#but yeah after bud kinda defended argo with the whole 'i dont know predistigation and its not a spell'

[ohducknewton]

PLEASE write some Fitzroy angst!!! (Maybe about what happened at Knight school? Or at least how he’s dealing with that now?)

“I just cannot comprehend how both of you came to school with neither quills nor parchment. Honestly,” Sir Fitzroy pauses as he peers in another shop window. “It’s a school. Which therefore implies a need of school supplies.”

In response, Argo shrugs and shoves his hands deeper into the pockets of his jodhpurs. “Just didn’t seem necessary. I mean, with all the gold we’re forking over to attend said school, is it too much to ask that they throw in a free pen or two?”

Bud nods but remains silent.

The three of them have been wandering the town of Last Hope for no longer than two minutes and Sir Fitzroy is already regretting the offer to go with his new roommates on their little shopping trip. Argo insists on touching every single thing he comes across and Bud has tracked no less than six cubic feet of dirt in the single shop they have tried out so far. Maybe it's not too late to feign a headache, head back to the dorm, and just cover Gary the Gargoyle with a pillow so that any comments about Fitzroy’s social skills are muffled.

“Oh this looks promising!” Argo bounds over to Parchment, Parchment & More Parchment. “How ‘bout it friends? Think we might perhaps be able to obtain parchment here?”

Fitzroy doesn’t dignify his wink with a response and instead starts heading over to the shop, Argo and Bud following close behind.

“Alright, so I would recommend purchasing at least three packets of paper, four if you think-” And before Fitzroy can continue, the door to the shop swings open, barely missing them. With the smell of ink and paper comes two figures and as Fitzroy sees them, his stomach drops.

“Oh terribly sorry, we didn’t-” Sir Leopold starts to say, but immediately stops once he looks up. It's impossible to miss the step back he takes or how wide his eyes go. Next to him, Dame Breora does a once over of Fitzroy and from the set of her smile, he failed the inspection. “Oh! Sir Fitzroy! Or- Wait. Is it still Sir Fitzroy? Or just Fitzroy now?”

Taking a deep, calming breath, Fitzroy pauses before replying. “Yes. Still Sir Fitzroy. My title has not changed.”

“Oh. Well it is such a . . . Surprise to see you Fitzroy.”

“Likewise.” He says, teeth grit and smile tight.

Argo glances between the three of them. “Soooo, are you two friends of Sir Fitzroy here?”

“We went to school together.” Breora replies, only sparing a passing glance to Argo.

Leopold adjusts his tunic and Fitzroy would bet a hundred platinum that he did it just so that the insignia for Clyde Nite’s Night Knight School would be shown more prominently. “The school is doing well if you’re wondering. Well, except the battleground. That’s still out of commission after, well- You know.”

“Yes indeed I do know.” Fitzroy puts both his hands behind his back, grabbing one of his wrists. “I was there after all.”

“Of course.”

The five of them are still just standing there in the doorway, no one making any motion to move.

“Well this was-”

“So do you-”

Both Fitzroy and Breora stop as their words come out jumbled and on top of one another. “Please,” he says. “After you.”

“I was just going to ask if you-” She looks him up and down before wiggling her fingers. “You know . . .”

The grip on his wrist becomes near painful. “Still have magic? No actually, I visited my cleric and got a cream prescribed for it. Cleared all that magic right up!”

Leopold falters. “Really?”

“No of course not, magic is literally in all of my bones. Why can no one tell when I’m being facetious?”

Behind him, Buddy coughs. 

“Well, that’s-” Leopold glances at Breora. “That’s cool.” 

“Cool is certainly, a word.”

The awkward silence is back with a fury and Fitzroy is truly concerned at this point that his gauntlets are going to be permanently bent out of shape as he grips them. “Well this was fun.” Fitzroy says as he steps aside to let Breora and Leopold pass. “But my compatriots and I really must be going.”

Argo pats him on the shoulder as he says, “Indeed! We certainly don’t want Parchment, Parchment and More Parchment to run out of parchment, now do we? Can’t complete our homework without it!”

Breora tilts her head, Leopold mirroring her in what would almost be funny if Fitzroy didn’t know exactly where this conversation was headed. “Oh? You’ve enrolled in a new school, have you Fitzroy?”

The surprise coloring her voice starts to color Fitzroy’s vision red. “Yes. I have.”

“Well good for you.” Leopold says, getting a critical failure on his deception check and not caring. “I had assumed that after what happened, other schools would be a bit hesitant to accept you. So that’s wonderful that you’ve found one who is willing to look past all that. What’s the name of this place?”

Bud and Argo share a look. Fitzroy does his best not to challenge him to a duel right then and there. 

“Hieronymous Wiggenstaff's School for Heroism and Villainy.”

“Huh.” Leopold raises an eyebrow. “Haven’t heard of it.”

“Me either.”

And for the cherry on top of this shit sunday- Argo starts to laugh. 

This is it. This is fucking it. Fitzroy’s done. Fitzroy’s out! Built in friends, yeah right Gary! More like just another couple of bastards who will find such delight in his misery! It doesn’t matter if he has to sleep in Godscar Chasm itself, he’s not spending another second with these-

“Sorry,” Argo gets out through his laughter. “It’s just- How have you never heard of Hieronymous Wiggenstaff's School for Heroism and Villainy?”

Fitzroy freezes.

“I mean, it is one of only two schools that have been given a triple diamond rating from the Heroic Oversight Guild and three out every five professional heroes and villains are Wiggenstaff alumni!”

Argo is literally spouting off the spiel from the pamphlets verbatim, but Fitzroy honestly couldn’t care less because Breora’s and Leopold’s faces are priceless.

“I just can’t imagine how you couldn’t have heard of it, can you Bud?”

Behind him, Bud shakes his head and speaks for the first time since this encounter began. “My clan has lived deep within forest for summers beyond count. Many of us born and buried without ever seeing your cities or people. And yet . . .” He looks to the sky as a flock of birds flies above them. “ . . . I had still heard of this school.”

Fitzroy can’t keep the grin off his face.

Breora and Leopold sure can.

But before they can say anything else, Argo leans in closer to Fitzroy and stage whispers. “Maybe it’s for the best you no longer attend that school. Doesn’t seem like their curriculum is up to par if you know what I mean. Now if you’ll pardon us.”

And when Argo move towards the door, both Breora and Leopold move out of the way without a word.

It’s only once they’re fully inside the shop, away from prying ears, that Bud comments, “They are terrible.”

“I have to agree my Firbolg friend. I thought knights were all about chivalry and honor, but those two really sucked.” Argo laughs, but stops as he turns to him. “You alright Sir Fitzroy?”

“Yes of course, I have enough sense to not let the two of them get to me.” He nearly leaves it at that, but after a moment he adds on softly, “Thank you.”

As the three of them go about shopping for school supplies, neither Argo nor Bud press about what happened at Clyde Nite’s Night Knight School, don’t even hint at wanting to know. Fitzroy can’t appreciate it enough. Instead, they chat about homework or new names for Bud or what Groundsy is hiding in his hut (the current bet is on a second identical backup Groundsy). And as they wander through Last Hope, Argo touching every single thing he comes across no matter if it has a clear ‘No Touching’ sign or not, and Bud creating a verifiable trail of dirt wherever they go, Fitzroy finds he doesn’t mind anymore.

Maybe Gary the Gargoyle was telling the truth about this whole ‘Built In Friends’ thing.

Just maybe.