Needless to say, Curt, Anna, and Skyla were all pretty shaken by what had just happened. Or what didn’t just happen, technically.
“Something wrong, Master?” Cassidy asked. “You look nervous.”
Curt wasn’t sure how to respond to that. He supposed, from the new Cassidy’s perspective, it would look like he and Anna had just suddenly gotten jumpy. Pretty ironic, given she was probably the one most responsible for the incident in the previous timeline. Still, he thought he should probably give some kind of answer.
“I had just… remembered… I remembered a pretty grisly crime scene that had been shown on the news last night.”
“So did I!” Anna piped in.
“At the same time?”
“Well, we both watched it,” Curt said, “probably something here happened to remind us both of it.”
Cassidy seemed satisfied with that answer. “That’s a relief,” The tigress said. “I wouldn’t want any thieves trying to hold up my Master.” She grinned, her fangs on clear display. “I would feel pretty sorry for them, if they had to go through me.”
Curt backed into his seat a bit. Even knowing those fangs wouldn’t be turned on him, Cassidy was pretty intimidating, and Curt was still very much on edge. He had just seen a woman get shot, right in front of him, and his sister had nearly been next! And what’s worse, he couldn’t even talk about any of it, because as far as the rest of the world was concerned, none of that had actually happened. And he was just watching; he could only imagine what Anna was going through, right now.
Curt picked up a few french fries, trying to get his mind off of this, or at least figure out a way to talk to Anna and Skyla about the incident in a way that wouldn’t seem off to everyone around them. It briefly occurred to him to zap everyone in the restaurant, and order them to step outside for a moment, but that seemed a bit extreme. Besides, in all the confusion, Anna had accidently discovered the gun had some kind of limits on who it would change. Curt hadn’t been able to catch what those limits were, but there might be more people here that would be immune anyway.
“Are you gonna eat those fries, Master?” Cassidy asked.
“What?” Curt shook himself out of his thoughts.
“You’ve been staring at those fries for a while. You gonna eat them, or can I have them?”
“Um, sure… I kinda lost my appetite anyway.” He handed Cassidy his fries, and looked at Anna and Skyla. Both had only prodded at their food, themselves. “Maybe we should take this stuff back home and save it for when we’re feeling a little more hungry.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.” Skyla nodded, picking up her and Anna’s food.
“Really?” Cassidy cocked an eyebrow. “We practically just sat down. But, you’re my Master, and if the Boss agrees too, I can’t just say ‘no,’ can I?” She grinned.
“If the Boss agrees too?” Curt asked.
“Skyla did say she’d like to go.” Cassidy said, looking a little confused Skyla smiled a little, seeming to like the title.
The four got up, and headed out to the car. Before they got in, Curt spoke up. “Cassidy? There’s something I need to discuss with Anna and Skyla, alone. Would you mind standing outside for a bit?”
“Sure thing, Master. Nobody’s gonna interrupt your meeting.”
“Thanks, Cassidy,” Curt said, getting into the back seat, alongside Anna. Immediately after closing the door, he wrapped his arms around his feline sister. “I’m so glad you’re safe! That was terrifying! Are you feeling alright?”
“Y-yeah.” Anna stammered. “I think I’m okay. Just… Just trying not to think about… About THAT.”
“I understand.” Curt nodded, patting her on the back.
“What about you, Skyla?” Curt asked, turning to face the fox in the front passenger seat. “You’re looking pretty calm, but you weren’t eating, either…”
Skyla nodded. “I felt like, as the Head Maid, I needed to try and keep a level head. But you’re right, I was pretty frightened too. It all just happened so fast… And that one thug… He.. She’s just working for us now. Called me ‘boss’ like it was nothing. I know that… Cassidy, was her name, right? I know that the new Cassidy wouldn’t hurt us for the world, but still...”
