The Salle, Monday Morning

[bitchprince]

Regular time, regular place, regular...

Well, not-regular child.

Sorry, Dinah, but Arthur was a little busy teaching another, more promising student today. Rather than resort to his own drills, he fell back and ran Rhys through his own, inserting the occasional encouragement or correction as he worked.

The boy deserved the better part of his attention.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

That was totally okay with Dinah, 'cause she had her own person to teach this morning.

"You're sure you want to do eskrima first? We could start in the gym..."

"Yes." Dinah kind of found Sin's insistence on this adorable, and wasn't going to discourage it, since she always regretted not getting training when she was really little.

"Okay. Sticks it is, then." Dinah paused gave Arthur and his kid a small smile. "Hey, Arthur. And... son."

[bitchprince]

"Do not stop your drill," Arthur ordered. It was an order the boy took instinctively - something Arthur hadn't experienced with anyone for quite a while.

But he ignored that, passing by him to reach Dinah. "Dinah," he said, "Child. I think I'll leave you to your own training this time."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Sin actually bowed to Arthur, which had Dinah staring for a moment, blinking, then saying, "Yeah, Sin and I need to work on her eskrima drills anyway." Her mouth ticked sideways in a carefully suppressed smile. "Sin, say hello to my coach, Arthur Pendragon. He's teaching me swords and knives."

Sin bowed again and very gravely said, "Hello, Coach Pendragon. It is an honor to meet you."

Dinah resisted hugging her with a main effort.

[bitchprince]

Arthur gave her a slight nod to acknowledge her. Mainly. "That's Rhys," he said, gesturing towards the boy with his head. "He's not to be disturbed. Now, what is your mother teaching you today?"

[newlances.livejournal.com]

Sin gave Dinah a quick look, but wasn't about to say Dinah was her Sister, not her Mother. It would have been nice if she was. "We are learning upper defensive drills, and high blocks. And how to combine them at speed!" She was Sin, she didn't bounce, but she still looked thrilled. "Sir."

[bitchprince]

"Mhm," Arthur said, humming without any clear judgment one way or another. "Fair enough," he continued, lifting his chin up at Dinah. "Continue. I expect this will be fun, at the very least."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"At the least," Dinah said, because she had her suspicions about Sin. Yeah.

She watched the little girl get into position, handling the sticks confidently, and then found herself grinning widely as Sin did it perfectly. Well. As close to perfect as Dinah could see. Her knees were in the right place, her posture was perfect, her arms were in the correct position, and she was fast. Fast.

About the only thing she could possibly correct was how tense Sin was, so she told her, "Relax your arms, Sin. You're doing great. But you want to be able to adjust your angle, and not hurt yourself."

Which got her a grave little nod, and ... no relaxing that she could see.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"What will you do when you have no one who listens to you?"

[bitchprince]

"I manage to deal with you every day, don't I?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Ha ha. Rhys, your father thinks he's funny," Merlin called.

[destinybitch.livejournal.com]

Rhys squinted at them both.

"Gwen says I'm not supposed to get involved," he said, sincerely. Wise, wise advice.

He'd also found it was best not to repeat Katchoo's description of exactly what this was, but it started in the word 'fore'.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin snorted, shaking his head. "Go back to practicing then, eh?"

[bitchprince]

Arthur rolled his eyes at the both of them. "Watch your left arm," he called to Rhys, and took a moment to sit down. "I," he said, "Am a lot funnier than you."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Of course you are." The picture of innocence, there.

[bitchprince]

"I'm glad you agree with me," Arthur informed him, lifting his chin. "I'm sure Rhys would, too."

The words 'Not involved!' echoed through the room again. Gwen had trained Rhys well.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"He's very smart," Merlin said, nodding toward him.

[bitchprince]

"He's too loud," Arthur said, pulling a face. "I'd hope he's more better behaved in Camelot."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"...he's loud," Merlin repeated like he didn't quite hear him correctly.

[bitchprince]

"Yes," Arthur said, shooting him a quick look. "He's loud. What?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"He's a child, aren't children supposed to be?"

[bitchprince]

"I wasn't loud."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"..."

[bitchprince]

Arthur shrugged. "There's no pride in running around shouting, as my father used to say."

Note how he wasn't actually saying this to Rhys himself.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Well." Merlin might have been just a bit closer to Arthur than before. "It's a good thing Rhys is loud."

[bitchprince]

"Please. The whole castle must be losing its head over all that."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Oh, please. I've heard Morgana."

A beat.

"...the child one."

[bitchprince]

"...Well, she's a girl," Arthur muttered, "And Katchoo's offspring. I'm not sure it could have been any different."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Mmhmm," Merlin replied, totally believing him.