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They were due to set out with the merchants first thing the morning. They’d been hired to provide protection as they traveled to the next settlement. Apparently, the lands in between were filled with bandits, non-sapient Xen creatures, and the occasional wild animal. The Knight already killed a number of the latter categories both on the way from the wheat field and around the edges of the town, and its friend had already gotten a couple herself. The merchants had offered to cover all of their traveling expenses, either directly or by providing money, and a fair amount of money besides. As neither it nor its friend were particularly attached to the town they were in, they were both more than happy to take both the payment, and the opportunity to get further away from Aperture Science.
They’d spent most of the day going through the merchants’ wares and the wares of the shops that were permanently in the town, looking for supplies, and other small things they’d thought would be nice and useful to have. Whenever possible, they opted for small things, having since discovered that it could hold seemingly an infinite number of things, with no issue, as long as those things fit inside of its eye holes. Anything that couldn’t fit, or would spoil, had to be carried in the packs that they wore. It was much stronger than its friend, and so the heavier things went into its pack, but it was also smaller, so the bulkier things went into hers.
While they’d shopped, she’d detoured to music shop. The Knight knew there was nothing that could be needed for their journey in there, but followed her inside all the same. When it realized she was staring at the guitars, it understood. About a month, as the humans defined it, ago, the town had had some kind of festive that involved playing music. One of the guitar players had let its friend try their guitar. She had remembered that she knew how to play it as she strummed the strings. It was the happiest it’d ever seen her in time they’d known each other. Her emotions tended to be hard to read, but that had been clear.
So, no, they didn’t need a guitar, but if it made her happy, it wanted her to have it. It was surprised when she sighed and left the shop without buying anything. Before she could get too far away, it tugged on her pant leg. She stopped and looked down at it.
“What?” she asked.
“Why you no buy?” it replied.
“Too heavy and too bulky. We won’t be able to carry easily. Not to mention expensive.”
“But the merchants buy our travel stuff?”
“They buy our supplies, not personal items. Also doesn’t fix the weight and size issues.”
“I carry, and maybe attach my things to case.”
“It’s the same size you are,” she shook her head. “Let’s just move on. We don’t need it, and we still have more things to get.”
The Knight dropped it, for now. It was obvious that their friend wanted the guitar, but clearly, she wouldn’t buy it now, or let it buy it for her. At least not if she could stop it. She was very practical. Was it possible to be too practical? It knew it could find a way of carrying the guitar and the other things it needed to carry. And, it could probably pay for it even if she couldn’t. Not needing to eat, or wear clothes had meant that while they’d been making a similar amount of money, it’d had less things to spend it on.
That night, after they finished packing, it went through all of the money stored in its head. It was quite a lot, probably more than enough to buy the guitar. They were leaving first thing in the morning, it wouldn’t have time to buy it then, but she needed less sleep than it did. Maybe it could sneak out and buy it while she slept? Yes, that could work. Course of action decided upon, it waited until it was certain she was asleep before sneaking out of the room they’d been sharing. Thankfully, despite the large amount of stuff inside its head, it was quite light, so it was able to leave without squeaking any of the floorboards.
It made its way over to the music shop. But it was closed. How had it forgotten that the shops closed at night? Maybe the Knight could wake up its owner? Most of the shop keepers seemed to live in the back of their shops, so finding them shouldn’t be a problem. But what if they were angry about being woken up, and refused to sell? Hopefully it had enough money that they wouldn’t care.
Now all it had to do was wake them up. It banged the flat of its nail on the door. It made a decently loud clanking noise, but when no one came out after several seconds, it was clearly not enough. What else could it do? Breaking the glass in the window would probably be louder, but property damage would likely make the owner even angrier. Maybe there was something else around the back, where it hoped they lived, that it could hit that was even louder?
Around the back, it found another door. It banged on it. The sound it made was no louder than the one it’d made with the front door, but maybe it was closer to human? After several seconds with no response, it was clear that it needed to try something else. As it looked around for some other way to be loud, it heard a voice from inside the house.
“Is someone out there banging on my door!?” the voice shouted, horse from sleep.
The Knight jumped up and down excitedly, and resumed banging on the door.
“You can stop you banging, I’m coming.”
