It was nice to have a day where Cookie could go to school and not have to worry about ghosts, ghouls, monsters, or otherwise supernatural entities who threatened the safety of the general public or the very fabric of her reality. Ever since the young mouse came into her magical powers, it had become increasingly difficult to have a regular day as a regular teenage girl (or boy, as the case may be). She never really realized just how much she missed the trappings of a normal daily life until that very existence had been threatened on more than one occasion. Being a Seer quickly affirmed the old saying: “No news is good news.”
Before, Cookie Souris could have been considered a normal high school student... when using being magical as a point of reference, anyway. She was one of the few intersex students in the entire school - as far as reproductive organs went, she was (literally “largely”) male. Beyond that, the hormones riddling her body had such high levels of estrogen that her voice sounded like that of a girl's, her body was curved in a feminine manner, and she adequately filled a D-cup bra. Her fur was mostly white with chocolate brown spots akin to a bovine's pattern, and her eyes behind her thick-framed glasses were blue like the ocean's waters.
Between the sizable endowments of her gender and the green streak she had dyed into the bangs of her boyish raven-black hair, she didn't do herself many favours when it came to being inconspicuous. In spite of this, she had managed somehow to keep her magical abilities a secret - the ability to tear open a hole in the barrier between the real world and an alternate reality of dreams and nightmares known as the “Nevernever.” This made her what is known as a “Seer:” a special kind of magician who could banish anything from the Nevernever back to it. It just so happened that these things were often monsters that the regular folk remained, thankfully, in the dark about.
She was more than happy for the vacation. She had time to catch up on her homework, which had begun to slip since getting involved with the supernatural. It was a struggle that lacked consistency where at times the fight against the Nevernever would take her out of her routine for days at a time; other times, she could wrap up her troubles in an afternoon. It took the focus away from all sorts of things, school aside. She didn’t get much time to play her computer games or read her books, the latter of which she opted to catch up on during the most recent opportune lull.
Taking time out of her lunch hour at school, she sat nestled under the single large oak tree that stood in front of her high school. It was getting colder out, so she wore a gray turtleneck shirt and a lengthy, double-belted black skirt. She kept warmer still wearing her double-breasted Black Watch tartan duffle coat, nylon leggings, and her favourite black boots.
Reading “A Darker Shade of Magic” by V.E. Schwab was perhaps self-indulgent. A story about travelling to alternate versions of London, packed with magic, treachery, and adventure could have seemed too close to Cookie’s reality to be in good taste. Despite that truth, she still enjoyed such stories - they could give her ideas on how to handle future situations, or just ideas for new magic spells. She really did need to expand her repertoire of evocation spells, which was a matter in equal parts imagination and logistics, so she kept an open mind. This made reading her teenage fantasy novels both work and play in a sense. She was enjoying her peaceful solitude tremendously.
She was, anyway, until...
... That fucking gremlin.
When Cookie was first coming into her powers, she was tasked by her mentor to send a gremlin back to the Nevernever as a test. This was a test Cookie hadn’t prepared for, and so the botched effort resulted in the gremlin escaping. It had made a mockery of her the whole time, adding insult to injury whenever it could. Cookie was never really sure she’d ever see the creature again, but when not one, but six acorns fell from the oak tree and onto her head, she glanced up to see the fuzzy little creature cackling down at her with a sharp-toothed grin.
Gremlins were small creatures and covered mostly in brown, muddy fur. Flesh peeked over their hands, feet, and their flat, big-chinned faces that looked gangrenous in shade and texture. Their eyes were big, yellow, and cat-like, and their ears were long for their tiny heads but angled too sharply to be comparable to a rabbit. They weren’t terribly dangerous creatures, even if they did have sharp claws; they were certainly a mischievous pest species though. Gremlins like to cause trouble, ranging from destroying gardens and tipping garbage pails; though they were made most famous by the classic story of “the creature on the wing” of an airplane. When Cookie looked up into the tree she saw its big yellow eyes staring back down at her from within the tangled limbs of the almost leafless tree. The gremlin blew a raspberry at her, exposing a reptilian tongue.
Cookie squinted as her mind tried to wrap around the sheer ballsiness of the gremlin. She was the sort of magician who could quite literally end its existence, and there it was dropping acorns on her head and having a grand old time of it. It threw another small handful of the nuts down at her and she keenly moved aside to let them thump into the dirt instead. When she made that move, the little gremlin about-faced and shook its rear around in a goading fashion. Cookie stood, mouthing silent cusses, and pocketed her novel. She reached into her other pocket and removed from it a metal collapsible baton, which she held in her fist as central as possible so as to hide it from the other students. She had also taken a leather glove from her pocket, brown and thick, and she kept it tightly gripped between her fingers and the baton where it dangled below her hand.
