Anna yawned as she stepped downstairs, then sniffed, picking up the satisfying scent of bacon and eggs cooking in the kitchen. Her tail perked up and she headed into the dining room; having a hot meal ready when she woke up was something she could definitely get used to!
She took a seat at the table between Cassidy and Skyla.
“Nice to see you’re finally up,” Cassidy chuckled, “I guess you managed to get back to sleep better than Master did after Pam’s little stunt, huh?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Anna nodded, before looking over the table again. “Wait, where are they?”
“Master finished his meal earlier, and went to discuss new security measures with Ms. Deners in her office,” Meredith said, placing a plate with an omelette in front of Anna.
“That’s good I guess. Wouldn’t want another break-in. And thanks,” Anna nodded politely to the mouse maid.
“You’re welcome, Anna. I hope you enjoy it.”
Anna took a bite of the omelette, her tail perking up again at the taste. “So, Cassidy,” she said as she finished chewing, “What’s that ‘old gang’ you mentioned last night after we found Pamela? Did you two know each other before you started working for Master?”
“Oh, I guess Master never told you, huh?”
“Told me about what?”
“About how we met,” she shook her head with a chuckle, “Though it’s kinda nice he didn’t. I’m not very proud of it. But if you'd like to know, I don’t see any harm in telling you now. Back when we were teenagers, the two of us were picked on a lot at school and in our neighborhood. We wanted to make ourselves look tough, and find some place that would respect us, so Pam and I had joined a gang called the Ninth Street Slayers.”
“I never heard of them,” Skyla said.
“Eh, nobody really would have. We all thought we were hot sh…” Cassidy caught herself when she realized that Emma and Kasai were still at the breakfast table, “hot stuff, because the cops never caught on to us, but really, it was ‘cause we were so small-time we weren’t a blip on their radar. We mostly got into pickpocketing and graffiti, though I remember one time we beat up a hobo who accidentally wandered into our turf.” She shook her head. “Anyway, our ring leader, who called himself Yorick wanted to start pushing to make a name for ourselves, so one night, he had split us up into groups and had us each try to rob some houses…”
+++
“How much longer is it gonna take?” Cassidy whispered. She was glad the fences provided some cover from the eyes of any weirdos who might be up wandering the streets at this hour, or someone would have certainly spotted them by now.
“These things take time, okay? Don’t rush me!” Pamela muttered, making slow, careful movements with her lock picks. “You don’t want to just break a window and get caught when everyone on the block wakes up, do you?”
“Maybe? It’ll leave an impression, and show that we’re serious.”
“Yeah, I guess getting caught and doing jail time will leave an impression on people, but… Ah! Here we go!” The teen panther grinned, before turning the doorknob and noiselessly pushing the door open, “I enjoy staying subtle.”
The two girls slipped inside, as quiet as one would would expect from a pair of cats. They rummaged through the living room, picking up any valuable looking decoration they spotted, as well as awkwardly stuffing the VCR into their bag after the TV proved too heavy and cumbersome to sneak out easily.
“We should go for the bedroom next!” Cassidy whispered. “That’s probably where they’d keep their cash.”
“No way. One mistake in there and we’re caught for sure!”
“Oh, come on, we can take ‘em if we need to. These muscles and claws aren’t just for show.”
Pamela rolled her eyes. “Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Cassidy went down the hall, and carefully opened one of the doors. Unfortunately for her, she had not expected a plastic sword to have been left resting against the other side, and it fell to the floor with a hollow smack. Cassidy nearly jumped, looking around as if expecting to see the house’s angry owner waiting behind them.
“Nice going!” Pamela hissed at her companion, before glancing into the room. “And this is just a kid’s room! There’s not gonna be anything worth taking in there!”
“Hey, we don’t know if that actually woke anyone up yet.”
“Wh-who’s there?” A young boy’s voice came from inside the room.
“You just HAD to say it…” Pamela growled.
Cassidy poked her head into the boy’s room. Even with the lights off, her keen eyes could clearly make out a boy of around ten, sitting up in bed and quaking in fear. “Who are you? Wh-what are you doing?” He stammered. Cassidy could see his hand fumbling around for the nightstand lamp as he kept his eyes in her direction. Like a deer in the headlights.
