The Salle, Saturday Morning

[nottrivial]

Okay. Alec knew he'd been moving a little slowly yesterday what with the lack of caffeine and all, but somehow he hadn't expected it to last until today.

He'd been training for years, and he knew exactly how long his workout routine was supposed to take. The patterns he ran through with seraph blades were supposed to be quick, expedited by Shadowhunter speed and grace. Today he was just kind of... slow.

Actually, no, he wasn't kind of slow. Today Alec knew just how slow he was, proportionately speaking. Since normally his workout took two hours, and today he was only one-fifth done with his routine at forty minutes, he knew as soon as he glanced at his watch that he was going about two-thirds slower today and, barring variations in his slowed-down speed for the different parts of his routine, should finish around noon instead of the usual ten-thirty.

That was not something he was normally able to figure out.

He hurled a glittering seraph blade at a target, wincing as he discovered his aim was off too. Wonderful.

[[so, so open]]

Comments

[suitably_heroic]

"Oh, wow," Atton said. Look, he'd just been strolling around the grounds and he got bored. It happened.

He stepped further into the salle and squinted. "You have the worst aim I've ever seen. You practice for that?"

[nottrivial]

"For years, actually," Alec groused, making a face at the target he hadn't quite managed to hit. "Are you different at all, this weekend?"

Because he was juuuust egotistical enough to blame the island for this sudden lapse in skill instead of himself.

[suitably_heroic]

"Yeah, I just woke up with this irrepressible urge to watch someone who thinks he's better than me fail," Atton said pleasantly. "Or is that you trying to blame that on Fandom?"

[nottrivial]

Alec crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm normally better than this," he said stubbornly, eyeing the cooling seraph blade on the floor and wondering if maybe it was just defective. "You can't just stand there and have an accurate picture of-- ugh, never mind."

[suitably_heroic]

"Accurate picture of what? Your amazing ability to miss a target?" Atton drawled. "Well, give it another shot, be my guest."

[nottrivial]

He scowled. "Not with you watching."

Alec was mature.

[suitably_heroic]

"Afraid you're going to go down in flames again?" Atton asked, mock-sympathetically.

[nottrivial]

Yes. "No," Alec said, "but my training is private. Mundies aren't supposed to see it."

That possibly sounded even more snotty than the alternative.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, what did you just call me?"

[nottrivial]

Alec sighed, and crossed the room to pick up his seraph blade. "Mundie," he repeated. "Short for 'mundane.'"

He felt absolutely zero guilt about explaining the term to Atton, unlike with Sparkle, when he'd pretty much blushed and apologized all over the place.

"It means you're a human without any powers."

[suitably_heroic]

Wow, Alec. Not just offensive and infuriating, but wrong, too!

"Really," Atton drawled. "Well. I'm sorry for getting my Mundane ass all over your training. Clearly I wasn't born with such amazing gifts as you were."

He was looking at the unharmed target, oh yeah.

[nottrivial]

Alec looked unimpressed by the sarcasm. "Not your fault," he said neutrally. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to what I was doing."

So he could finish by twelve-fifteen, or something. Ugh.

[suitably_heroic]

"Yeah, I'd love to go back to what I was doing, too," Atton said, making his eyes go wide. "You know. Sitting in the corner, scratching myself."

[nottrivial]

"By all means," Alec said, gesturing to the door where Atton could exit and sit outside to do just that. "It's a big campus."

[suitably_heroic]

"But sadly, I seem to be rooted to the ground," Atton said. "You know us Mundies - can't figure out how to use a doorway."

He was going to take that idle idea to use the shooting range this afternoon and run with it once he was done here, yes.

[nottrivial]

"I've never seen anyone with that problem before," Alec replied coolly. "That might be specific to you."

[suitably_heroic]

"Just hit that target," Atton said, nodding at it, "I'll be out of your hair."

[nottrivial]

Ugh, Atton, you were the worst. "You really won't just leave?"

[suitably_heroic]

"What are you, shy?"

[nottrivial]

"No, I just like my privacy," Alec said. "And I don't want a mundie running around talking about how seraph blades work."

[suitably_heroic]

"And I want a million credits and a pet bantha," Atton said. He wasn't moving. "Get moving or get out."

[nottrivial]

Alec heaved an unimpressed sigh. "Fine." He pushed up his sleeves to give him better freedom of movement, which had the unintended side effect of exposing the swirling Marks on his forearms.

Deactivated, the seraph blade just looked like a blunt-edged tube; when Alec activated it with a muttered "Cassiel," though, it lit up and extended, glowing hot, and he hurled it at the target.

It... actually managed to hit it that time, at least. Not dead-center, but still. That was something.

[suitably_heroic]

... He had to even have a fake lightsaber, didn't he?

Slow clapping, Alec. That was all you were getting. "Was that so hard?" Beat. "Well, I guess so."

[nottrivial]

Alec was not in the mood for your crap, Atton. FYI. "Are you going to leave now?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Sure," Atton said lightly, crossing his arms. "I'll be next door if you need me. Actually hitting targets. You know. Like a Mundie."

[nottrivial]

"I seriously doubt that," Alec said. "Best of luck, though."

[suitably_heroic]

"Keep your luck," Atton said, turning around. "You're gonna need it."

He took his blaster out of his pocket on his way to the door.