Curt nodded. “Yeah, I’m a little worried about the new Cassidy as well. Or… I guess, I’m worried about how much like the old Cassidy she might be. Danielle’s outlook and personality had changed when I used the reality altering setting on her, but in her case, the change itself retroactively prevented the formation of some emotional baggage she’d been dealing with. Old Cassidy, well, I didn’t know him, but I doubt his decision to turn to crime involved not being a tiger, or feeling like he really ought to be working for a twenty-something nobody. Who’s to say we didn’t just bring a hardened criminal on board, even if she’s loyal to us now?”
“That is pretty worrying.” Skyla nodded.
“Well, why not just ask her to stop breaking the law, then?” Anna asked. “She’s gonna obey you.”
Curt shook his head. “If she’s working on her own, that might be one thing. But if she’s part of a gang, or something, it’s pretty hard to just stop. I’ll need to find a tactful way to figure this stuff out.”
“Well, in the meantime, we can just hope that she’s basically a new person now, and not a criminal, right?”
“Yeah, I guess we can,” Curt said. While he admired his sister’s optimism, he couldn’t help but shake the feeling that the “New Cassidy” truly being a new person could be pretty bad as well, if in a less obvious way. After all, if the new Cassidy had never had a criminal record, her life and personality could be pretty different from the old Cassidy’s. And in that case, what Anna did to him may have been less of a quick rehabilitation, and more killing the old Cassidy, and replacing him with a new one. Meaning Anna may have just technically killed someone, even if only in self defense. He definitely had no intention of bringing this up to his sister, though; she was dealing with enough as it was.
“Still,” Skyla said. “I’m glad Anna acted when she did. It was very brave of you!”
Anna’s mood seemed to brighten a little, at this. “I didn’t feel brave, but I guess you’re right.”
Curt nodded. “She is right, Anna! I’m proud of you! If you hadn’t used the gun… I don’t want to think what would have happened.” Even with the worries surrounding Cassidy, the situation was still a vast improvement. Eva was still going home to her family tonight, the rest of the customers were safe, as was his sister, and that other robber was… Actually, what had happened to him? He was nowhere to be seen after the timeline change. Even if he was a criminal, Curt hoped he didn’t just erase someone from existence.
“Anna, I just remembered. When you tried to use the gun on one of the robbers, it gave you an error message. Do you remember what it said?” Curt asked.
“It was something like ‘you can’t change guys that have had kids, or make girls that have had kids young enough that they couldn’t have had them.’ I think that other thief was just trying to feed his kids, and got put up to this by old Cassidy. With the bad influence gone, he never had a reason to show up here today,” she responded.
Anna’s conclusion made sense. And this new information provided Curt with some relief, as well. He had, earlier, thought about changing his parents with the reality distortion field on, to see if that would retroactively make him their species, allowing him to change while getting around the restriction on using the gun on himself. But barely had the idea crossed his mind, then he had realized that if he changed his dad into a woman, there could only be one of two results: either the gun would have to introduce some sort of powerful lesbian magic into this world to allow him to be born, or he would paradox himself and Anna out of existence. He decidedly did NOT want to test that on any other fathers to see what the result would be. Knowing that he couldn’t do that now, even by accident, eased his worries about the gun considerably.
Another one of his worries about this had been that if he had, for whatever reason, lost his marbles and decided to go whole-hog on this, and try to make EVERYONE a furry, the whole “females-only” thing would mean he’d effectively have doomed the planet in only one or two generations, given that he would be the only male left, and the implications that carried for both a stable population, and about inbreeding. Even if he wouldn’t have done that himself, the fact that there was “one-per-universe” had made him a little worried for any hypothetical alternate universes where someone would be short-sighted enough to actually try that. But knowing there were safegaurds relaxed him some. And even then, who would be THAT careless?
_______________________________
Meanwhile, in another universe, Scott had just received the same error message. He sighed. So, not only could he not become his five-tailed fursona with this, but the “no changing fathers” restriction was ruining his fun, as well. “Well Courtney, looks like we’ll have to drop the dream of a world packed to the brim with busty maids.”