Looking at a little kid freaking out at the sight of her gave the tigress a pang of regret. She remembered being alone and afraid when she was younger, before she had started working out and learning to fight… And here she was now, scaring some poor kid just like her, probably worse than her middle school bullies had scared her. She COULDN’T just let herself be responsible for that. She sighed. “My name is Cassidy,” she said, stepping into the boy’s room.
“What are you DOING?” Pamela hissed at her partner from the hall.
“And that’s Pam. We… we came here to rob your house.”
“What?” The boy gasped.
“Cassidy, what’s with you!” Pam rushed in beside her friend, trying to pull her away. But when the panther girl saw the cowering boy in front of her, she felt a pang of guilt as well. “Er, yeah… Sorry kid, we just…”
“What are you gonna do with me?” The boy gulped.
“We’re not gonna do anything,” Cassidy sighed, “We’re… We’re just gonna put your family’s stuff back and go.”
The boy’s expression changed from one of fear to one of groggy confusion. “You’re… Just gonna go?”
“Yeah…” Cassidy shook her head. “I just… I feel guilty about it… Seeing you getting so scared and all… You can call your parents on us if you’d like, I won’t stop you. Or you can watch us as we put everything back so you know we’re not lying. I’ll let you be the master here.”
“Master? Um, okay… yeah, let’s put everything back where it goes.” The boy was even more confused as he got out of bed, and followed the two big cat girls out to his living room. Though he was old enough to know better than to trust strangers, especially those that had admitted to breaking into his house, the lack of sleep, combined with the previous fear and the current confusion, and the sheer bizarreness of the situation, made the boy think he was dreaming the whole thing. The dim light of the street lamps poured through the house’s open front door, giving the boy a slightly better view of the intruders as they went to work. He watched as the two feline females emptied their backpacks, and put everything in them back where he remembered them going.
“I think you hung the china plate upside down,” the boy yawned.
“Right, sorry about that Master,” Cassidy said, turning the plate 180 degrees. “I think that’s everything. Thank you for letting us do the right thing.” She crouched down and patted the boy on the head.
“Um… No problem…”
“And sorry we did this in the first place,” Pamela said. “...I just realized, we didn’t even ask your name, Master.”
“It’s Okay…” The boy shook his head and yawned again. “I’m Curt Evanson…”
“Well, it’s been nice to meet you, Master,” Cassidy nodded, “I really hope we get to meet again. And I’m sure Pam does too. Goodnight!” With that, the two big cats hugged the boy, then ran out the door, closing it behind them. The confused and tired Curt wandered back to bed, and promptly fell asleep.
+++
“I see,” Skyla said. “That’s quite a change of heart you two had.”
“Yeah, well, like I said, I’m not too proud of getting into all that,” Cassidy said. “So the two of us decide we were gonna set things straight, and give up on crime.”
Anna was creeped out to hear that the two big cats had broken into her home when she was just a kid. If that happened when Curt was ten, she would have been five at the time… She wondered, had they robbed her family’s house before they had been changed, too? No, they must have picked someone else originally. Sure, she was only five at the time, and still suffering her… difficulties... at the time, but she was pretty sure she would have remembered the VCR going missing, and the panic her parents would have made. Either way, she was glad the two were their friends, now.
Skyla, meanwhile, found it strange to listen to the big, buff tiger lady talk about how she decided to turn her life around after one encounter with a kid. She figured the TF gun’s loyalty-inducing effect probably had something to do with their change in attitude. She hadn’t given it much thought before now, but everyone they had changed up to this point acted like they had met Curt before, even though for him, it was almost always the first time. Were she to ask any of the other maids, maybe their “first” encounters with Curt would have similar, if less dramatic, cases of sudden feelings of love, loyalty, and a desire to serve.
She put that thought aside for now. “I doubt your gang’s leader was too happy about that,” the kitsune maid said.
Cassidy laughed softly. “Ho ho, you have no idea! When Pam and I showed up for the next meeting empty handed, he flipped out. And when we told him we were quitting, he completely lost it. Had the whole gang team up on us! Me and Pam against ten of them!”
Anna gasped. “How’d you make it out?”
Cassidy grinned and shook her head. “Better question is how they managed to hold their own for two minutes. The two of us are natural killers.” All eyes at the table looked at Cassidy with concern. “We didn’t ACTUALLY kill them!” The tigress hastily added. “We just gave them a beating they were gonna remember. Anyway, after we broke up the gang, Pam and I both confessed to our crimes to our parents, and the police. We managed to get off with a pretty light sentence, and when that was over, we decided to try and put our skills to good use for a private security company. Eventually, we bumped into Master again while he was attending college. Heh, he thought the whole break in had been a dream, so he was pretty freaked out to see us after all this time.”
