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The average day at an Ars Goetia estate was supposed to be simple and routine; everyone and everything in its right place. In one such castle, sunlight peeked through curtains all throughout. Aside from the busy imp servants, hardly a soul stirred, relative quiet flooding from room to room. Within these walls that had been hers since gaining it in the divorce, Stella basked in having the castle to herself, no matter that her daughter still lived here, or that her brother came to visit from time to time. Quickly had the royal demon descended upon ensuring the castle shone and glistened to her rotten heart’s content, bossing around the butlers more than usual and inspecting every inch of the place. With that deviant husband of hers not around anymore, she figured this routine would stick for good. But as time passed, Stella became increasingly aware of a problem that grew like any infestation. She awoke one morning, going through her own routine in prettying herself with the servants’ aid, only for her to peruse through the castle and notice signs of someone having been here who did not belong. Trash from the ransacked pantry littered the living room. Stacks of messy dishes cluttered the kitchen sink, a few having fallen and smashed into brittle pieces. Wet pawprints nearly made Stella slip and fall onto the otherwise spotless floors. And that was only the tip of the iceberg.
Stella first thought if someone had broken in overnight, the act itself gradually becoming routine. In due time, however, she managed to put two and two together when she returned home one night, catching a glimpse of a large, canine figure sprinting away behind the greenery surrounding the castle’s front. That hellhound - Octavia’s bratty, ill-behaved friend - had been sneaking in at a rising rate, avoiding Stella at the precise times when she was not home. As far as she could tell, that grey-furred hellborn had been walking into the castle like she outright owned it. When a stern talking to Octavia failed to halt these disturbances, the goetian’s first response equated to a systematic lockdown of her lived-in paradise, all rejected by that mangy mutt. When the doors were bolted, she snuck in through the window. When the windows were barred, she tore them off with her bare hands. And when security was increased around the perimeter, it seemed Octavia had the means to bypass it to let her through. Oh, what a horrid influence the hellhound was to Octavia. All of Stella’s yelling onto the young owlet did nothing to sway her from her rebellious nature. And so this conflict continued for a while still, worsening until one particular day when Stella descended downstairs after finding her daughter missing (surely having snuck out with her friend), only to discover the entire floor in ruins, as though a tornado passed through every room. The tantrum she threw in the dishevelled dining room proved most volcanic.
“Oh, that stupid fucking brat and her disgusting pet!!” She stomped her talons after letting out an ear-splitting scream, proceeding to pace around the room. “Who does that flea-ridden bitch think she is?! Satan forbid she track mud on these floors, or leave a mess in all these rooms. Her mere presence is corrupting my child… that is my duty unto her. I must put an end to this madness and never again let that commoner step foot in here… but how?”
Stella paused, facing the kitchen with all its drawers and cupboards broken open and their contents spilling out. All around her, a swarm of little imp servants got to work feverishly tidying and restocking everything that had been broken, ranging from plates and cutlery to furniture. The goetian demon suddenly formed a look of exquisite wickedness upon her face, folding one arm against her bosom while her other hand rested upon her chin, its elbow planted on her other arm. A plan had hatched inside her head, one that caused her excitement to grow rapidly uncontrollable.
“Yessss, that’s it. Perhaps I should let her step foot in here next time~.” She giggled to herself. “If that hellhound so insists on acting like she lives here, then who am I to disapprove of it any longer?”
As she kept laughing with overpouring joy, Stella hastily exited the room and ran back up the stairs, intent on searching through the powerful spellbooks left behind by her ex-husband.
