Sophia’s POV
When I woke up, Leo was lying next to me as usual. Today both he and Ash would be spending the entire day here, and tomorrow, he’d be staying in the subspace so that he can work on enchanting while Ash explores the capital. However, today, I was determined to force him into taking a day off. Leo needs rest after all, so I’m definitely doing this for his sake. Absolutely. I’m not just trying to spend time with him, no not at all! Oh who am I kidding. Since Leo has a day off, I fully intend to force him into paying attention to nothing but ME. Sure, he’s always made sure to spend time with me, but on some level, he’s usually slightly distracted, either with his enchanting work, or with his plans on Earth. Today though, today there were no distractions allowed. The only thing allowed to be in his mind is me, and to accomplish this…I had a plan.
By the time he woke up, it was already set into motion. I was standing next to the bed, holding a tray upon which breakfast was prepared. He took a look at me, and tilted his head in confusion. “Soph…is that a…are you wearing a maid outfit?”
Yes. My ingenious plan. Similarly to how Leo has been creating clothes with his Aspect Manifestation, all of my various red dresses have been made with mine. To be precise, they aren’t actually different dresses, and are actually just a small part of my power that I’ve set aside and turned inert, causing my Flame to take on the qualities of fabric. Unlike Leo’s fabric however, I am a Titled, whereas no matter how impressive he may be, Leo is still just a Marked. This means that he cannot fully manipulate his Aspect, he can only Manifest it. This means that for Leo to have usable clothing crafted from the fabric of his Aspect Manifestation, he has to painstakingly craft it by hand, sewing and tailoring it all together.
For me however, I can simply manipulate my Aspect into creating fabric shaped exactly how I want it to. This means that all of my various red dresses have been manifested to fit me perfectly, and don’t actually have any sort of seams in them. This also means that I can manipulate them while I’m wearing them, which is why my clothes don’t rip to shreds or fall off whenever I happen to change between my 8 foot form and my 5 foot form.
Today, instead of manifesting just a normal red dress as I usually do, I took a lesson from Leo’s book and created a specialized outfit in order to suit my needs. I went through the memories of my various contractors until I found memories from one who happened to have maids in his life. I then Manifested my Flame and molded it into the same design. There is no possible way that Leo will still be able to think about work of any kind today!
“Indeed Master, I am wearing the required uniform for my position. I have also brought your breakfast.” I placed the tray down over his lap as he sat up, then bowed slightly, stepping back to stand next to the wall silently. I saw that above his blindfold, the skin of his forehead wrinkled, demonstrating that he was lifting his eyebrows, before apparently deciding to play along with my roleplay, announcing, “Very well, be sure to attend to my every need. I am in your care.”
I bowed again, responding, “Yes Master.”
I must say I’m actually rather surprised that I hadn’t come up with this idea earlier. As I had discovered when Leo was temporarily disabled, trying to modify his brain into taking in information from all directions, I rather enjoy taking care of him. I had thought that it was some sort of previously unknown innate desire to take care of anyone, but that turned out not to be the case. After Leo had managed to restore his sight, I tried to find that same sense of satisfaction, scratch the same itch I apparently had and feel needed by trying to take care of Veronica in a similar way.
The end result? It was a damn disaster. The more I ended up doing for her, it seemed the lazier Veronica would become, just letting me do everything instead. And then, with nothing left to do, she would get bored and disappear for a few days, coming back being chased by the friends, relatives, or partners of whomever she had happened to cheat power out of, and forcing me and Sean to step in. This would then result in more fighting between the two of us.
Despite having spent years together at this point, Veronica and I still just on a fundamental level couldn’t really get along. I mean, that was kind of the whole point, the reason that I ended up spending time with her in the first place was that she’s the only person I could think of where no matter how much time we spent together, neither one of us would get obsessively attached, but still, I was honestly surprised at how intensely we still seemed to disagree after years of living together.
