As the morning church service finished, Curt walked out alongside Anna and Vicky.
“That was a pretty nice sermon,” Vicky said. “So Master, where to for lunch today?”
“I was thinking about one of Anna’s favorites this time; Silver Bay!”
Anna’s tail shot straight up, and she grinned. “Oh! I’ve been wanting some of their seafood for weeks! Let’s go!”
As the three made their way around the church, toward the lot where Curt had parked his car, they came by a small playground where some of the younger grade-school kids were playing while waiting for their parents to pick them up. Vicky’s ears turned to listen in to a few kids as they walked past.
“So if you were an animal, what would you wanna be?” A girl dressed in blue asked her friends as she went back and forth on the swing. “I’d wanna be a wolf! They’re so cool!”
“I’d be a bird, so I could fly wherever I wanted to go,” Said a blond boy playing Tic-Tac-Toe in the sand.
“I’d be a dinosaur so I could be gigantic!” The boy’s opponent, a shorter boy dressed in yellow, said.
“I’d wanna be a cat,” said a second girl, who was spinning herself around one of the swing’s supports. “‘Cause they’re cute, and everyone loves them, even if they just sleep all day.”
Vicky smiled and nudged Curt. “They remind me of you when we were little, don’t they?”
Curt chuckled. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Heh, I remember how much you wished you could change for real like those characters in stories and fairy tales. Like back when you asked to borrow all my plastic jewelry and stuffed it under your pillow while trying to think “dragon-ish thoughts,” after your mom read us that story. I doubt old Clive Staples was trying to encourage that sort of behavior when he wrote it.”
“Don’t remind me,” Curt chuckled, recalling a similar incident in the original timeline.
“Who knows, since we’ve got a lot of magical maids in town, maybe someday they’ll get their wish. That’d be cute, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Curt slowed down, and reached into his pocket, trying not to let Vicky notice as he pulled the ray gun out. “It really would.” The gun was still set to “target’s preference” as he quickly pulled the trigger four times. Anna’s ears perked up as she heard the zapping sound, and she turned to watch, though Vicky seemed oblivious to it.
Curt and Anna watched as the girl on the swing grew black fur all over her body, her blue dress unraveling and vanishing while she grew a fluffy tail that wagged eagerly as she swung back and forth. Her hands and feet both grew little claws and soft pads, while her ears stretched and bent into triangular shapes. Her nose darkened, and her jaws stretched forward into a wolfish muzzle.
The blond boy’s hair turned to blue feathers, and his mouth extended into a short black beak. His nostrils moved onto the beak as well, while his ears shrank to the point of being nearly invisible. As the blue feathers spread down the boy’s body, he became a little shorter, and his body a little rounder and more aerodynamic. The boy-turned-girl’s clothes vanished, revealing that her thinner legs were now covered in little black scales. Her hands and feet both grew dulled talons, her toes growing longer while her feet themselves shrank. Tail feathers grew from the back of her waist as her arms gained hundreds of blue feathers.
The bird’s opponent, meanwhile, has yellow scales emerging from all over his skin and weaving together to cover it completely. His body grew a few inches taller and wider, and his limbs became thicker, while his clothes disappeared. Her sex switched, and her feet began to shrink into her large legs, rounding off. A lengthy tail stretched out behind her, idly brushing the sand back and forth, while her neck grew much longer as well, and her head pressed forward into a short muzzle. The new apatosaurus girl just made her next move, as if nothing had happened.
Lastly, the girl standing by the swings was changed. Long, fluffy, white fur sprouted all over her skin, while her dress turned black, a little apron appearing in front of it. The little girl’s fingers became a little thicker, and grew retractable claws, while pink pads formed on her palms. A fluffy tail poked out a newly-formed hole in the back of her dress, while her jaw stretched forward about an inch. Her teeth sharpened, and her nose turned pink and triangular, while her ears moved up the sides of her head and came to points. The rest of her hair turned white to match her fur, while her eyes turned a bright blue, her pupils narrowing in the sunlight.
Curt smiled to himself as he watched the children play, before moving on to his car with Anna and Vicky. As he looked at the vixen beside him in the front seat, he blinked a few times as he suddenly realized just how easily she’d made him want to change those kids, without even knowing she was doing it. She really did know him too well. He was starting to feel glad she wasn’t aware of the gun’s power; he doubted he’d be able to say ‘no’ to anything she asked, even if it was to make the whole town a sisterhood of maids.
+++
“...And always remember to loosen up the roots after you remove a plant from its pot before planting it in the garden proper.” A bee maid demonstrated. Sasha nodded and followed along with a flower of her own, while Madison and Silvey finished digging a hole for her.
The three had bonded quite a bit over the past two days; Madison’s art hung in both Silvey and Sasha’s walls, even if they were just the scribbles of someone trying to draw for the first time. Silvey had tried to introduce them to the finer points of costume-making, though to her disappointment, Sasha no longer seemed to show interest in cosplay. Nevertheless, Silvey had brought Sasha along for all sorts of activities; gardening was the latest of Silvey’s attempts to find Sasha a hobby, and Silvey and Madison were happy to help ease her in.
The vixen doll carefully placed the plant in the ground, and Silvey and Madison moved the soil back into the gaps in the hole, before Sasha tamped it down, then brought out a watering can.
“...Aaaand, there!” The bee maid said. “That’s enough for the first watering. Do you feel like you understand it?”
Sasha nodded.
“Good. We knew you wouldn’t find it difficult. If you like it, we would be happy to let you join the estate’s gardeners. Or, if you’d prefer simply to keep it to a hobby, we have a few extra pots you could bring to your room, or can allow you use of the greenhouse. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we must rejoin our hive.” The bee bowed politely before flying off to her sisters.
“So,” Silvey said, “do you like it?”
Sasha looked at the rose below her. “Well… it does feel nice to make things look a little prettier. I don’t know if it’s really interesting enough to be the only thing I do during my allotted ‘free time.’”
Silvey laughed and shook her head. “You don’t need to limit yourself to one hobby if you don’t want to.” She patted her friend on the back.
She was glad thing were going smoothly for her friends on the estate grounds. After the situation had been explained in Master’s email, the majority of the maids and their families were polite enough to not stare, and avoid bringing up the Doll Maids’ new state.
Not that it stopped the people in town from staring, getting uneasy around them, or making snide remarks. To say nothing about how their parents had taken it. Sasha and Madison’s parents had been freaked out by their daughter’s physical changes, but that was nothing compared to their anger when they found their “perfect, pure children” had been “corrupted” by Myra and Silvey. They even seemed to view Head Maid Skyla with some suspicion by association. But mercifully, they hadn’t ordered their daughters to stay away from their fellow maids, even the “troublemakers.”