These tools were what she used to banish supernatural creatures. Her metal baton, similar to the standard self-defense model of collapsible batons, had been crafted out of particularly dense and finely-carved crucible steel and fitted with silver rings at each interlocking section. The weapon served as her focus, allowing her to unleash stored will energy in the form of magic spells with increased efficiency. The glove was what was called a “Grimfang Glove.” Created from the hide of a supernatural creature known as a “Grim,” the glove, when worn on Cookie’s right hand, allowed her to part the barrier between the real world and the Nevernever more easily in order to open gateways to use for travel or banishment of creatures – creatures just like that gremlin.
Being cunning a cunning creature, the gremlin in the tree knew just what these tools were for. Before Cookie could even slide her hand into the glove, the creature leapt down out of the tree and took off down the street, panting like a dog as it scuttled away. Cookie gave chase, watching as the creature stuck close to the school walls, dashed through a pine tree, and made its way across the street in the midst of the afternoon traffic. It kept relatively out of sight, being shorter than any driver could see out of their vehicle; to say nothing of the fact that most people wouldn’t have been able to register what they were even seeing if they spotted it. Nobody would really be keeping an eye out for a gremlin. Cookie followed as best she could, hitting a fortunate change of the lights at the nearby crosswalk so she could pursue unstopped.
Ever since the whole magic mess started, Cookie had been getting more exercise running around than she ever used to, but even with that in mind she wasn’t the most in-shape mouse around. She wasn’t overweight by most means. If anything her legs and buttocks were the fattest parts about her; that combined with the size of her male endowments made it a tiring exercise to do any long-distance sprinting. Her large, black leather boots didn’t do her any favours with their inch-high platform soles, but she’d gotten pretty good at compensating for their lift. She was able to keep up with the supernatural creature if just barely. She hurried down two more blocks watching it as it ducked off into lawns and scrambled up and down the sides of houses and shops until it hit another set of traffic lights where the downtown core of Newshore really began. There, the creature ducked in behind a local Dairy Queen.
Usually if Cookie was going to stop there it would have been for it would have been for a banana split or, ironically, a cookie dough Blizzard treat. It was unfortunate she wasn’t just skipping class and spending what little money she had saved up from her summer employment there. She rounded the building to the utterly inconveniently designed parking lot for the tiny store. It was only able to house maybe eight cars maximum and had recently had a drive-thru included in it so there wasn’t much room left over. Rounding that corner she saw a truck pulled up to the drive-thru window, the driver and the drive-thru worker both leaning out their windows to watch in wonderment as a tiny creature gobbled down the customer’s ice cream treat in slobbering chomps. The gremlin looked up like a startled cat and met eyes with Cookie before tossing the half-eaten Blizzard cup (the cup itself partially consumed) into the air and scurrying off. It dashed toward a wooden property fence and deftly scaled it, disappearing over the other side.
The driver and employee both watched as Cookie, huffing and panting now, dashed between them to chase the creature down. The little mouse leapt up onto the fence and was barely able to grab hold of the top, but her body flopped flat against it when her boots failed to gain the traction needed to climb it. She hit the wood and struggled to drag the soles of her footwear up the fence. She failed for several seconds before releasing her hold and dropping down. She opted to run around the fence instead, all the while cursing her luck in her mind. By the time she made it around the fence and around the entire neighbouring property, the gremlin had already passed by the Domino’s Pizza even beyond that, and was running through the parking lot of the bank two buildings over. Cookie reeled, groaning in frustration before picking up into a more winded jog.
It took some time to hurry after the creature, but eventually Cookie turned into an alleyway between the bank and a podiatrist’s office, only to find the alley empty aside from some garbage and clutter. Cookie sighed, leaning against the brick wall of the bank to catch her breath. Between the sounds of her own heartbeat and heavy breathing, however, she heard some skittering from up above her head. She froze, and slowly lifted her gaze straight up to see the odd gremlin clinging to the wall and staring straight back down at her. It let out a slobbery cackle as it leapt down at her and grappled her head. It stuck to her face like a hugger from Aliens and assailed her hair, grabbing little clawed fistfuls and starting to yank on it.