No, in order for me to scratch this itch and feel ‘needed’, it had to be Leo. And the only reason I haven’t further explored this side of me is that right after I was introduced to it, I was also introduced to the pure delight of absolute submission, causing a slight conflict between my various desires. After all, it’s rather difficult to take care of someone else without also being in a higher position of power. However, with every rule, there is also an exception. The exception to this rule? Maids! Maids get to take care of someone while also being in a position of submission! This way, I get the best of both worlds, scratching all the itches, and hitting every soft spot! Yes, my genius is absolute!
Leo finished his meal as I gloated inwardly at my own brilliance, then placed the tray down next to him. I took it, carrying it to the kitchen, receiving a knowing yet embarrassed kind of look from Ash as I passed by. I then washed all of the dishes, put them in their respective cupboards, then returned to our room, and saw Leo still sitting in the same spot in bed, waiting for me to return, an amused smile on his face, but also…an oddly thoughtful air about him. Maybe a little solemn? It’s difficult to judge his expressions due to the blindfold, but after knowing him for so long, I can somewhat determine the ‘vibe’ of what he’s thinking based on only the shape of his lips.
“So tell me maid, is this going to be a regular thing from now on? Or should I determine it day by day by whether you’re standing next to the bed in uniform when I wake up.” Leo asked as I returned to my station by the wall.
“I am your maid, Master, here to serve you for Eternity. I am yours.” As I spoke, I noticed a certain part of the blankets rising in response. I praised myself again internally for my own genius, suppressing an excited smile and keeping my face as emotionless and professional as possible, before making my way towards the side of the bed he was on, kneeling down, and removing the covers, unveiling that which I desired, and that which desired me. “Shall I assist, Master?” I tried to keep my face cool and composed. As though I were simply a tool for him to use for relief.
“Very well, you may.” He permitted, and I dug in for a little ‘breakfast’ of my own. As I worked, I had to fight to not get overly enthusiastic, and maintain the same air of ‘cool and composed’ that I was going for. I was simply a Maid assisting her Master with a problem he was having. Nothing more, nothing less. Once I finished, I kept as calm as I could, standing back up and waiting at my station by the wall.
“Okay Cocytus for a second” He announced, and I dropped the maid act, pouting maybe just a little bit.
“Aww, you don’t like it?” I asked.
He laughed and ruffled my hair, “That’s not it. I just want to set a few ground rules first, and I also need to know the full dynamic you’re going for, the exact fantasy you know? Like, is this just about you wanting to be a maid and take care of me while also being sub, or do you want me to act like any specific kind of Master as well?”
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Ahh that makes sense. Knowing that he had difficulties with subtext and subtle clues, I made sure to spell out exactly what I was thinking. “Nope, you’re good to just do what you normally do. I just wanna love you and spoil you a lot, but it’s hard for you to accept it as Sophia and Leo. I’m not sure if it’s the emotional thing or the parental situation, but whenever I try to do something for you, you always take care of it yourself before I even have a chance. I thought that maybe it’ll be easier for you if I found a way to work it into kinky stuff.”
Leo fell silent, a slight smile over a clenched jaw. The same complicated look he got any time anyone expressed any sort of positive emotions about him, and the same look I hated seeing.
“Very well,” He finally responded, “But there’ll have to be a few ground rules. Firstly, this is just when we’re alone. I know you tell Ash everything, but that doesn’t mean that I’m okay with parading it around in front of her. Deal?”
Oops. I kinda just passed Ash on the way to the kitchen. But I nodded and responded, “Deal. Though I will need you to understand that sometimes I may just run into Ash while ‘in uniform’ like this. We all live in the same house after all.”
He nodded, “That’s fair. I’ll come up with some kind of light punishment system or something to discourage you from intentionally trying to get caught though. Second ground rule, even when we’re alone, there need to be times when you’re ‘off duty’. As hot as it is to roleplay maid/master,” He stroked my hair and kissed me softly on my forehead, continuing, “I need you to still be my wife sometimes too okay? At the end of the day, this is just roleplay, for the extra spice. It’s not like you’re trying to be a maid 24/7 right?”