“Thanks for being here,” Sasha said as she got up. “It’s made getting used to all these conflicting emotions a little easier.”
“Hey,” Silvey said, “what are friends for?”
+++
While Curt was out, Skyla was back at the estate, resting in a chair on the patio and taking a sip of her grandma’s tea between flipping pages of a book she’d bought during her vacation.
“Lovely day, isn’t it?” A voice greeted her.
Skyla sat up and looked around. She didn’t see anyone else out here at the moment, beyond a few bee maids tending to hedges in the distance, but she could feel something nearby.
“Up here!” The voice called out. Looking up, Skyla saw a cat maid with lavender fur sitting on the roof of the mansion, waving down at her. With a few nimble leaps, she joined Skyla on ground level, taking a seat beside her.
“You should know to look up by now, Skyla” the cat said with a giggle, her split-tipped tail swaying behind her.
“Heh, sorry, I guess I was just too absorbed,” Skyla said.
“It’s fine,” the feline maid nodded, “I don’t mind the chance to start getting the drop on you again. So how was the trip?”
“Oh, it was great! We got to see some cool historical landmarks, and hung out in Akihabara, (thought grandma made a bit of an incident there).”
“As she usually does,” the cat laughed. “Since last week, anyway.”
Skyla glanced at the Bakeneko. ‘Weird way to put it,’ she thought to herself. “Yeah. At least I got to catch up with my brother, though.”
“Yeah, it’s hard to catch up on twenty-three years in a weekend, but I imagine you got a good start.”
‘Wait… Is she saying I never knew him? But he acted like he’s been with me most of my life…’ Skyla wondered. “What do you mean by that?”
“Oh, nothing.” The bakeneko looked into the sky. “I’ve just been thinking back on some of the time we spent together. Like when I was a little girl, the first time I ever saw you; you had just moved into the country, and were still learning the language. You were hoping to be hired as a maid, and so you went around town asking families if they wanted to ‘master’ you. I still remember the face my dad made in response to that question… And the face my mother made in response to his face.”
“Heh… I think I can remember it too,” Skyla lied. ‘Oh boy…’ She thought to herself, ‘Looks like I’ve got some history with… Sophie, I think it was?’
“And there was that time when I was around sixty, when you got drunk one evening, and tried to kiss Kasai. You ended up startling the poor woman so bad that you were walking around with singed fur for weeks.”
‘I kissed Kasai?’ Skyla thought back to the little phoenix girl. ‘Oh, wait, this would be during her first life, wouldn’t it?’ “Heh, guess I got so drunk I don’t even remember it.” Skyla shrugged, trying to play it cool. “What can I say, though? She was hot back in the day.”
“She always struck me more as ‘cute’ personally, but I suppose your charred fur did serve as testament to her hotness,” Sophie laughed.
“…I walked right into that one, didn’t I?”
“You have been a little off your game, lately,” Sophie nodded, “but I supposed part of that can be chalked up to finally winning Master’s affection. Love can make you do crazy things, and forget how the rest of the world sees you. Like back when Master started college, and you started to feel that your love for him was more than platonic.” She giggled, and rested her chin on her hand. “When he wasn’t picking up the initial hints, and you thought he just might not be attracted to your body specifically. So you started disguising yourself as real-life versions of various characters from some of his favorite shows and games to flirt with him instead. Oh, I had a hard time keeping track; one day you were mimicking the ‘Dawn Princess,’ another you were copying the looks of an alien catgirl, you even spent a week looking like ‘Sprinkle Sweetheart’ from that animation about ponies.”
‘I what?’ Skyla barely stopped herself from actually saying the words out loud. ‘Did I really disguise myself as something like THAT in this timeline?’
Sophie burst into laughter. “Oh, you should see the look on your face!”
Skyla shook. “Wait, what?”
“I’m sorry, Skyla,” Sophie said, catching her breath, “I was just testing you. Don’t worry. Most of what I’ve been talking about isn’t true. I was just testing you.”
“Testing me?” Skyla’s eyes widened. “Wait, does that mean-?”
“Yes,” Sophie nodded, “I know you’ve got the mind and memories of a young human male, even if your personality is mostly the same between timelines. I don’t actually remember the old timeline, though. I just asked Master what was happening when I started noticing a few odd behaviors in him, a few of our fellow maids, and of course, my once close friend… you.”
“Oh.” Skyla suddenly felt awkward.
“He told me about everything. I can understand your decision to keep your old memories, and I respect it. But, well, I don’t want to lose our friendship. I can’t pretend that our relationship would be quite the same as before… not for some time at least, but, if you’re willing, I would like to try to befriend you again.”
Skyla paused. “I think that sounds good, Sophie.” She stood up, and hugged the Bakeneko.
“Thank you, Skyla.” Sophie replied, patting her on the back. “Like I said, it’s hard to catch up on twenty years in a weekend, much less one hundred, but I look forward to making memories both of us can share.”
“Me too.” Skyla nodded. She paused. “So… you said those embarrassing stories you told me about myself in this timeline were ‘mostly’ false… what parts were true?”
Sophie giggled. “Oh Skyla… We might be friends, but I couldn’t call myself a Bakeneko if I didn’t keep you guessing.”
+++
After arriving at the restaurant, Curt Anna, and Vicky chatted about this and that as they ate, when Vicky turned her head to look across the restaurant.
“Hey is that Brenda?” The vixen said, as she focused on one of the waitresses.
“Brenda?” Curt asked.
“Oh, she’s one of the women from my Wednesday Bible study. She said she’d been going through some hard times. She was laid off, and told us she’d only been able to get part time work since.”
“Sorry to hear about that,” Anna said.
“Yeah,” Vicky’s tail swished behind her. “I don’t know her that well, but she seems like a sweet person, she deserves better than struggling to get by.”
“Yeah…” Curt nodded.
“Do you think there might be any openings on the staff for her? If not in the mansion, then maybe one of the other businesses?” Vicky frowned.
“You know…” Curt tugged the ray gun out of his pocket below the table, and looking at the waitress Vicky was watching. “I think something may have opened up…”
As the waitress walked past their table, Curt fired. In an instant, the legs of Brenda’s uniform grew wider, and joined together into a skirt. The black pants then wove into the fabric of her black shirt, while her apron gained little frills, and a headband appeared on her head.
She stopped walking as brown fur sprouted from every pore in her body. Her shoes seemed to dissolve as her ankles rose up, and her toes clenched together into black, cloven hooves. One each hand, her fingers merged, and turned a similar dark color, forming three fingered hoof-like hands. Her neck grew six inches longer, which, combined with her digitigrade posture, made her look quite a bit taller than before. Her jaw was pulled forward like putty, her nose turning dark and growing wider, as she gained a deer’s thin muzzle. Her ears, lastly, grew upward, becoming longer, and slightly rounded, able to bend any way they needed to pick up sounds.
