Anna, Skyla, and Curt had gone to bed. Meredith had taken Emma and Kasai to bed (Kasai was most definitely not going to be spending another night in the retirement home). This left Meredith with help from Carrie and Kathy (and Cassidy whether she liked it or not) to clean, dry and put away dishes, put things away in the pantry, clean the floor, shape up the dining room after hosting a dinner for 20 people. It wasn't easy work for the little mouse, but at least with Head Maid Skyla's coworkers moving in for full time, keeping the mansion in tip top shape would be getting a lot easier.
Any and all of the maids would have been perfectly happy to work for just room and board, and the pleasure of working for him, but Curt always insisted they be given salary, they weren't slave after all, the maids having the odd distinction of being those who actually bartered DOWN their own pay!
But they did have free-reign of the entertainment center whenever the Master wasn't using it. Anna might have been one of them, but anyone could see from the schedule that Skyla always gave her a token workload.
With the two Junior Maids in bed, the other four current live in maids were playing a cartoonish slapstick four-way fighting game. Cassidy playing one of the bombastic hard hitting characters, Meredith was playing one of the simpler all-round characters, while Carrie with a 'two characters at once' type, and Kathy whose character could switch between a ninja and a sorceress on the fly.
Cassidy hadn't cared much for video games before, but years of looking after Master's little sister when Master didn't think he needed Cassidy nearby eventually rubbed off on her.
Carrie and Kathy had seen video games rise from Pong and Space War, and they were still awed at how far they'd come.
Meredith had played a few games in her childhood, but she did enjoy the time spent with her fellow maids.
"So how long you think before Eva moves in and becomes a live-in maid? She is the oldest of the Junior Maids after all," one of the dragon twins asked. Being identical twins, and never wearing any form of identification, even Master and the other maids often and trouble telling them apart with their eyes on screen just made harder to tell which one had spoken.
'Junior Maids' was, of course, the nickname the maids had for the younger Maids who worked for Master. And Eva was the 'oldest' physically, even if Simone was chronologically older.
"Well I doubt she's going to be working at Mcdonalds for the rest of her life, she's only got a year or two of collage to go before. Then I'm sure her parents will happily agree to let her move in!" Cassidy said confidently.
While Master would have been more than happy to pay for her college fund, Eva had wanted to earn the money herself.
It was a surprise for many how much smarter than these girls appeared were. So many child prodigies had wanted to serve such a worthy Master. Even if Morgan was shockingly so... everyone agreed that kitten needed to learn to act her age and let herself have fun sometime!
Meredith could appreciate wanting to move in like Head Maid Skyla's coworkers were doing, she'd been more than happy to quit her old job and become one of Master's live-in maids.
"Well, little Simone will be finished with collage in just under a decade," said one of the twins like that was just a couple of years. "She'll be eager to be the princess of the mansion by then!"
Little Simone insisted she was a princess reborn (just like Sailor Moon) and no one was going to tell her different.
Head Maid Skyla's coworkers weren't spending the night, since they still had to move all their items over from their old places before being able to move in, and work things out with their respective land lords.
"Simone's brave for going to public high school, I mean, she's surrounded by people who see a whelp right out of diapers that's just as smart as they are," Cassidy said, she knew how hard that environment could be.
"She's a DRAGON, she can take care of herself."
+++
Skyla's first night in her 'new' bedroom... it was most definitely an upgrade from her old bedroom, and she had moved in with Master. She had thought that sleeping with her five tails would taken some getting used to, and it had, kinda. Sleeping on her back just wasn't an option anymore, she had found herself curling up on her side with her tails acting a second set of pillows. Her night gown of course had a hole and slit for them.
Still... the reality warp setting had supposed to have been off... But it was obvious at this point that reality had indeed been revised to (she was going to have a look at the ray gun later to see about that oddity, okay, there wasn't exactly a help menu to begin with)...
