Kitty had been surprised at how quickly the move had gone. Both she and her children’s rooms were already completely arranged, just as they wanted them. The Evenson’s employees were certainly efficient. She had quite a standard to live up to.
With the moving taken care of, Kitty thanked the lioness for her help, and went down the hall. She came to the playroom, where her seven year old son Sean and her five year old daughter Suzie, were playing with some action figures and dolls. A nine year old boy she didn’t recognize, and a young phoenix girl were playing with them as well. A thirteen year old boy sat in a chair in the corner of the room, looking very bored.
“Hi Suzie, hi Sean,” Kitty said. “Have you made some new friends?”
“Uh huh!” Suzie nodded. “That’s Kasai,” she pointed at the phoenix girl, “and that’s David,” she said, pointing at the nine year old boy.
“Konnichiwa!” Kasai said with a wave of her wing.
“Hi there,” David said. “I guess you’re Sean and Suzie’s mom?”
“Yes. You can call me Ms. Banks. Do you live here too?”
“Yes.” Kasai nodded. “I’ve been here since my rebirth the day before yesterday.”
“And my brother and I finished moving in today. Our dad got a new job here, and they let all of us move in.”
Their dad? Kitty had heard that all of the mansion’s staff were female. Then again, prior to her hiring, they had also been exclusively anthros, so she guessed it must not have been a hard rule.
“You moved in here today too? Well, I hope you will all be able to become good friends.” She turned to the teenager. “And what’s your name?”
“Hal,” The boy sighed.
“Ms. Banks?” A voice called from the hall. Ashley stepped up to the door. “Oh, there you are. Good, the kids are here too. Master’s back, and since you’ve finished moving in, we’re ready to start our welcoming party! Wanna come?”
With a collection of “yes”s, nods, and “uh-huh”s, Kitty and the children followed the bird woman.
Kitty hadn’t been given a complete tour of the house yet, so she was surprised to see just how spacious the parlor was. It seemed like the whole staff was here, but it was still so roomy. Not that the sheer number of staff was any less overwhelming. Immediately, among the dozens of animal women, the three humans talking to each other stood out. The first was Curt; she hadn’t met him in person before, but she had seen photos of him in the newspaper before. The other two, a man and a woman, must have also been new hires, she assumed. She supposed now was as good a time as any to introduce herself.
“Oh, hello there,” Curt said with a smile. “You’re Kitty Banks, right?”
Kitty smiled back. “That’s right, Master!”
Immediately upon her saying the last word, Curt’s expression changed, a hint of disappointment appearing. “Is something wrong, Master?” Kitty spoke up quickly, afraid she had somehow just messed up her first impression.
“No, no, sorry, it’s not you. The past four days have been… Hectic, to put it lightly.” He shook his head. “Oh, sorry, I forgot to introduce you. Kitty Banks, I’d like you to meet Leo and Paige Foster. Leo is also a new hire, here. And they brought their kids as well.”
“Hello, Ms. Banks,” the man said. “Nice to see I’m not the only one bringing my kids along.”
“Your kids?” Kitty asked. “Oh, you must mean Hal and David.”
“Ah, you’ve met them already? Well, I hope they didn't give you too much trouble."
"Oh no trouble at all, they were getting along nicely."
"Happy to hear, those boys can be a handful!"
Kitty caught a glance of Head Maid Skyla, a mischievous look in her eyes when Leo mentioned how his sons were a 'handful', Kitty had to remind herself in spite of appearing as a young woman, those five tails meant she was over 400 years old didn't it? Or was that a myth? But the Head Maid looked at Curt, and apparently decided against whatever she was planning.
“Leo was telling me about some of the jobs he had gone through before coming here,” Curt continued. “Where did you work before?”
“I’ve been working at a convenience store to try and make ends meet. I’m glad Susan started helping out when she did, or I might not have been able to keep a roof over our heads.”
“I understand that feeling,” Leo said.
“Yes,” Paige added, “My husband has had difficulty getting a steady job. And my job as a teacher, while satisfying, does not pay well.”
"Speaking of which," Curt asked, "YOu wouldn't happen to know Simone would you? Little dragoness?"
"The proper term is 'drakaina' actually."
“Oh, right. I really should have known that. Has she been in your class?”
“Yes, she was in my class last year. She was… quite the character. She did fine in class, and usually turned in her homework on time. Most of the students didn’t take her seriously at first, because she looked so young by human standards. I’ll admit, even I tended to forget she was really thirteen… Though her attitude made that an easy mistake to make, most of the time.” She shook her head. “Pardon me, I know it’s rude to judge anthros that age on a different scale like that. Even if she has the knowledge of a fourteen year old human, she still basically a toddler.”