“Fils de pute!” Cookie cursed, immediately tossing her body aside to spin around, grabbing the creature with her free hand and attempting to pry it off her face. Her frustration, from an outside perspective, was comical. She stumbled and spun until she could plant a hand on the brick wall, where she then reared her head back and slammed her face full-force into the wall, crushing the gremlin between it and her head. She did this several times before the gremlin finally released her face, where it scuttled around to the back of her head instead. It yanked on her ears, somehow strongly enough to take her off-balance. She stumbled and stepped into an empty shoebox that got stuck to her foot, making her hop in her attempts to stay balanced.
With the crucible steel baton in hand, she assaulted the creature by smacking it in the head furiously. Three or four strikes with the tool made it release her. It leapt off her head, the push from its legs making the would-be magician wobble and eventually fall onto the ground flat on her back. The gremlin scurried up the nearby wall and stopped at the edge of the roof to turn around and make taunting faces at Cookie, smacking its backside when it turned to hurry away. Cookie pointed her baton skyward ready to unleash a spell, but the gremlin disappeared over the precipice and was gone. Cookie was too exhausted to keep chasing it, making it yet another time that thing got away from her. She breathed in a sigh, the air tasting of cigarette ash slightly, so she coughed.
“Connard,” She grumbled.
She moved to rise from her spot after only a few moments. She was part-way through lifting herself off the ground when she heard the footsteps of large boots coming toward her from the other end of the alley. Quickly she stood and brushed herself off, collapsing her baton and trying not to draw attention to her admittedly odd situation. Finding a baton-wielding girl on the ground in an alley wearing a strange glove was probably more than a little concerning. She got ready to explain herself, turning to look at who was approaching. The man she saw was not quite what she expected.
He stood much, much taller than her, beating her by at least a foot and likely some change. He was wearing a big brown duster like one in a cowboy movie, and less than flattering, frumpy clothes beneath. Even so, it was obvious that he was built like a tank. His shoulders were very broad, his arms were very big, and his core looked absolutely solid through his shirt. Cookie’s older brother worked out all the time and looked somewhat similar… but this man shamed that standard. He wore a brimmed leather hat donned at such an angle that it was hard to see his face, but he certainly had a squared-off jaw and some chin scruff, and slight evidence of blonde sideburns. His scales looked like bronze, though not exactly shiny in any way. He wasn’t your regular lizard, Cookie could tell that much… but what he was, she couldn’t be sure. He almost looked like a dragon.
He approached her silently, hands tucked into his pockets and head down in a way that would make him seem a little suspicious. Cookie watched him closely, getting bad vibes. She held her collapsed baton in her hand as fully as she could cover it – if she was lucky, he couldn’t see it. When he reached her, he stopped and lifted his head to look down at her with ruby red eyes. The man did his best to look calm and friendly, but that was hard for him. His squared-off, draconic features seemed to struggle to make anything close to a smile. The closest thing he could get to was a not-angry line-face and a slightly less downward angle to his eyebrows.
There was something off about him other than that. Cookie could feel it; the energy in her body, her will, was reacting to something that came off of him. She resonated in reaction to some kind of aura, giving her a chill that made the fur on the back of her neck stand up. She swallowed her nerve, unsure of just who she faced, but it was clear that there was something supernatural about the man.
“Can I help you with something?” Cookie asked, a wary tone in her voice.
The man didn’t beat around the bush, and opened with a simple statement of fact. “I saw you with that creature earlier…” He said, his voice sounding deep.
“You did?” Cookie’s brows knit close together, “I mean, what? What are you talking about?”
He crossed his arms. “I did,” He said, “The… monster. Was it some sort of goblin…?”
Cookie had to pretend like the stranger was talking crazy, so she tried. She put on a disbelieving face and said, “What the heck are you talking about, seriously?”
The man didn’t seem deterred. “You don’t have to pretend,” He said, “Was that a wand you were pointing at it?”
Cookie closed her hand around that baton to try and hide it better and she took one step back away from the man. Her tone changed to suspicion. “Who are you?” She asked.
“Siege,” The dragon shrugged his shoulders, “I’m not going to hurt you. You’re a magic user, right?”
“I can feel something on you,” Cookie admitted, “So what are you?”
Siege paused a moment and lifted his head, taking in a deep breath and letting out a sigh, “Not a monster. If I were a threat I wouldn’t just be talking to you.”
Cookie squinted at Siege. “So you’re friend, not foe?” She asked.
Siege raised a hand reassuringly. “Friendly,” He said, “What’s your name, Miss Monster Hunter?”
“Cookie,” She said, looking him up and down suspiciously for a few moments. She knew better than to give anyone her full name, especially anyone who was in any way magically attuned. Besides, “Siege” sounded like an absolutely fake name, so she wouldn’t give him any courtesy.