It put its nail away and bounced as it waited. Several seconds later, a human carrying a flashlight. They were wearing loose fitting robes, and looked rather upset.
“What do you want?” they grunted.
“I want to buy guitar.”
“I’m not in the mood to play charades in the middle of the night.”
The Knight internally sighed and pulled it’s slate out of it’s pack. “I want to buy guitar.” It handed the slate to the human.
They grabbed it, read it, and handed it back. “It couldn’t have waited until we’re open in the morning?”
“We leave first thing.”
“Then why didn’t you buy it yesterday?”
“Gift for friend. Friend thinks too impractical. I get anyway.”
“That’s nice of you, but we’re closed. I’m afraid you’ll have to get the guitar wherever you’re going next.”
“Friend may not let me get. Have to surprise them.”
“Maybe you’ll find an all-night music shop at your destination.”
Instead of writing another response, the Knight reached into their eye and pulled out a large handful of money and gave it to the human.
“Ew.” They counted the money. “Is there more where this came from?”
It nodded.
The human sighed. “Go around to the front, and I’ll meet you at the door.”
It nodded and jumped again. It ran around to the front, and bounced for over a minute as it waited. Eventually the human opened the door and let them in.
“Is there any guitar in particular that you want to get or do you need help choosing?”
The Knight considered this for a moment before writing “I don’t know much about guitars, but a sturdy one, probably on the smaller and lighter side would be good.”
“Maybe you should get your friend a ukulele instead. They’re like guitars but much smaller and lighter.”
“No, real guitar!”
“Fine, uh, why don’t you try this half size one.” They grabbed on of the smaller guitars off of the wall hand held it out for it to inspect.
It didn’t know what it to look for, but it made a show of inspecting it. It was a little bit smaller than the guitar its friend had played during the festival. It hoped that wouldn’t affect her ability to play it. But unlike that guitar this one was actually smaller than it; if only just. That would make it easier to carry. It made a nice sound when it tapped the large part. It nodded to the human.
“Good, I suspect you’ll want a case for it too, since you’ll be traveling.”
A case? It hadn’t considered that. It nodded.
“I’ll grab you one of my tougher ones with straps. It’ll probably be easier for long distance traveling. And with a bit of tweaking, you may even be able to wear it, if you use your horns.” The human chuckled. “But it’ll probably make you top heavy.”
It shrugged.
“I’ll grab you some replacement strings, and some care items while I’m at it.”
They placed the items with the guitar in the case and set it on the counter. The counter that was taller than it was.
“Oh sorry, do you need…”
The Knight jumped onto the counter.
“I guess that works.”
The human told them their total. It counted the money out. Even after the amount it’d given them earlier, it had enough, thankfully. It even had a little left over. They then helped it adjust the straps so they could try to wear it. It did end up having to loop the straps over its horns. It wasn’t very comfortable, but it was bearable. And the weight wasn’t that bad, but it did make them a little top heavy. But they could get used to it. And they figured out a quick way of removing the case, which they figured would be important if and when they got into combat while carrying it. As thanks for their help, the Knight gave the human the last of its money. They tried to refuse, but the it pushed it into their hands. Besides, it wouldn’t need money again until after they arrived at the merchants’ destination, and by then, the merchants would have played them.
Thanks to its purchase, the Knight slowly stumbled its way back to the room it was sharing with its friend. It very, very carefully opened the door, and closed it again without making and sound. It turned around and found her awake and sitting up. She turned on a light.
“Where have you been?” she asked. “I was worried.”
“I bought you guitar,” it said. “And I thought you would stay asleep and not notice absence. Sorry I worried you.”
“I can see that, why did you… Wait, bought or stole?”
“Bought! Spent all my money!”
“I told you it was too expensive, and too bulky, look at you swaying.”
“Would still have money if I didn’t thank the human for helping me shop and helping me carry it out.”
“Are you seriously planning on carrying it like that?”
“Yes. I’ll get used to it. And I already have my travel pack on.”
She sighed. “Why did you buy it? And why didn’t you want me to know.”
“Playing at festive made you very happy. I want you happy. Not buying it made you sad. You too practical. So, I buy when you can’t stop me.”
“…Thank you, friend.”
“Now you go back to sleep. You need it.”
“Only if you sleep too. And actually sleep, no more sneaking out on me.”
“Okay.”