“My new little sis has such a cute name, plus you’re so soft and adorable too.” as Rin talks, she tackles me back into a hug and starts cuddling me, which gives me a bit of time to think about what I just learned.
So a goddess chose my name, the only goddess that has ever tried to contact was Karia and while she claimed to be the Goddess of Change and Balance, that claim falls a bit short when all I heard was a voice in a black void. I mean was that voice even a goddess in the first place? Then again it doesn’t matter which goddess decided to name me because even if I worried about it until the end of time it wouldn’t change the situation, I finally have a name. But, while I do like my new name, which deity’s idea was it to name me, a creature born and raised as a tool for war, after something so fluffy and adorable.
“Your face says that you’re thinking something negative, does being my daughter really sound like such a bad thing, or maybe it’s that you dislike your name?” my new mother asks a question as she pokes my forehead.
Did I really have such a negative expression on my face? Quickly shaking my head I say, “I’m grateful for both.”
Smiling my new mother reaches down and pats my head before saying, “Don’t worry about voicing your misgivings, if we are going to be a family from now on, communication will be key. Ah, I almost forgot!” seemingly remembering something my new mother turns towards the room’s door and calls out, “Sophia, you may enter, please bring that in with you and Rin, please release your new sister for now.”
As Rin reluctantly separates from me I look towards the door in time to see a girl in maid’s clothes walk in. looking her over she looks to be 18 at about 5.9 feet tall, she has a fair face and she would probably be considered very pretty if she was smiling. She has short cut hair colored a deep crimson, a tanned skin tone, and a slim yet well built figure.
The maid girl, I believe my new mother called her Sophia, is carrying an ornately decorated wooden box in her hands and upon reaching my new mother, she holds it out while saying, “The requested item madam, if there is nothing else for me to attend to I will take my leave, as Lady Rin seems displeased with my presence.”
Looking over to Rin I see that she is scowling at Sophia, but before I get a chance to ask why I hear my new mother start talking, so I turn back to look at her, “No, you are to stay right there while we talk. Rin will be fine with you here, you are supposed to be her personal maid after all,” after receiving my new mother's order, Sophia gives a brief curtsey before standing off to the side of the bed.
Nodding in satisfaction my new mother turns back towards me and opens the box that is now in her hands while talking, “The goddess who asked us to care for you also wanted us to give you these. My husband tried examining them, but he couldn’t figure out anything about them. Not mentioning the fact that the only clue we received from the goddess was to tell you to infuse them with mana after putting them on, but our attempts to do so ourselves yielded no results.”
Inside the box which my new mother is now holding open in front of me, lies two thin jet black bracelets sitting on a white cushion. I tentatively reach for the bracelets while sending a glance at my new mother. Answering my glance, my new mother nods to me, so I pick up the bracelets and put them on. Since nothing immediately happens I do as my new mother said, and try moving my mana into the bracelets. The moment my mana enters the bracelets, however, they liquefy and seep into my skin as the room around me goes white.
Looking around my surroundings are exactly the same as the black void where I heard the, supposed, voice of the goddess, except it’s white instead of black. While I am thinking that I hear the same voice as last time, “Are these actually recording properly? Honestly, this is why I never ask you to make me any-. What? It’s recording right now?! Ahem, hi it’s me again, Karia, so if you got these bracelets then we have already been introduced. Well, I say that, but my current plan is just to talk to you so unless I decided otherwise you should have only heard my voice. Though, I would really like to know what kind of, Ah! I am going off track again, okay back to the bracelets that have currently integrated themselves into your body.
So the bracelets, they don’t really have a fancy name or anything like that, but I promise they are really great. I got them made especially for you and they have the ability to take on any form you want. Um, it’s kinda hard to explain the specifics, but I will give it my best.
You just have to think of the process as the bracelets creating an extra skin that you can mold and color as you wish. The best part about this second skin is that it take on the innate properties of your original skin. Thanks to that anything molded with it will have the same toughness as the rest of you and even if you limit your original stats things molded from the second skin will retain your original stat values. It’s also possible to re-absorb anything you mold out of this second skin, so long as you are touching it, by willing it back into yourself.
