Kurt's eyes opened, and he looked himself over. He could see claws on his hands, themselves covered with bright red scales, and a quick check down his shirt showed his front was covered in deep blue scales. Perhaps not the colour choice he would have picked for himself, but it was nice. He could feel the other changes, like the wings and muzzle, but he could inspect in more detail later. Unlike as Skyla expected, it seemed he had still managed to keep his adult status.
For a second Curt could see Skyla was smiling as her tailed made a slow wagging motion, but she betrayed a bit of concern as she looked back at the ray gun still held in one of the tails. "I think something might have happened... Take a look."
Curt took back the ray gun and glanced at the messages and experience bar. Rather than the three or so extra points he expected, it increased by six, placing it at 247/500. There was also another message, not a normal error so much as yellow notice.
"Unexpected exceptions have occurred:
-The transformation of several targets to be older than their fathers made it unviable for several possible targets to have been their fathers, said targets who were no longer fathers were then transformed into maids. This is a fault in the way splash mode handles order of operations. If you wish to avoid this outcome in the future, refrain from using splash mode with the intent to create species with slower aging, or are older than their parents.
-While the ray gun isn't allowed to target its owner, it appears targeting the owner's parents through the owner with splash mode is viable. While this appears to be in line with some user's wills, we recommend limiting the possibility of this with security options.
-Reconnecting family bloodlines disconnected by the use of the ray gun or restructuring family bloodlines is not a fully tested feature, and same sex biological parents are not currently an implemented feature, hence the need for the rule that prevents changing a father into a female. The former will be made available as a separate function at a higher upgrade level, while the later will be added as a new upgrade level as soon as its viable; the rules on altering parents may be change for those that the upgrade becomes available for, pending future testing."
Curt sighed. "... And now we've gotten to the upgrades that still have a few bugs," he said, "I hope my father still acts like my father, rather than a mother."
Skyla shrugged. "I didn't even think he would change, so I doubt he'll be explicitly feminine," she said. A moment later, a vibrating noise came from one of the pockets of he outfit, making her blush. "Could you help answer that? Its a little hard to answer until I remember how to shift."
It didn't take long for Curt to take out the phone and press the answer button, and Jan's voice poured through the speaker. "Master Curt, I could have sworn Skyla said that thing only made girls. Is there something I'm missing?"
Curt sighed. "Yeah, just the fact its not supposed to be able to target me; though it seems we've found a work around with a new feature that... Basically affected my parents, which indirectly affected me."
Jan chuckled. "Okay, yeah that makes sense... Its a little weird to see you use it though, its a bit like watching a tape playing both in forward and reverse at the same time."
Curt chuckled. "Figures, though at this point its probably good to have a few people that perspective, it feels a bit like stumbling blind into a new world every time we use it from our perspective. You probably know everyone in ways I can't even remember... Might be good to get reminders from you if you think we're forgetting something we should know."
Pam made a sort of auditory shrug. "Maybe, but I'd rather that be Meredith's job, but I guess not all of us would believe you, or take it so well if they did."
Curt just hummed his agreement. "Anyways, I think I need to get going, can't be late for the spa," he said, hanging up afterwards. Turning to look around for Anna, seeing her walking towards them with a young Pearl coloured dragon he saw in the third group he spoke to.
"Did I miss something?" Anna asked to Curt, "I saw you suddenly turn into a dragon, then my tail tip split in two... Did the gun get a new mode?"
Curt gave a quick look as Anna swished her tail out. "Mostly just something that affected our parents, I'll explain on the way."
The pinkish white dragon smiled. "Mind if I come? If I'm going to be your personal nurse, I may as well learn to massage as well."
Curt and Anna both looked at Skyla, who attempted to shrug with her forelegs. "I have no objections," she said. The three then nodded at Pearl, and began heading for a car.
+++
Marceline watched through a window as those from the school wandered around. She remembered Curt once telling her that the ray gun he kept around could change someone's form and mind, but it was a little hard to believe him completely at the time. Knowing about the school did make her wonder though... Half a school that managed to end up brainwashed against his wishes, and rumours were going around that some kids were playing with it, and that they were at the school when they were found. Seeing the kids from the school now, after their meeting with Curt, it seemed a little odd that that many of them seemed directionless, as if told to do something they'd never thought of before.
She smiled, whether or not the idle fantasy was true, she was sure Curt wouldn't be the kind of person to abuse such a thing. But the thought that her life had been rewritten was an exciting feeling, especially if it had been by him.