The doe woman smiled as she felt a sudden surge of love and respect for the man she’d passed, not realizing parts of her life were being re-written. “Thank you again for hiring me Master. I can’t wait until my two weeks here are done and I can start working for you full time! It’s kind of a pity I’m not the one to wait your table today.”
“Oh, that’s no problem,” Curt said. “You’re doing fine.”
“Thanks. See you later. You too, Lady Anna, Head Maid Vicky.” The doe gave a friendly wave, and walked away.
Vicky chuckled. “Last time we were at Bible study, Brenda kept going on about how much she looked forward to working at Terri’s Outfitters. She’d been so anxious about losing her job before, but I knew she’d be a good fit. Thanks for giving her a chance.”
“Glad to help.” Curt said. His eyes widened for a moment, as it suddenly dawned on him, just how readily he’d changed someone at Vicky’s suggestion. He didn’t know anything about Brenda beyond what Vicky told him. That was twice in one day! It made Curt feel slightly alarmed at himself. He could offered Brenda a job without changing her like they'd done with Kitty. But he'd gone straight for the ray gun. And... with Vicky's smile, he couldn't bring himself to think badly of it.
+++
In the sky above the estate, one of the doll maids came in for a rest on the mansion roof. The dragoness doll furled her wings and sat down, the glow of the yellow runes on her green “scales” not nearly as visible in the daylight as it had been on the night she first changed. She wasn’t sure how her new body was able to fly, but it was one thing about it she could consider a positive. At least when she took to the sky, nobody could get a good enough look at her to start staring.
As she gazed over the opulent statues, fountains, and gardens below, a conversation she’d overheard back home played in her mind.
“She’s dead,” her father said, “our perfect girl is gone forever, and we’ve got a giant doll with a completely different personality as a consolation prize. Years of raising her right, all undone in an instant by that crone of a fox, and that pink troublemaker.”
“I know,” her mother had added. “At least she still seems to grasp the importance of obedience. If working for the Evenson estate didn’t offer such good benefits, I’d have half a mind to order Sally to go find some new person to serve, preferably someone far away from any of those multi-tailed foxes. I mean, the head maid is the granddaughter of the one that made this mess. How can we trust her not to do some similar trick?”
“Doesn’t matter at this point. Just let that doll do what she wants,” her father groaned.
In the past, Sally wouldn’t have cared what her parents thought, even though she’d never once failed to please them. For most of her life, all that had mattered was being a proper maid, and once she’d heard of Master Evenson, she instinctively knew that his word and desires were her only purpose. The painful irony didn’t escape her; the same mental changes that made her family’s opinion finally start to matter to her, were the very reason said opinions of her were no longer glowing.
“Hi there!” A cheerful voice interrupted the doll’s thoughts. She looked up to see one of the other maids had flown up to greet her, one Sally quickly recognized as one of Lady Anna’s closest friends.
“Oh! Hello, Ashley,” Sally said to the yellow bird. “What are you doing up here?”
“I came up here to ask what you were doing!” Ashley smiled. “It looks a little lonely up here, um...”
“Er, right, I guess you wouldn’t recognize me like this. I’m Sally Dover.” Sally nodded. “I was just… thinking. I wanted a little time on my own before my shift started.” She sighed. “I’m glad that I don’t have to do that much work outside the estate or academy, for now.” She glanced down at the runes on the back of her hands.
“Yeah… I guess being a victim of magic isn’t great for your privacy.” Ashley took a seat beside the doll maid.
“It’s not really that. Some of Master’s maids working for local papers and TV stations have declined to interview us while we’re still getting used to, well, ourselves, even if they’re still reporting on the story. The real problem is it feels like nobody, aside from the other maids, or Master himself, looks at us and sees us as people anymore… At best they just stare. A lot will make snide remarks about how we “did this to ourselves,” or talk about how creepy living dolls look, like we weren’t even there. And some of them… Some of them stopped caring because we’re not perfect anymore…” Sally looked like she was on the verge of tears.
Ashley frowned and put a wing around Sally. “I know how that is. Believe me, I’ve known that for a long time.”
“Really?” Sally sniffed. “What happened to you?.”
Ashley opened her beak, then blinked, as if she’d suddenly remembered something. “It’d be hard to explain. But when I was a kid, I had some issues that made people think I had mental problems. I could tell a lot of people were judging me. It was hard to do, but I just tried not to think about what they did or said. And I made friends I knew would treat me right, and encourage me. And I know you won’t have trouble finding a lot of friends here.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Sally looked down. “It’s just… Well, I can’t…”
“Can’t what?”
“I can’t…” Sally looked away from Ashley. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a little black dot in the sky, but she paid it no mind. “I can’t help but wonder if the only reason the maids are being so nice is because Master asked them to. Not like they’d have much reason to otherwise.”
“I get that, too.” Ashley patted the doll on the back. “But I think you’re better than you think you are. I get you’re still trying to get used to the new you, and there’s probably people in your life that liked the old you better, but I think there’ll be even more people that could use a friend like the new you, and… uh… Heh, sorry, I’m probably not explaining it well.”
Sally smiled slightly. “I think you’re doing alright. Thanks for the advice. I guess I should-”
“Hey!” A higher pitched voice called. The two maids turned their heads to see Simone flying toward them. The black and gold dragon toddler landed next to them, standing upright with her wings spread out to look big and important. “Hi Ashley! Hi new dragon! Who are you?”
“I’m Sally. I’m not actually new though. Or a dragon, really…”
“You look like a dragon,” Simone looked her up and down. “And if you’re not new, how come I’ve never seen you before?”
“I was one of the academy maids Myra changed. Maybe you heard about that.”
“Oh, that explains why I didn’t remember you,” Simone nodded, “The academy maids were SO BORING before Myra changed them.”
“Simone!” Ashley barked.
“Sorry!” Simone stammered. “Sorry I called you boring. As dragon princess of the mansion, I shouldn’t make my subjects feel bad.”
“It’s alright,” Sally said, “I guess I probably WAS boring to you back then. No need to treat me special though. I’m not a real dragon.”
Simone cocked her head sideways, then walked up to Sally and tapped one of her knuckles against the dragon’s arm, producing a hollow “thock” in her plastic body. The dragon toddler shrugged. “You’re not a hologram. So you’re real. And you’re a dragon. That’s good enough for me.”
Sally found herself smiling slightly. “Well… thank you.”