How you use it is up to you and if you try hard enough you can probably find some really fun uses for it. Like an obvious use would be making weapons, though, I wouldn’t recommend anything ranged unless you can retrieve it. Anything you mold that goes farther than 1000 yards away from you will evaporate and take at least a day to find it’s way back. Then again so long as you don’t need it later I guess that’s not so bad. But, seeing as I am about to go off topic again, this will probably be a good point to end this message, so it’s time to wake up Kitten.”
As the voice stops I can feel myself being shaken and I hear Rin talking in a panicked voice, “Sis? Oh thank goodness you're fine, those weird bracelets suddenly melted and then you just stopped moving. You wouldn’t even answer when I was shaking you, but you're fine now, right?” looking at Rin I can see that she has tears in the corner of her eyes and looking over at my new mother even she seems slightly worried, so I nod my head while saying, “I’m sorry, I’m okay.”
After looking me over to confirm my well being Rin nods to herself before she goes back to hugging me. After Rin gets herself settled, my new mother looks at me and asks a question, “Now that we have confirmed that you are fine, I would like to know, what happened?”
I can’t see Rin, but my new mother looks really curious, even Sophia that has been mostly stoic to this point, looks slightly curious. I could try to vocally explain what happened, but considering my limitations that seems rather ineffective. So I guess just showing them what I learned would probably work best.
I wriggle my arm out of Rin’s grasp and sticking it out in front of me, I try to emulate the feeling the voice of the goddess told me to use. I close my eyes and try to imagine a second skin. From that second skin, I try to pull out the image of a gymnastics baton. When I feel something resting in my palm I close my hand around it and open my eyes to look. In my closed hand is a jet black gymnastics baton, I didn’t think of a color so I think it’s safe to say that black is the default coloration.
As I try to imagine the baton becoming a part of my second skin again it complies immediately and disappears almost instantly. Having ended my demonstration I look back at my new mother while saying, “Learned to use bracelets,” leaking out a small sigh my new mother gives a defeated smile before talking again, “Why did I even think we could understand an item granted by a goddess. Well, we can try to figure out the specifics later, for now, we should have you go wash up and afterward, we can talk more over something to eat. Since my husband was stopped when we first found you, we have not tried to check your status again, but since you are now awake my husband and I would very much like to see your status, with your consent of course.”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“A bath! Come on sis, I’ll show you the way there and help you get cleaned up,” letting me go while bounding off the bed Rin grabs my hand, but before she can get me up, my new mother stops her, “I’m sorry Rin, but I need you to come with me. We are going to explain what happened to your father, Sophia will guide Kitten and help her wash if she requires it.”
Rin looks like she is about to start protesting, but after receiving a stern look from my new mother Rin reluctantly follows her out of the room. After watching the two of them leave the room Sophia looks at me and says, “Let us also depart, lest we keep the madam and master waiting.”
As she finishes speaking, Sophia turns and gestures towards the door, so I quickly get off the bed and follow after her. Looking around as we exit the room I can tell that this building is huge just judging by the halls. The decor and architecture, like the room I woke up in, is very gothic era in design.
After a twisting maze of halls we pass through a changing room and finally reach a room containing an enormous bath. There is also what looks like showers on the walls, the space, in essence, reminds me of a Japanese public bath, but architecturally it’s built in a gothic design. Before I can further inspect my surroundings, however, Sophia begins to quickly and efficiently strips us both of our clothes. As she undresses me I try unwrapping my tail from my waist and after moving it around a bit, I find that my control over it has not dampened at all.
After she finishes stripping us both Sophia picks me up and sits me down on a stool in front of one of the showers as she says, “Since the madam, master and Lady Rin, will be awaiting you to eat, it shall be faster if I aid you.”
Since I really don’t feel like she will take no for an answer, I simply nod my head and let her do as she pleases. Receiving my consent Sophia pours water over me and starts silently washing my hair. After spending a fair bit of time washing my hair she begins on the rest of my body, but she doesn’t say a word throughout. She is supposed to be Rin’s personal maid so I guess having to take care of me is probably unpleasant and the fact that I am an oddity that has suddenly intruded into her master's household must make caring for me even more unpleasant.