“Sounds like my brother,” Anna smiled.
“Yeah. But once we cleared up everything, he was happy to hang out with us, and the rest is history.”
“That’s a pretty nice story,” Carrie said.
“I love a good redemption plot,” Kathy added.
“Me too!” Carrie agreed.
“I’ll admit, I had no idea that some of Master’s friends had such… Storied backgrounds…” Meredith said quietly. “But if Master trusts you, I see no reason to treat you any different.”
“Uh, thanks?”
“Oh dear! I just realized how terribly rude that must have sounded! I apologize.” The mouse bowed her head toward Cassidy.
“Don’t worry about it, it wouldn’t be the first time.”
Skyla, for one, was glad that Cassidy and Pamela seemed to truly be reformed. After all, she had enough duties to worry about without needing to keep an eye out for potential criminal activity by the staff… Plus, if all criminals changed by the gun gave up on that life, all the better a reason to zap them and fill the world with sexy anthros, right? She finished up her breakfast, and stood up. “Meredith, tell Janet she did a wonderful job with breakfast this morning. Also, Carrie, Kathy? Would you mind helping Meredith clean up the dining room? I want to talk with Master for a bit before we help Kasai, Janet and Luna get settled in today."
“Sure thing!” The twin dragons said simultaneously.
“Thanks. See you in a bit.” Skyla left the dining room and headed into the basement. It took her a minute, but she finally found which of the storage rooms had been converted into Pamela’s office/bedroom. At present, it had a fairly plain bed, a couple shelves and drawers holding Pamela’s tools and equipment, as well as a few fancy ornaments. Additionally, Pamela herself was currently seated at a large desk across from Curt, where a PC had been set up, and several sheets of paper detailing the layout of the mansion, as well as notes on various alarm and camera systems had been laid out.
“Yeah, the C240 alarm system seems like the best deal for what we need. And we’ll install a safe in my office while we’re at it,” Curt remarked.
“Sounds good to me, Master,” Pamela nodded, then looked toward the fox peeking through her doorway. “And hello, Head Maid Skyla. Is there something you need? Master and I just finished our discussion on our new security systems, so I’m available as long as you allot me some time to arrange for their installation.”
“Oh, no, you’re fine,” Skyla said, “I was actually just waiting to speak with Master.”
“Sure thing,” Curt got up, and followed Skyla out, “I’ve got a little time before work.”
Once she was certain they were out of earshot, Skyla spoke. “You’re going in to work today? I guess you’re letting them have the two weeks notice?”
“Two weeks notice? Why would I tell them I was quitting?”
“I guess you haven’t looked over your finances since yesterday’s big changes, huh?” She grinned, “Well, I have, and even if all twenty-one maids stayed here on our payroll, with the combination of the lucky lottery win and Morgan working miracles with your stock portfolio, you could live here for decades without needing to work a day in your life from here on! Not to mention, I bet it’ll just keep increasing as we make more maids.”
“Are you sure? That sounds crazy.” He paused, “Though considering the person telling me this is a five-tailed fox woman in a french maid outfit, I guess I’ll need to rethink ‘crazy.’ But still…”
“I have a folder with all the number crunching, thanks to Morgan. It’s true! You’re independently wealthy now! You can retire and live out your life however you like, while we maids tend to your every need!”
“Well, that’s a lot to take in… But honestly, even if I don’t NEED to work, I kind of want to.”
“What?” Skyla said flatly.
“I enjoy programming. It’s a rewarding experience, even when it’s a challenging one. Sure, there are some days where I wished I could have stayed home, or I had to deal with co-workers that constantly rubbed me the wrong way, but I wouldn’t want to give up on that. Plus, I’ve also got a couple of friends there, and I wouldn’t get to see them as often.”
"You could just turn them into maids too.”
A look of consideration appeared on Curt’s face for a moment, Skyla waited with baited breath, before he just shook his head. “You said you wanted to talk to about something. Was it about me not needing to work, or was there something else?”
“I just wondered if you were planning to use the gun again today. I’m helping Janet and Luna move in, but I wanted to leave some time in my schedule to watch any new transformations if they’re gonna happen.”
“Well, I was considering bringing it along with me just in case I ran into a situation that calls for it, but I didn’t have any specific plans to use it.”
