Chapter Text
Wriothesley is interrupted by an imperious knock on his office door.
Which is interesting, because while everyone in the world knocks before entering, he knows the knocks of the people most likely to visit him unannounced.
Sigewinne knocks very gently and politely. Not even close. Plus, the sound would come from further down than this one did, thanks to Sigewinne being not even a quarter the size of his office's doors.
Clorinde knocks politely, barely touching the door. As a champion duelist, her unique combat style is marked by elegant precision, and the way she moves reflects that. Even the way she knocks on his door when she comes to see him. To her, this is standard, too, so her notice that she's at his door is almost bored.
Finally, Neuvillette, and if he had heard Neuvillette knock he would already be out of his chair and on the way down the stairs to his office door. Neuvillette's knock also has the precision and elegance of Clorinde's. But despite the fact that they've been emotionally intimate for several years and romantically involved for two, Neuvillette always approaches him shyly. So, if Neuvillette is here in person, it would be because he wants to be, and a part of him would hold himself back because of it.
So if he would describe Sigewinne's knock as polite and Clorinde's as bored and Neuvillette's as almost shy, this sound was none of the above.
And yes, spending over a decade living underwater has made him very good at detecting sounds and noting differences in harmonics.
Nope. This sound was authoritative, too high to be Sigewinne and too low to be Clorinde or Neuvillette.
Wriothesley, accordingly, sets down his fountain pen. "Come in."
When he sees who waltzes into his office, he's relieved that he set down his pen, because he's pretty sure he would have dropped it.
Because Furina de Fontaine is moving up his stairs as if she owns the place. Which, at one point, she sort of did.
Furina smooths the back of her dress out so she can sit down on his couch. "I hope you're not busy."
She's easier to read now that she's not putting on an act. She's calling up her old persona for confidence, but she actually is a little nervous about being here.
"Not very. Why are you here?"
"Well," Furina pauses, then huffs, clearly summoning her confidence. "I need you to help me with something, and I know Neuvillette would never approve."
Wriothesley frowns. On the one hand, he knows that Neuvillette sees Furina as a baby sister. Someone he's looked after for years. And accordingly, Neuvillette can be, well, protective. He does know that in terms of how having a long-term partner works, if you're not on good terms with their sibling, you might as well be dead in the water. On the other hand, he does need to know how severely this would be undermining Neuvillette, because then he's extra dead in the water. "...what do you mean."
Furina huffs, then unclips something from her belt. "This!" She thrusts at it towards Wriothesley. It takes him a second to process that it's a hydro vision. "It was a present from Neuvillette, but while I can manipulate hydro with it, I don't know any other self defense. If I went and asked Neuvillette if I could ask you for help learning how to fight without just a vision, he would say 'absolutely not.' But if I ask you-"
Wriothesley sighs. Rubs his temples. She has a point. He knows that Neuvillette would reflexively say 'absolutely not, miss Furina' because he would hate the idea of her getting hurt. But if this is really a concern of hers, she's right. And he can persuade Neuvillette on this, at least. "...alright."
Furina perks up immediately. "Really?"
"Only because I know that I can sell Neuvillette on this being a sign of us getting along."
Furina sits up, and clears her throat. "Excellent!"
"Do you have any experience?"
"...does stage fighting count?"
"Absolutely not."
"Then...no."
"...I'm going to need to lock down the Pankration ring for a week and a half at this rate. Think you can come back tomorrow?"
"Oh, alright. You'll probably have to tell them to let me in, though..."
"How did you get in here today?"
"I said that I was bringing you a present from Neuvillette's office."
"He doesn't know about that, either, does he."
"Nope!"
-
The next day, Furina shows up almost entirely unprepared. At least in her defense, she has very little idea where they're going with this. Neither does Wriothesley, really. He had to think for his entire afternoon about what weapon, exactly, he could possibly put in Furina's hand that would not make Neuvillette feel faint to hear about. And that he could get on short notice.
The best he can do is a sword-sized length of spare pipes. The statues and images of Focalors, from before the flood, show her with a sword, right? Surely it won't be that bad.
Furina examines the pipe with confusion. "This? Really?"
"It's basically a sword, isn't it?"
"It's the same size and weight as a sword. I don't think it counts as one, your grace."
"Who's teaching who, here?"
"I don't think questioning this sword is questioning your abilities."
"It's questioning my abilities to find you a weapon you can use with twenty-four hours notice."
"Hmph. Alright."
"That's what I thought. Lemme see your stance-" Furina stands up straight, holding her 'sword' very carefully. It's definitely the sword stance of an actress, and not a duelist. "-then gimme a couple swings."
Furina looks at him as if asking for permission, carefully raising her pipe. Wriothesley bothers to take a step slightly further back. That should be fine.
"Yeah, go ahead."
Halfway through the first motion, Furina loses her grip on the pipe- probably thanks to it still being slightly damp and not dried off properly when Wriothesley found it. The motion of her riposte, clearly mimicked from a fighter like Clorinde, sends it shooting forward out of her hand. It then hits Wriothesley directly in the knee at full speed.
-
"Monsieur Neuvillette!"
Neuvillette starts slightly. "Ah...my apologies, Sedene. What were you saying?"
"I was asking if it was alright to take the things in your outbox to where they need to go. Just to be certain."
"Yes, everything in there should be fine to go."
"Are you alright, monsieur?"
"I'm perfectly fine, Sedene," Neuvillette assures her. "I simply had a strange feeling that something was happening somewhere that I would have to deal with later...I'm sure it's nothing."
"Very well, monsieur!"