…
The following afternoon, Loona made her way to Octavia’s home, carefree and, in her mind, without consequence. She had been looking forward to this latest hangout more than ever, an almost strange thought when considering how every time she snuck into the castle, it always led to a killer time with the goetian. Perhaps she felt herself in a greater mood this day. The large hellhound approached the sizeable property, red eyes baggy from an inconsistent sleep schedule scanning across the area. The coast was clear. It had not been that long since she received the text from Octavia, informing her of her mother having gone out to some other goetian’s abode for another boring gathering. Nor had it been that long since Loona ran out of her home again, always looking for an escape from her father’s boring business and all the drama surrounding that environment. At first, the hellborn crouched, slowly sneaking up towards the front of the castle, having been doing so since security tightened to hell and back. But she was surprised to discover that every measure enacted to keep her out had disappeared. No one patrolled the grounds. All the windows had their bars removed. And strangely enough in the distance, the front doors slowly, slightly opened, as light from inside spilled out through its open crack.
“Okaaay?” Loona uttered confused, slowly standing back up and looking around at the entrance. “Totally not creepy…”
Despite feeling a little nervous at this silent invitation, she made her way up to the doors, scoffing while trying to rationalize what was happening. “Must be some new sensor bullshit I didn’t know about. Rich people are always buying the latest crap.”
When Loona simultaneously pushed one of the doors wide open and stepped inside, standing right past the frame, a maid’s headdress that had been loosely set on top of it fell straight down, landing perfectly on her head. The hellhound immediately felt its presence upon her, unable to see it but certainly feel it as she worriedly ran her claws along its soft white fabric.
“What the hell?!” She blurted out, trying to take it off. “What is this thing? W- why won’t it come off?!”
No matter how hard she pulled, the headdress budged not an inch. Loona soon had to give up her efforts lest she yank out a good portion of her hair alongside it. She sighed, scratching around the headdress in irritation, wondering why it was even up there in the first place.
“Maybe Via can help take this stupid thing off.” She groaned, preferring to die should she be seen with it on in public.
As Loona entered the castle, she was oblivious to the headdress sparkling under its bright lights, a magical teal sparkle briefly flashing from it, a sneaky sign of having been tampered with. Her focus moved from the headdress to the blatant fact that despite the lights being on, no one was home. While this would normally not raise an eye for the hellhound, what with her deliberately avoiding that bitch Octavia had for a mother, there would always be at least some servants idly tending to their work throughout the home, ignoring the hellhound so as to meet their daily quotas.
“Hello?” Loona shouted into the fanciful void. “Octavia? Anyone home?”
No response was returned to her. Her nerves from entering the castle suddenly rose, yet they did not prevent her from walking deeper into it, approaching those spiralling stairs that would take her up.
“Octavia’s gotta be in her room,” the hellhound surmised. “Probably has her headphones on or some shit like that.”
Loona ascended the steps and made her way to the goetian’s bedroom, its door closed. Putting an ear against it, she could not hear the faint music that would normally trickle out from the padding on her headphones. Becoming deeply concerned at these strange occurrences, Loona took it upon herself to open the door. What she saw inside made her tense up on the spot.
“Whoa… what the fuck happened here?”
Octavia’s room, once a modest place in terms of tidiness, had become a wasteland with little remnants of its previous self. A thick coating of dust covered every surface, as though no one had cleaned here in months. Everywhere from the bed to the floor and the sofa on the side, piles of clothes were scattered, as though having profusely spilled out from her open closet. Interspersed among the clothes were numerous dirty dishes; plates containing scraps of many past meals eaten in this private chamber, flies swarming around them. Upon the bed, the sheets hung loosely, a flattened pillow lifelessly sitting at the back, its white cover barely clinging on. Where the lavish curtains in the corner that had once been neatly tied to allow sunlight inside now sat unfurled, blocking out any natural light so that Loona’s view was solely lit by the bright castle corridor peering in like her. For nearly half a minute, she stared unendingly into the bedroom akin to an abyss, itself staring back at her from the utter pigsty it became.
“All that shit going on with her parents must’ve stressed her like hell.” The hellhound surmised, carefully entering and flicking on a light.
The bedroom lit up thanks to its light fixture, modeled after the solar system seen in the living world. Every one of the planets glistened like the central light - done up to resemble the sun - bathing the space and further highlighting how dusty it was from top to bottom.
“Fuck… it’s even worse than I thought.” Loona observed, stepping between the slim spaces on the floor not occupied by clothes and dishes. “Everything looked fine the last time I was here.”