“Really? I mean, we could probably use a gardener at least. And maybe we could ‘hire’ a few security guards, to make stuff like what happened last night less likely.”
“I feel like twenty people calling me Master is plenty. It feels kinda weird at times, honestly, but they all just seem so sincere when they say it, I just don’t have it in me to tell them to stop. Anyway, if I do use the gun, I want the change to be an improvement for that person’s life, not just mine.”
Skyla had the urge to tell him that being his maid WAS the greatest improvement of any of their lives, but quickly realized that would probably just make him feel even weirder about it. Better to frame it a different way, even if it limited the pool of targets for transformative fun slightly. “After hearing Cassidy talk during breakfast, about how her life changed when she met you, I think there’s plenty of people whose lives would be improved with a zap! Like if you went to a local prison, you’d have dozens of people whose lives would be completely turned around.”
“I can see your point, but I’m sure there’d be a handful of wrongly accused people whose lives I’d be changing, too. Plus, I can’t help but feel that making a prison go from full to unused aside from people that happened to be fathers would have some unintended effects.” Curt looked down at his watch. “Uh oh! I’m gonna be late if I don’t get out there right now! I’ll see you this evening!”
Skyla sighed as she watched her Master rush up the stairs. This was the kind of stuff they had dreamed about for years, and they could finally make it a reality, but he insisted on playing it safe. How could he look at how much his life had improved in just two days, and just sit on that kind of power?
Skyla startled when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Pamela?"
"Been a while since I managed to sneak up on you, either I'm getting better or you're getting rusty old lady. Are you ready to train the rabbits and Rachel?"
"Er, what?"
"We agreed to train some of the office girls in basic self defense remember?"
"Eh?" Skyla checked her daily planner, she should have realized things would change once Pam' was part of the staff... and there it was, in big bold letters. 'Train self defense to bunnies and wolfie with Pamela.'
"Erm, right, slipped my mind after last night."
"Oh, sorry Head Maid Skyla."
As the two climbed back up to the top floor, they saw Meredith rush past them, a couple of folders under one arm, and a bag of food in the other. “Please wait Master! I’m ready to assist you!”
“Oh, right, sorry Meredith,” Curt said, his foot already out the door. “I almost forgot you were coming with me, I got so worried about being late. Let’s get going!” He held the door open for her as she rushed to his car, opening the door for him before getting into the driver’s seat herself. Curt wanted to drive himself, but he didn't want to argue with her.
Skyla closed the front door behind them as they drove off. Looking at her planner, she saw that the girls would be waiting for her and Pam’ in the backyard. They passed through the living room and dining room on her way to the back, and Skyla saw that Curt had left the gun on his seat.
“Pam, would you mind going on head for a bit? I just noticed something that I urgently need to take care of.”
“Sure thing, Head Maid Skyla. Try not to keep ‘em waiting too long though.”
As Pam headed back toward the yard, Skyla picked up the gun. Curt HAD given her and Anna free reign with it… But, between the new combat training, helping the new maids move in, and her usual duties, she wouldn’t have much time to mess with it today. Still, it probably wasn’t a good idea to leave it out where one of the other maids might confuse it for a toy and stick it in the playroom. She headed upstairs to the entertainment room, where she found Anna curled up in her chair playing a game with squid kids shooting ink at each other.
“Hey Anna, how’s it going?”
“I’m doing good,” the cat girl nodded, before the squid on the screen went up in an orange mist under the wave of blue ink. “Well, I was…”
“Anyway, Curt left the gun at home by mistake. I’m gonna be a bit busy today, so I thought I’d let you have some fun with it.”
“Oh? Thanks,” She put down the controller as Skyla handed her the TF ray gun. She had to admit, she was still feeling a little hesitant to use it after what had happened with Susan, but at the same time, she knew from experience that the changes could be positive, too. She would just have to be careful about it.
“Anyway, I’m not gonna say anything about how you should use it,” Skyla added, “But I know we COULD use a gardener, to help lighten the load on the other maids. So if you happen to bump into anyone who’s interested in that, it might be worth a shot.” The kitsune gave a little wink, and headed back outside.
Anna turned off the TV and console, looking at the gun again. The holographic GUI popped up again showing the usual settings, a “Wide Beam” setting that she didn’t see the last time, and a tab listing the number of maids, and the number for the next upgrade. Her thoughts drifted back to Susan, and the conversation they had had on the bus.