“Is it unpleasant?” deciding to probe Sophia’s thoughts about me, I ask a question and she answers with a question of her own, “You ask if something is unpleasant, yet you do not specify. If you wish for an answer, you must be direct so I will ask, what is supposed to be unpleasant?”
I wasn’t expecting Sophia to turn my question back at me, so I say, “You’re Rin’s personal maid,” without stopping her hands Sophia answers while still washing my body, “Yes I am supposed to be Lady Rin’s personal maid, but Lady Rin has refused my services since the day we met. Due to this failure, I have instead dedicated myself to perfectly completing my madam's every command. Even if my madam ordered me to die in battle to protect her family, I would do so without question and so, there is no need for me to question my madam’s order to care for the child she has adopted.”
“But, I’m a monster,” due to the way I was conditioned during my time in the lab I respond without thinking. Hearing my response Sophia’s hands stop moving for the first time since she started washing me. She then picks me up and turns me so that I am facing her, before proceeding to look me over completely.
After she is done examining me, Sophia, slowly starts talking, “Are you truly a monster? What I see in front of me is a young girl. True she may be different, but if being different is all it takes to be a monster, then aren’t we all monsters? Wouldn’t an Asura like me, born and raised in battle, be a monster?
Before the master and mistress removed me from that life, every day was a fight for survival. The weak would die and the strong would live, doesn’t that sound like a monster's life to you? But, it’s different, isn’t it? We, I killed to live, but monsters they are born with an innate love for death, yet they do not slaughter each other. They do not kill to survive because they live off the mana they were born from. No, monsters kill for the pleasure of it and so I ask once again, is the young girl in front of me truly a monster? Or, is she just a little girl who is too afraid to find her true self?”
Having said her part Sophia turns me back around and turns on the shower to rinse me off while she starts to comb out my hair. I stay silent as she combs my hair because I myself don’t know the answer to her question. All my time in that lab, I was raised while being told that I was just a creature created to kill, a monster and even though I thought I accepted that no matter what anyone says I am simply myself. A small part of me still wanted to believe those researchers, somewhere deep inside I still believed I am a just a weapon meant to kill. But after hearing what Sophia just said even that small part of me is unsure now.
Once Sophia finishes combing my hair and leads me back into the changing room I decide to leave my current line of thinking for later. Once we get into the changing room Sophia once again stops to examine me before saying, “Madam did tell me to prepare you only appropriate undergarments and have you wear one of Lady Rin’s older dresses. But looking at you, that plan now seems somewhat foolish. Though, with your old clothes being little more than tattered rags, currently, there are no other options.”
Following her line of sight, I can see that she is looking at my chest, but her worry does make sense, compared to Rin I am quite a bit more sizeable. Rin seemed to be a small B, while my current size is more of a large D, so having to wear Rin’s old clothing would probably be extremely restrictive. Actually the bracelets I got earlier might be useful in this situation. I could probably make myself something to wear using them and not only could it be whatever I like, it would also second as protective wear.
Looking straight at Sophia I hold my hand out and ask, “Can I have underwear,” nodding to me she retrieves and hands me the underwear she had put aside. Putting on the bottoms is simple enough, but after watching me struggle with the brassiere for a while Sophia shows me how to put it on properly.
Now that I have underwear on I decide to try out my idea and imagine my second skin forming a short kimono around my body. Surprisingly enough it works almost immediately and after checking myself over, I draw the kimono back into my second skin. Having confirmed that my plan works I try different outfits ranging from shrine maiden clothes to casual wear I had seen in my other life. I finally settle on a white thigh length gothita styled dress, complete with a black coat, plenty of frills, lace, black socks that rise up to mid thigh and a pair of simple black shoes with a short heel.
Trying to move around a bit I find that my molded clothes do not feel restrictive in the least, but instead, it almost feels like they aren’t even there. Finally satisfied with my outfit I turn towards Sophia, who has been silently watching me.
When I turn to look at her Sophia is making a face like she wants to ask something, but as she notices my gaze she quickly composes herself before saying, “If you are ready, the master, madam, and Lady Rin will be awaiting your arrival in the dining hall. If you would follow me I shall guide you there now.”