The hellhound made her way up to Octavia’s bed, where the sheets were covered by hills of messy clothes. Hunched over, she gazed at this display for a moment, staleness stinging her snout, during which, a newfound train of thought took shape inside her head. Loona was never one to care about tidying up, her bedroom the biggest display of her lack of upkeeping. The mere thought of having to pick up after herself made her want to punch a hole in the wall. But as she took in the ruined state of her friend’s room, she began to feel bad for her, not wanting to leave it this way.
“I couldn’t give two craps about cleaning,” Loona scoffed, “even if I got paid to do it, but why haven’t those butlers done a damn thing in here? Maybe they’re on strike. Could Via have gone somewhere after she texted? Nah, it’s not like her. I should go find her, but I… I can’t leave her room like this. And I mean, if she’s not here, who am I to not help out? Even if it’s the last thing I’d ever do, at least it’ll help pass the time before she’s back… from wherever she went.”
And so Loona, never having cleaned before in her life, started sorting through the clothes on Octavia’s bed, for there was always a first for everything. Over several moments, she created multiple piles for each type of clothing: Shirts on one end, pants on another, jackets in-between, with beanies and even a dress amongst the mess. The hellhound grabbed a shirt and folded it to the best of her ability, or lack thereof. Still, her trying effort led to a decently folded shirt that steadily grew into a large pile of many. Loona occasionally scoffed under her breath while she worked, an ick flowing through her body from doing the last thing she ever expected to do. But the more clothes she piled up, working her way through each categorized mass of fabric, the more that ick steadily disappeared. Loona developed a better skill to more neatly fold, forming identically square stacks of shirts and pants, the beanies folded in half with their own little pile. While delving into this newfound rhythm, the headdress subtly glowed again, bringing with it unexpected and unnoticed effects upon its wearer. The scars and piercings that had gone on to define Loona’s feisty and rebellious personality faded away from her body. Where one of her ears was partly torn miraculously rejuvenated through an unseen force, the holes left behind by the piercings like the ones in her ear or the one atop her eyebrow following suit. The memories behind their additions to her body vanished from her mind. Her posture straightened out, now bending over the bed in a manner that would not hurt her back later on, the movement of her hands becoming careful and delicate. She dared not think about slouching again.
“That don’t look too shitty a job.” Loona remarked after folding the clothes, stepping back to see a series of stacks perfectly spaced apart on the mattress, dresses neatly laid out, all awaiting their return to the goetian’s closet. “Actually, it’s not that bad.”
A trace of a smile emerged from the corners of Loona’s mouth, turning around and looking at the rest of the room. As she spoke, the slightest bounciness emerged from her voice; light and fluttery. “Let’s get some fresh air in here. This staleness will simply not do.”
With such skill that surprised even her, the demon shook the dust off the curtains, tying them back to their fixed positions and allowing natural sunlight to enter. She opened each of the windows, the immediate breeze that swirled in helping purify the room’s subtle stench. Loona spun back with a greater smile on display, feeling a brewing enjoyment over her work, no matter that it only scratched the surface.
“I should fold the rest of these clothes first.” She figured, her voice rising in pitch with a dainty accent manifesting. “Oui… I’m already making such good progress.”
Loona walked around Octavia’s bedroom, picking up more clothes that she promptly placed on the bed with every handful gathered. It took her a considerable while, during which, the headdress again glistened. Her crop-top steadily morphed, accumulating added fabric that caused it to grow longer and wider, covering more of her torso. The torn material shifted into a leathery black corset hugging snug against her chest. In place of her shorts, a skirt made of the same material conjoined with the corset, their edges white and ruffled like a paper fan. They fused into a maid’s dress, an ample apron growing from thin air that covered her midriff, tied around her back. Quickly enough, the rest of her unprofessional attire changed too. The spikes on her choker vanished in place of more of those ruffled white edges, its center becoming a thick stripe of leathery black. Her fingerless gloves shifted hue and texture into that same black material, stretching up her arms until stopping right below her shoulders, their edges too adorned with ruffles. As for her stockings, their silky fabric hardened into a more durable leather accompanied by white edges of their own, retaining their thigh-high stature that left half of them exposed.