"Well, you can't just keep her in kindergarten where's she's not going to learn anything... And she needs the socialization."
“I wasn’t suggesting we hold her back, or anything,” Paige said. “Just that it presents some difficulties. And like I was about to say, it had lead to some conflicts with the other students. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, she’s been visiting Emma and Kasai here for the past…” He paused awkwardly. “Sorry, I’m so scatterbrained right now, I can’t actually remember. But the staff has come to consider her a junior maid.”
“Well, hopefully, having others closer to her effective age will improve things for her. Her insistence on being called a princess, and her attitude, haven’t made her a lot of friends in high school.”
“Yeah, I hope so too.”
Meanwhile, Sean and Suzie were helping themselves to a few more cookies off the snack table than their mother would probably have allowed if she were watching.
“I haven’t seen you two around here before!” A young girl’s voice came from behind them. The two turned around to find a little rabbit girl standing there. “My name’s Eva! What’s yours?”
“I’m Sean.”
“And I’m Suzie. Your ears look really cute!”
“Thanks. What do you guys like to do?”
“I like to play with my dolls. And going to the park! Swings are a lot of fun,” Suzie said.
“And I like drawing, and watching TV. And playing card games, when mom has time.”
“Oh, I think you’ll like it here. Master has a big swing in the backyard. And a pool, too!”
“A pool?” The siblings both gasped. Even Hal and David, who had been sitting back in the corner of the room, otherwise disinterested in the party, seemed to perk up when they heard that.
“Can we go there now?” Sean asked.
“Sorry, we’re all supposed to stay here until the grown-ups party is finished.”
“Aw…”
“Would you like to see something cool while we wait, though?” Eva asked.
“What is it?” Suzie asked.
“I wanna show you one of my friends who lives here. She can do magic!”
“Oh! I wanna see that!” Sean said.
“Come this way!” The young bunny girl led the two over to the west side of the room, where two long, gold and red dragons were sitting on the couch beside a little Unicorn toddler, her nose currently between the pages of The Hobbit (first edition), while the dragons chattered away with a couple of older rabbit women.
“Hey Emma! Wanna meet the new kids?”
“That would be nice.” The unicorn smiled, putting her book down. “Hello! My name is Emma.”
“This is Sean, and that’s Suzie,” Eva said, pointing to the siblings. “They just moved in.”
“Eva told us you can do magic!” Sean said, “Can we see it?”
“Of course!” Emma smiled. Her horn glowed softly, and two of the pillows on the couch suddenly started floating into the air.
“Cool…” Sean said. “Can you make people float too?”
“Master doesn’t like it when I try to use my magic on people. I promise him I’ll be careful not to drop them, but he worries that they’ll get hurt if I do.” The pillows slowly dropped back down onto the couch.
“That’s too bad. I think it’d be fun,” Sean said. “Is there any other magic you can do? Can you pull Eva from a hat?”
“I haven’t learned how to make hat-portals yet. But I do have another bit of magic.” And with that, she disappeared in a shower of sparkles. The two siblings nearly jumped back in surprise.
“Where’d she go?” Suzie asked.
Eva shrugged.
“You don’t know?”
“Well, she usually comes ba-” before the rabbit girl could finish her sentence, another shower of sparkles appeared on the couch, and Emma was right back where she had been sitting, only now she had two cookies in her hand. “See, there she is.”
“Where’d you get the cookies!” Suzie asked.
“The table, the same as you,” Emma said.
“So you can turn invisible?” Suzie asked.
“Yes, Head Maid Skyla taught me how a few years ago,” Emma said with a grin, “But what I was doing there was actually teleporting, I have to have been where I'm teleporting or able to picture it really well, but it's really fun! By the way, what's your favorite kinda cookie?"
"Raisen," said Suzie.
"Snickerdoodle," Sean said.
Eva breathed in deep, and her horn glowed bright blue with little sparks, and little lightning bits hit the cookies... turning the chocolates into raisins, and turning the other chocolate chip completely into a snickerdoodle. Eva breathed out. "There ya go."
"WOW!" The two kids said at once, taking the cookies and munching on them. Not as good as the ones their mom made, but they weren't about to say that.
"You can change cookies?" Suzie said the obvious.