The blue lizard lady that had once called herself Curt took a seat beside him on the park bench, adjusting the dress of her maid uniform, which barely contained her stunning bust. “Don’t worry, Master Scott. It was a noble endeavor, but we’ll simply have to find a new dream to pursue. And I’d say a 60 to 75% worldwide furry maid population is still worth shooting for.”
“I guess so.” Scott nodded. “Plus, I still have you by my side… that means a lot more to me than a world of servants.” Courtney giggled, and Scott chuckled, a new thought coming to him. “By the way, have you ever read The Lusty Argonian Maid?”
Courtney opened her mouth, though no words came out for a few moments. “...Master, I love you, but my parents always taught me, that in any relationship, there must be clear boundaries, and...”
Scott sighed once more. Well, he tried.
_______________________________
“Thanks, Anna.” Curt said. “That info helps a lot. And again, you deserve some serious praise for what you did back there.”
“Well, thank you, I’m glad I was able to help.” Anna smiled, her tail standing tall. “Also, it’s a good thing I didn’t have to follow your no-zapping order, huh? Now Eva’s not gonna be OUR Uncle Ben!”
Curt smiled and rolled his eyes. Apparently, the “unconditional love” did not overrule sibling teasing. “Okay, I’ll admit, you showed a great sense of responsibility with the gun’s great power.”
“Thank you!”
Curt chuckled. The issues Cassidy’s presence brought up were still in the back of his mind, but Anna’s vibrant spirit, and the reminder of how much better things had gone than if they hadn’t interfered at all, were helping him and Skyla recover. He looked down at his watch There was still time to change Mark, the last person on his list of friends who he knew would enjoy the transformation.
He almost felt a little saddened, knowing that, if he kept to his original policy, this would be the last non-emergency use his gun would get for some time. Unless a furry convention or meetup was held in town. Now THAT would be a goldmine! When he got home, he’d have to check to see when one might be… But he was getting sidetracked. As neat as making every fursuiter’s dream come true might be, there was likely a lot of time between then and now, and even for all his lectures on responsibility, and his hesitance to have more people calling him Master, it almost seemed like a waste to not use the gun, at least every now and then. Plus, as he had seen with the mailvixen, and Eva, if he was worried about their new desire to serve interfering with their lives, he could just “order” them to live as they normally would, and do whatever made them happy. And the question of Cassidy aside, all those changed with the RDF active seemed to come out just as happy, or even more so, than they had been to start with. Maybe he could let Anna scratch her trigger finger’s itch, and stop worrying so much.
“You know, Anna… In light of your quick thinking… And the fact that I’d kinda like to see more furries around as well… I’m gonna rescind my order that you and Skyla not zap people.”
The two furry females looked to their Master, then at each other, and grinned wildly. “Oh! Thank you, Curt! This is gonna be so much fun!” Anna giggled and pounced her brother, affectionately liking his face.
“Agh! Rough tongue! Rough tongue!”
“Oops! Sorry about that!” The cat girl sat up. “But still! I can’t wait! We’re gonna have so many fuzzy cuties running around, Master!”
“Don’t forget the busty ones, either!” Skyla added, her tails swaying back and forth excitedly. “And all the lovely maid uniforms!”
“Woah, slow down you two!” Curt said. “Let’s not get carried away here. There’s still a lot of logistics to consider. One is that, while I imagine most of the people changed will be able to go to work and provide for themselves, and most would probably be willing to work for free, there’ll probably be several that need the money badly enough that I’d feel especially guilty not paying them for their services. And I cannot afford to pay that many maids. Second is space. I think we can all agree, having, say, thirty maids stuffed in a single house is gonna get awkward pretty quick. I can dismiss them, but at the same time, well… I feel kinda bad doing that when they seem so eager to please. So let’s not go too crazy, okay? ”
The fox and the cat decided to take their victories where they could. Particularly while their only limits were the vague “not too crazy.” “Sure thing, Master.” Anna said.
