#I just... also wrote 1405-ish words on my breaks

[phoenixiancrystallist]

It is WIP Wednesday you say? How fortunate, as I have a WIPpet I desire to share :D

...under the cut because it's, um, long >.> 511 words long, to be exact.

"She looks more Athian than you do," Cuff said, a hint of smug satisfaction in his voice. He'd had some input on the cloak's design, and dubbed it Echt. Frey didn't mind that name, so she let him have it.  "That's because she's wearing more Athian clothes than I do," Frey pointed out. Bobbi gave her a quizzical look, fiddling with the cloak's clasp. Frey shrugged and relayed what Cuff said; Bobbi's confusion melted into a grin. "Thanks, Cuff, that's sweet," she said, then frowned. "I think." Cuff sighed. "Please tell her it was meant as a compliment." At least he'd given up on trying to get Bobbi to call him Vambrace. Frey was not gonna let him have that one.  "Cuff said he meant it as a compliment and totally not a dig at me," she said, adding some extra truth on the end purely to fuck with him. "It was both," Cuff grumbled. "You could stand to embrace the fashion of your own people, you know." "Not happening. They haven't invented jeans yet." "Why do I bother." "I do miss my pockets," Bobbi said with a sigh. "This is nice, though." "It's got pockets," Frey pointed out. Bobbi lifted an edge and studied the inner lining, stuck her hand in the pocket, and grinned. "Aw, hell yes! Muthafukkin' pockets! Frey, you're the best." The purple heart emoji at the end of her sentence was audible. She found the three other pockets Frey had sewn in, and in the third one found one of the other presents Frey'd left her. "What's this?" "Healing draught. Wish I'd had one on me when you first walked in. That shit would've fixed you up no problem." "Is it magic?" Bobbi asked, holding the bottle up to the sun. Knell rippled, and Bobbi's eyebrows raised. "No shit. Yeah, really wish I'd had one of these puppies. Gearing me up for what, Frey?" She didn't let shit go, did she? "I want to take a trip out of Cipal. Figured I could use your help." "With what?" "Ever heard of the Cognoscents?" "Cognizants?" Bobbi asked with another of those puzzled frowns. Frey grinned, and Cuff heaved a long-suffering, exasperated sigh. "Cognoscents," Frey corrected, and tried not to laugh. "They studied pretty much everything. There's a guild a couple days away, figured we could hit it up and see if any of the research made it. Bring a few books back if they did. Bet that'd make Jo happy." "Have I met Jo?" Bobbi asked with another frown, this one thoughtful as she searched her memory—and her new pockets. There weren't any more gifts in them, though. Bobbi'd admitted awhile ago that she struggled with names and faces. Frey shook her head and Knell rippled with light again. "She's the Archivist," Frey explained. "We haven't been there yet. Figured if you showed up with a present she might like you, so I've been saving it until we had something." "I highly doubt Johedy responds to bribery," Cuff grumbled.  "It's not bribery, it's a present," Frey snipped.