She was wary about doing more transformations to Susan's family, but Susan had already mentioned that Kitty was coming around to the idea of working for Curt... Well, no time like the present was there? And like Skyla said, maybe she could run into someone who needed an upgrade in their life along the way too.
She hadn't gotten out the door when she heard the familiar voice, "And where do you think you're going without me?"
"Just... just out Cassidy."
"Not without me you're not. If I'm not looking after Master, I'm looking after you, remember?"
Anna guessed that made sense... it was the sort of thing Curt would do. "I'm... just going to meet Susan's family, remember how Susan said that Kitty was almost ready to work for Master? I thought I could help her make up her mind."
Cassidy chuckled. "Well, the more the merrier! Need help getting there?"
Anna realized she had no clue where Susan even lived, and she had no idea where to look in Skyla's office for that information, let alone what the password on Skyla's computer would be.
"That... would be nice of you."
Cassidy rubbed Anna's little head with her giant paws. "No problem kiddo!"
+++
After had been a fairly short drive, (a good thing for the potential commute, if Kitty didn’t want to move in if she was hired,) Anna and cassidy stood in front of the door to Susan and Kitty’s apartment. Anna knocked gently on the door, which was soon answered by a young, dark haired woman.
“Hello?” She looked over the two feline women before her for a moment, as if trying to remember if she’d seen them before. “Oh, are you Anna Everson?”
“That’s me. How’d you know?”
“Susan mentioned you a couple of times, and the Siamese look is pretty distinctive. You’re her boss’s sister, aren’t you?”
Anna nodded. “That’s right.”
“And who’s this with you?”
“This is Cassidy, she works for Curt too.”
“Well, nice to meet you. Are you looking for Susan? Because I’m pretty sure she’s already left for work.”
“No. Actually, we came to see you. Do you mind if we come in?”
"Oh not at all, but be careful, I wasn't expecting guests. Not everyone has have an army of maids cleaning their house after all," Kitty said good naturedly.
“Oh, I can understand, believe me,” Anna nodded as she and Cassidy stepped inside. The apartment didn’t have anything too fancy, with the living room and the kitchen basically being the same room. There were a couple family photos on the walls, showing Susan, Kitty, and her two children smiling happily together, a pair of crayon drawings stuck to the fridge with magnets, and some dolls and action figures scattered on and under the coffee table. Anna also noticed that there were a couple earlier family photos without Susan that looked to have been torn in half. Kitty motioned for the two to take a seat on the sofa, while she took a seat across from them. “Anything I can get you? We have some apple juice, milk, and orange soda.”
“I’d just like a glass of water,” Cassidy said.
“Milk sounds nice,” Anna replied.
Kitty got up to grab the drinks. “So,” she said as she poured the two glasses, “What did you want to talk to me about?”
“Well, we really needed a gardener around the mansion lately. And Susan mentioned that you might be interested in a job with us?”
“She did, huh?” Kitty said, handing them both their drinks. “Well, I did enjoy my first job at a flower shop as a teen, but that was a while ago… But I I gotta say, Susan does really seem to enjoy working for Mr. Everson. She talks a lot about how friendly the staff are, how great the pay is, and how cute Curt looks when he’s flustered… er… You might not want to tell your boss she said that.”
Cassidy chuckled, “Oh, don’t worry, Susan’s not exactly keeping her opinion of Master under wraps.”
“Heh, I guess I should have known. She’s definitely not one to shy away from flirting.”
Anna nodded. "I promise, working for my brother is great. He's very reasonable. He treats everyone with respect. And he never lords over anyone. You WILL be expected to work hard, wear a maid uniform, and will be expected to call him Master when speaking to him or another maid. Big brother doesn't mind being on a first name basis with everyone, but Skyla is strict about that, it's kinda a tradition among the maids. But if you want, Curt will give you room and board free of charge, and your pay on top of that!"
"We've got room, don't worry," Cassidy added. "Boss will take in just about anyone."
"I really don't mind any of those conditions too badly... But... what about Susie and Sean?"
"Oh don't worry! We already have 'junior maids' working at the mansion, but your kids won't be expected to do chores unless you want them to, and they'll have playmates!"
"Well, all the same, I would want them to pitch in if we did move in. This place has some happy memories, but also some bad ones. I can't say I'd object to starting fresh."
"So interested in being our gardener? I promise we'll pay for your uniform and your equipment!"
