The next week was strange to say the least. The first night Molly seemed hesitant to get into bed with you – until you told her to do so. The instant those words had come out of your mouth, Molly leapt into bed and snuggled up next to you. Not that you had any interest in having sex with her, but it seemed so strange that she would spend the night at your house but not sleep in your bed. You’d really wondered what she was planning on doing if you hadn’t told her to get in bed with you… would she have slept on the couch or, worse, the floor?
However, her snuggling up to you wasn’t any sort of relief. Her scales were smooth, like a snake’s, and felt soft against your skin, but her body itself was just… cold? Or perhaps it wasn’t exactly cold so much as that it was just room temperature. The longer you cuddled, the warmer her body seemed to get, and you quickly figured out why – her new, reptilian body was cold blooded.
The next day she’d been all too eager to please you. Starting with your shower, Molly had just eagerly stood outside, waiting with your towel in your hand. When you’d taken it from her to dry yourself off, you could see a profound sense of disappointment in her eyes, as though she’d hoped you would let her dry you.
“Kobold brush Master teeths?”
“No, I can brush my own teeth.”
“Kobold brush Master hairs?”
“No. I can brush my own hair.”
“Kobold flush Master toilets?”
It went on and on. Molly begged to be allowed to perform every action for you, no matter how minor it was or how inconvenient it would be. How did a 3 foot tall kobold expect to brush a 6 foot tall man’s teeth anyway?
It finally got to the point of exhaustion, and you blurted out “Molly, er… Kobold, go back to your apartment.” But she just looked at you, cocking her head slightly to the side, as confusion poured out of her yellow, reptilian eyes.
“Kobold not have apartment?” she said quizzically. “Kobold live with Master.”
You sighed, “No Kobold, I mean the apartment you lived in before you turned into a Kobold. The apartment you lived in when you were named Molly.”
Molly’s eyes brightened as though she suddenly understood the answer to a question of immense importance. “Kobold belong to Master now, apartment gone.”
“What do you mean ‘apartment gone’?” you asked.
“Kobold show Master!” she exclaimed, before grabbing your hand and pulling you into the kitchen. You thought she might be taking you to her purse, but once in the kitchen you noticed that all of her stuff seemed to just be gone. There was no purse on the counter, no shoes next to the front door, and none of the knickknacks or backup clothing that she had stashed at your house were anywhere to be seen. Instead, Molly pulled you to a drawer in the kitchen and directed you to look inside.
Pulling it open, you saw a simple red collar with a small metallic nametag on it that just say “Kobold” with an indication that the kobold was your property. Next to it was something that superficially looked like a driver’s license, but with the photograph of a purple scaled kobold with two sets of two moderately sized horns staring deadpan into the camera. It was a picture of Molly, or at least Molly in her new kobold body.
It was then that you noticed the rest of what was on the card. The top read “Property ID Card” followed by Molly’s species, scale color, height, weight, gender, and other basic biographical information. Then, at the bottom, was a line that read “Property of:” followed by your name and address.
“Molly…” you started, “what is this?”
“Not Molly!” she exclaimed, only to sigh and continue, “is card say Master own me. Kobold live here. Kobold not has apartment. Kobold not allowed has anything.”
“Kobold, you have a car. Get in that car and drive back to the apartment you used to live in,” you said, exasperated with the entire situation. Everything about this was so bizarre that your brain just couldn’t process it – where did that license come from? Where did Molly’s stuff go? This was stuff that you could figure out later when you didn’t have to deal with the constant beggings of a kobold that was desperate to serve you.
“Kobold show!” Molly chirped as she once again grabbed your hand and dragged you out front. As you walked out the front door and turned towards your driveway, you noticed another incongruity in reality – Molly’s car, which just last night had been parked in front of your house, was gone. Not moved, not damaged or destroyed. It was just gone.
The words ‘incongruity in reality’ came to the front of your mind as you gulped. “Molly… where were you going to sleep if I hadn’t told you to come to bed with me last night?”
Once again, the small kobold tugged on your hand, taking you back inside and to the door to the small closet in your hallway. Your stomach sank as you approached it. What should have been in that four square foot room was a bunch of old clothes and other forgotten trifles, but that’s not what was in it when Molly opened the door.
No, what was in there now was a sleeping pad that was far too small for the 3 foot tall kobold to lay on unless she curled up, as well as an equally small blanket sitting on top of it. Most disturbing of all was what was hanging on the wall just above that pad – a picture of you, surrounded by an iron frame studded with 3 candle holders. You’d never seen anything like it before, but you somehow still knew that it was a shrine to you where Molly would come to light candles as a form of worship.
“You still remember being Molly?” you asked.
“Kobold remember name and other stuff. Not much. Kobold know is old life, but most is remembering new life.”
“Reality has changed hasn’t it?”
Molly just looked at you with a dumbfounded expression on her face. That question was clearly beyond what her current intellect was able to process, but you knew the answer all the same.
There was no apartment for Molly to go back to. Hell, there was no life for you to go back to. Somehow Molly’s transformation had altered reality, and the new reality you found yourself in was one where Molly had always been a nameless kobold that you had somehow enslaved – not that you were sure that enslaved was the right word, since her sole focus in life was pleasing you. But still, this was it, so with no other choice, you simply commanded Molly to do what she normally did.
The rest of your day went by with Molly cooking cleaning, gardening, or generally making herself useful around the house. At night she went into her closet, and that cycle repeated for the next week. Nobody ever called for her – not her family or friends – though deep down inside you knew that she no longer had those. You’d even brought her up to your coworkers, but none of them seemed phased by the idea that you owned a kobold servant.
That wasn’t to say that owning a kobold was normal. None of your coworkers knew of anyone else who owned one, but they didn’t seem to think that there was anything wrong with you owning one. Not knowing what else to do, you slowly began to settle in this new life.