"Actually I can change lots of stuff... But I've learned that changing stuff recklessly isn't a wise idea. And it gets harder the more you change something after all, a raisin cookie and chocolate chip cookie are both cookies, and they're both really small, if I tried to change a tank into a biplane for instance..." Emma saw from the confused and lost looks on Suzie and Sean's faces that she'd lost them. Emma coughed, toddler or not by unicorn standards, she was still older than the majority of people in the mansion. "The bigger and more I change something, the harder it is."
"Oh," Sean said.
Emma thought of saying how Skyla might have been better at transformation magic than her (she was a kitsune after all), but she didn't want Skyla swarmed by the new kids. She knew better than to scare the kids by telling them Skyla had said she'd turn anyone who harmed Master into a tanuki good fortune statue... Emma had never SEEN Skyla transform someone else into a fortune figure, but given Skyla tastes, Emma knew she'd know one if she saw it (she may have been a toddler physically, but she still had nearly a century of life experience).
Kitty, in the meantime, had been making conversation with Leo and Paige, while Curt had gone to introduce himself to the lionesses properly.
“It’s got to be a little strange, being the only man working here.”
“It does feel a little odd,” Leo admitted, “I had heard rumors that the staff were all females and anthros, but I thought it was just a generalization. When I came here during the move, well, I was pretty surprised. At first I wondered if Mr. Evens- er, Master, was letting some bias show in his hiring practice, but from those I’ve talked to so far, it seems like all of them considered themselves friends with him even before they were hired. In fact, a lot of them asked to work for him!” He chuckled. “I haven’t met many people that can inspire that kind of loyalty.”
“Yeah,” Kitty said, “I guess we’ll get to see if he lives up to their image of him soon, huh? So, how did you end up hired?”
“An old friend of mine, Pam, works for Master, and apparently knew about my employment issues, so she put in a good word for me when they were hiring. What about you?”
“It’s similar. My friend Susan likes to help out around here, and she always talked about how I’d like it here. She said she wanted to move in and work as a maid too, but felt it would be better to help us out. Now that I’m living here, I imagine she’s probably going to put in her two weeks notice soon.”
“This is a very nice place, from what I’ve seen so far,” Paige said “Even the staff rooms are charming. I can’t say I blame your friend. The only down side for me is the school is about ten minutes further from here than our old home.”
"Hey girl!" Kitty heard someone whisper behind her, feeling a furry hand on her shoulder. Kitty turned around, and yelped when she looked face to face with Marceline, upside down, hanging from a spider thread. "Sorry sorry!" She didn't sound sorry. "Welcome to the club new girl!"
"Marceline!" Rachel, the wolf maid snapped her jaws, Marceline climbed back up the spider thread. "Ugh! Don't you dare leave spots up there! You know how much trouble it is for Ashley to clean up the ceiling?"
"Hey I'm being careful!" The spider girl said.
Paige shook her head. "Leo, this is going to be interesting... " She rubbed her eyebrows, taking off her glasses.
"Don't worry Paige, my old gang mates are all nice girls, and everybody here is friendly."
"I hope they're not too friendly with you."
"You're the only girl for me."
"I know dear."
And so, the three humans continued to chat with the staff as the evening went on. Their new co-workers were friendly and eager to introduce themselves, and even if they stuck out, the three still felt appreciated.
As the evening went on and the party drew to an end, they were approached by the mouse woman that had invited them in on their first visit, the six multicolored lionesses in tow.
“Hello, Kitty, Leo. My name is Meredith.” She introduced herself with a polite bow. “Master instructed me to guide all the new staff around the house, and explain some of their duties to them. You may bring your family along with you, if you think they would like to be shown around as well.”
Kitty looked down at her kids. “Would you two like to see the rest of the house with me?”
Suzie nodded, and Sean gave an, “Uh-huh!”
“I’m ready, then.”
"Where are the boys?" Paige asked.
“I think I saw them going back to their rooms. Should we go get them? I don't want them to get lost around here," Leo said.
“We’ll ask them,” Paige said. “Meredith, would you be alright with that?”
“That is fine.” Meredith nodded. “We’ll start the tour when you’re ready.”
Paige left, and came back a few moments later, with both boys. David looked indifferent, while Hal looked like he’d rather still be back in his room..
"Is that everyone?" Meredith asked. "David, Hal, welcome my little men to the tour, since your father will be working here as security, Master had generously offered your family room and board. I hope you pay attention and remember, this is a one time tour, this place can be quit dizzying for first time comers, so again please attention."
"Right."