Anna knew this was all true, Curt was too generous not to.
Anna's hand was on the ray gun... but it felt heavy in her hands, almost glued to her lap.
“Well, it IS a very generous offer… I’ll take it! When do I start?"
"As soon as possible!" Anna said, "You can start today if you want! We already have a lot of maids moving in, so it wouldn't be that awkward! We'll send someone over to collect your things and formalize things with your landlord! Little Morgan is very efficient about that."
"Morgan? The little princess of wall street?"
"That's her! In fact, I'd take you to meet Head Maid Skyla RIGHT NOW so we can formalize the contract. Skyla was really wanting me to find a gardener, so this is a really golden chance for you!"
"Right now? As in 'right now right now?' Well, I guess I'd have time before picking up the kids..."
Anna tried to lift the gun, but her arm wouldn't obey... Anna thought how she'd come here with the exact intent to zap her... so why wasn't she? ... it... it didn't feel right! This woman... she didn't NEED to be transformed... She was already eager and willing...
Anna sat up. "Okay, we can drive you there right now. No time like the present."
Kitty looked rather overwhelmed by the whole thing, but Susan had always spoken positively of the Eversons and their employees, she had no reason not to trust them.
Kitty slowly stood up. "A-alight!"
The way back to the mansion was neat and quick, even if Anna already felt odd driving with a human woman in the car rather than a fellow anthro maid...
"This place is incredible." Kitty whispered craning her neck at the mansion that had become Curt's home.
Cassidy chuckled, "You get used to it. Let's get you inside."
Kitty's awe only increased once she was inside the house. “You guys really do keep this place spotless.” She looked over the gleaming vases and other ornaments lining the halls.
“Yep,” Cassidy nodded, “Everyone puts their all into it. If Meredith were here, we’d have her give you the full tour, but she’s helping Master while he’s at work, so she'll have to give it when she gets back, for now Anna can bring you up to Skyla’s office so we can get all the paperwork taken care of. I think she’s almost done training the new full timers, so you won’t be waiting too long for her.”
Kitty nodded as Anna led the way up the two flights of stairs, and into an office decorated with a distinctly Japanese flair. The two made small talk for a moment, before the door opened.
“Cassidy told me you found our new gardener!” Skyla smiled as she stepped inside, “So, who’s the lucky… girl?” She glanced at Kitty, then Anna, then back to Kitty, then back at Anna.
“Um… Hello. I’m Kitty Banks. You must be the head maid, Skyla? I’m pleased to meet you.” She held out her hand, which Skyla awkwardly shook.
“Nice to meet you too.” Skyla shook her head. “Sorry for staring. The way I heard Cassidy talked, I had been expecting somebody else…”
“Oh, I’m sorry… Did somebody else apply before me?”
“No, er… It’s a little complicated… Would you mind stepping outside for a moment? There’s something I need to talk to Anna about in private.”
“Okay…” Kitty smiled weakly, and stepped outside, the door closing behind her. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she hoped that she hadn’t gotten Anna into trouble somehow.
Back in the office, Skyla spoke again. “So… Why didn’t you zap her? She’s already female. There’s no reason it shouldn’t work on her. It makes things a lot easier for everyone in the long run, and she gets a cute makeover.”
“Well, I thought about it, while I was meeting with her, and I just… Couldn’t. It didn’t feel right to do it, then.”
"Ah, I get it now," Skyla whispered to Anna with a smile, stroking the ray gun Anna had in her belt. "You wanted me to do the honors? How generous."
"No... " Anna said. "I realized she already wants to be maid, she already wants to work hard and do everything we do. There's no need to change anything about her."
"What?!" Skyal did her best to keep her voice low, but Kitty knew they were talking about her about something or other. "Don't you realize that if she isn't zapped that Master's wealth doesn't increase, so he can't support more maids?"
"We already have maids who are self supporting, so we have room don't we?"
Skyla growled at Anna contradicting her, was she Head Maid or not? She gripped the ray gun still at Anna's side and... she... she... She couldn't contradict the decision of Master's sister... she couldn't do this when she knew that Anna had said exactly what Master would say... he WOULDN'T zap someone if they already fit the bill (she knew nothing of Simone's transformation). Skyla sighed.
“You’re right, we do. Sorry to make a fuss,” She shook her head. “You can send Kitty in, and we’ll start drawing up an employment contract for her.” Skyla couldn’t help but feel it would be one of those days.