“Have you considered working out?” He asked with a complete absence of tact.
Cookie blinked, “Uh, what?”
“To improve your long-distance running,” Siege continued, “To make goblin-catching easier.”
“What, like at a gym?” Cookie asked, then she cringed, “Ugh.”
Siege rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Well I see you have a baton,” He said, gesturing to the collapsed metal rod she held in her hand, “Do you even know how to use it as a baton?”
“Huh?” Cookie gave up the ghost and held up the baton, carefully pushing down the release and using her other hand to pull the compartments apart to lock into place. “Well… yeah? You just swing it at people,” She said.
She demonstrated by swinging it off to the side, and Siege shook his head. He rubbed the bridge of his nose in mild frustration. “No,” He said, flatly, “There are techniques; things to know. Officers train to use that sort of weapon, you can’t just go swinging it around - especially with how small you are.”
Cookie’s face scrunched in annoyance. “Tell me again why you care?” She asked.
“You hunt monsters,” Siege said, “That’s good for everyone.”
Cookie eased up. With the aura about him, she wasn’t about to argue with even that vague reasoning. He had black magic about him, or the magic-sense equivalent to the scent of blood. It still gave her the creeps whenever she let her mind linger on it. “Okay… so what?” She asked.
“There aren’t many people around with as much combat experience as I have. I’m offering to teach you a few things,” Siege returned his arms to a crossed position across his chest, “Nothing fancy, just basic stuff.”
“Uh…” Cookie collapsed the baton again, “I… kinda have to go back to school. I’m going to be late for my next class already.”
Siege nodded in understanding. “I’ll find you on the weekend,” He said.
He turned away and made off down the alley, ignoring any of Cookie’s further questions like how he was going to find her. He turned the corner and Cookie ran to catch up only to find him simply… gone. The young mouse looked all over, but there was simply no signs of Siege along the street. To get away that quickly he either had to be very fast or very magical, but the people going about their business along the sidewalk or in their cars didn’t seem alarmed by anything having happened. A guy like Siege would’ve turned heads without even trying, so Cookie was assured that no one else saw him any more than she did. Cookie sunk into contemplation for a moment, wondering about him and just what he even was. Ultimately she had no choice but to return to school and go on like nothing happened, but he’d be on her mind for a while.
Days came and days went and the weekend arrived with continued thoughts of the strange man Cookie had met in the alley. When Siege said he would find her, he wasn’t lying. Saturday morning started off with small rocks pelting Cookie’s window. They tapped the glass with the purpose to draw her attention from the sleeping-in she wanted to do. It worked, somewhat. Cookie’s large ears twitched with every pebble that hit her window, but given that it was only seven in the morning she had no interest in waking up. She groaned and rolled over, pulling the blankets over her head as she tried ignoring the commotion. When a much larger impact rattled the glass nearly out of its frame, she shot out of bed like a bullet.
It sounded like a baseball had hit her window. She first pulled her curtains away to see the glass wasn’t damaged. She was so frantic in her efforts that she knocked several things off her night stand before she pulled the window open and stuck her bed-head outside. There Siege stood, hands in the pockets of his duster, hat angled on his head, as unassuming as he could be. Cookie narrowed her eyes at him, part out of annoyance and part because it was difficult to see him at that distance without her glasses on.
“What are you doing?!” Cookie yelled out to him.
“I said I’d find you,” He bellowed back. His tone was too casual, like he didn’t notice she was just in her underwear and her hair was an absolute disaster.
Cookie closed her eyes and pushed her eyebrows up as far as they could go, stretching her eyelids before opening them again. “Go away!” She yelled.
“We had an agreement,” Siege responded.
“You had an agreement!” Cookie shouted, “I never said yes to anything!”
The mouse slammed her window closed and disappeared back into the house. She didn’t come out for a few hours. When she did arrive outside she was cleaned up, bundled up, and looked for all intents and purposes ready to go somewhere. She didn’t intend to go with Siege, but he was still standing there even after all that time. She looked surprised to see him, but that surprise turned into agitation quickly. She marched her big boots out to the side of the road where she approached him and quickly flicked her baton to extension and raised it to point at his face. Siege didn’t even flinch or bat an eye when the tip of that metal rod nearly touched his nose.
Cookie noticed that and calmed considerably with a heavy sigh. “You’re serious about this,” She flatly stated.
“You could use the help,” Siege said, “For example, that’s not the most effective way to swing it.”
Cookie’s annoyance couldn’t leave her face, and surrender was ripe in her tone. “If I take a few pointers from you, will you leave me alone?” She asked.