"Okay."
“We are currently in the parlor. As this is one of the two primary rooms where host guests it is among the most frequently cleaned rooms in the house…” The mouse woman went on, leading them around to the Foyar, then the dining room, the kitchen, and then to an art gallery, describing the work that would be done in each.
Kitty was rather impressed by the large collection. In the far corners of the room were a pair of life-sized sculptures, one of a fox woman, the other apparently some kind of lizard man, and accompanying them throughout the room, a number of smaller sculptures of anthros of various species stood on pedestals.
The walls, meanwhile were lined with a large collection of paintings. There were a few landscapes and stills, but much like the mansion’s staff, the majority of the paintings depicted anthros, both male and female, of all sorts of species, shapes, and sizes, with a few paintings of humans here and there. Most of the paintings were nudes, though the there were a handful of clothed anthros as well (half of the latter category were wearing maid uniforms, naturally). While she found Mr. Evenson’s apparent fixation on anthros a bit much, she had to admit, the art was all of a very high quality. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hal staring a bit longer at one of the nude paintings of a human woman than he had at the other paintings. She rolled her eyes. Well, he WAS a teenager, after all. She briefly wondered why he hadn’t been staring the same way at all the naked anthros in the party they had just been to, but before she could ponder it too long, she suddenly got the feeling it wasn’t that important. They were different species after all.
Meredith continued guiding them around, showing them the playroom again, and instructing them on the proper placement of toys and books (not that Suzie and Sean would remember by the next time they would use it). Afterward, she led them into the basement, showing them the storage rooms, the boiler, the laundry room, and lastly, Pamela’s office/bedroom.
“Hey there Leo!” Pam smiled, “Sorry I couldn’t be there for the party. I was keeping watch from the new security cameras. Enjoying your new home?”
“It looks quite nice so far.” Leo nodded.
“And it’s great to meet your family face to face! So you’re Paige, huh? Never imagined ol’ Leo would end up with someone so classy.”
“Thank you,” Paige said, sounding a little unsure if that was supposed to be a compliment.
"Can you tell me, you don't have to if you don't want to, did you know, about Leo's old hobbies before you married." Pam whispered lowly.
Paige whispered back, "Yes, I did. And it didn't matter. What mattered is that Leo showed me that he was willing take life serious again, and wasn't going to run away from his own choices, and he never did. And I'm proud of him for that."
Pam smiled, and whispered back, “Well, he’s lucky to have a lady like you.”
“Oh, I know I am,” Leo nodded.
Saying goodbye to Pam, Meredith led the group upstairs to the second floor. She showed them the guest bedrooms, which she noted (with what sounded like a hint of relief) were not used that often, and didn’t require cleaning as regularly. Next was the common room, which she stated was often used by the maids when guests weren’t staying for extended periods. “As such,” she added, “for your own sake, and the sake of your fellow maids, please keep it tidy, even when you are off the clock.” After that came the study, then a game room with both a billiards and a foosball table, followed by the entertainment room, which caught all of the kids attention, particularly when Meredith pointed out that Master would allow the maids to use it when he and Anna were not.
"Are there any game systems you don't own?" Hal asked.
"You'd have to ask Anna," Meredith explain. "Thankfully she never got into that 'collector's edition' nonsense."
The third floor was next. She led the group through a sizable rec room, and pointed out a small observatory room on the front corner of the house, warning against bumping the telescope out of position while cleaning it. She guided them to the offices and bedrooms, though she didn’t actually open them.
“We are not to enter these rooms outside of the scheduled cleaning periods, to avoid disturbing the Master, his sister, or our Head Maid, unless one of them gives us explicit permission. The only exception to this is the Head Maid’s office. If you have a question or concern about your job, wish to change your schedule, request vacation, or similar issues, you may enter during her office hours.”
To finish up Meredith led the group out to the back yard. “It is unfortunate that the timing of our welcome party was such that we couldn’t give you a tour of the yard before dark. Particularly given Kitty will be our new gardener. But I will at least show you all the patio.”
The mouse woman flicked on a light, revealing a wooden deck large enough to host a small party, with tables and parasols to match. And just beyond it was…
“The pool!” Suzie cheered. “Mom, can we go swimming in it?”
“It is not advisable to swim after dark,” Meredith spoke up.
"Isn't that what pool lights are for?" Hal asked.
“Yes, pool lights do make it somewhat safer,” Meredith said her tone betraying a slight hint of annoyance at the interruption. “However, if we are not expecting company, there are no other restrictions on use of the pool during your free time.”