“Of course, Master Curt.” Skyla nodded.
“Good. Now that that’s clear, one more request, is that, except for emergencies, you not change anyone else until I’ve changed my friend Mark, okay? Don’t worry, I promise you won’t have to wait long.”
“Okay.” The two said in turn.
“Great! Now, I guess… I guess we should get Cassidy in here, and head on over to Mark’s place.” Curt opened the door, and turned to the buff tiger woman sitting on the trunk of the car, watching every person and vehicle that passed like a hawk. “Cassidy, we’re done now. You wanna ride with us?”
“Of course, Master.” Cassidy nodded. “I’d be a pretty poor bodyguard if I couldn’t keep an eye on you.” She got up. “Would you like to rest for a bit, and let me drive?”
“Uh, sure, but do you know where we’re going?”
“No, I was about to ask.”
“We’re going to my friend Mark’s house, then heading home.”
“Hmm… Mark… Oh! You mean the little drummer boy! Yes, I remember going with you to visit him a few times. I can find the way there. Just leave it to me.”
Curt was still pretty hesitant about Cassidy, but, he figured that even if she was still a criminal, she would still be loyal enough to him to not drive him through a bad part of town, or steal his car. He got back in the back seat, and handed the tiger woman the keys.
As they drove to Mark’s neighborhood, Curt began to think about his friend, and the best way to change him. The two had met online through sharing TF stories they had written, online and eventually discovered that they lived fairly close to each other when Mark told Curt he was attending a local anime convention. Working on some much Transformation stuff with him, Curt already had a good idea on most of the settings he would like. Mark wasn’t really the type for overtly sexy stuff, so “Adorable” was the obvious choice for the first toggle, and he didn’t care for maids, either, so the next toggle was set to nude. And Mark had definitely enjoyed a good mental change, as well, so leaving change awareness off, and reality-rewriting on seemed good.
Species, though… That would be a tough pick. Even though Mark enjoyed transformations, he wasn’t really a “furry” per se, and didn’t have any particular species he liked to be turned to. In fact, he’d probably be just as happy turned into a plushie or a statue of an animal lady, as much as a flesh and blood one… Not that the ray gun could grant that, anyway, but still, Mark liked his transformations weird, so Curt wanted to pick something that would stand out. A spider, perhaps? Vastly different anatomy, web spinning, and Mark had particularly enjoyed a couple of spider TF stories Curt had written… Yes, that would do just fine.
He got out, and knocked on the door, Anna, Skyla, and Cassidy following behind him. The sound of drumming could be heard from inside. Mark was practicing for his band again, most likely. Curt rang the doorbell a couple times. The drumming stopped, and after a minute, the door was opened, revealing a 20-something, blonde male, about 5’5”, dressed in blue, and wearing a pair of glasses.
“Curt! And Anna, Cassidy, and Skyla too! Good to see you! What brings you all out here?”
“I found this really cool gift in the mail!” Curt said. “And I wanted to share it with you.”
“Oh? Mark smiled. “Great! Come in!” He motioned for the four to enter, and they obliged. Closing the door behind them, he asked “so, what is it?”
“This!” said with a grin, raising the ray gun and firing. A green bolt of lightning arced from the tip of the plastic weapon to Mark’s body, and his body began to shift.
His clothes slowly started to vanish from sight, revealing fairly thick, fluffy hair covering his body instead, in a vibrant yellow hue. His shoulders became a little less broad, his torso taking a girlish appearance, including the growth of two little mounds on the upper portion of his chest, covered in the same fluff. Curt noticed some spots under Mark’s arms
Her head grew a little wider, while her nose shrank back to nothing but a pair of hidden nostrils. Her glasses vanished, but two smaller slits that appeared next to her closed eyes showed that the term “four-eyes” would remain very applicable. Just as well, as, with her ears shrinking away to little holes in the side of her head, they wouldn’t have stayed on long, anyway. Two of her top front teeth sharpened and became hollow, each extending out of her mouth, and over her bottom lip, giving her a pair of cute little fangs. Little flexible appendages (Curt had heard they were called pedipalps) grew at either side of her mouth, about three inches each. Meanwhile, the blonde hair Mark’s head, as if to better contrast with her new fur, turned a pale, silver color, and grew out behind her, down past her shoulders.