Meredith cleared her throat to grab her attention. "If you're done staring off into space, we've been sent the declassified version of what was discussed. It seems he wants us all to enjoy a summer vacation to focus on what we like outside of being a maid, and to exercise a little independence. The three groups were ones he thought were having a little trouble with that."
Marceline made a toothy grin. "Curiouser and curiouser, considering many of them were already on break, though a fair point with the school," she said, "I'm guessing it already goes without saying to support them however we can though, and its certainly good to learn a few new things that could be used to help Master Curt."
Meredith sighed. "Try not to let your fantasies get the better of you," she said, "besides, you've got the band, that's probably a good thing to focus on this time of year anyways."
"True," Marceline said, "maybe we should go on tour, and maybe Curt and Skyla are already planning a trip for some of us."
Meredith looked down at the phone she was getting messages through. "Certainly seems that way, Skyla seems to be considering taking a trip to Japan with Curt to remember what being a Kitsune is like, and Anna seems to be making a thing about bringing some of those closest to the three of them."
Marceline chuckled. "Maybe me and the band should go with them, assuming we can find a few venues," she said, "on another note... You ever wonder if people like us are naturally subservient, or is it just luck?"
Meredith shrugged. "The anthropomorphic animal thing? Maybe, at least for the girls. Master Curt certainly doesn't act subservient, nor dominant either... But most of the other boys are a bit young to tell."
Marceline nodded. "True... They're all good kids."
+++
Silvey had been watching many of the students disperse after the meeting. Many of them changed colours to have more diversity after curt zapped them, making it so they didn't look like they were stuck in school colours, along with some other minor changes to differentiate them; and a handful switched between naked and having a maid dress, though it seemed to keep the same ratio of each. She could only guess those things were decided based on what their original preferences would have been, rather than what they thought while zapped, as they probably wouldn't have cared either way.
Half of them seemed to have an idea on how to follow their directive of independence, and had moved towards one of the larger guest houses that seemed to have been a fusion of several houses that were on the opposite side of the road to the mansion. The rest all seemed to have the sense direction of a box of wind up soldiers bouncing off each other, mechanical but disorganized; all with a hint of uncertainty on their face.
Two white foxes, one her age with a yellow hair clip and one younger, come up to her though, followed by a cat with a aqua coloured coat and a bowl haircut, and she couldn't help but smile as she realized it was her friends, though still looking a stuck in the maid mindset. Lidia seeming to have changed colour.
Both foxes bowed as they met with her, and Sasha spoke first. "I apologize that we can't be quite ourselves for you yet Silvey. Its probably quite uncomfortable to see us like this. Though if you would have us, it would be an honour for you to help us reclaim what we've lost," she said.
Silvey smiled. "Thank you, I want you back more than anything. But even as you are, I don't want to loose you guys as friends," she said, "you have no idea how much this means to me."
Sasha smiled. "I'm sure I'll understand in time."
Lidia's ears drooped a little as she spoke up. "I've noticed a problem trying to take up my old dreams as master asked; I thought that rocket kits would be the most obvious choice, but the thought that it would cause a mess gives me pause. I'm not sure how I'll get past this."
"Rocket science isn't just getting hands on, it often involves a lot of simulations and organized math and science," Silvey said, "I might not be good at those, but if you need help with those you could ask Mrs Perez or Miss Perry. There's also the video games you used to talk about, the space program one you could probably do without issue on the cleanliness issue if you stick to reusable crafts... Or maybe you could play a mars colony management game if that seems too far from what you know as a maid."
Lidia returned to her normal stance and smile. "Both of those games sound like excellent ideas, though given my dream was to put an astronaut on Titan, I should aim for launching rockets first."
Sasha spoke up now, her own ears mimicking the droop Lidia did, though at a different angle due to the slightly different ears. "I too will likely have a problem living up to my old view of costume design. As I am, I can't reasonably bring myself to wear an outfit not crafted to befit a maid, and such a compromise would not suit my old philosophy."
Silvey sighed and placed a hand to her head. With a deep breath she came to a thought. "If that's the case, try to expand what you would consider a maid dress. The styles we're most familiar with aren't the only kinds of maids, but even beyond that you could also mix and match, or remove elements you'd normally expect to be part of it," she gestured to her own dress, "look at mine, note how many ways its different, and how comfortable I am with it."
Sasha had this sudden twitch of surprise or perhaps realization before returning to the usual smile. "Its unusual that your own ideals may be the key to getting back to my own." She bowed. "Thank you."
