The Salle, Monday Morning

[bitchprince]

Monday. Salle. Arthur.

It would surprise no one that by now, the one function he had truly mastered on his Blackberry was the spreadsheet one. He used it to keep his schedule.

Between drills, he agonized over what to do with his Thursday afternoons. He just had church; surely, there had to be something else he could fit in there?

During drills, however, he thought of nothing of the kind: he just moved, fast as always, sword slicing through the air before him. With utmost concentration.

Still. Thursdays. It bugged.

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[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah, on the other hand, had both training of other people on Thursdays, and going in to Baltimore to fight crime. Ha! Not exactly slacking, now, was that? Even if she had to find something extra to do on Fridays to have her schedule be as busy as Arthur's. Shhhh.

"Morning," she said as she came in, heading for the practice dummy, then pulling out her sticks. "You were going to teach me another weapon today."

[bitchprince]

"I did say so, didn't I," Arthur said, idly, giving his sword a final twirl before sheathing it. "Any preferences as to with what weapon I will have to cope with your incompetence next?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah crossed her eyes at him, then said, "No real preferences. Although knowing knives might be useful." In a way that, say, an axe might not.

[bitchprince]

"We'd have to head down to the range for knives," Arthur mused, "I suppose it'd be less intense than a bow..."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

A bow would mean the range too. "It'd be useful. Especially for defense. Every junkie and his brother can get a knife when they can't get or shoot a gun in New Gotham." She gestured with an eskrima stick. "Knife-fighting too. I could ask Leto, but..." She was still getting the hang of trying to do super-speed with Ghanima, and while she knew Leto would be happy to teach her... things just went better when she didn't build up adrenaline around the guy.

[bitchprince]

"You're better off with me."

Because of Leto being Leto, and because Arthur had made it his job to be amazing at what he did. Knives happened to be a part of that. It was simple logic.

"We'll head over to the range. Skip by the weapons locker on the way."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Or simple ego. Two sides, same coin. One with a Albion profile on it.

"Works." Dinah grinned and grabbed her bag again, following Arthur out to the weapons locker and back toward the gun range. "What do I do first?"

[bitchprince]

"First, you set your things down and take a step back so you don't hurt yourself."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

A mild eyeroll for that one, but Dinah did as instructed and backed up several paces, watching him carefully. The distance wasn't going to be a problem, it was the aim that would be the challenge. "What kind of stance? Same as for fighting?"

[bitchprince]

"Make sure your arms point towards the target," Arthur said, sort of answering her question in a roundabout way. "Then put your feet down like this." Might as well start basic: right foot back, left foot front, knees lightly bent. He held the knife in his left hand.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah imitated him, down to the angle of her toes, and checked her posture, then looked expectant, holding out a hand for a knife.

Yeah, like it'd be that easy.

[bitchprince]

Arthur rolled his eyes. No, she wasn't getting one yet. "Then back," he said, pulling the knife back, "and swing forward."

He did so, shifting his weight as he did it. His fingers snapped shut as the knife left them... and embedded itself in the middle of the target.

Could you tell he used to throw these at servants for the lulz?

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

You really, really could, or that at the very least, he'd had a lot of rainy wet boring afternoons to get way too good at this.

Dinah bit her lip, and imitated his throw, sans knife. "Back, and swing forward," she repeated, trying to get her wrist right. "With your whole arm in it, not just the hand." Ha! Okay, pretty please, give her a knife now?

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin, on the other hand, had mastered the fine art of horrible games.

"This is harder than I thought," He said, in between games of Snood.

[bitchprince]

"Of course it is," Arthur said, nonchalantly, and shot him a smirk.

... Listen, he couldn't always be bothered to be creative.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"You don't even know what I'm talking about."

[bitchprince]

"No, but I'm sure it exceeds your abilities," Arthur quipped, sitting down next to him on the bench. "Do go on."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin very politely went the modern approach and flipped him off before attempting another shot at Snood.

See what watching television does to a boy? See?

[bitchprince]

And Arthur, who really only watched the television if there were sports on or Merlin was making him watch, squinted at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"That you're a prat?" Merlin ventured.

[bitchprince]

"You're getting lazy," Arthur informed him.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"It's a fun gesture."

[bitchprince]

"You," Arthur said, leaning back, "Need to watch less Teevee. It does things."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Perhaps you ought to watch more if you want to know what I'm doing," Merlin countered.

[bitchprince]

"Perhaps you need to watch less so people won't start staring becaues you're flicking your fingers about like an idiot."