"Ok that looks really cool," I commented with a smile.

  Chelsea agreed, "You look like you just stepped out of a fantasy novel, or some kind of swords and sorcery movie."

  The two of us were sitting together on the bed in the guest room, watching while Gwen modelled some of her new outfits. There were skin-tight tight bck jeans, bck skirts, some bck dresses, bck silk blouses, bck tights, bck jackets and coats. She also had a collection of bck shoes and boots, even some gloves and hats.

  And that was just the normal stuff, clothes she could wear to college or out to the mall. She also had a small collection of maid outfits, except they were all a lot frillier and sexier. Actually they were more like lingerie, like sexy French maid costumes, rather than actual functional working clothes. Although to be honest none of us were going to compin about that. In fact I kind of wanted to see her in one of those outfits next time she was doing housework.

  Then there was the stuff she was currently modelling for us, which came from her mage css.

  First up she had a pair of soft bck leather ankle-boots with low heels, then bck silk tights that accentuated her shapely legs. A knee-length pleated bck leather skirt was held in pce with a bck leather belt, outfitted with a few pouches and a sheathed dagger that hung by her right hip. Next was the tight bck leather bustier that drew attention to her chest and left her midriff bare. A long bck robe or cloak hung from her shoulders. And a wide-brimmed bck felt hat rested atop her ravenette hair.

  The final piece was her staff, which was a work of art. It was as tall as her, at around a hundred and seventy-five centimetres from top to bottom. The shaft was a dark polished hardwood, like walnut maybe. It was about three centimetres thick at the top but tapered to maybe two at the base, and looked like it had some weight to it. At the top was an ornate carving of a small sleek fox, made of an even darker wood like ebony. The fox was curled around a small fist-sized polished bck orb, kind of like a crystal ball but made of onyx or jet.

  "There's one thing I'm curious about," Chels added. "For someone called 'Gwyneth the Grey' you sure do wear a lot of bck. I figured there'd be some grey in there somewhere, you know?"

  Gwen looked like she was trying not to smile as she replied, "Yeah. That was actually going to be a running joke in the story I was writing? Every couple chapters someone was going to say more or less the same thing you just did. Or ask about it, or whatever."

  "Cute," I smiled. "So was there an answer, like is there something behind that? Or was it just for ughs?"

  My friend shook her head, "There was a reason for it. It's basically like, the character was meant to have a 'good pure heart'? My name means 'white' or 'pure' or 'blessed', depending on how you transte it. So she's a good character, but her outfits are supposed to be 'dark' or 'evil' coded. And that's where the 'grey' comes in. She looks evil, but acts good."

  "I like it," I nodded. "It's a cute idea."

  Then Chels asked, "Does your staff do anything? Does it have some special magical powers or something?"

  "It does all kinds of things," Gwen replied with a wide happy smile. "Or at least it would if our world had magic? But in my story, the bck crystal sphere at the top is my main magic focus. And the fox is kind of like my familiar? She's more like a fox spirit than an actual living animal, and most of the time she's asleep at the end of my staff, protecting the crystal."

  The elf mage continued happily, "If there was enough magic, I could even send my little fox off on missions? Like she'd unwrap and jump off the staff, leaving just the bck crystal at the end. Then my fox familiar can go do stuff on her own. Like she's a good spy, she can turn invisible and sneak around. She also has her own magic, she can do some spells and stuff."

  Chels smiled, "Aww that's so cute! Does she have a name? And does she like getting pets?"

  My friend blushed a little, "I do have a name for her, but it's not very original."

  "What is it?" I asked. "We won't judge."

  Gwen still acted embarrassed as she admitted, "In my story I call her Vix. That's short for 'vixen', which is the word for a female fox."

  "Vix is a cute name," Chelsea stated. "Can I pet her?"

  "You know she's just a wood carving, right?" Gwen responded. "But yeah, I guess you can pet her. If you want."

  The little catgirl actually had to stretch up on tiptoes to reach the top of Gwyneth's staff, but she made a show of gently petting the wooden fox carving. Chelsea's ears and tail all stood up tall while she did it, and I even heard some faint purring so I knew someone was happy. In fact I couldn't help smiling too, as I watched Chels continue petting the cute fox carving.

  Meanwhile I looked to Gwyneth and commented, "You know, it kind of reminds me of the staff-familiars they had in that Bird House show. You remember that one, with the witches and demons?"

  My friend blushed a little more as she admitted, "Yeah. I uh, may have stolen a few ideas from that when I was designing my character's staff in my story."

  "Nice," I smiled again. "It was a good show."

  Then I gestured towards her closet and asked, "So are you done modelling for now? Or do you want to try on some more clothes?"

  "I'd love to see you in those sexy maid outfits," Chelsea added as she returned to sit next to me on the bed.

  The elf girl's cheeks got a little brighter as she smiled, "I'm actually looking forward to trying those on as well."

  She carefully pced her staff in the corner so it was leaning upright against the wall, then with the cute catgirl and I both watching Gwen proceeded to strip down out of her mage outfit. She wasn't exactly putting on a show for us, and she was more concerned with carefully putting her mage clothes away than showing off her naked body. It was still kind of hot watching her undress though.

  Once she finished undressing she picked out one of the frilly French maid sets. There was a pair of bck fish-net stockings that came up as far as her hips. Then a cy bck garter belt, to hold the stockings in pce. The ten-centimetre bck stiletto heels were next. Then came a frilly bck micro-skirt that barely covered her behind. A bck ce push-up bra that didn't really conceal anything but did some amazing things with her cleavage. And a small frilly white apron that seemed more decorative than functional. The final accessory was a bck feather duster, with a phallic-shaped handle that left no doubt as to its real intended function.