“Well,” Kitty said to her daughter, “tomorrow’s Saturday, That means you’ll be able to play in the pool as much as you like!”
“Awesome!” Sean cheered.
Meredith spoke up again. “That concludes the tour. Unless you, Kitty, are interested in viewing the gardening shed to familiarize yourself with it before your first day on the job.”
“I don’t see why not,” kitty said. She turned to her children. “Why don’t you too go back to the playroom? I’ll be back in a little bit.”
“Okay.” Sean nodded. The two headed inside, Leo’s family and the lionesses following shortly after, while Meredith led Kitty through the yard. She opened a shed for Kitty, then handed her the key.
“You will need this as long as you’re working here.”
She hit a switch in the shed, lighting it up, and revealing all sorts of supplies and tools, including a ride mower. Meredith pointed out a large notebook on one of the shelves.
“This book contains a list of all plants used in the mansion’s garden, as well as instructions on how to properly care for them, and the desired arrangements.” She turned to the other supplies and tools. “You should find everything you need in here. If you find you are running low on supplies, Head Maid Skyla will provide you with the funds to purchase replacements, though you will need to carefully log your use of the money. Additionally, if any of the equipment is too heavy for you to use, you may ask Cassidy or one of the lionesses to help if they are not currently on duty as security. And lastly, Carrie and Kathy, the two Asian dragons you may have met during the party, asked me to tell the gardener, whenever we hired one, to come to them if rain or extra hands were needed. The two have apparently been looking for a reason to practice their weather magic.
Kitty shook her head in amusement. This place’s staff was certainly something unusual. She’d never imagined she’d be working alongside magical creatures like this. They were so rare, yet so many just happened to be living under the same roof she was. If nothing else, it seemed this job wouldn’t be boring.
She stood with her legs together, hands in her lap, and bowed as low as she could manage. "I will do my best for Master!"
+++
Skyla got up early the next morning, though not entirely by her own will. It was a loud meowing and a weight on stomach that disturbed her sleep.
“Uhg… What is it? Saturday’s supposed to be my chance to sleep in...” she groaned, slowly sitting up. She saw, to her surprise, Anna’s cat Noni standing on top of her. “What are you doing here?”
She vaguely recalled, long before they had found the transforming gun, that Curt had complained about Noni somehow managing to open doors and work her way into places she wasn’t supposed to. Neither he nor Anna had been able to figure out how she did it, which led to Curt giving the cat the nickname “IllumiNoni.”
Noni mewed loudly again, prompting a tired sigh from the kitsune. “Alright, alright, I’m up.” She yawned and got out of bed, dressing herself before heading to Anna’s room. Needless to say, the door had already been opened (as had the door to Curt’s room), but it seemed like Curt and Anna had both gotten so used to Noni that they could sleep through her noise whenever the little cat decided they hadn’t woken up early enough for her tastes.
Skyla sighed softly, looking with envy at Anna’s still-sleeping form, then snuck in to refill Noni’s food and water bowls as quietly as she could. No sooner than the bowls had been set back down, then Noni stopped her mewling to enjoy her meal. After quickly checking to make sure Anna was still sleeping soundly, Skyla headed back out.
Noni’s noise nullified, Skyla felt able to think clearly again. And her thoughts wandered back to the newest residents of the house. Although it frustrated her, Master seemed perfectly content with Kitty and Leo being left humans.
While she wouldn’t deny that a part of her desire to change them was simply to bring her old teenage fantasy of a world of sexy anthros that much closer to reality, at the same time, another part of her genuinely felt it could only make Curt’s life better. Having more loyal friends never hurt anyone, and she knew none of the maids would even consider the thought of betraying him. Even if he enjoyed his day job, all the extra help would mean he’d never have to worry about any busy work around the house, which would give him more time to enjoy every aspect of life. Not to mention all the extra dating options! Even if he’d probably only pick one in the end.
Personally, her preferred method of solving for the sides of love triangles was the harem solution. If only Curt felt the same way, then her only reason to be jealous of Danielle would be that Curt invited her out first.
As she walked past the door to Master’s room, she saw he was still asleep. Not only that, but the ray gun had been left on the table. As she looked at it, another reason to use it crossed her mind; an experiment.
While the safety measures preventing fathers from being changed while the reality-altering settings were active had been an annoying restriction when being spontaneous, she definitely felt it was for the best that they were there. Changing history so a person could never have been born was a horrifying thought. It would have been worse than murder! At least if they died, their loved ones would still have memories of them. And doing all that to a child made the thought of it all the more unspeakable.