I tilted my face up and kissed his lips gently. “Of course, I’m not about to completely change up everything, you don’t have to worry. This is just like all the other times I’ve given you control over me, just from now on it’ll be with this specific dynamic. All of the rewards and punishments that you come up with will go from the Master to his Maid, and just like all those other times, when it’s over, we’ll go back to just Leo and Sophia. Sound good?”
Leo let out a light chuckle, sitting down, and wrapping his arms around my waist so that I fell into his lap. “Sounds good.” He answered. “Final ground rule,” He began, a crooked grin spreading across his face, “This uniform will need some modifications. You nailed the professionalism aspect down, but look!” He put his hand under the hem of my dress, down by my ankles, then sensually traced his way up my leg, the fabric catching his arm when his hand was gently stroking the most sensitive part of my inner thigh. “It’s too professional. How am I supposed to take advantage of and ravage my cute little maid if her dress gets in the way!”
The pair of us proceeded to spend the rest of the morning split between fooling around and picking out the perfect design for my uniform, although…I never exactly had the opportunity to put it on…
Leo’s POV
The next day was the day that Ash would be heading into the Capital alone. Any time I thought about it, my heart rate would rise, and my thought processes would grow slightly more paranoid, the symptoms of concern. I know that this was her idea and everything, but will she really be okay in a Human town? Sure, this kingdom’s definition of the word ‘Human’ may be loose, and include races such as elves and dwarves, but it doesn’t include beastkin.
I warped the pair of us from the subspace to our room, then we made our way towards the communal living area, where X and Duke were waiting for us. Off to our left, I noticed Liz and the merchant sitting at a table talking, and off to our right, there was another group of ragged looking merchants. As X and Duke approached us, I nodded towards the group of people in tattered clothing, and asked “Bandit attacks have been worse lately? Or about the same?”
X looked towards the group with furrowed brows, answering, “It’s difficult to tell, especially now that we’re trying to take note of that ‘selection bias’ that you mentioned. As we get closer to the Bazaar, the traveling groups get a lot bigger, more merchants, as well as more adventurers to guard them. The more people means that there’s a higher likelihood of survivors after all, so it’s hard to tell if the rate of bandit attacks are increasing, or if they’ve stayed the same, just a higher percentage of them are able to be reported now.”
Apparently, we’d gone from a reported two attacks per week to a reported five attacks per week. I wonder how many there need to be before the Kingdom actually sends out soldiers? However, this is unimportant right now. I grabbed X and took him off to the side, casting a spell to make a small vacuum barrier around us, so that no one would be able to hear our little ‘man to man’.
“While you two are walking around today, do not let Ash out of your sight for a single damn second. I don’t like leaving her alone in a human area, but this was her idea, and I’ll respect it. But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to just pretend that everything’s fine and there’s nothing to worry about. You need to keep your eyes peeled for any sort of potential problem. If anything happens, she has a way to contact me, so you make sure to get her back here as fast as you can. If she gets hurt on your watch, then not even the combined military might of this entire damn Kingdom will stop me from hunting you down, are we clear?”
Wait, did I become Ash’s father or something? I swear I’ve had ex’s dads give me basically the same conversation in the past when I took their daughters on a date. Though instead of threatening me outright, most of them liked to make their threats more of a subtle implication. Something like, they would just so happen to be cleaning their shotgun at the same time that I was supposed to come by and pick her up. Weird coincidence huh?
X nodded resolutely, responding, “I won’t say there’s nothing to worry about, since you seem like the kind of guy who worries about anything not under your control, but I will say,” He lifted his eyes and looked straight into my eye enchantment. “There’s no one in the Capital who could pose a threat to her while I’m around.”