Still... in spite of her more lofty living conditions, she'd actually have to get up earlier for work, but at least she'd never need to commute again. And, it was all for Master. Okay, that still didn't mean she didn't have her own goals and motives, but her priority to the depths of her soul remained to making sure Master was happy and comfortable. Though she began to think Curt would never give up working, even with all this, no one at the company Curt worked at acted like it was funny a man as well off as Curt was now apparently was still coming in for a pay check.
Speaking of paychecks, Skyla didn't really give a damn at how the ray gun worked out the particulars... mostly... but as the reality of her new responsibilities began to weight down on her, she began to wonder. What HAD turned Eva and Morgan into cubs? Why?
How empty was Morgan's life before they were zapped? If all those years climbing the corporate ladder had been hollow, then there was nothing actually lost from the age regression. That was the only theory Skyla could think of at all. Or ... maybe it was a flip flop effect for those who were closer to dying than having been born? She'd have to talk to Master about that in the morning, it would explain why it ha effected only Eva and Morgan.
Skyla wondered if they kept getting maids, would the house keep getting bigger, and if they were going to need a pool girl soon, would it be indoor or outdoor? Either way it would have a dragon motif, there was no secret now about Curt's tastes and all the world seemed fine with it.
Cassidy had mentioned a friend of hers, Kitty, who she was convincing to work for Curt... well, they were going to need a gardener. At least with no many willing hands, vacation time wouldn't be impossible... even if few things could really match the pleasure of working for Master.
Working for Master... Emma had said they were old friends... knowing Japanese without even realizing it... Skyla couldn't take it anymore, she found a photo album of hers, not thinking about how she knew where it was in here, just that her parents had wanted her to have one like theirs...
Naturally... she was a kitsune in every picture, with plenty of adjustments with her new gender, though she saw some of her early dates had been with guys rather than girls... well, not everyone in the world was bi'. Even Skyla would admit her reasons for hitting on people in her high school days had been rather shallow. Of course the people had really been hot for existed as drawings or wearing fur suits. Yes, she was there stereotypical 'yiff' geek that gave the fandom a bad name. But that didn't mean she hadn't appreciated quality and substance over flash and glitter. Curt hadn't cared much for the 'yiff' half of the fandom, but both had appreciated good story telling.
However... buried in the back, hidden behind another photo (of the company news years party, with herself and the bunnies, Janet, and Rachel)... it was an old black of white photograph... of herself... in a kimono... holding a fan with an alluring look in her eyes... she had four tails in the picture...
"But... how does that even make sense?"
She was a kitsune, she could change her appearance anyway she wanted... She could be an old lady or a little girl if she wanted, she could make herself look like Curt or Anna if she wanted... Starting her life over with a human couple would have been child's play... Skyla shuddered. She closed the photo album, put it away, buried it as deep in her closet as she could, and like a robot mechanically got back into bed, swearing to herself to not talk at all about this with Curt. She didn't dare.
All things aside, she loved her family too... she treasured them... she couldn't just be a... a cuckoo in the nest now? Curt would be crushed... He'd never use the ray gun again... And... And that would not make him happy or his life more comfortable...
Skyla realized she was likely to outlive her friends and family (and Curt), what would be the point of her then? She'd been reborn to look after Curt's wants and needs, what would the other immortals (Kasai and Emma at least) do when... when Curt was gone? ... Curt would want them to live and be happy, and they would follow his wishes even if it was postmortem. It made Skyla shiver.
-
Skyla, wearing a cross between mourning gown and maid's dress, she stood over Curt's coffin, a literal physical army of maids around her... Then her parents' coffins... then one by one the maids vanished, replaced with coffins their own, Skyla now had six tails... then seven... becoming more beautiful and powerful as the centuries passed... Simone growing into a dragon woman who could rival Susan, the twins also growing larger, longer, more majestic... Emma herself ever so slowly growing into a young lady, while Kasai died and was born again over and over... by the time Skyla had nine tails, the dragons were now all middle age... and Emma trailing far behind.
