disarm her on the spot.

We never said he wasn't going to support verbal lessons with physical ones, here.

"Ow ow ow." Dinah kept her grip on the sword, but her left hand was tingling too hard to really do much to support it with that blow. Leaving her with the right hand doing all the work. "Okay, getting it, yes." She lashed out in response, smarting, not thinking, reacting, with a cut towards his knees.

Which meant she was telegraphing.

Arthur's mouth twisted in something not completely happy with that for a moment as he used his staff's position to block again, at the hands, away from the virtual cutting edge, and kicked out at her knee.

The hands took the brunt of it, and Dinah dropped her sword. But she did manage to dodge the kick, speed having improved that much, bouncing away, opening and closing her hands and swearing under her breath, giving her abandoned blade an unhappy look. Frustrated, she glared at Arthur and gritted her teeth. "What am I doing wrong? How does anyone win against a staff? Am I just not fast enough?"

Arthur rolled his eyes, but said, kindly enough, "I'm still several years ahead of you," in reminder. "You do have that cutting edge on your side in a staff fight," he noted, "You just have to be careful not to rely on it, and wait for your opportunities."

"Nnngh. Someday...." Could the next time the island changed her, it do that thing where she was ten years ahead of herself again? "Right." She crouched down to grab her sword, keeping a wary eye on Arthur the whole time. Trickster. Not forgetting that again, no.

She popped up, re-settled her grip, and got on guard again.

Like he'd make a move on her while she was disarmed. He took a few steps back, giving the staff a little swoop as he went, and waited.

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blondecanary.livejournal.com - 2009-11-24 04:20 (UTC) - Expand

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