The lower half of Mark’s body began to shake slightly, swelling wider and rounder behind him. It shook and bulged bigger, and bigger, extending further back, looking almost separate from her upper torso, and a good bit larger than it, as well, as it took the clear, bulbous shape of a spider’s abdomen.
It looked as if Mark would fall over from the weight, but a pair of growths, on appearing at either side of her body, near her legs, would soon put a stop to that. The growths rose and stretched out into two long, thin, segmented limbs, each covered in the same thick, fluffy hair, and ending in a little claw. They folded down into a rough arch shape, touching the ground. No longer the sole force holding up Mark’s body, her human legs were completely covered in the hair, and became thinner, and longer. Her feet stretched and rounded out, her toes forming into little claws, while the range of motion of her hips increased, allowing her original legs to take the same arched posture her new pair did.
Her arms slimmed down slightly, as the yellow hair spread over them, her fingernails vanishing, replaced by little claws on each fingertip. Meanwhile, just under her arms, at either side of her human-shaped upper body, the growths were completed, gradually forming into a second set of arms, looking just like her original pair looked now. Marceline's eyelids, (all four of them) seemed to twitch for a moment, before fluttering open, revealing two big, round, solid blue eyes, and a smaller eye to the side of each original. She looked at the down at the gun before her.
“You wanted to share this toy laser gun with me?”
Right, in their mind the transformation never happened. Curt kept forgetting that. He would have to stop making dramatic announcements before changing people like that.
“Wow! That gun really is something else!” Anna exclaimed.
“Why, because it even works for stuff like spiders?” Skyla asked.
“No, because it managed to make a something creepy like a spider actually look really cute!”
Marceline looked a little unsure whether she should be taking more value in the siamese cat’s insult to her species in general, or the complement to her specifically.
“Anna!” Curt chided. “Please, be more careful about what you say!”
“Sorry.” Anna looked down and flicked her tail.
“I meant… be a little more sensitive.” Curt shook his head. He didn’t mean to remind her of her previous condition. He was feeling he could be a little more sensitive himself. “Sorry about that, Mark, my sister’s still getting used to some things.”
“Mark? And what was your sister talking about, the gun making me cute, Master?”
“Oh that… Yeah…” Curt scratched the back of his head. “Well, you see, this gun is actually a TF gun. You point it at any human, and you can change them into an female anthro animal. And it even has some side adjustments so they won’t know it happened, or so that reality reflects as if they had always been that way.”
“And you’re saying you used it on me?”
“Well… Yeah.”
Marceline giggled. “Well then, since this is the first time you’re meeting the new me, I guess I’d better introduce myself! Hi! My name is Marceline, and I’m happy to meet you, and help you in any way I can, Master!” She held out both her right hands for a handshake.
“Well, nice to meet you Marceline. But Curt is fine too.” Curt said, shaking one of the offered hands.
“Master Curt it is, then! I’ll remember it from now on!” The spider girl giggled again, and pulled Curt into all four of her arms. “But seriously, this is a interesting way to do a TF story! Just treat the person you’re telling it to like they’re supposed to be a different person, and act like you had just transformed them, and they’re currently oblivious to the truth. And kudos on getting your sister in on it, helps add to the illusion. I know your time is valuable, Master Curt, so it really means a lot when you go the extra mile just to entertain us girls!” She gave him a light squeeze, and released him.
“Oh, so that’s what’s going on!” Cassidy said. “I was pretty confused.”