Then... one by one... the dragons, mortal creatures, began to be replaced by coffins, and Skyla herself began to gray... The still youthful Emma helping support her... And Kasai continued her cycle...
Skyla woke up with a start... it was still dark, after midnight... She hugged herself and shivered. She was NOT going back to sleep to continue that nightmare. She needed something, anything to take her mind off it!
She found the featherduster with the hidden Kodachi, and found a black kimono with white trim in the back of her closet, was this a funeral kimono? Ugh! She had NO intention of going outside at night naked and giving someone unworthy of seeing her body a show. With strength and agility she didn't realize she had, she'd climb to the top of the mansion, and unconsciously practice swordplay with the short sword.
What had she gotten herself into? Now she knew that management was not sitting on your tails watching the profits roll in.
+++
Curt had trouble getting to sleep, even if the room was 'right' in the sense everything was to his taste and style, it was still overwhelming to think this had been his home before... now it had been retconned into this place, that house for him and his sister no longer existed except in his and his sister's (and maybe Skyla's) memories.
All of this from zapping 20 people with the ray gun. He knew Skyla and Anna (or he thought he knew) would still be zap happy with the ray gun, but Curt wondered if 20 might have already been too much. What if the mansion just kept getting bigger and bigger eating up the neighborhood until it became his own personal serfdom in the middle of the country?
And he again wondered what the point of having 50 female servants would even be, he wondered if the ray gun had been meant for someone like Skyla who couldn't understand the concept of 'enough.' It seemed that reality could continue to retcon so he could support all of them in his employ.
He still hoped that with all of this, Skyla and Anna wouldn't just zap everyone in sight that the machine's parameters allowed who had perfectly happy lives.
The trouble was going to be to keep track of all these maids, he actually now felt grateful that Skyla had taken on the role of Head Maid, someone to keep them all organized, and to keep all their names straight. Though he was obviously closer to some. Whether he liked it or not, he knew he was going to have some very interesting dreams about Susan tonight!
And there was Danielle. He didn't want to think how Skyla would react. Unbreakable loyalty or not, he didn't want to know if she'd snap or what. Well, he promised Danielle that he'd give it another try to see if Danielle was the one he wanted to share his life with, and... first come first serve. Plus, he was the reason this version of Danielle existed at all... he had a responsibility at least to try and get to know her.
+++
Anna meanwhile, had trouble sleeping too, but for different reasons. She was perfectly happy with her new room, the mountain of plushies, and her collection of playthings. What she'd done to Susan, and Kitty, Suzie, and at least one other child, they no longer had a father figure, their original abandoning them...
She wish she could just shrug it off, but it clung to her. And she wish she could talk about it with Curt, but that was the last thing he needed to hear about. Maybe... maybe she should talk it over with Head Maid SKyla... at least she'd know what she was talking about.
+++
If life had background music, then a low sneaky saxophone theme would have been playing. The burglar had been asking casual details about the place to various marks, either online or google searches or on the super rare occasion, in person with one of the residents in particular, not that any of them had a clue what his intent was.
He was stunned at how pathetic the security for the mansion was. He thought at first it had been to a trap, a lure with bait too delicious to be real. But no, this guy just didn't know the first thing about how having a really bit house meant to hold nearly two dozen people and half less than half of that living there, and their security big a locked door ... what pretty much an open invitation to people like himself.
He'd gotten a general idea who lived where and when they'd be there. At this point, they all had to be asleep, and he'd explicitly avoid the bedrooms, instead focusing on the common room and the like, grab whatever pieces of art he could, silverware, gadgets, loose cash, and of course the satisfying thrill of having liberated a little the newly wealthy of their burdensome wealth.
He was no amateur, his body suit blended into the darkness, he had night vision googles (he was a very successful thief), he made no sound as he passed, none saw him. With his tools he unlocked the door and silently entered without trouble.