“I just want to make sure you’re good at what you do,” He said, “My job is to clean up after everything goes to hell.”
Cookie turned her head a little as she squinted, “After everything goes to hell? What, like… if I can’t banish a monster?”
“If you can’t banish a lot of monsters,” Siege clarified, “If things get out of control, I end it.”
“End what?” Cookie asked.
“It,” Siege remained vague, but his insistent tone implied that ‘it’ was ‘a whole heck of a lot.’
Cookie stepped back from the whole conversation and collapsed her baton. “So let me get this straight,” She said, “If the Seers can’t do their job, you’re some kind of… contingency?”
Siege shifted his gaze away to search his thoughts. “It would have to get a little worse than that,” He said, “I’m the contingency.”
His emphasis on “the” assured the little mouse that there were no others after him. The way her eyes widened considerably assured Siege that she was starting to understand the magnitude of his role. The magic stink about him was just a taste of what bubbled beneath the surface. Cookie drew the only relevant conclusion she could think of, given her familiarity with her mother’s faith. If she had to guess, she was looking upon one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. There was no way to know what the stipulation for that was… what had to happen for that dragon to unleash some kind of magical fury on the world; but it was clear that he was trying to avoid it.
“… You’re not from the Nevernever, are you?” Cookie made the connection.
“No,” Siege shook his head.
“But you’re not mortal,” Cookie presumed.
“No,” Siege shook his head again.
Cookie got quiet then, retreating to her thoughts briefly. “Okay,” She said, “So I guess I should listen to you.”
“At a girl,” Siege almost smiled, “So… is there somewhere around here we can go?”
The only place Cookie could think to take Siege was to the Tri-Star Kick-Boxing and Self-Defense Center in town, which wasn’t close. The two of them had to catch a bus from the highway near Cookie’s home and take it well into town, past the Riverside Plaza. Once there, they had to commandeer an area to train in, which Siege did with surprising efficiency. All he did was stroll on up to the reception and request one, and the worker there acted like she’d seen him before and got him set up for a private training session in almost no time at all. Siege led Cookie to one of the several studios the building offered. They were the kind of studios with sheet flooring bearing a wood look, with lines painted on the floor and more mats than most people would ever need. It wasn’t unlike the gymnasium at Cookie’s high school; she felt just as out-of-place there too.
Siege stepped in all no-nonsense and took off his duster and hat. He was surprisingly particular about hanging them up proper. He didn’t look dressed for the gym, with a black t-shirt and some loose-fit black pants and combat boots on; but he sure did look intimidating. Cookie looked almost comically less-so in her black spandex capris and army-green tank top, sports bra worn obviously underneath. It was a meeting of hard contrasts between a tall, masculine dragon and a short, feminine mouse. One looked like they hit the gym every day, with flat-top hair, lots of muscle, and wide shoulders. The other had the legs of someone who ate too much fried chicken, the glasses of a Science Fair ribbon winner, and what could safely be described as “noodle arms.”
Cookie especially looked strange wearing a pair of purple gym shoes. She balanced awkwardly on the white soles of them, shifting her weight side to side often. She was more used to the platform soles of her boots. She looked around as if she were lost, too. In her hands she held her baton in its collapsed position, wringing her fists over it uncomfortably. “Okay, so…” She started, only to squeak when Siege dropped one of the blue foam mats onto the floor with an unceremonious, thundering boom. He did this a few more times until he’d constructed a sizable square on the floor with them. He stepped onto the mats and turned to wave Cookie closer. She shuffled onto the mats and stood across from him.
“Let me see that?” He asked, holding his hand out for the baton. Cookie handed it to him, and he wasted no time in opening it with a hard flick of his wrist to his side. His motion was fluid as he rose the baton to rest over his shoulder, elbow up. Cookie flinched and had raised her own hands, afraid he’d hit her by accident.
“The loaded baton position,” Siege turned his head slightly to look at the metal shaft braced against his shoulder, “Parallel with the top of your shoulder.”
Cookie looked a little confused, her eyes taking stock of just where Siege was holding the baton. “Right,” She said, “You, uh, could’ve told me we were starting.”
Siege widened his stance, holding his other hand out forward in a position to defend himself. His knees were slightly bent and his feet were placed firmly on the ground at his front and back so he looked ready to move at any time. “Keep your legs like this,” He instructed. He demonstrated by suddenly stepping forward toward Cookie without warning. She stepped back, almost and falling. Siege stepped backward again, then side to side, making sure to keep his feet placed as closely to their original stance as possible. “You can move easily like this; and keep your other arm up and ready to defend yourself,” He said.