But no such heavy restriction had been placed on mothers.
Sure there were restrictions on changing the age of mothers, but they could be changed in any other way. And it had occurred to Skyla that, as far as she knew, none of the staff, Kitty aside, WERE mothers.
She had to wonder; if a mother was changed, what consequences, if any, would that have for her children? And now, she had two perfect test subjects… Well, actually, just one. Her pride wouldn’t allow her to simply zap Kitty unless she made a mistake. But Paige on the other hand…
Skyla’s paws barely made a sound as they crept across the cool tile floor, the kitsune maid not wanting to wake her Master. Part of her genuinely wanted him to get some much-needed rest, but another part was worried that, even though he had given Anna and her permission to use the gun as they liked, he would be disappointed with her wanting to use it again. Then again, he hadn’t reprimanded her for making making her Sexy Sentai Security Squad.
She picked up the plastic gun, and started to sneak back to the door, past Curt’s bed. She found herself staring briefly at him, feeling sorely tempted to curl up beside him, and blanket him with her tails, but stopped herself. She had an experiment to run, and she didn’t want to risk her Master waking up and seeing her staring at him in his sleep like some creep.
+++
It may have been her day off, but Janet was nonetheless up bright and early making breakfast for Master and the staff. “I want our new hires to feel welcome on their first official day on the job,” she had explained to Skyla. The Head Maid had helped the snake woman out, mostly so she could have something productive to do while she waited for the rest of the mansion to wake up. There just wasn’t as much fun in zapping a sleeping target.
Soon enough, the staff and the junior maids began to gather in the dining room, pleasantly surprised to find their breakfast ready for them. Luckily for Skyla, there was no sign of Master or Anna yet, and the human families were finally arriving.
Sean and Suzie tried to scarf down their breakfast as quickly as possible, clearly still interested in trying out the pool, but Kitty managed to persuade them to slow down. Leo and Paige, meanwhile, had been talking to each other and enjoying their meal at a leisurely pace.
Skyla adjusted the gun’s settings. While she was willing to let the species be decided by Paige’s preferences, Skyla was starting to feel that the balance of nudists to maids had gotten a bit skewed after she had formed the Sexy Sentai Security Squad. So it was time to correct that balance, even if just a little. Setting her options to “maid” and “busty,” she took aim, and fired.
A bolt of green lightning flew from the gun across the table, striking Paige in the chest. Her casual white T-shirt shifted into an elegant white blouse, with brass buttons appearing on the wrists and down the center. A pink vest materialized atop the blouse, while her bust pushed forward slightly underneath, looking quite modest in comparison to the other anthros at the table who had been changed with the “busty” setting.
Skyla could see Paige’s hands grow soft, light brown fur, her fingers becoming slightly thicker, while leathery pads formed on her palms and fingertips. Her fingernails shrank into nothing, retractable claws growing out in their place, decorated with pink nail polish. Her jeans turned pink as they pulled upward, the legs joining together and widening into a business skirt, coming to just below her knees. An opening appeared in the back of the skirt, allowing a tail covered in long, sleek fur to sway freely behind her.
Brown fur traveled down her legs next, her feet thinning and growing longer as they shifted into a digitigrade stance. Leathery pads formed on her toes and the balls of her feet, as she grew retractable claws in place of nails on them, as well. As her toes curled to better resemble paws, white socks appeared over them, with a pair of quasi-pink high heeled shoes appearing on them, in turn, the front of them missing, letting her claws breath.
Brown fur crawled up the woman’s neck, and soon covered her face. Her jaw stretched forwards slightly, her nose reforming itself into a triangle as it was pulled forward alongside her jaws. Her teeth sharpened into fangs, while her tongue became rougher. Her irises turned yellow, while her pupils narrowed in the light of the room. Her hair remained distinct from her fur, turning a bright pink color that matched her clothes naturally. It then grew out into a longer bowl cut. Her ears moved upward as they bent into a triangular shape, poking through her hair. Finally, her glassed became half-circles, with a golden chain.
Skyla was rather surprised. Her clothes were definitely different. But hardly what anyone would call a maid outfit. Was something wrong with the gun? She put that thought aside for the moment, though, remembering what this experiment had been about in the first place. She looked down the table further, at Paige’s children. Hal was… still human, and still male.