He knew there wasn't a cliche safe, this guy wasn't wise enough to have one. Anything of value was just laying about. Plus, the best thing about neatly kept homes? You didn't have to risk tripping over garbage or hitting your knee against some worthless junk... nope, it was just you and the treasure. Like a cat stalking a mouse he made no noise. He wasn't about to get greedy and try the top floor, the last thing he wanted to do was wake up the residents and get the police here... okay, who knew how long it would take the donut-munchers to actually get here, but he wasn't dumb enough to give them an invite!
The best laid plans of mice and men. We can plan for everything, prepare for everything, but we shall fail. For 'everything' is simply too big a word. And the world is simply far too complex a machine to prepare for everything that could ever be. All we could ever do was hedge our bets. And the best of us could hedge our bets very well, and play the dice and win a throw. But there is simply no accounting for bad luck.
And as any gamer will tell you, landing triple snake eyes 96 to 1 in theory, but law of averages says that sooner or later...
You find yourself looking into the glow in the dark eyes of a Siamese cat woman holding a brown stallion plushie on the way down to the kitchen for a glass of warm milk. And a five tailed fox woman dressed like a character from an anime holding a sword. And finally the owner of the house who looked like he'd slipped on what he'd worn to work yesterday... And all four looking at each other in total shock and confusion.
"Ah, shit," the burglar said rather matter of fact before dropping the loot where he stood, turning around and running.
Let it be known, that you are legally within your rights, to use what force is necessary to defend your home, this does NOT apply if the assailant is obviously retreating... maybe, none of them there were law experts after all.
Curt and Anna both might have simply let him escape and call the police, the shock finding the burglar in their home simply being too much. Skyla on the other hand, wasn't about to let anyone get away with invading Master's property and home, she needed an emotional outlet at that moment, and at least the zapping felt good. She unconsciously hated having to up her score even more, let alone waste it on this scum. But it was a snap decision. And neither Curt nor Anna would ever call her out on it. The animalistic growl she made while doing so however did set the siblings on edge.
Skyla had taken the ray gun from Kurt's pants that he had left it in, and had dimly put back on when he had gotten out of bed unable to sleep, and fired.
The burglar was slim and fit, a must have in his profession, and effectively all of his body was hidden by his jumpsuit and equipment, and so that remained.
But while the choice was obviously 'busty' it was on the lower end of the spectrum compared to bombshells like Susan, and were more, well, 'average' compared to some of the chest sizes Curt had seen on some of the other maids. Something you'd be more likely to see on a real person opposed to out of some teenager pervert's fantasy. And her figure was obviously an athletic one.
The shoes vanished, the jumpsuit having openings like a ballerina's leotard for the soles and pads of the feet, the digigrated feet obviously visible along with the retractable claws. It was hard to tell since the fur was pitch black. The catsuit also expanded to include a tail, that was wrapped around the waist. The gloves remained, but now with openings for her claws. The mask and googles she was wearing changed shape to make room for her muzzle, along with a pair of triangle ears on her head.
Strangely, as the transformation finished, she actually KEPT running away, and fled before any of them could get a word in edgewise.
The three looked at each other, Curt looked at the ray gun, had something gone run? Was this some new restriction the ray gun that he hadn't known about? What did this give warnings about Cassidy?
"Well, Master?" The three turned around to find the cat-burglar from before, still literally one, she had climbed up one of the windows and through one of the empty bedrooms, but they didn't know that right now. The cat-burglar took off her googles, that weren't turned on and were actually just for show, showing her glow in the dark green eyes, and her short black bowl cut that reminded Curt of Egyptian queens, not 'bald' like most of the other maids were. She had a confident smirk on her face as she turned the lights back on. "Is this proof enough that we need to improve security around here?"
Curt gave a stuttered, realizing how reality had retconned the events. "Y-yes, yes it does, t-thank you... for... for showing me." Curt really HADN'T thought about all this wealth would attract trouble... the Ray Gun made the maids regardless of anything to be accepted as normal... it didn't say that being wealthy wouldn't come with taxes and burglars.