Cookie looked at her feet, then Siege’s feet, and attempted to mimic the stance as best she could. It really wasn’t that hard, but she shuffled into position a little awkwardly before trying to raise her arms like he had his arms poised. It didn’t look quite right, and Siege shook his head. He tried instructing her not to drag her feet and not to keep her weak arm so stiff because she’d need to move quickly when in a combat situation. Try as she might, Cookie just didn’t have the idea down in her head. She just couldn’t simulate a response to a fight without there actually being a fight. Eventually Siege handed back her baton, but he quickly pulled the nylon scabbard for it off her beltline. He moved it from her right side to her left, and tucked the sleeve back in without so much as a care for personal space.
He was professional about it, so it didn’t feel that weird even though he was tugging on her pants.
“Keep the scabbard on your weak side and reach across your body to draw it,” He said, “Swing from your opposite shoulder to extend the baton and then place it in the loaded position. You’d normally do this while stepping backward, to put distance between you and your opponent.”
Siege stepped back and let Cookie try. Her efforts were still a little off as she continued to have a tendency to drag her feet on the mat when she stepped back into position, so he had her try again. He had her try again and again, simply swinging the baton to extend it and then placing it against her shoulder, all while stepping back into a safe position.
“You’re cumbersome,” Siege crossed his arms.
“Dude, have you looked at me?” She asked, “I’ve got Chun-Li legs and nuts half the size of your head. This is hard.”
“I’ve looked. Widen your stance more then,” Siege said, “Enough so that you don’t get in your own way.”
“My legs aren’t long enough for that!” Cookie complained.
Siege rubbed his chin as he studied Cookie’s lower body. She definitely was bigger below the waist than above, and her aforementioned endowments were… considerably larger than a five-foot-tall mouse’s ought to have been. He stepped in and knelt down to take hold of Cookie’s legs and move them with some insistent pulling. The girl nearly fell over, were it not for Siege’s other hand holding her forearm and keeping her balanced. With enough positioning, Cookie found her legs suitably spread, or at least as suitably as they were going to get. It was impossible not to get in her own way, but at least she should have been able to move sufficiently. The dragon stood again, turning his body so Cookie could see his back.
“Another position is to hold the baton vertical behind your strong leg,” He said, gesturing down the back of his thigh, “If you want to hide it. That one’s easier, and when you need to you can just lift the baton to loaded.”
Cookie stood and moved the baton to hide it behind her leg. That one was easy enough.
“So I know how to hold it… how am I supposed to swing it?” Cookie asked, “You kept saying I do that wrong.”
Having her get back into the “loaded” baton position, he mimicked the stance in front of her. “Always keep your weak arm out,” He instructed, “And always swing from your shoulder and across your body. Follow through by turning your body with every swing. You can do forehand and backhand – keep every backhand strike starting from beneath your weak elbow if possible.”
Siege stood straight and closer to her. He pushed his chest out a little. “You can hit me,” He said.
“Wait, what?” Cookie blinked.
“You can try it out on me,” He said, “It won’t hurt me.”
“It won’t?” Cookie asked.
“Hit me as hard as you want,” Siege stared straight ahead and braced himself.
Cookie readied a strike and swung her arm across. Her baton struck Siege’s chest hard, the sound of the impact echoing throughout the empty studio. True to his word, Siege didn’t look bothered by it at all. Cookie waited a while to study his expression but he didn’t even flinch or acknowledge that he’d been hit. Cookie started a backhand stroke from under her elbow and brought the baton across Siege’s chest again, smacking into his pectoral area with a loud pounding sound. Again, he didn’t as much as blink.
“If you’re striking center mass like that, the best thing to do is cross strikes,” Siege suggested, “Bring your baton down from either shoulder in an X across my chest. You can lower your weak arm for it, but don’t do that unless you have a clear opening.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Cookie asked.
“Just swing,” Siege said, “You hit like a mouse.”
That being the first thing Siege had said that sounded even vaguely like an insult, Cookie decided to give him strikes as hard as she could manage. She came down across his chest over and over again. Sometimes the noise made when she hit was a loud boom, while other times it was appropriately something more subdued. Metal didn’t make a loud noise often when hitting the meat of a human body, just like a punch didn’t make the sound it often did in the movies. If she hit a bone it would have been a different story, but as far as she could tell she was basically trying to mine away a mountain of muscle and hard draconic scales without a pick. She actually managed to work up a sweat smacking Siege in the chest over and over again. When she finished he eased up and actually did knead his sternum a little to soothe some pain that had flared up there.