‘Guess it doesn’t change the kids,’ she thought to herself. ‘Makes sense, if random human couples have anthro babies, then anthros can prob-’ her thoughts were interrupted when she looked across the table from Hal, only to see David’s shirt had vanished, replaced by fur! Sandy-looking fur had grown all over his back and sides, fading to white in the front. The boy was still changing, like some sort of delayed effect. Fur quickly spread down his arms, his hands taking a paw like shape just as his mother’s had before him, but having white 'gloves' pattern in the fur. Skyla couldn’t see from where she was sitting, but she imagined the boys legs were getting fur and paws as well.
The boy’s face began to stretch as fur spread over it, his jaws pulling forward into a snout. It was slightly longer than his mother’s proportionally, but very thin. His nose, which had been pulled forward as well, shrank, turning black and wet. His teeth, meanwhile, grew sharper, while his ears moved up the sides of his head, bending into triangular shapes as they grew much, much larger. Lastly, a tail sprag up behind him, covered in long, thick fur, before drooping down off the sides of the chair, the tip of his tail being white.
Three words immediately came to Skyla’s mind: ‘He. Is. Adorable!'
David continued to much away at the bacon on his plate, seemingly completely oblivious to his new form. She waited to see if he'd become a little vixen cub, but the fennec fox kit was apparently staying a 'he.'
Skyla eagerly looked back to Hal, wondering what he would become. She kept on looking, until Hal noticed her staring, and gave her an annoyed look. Skyla looked back at her food. David had changed, but Hal was still human. What could that mean?
“Hey, Mrs. Foster,” Sean spoke up through a mouthful of bacon.
“Please don’t talk with your mouth full,” Kitty said.
“Sorry.” Sean swallowed and continued. “Mrs. Foster, I was wondering, why is David a fox, but Hal is a human?”
“Sean!” Kitty said, “That’s not a very polite question to ask!”
Paige laughed softly. “It’s no problem, Ms. Banks, I know he didn’t mean for it to be taken that way.”
She set down her fork and continued. “Usually, whenever a child is born, they have a little bit of their mother, and a little bit of their father in them. When it comes to anthros and humans, the baby will almost always be the same ‘species’ as one of the parents. Hal is the same species as his father.
“Meanwhile,” she continued, “just like how anthros can be born to a mother and father that are both human, sometimes, an anthro can be born as a species different from both their parents. It’s not common, but it happens. Do you understand?”
“I think so,” Sean said.
‘Thank goodness for little kids asking the awkward questions for you!’ Skyla thought to herself. 'But did the ray gun KNOW I was going to ask that question and altered fate slightly to give me my answer?'
The conversations at the table proceeded as normal for a few minutes, when Curt entered.
“Hi Mr. Evenson!” David said with a smile.
“Hello Master,” Paige said.
“Hello…” Curt said, blinking a few times. Needless to say, he was quite confused to see a new cat woman, fully clothed, but not in a maid uniform, and a young fox BOY, in nothing but fur. And then there was the fact that the fox boy had called him by his actual name… “Um… nice to see you again…”
“Paige is looking pretty nice today, isn’t she?” Skyla spoke up.
“Oh, yes she is.” Curt nodded.
“She looks wonderful everyday,” Leo chuckled, putting an arm around his wife.
“Also, David has really good table manners for a boy his age, wouldn’t you say?” Skyla asked her Master.
“Yes! Yes, it left quite an impression!” Curt said. David looked a little confused, but decided to take the compliment anyway. Hal just rolled his eyes.
“You seem a bit groggy, Master,” Skyla continued, “If you want I can explain today’s plans in detail to you, in your office.”
“I think I would appreciate the refresher,” Curt said, “Let me just have breakfast first.”
“Sounds good to me,” Skyla said.
“I’d like to thank you again, Master,” Paige said, as Curt took a seat.
“For what?”
“For hiring my husband, and letting me tutor Emma and Kasai.”
“Oh! Um. You’re welcome,” Curt replied, trying to think think of a natural sounding way to ask his next question. “Are you really sure that won’t conflict too much with your job at the school though? I appreciate the help, but I don’t want to run you ragged. You don’t have to if-”
Paige shook her head. “Don’t worry, Master, I’ve had far more hectic schedules during my husband’s job hunts. And besides, they’re both so well-mannered, I doubt it will be any sort of trouble. Not to mention, being such an avid reader, Emma won’t likely need a review of English. She’ll only need updated courses on history, the sciences, and so on.”
“What about those other children from the party?” Kitty asked.