I nodded back, clapped him on the shoulder, then took down the vacuum barrier. I then ruffled Ash’s hair, saying, “You guys have fun, okay? If anything happens, you know what to do.”
Ash scowled at me playfully, then ducked under my hand, bouncing around to my right and reached up to ruffle my hair in return, “Seriously Leo, so overprotective. I’ll be with X, we’ll be fine, so stop your worrying. But yeah, if anything happens I'll let you know.”
I chuckled, then went over towards Duke. “Yo, wanna check out a life-supporting subspace? You can check out my whole automatic enchanting setup too.”
The tiny man in the giant suit of armor replied, “Hell yeah, sounds cool.”
So I told Ash I’d see her later, then walked with Duke to the room that Ash and I were staying in, and once we were inside, I pulled the subspace over the two of us. Almost instantly, we could see the house in front of us, the empty garden out front, and my shed off to the right of the house. I pointed out each thing, giving him a tour of the place. Once we were in the shed, we’d probably end up just immediately getting to work, so I gave him a tour of the house first, showing him everything in the central living area, including a bathroom, the kitchen, and the living room.
As we made our way outside, I told him about how the house is actually technically three subspaces all interconnected by the doors, but when he started asking a lot of technical questions, I had to tell him to ask Sophia. It’s not like I really understood what she did after all, her understanding of space magic is at such a ridiculous level that I wouldn’t be surprised if she was considered second only to a Titled who manipulated the Aspect of Space.
I took him to my shed, and showed him all of my various projects. The three bins where I kept all of my bone knives, one for Project Horizon, one for my explosive knives, and the last one for knives that were a little bigger than normal, that I planned to use for hand to hand combat. I showed him my spinning wheel, and showed him the process of stretching out the tufts of fiber so that everything could run automatically, and I also showed him the process of refilling the mana battery.
I then showed him my loom, though it wasn’t currently operating. I had used all of my thread to make Sophia’s hoodie and sweatpants after all, and would need a few more weeks to spin enough to use the loom again. I also showed him the sticks that I was using to experiment with different enchantments, including the Radar, the targeting, and the tests on different battery sizes. I explained the various problems that I was facing with radar and targeting, as well as potential solutions.
“And for the battery enchantments, just making them bigger definitely does increase mana storage, but at the same time, proportional leakage also increases. This can be solved by using my special fabric, as that leakage will be contained within the cloth and redirected back to the circuit, but when it comes to any other material, it’s definitely a big problem.”
Duke nodded along, now out of his armor, and standing on top of the desk where I’d placed all of the sticks, and responded, “To be completely honest with you, you’ve explained that this symbol,” he pointed to the battery enchantment, “somehow stores mana, but you need to remember, I don’t really understand what you mean when you say the words ‘battery’ or ‘circuit’. I can’t really help problem solve until I understand the underlying concepts.”
“Yeah, that’s fair, basically, both of those terms have to do with a field called ‘electrical engine-’”... I froze.
“Leo? What’s up? Why’d you stop explaining?” Duke asked, confused.
“Duke.” I started, a tense note of seriousness flooding my voice. I had remembered something, that feeling of incongruity I’d had when the two of us spoke to his friend Richard. The subtle vibe that he had said something wrong, and I’d missed it, as well the hint of familiarity in his eyes. I still didn’t have an explanation for the feeling of familiarity, but for the thing I’d missed? “When I showed your friend Richard my blindfold, I walked him through some of the different enchantments, right?”
Duke nodded, baffled by my tone, “Yeah, I remember the conversation.”
“Did I explain the batteries to him?” I asked.
Duke thought about it for a moment, before shaking his head. “No, it was just the ‘windows’ and the sight and hearing enchantments. Why?”
“Because he understood what I meant when I said ‘battery’. As far as I’m aware, no one here should be able to understand that concept. Which means, that if he understood it…he’s from the same place I am.”