“Not terrible,” He admitted, “But you’re not that strong. You really do need to work out. Chun-Li has muscular legs, not ones like yours.”
“Thanks for calling me fat,” Cookie breathed.
Siege closed his eyes and shook his head, “Not what I meant.”
“No I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what you’re saying,” She insisted, “Cookie’s got thunder thighs.”
“… You’re antagonizing on purpose,” Siege said, “Focus.”
“And you play video games?” Cookie asked, “You don’t seem like the type.”
“Focus,” Siege repeated, “You can block a blow with your baton by placing your hand flat on the tip end…”
Cookie held up her baton like a cross bar and flattened her other hand near the tip. “So do you just play Street Fighter, or…? I bet you play Call of Duty like my brother,” She said.
Siege brought his hand down to karate-chop the baton. He did so hard and suddenly enough that the impact sent a jolt through Cookie’s body and made her legs give out from under her so she fell back onto the mat. “I hate those games,” The dragon said gruffly, “Unrealistic. War’s nothing like that.”
“War never changes?” Cookie pushed herself up off the floor and stood up again, kind of smirking.
Siege rolled his eyes and placed his hand on Cookie’s baton when she tried to cross-block again, simply pushing down until he strong-armed her back onto the floor. “If you’re done,” He said, “There’s five pressure point areas to strike someone from a loaded position that would help you…”
Siege went on to teach the mouse about the radial, median, common peroneal, femoral, and tibial nerve areas, all located at various points among the forearms and legs. Striking those areas, even for someone as small as Cookie doing the striking, should have caused intense pain, temporary paralysis, and sudden reflex of the affected muscle groups in any target that the girl may have had to face. The only exception to this rule would have been creatures from the Nevernever. There was no telling how a supernatural entity would react to strikes that would work on a mortal. Even Siege, despite being neither, would have reacted in some way to the localized strikes. If Cookie found herself facing a gelatinous cube, however… then she was on her own.
That brought up questions about how a girl… or boy like her was expected to perform her duties. A gremlin was one thing – it was relatively small and harmless compared to other creatures – but there were things past the veil that made a gremlin look like nothing. How a tiny mouse was going to deal with frost giants or colossi was anyone’s guess. Siege took the opportunity when sitting down for a break with some burritos with the mouse to question her on that very topic.
“You said you were a Seer?” Siege asked, sitting on the mat with Cookie, his legs crossed as he tore his teeth into the warm flatbread of a hot street-vendor burrito.
“Mm,” Cookie nodded, working to swallow a mouthful, “Yeah. They’re special. Apparently they can open portals to the Nevernever wherever they want and force monsters through them.”
Siege looked down at the little teenager. “You can do that?” He asked, “That takes a lot of power.”
“I have a hard time,” Cookie admitted, “The first time I did it I felt like I was going to kill myself. My teacher says people my age are too young to use magic like that.”
“And you’re taught by another Seer?” He asked.
Cookie paused. “No,” She said, “Another magic user.” She didn’t feel like elaborating. Her mentor, Alexandra, tended to remain at least somewhat secretive.
“And what can you do?” Siege asked further, “What kind of magic do you do?”
Cookie dipped her head down and raised it as she struggled to swallow a big bite of her cheesy burrito. She wiped her hand off on her capris and tugged her baton back out of its scabbard. She struggled to open it from her sitting position, trying to tip it upside down and just let it fall into place. The rods didn’t lock the way they were supposed to, so she gave it a few flicks before they snapped into place.
“Effucutun,” She said, mouth full. She swallowed again and then cleared her throat before repeating herself, “Evocation mostly.”
“Show me?” Siege requested.
Cookie looked around the studio. It was true that they were alone there, but she was uncertain. “Are you sure?” She asked.
Siege stood up, peeling back some of the foil wrapping on his food as he stepped out onto the mats and turned to face the teen. “Sure,” he shrugged.
Cookie reluctantly stood up after wrapping up her food and putting it down on the floor. She turned and faced Siege, taking her baton in hand and holding it outward. She pointed at him with the tip of the instrument, and he just kept eating. With a little focus, Cookie drew in a deep and slow breath before bellowing out her command word.
“Percuter!”
That word left Cookie’s lips and became something else entirely, guiding her will energy to take form at the end of her baton and launch from it like a cannon straight outward. Siege looked up just in time for the invisible force to slam into his body. He was lifted off his feet and pushed through the air with the force of a speeding truck. His body was thrown back off the mats where he landed roughly on the linoleum on his back. Cookie lowered her baton quickly and nervously as Siege slowly sat up, his burrito having been destroyed by the wall of sudden force and splattered all over his face. He opened his eyes, slopping off the meat filling as he looked at Cookie, only giving a slight cant of his head in silent demand of an explanation on her part.