By now, the taller stacks of clothes loomed over Loona, threatening to topple over should they stay on the bed a moment longer. With efficiency surpassing that of her prior work, she made a series of trips to Octavia’s closet, restocking it with her clothes one stack at a time. Shirts and pants were placed neatly on shelves, while dresses and jackets hung from clothes hangers. Loona put them away exactly where they belonged, despite not possessing that knowledge when she began.
“Ooh, yes, yes.” The maid of the castle giggled, closing the closet door once she finished. “Miss Via will be most pleased with her wardrobe. What next?”
Her attention pivoted towards all the dishes on the floor, carefully gathering a stack to be carried out. For a time, all she did was make a series of trips from the bedroom to the kitchen, covering the countertop with many used plates, glasses, and cutlery. Loona remained unknowing of her current form, even as her body physically altered itself with the headdress’ enchanting power. The hellhound’s subtle curvature swelled into a figure easily deemed voluptuous. Her hips widened by over a few inches, stretching out her skirt with them. Both thighs thickened into plump pillows, their exposed halves nearly dribbling over her stockings. Her backside filled out generously, pushing up the back of her skirt whenever she had to bend forward, alongside her panties that thinned by comparison. At one point, the sudden growth of her breasts by a couple of cup-sizes nearly caused her to drop an entire stack of plates she carried down the stairs, both mounds pushing into it. Yet her brief panic never stemmed from her realizing her newly developed chest.
“Whoops!” Loona stopped and caught her balance, preventing the plates from leaving her grasp. “How careless of me. Master Stella would not be happy if her plates fell and broke.”
Once all the dishes were brought out of the bedroom, Loona located some soap, a sponge, and a pair of rubber gloves as though she always knew where they were. She composted all the rotten scraps that had been stuck to the dishes, quickly scrubbing through all of them under the hot running water. The maid giddily hummed to herself as she worked, tail swaying with her happy mood, her voice losing the last former traces of itself. After a short time, the drying rack nearly overflowed with washed dishes, not a spec of dirt on any of them.
“Lovely, lovely! Très bien!” She stared at the rack, idly clapping her hands together while bouncing on the fronts of her paws. “Now to let them dry.”
Loona returned upstairs, making prompt work of the rest of the room. With the bed cleared of clothes, she tended to it next, tucking the edges and corners of both the sheets and blanket underneath the mattress. She slipped the pillow back into its case, fluffing it up before setting it back down. Suddenly, Loona noticed that dust swirled around her, having spread while redoing the bed. Her paws hastily crossed the bedroom floor, heading straight into a nearby storage room and coming back with a feather duster, rag, spray bottle, and vacuum cleaner. The maid delved right into the dust problem from one side of the room to the other, dusting the bedframe and the chest right before it - the couch, curtains, shelves, closet, and the edges of the mirror. Every now and then, she stepped over to the window - now letting in evening light - to shake the dust off the duster, holding it out far enough so that none floated back inside. One by one she shut the windows, spraying and wiping them so much that they shined like moody rainbows.
Around this time, her body working away, her mind grew foggy with the headdress’ final glow, affecting the memories within. Sure, these memories, as conflicting as they were to her current occupation, appearance, and personality, still stirred within her head, having been keeping her thoughts busy during this extensive cleanout, no matter that two vastly opposing lifestyles mindlessly clashed at one another. But the more she cleaned, the more she inadvertently cleaned out from her mind. Memories of getting wasted at parties, the complicated relationship with her father and co-workers, all the murderous deeds she committed during the job she previously had, and many, many more were wiped out when she closed the windows and wiped them down, followed by the mirror. In their place, her refined skills in cleaning and organizing took center-stage. Her previous self’s attitude and rage had been extinguished, introversion written on her face. Loona enjoyed being the lone wolf with a never-ending list of tasks to manage: Rooms to clean, floors to scrub, meals to cook, people to serve. She wore it like a badge of honor much like her snug dress, never letting her curves bother her no matter how much they quivered with her every movement. Seeing her reflection in the polished glass solidified her new position within the castle - the head maid whose head floated in the clouds.