Skyla didn't know the first thing about making contracts, but she had a feeling that she'd know how to do unconsciously and on her own, she was Head Maid after all, it would be illogical if she didn't, and she'd already figured out that she had all the talents and abilities needed to perform her duty in this new reality the Ray Gun was creating.
As Anna let in Kitty, Skyla went to one of the filing cabinets, and took out a standard contract, self-renewing, binding, and airtight, she had a feeling that Morgan in this reality had helped write it.
"Anna, give me the ray gun... I'll only use it if necessary, I promise. Please wait outside."
"Skyla..." Anna whispered, her voice on edge.
"If she's going to be a maid, then I'm going to see if she has the right stuff." Skyla said firmly. "That means I have to mean business, sorry."
"You promise not to just zap her?"
"Only if I have to."
Reluctantly, Anna handed the ray gun to Skyla, and stepped outside the office.
There was a chance that Kitty wouldn't sign it, a part of Skyla hoped she wouldn't sign it, if Kitty didn't sign it, then Anna was wrong about her willing to work at the mansion under the same conditions as everyone else, and Skyla would be justified in zapping her. No way Anna could argue against her after that right?
Skyla wondered if Kitty somehow read her mood, because as the human woman read over the contract, she got a determined look in her eyes, like what the contract said was a challenge, something she needed to prove. Someone else would have done the logical thing and had a lawyer look it over first... but whether it was due to Curt's good reputation, the rare opportunity for work, or Kitty really did think she had something to prove, she signed it.
Skyla took the contract, looked over the signature, and and placed it in the filing cabinet.
"Alright then," Skyla said, "To reiterate what the contract said: you WILL be expected to wear your maid uniform at all times when you're on the clock, and Master should never see you out of it. You need to work here like it's your reason for living. You are to address Master AS Master when speaking to him, or to any of us. You are to be formal, polite, and respecting to Master, any guests, and to your fellow maids... If you don't, then..." Skyla realized she couldn't really phrase it in a way that zapping her didn't sound like unlawful employee mistreatment! "Well, there's some ritualistic hazing for any maid who doesn't measure up, we're NEVER had to do that before. Even if you're just our gardener, and don't work inside the house, you're to be a picture perfect maid, can you be that?"
KItty stood up straight, and she actually MATCHED Skyla's gaze. "If that's what it takes to support my family, then I will! I can do anything any of your other maids can do!"
Skyla swore the woman was holding back the words 'except catch fleas.'
Skyla reached into a lower drawer in her desk and took out a dusty swagger stick. "Every maid I've had has been a natural at this. But I'm going to have to teach you. So teach you is exactly what I'm going to do. You'll have grace pay and loggings until your training is done, either by me, or one of the other maids. And you are to address me as Head Maid Skyla or Head Maid, or simply Madam, do you understand?"
"Yes Head Maid Skyla."
"You are to fold your hands together and bow when you say it."
"Yes Head Maid Skyla," Kitty repeated, holding and crossing her hands over her chest.
"No, like this, see?" Skyla did the gesture with her hands in her lap.
"Yes Head Maid Skyla," Kitty bowed again, getting it right this time.
"Well, first things first, I need to get you measured for your maid uniform, you're not a maid with it."
"... Head Maid Skyla, how long will this take? I have children I need to pick up at 3 PM and I don't want to be late for this."
"... I promise you won't be late." Skyla took out a tape measure. "Now hold still! Legs apart, arms apart, stand up straight, don't slouch, now legs together... chest out, lean forward." Skyla memorized the measurements without a second thought. Then she took a couple books from her shelf. "These aren't for reading, so I'm sure you can guess what they're for." Skyla placed them on Kitty's head. "Now don't move, I want to see those books on your head when I get back, and no cheating, if they fall, you better hope you can get them back on your head before I get back. Now hold them balanced on your head. Do well, and we'll graduate to the glass of water on top. But for now, hold still and stay right where you are until I'm back! You don't need to bow this first time."
"Yes Head Maid Skyla."
Skyla marched into her bedroom and closed and locked the door behind her. Like it was second nature, she opened a cabinet in the back of her room, revealing rolls of cloth, sheets of transparent paper, lace and thread.
What came next... felt even more second nature to her, or perhaps first nature. The light in the room darkened, Skyla spread out her five tails, and a blue ball of flame appeared on the tip of each one, burning nothing and consuming nothing.
