A Charming Contest of Charisma by zipskyblue

When one holds themselves in the high esteem a Lockhart does, the only thing one hears more clearly than compliments for oneself, is compliments for another.  Spencer Lockhart finished yet another fencing tournament at a club in the modestly charming (by Lockhart standards) Kingdom of Ascantha.  As he collected the trophy and flowers, but loudly declined the prize money, suggesting it be put to use for the town, his sharp ears picked up the usual quiet chatter from the onlookers.  His looks, his manners, his bearing..."Doesn't he remind you of that templar?"
Spencer missed his step coming off the podium as he looked for the source of the comment.  He promptly dropped the flowers and cup into Matthew's immediately present arms, assumed his most charismatic smile, and strode towards the pair of whispering ladies who blushed under his gaze before beaming back shyly.

"Good afternoon, dear ladies.  I am so terribly sorry, but I couldn't help but overhear you.  What is a templar?  And who is this curious one that I seem to bear some resemblance to?"


"He's not here!" Spencer grumbled as he left the Abbey with his awaiting butler.  "Those dull monks said he is at some town named Simpleton.  Simpleton!!  How is that not the name of this entire country?"

"Cheer up, Master Spencer."  Matthew replied evenly.  "Simpleton is just up that hill.  I have already found our templar."

"Is he at least handsome?  If those fawning housewives think anyone in that Abbey resembled me...." the blonde shuddered furiously.

"I am quite certain you won't be disappointed."

"So he's handsome then!?"

"Well he certainly seems to think so." Matthew said with a rare grin.


Thus, Spencer and Matthew found their way to the Simpleton pub and met Angelo.  Unbelievably, the two self-impressed, vain, egotistical, boastful, constantly speaking attention hogs found one another a bit on the irritating side.  What had began for Spencer as an attempt to satisfy his curiosity and fit in a bit of practice quickly devolved into a heated argument.  While the Simpleton pub was never too good to host a brawl, the pair of light haired warriors certainly believed themselves to be too good to settle their differences in it.  Instead they set back to the path from town, leaving their things with a bored-looking Matthew.  

As the dim light of evening waned, shirts were discarded, glaring eyes roved for imperfections, teeth gritted in frustration, and finally, swords crossed.

The day settling into twilight, and the usual crickets of dusk heard their songs interrupted by the clashing of steel, the grunts of effort, and the shouts of pain.  This was no duel to the death, simply two competent fencers wielding their rapiers in a duelist's submission match.  Both sought to hear the other voice their own superiority.  But from heads this inflated, it was going to be a long night.

Spencer Lockhart is owned by me
Angelo is owned by Square-Enix
Art by the fantastic zipskyblue 

Just got the 3DS version of this game, and the nostalgia wave I've had playing it made coming out of my hiatus to pit Spencer against the game's token fencer was too strong to pass up.  Thank you so much to the artist to the speed, talent, and courtesy shown when creating this.  The pose was the artist's own and I couldn't be more thrilled with it.