“Ooohoohoo~… don’t I look pretty today.” She giggled, running a hand through her hair as she stared at herself: Plump, formally dressed, and clean from her filthy prior lifestyle, just like Octavia’s room.
After a moment spent admiring her reflection, the maid vacuumed the room. The machine’s loud whirring filled the space, a cacophony created when the hellhound began to hum at matching volume. She sucked up feathers and food crumbs, lingering dust and strands from clothes, the entire floor cleared before long. It was right before she finished that an irate voice abruptly roared at her from the doorway.
“What the fuck are you doing here?!”
Loona partly looked to see Octavia, the goetian’s arms crossed like her expression. “Quoi?”
“Shut off that vacuum!” The goetian shouted again, stomping into her room. “I can barely hear myself think!”
“S- sorry!” Loona stammered, turning off the vacuum and fully facing the youngest of the castle, briefly bowing before her. “What is it, Miss Via?”
“Why are you cleaning my room right now? You know I was going to be back around this time.”
“Oh, dear.” Loona worriedly tapped her paw, letting it pass before inquiring to the goetian. “I seem to have forgotten about that arrangement. How was teatime with your mother and her friends?”
“Dreadful.” She answered. “It felt like a sinner’s punishment. They hate the way I dress, speak, even how I breathe!”
“I am so terribly sorry to hear that.” Loona spoke earnestly. “But you have just arrived at the perfect time! Your bedroom has been tidied from top to bottom. In fact, I was finishing up when you came in.”
“Hmm… I guess it is perfect timing.” Octavia scoffed, hardly looking that thankful for the maid’s efforts. “You didn’t fuck up the closet again, did you?”
“Non, of course not.” The hellhound almost blushed, thinking of what happened those many months back. “Your clothes are placed exactly as you wish.”
Octavia walked over to the closet doors and flung them open, peering inside to corroborate her maid’s answer. She turned her head back all the way to address Loona. “Good. In that case, get out! I need to lay down for the next year.”
With its own work complete, the headdress loosened ever-so slightly from Loona’s head, a quick raise of the hand recentering it. No longer did she have any desire to take it off.
“As you wish, Miss Via.” Loona bowed again, retrieving the vacuum and the other supplies left around the room, hoisting them in her hands as she scurried towards the door.
“One more thing.” The goetian’s words stopped the maid in a heartbeat.
“Oui?” Loona looked back while in the doorway, struggling not to drop the supplies she tightly gripped.
“Shut the door on your way out.” Octavia pointed.
“With pleasure!” The hellhound nodded, fully exiting the bedroom and awkwardly lifting her paw at the door’s lower corner. “Please let me know if you ever need anything else. I’m only a shout away.”
By an awkward kick of her paw, the maid closed the door, hearing the goetian mutter from the other side, “Weird fucking hire…”
Loona ran back to the storage room and returned everything in her hands, paws loudly scuttling down the stairs in search of her next task. She stepped back into the kitchen, about to see if the dishes she washed could be put away, when a powerful scream coming from the back of the castle made her freeze. Thank goodness she had not yet picked up the dishes.
“YOU IN THE KITCHEN! GET ME A CUP OF TEA!!”
“R- right away, Master Stella!” Loona shouted back with all the politeness she possessed, no doubt recognizing that voice.
Within five minutes’ time, the maid passed through the open backdoor leading to the garden - an open area surrounded by shrubs full of prickly roses and hedges. At its center sat Stella, atop a lone chair accompanied by a small white table. The goetian watched as the hellhound approached, struggling to carry the tray with a teacup and pot full of tea as she constantly avoided overgrown vines that stretched across the stone-paved path. Stella - the only one to remember who that hellhound was before - bared a smug grin as she breathed in the lovely evening air, victorious in her scheme to rid her home of its pest problem. Now, that pest had been tamed.