“And like I said!” Simone spoke in a more “royal” sounding voice, and put her hands on her hips. “You being a dragon makes you my subject! And I won’t let any of my subjects feel bad! So we’re gonna do something fun together to help you feel better! That’s an order!” The little dragoness grabbed the doll’s hand and tried to tug her away.
Sally and Ashley tried their hardest not to giggle.
“It’s an honor, your highness,” Sally said, “But I have to work for Master in five minutes.”
“Oh. Master does come first...” Simone looked down, before a twinkle came to her eye. “Well then! When you’re done, you’re gonna come and play with me in Luna’s game of Labyrinths and Lindworms! That’s my NEW order!”
Sally thought about it. Maybe she could make a few friends there? Well, even if Simone was the only one she’d befriend, It was certainly better than going home and feeling sorry about herself.
“How could I refuse a royal decree?”
“Great!” Simone cheered. “I’ll bring some ice cream sandwiches we can share.”
“I don't actually eat anymore.”
“Oh.” There was a brief silence. “I guess I’ll eat yours and tell you what they taste like. That’ll be almost as good.”
Sally couldn’t hold back her laughter anymore. “That sounds great, Simone. I’ll see you there.” She shook her head and looked back to Ashley, who smiled and nodded at her. Maybe Ashley was right, there were places where her and the other doll maids could fit in just fine.
Simone looked over the yard, and saw a car pull in. “Oh, good, Master’s back! I got here just in time.” She turned around to Sally. “I’ll see you later!” And then jumped off the roof, flapping her wings to slow her descent.
When she reached ground level outside the mansion’s garage, she was surprised to see she wasn’t the only “Jr. Maid” waiting to see him; a koala, a pony dressed in a decorative saddle, and a hippocampus in a wheelchair were there as well.
“We’re not gonna miss him this time!” The pony said.
“Do you think Nutty’s really right?” The koala asked. “That there’s really a magic gold pen that can make whatever you draw happen? My mom told me that magic only happens in stories.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Simone asked, prompting all three of them to turn around.
“Oh shoot…” the hippocampus muttered. “Didn’t you guys tell me to keep it secret ‘till we met Master?”
“Sorry…” The koala said.
“Keep WHAT secret?” Simone asked. “And what’s that about a magic pen?”
“We can’t tell you, or it wouldn’t be a secret!” The hippocampus girl said.
“I’m a dragon princess. You can tell me.”
“Are you really a princess?” The koala girl asked. “Shouldn’t you have a crown? Or a big fancy dress?”
“A dragon princess doesn’t need a fancy dress, unless she feels like it!” Simone pouted. “And I left my crown in the playroom. So come on, tell me!”
“Well…” The hippocampus girl was interrupted by Curt, Anna, and Vicky stepping out of the garage.
“Hi girls.” Vicky waved to the kids.
“Hello there,” Curt greeted them.
“Hi Master!” The four girls said back.
“I’m Molly!” The Hippocampus introduced herself.
“And I’m Kelly,” the Koala said
“And I’m Patricia,” The pony Girl spoke up. “We wanted to thank all of you for your presents to us. And since you’re here, is it true you can make whatever you draw really happen?”
Curt cocked an eyebrow. Anna, Vicky, and even Simone were visibly confused by the question as well. “Uh… No. I don’t do any kind of drawing, actually. Where’d you hear that?”
“Nutty told us. She said she’d found the pen and turned herself into a squirrel lady with it, and gave it back to you when she realized it was magic.”
Memories of that odd, cartoonishly busty squirrel from last Sunday came immediately to Curt and Anna’s minds. Combined with the pony girl mentioning “presents,” and suddenly, Curt realized these three had to be the ones Sophie overheard, who were aware of their changes.
Vicky just laughed. “He he he… Well, girls, I don’t want to be rude, but Nutty, well… She didn’t just get her nickname from her favorite snack. She loves jumping to conclusions about stuff, and she’s usually wrong.” She shook her head. “Though saying she was ‘changed into a squirrel’ is weird even for her. She was probably just playing games with you."
Vicky continued. “And if he really had the power to do anything, I know he’d be doing everything he could to try and make everyone happy. Maybe a little slowly and overly-cautious about everything, unless a friend pressured him, but I don’t think you’d recognize the world once he was done with it, in a good way.”
“And I’m pretty sure Master wouldn’t be human if he could pick just about anything else,” Simone piped in, flying above the other girls.
‘Well, that was on the nose,’ Curt thought to himself. ‘Still, that’s a bullet dodged.'
The three curious girls looked at each other, then back at Curt.
“Then how did you change us, Master?” Molly asked.
‘And, jinxed it.’
“Change you?” Simone asked.
“Yeah,” Patricia said. “All three of us were human about a week ago.”
Anna did her best to hide her surprise, and Vicky gave the three a concerned look.
“You’re making that up!” Simone looked down on them. “I’ve seen Kelly around the mansion before, and she didn’t look human then.”
“We’re not!” Molly said. “And that’s the other weird thing, Master. Nobody else believes us, even our moms, and we saw them change the same time we did.”
“Look, girls,” Vicky said, leaning down, “there’s nothing wrong with make believe, but you can’t ask Master to make your parents play along with you all the time, and-”
Curt interrupted her with a forced smile. “OH! Oh, last week! I get it now! Sorry Vicky, Simone, would you mind going on ahead? I’ll catch up once I’ve cleared up the little misunderstanding here.”
Vicky looked at Curt sceptically, but nodded. “Of course, Master.” She turned around, and walked into the mansion, Simone not far behind.
Once they were out of sight, Curt spoke up again. “So, you want to know how you ended up changing, right? Well, I don’t have have a magic pen, but I do have something that’s basically magic, and turns people into animals.” He pulled the gun out of his pocket. “This.”
“Woah…” The three girls looked in awe.
“You sure this is a good idea?” Anna whispered to him, “Remember what happened the last time kids got the gun?”
“They won’t get it this time,” Curt assured her
“Can we try it out?” Molly asked, holding out her hoof-like hands.
“No,” Curt said, “we’ve got to be careful with it, because once you zap someone with this, you can never turn them human again.”
“Oh…” Kelly nodded. “Is that really bad?”
“Well, sometimes it’s not bad; I mean, you three like it, I guess.”
All three girls nodded in response.
“And that’s good. But I don’t think EVERYONE would really want to be an animal person. Plus, it also does some weird things, like turn boys into girls, make people forget they used to be human, sometimes, and make whoever gets zapped want to be friendly to me and work for me, and-”
“It makes people want to be friends with you?” Patricia leaped with excitement. “You should zap everyone with it! And be the most popular person ever!”
Curt held back a groan. ‘Here we go again.’ “Look girls, I can’t-”
“You can’t do it yourself?” Molly asked. “We can do it for you! We’d love to help you out, and get more people to help you too!”