  "Wow," I commented quietly when she'd finished dressing. "Can you actually walk in those?"

  Gwen's cheeks were still pink, but she was smiling again as she nodded, "Yes miss, of course I can."

  Hearing her address me as 'miss' again made me think she'd gone back into maid mode, which made sense considering what she was wearing.

  "They're not the most practical shoes," Gwyneth added as she strode back and forth in front of Chelsea and I, "But they're not meant to be."

  "I love what they do to your legs and posture," Chels commented appreciatively.

  "Yeah," I nodded slowly as I watched the sexy elf maid's long shapely legs for another few seconds. Then I smiled again and suggested, "Why don't you stick with that outfit for now, Gwen? You can wear it while you prepare dinner for the three of us."

  My best friend hesitated, "I'd love to miss, but proper maid attire here is nothing at all..."

  I'd almost forgotten about that, but I replied smoothly "I think we'll be changing the uniform requirements, Gwyneth. Naked is always a good option, and perhaps that will remain the preferred outfit for special occasions. But for now, what you're wearing is also an acceptable uniform."

  "Yes miss," she curtsied. "Shall I get started on dinner now?"

  It was a little early for dinner, but on the other hand we'd all skipped lunch today. Which meant I was already getting kind of hungry, and figured the others probably were too.

  So I nodded, "Yeah, that sounds good. We'll be having the Chinese leftovers from st night."

  "Of course miss," Gwen nodded as she strode out of the guest room towards the stairs.

  Chelsea and I followed our sexy maid down to the kitchen, where we both grabbed some drinks then sat down to watch her prepare our evening meal. And while Gwyneth wasn't exactly making it a show or anything, that didn't make it any less enjoyable. Like Chels said, those heels did some very nice things to the elf girl's legs and behind.

  After a minute or two I realized that maybe she was making a show of it after all. She was careful to bend at the waist whenever she had to reach something at the bottom of a cupboard, or to access the oven. And thanks to her micro-skirt, that meant every time she bent over both Chels and I got an excellent look at the elf girl's bare bottom. Unless she was facing us, then we got a great view of her cleavage instead.

  She also made sure her performance wasn't over too quickly. Instead of just heating everything up in the microwave she took the time to prepare each of the leftover dishes separately, on the stove or in the oven depending what it was. And when everything was finally ready, she brought the dishes over to the table one at a time.

  After all the food was served Gwyneth finally took her seat next to Chels and I. Then all three of us got started on our meal.

  "We're definitely going to have to get groceries tomorrow," Chelsea commented as the three of us enjoyed our dinner. "We can do toast and coffee for breakfast, but we don't even have enough in the house to make our lunches tomorrow."

  I shrugged, "Me and Gwen can grab something at the cafeteria. We could get breakfast there too for that matter. And I'm sure you have even better options at uni, right Chels?"

  The little catgirl nodded, "Yeah there's a pretty nice food court. But we can't afford to eat out and get delivery every day. Even if we could, it's probably not that healthy. So I was thinking, I'll drop you two off at college in the morning and come pick you both up again after css? Then all three of us can go to the grocery store together. If that works for you?"

  "That would be great Chelsea, thank you!" Gwen replied. "And of course I'd be happy to help with the grocery shopping after school."

  I grimaced, "After css isn't great for me. I was pnning on heading straight over to Frank's pce tomorrow afternoon. I want to find out where that ptop really came from, or how he got his hands on it. It's way too powerful and valuable for someone to have just pawned it off as cheap used junk."

  Chelsea's tail slowly swayed back and forth behind her as she munched on a chicken ball. When she was done she had another suggestion, "In that case how about I pick you both up after css, and all three of us go talk with your boss? Then we can hit up the grocery store once we're done there."

  Her ears and tail all drooped as she added with a frown, "Or do you have to work a shift tomorrow?"

  "I doubt there'll be any work for me," I replied as I shook my head. "Mondays are usually pretty quiet at the shop. Same with Tuesdays and Wednesdays for that matter? So I should be ok to go shopping with you and Gwen after we're done with Frank."

  The catgirl's tail started slowly swishing back and forth again as a thoughtful look settled on her face. Then she asked, "I had the impression your part-time job kept you really busy? I thought you had to work almost every day after school."

  I grimaced, "Yeah... Even if there wasn't any work I'd still hang out at Frank's shop sometimes. Or I'd go kill time somewhere else then just cim I had to work. It felt uh, safer being somepce else, instead of coming back here."

  Chelsea's ears and tail drooped again, and she gave me a look that was somewhere in between guilty and apologetic. "I'm so sorry Lisa. You shouldn't have had to feel afraid in your own home. I'm going to make it up to you though, ok? I promise."

  "It's fine," I mumbled as I tried to focus on my food. "It wasn't just you, it was mostly because of Ed. And I know you're not like that anymore."

  "Thanks Lisa," she replied with a sad smile. "I still want to try and make it up to you though."

  I didn't like seeing Chels so sad or guilty, but I had an idea that I figured might make her happy. So I gave her what I hoped would be a naughty grin and teased, "Maybe we can find some way for you to make it up to me this evening?"

  Sure enough her eyes lit up and her expression shifted to eager excitement, while her tail and ears all stood up straight again.

  PurpleCatGirl