Skyla moved her body for a few moments like she was in a dance, then she pulled out the sheet of paper, and one of her tails moved like a paint brush along the surface, leaving markings in the pattern of a maid's dress. She took out a measuring stick to double check the pattern and found no errors.
She pulled along a roll of sturdy green fabric and flattened it against a smooth wall rather than on the floor or a table. She placed the transparent paper on top of it. The flaming blue tip of another of her tails brushed against the paper and fabric, cutting through booth seamlessly.
Without missing a beat she folded where it was needed for facing, staying put as she did so, leaving the small pieces for later.
She triangled the spot for darts of the bust, waist, elbows, every inch of this dress would accent Kitty's curves. A tiny lick of blue flames held the cloth in place.
The shadows and light of the eerie blue flames danced along the walls floor and ceiling.
Without even looking, another of her tails reached into the double door compartment and pulled out a zipper, and turned the forming dress around, and took the two edges of the dress together. The same tail reached out again, this time taking thread the exact same color as the green fabric.
In the blue flames of her forth tail, the thread sewed itself, looking hand stitched, going along the edges of the sipper until it was in place.
Next her tail led the thread the neckline with a staystitch, ensuring it would hold its shape after the shoulders were sewed together. The thread being sewn with the easy as a line of pigment from a painter's brush.
The neck facing was interfaced to hold its shape, and with the flew flames dancing around it, it was sewn into place faster than any hand or sewing machine. The threads came together at the speed of a zip lock bag for the neckline's understitch. Next was the side stitches that were simple by comparison. She repeated the process for the arm facing and the helm of the dress, almost like she was working with clay than cloth.
Without using a single needle or pin, the blue flames from the tips of her tail brought the dress maid dress together, and she came the detail of adding the lace pattern to the trim, almost with making sure the skirt was short enough that it wouldn't bother her while kneeling, and the arms short so they wouldn't get dirty. The short sleeves became puffy and bleached themselves white. And the white apron was added with a green bow for the chest and back.
She sewed together the lace hair piece. ...
Oh right, she'd need a gardening hat too. She took a mundane gardening hat with a neckband from her closet and applied a layer of green cloth to it, along with the trim of frill lace.
Next came the stockings, underthings, and shoes that Skyla simply found some her color and size.
The blue flames winked out, and the lights returned to normal, and the world was as it should be, relatively speaking. The raw materials were put away efficiency and shut away without fanfare.
Skyla took her work and stepped out of her room. She found Kitty with the book still on her head.
"Good job. This is your uniform, there's the bathroom, you can put it on in there." Again, Skyla waited for her to balk, to object, give her an excuse to zap her ... but instead Kitty took the dress without complained.
"Yes Head Maid Skyla."
Kitty marched into the bathroom and closed the door. A few minutes later she came, the maid dress fitting her perfectly.
"Does this meet your approval Head Maid Skyla?" Kitty bowed.
Skyla paused at how Kitty had that peculiar balance between maturity and adorableness.
"Yes, yes it does. Good work on dressing yourself. You'll be given a schedule on when and where to drop off your uniform for cleaning and when to pick it up afterward. If your dress is torn or otherwise damaged, come straight to me to have it fixed."
"Yes Head Maid Skyla."
Skyla held back a sigh. She should be impressed, delighted even, but the sting of disappointment remained.
"I'm going to have to delegate most of my responsibilities to the other maids while I put you through your personal one-woman maid boot camp, so I expect you to pay attention and to remember what you're told. ... Go ahead and get back in your other clothes, I'm... I'm going to need some time to write up your training schedule... You said you have kids, so be sure to write up their wants and needs and their ages, expected comings and goings, and write down what other obligations personal or otherwise you might have, so I can know when Master can depend on you."
Skyla fumbled around in her desk, feeling dizzy, finding the right form and giving it to Kitty along with a pen. Then stumbled a bit towards the door.
"Skyla, er, Head Maid Skyla, are you okay?"
"I'm... I don't feel quite well. It's nothing. Don't worry." Skyla opened the door. "Anna, she's all yours. I need to do some things."
Anna was relieved to see Kitty was still human. But Anna was also taken a bit surprised at Kitty's 'transformation.' "That dress looks good on you Kitty."
"Thank you."
"I'm sorry if Skyla acted a bit harsh, she just wants everyone to do their very best."
"Trust me, my best is exactly what I intend to give."