“Girls, we shouldn’t-”
“I can change everyone in my class when we go to school tomorrow,” Kelly suggested.
“Look, you can’t just-”
“I can ask mom to drive me to the mall and zap people there!”
“PLEASE be QUIET!” Curt shouted.
“Sorry!” All three girls stopped talking, and stared at Curt intently.
“Thank you.” Curt took a breath. “Like I was trying to say, you can’t force somebody to be your friend-”
“Didn’t you say the gun can make people be your friends though?” Patricia asked.
Curt rubbed his temples. “Well, okay, I guess, technically, we CAN, but I don’t think it’s right to try to force someone to be your friend if they don’t want to be. And with the other side effects of this gun, I want to only use it on people that want to be animal people, or work for me, or both. Do you understand?”
“I guess…” Molly said.
“Yeah,” Kelly mumbled.
“But… Don’t you want to have lots of friends?” Patricia asked.
“I already have a lot of friends already,” Curt grinned. “Including you three, now. So… can I ask a favor of all of you?”
“Yes Master!” All three leaned in close and nodded eagerly.
“Please, keep all this a secret, okay? Like I said, the gun makes a lot of people forget they changed, and I don’t want anyone to think you’re crazy or anything. If nobody else is around, you can talk to each other about it, or me, or my sister, Anna,” he pointed to the siamese cat woman. “Skyla, the brown fox with five tails, Anna’s friends, Misty, the black cat, and Ashley, a yellow bird, Sophie, a cat whose tail splits at the end, and Silvey, a pink cat doll, all know too, so you can talk about it with them safely, too.”
“Cat doll?” Molly asked, looking a little confused.
“I think he’s talking about one of the maids the big fox lady turned into dolls,” Patricia said. “I heard them mention it on the news.”
“They’re all dolls?” Kelly said, wide-eyed. “That sounds fun! Do they get to play all day?”
“No,” Curt said. “They still work. Now girls, again, can you promise to keep this a secret?”
“Yes Master!” All three bowed.
“I live to serve!” Patricia added as she stood up.
“Thank you.” Curt nodded. “Now, I have to go catch up with Vicky. Excuse me.”
“Goodbye, Master,” the three girls bowed their heads as Curt and Anna went into the mansion.
“I hope they can keep a secret,” Anna whispered.
“Yeah, same here. But I didn’t want to LIE to them. And if they remember their changes, it’s probably because they wanted to be the creatures they became in the fallout, so I couldn’t just undo their awareness either. They seem like nice kids, though.” Curt shrugged. “So, how about doubles tennis with you and Misty vs me and Vicky?”
“Heh, we’re gonna thrash you unless Vicky can play for two people.”
“You’re not wrong,” Curt chuckled. “You’re not wrong.”
+++
After enjoying Sunday afternoon with Vicky, Curt met with Skyla in her office, and the two chatted about their days, and their plans, the subject eventually turning to a community event the estate was apparently hosting next month.
“...And I think we’ve narrowed down the options for the last slot in children’s entertainment to either a play of Peter Pan by the drama group from Simone’s high school, or hiring a traveling stage magician called 'Sorcerer Spectra,' who’s supposed to be in town that week. Which do you-”
A knock on the door interrupted the kitsune.
“A little late, isn’t it?” Skyla sighed. “Who is it?”
“It’s, like, Nutty.” Came the voice on the other side of the door. “Is Master Curt, like, in there? I have some, like, art he’ll totally love!”
“Uh, sure, come in.” Curt said.
The door opened, and the red-furred squirrel woman’s chest bouncing freely as she stepped through the doorway. “Hi Master! And hi Head Maid Skyla. It’s, like, nice to meet ya. So, like, Master! I saw how you’ve, like, got all these total hotties and cuties hanging out with you thanks to your, like, magical artistic ability.” She winked at him with a buck-toothed grin. “But OH! EM! GEE! You, like, haven’t done anything for yourself with that! And I, like, think self-care is SUPER important, and thought maybe you were, like, just lacking inspiration. So I made a couple full-body drawings of you that will totally improve your-self image!”
Nutty somehow managed to reach her left arm over her absurd chest, and grabbed three large sheets of paper from under her right arm, holding them up in front of her. Skyla leaned back, biting her lower lip, while Curt blushed.
“I wasn’t, like, sure if you’d wanna go with the dragon theme you had going on in the mansion, or if you would be, like, more interested in matching your girlfriends, so I went with all three.”
Nutty’s drawings all displayed Curt as some kind of anthro; in one, he was a red and yellow dragon, chest and arms rippling with muscle, and wings spread wide as he stood on a mountaintop. In another, he was a well toned, but less body-builder-esque donkey glistening with sweat as equine women swooned around him. The last one depicted him as a tall, thin, more “bishonen” white-furred kitsune, lounging in a fancy chair with nine tails fanned behind him, as Skyla, Vicky, and other fox maids waited on him. All of them had him nude, with a rather ridiculously... prominent, mandhood on full display.
“Well… Um…” Curt mumbled, “I appreciate the thought, er, Nutty, but there’s one problem-”
“Oh, I get ya! It needs to be, like, bigger, right?” Nutty said.
“YES!” Skyla hissed.
“NO!” Curt spat at the same time, before glancing back at Skyla for a second. She just grinned. Turning back to Nutty, Curt continued. “It’s not a problem with the art. It’s that the pen’s not what changed you.”
Nutty blinked. “It, like, isn’t?”
“No. I actually have another magic item that changes people into maids, and I’m gonna guess you probably got randomly changed while it was on the fritz.”
“Oh,” Nutty tapped her chin.
“And it can’t work on me. Even if it could, I’ve never seen it make a male anthro directly, so while your… suggestions… are uh…” He struggled to come up with a word. “Nice... I can’t actually become any of them.”
Nutty frowned. “Aw man. What a total bummer. That’s gotta be SUPER disappointing.” She suddenly dropped her drawings and hugged him, her massive mounds pressing against his chest. “Getting to, like, turn anyone else into total hottie, and not being able to be one yourself…” She paused for a second, then gasped and backed up. “Not saying you don’t look good Master! Just, like, you’re not a SUPER hottie, and uh…”
“Don’t worry, Nutty, I get what you mean.” Curt waved it off. “And yeah, I wish I could change, too. But I at least get to have fun using it on people that enjoy it, like you.”
“Oh yeah!” Nutty nodded. “I totally LOVE the new body you gave me, even if it was, like, an accident! I could never, like, thank you enough for it, and I’d do, like, anything to pay you back for it!”