Silvey grinned and turned to Madison. "No problems for you I hope, your hobbies didn't always cause a mess."
Madison bowed. "No lady Silvey," she said, "photography isn't a problem for a maid, if there's anything I feel I need to do to return to my old self its to stay with my sister."
Silvey ruffled Madison's head, which made Madison make a few confused noises like she wasn't sure if she should be happy Silvey was giving her affection or embarrassed that her hair was being messed up. When Silvey stopped, she looked up at her blushing, "please warn me before you do that," the smaller fox said.
The three continued to talk about their plans, and even about the trip Curt was planning.
+++
The half of the students that had made their way into a guest house had organized themselves to better sort how they looked and who they were originally; split down the middle with former boys on the left side of the front of the room, and original girls on the right. The foxes knelled down near the front with the cats standing in the back, with the maid uniform vs naked being a right left split within the gender group.
Though the cats were the ones that had taken on the most diverse colours after Curt zapped them back to aware, there at least one blue fox barely in her teens standing at the front of them wearing a maid dress. Those that remembered her as a boy knew he was once in her late teens instead, and she had a thing for tricksters such as phantom theives, leading her to become a one tailed Kitsune when Curt's ray gun made her aware of who she was.
"I know you all had a similar thought. That our one true bit of independent will and free thought while we weren't aware of who we were is tied to our willingness to have sex. Something all of us here wanted to pursue before this happened, and even if we weren't willing to give it away just yet, we all wanted to seek someone who we could share those feelings with," She said, "as we are now, both those of us who were boys and those of use who were girls would likely be just as comfortable dating either now... And I can imagine some us would still be willing to try and dive right into it... And some of us would still want to take it slower, while still following that same path... For some others among us, they've switched from one to the other."
The crowd all acknowledged the statements as true, slightly out of synch, perhaps out of knowing which side of some of those choices they stood.
"I can imagine... Many of you don't really know what you wanted to do with your lives before this, so it would be hard to follow the career you wanted if you don't know what that would have been… But I know we all share this one desire," the blue kitsune said, "I don't expect you to just all start flirting, or making out right away. We can all feel in our hearts that its something to decide for ourselves... But I know we should all trust each other to speak about that one thing about our old lives that resonates with that desire, both then and now... That defined our old lives as much as it should define our new ones."
The whole room went quiet, all waiting what she'd say next. All of them focused on her even as her cheek fur ruffled up in a blush.
"Who... Who do you like?" she asked.
There was a brief pause when a former boy turned pure white naked cat girl stood up. "I liked athletic girls, like the cheerleaders and sports teams, but I thought I was too nerdy to ask them out."
A naked black cat from the girls side stood up. "I liked the guys in the computer club, they're the opposite of me in so many ways given I was on the swim team, but it feels right to have someone who's diligent like that, especially since our strengths compliment each other."
A red fox in a maid dress in the girl's side stood up. "I wished that we had a cheerleading team so I could flirt with the boys in the track team."
A former boy turned naked cheetah patterned cat girl stood. "I was part of the track team, and wished there was a cheerleading team I could watch practice."
A pinker fox on the girl's side in a maid dress raised a hand. "Let's not have twenty backs and forth talks of the sports teams and would be cheer leaders," she said, "though I was into girls even as a girl, and I'll admit I would have liked to have a cheerleading squad too for the same reason."
A former boy turned white vixen in a maid dress stood up. "I wanted a tomboy, maybe a cute nerd, or a kickboxer... But those were so rare, and now I can't help but wonder if I'd be better dating the former boys here now that we're all like this... I wouldn't mind them wearing a dress though, a boyish style can shine through in anything if you try hard enough."
Another ormer boy turned red Vixen who was also in a maid dress like the white vixen chuckled. "I can relate... Maybe we should hang out, figure out how to make this thing look like something we would have worn as boys."
These back and forth talks continued, and soon many were asking each other on dates. The blue kitsune herself sighed to herself having moved to the edge of the room. "I barely knew what I wanted to do, and now I'm leading those who forgot who they were... Its ironic," she said under her breath.
"Oh, after that speech, I would have thought you knew exactly what you were doing," a voice near her said.
She turned and saw a tuxedo coloured cat in a maid dress about her age standing next to her. The bit that stuck out to her was the split tail tip telling her she was a nekomata.
"Let me guess, you're the wall flower boy who never asked a girl out, but was always watching, as if you desperately wished they'd make the first move," the nekomata said, "am I close?"