That was when Cassidy came barging in like a marching band, looking ready to tear whatever had caused trouble limp from limp... and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the panther woman.
"Dangit Pam'! Do you have scare half the house half to death just to prove a point?"
Pam was casually unzipping her catsuit, she wasn't wearing anything underneath, she removed her tool belt with skill and efficiency. She continued to chat with Cassidy as she undressed until she was as naked as Anna and holding her equipment and suit.
This did show to Curt that the 'nude' setting maids could still equipment and protective gear when needed, 'I guess since they aren't about modesty,' he thought.
"Hey Tiger, I'll have you know that I didn't scare the Junior Maids, and the others are all still sleeping soundly... I'll admit I didn't expect for Master, Anna, and Head Maid to all be suffering insomnia at the same time, but my point stands. We really need to upgrade the security around here... it is my job around here after all."
"And I agree with you, Pam', but even I thought you could have thought of a better way to prove it."
"No better way than by example."
"PLEASE tell me you didn't lure some of the old gang here for dramatic effect."
Pam' pushed her lips together. "Tiger, I'm sneaky, I'm not stupid."
Curt could easily guess what Cassidy meant by 'old gang'. A paranoid part of his brain wondered if Cassidy had been in on this somehow... but that went against everything he knew about THIS Cassidy, and how the loyalty of the ray gun worked.
Skyla had much like Curt unconsciously taken her phone with her, and was now scrolling through it for the name of the new cat woman maid, to find that Pamela was her MIDDLE name... her first name was 'Zelda.' Skyla guessed his name must have been Zed or something.
"That's a relief... Master, Anna, Head Maid, are you all okay?"
"I'm okay." Anna said, and the others followed suit.
"Don't worry about the items I 'stole' Master, I'll put them all back where they belong," Pamela said with a bow.
"T-thank you," Curt said, still reeling from all this.
"I apologize again for using such tactics Master, but I was very afraid of what kind of people might be attracted to a house like this with no security system."
"Maybe we can train or hire some guards," Skyla said, only dimly realizing she was still holding the ray-gun and quickly put it back in Curt's hands. "At your digression Master."
Curt startled a bit at Skyla actually wanting Curt's permission for potentially zapping more people. Then he asked, "Skyla, why do you have a katana?"
"It's not katana master, it's a kodachi."
"Oh."
"It's... an old keepsake, I think, maybe."
"Oh."
"Master, do you want me to sleep nearby to Anna tonight?" Cassidy asked calmly.
"I... I don't think that'll be needed, thank you Cassidy."
"Alright Master."
Skyla breathed in deep, and realized now both 'wild cats' were look at her.
"Zelda, NEVER EVER DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT AGAIN WITHOUT MY OR MASTER'S PERMISSION UNDERSTAND?"
Being called by her first name seemed to be at trigger as the panther woman got on one knee and said. "Yes Head Maid Skyla. Never again without yours or Master's orders, I obey."
Curt and Anna were startled by this as well, but Cassidy seemed rather satisfied. Skyla then rubbed her head, almost doing it with the hand that held the kodachi. "Ugh. Sorry Master, I'm... stressed out with everything that happened today."
"Understandable... Please... everyone back to bed. We can work this all out in the morning." Curt said, feel rather stressed out too.
"Gotcha Master," Cassidy said.
"As you command," Skyla said solemnly.
"Yes Master," Anna said.
"By your command," Pam' said getting up. "As soon as I finishing fixing everything back."
"That's fine, just don't wake anyone."
"Of course Master."
Given this sudden and random addition to their family, some part of Curt wondered if this cat burglar maid lived in the basement or the attic since she was apparently the head of his 'security.' Whatever the case, none of the three were getting to do much else that night as they had hoped and went back to bed to flee the random happenstance of Pamela.