She gasped, and put her hands on her cheeks. “OH EM GEE! I just, like, remembered the other thing I, like, wanted to show you.” Her tail swished around, holding another piece of paper; this one a poster for a “Floof-Fest.” “It’s, like, a small furry convention across town this weekend. I bet there’d be, like, tons of people there who would do anything to be, like, their fursonas for real. I have, like, a booth in the Artist’s Alley there every year. I was gonna ask if you wanted to bring your pen to totally ‘enhance’ the drawings, but like, we could still change people there, if you want.”
Curt took the poster, and rubbed his chin. “That does sound like fun… I’ll try to work something out.” Skyla nodded behind him.
“Like, awesome!” Nutty raised her first. “Let me know when you, like, got it locked down. I’ve got some friends who’d, like, be totally into getting turned into hotties like me, and I wanna make sure they, like, don’t miss it.” She picked the drawings she’d dropped off the ground. “I’ll, like, see you later!”
“Hey!” Skyla called before Nutty reached the door. “Think I could keep a copy of that Kitsune one?”
“Skyla…” Curt facepalmed.
“Oh yeah, like, here you go!” Nutty turned around and handed it to the head maid, before going back to the door. “Like, goodnight, Master. Goodnight Head Maid.”
Curt stared disapprovingly at Skyla once the door had been closed.
“What can I say, Master?” Skyla smirked. “You wear nine tails REALLY well.”
“Maybe,” Curt muttered, “but why would you ask her to make it even bigger? It already looks like it wouldn’t fit…”
“Life’s no fun without a challenge,” Skyla leaned back. “And besides, I don’t think I’ve heard you complaining about all the ‘busty’ ladies your gun’s been making.”
“...Touche.”
“I’m a little surprised to see you agreeing to go to this con, though. I mean, you were always hammering it in on me and Anna to be careful with the gun that first week.”
“Well, yeah,” Curt nodded, “But like she said, these are people who’d actually want it, just like you or Danielle or Marceline. I still wish there was a way to be honest about what’s happening without looking crazy, considering the whole reality-rewriting thing. It’d make lining up people that truly want it easier.”
“Don’t worry, Master,” Skyla smiled. “I’d be happy to help you come up with something.”
+++
The following week passed surprisingly smoothly, compared to the weeks before it. Which is not to say Curt and his friends weren’t busy. Between work, making arrangements for the con, and helping the Doll Maids find themselves, Curt had plenty on his plate. Skyla’s duty as Head Maid seemed like it was never done some days, and Anna was learning the ropes of working at the animal shelter, and getting to know Leroy. Curt wasn't sure how to say it, but not using the ray gun those weekdays felt almost like a vacation from his own hobby. 'Then again, a hobby stops being an escape if you feel obligated about it.'
But when Saturday came, they were all ready to have some fun, and watch the magic happen. Curt had reserved a space at the convention center and set up a “maid cafe” charity drive for the local homeless shelter, where guests could enjoy coffee and pastries served by the maids who had come with him, or even volunteer to be a maid, and help serve the other guests.
Naturally, they left out that this would be more than just a costume change for most.
Despite the simple venue, Skyla and Curt, with the help of Marceline and her skunk friend Rose, (who had planned to come to this convention anyway) made their best effort to make the place look extravagant: elegantly-carved wooden chairs with leather cushions, spotless tables with fine china (despite the simple foods being served), candelabras, and sweet floral arrangements were all brought in and placed with great care.
In contrast to the well-to-do look in the rest of the room, in the corner, a large “Maidifying Booth” had been set up, made of cardboard, covered in tinfoil, with various decorative lights and wires glued on to give the look of a device from a 50’s Sci-Fi B movie. As far as any guest would be concerned, it was basically a glorified changing booth. It had a few maid uniforms and generic fursuits on hangers inside made by Skyla and Silvey beforehand, just in case a father ended up volunteering, and a little hole in the back, connected to a second little booth allowing someone holding the ray gun to fire it at their volunteer without being seen by other guests.
"I just hope I still have patrons for my craft when this is done with," Silvey said.
"Don't worry, if not, I'm certain Master can sponsor your work," Skyla said without missing a beat.
The first “guests” naturally, were Nutty’s friends. The buxom squirrel giddily ran up to the cafe, holding both men by the hand, one a tall, black-haired man, lanky and unassuming, the other brown haired, short, and overweight.
“Hi Master!” Nutty smiled. “I wanna, like, introduce you to Tim ” She gestured toward the taller man, ”and Lee,” then the shorter one. “They’re, like, totally into transforming and maids and stuff!”
“Yeah, I guess…” Tim said, looking annoyed, “kinda not the first thing I’d want the richest man in town to know about me though.”
“It’s alright,” Curt said with a dismissive wave, “I mean, we’re at a furry convention. ‘We’re all mad here.’”
“Nutty told us that you could ‘make our dreams come true.’” Lee said. “Do you have some kind of job offer for us?”
“You could say that,” Curt said, gesturing to the cardboard and foil ‘machine’ in the back. “Wanna be an anthro maid for charity? We’ve got costumes and everything.”
“I… don’t really think so,” Lee muttered.
“Aw, like, come on,” Nutty said, pushing her friends toward the booth “I know you’ve both, like, commissioned TFTG sequences from me! I totally wanna see how it’d look for real.”
“The fursuit masks should cover your faces, if it’s public embarrassment you’re worried about,” Rose said to the two men.
“Alright, alright!” Tim groaned. “Let’s get this over with, Lee.”
The two stepped into the changing room, and Skyla giddily hopped into the “operator’s room,” where she pulled the trigger.
The two men gasped, their bodies tingling as they each felt a slight itch in their chest. It quickly spread over their backs and sides, traveling down their arms, where they could finally see the colors; white fur growing over Tim’s, and gray fur over Lee’s. As the fur spread down to their hands, they both grew little pads on their palms and fingertips, pink on Tim’s and black on Lee’s.
Their pants began to itch as more fur began to sprout on their legs, while their toes curled and became paw-like, gaining little pads like their hands had, Tim’s feet in particular, growing a little longer. Their shoes broke open, then vanished, and the two gasped as their figures changed. Tim shrank a few inches, and his waist narrowed, while his hips widened, and his chest expanded, seemingly from nothing, putting a strain on his clothes. Lee’s mass from his waistline, meanwhile seemed to push into his chest and hips, shrinking as they grew, leaving his clothes tight in some places, and loose in others. Both felt a shrinking sensation down below, as their clothes tore, and disappeared, revealing figures like Nutty’s that were practically parodies. Both of them realized they were naked, but somehow, it just felt right, and they knew nobody would make a fuss.
