#also fun fact: Knell's counter is single-target whereas Cuff's is AOE

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Anyone remember this WIPpet? It got scrapped with the last attempt at the self-insert shenanigans, but I liked it so much I wanted to keep it. Thankfully, I found a way to rework it into the new version :) Plus some fun digs at myself because I am very much not a combatant and yet I'm throwing my SI into combat, lol

765 words of me-the-author having fun under the cut :D

~

"It's a good thing she had Knell to hold her together," Cuff said, caught somewhere between sneer and laughter. "She could never have survived long enough to get to Cipal otherwise."

"Should we step in?" Frey asked, trying not to wince when the zombie swiped Bobbi across the face with its claws.

"Are you joking? This is prime entertainment!"

"You don't think this is any funnier than I do," Frey retorted, and grabbed Bobbi's bow and quiver. She stayed crouched, torn between letting Bobbi prove herself, and not wanting to watch her new friend get torn apart by zombies.

"It's like watching a puppy tumble down a flight of stairs. Repeatedly." The delight in Cuff's voice made Frey grind her teeth. Asshole.

It didn't get better the longer they watched, either. At least Bobbi had the sense to lure the one zombie away from the group so she didn't pull aggro on the whole horde. And she got a little more confident over time. Still missed more often than she hit, and the few hits she did get in were paper cuts at best. 

"Do you know what I find fascinating?" Cuff asked a few minutes after Frey settled down cross-legged on the edge of the bluff to watch. 

"Hm?" Frey asked, only about halfway paying attention to him.

"Knell."

If Frey was a cat her ears would've perked up. "What about her?"

"She is in full control of that bond. There's nothing at all stopping her from stepping in."

Frey grit her teeth, thoughts running around in her head and colliding with each other. "Kinda glad she doesn't, though."

"You're not scared, are you? Not the mighty Tanta Frey?"

"Shouldn't I be? She's another Rheddig weapon. Like you."

"Oh, no, nothing like me," Cuff scoffed. "Nowhere near as powerful, for one thing. Considerably freer, for another. Your new friend is in over her head, and I don't think she knows it yet."

Bobbi slipped and fell on her ass trying to dodge the zombie. Happy accident that it worked; the zombie bowled right past her, and Bobbi scrambled to her feet again. 

"...I meant in regards to Knell," Cuff clarified, almost sheepish.

"What do you mean she's in over her head?" Frey asked, ignoring that last comment. She'd figured as much. 

"Knell is in full control of their bond," Cuff repeated, back on solid ground and sure of his words. "She wasn't cursed into that form like I was. She took it willingly. I've no idea why, of course, but I do find it very odd."

"How can you tell?"

"When you're as old as I am, Frey, you learn how to read and understand the power of those around you," Cuff said, affecting a wise and venerable air. Frey snorted. 

"You're only four years older than me," she reminded him.

"You go ahead and keep believing that." He had that smug tone that made her want to punch him again. "But I'm quite serious, I can tell by the way Knell has bound herself to your new friend that she is the one who set it. Not Bobbi, not a third party. It's quite similar to how I bound myself to you back in Newark."

"New York," Frey corrected, absently. Mostly on reflex at this point. "But weren't you already cursed by the other Tantas?"

"I was. That's why I said it's similar. I was cursed into that vambrace form, yes, but I chose to bind myself to you, Frey. Just as our Rheddig friend has chosen to bind herself to Bobbi."

Interesting. Frey put that information away for later. 

"What's that got to do with..." She gestured to the pantomime of a fight happening below her.

"Simply that I'm surprised Knell does nothing to protect her bearer. She certainly could with no ill-effect to Bobbi. Either how I protect you or by revealing her true form. I wonder why she doesn't."

"Huh." Frey clicked her tongue, now wondering the same thing. "Maybe—"

The zombie raked its claws down Bobbi's back, and Frey spotted a glimmer of light reflected off of something too small to see clearly from where she sat. Bobbi turned, a cry of pain filtered through gritted teeth, and the tip of her sword passed through that glimmer. 

Silver wire erupted from the contact point, pierced through the zombie and shredded it to ribbons that disintegrated on the wind. 

"Oh," Frey and Cuff said at the same time. Bobbi sheathed her sword and shook out her hands, which set Knell jingling enough Frey could hear it.

"...mine's better," Cuff grumbled.