“Yeah… That’s it.” Curt nodded. He looked around the room, suddenly noticing that several things were a bit off. First was that several doors had become a bit wider than he had remembered. Second several chairs had been modified pretty heavily, looking almost like wide stools, with a flat back in the middle, raised high enough that Marceline’s abdomen could fit under it. They also boasted four arm rests. It seemed to be designed to let her rest her lower body flat, while supporting her human-ish back.
Curt was pretty intrigued by this, and kind of wanted to see what else had changed, as this was the first person he had used the RDF on that he still knew pretty well beforehand. “Hey, Marceline, do you mind if I look around your house a bit? I just remembered, I left something lying around last time I was here. “
“Oh, not at all, Master Curt! I can help you look!”
“Oh, no, I appreciate it, but I can do this myself. Why don’t you go back to practicing your drums again? I don’t think Anna or Skyla have gotten to hear it before.”
“Of course, Master Curt. Please, come down and listen as well, when you’re done looking. I always love a chance to play for you!” She led the other girls into her living room, as Kurt headed up into her bedroom. Looking around, he noticed the lack of dresser drawer, replaced with some standard shelving. Her closet was mostly filled with anything but clothes, a name-tag necklace from her job, and a purse being the only remotely clothing like items he could find.
Looking at her desk, he saw a couple framed photos next to the monitor. One was a photo of Marceline with her family, one arm hugging each of her siblings, while her parents stood behind them. If her brothers and sisters found being this close to a giant spider creepy, they made no indication. The next photo was of her with a group of her friends, Curt included, at the anime convention they first met. Other than her being a spider lady, and standing a little closer to Curt than he originally remembered, everything was pretty much the same; she was even still wearing the pink cat ears another friend had given her as a prank.
Since her computer had been left on, and the current webpage was DeviantArt, he took a glance there, too. Looking stuff Mark had commissioned in her favorites he saw that several of the TF commissions that had once shown Mark getting changed now depicted a young spider lady being turned into various animals, plushies, and other stuff. Looking at the artist’s comments for a few, he noticed a couple had an extra line of text, usually something like “no offense to the commissioner, but @#% spider anatomy. This was hard.” He almost felt like writing the artists an apology, but the reality changes would just make him look crazy. And amusingly, one of Curt’s own old stories about a human boy becoming a spider girl had reversed itself.
He headed back downstairs, to watch Marceline finish up the last of her drum practice. Pretty impressive to watch, as her extra arms also held drumsticks, which she used to give her own little twists to the beat.
They gave her a small clap as it came to the end, and after she thanked them for watching they headed out.
Curt turned around as he went out the door. It almost seemed like something was missing, after what had happened the last three times. “What, aren’t you going to ask if you can come home and help clean?”
“Oh, I would love to, but I already know your car can’t hold more than four. And I kinda have to wriggle around to fit in as is.” She giggled. “Plus, it’s getting late. I could make myself a web cot over at your place, but I don’t think I’d have time for much else, as much as I’d love to help.”
“Oh, it’s fine, don’t give it a second thought.”
They said their goodbyes, and headed home, dropping off Skyla along the way. She seemed a little annoyed she didn’t get a chance to meet with Meredith properly, but she did have to attend to her old job tomorrow, as well. Cassidy insisted she stay with Curt, so he let her stay in what had been the guest room when they got home, though when they got there, several of Cassidy’s things were already there.
Curt and Anna briefly met with Meredith, who had rendered their living room spotless while they were gone. Apparently, they had trusted her with house keys in this new reality. Curt thanked her, and told her to take a well-earned rest at home.
It seemed like it had been ages when he finally got into bed, with how much had happened that day. And tomorrow he would have to go to work. Joy.
He debated on bringing the gun with him to work, and maybe changing a few co-workers, or his boss. Probably not a great idea for the company, to make a higher up so focused on him, though. Ah well, if he didn’t use it, he could just leave it out for Anna the next day.