A small, round tail appeared behind Tina, while Lee grew a longer, bushier tail, covered in alternating gray and black rings. Their jaws stretched forward into short muzzles, Lee’s coming to a point, while Tina’s was comparatively blunted. Their noses became wet, and more animalistic as they moved to the front of their muzzles. Their hair kept its original color, and grew down past their shoulders, and finally, their ears shifted up the sides of their heads, Lee’s becoming wider and triangular, while Tina had long rabbit ears.
The two stepped out of the booth, revealing the new rabbit and raccoon Tina and Lee had become.
“Tim! Lee!” Nutty cheered before rushing over to hug them. “You guys, like, turned out super hot!”
“It’s Tina,” the rabbit said, “But yeah, I don’t know why, but you were right, going in there did, like, make me feel sexier.”
“Hey, Master,” Lee said, “do you mind if we, like hang out with Nutty for a bit?”
“Not at all.” Curt smiled. “We’ve got things here. You have fun.”
“The girls and I will, like, see you later then!” Nutty said, waving goodbye. “I’ll be sure to recommend this place to anyone that stops by my spot in the Artist’s Alley. Thanks again Master!”
The way the three bounced along, almost bonelessly, made Curt think again of living breathing cartoon character.
“Well, off to a good start,” Skyla said. “And it’s so nice to have an excuse to use this thing again.”
Curt nodded, then poked his head out of the room, and saw more con-goers entering the building. “Looks like we’ve got more potential customers. Get ready!”
“You don’t have to tell me twice, Master!”
Their little “cafe” attracted a steady stream of con-goers, (having real anthros at a furry convention was quite an attention-getter, even if the perception of anthros being normal, if rare, ensured nobody freaked out,) and while the majority of visitors preferred to simply grab a snack and enjoy the atmosphere, there proved to be a fine supply of volunteer maids.
Among their first true volunteers had been a few fursuiters; one in a male-looking german shepherd suit, another in a male beagle outfit, and a third in a female husky outfit. Skyla couldn’t help but smile as each suit slowly blurred out of existence, revealing a body much like it underneath, each one now female regardless of what they might have been under the costumes before. The new german shepherd maid stood tall and proud in her fur, with a cute smile, while the beagle had become shorter than before, with an impressive bust for her size under her new black dress, and the adorable new Husky woman had gained a maid dress as well, in a deep red color. The three new maids joined Marceline and Rose in tending the guests without a second thought, happy to serve their Master’s desires.
“...And if you wish to serve with the maids, you may step into the booth and ‘become’ one with the costumes inside. Mr. Evenson will donate one hundred dollars to the shelter for every half-hour of your work,” Rose finished explaining to a pair of women.
“Sounds like fun,” one woman said. “I’m gonna try it out!”
“Eh, you go ahead,” her friend said. “I’ll just get a biscuit.”
The first woman rushed into the booth. And after a few moments of reality alteration, she stepped back out on Lynx paws, her new dress covering her soft spotted fur as her large ears twitched cutely. “Well, looks like it can’t make a double maid,” She giggled.
Her friend shook her head. “Well, I guess I might as well try it then, see what this kind of work is like for a bit.” She headed into the booth just as her friend did, coming out a moment later as a busty mountain lioness, in a tight dress. The two joked about how effective the “maidifying booth was,” and went back to work.
Another trio of volunteers, this one a group of older teens, took their turns inside the booth, two becoming western dragon toddlers, one purple and yellow, another red and black, both nude save for some plastic “jewelry,” while the last one one, a guy who had been hoping to sneak into one of the “over eighteen” rooms in the con, became an adorable goat maid in a light green dress, now doing her duty to watch her friends, and make sure they didn’t accidentally wander into places they were too young to see.
The next volunteers were a couple in their twenties. The man had gone in first, and, tempted though she was, Skyla resisted the urge to fire, not wanting to split the couple, assuming he wasn’t already immune. She was tempted to turn him anthro anyway with her magic, but she knew from experience with the doll maids that without the gun’s reality warping, it’d make for a lot of complications. Especially if she were to surprise this guy with it.
The man stepped out of the dress in a blue vixen fursuit with a black and white maid dress, and his girlfriend, after taking a moment to laugh, went in next. With a zap, her clothes vanished, replaced quickly by a serval’s spotted fur, and she soon grew paws, ears, snout and tail to match. The serval woman stepped outside, only to be stopped by her boyfriend.
“Hey, we had a deal, right? I’m not doing this alone!”
The serval woman pouted, then went back into the booth, and put on one of the maid uniforms before stepping out.
“Heh, looks good on you,” her boyfriend said with a chuckle, “You oughta dress like that more often!”
“Well, if you think they look so nice, maybe I should find that old nine-tailed fox and get her to make you a real vixen, so you can wear them as much as you like.” She playfully stuck her tongue out at her boyfriend, before both were instructed by Rose about what to do next.
The next user of the booth was a teen girl, who emerged as a wolf with fur in all sorts of neon colors mixed together, and a maid uniform covered in glitter. Curt found himself wondering if maybe he should veto the “target’s preference” setting just this once, and give her a less gaudy color scheme.
A few fursuiters ended up coming out in different sorts of costumes, regardless of whether they’d been set to “nude” or “maid,” by the gun. One guy who became a rat came out with a steampunk getup; top hat, large goggles, victorian style clothes, and a fake prosthetic arm with plenty of gratuitous gears and pipes. Another guy in a crow costume was instead wearing a set of black magician’s robes over her new feathers (and Skyla could have sworn she felt traces of actual magic from her, too). And a woman in a tiger costume came out with a leopard-print bikini, purely for the irony of it of it clashing with her stripes.
A couple guests who weren’t interested in volunteering asked Skyla if she could do anything like that nine-tailed kitsune they’d heard about on the news. Skyla could tell where this was going; they wanted to be transformed, themselves.
Figuring that if she didn't change them, they might seek out her grandmother, who would add far more “amusing” twists to the change than these guys were prepared to deal with, Skyla told them "If you're willing to work as maids for an hour at the cafe, I'll do my best."
The two reluctantly agreed and stepped into the Maidifcation booth. The first stepped out a liger, in a simple black and white dress. The other, came out a blue striped wolf pup in a white maid dress with black trim... Skyla didn't know they'd previously been destined to die from a diabetes condition they didn't even know they had a month later.
What shocked Skyla even more was one hour later the wolf pup and Liger maids came back. The Liger said, "Head Maid Skyla we've worked an hour at the cafe as you asked... can you please let us see what being a different species can be now?"
'Why didn't I see this coming?' Skyla resisted the urge to do a face-palm. 'Maybe this is fate's way of saying no kitsune gets out of a contract.'
"Fine. A deal's a deal. What do you want to be?"
"A Tigon please Head Maid Skyla!"
