my handwriting, on a stolen government notepad

Then you should get one. They're not necessarily all that expensive. I got my Waterman Mark II for about $40. It's got a nice gold-plated medium-point nib, which is something you want in a fountain pen, cause the ink will corrode non-plated steel over time. You can get much cheaper ones for around $12, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Also, you should get one that has a siphon reservoir so that you can fill it from a bottle of ink, cause using disposable ink cartridges can be a huge waste of money.