Monster Mansion

IRO

Iro followed behind the sharply-dressed centaur, watching her ponytail and actual tail sway back and forth as she trotted along. Her jacket was tightly fitted around her human torso.

She wore a sturdy skirt that covered the majority of her lower equine half, showing her four horse legs at the knee and below and letting her tail poke through a disguised slit in the back.

To Iro, she seemed very prim and proper. And pretty damn fast, too.

He did his best to keep up as she led him through the courtyard of the mansion, into the large house, and through the beautifully designed foyer.

Iro found himself looking at everything all at once, spinning in circles as paintings, sculptures, and blooming flowers all baffled him. He’d never seen anything like any of it.

“I believe the advertisement explicitly stated ‘maid,’ thus I do not understand your confusion with your position and responsibilities,” the centaur said, reminding Iro he had someone to actually listen to.

Iro caught a hint of professional annoyance in her voice. It hadn’t changed much from their initial meeting at the gate.

“W-well, I thought it was more of a…I don’t know, really. It just sounded like a live-in attendant.”

The centaur huffed. “Yes. A ~maid~. Airy!”

The sudden flapping of wings sounded out from above, and Iro saw a red-feathered humanoid vault over the second-floor foyer railing, flap wildly, and land delicately on the tile floor in front of Iro and the centaur.

Her taloned feet then stumbled and caused the newcomer to tumble onto their face with their legs up in the air behind them.

The unfortunate landing and awkward position gave Iro time to observe that the newcomer was a she.

She wore a slightly undersized and stereotypical French maid outfit, and the short skirt had flipped up, exposing her pink panties and a fan of red feathers sticking out from the small of her back.

Iro felt a blush form when he recalled that he had worn a very similar outfit for a cosplay event a little over a year ago, right down to the panties. His fans loved him for that one.

The centaur sighed and pinched the bridge of her brow in irritation. “Airy, what did I say about caution and exposing yourself to newcomers?”

The feathered girl sat halfway up, flipping her skirt down and chuckling with an embarrassed and apologetic expression. “S-sorry Cerys. Airy can’t fly as well in her dress.”

The centaur, Cerys, it seemed, frowned at the avian. “You already got yourself a smaller uniform. I won’t have you flitter around the master’s home naked. Pah.”

She grabbed Iro’s suitcase and backpack. “Take these to the room across from yours. Across, not beside. Not again, got it?”

Airy scrambled to her feet and saluted with a wing-like arm. “Yes, ma’am!” She grabbed the two bags in her talons, flapped back up to the second floor, and disappeared.

Cerys turned back to Iro again and sighed once more. “Apologies that you had to see that. We expect perhaps a bit too much of her, she’s just reaching adulthood, you see. Still…childish, as many harpies are at her age.”

Iro dragged his attention away from the last falling feathers from the departing harpy and back to the centaur and nodded.

“It’s okay. I’ve met plenty of people far worse than her. I’ve even…ah, never mind. Um…what’s next? For me, that is.”

Cerys bowed her head slightly and seemed to recompose herself, returning to her stern expression.

“As described, you will be joining the house staff, and because the master prefers to have a clean household to return to and host parties at, will be expected to maintain a level of orderliness that is acceptable.

“That includes your living space, areas under your responsibility, and yourself.”

Iro frowned. “I’m part of the house?”

Cerys chuckled with a haughty style of laugh.

“Nonsense. You’re not quite as dense as the bricks making up the house. No, the ~household~, Iro, you are part of the household. So long as you are in the master’s employ, you will be considered as such.”

Cerys started trotting along, deeper into the mansion, and silently expected Iro to follow. Realizing she wasn’t going to prompt him, he scrambled to catch up and had to half-jog to keep up with her strides.

Cerys led Iro into what was undeniably a kitchen, with vast cupboards on every wall, large stove tops and burners, two sinks, and every sort or ladle, knife, and whisk Iro could imagine existed.

“I do not know if your talents, minimal as they may be, include kitchen work, but these are where meals will be made and delivered from.

“Twice a week the master hosts a staff dinner where all of our resident workers gather together and eat. The master enjoys taking the time to reconvene, visit with new faces, and ensure things are progressing well.

“Other days, you may be expected to serve a meal and then return here for your own meal in a more private setting. Don’t take it too hard, the master is simply not the most sociable type all the time.”

“I’ve taken plenty of hard things,” Iro muttered.

Cerys’ ears, which were that of a horse even on her otherwise human head, flicked twice before she turned and gestured to a door in the back of the kitchen.

“Next are the dressing rooms. I would have you change now to present yourself respectfully to other staff, many of whom are currently accompanying the master, as necessary business has required their presence at the moment.