“I said show me,” He insisted, “Not blow me.”
His way of wording was enough to make Cookie crack a grin as she tried not to laugh. She held her other hand in front of her as she turned and tried not to look at the way the muscle-bound dragon sat there with muck all over his face. She bent over, stomped her foot on the mat, everything she could not to outright laugh at him as he sat there like that. “I’m sorry,” She sniggered, “You let me hit you before! I thought you meant like that again! I wasn’t thinking!”
She couldn’t contain her laughter and let it all out in a boisterous manner, hands resting against her knees and body keeled over. Siege simply stood up and stomped up behind the little mouse, whereupon he grabbed her by the arms and hoisted her into the air like she weighed nothing at all. She squeaked, kicking her feet a little before Siege pulled her back against him and simply used the back of her tank top to wipe off his face. Cookie cringed and shouted at him to stop, but he didn’t until he was relatively clean. He put her back down and she turned her body to try and look at her back.
“Ew! You big jerk!” She cursed, “Ugh, man…”
“Well, I’m pretty convinced you have a lot of power for someone so small,” Siege nonchalantly passed her by.
“You messed up my shirt!” Cookie shouted.
Siege rubbed the back of his neck as he pondered just what someone like Cookie meant in the grand scheme of things. He hadn’t seen anyone like her in Beach City, her home town, and he’d been growing uncomfortable with the fact that things could slip through the cracks and no one would be there to catch him. His worry was slightly less warranted, it seemed.
He turned his head and looked at the girl, watching her fuss over her shirt. She had pulled her arms into her tank top and turned it so she could see the mess of burrito smeared onto her back. She looked incredibly frustrated… but in a funny sort of way. Someone like that was good for the town. She had all that power, notably more than any teenager ought to have, and seemed willing to use it… He wouldn’t have been surprised if she had intended to send him to the Nevernever when she’d first left her house that day.
Of course, if she had, he’d just have to fight his way back out. It wouldn’t have been the first time, either.
Cookie wouldn’t have done that, however; Siege could tell. Cookie was… good. She seemed to understand his role and what he was trying to do by teaching her some self-defense basics, and she gave him the chance to do so without immediately trying to attack him. That was especially strange, because someone like him should have registered as a threat to someone like her almost immediately. She was smart enough not to try, which was a refreshing change away from being attacked on sight. Earth was an unusual place, not seeming to follow the rules of any other world… and Cookie was unusual for a magic user; and that wasn’t a bad thing.
Siege decided she wasn’t someone to worry about. He could cross her off his kill list.
“Alright, I think we’re done here,” Cookie said, annoyed at that point, “I gotta… I don’t know, change my shirt or some shit.”
“I’ll get you a new shirt,” Siege offered.
Cookie raised her hand in a ‘stop’ gesture. “Nuh-uh,” She said, “I see what you wear, that stuff’s not for me. You just forget it, I’m going home.”
“I’ll bring you one,” Siege turned as Cookie passed him, gathering up her food and coat.
“No, no more just showing up at my house,” She said, “Seriously.”
Siege shrugged. “I’ll run into you again,” He said as he made efforts to gather up the mats and put them away.
“Why don’t you go back to the apocalypse or whatever you do, and I’ll just go back to what I do, okay?” Cookie insisted, “I don’t want the next time I see you to be because you’ve got to end all life as we know it.”
“With you around I might not have to,” Siege said as he stacked the mats up out of the way, “One or two goblins isn’t a big deal. You’ll do okay against the worse stuff.”
Cookie paused as she had gotten read to leave, looking at Siege over her shoulder. “Worse stuff like you?” She asked.
“No,” Siege said as he gathered up his duster and hat, donning both, “No, it’s not going to come to that.”
“Good!” Cookie nodded, looking straight out the door again, “Good.”
“Good,” Siege concurred as he stepped past her to leave.
“Yeah,” Cookie swallowed as she let Siege exit well before her, “Good.”
's Siege is an... interesting sort of fellow, with a very long and very heavy past! It's the sort of past that makes him very interested in people like Cookie Souris. Unfortunately Cookie Souris isn't very interested in Siege, but she'll give him a chance to show her the ropes when it comes to one of the most important lessons on being a mage: what to do when you can't magic.
![[COM] A Day with my Bangaa](https://va.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/811/811247_Milkie_a_day_with_my_bangaa_-_fergas_commission.jpg "[COM] A Day with my Bangaa")