"Pterodactyl!" Said the wolf pup waving her arms.
‘Great’ Skyla thought to herself, ‘a hybrid, and an extinct species, the most difficult stuff. Next time I need to set my terms before making promises.’
She focused her magic on the liger, figuring that even if she couldn’t reliably make hybrids from scratch yet, slightly shifting which species was more prominent shouldn’t be that hard.
As blue flames danced around the liger maid, she began to shrink, losing about a foot in height, while her fur turned a brighter hue, the stripes standing out more strongly. Skyla quickly used her magic to adjust the dress size as well, keeping it fitting.
The Tigon maid looked around curiously. “I don’t feel that different, aside from being shorter… Guess I should have expected that, though. Thank you, Head Maid Skyla.”
Skyla nodded, then took a deep breath and focused her magic on the wolf pup, trying desperately to recall anything she could on pterodactyls from memory. The little wolf’s fur began to thin, then expanded into a layer of blue-striped feathers instead. Her torso became smaller, while her neck grew longer.
“Oooh! It’s working!” The jr. maid smiled.
Her tail shrank to a little stub, while her toes stretched out from paws into longer, more flexible talons, prompting her to shift her stance. Her sleeves expanded down the sides of her dress, as the pads disappeared from her hands, and her pinkies suddenly stretched to nearly the length of her arms, a membrane forming between them and her torso to create her new wings. Her snout grew longer and longer, smoothing over into a beak, while her ears shrank down, and a large crest sprouted from the back of her skull.
The little girl flapped the wings a few times, then hugged herself. “This is awesome!” She leapt up and down. “I wanna fly right now Head Maid Skyla! Can I please try it?”
Skyla panted, and took a moment to catch her breath, falling back on one of the empty chairs. “The spell should undo the next time you go to sleep. And please, if you want to try flying, make sure it’s with another flying maid, for safety.”
“YAY! I’m gonna fly!” The wolf turned pterodactyl cheered, and skipped off in search of the cosplaying crow maid.
“Thanks again, Head Maid,” the Tigon said with a polite bow.
A couple volunteers didn’t come out as any animal Curt or Skyla could recognize; one man became a tall, busty, wolf like creature with a far longer and narrower head and a rather long tongue. Another became a lizard-like alien, with four eyes, purple scales, webbed claws, and a stinger tail (covered in bandages for safety). Still strangely adorable in its little dress.
‘Well, if creatures of myth work, I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised by this either. I guess it's their own invention, or the ray gun wouldn't have been able to do it.'
A bear fursuiter stepped inside the booth not long after the alien. Skyla pulled the trigger, and was surprised to see the costume vanish to reveal a cute, nude, one-tailed kitsune. She looked down at the gun. It was still set for “target’s favorite.” Did that guy have a lot of favorites, and simply went with a “second favorite” to dress up as this time? Or was he self-conscious about liking an overly-popular species, and wanted to look more original?
Curt looked at the pamphlets for their charity event toward the end of the con’s hours, noticing they looked different from before. Reading through it, it seemed reality recons had made the event not only a charity, but also something of a “welcome to the district” party for maids moving in from out of town.
‘Guess not everyone we zapped today was a local,’ He thought to himself.
A college age black haired woman came to the cafe next... she looked incredibly out of place, looking that way and that, inching along, keeping har arms close to herself. She was wearing a tank top and skirt with long socks. Ironically, she was looking at the fur-suiters with a lot more discomfort than the naked anthros.
"Hello," she said to Rose when she stepped into the cafe. "I'm Atarah, I heard from bible study you were holding a charity here. I... talked with Angelica and Vicky, and they said they wouldn't be able to make it... so I'm here to help in their place."
Rose shrugged and smiled. "Yeah, I know who you are even if you don't remember me, don't forget, I can remember a lot more people than you humans. OH! Sorry! That sounded jerkish, I mean... I'll stop putting my paw in my mouth now."
Marceline saved her friend from further digging herself in. "What Rose means to say is, just step into the maidification booth, put on a costume, and boom! Help as long as you feel like."
"O-okay! Thank you." Atarah nodded and stepped into the booth, praying that the costumes didn't make her overheat and collapse and cause trouble for others.
Skyla pulled the trigger. And the Ray Gun shook a little. And Atarah transformed into... something.
She didn't even count as a Class-E quasi-deity like Skyla's grandmother. But unlike Angelica having the body of a Quetzalcoatl, there was no doubt that what Atarah became was no longer mortal.
Atarah's clothing dissolved off her, retconned out of existence like a myst. Then... her body began to darken, her entire body becoming smooth... Her feet shifted into digi-grated paws with claws and pads... as did her hands with the addition of an opposable thumb. A long tail snaked out of the bottom of her spine, turning into a tuff shape at the end. Her face and head molded into that of a bald lioness, as her figure became lithe but full, and her breasts remained average. Her features softened, her entire body holding a streamline roll to it. Then a pair of wings emerged from her back. For a moment Skyla thought maybe she now had black fur with white dots... but instead, it was like past her shiny skin Skyla was seeing through glass into a cluster of tiny stars that reached the tip of her wings, her toes, the end of her muzzle, and the points of her claws... Her eyes were a solid blue with a 't'(or maybe a cross) shape within rather than a circle.
She stepped out of the booth with a grace that almost made Skyla tremble. Skyla was just able to sense that that was more to Atarah than what she was seeing, like her senses didn't quite reach far enough (yet, maybe she needed a few more tails) to comprehend this being before her.
"Head Maid Skyla, as my former self promised to aid in this performance for the good of charity, so shall I. Thank you for giving her the means of acting out her good will as she desired, even if that was not your pure intent."
Skyla startled. So her unconscious desire was to remember her old life? Or did what was before her see through reality and know things had changed? Either way, Skyla said, "My pleasure, Atarah. Do your best."
"In this reality, I always have for our family. But Head Maid Skyla. If I may give you some advice."
"Yes?"
"Beware your base desire clouding your true desires." And the angelic lioness went to serve the guests.
The last volunteer of the evening a young blonde woman, stepped into the booth, appearing outside it moments later as a nude blue jay anthro. She walked over to the far side of the room, picked up a mic that had suddenly been added in a shift to reality, and began to sing a relaxing tune as evening approached.
Skyla came out of the “operator’s room,” and sat next to Curt at one of the tables. “Whew, I think my fingers might be cramping from firing so much.” She laughed. “But seriously Curt, thanks for letting me do this. It was so fun to be able to cut loose with the thing for once.”
“You’re welcome.” Curt put an arm around her. “Who knows, maybe we can find a chance to do something like this again, sometime.”
"There's always the homeless shelter. All those people desperate for a job. Which you can give them."
"... I'll think about it."