“Morgan and Eva? They’re both prodigies! Eva is already taking college classes part time. And Morgan… I’ve never seen anything quite like her before. As for Simone, she's doing well in all her classes, and doesn't need my help. I’ll be much better equipped to help Emma and Kasai.”
“If you’re sure,” Curt said.
“I wouldn’t have signed the contract if I wasn’t! Honestly Master, sometimes you try too hard to be accommodating.” Paige laughed. “Though I suppose that’s one of the things I love about you.”
“Platonically, right?” Curt asked.
“My, you really are Groggy this morning. Sorry Master, but while you may be a dear friend, Leo is my one and only.”
“Right, sorry,” Curt said, with a hint of relief. He wasn’t sure he needed more ladies chasing him.
Seeing David was now a little fox BOY was shocking... he knew Skyla couldn't have zapped him, unless she'd gotten some new upgrade by zapping several people during the night that he didn't know about, but that seemed too far fetched even for Skyla (hopefully). And since Skyla had the Ray Gun with her, that meant that she had zapped Paige for whatever reason. But Hal wasn't changed... was it like children inheriting different genes from their parents? He thought they'd be hybrids maybe... Curt wasn't stupid, he knew that wasn't how genetics worked, that he shouldn’t end up a completely different creature from either of his parents... but the Ray Gun had apparently 'bent the rules' somehow.
Or reality was one big computer simulation and the Ray Gun was an editing tool, Curt stopped himself before he drove himself mad with that possibility.
There was also the fact that David was 'naked', as in only wearing fur… If David’s change had been a result of ‘inheriting’ it from his mother’s side, this would be the first time the acceptance of casual nudity applied to someone that wasn’t directly zapped. Granted, like all the other furries so far, his fur hid anything naughty, and that gave Curt some sense of relief. It looked like nudism or wearing clothing for anthros in this new reality was purely a matter of cosmetic choice rather than any modesty or decency laws.
Which was good for him; the last thing he wanted was for David to get in trouble because of the changes to reality made by Skyla's use fo the Ray Gun.
Janet, of course, prepared his favorite, and Curt did his absolute hardest not to stare, while he'd gotten used to the beautiful anthro women around him... sort of, seeing a young anthro MALE at the table, cause it all to become a whole new sense of awe of how everything was treated with such a MUNDANE tone to it.
In a way, that had always been the irony of the stories he, Scott, and Mark had all enjoyed, well, Mark most of all... When the transformations were all said and done, life went on, things at their core hadn't truly changed... Who was he kidding? He'd gone straight to the upper class, nudism was apparently now legal, and he had several women who viewed tending to his wants and needs as their reason for living! How was this normal at all!? Well, it was the NEW normal...
'If I'm really going to have all this surplus wealth, I really should consider giving some of it to people who actually need it... Leo and Kitty prove I don't need to transform people to find jobs for people desperate for work...'
Skyla herself was distracted, David was the most cute little adorable thing she'd ever laid her eyes on, if he asked her with their big eyes to burn some of her manga, she might not be able to say no! Skyla remembered how cute children normally came in the flavors 'innocent and oblivious to their power over adults' or 'fully aware and exploit to the hilt before adulthood hits.' Or maybe David was his own person same as anything child, and didn't fit into any stereotype.
As brain meltingly cute as he was to Skyla, even she felt it bad taste to zap more like him into existence 'just cause.' Plus, given how many 'save the children' ads ran of kids with their futures stolen from them through no fault of their own, there were plenty to bring under the estate's wing, which she knew would appeal to Curt's nobility...
Having finished eating, but still waiting for his brother, David took out his game boy... and began playing a famous space shooter with animal people as the pilots... and did so without a trace of sarcasm and irony, and none of the kids present batted an eyelash. That was a relief... Skyla had brutal close hand experience of how vicious and cruel children could be to those different... The the Ray Gun's 'everything is normal' effect was in full swing for David the same way as those zapped directly, meaning she didn't have to worry about her fellow little fox getting bullied at school. Skyla might have been sneaky and self-interested at times, but she wouldn't wish such a thing on anyone!
All in all, it was like having an big teddy bear going around.
Master finished his breakfast, and Skyla got up, leaving the ray gun where it lay, Anna, Misty, or Ashley would be along soon, let them do what they like with it, Skyla had gotten more than she bargained for this morning already. And the kids were then racing to their rooms to get their bathing suits (except David) to finally try out the pool! Not that Skyla or others 'in the know' knew they had a pool yet, but they'd know by the time the splashing and laughter were heard.