“Pour toi, mademoiselle Stella.” Loona gently placed the tray on the table. “Perfectly heated to your liking.”
As the maid grabbed the teapot and poured its steamy contents into the cup, Stella decided to have a little fun with her. “Remind me again… how long has it been since you started working here?”
“Ooh… umm…” Loona pondered. She spent close to ten seconds trying to find her answer. “I seem to have forgotten. I suppose time is quick to pass when one is so busy.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.” Stella remarked. “You have always been rather forgetful, although it seems to me you remembered which tea I enjoy most during sunset. I can already smell its irresistible aroma. Good job.”
Loona’s tail subtly wagged at the praise, ignoring it as she finished pouring the tea. She took a step back as Stella blew the steam rising from the cup, lifting it to her lips and taking the slightest sip without burning herself. A brief silence passed. The goetian placed the cup back down on the saucer atop the tray, releasing a content sigh.
“Not bad.” She side-eyed Loona. “But do try and be a little faster next time. You kept me waiting a moment longer than usual. I expect no fuckups from the head maid! Do I make myself clear?”
“Oui, Master Stella.” Loona blushed a tad, already trying to figure out how to better meet the goetian’s needs.
“Good.” Stella took another sip and put the cup back down, the air helping to cool it down faster. “Tell me, do you enjoy your occupation?”
“Of course I do!” Loona replied, sounding as though she had been offended. “It is beyond an honour to serve for an estate of such high standing. Everything I do, it is for you and Miss Via. You, Master Stella, have given me a home here, and for that, I could not be any more grateful.”
“Your gratitude is tolerably appreciated.” Stella told her, scoffing at the disgustingly large smile on the hellhound’s face. “Once those dishes have been put away inside, I have one last job for you tonight.”
“What would that be?” Loona inquired.
“I have been informed by one of the other butlers that the washing machine has suffered a malfunction. This has been a most unfortunate timing, as you see, there are several baskets of my clothes sitting in the bedroom… all of them in need of a deep clean. You are to scrub every one of them by hand until they are all shining like the sun. When you’re finished, prepare a clothesline back here and hang them all to dry. Don’t worry about the dark, other than the bodyguards doing their own job. I heard you gave them quite the laugh when they scared you with one of their flashlights.”
Loona preferred not to think of that humiliating time when she tidied up that night after a party held in the garden. In recalling the memory, Stella laughed a little to herself before her firm demeanour returned.
“As you wish, Master Stella.” The maid bowed. “I shall get started right after I put those dishes away.”
“Very good.” The goetian sneered, picking up the teacup. “You’re dismissed. I better see every single dress without any goddamn stains! I’ll be inspecting them very closely, so remember… no fuckups!!”
“Oui!” Loona bowed again, heading back down the stone path towards the castle. “Enjoy the tea!”
Stella sipped again, holding the cup as she watched the hellhound walk away. Her satisfaction at the outcome involving her maid was as delicious as the tea itself. Who knew one simple spell could solve such a nagging problem with ease? Sure, her daughter seemed more miserable without having that rowdy friend of hers around, but it seemed that bossing the maid instead filled that time well enough. In her head, Stella began to concoct a growing list of chores for the maid, eager to unleash them over the coming days. Loona did not think twice about her latest task. She knew that after tonight, she would secure a good sleep in her private housing within the property, always living there to tend to anything that Stella and her daughter needed. Never did it cross her mind that she was once a rambunctious punk who would have tossed a basket of laundry out the window if she was told to wash its dirty contents. Now, she could not have been more happy to do so. After the tumultuous period involving its frequent trashing, the castle regained its prior state of relative quiet, a demented peace flourishing from room to room. As far as Stella was concerned, nothing or no one would step out of line again; everyone and everything in its right place. The boundless magic in her possession ensured that, should someone or some thing disturb her tranquil lifestyle, they would be at her unknowing mercy with one incantation.