“You will meet our master and the remainder of the staff soon enough. Nonetheless, good dress is key to success.”

Cerys clopped through the kitchen, easily passing through the wide spaces between workstations, and pushed open the doors leading to the dressing rooms.

Iro followed closely and found what turned out to be a fairly generic locker room with a set of showers behind frosted glass to the left and a dozen tall and wide lockers on the right.

Several multi-shaped and -sized benches filled the center of the room.

The most unusual feature of the room was a bundle of fur and fabric curled up on the centermost and largest of the benches, and Iro could tell, just by the smell, that it was none other than an evolutionary enemy.

Iro felt a growl grow in the back of his throat and was about to pounce when Cerys cut him off with a frustrated tone.

“Mika, what have I told you about sleeping in common areas? And did you break into the alcohol again? You reek.”

She trotted up and grabbed what turned out to be a cat girl by the scruff of her neck. She was slightly smaller than Iro.

She stretched in Cerys’s grip and ruffled her fur and the frilly folds of her French maid outfit that seemed to be the common uniform of the mansion, if Iro’s experience was any indication.

Mika let out a big yawn. “Sorry Cery, I just found a spare bottle left out and got a little excited. You know I can’t resist satyr brews.”

Cerys sighed and held the half-drunk cat up toward Iro. “Mika, say hello to our new maid. Be nice to him.”

Iro looked confusedly between the two as Mika eyed him suspiciously. She turned to Cerys, “Him?”

Cerys sighed and tossed Mika back at the bench. The drunk cat landed on her feet only to roll onto her back less-than-gracefully.

“Yes. Him. He might have particularly specific proportions, but nothing we haven’t seen before. Go and grab a small uniform please. A ~full-size~, small uniform. None of those miniskirt pranks again.”

Mika sighed and rolled off the bench, taking her time to drunkenly stagger to an unmarked locker and dig inside to retrieve a similarly styled maid uniform to her own and walk back to the waiting centaur.

“It’s going to smell like dog forever now,” she muttered as Cerys took the garment away and returned to her drunken nap spot.

Cerys shook her head tiredly and held the maid uniform up for Iro to see. “Your uniform. The master expects cleanliness of your uniform when serving, so make sure to keep that under control.

“You’ll get several more for different events and in the event of a spill, but you can speak with the seamstress about it later. Go on, put it on.”

Cerys tossed the frilly black and white dress on the nearest flat surface and crossed her arms, looking at Iro expectantly.

Iro looked between Cerys and the not-so-subtly staring Mika. “W-what, right now? Here?” Iro asked, with a pointed glance at the lounging feline.

Cerys nodded. “Yes, of course. You never seemed too nervous before. What’s so different now?”

Iro’s ears perked up. “Before? Wait, did you—”

“Look into you? Obviously,” Cerys interjected, leaning her human half far down to be almost eye level with the comparatively short Iro.

“Quite the personality you have, Iro Tenga. Believe me, you would not have been selected for this position without it. Now, hurry up, we need to finish the tour of the house.”

Cerys gestured to the outfit one more time before bringing herself to her full height and crossing her arms again.

“Come on, puppy, not like we haven’t seen some dick before. Hardly impressive anyway, I’m sure—”

“Mika!” Cerys barked, silencing the snickering cat. “She is correct, however. It’s nothing we haven’t seen. Hurry up now, we don’t have too long before dinner time.”

Iro gulped and put his hands to the bottom of his T-shirt and pulled it over his head, self-conscious of his slim body.

“Cute,” chirped Mika, earning a glare from Cerys.

Iro tried to ignore the teasing feline and unbuttoned his shorts, giving Cerys one more pleading look only to meet an iron wall. Steeling himself, Iro pulled down his shorts and braced for impact.

“Ho-ly-Gyaaa!” Mika started to say before getting beaned in the forehead by a pen Cerys pulled from a side pocket and launched at the feline with pinpoint accuracy, leaving Mika rubbing her face as a small red spot formed.

“I assume you made your choice of undergarment based on comfort, Iro. Women’s underwear does tend to have comfort in mind. I cannot imagine they support your… ahem,equipment adequately.”

Iro shuddered as he was left standing in front of two females while wearing nothing but one of his former roommate’s pairs of colorful boy shorts-style panties.

“I-it’s not like that! It looks very similar to one of my pairs…b-but I picked up the wrong one, I guess.”

Cerys shrugged and picked up the maid outfit and held it out for him. “I’ll remember to note that you prefer comfort for your undergarments over social norms. Very interesting.”

Iro felt his facial fur ruffle in a blush as he gripped the fabric of the dress and started to pull himself into it.

This job is going to be…complicated…