"Pretty much," the kitsune said, "there's a lot one can loose as a boy if you choose the wrong girl... Your car, your house, your kids... I can't ask them, since there's too much that could go wrong if I did, and I have had to turn away a lot of girls because I couldn't trust them," she said, "what about you?"
The nekomata shrugged. "I was either shy, or possibly insane, couldn't really tell which... Definitely lonely though... I didn't really have the courage to, but I guess I wanted to just ask... Who are you?"
The blue Kitsune smiled. "Alexis," she said.
The nekomata smiled back. "Naomi," she said.
+++
Curt was getting his back massaged by Pearl and another girl who was showing her where best to massage his back. Skyla was on a bed next to him getting a good brushing down after her own massage, many of the oils used on her having to be washed out like shampoo.
Pearl was staying professional even after realizing curt was getting aroused by the attention, not that he could help it. Though on the other hand, she knew this would happen before she came.
"I'm sorry you have to put up with this," Curt said, somewhat uncomfortable as he struggled to keep his privates inside him.
"It's nothing I haven't dealt with before," Pearl said, "you'd be surprised how many patients I deal with on a regular basis who like the nurse outfit, you just happen to be more into dragons."
The two took a quick glance at Skyla when they heard her stifle a giggle, leaving Curt blushing even redder than he was.
"... Well that, and I think under more private circumstances I might be interested... I've already breached the limits of professionalism with one co-worker, no point holding back from my boss," Pearl said.
Curt was glad the people running the massage parlor didn't have the best grasp of English now, as that may have sounded a little suspect to anyone else. So he changed the subject. "So, any ideas on the travel arrangements?" he asked Skyla.
"There's no airports in this town, so we'll have to take the train first, and if Silvey's friend who wanted to join NASA decides to come along, we can stop off at a certain museum on the way, and it seems like we've got another programmer on staff that could fill in for you at work if you've not finished up this week, I hear she's a monkey," Skyla said, "that aside, I noticed something interesting in a certain message stack... What's this about a 'deity' you tried to make?"
Curt's closed his eyes and let the massage take him. "It was Simone, that's what she wanted to become at the time, a dragon god," he said.
Skyla made an interested hum. "I know it says she's not a god, but... She is magical, and she likely has powers... What's to say she's not as powerful as a god, just not having anything that's unique to gods, like a powerful sorcerer princess; in fact, given its only forbidding 'C class' deity or higher, what's to say she's not a deity below that, or some kind of demi-god."
Curt sighed, before giving a contented groan as Pearl rubbed into the muscles at the base of his wings. "If any of those are the case, the same could probably apply to you, seeing as you seem to be pretty close to a deity yourself," Curt said, "I'm sure it would be something she'll grow into if it happens anyways, and you can likely help make sure she uses that power responsibly, or help her if she starts having magical surges like you've had those last two times you were angry."
"True," she said, "though I can't help but feel uneasy... Call it instinct," Skyla said.
+++
Simone had taken a midday nap at her home, and she was dreaming that she was a much older princess, standing at the top of her prince Curt's castle. Off in the distance, obscured by a dark red cloud was something her dream made her feel was some kind of ancient demon, was off in the distance.
For some reason, she felt a flow of energy within herself, reminding her of tales of of ancient sorcerers and mortal heroes who carried the blood of gods, who would later become gods themselves.
Her dark black scales suddenly shined with a blue flame pattered with stars, with a deep inner light inside, as she stared into the dark cloud, ready to defend her home and her love.
… And then she woke up.
It took her a moment to realize, but it seemed she'd fallen asleep on the couch. She hadn't exactly been feeling well after that huge surge of magic last night. The next thing she noticed is that the couch and floor around her seemed to suddenly be covered in a thin layer of crystal that reminded her of her own scales, and seemed to glitter like stars... It almost felt like a part of herself.
She sighed, resigning herself to cleaning up after herself, feeling more embarrassed she'd somehow let this magic out than worried it might mean something more. Kind of like she'd wet the bed.
For some reason, instead of throwing the crystal dust she had to scrape off in the bin, she started putting it in a jar. It felt like something she should keep for some reason.
It would take her a while to finish, but she worked with a smile on her face, knowing her dragon and her prince would be there to see her performance.
+++
Meanwhile Sophie sneezed as she felt an odd magical sensation. She looked out over the town with the curiosity of the cat she was, anticipating something that didn't come. She shrugged, and returned to her little mischief of spreading rumours.