SRW: The Playground full of Monsters

Previously on Part One.

It was a fun day… Since her arrival, Felis has done all types of stuff, from pranking a higher ranked Warden to moving from one house to another in around 5 minutes. She dressed one Golem up, and also met her new “Boss” and possibly new friend, while also making one Grumpy Elf mad at her. That last part sorta sucked because she wanted to be her friend, but Claudia was just so boring and annoying with her rules… But whatever… So it was obvious Neko was tired, she did so much in just one day, and needed to sleep as she was already starting to yawn and feeling tired. Felis went to brush her teeth before going to sleep.

Some hours later…

The light pierced through the room, still dim as it was early in the morning, and the alarm clock started to make a loud sound, in order to wake up the sleeping Neko, before being hit by her tail and coming to a stop. Felis’ body started to turn and twist in some weird ways, trying to go back to sleep, only to slowly slide across the bed and eventually falling off the bed, hitting the floor with a loud crashing sound. Only took a few seconds before the energetic child instantly got to her feet full of energy.

She had woken up and was preparing herself to start the day. Felis quickly opened a Warp gate to the Kitchen before immediately doing the same to the Living room. It may seem a bit weird, but Neko's only organized time was the first hours in the morning, as she followed a strict schedule… And there she was, sitting on the couch with her legs crossed with her pink pyjama pants and shirt, eating cereal from the box, not getting a bowl due to not finding it and milk as she forgot to buy it, and watching the morning shows on her TV. She always watched Flappy and Arnold, Mighty Patrollers, Dragon Scroll X, among others…

The Vice-Warden always followed this almost sort of daily ritual to start the morning. This helped her not be lost when introduced to this new world, as well keeping her entertained and filling her with energy each day, that was before having to be annoyed by Claudia for the rest of the day… But it was something she always followed through, even now.

She did this to prepare herself for her “first day of work in her new job”, but it felt more like her new playground than anything. Felis was waiting for the certain someone to arrive so she could go “play” with Eros, still remembering what she said to her the day prior and she was sorta excited to know more about her new friend.

And so Felis stood there, watching her favourite shows and eating breakfast while also waiting for the faithful signal that her day was going to really start...

It is said that an average house cat will sleep anywhere from 12 to 16 hours a day depending on various circumstances. This is simply something they have evolved to do in order to conserve energy for hunting and obtaining food. Most cats tend to hunt during the night, but that was a luxury not afforded to the Bakeneko.

While it was true Eros was actually a sub species of Yokai called a Bakeneko, the head Warden did play off her feline instincts more often then she cared to admit. She slept long hours on her days off, even though she had no need to, and was actually a fairly lazy individual when not carrying out the Overseer's will. Her childhood in Gaia was tough, and the life before that even harder. Sometimes, when she slept, she could recall small snip-bits of her previous life in another world. A young kitten mewling in the dark, eating foul tasting muck to stay alive, the cold that bit at her body. All of these mere flashes of the mind as she slept in her bed, cuddling the silk sheet pillows and rolling beneath the heavy covers. Such bad dreams were banished when her mind wandered back to her beloved Haruk Zuul, the Dullahan that rescued her and made her what she was. The warmth of these sheets, the pride in who she was, all came from the Dullahan she would call "Father"...as well as the all powerful Overseer. These two figures were whom she dedicated her being to. Without them, those cold and lonely nightmares might have easily become her reality.

That was why, when she worked those long hours and dealt with the worst and most violent of criminals, she did so without complaint. Every day Eros woke up, she repeated the Security Guild’s motto to herself and remembered her oath to the being that made what she had possible. It was only after that motto was spoken aloud in that room that the Head Warden of the SRW returned to the world, and Eros could return to duty as the head of security.

The Bakeneko arrived early to her post as usual, ensuring the locks on the cell doors were properly maintained and reviewing security footage to ensure patrol integrity and prisoner stability. After she was done with that, her duties as the Head Warden moved onto paperwork, reading her subordinates reports on previous incidents and investigations going on inside her facility. Eros was the type of leader who wanted as much information as possible at any time, and had more hidden eyes in the building then even the Security Guild knew about. All of this was to ensure the safety of her staff and the people of Tsubar. As Felis was just getting out of bed, Eros had already been at work for three hours.

It was only after two more hours had passed that Eros even remembered she now had a vice-warden. Felis had been brought to her so suddenly, things just sort of got out of hand. It must have slipped her mind, but after looking at the security feed, Eros would find that Felis was far more enraptured with the children's programming on their television. Knowing Felis was being entertained, Eros took the time to finalize a status report of the previous day's proceedings before sending a staff member down to Felis’s room to go and fetch her.

“Let's try and give her a warm welcome, alright?”

--

Soon, Felis would hear a knock on their door. Should they look outside their peep hole, they would find a rather strange looking human waiting on the other side of the door. Even stranger, the second Felis got close to the door, the person would call out to them, almost like they knew she was sitting on the other side.

“Felis? The head warden has sent me...I’m here to take you back to her office. Are you ready?”

Spoiler:

Felis was enjoying her morning cartoons in her new living room, completely unaware of the big changes that were from the day before. From one day to the other, the Neko had completely switched places, got a new job and a new friend, but currently she was just so caught in the world that these shows were bringing, that she didn’t noticed that, the couch, the tv, the furniture it was on, the whole division she was on was different and yet, instead of appreciating, admiring it or anything, she instead was more focused on what was going on the Tv, like a child.

This was due to several years of abuse and experimentation. Being almost completely abandoned by her parents, and before they mercilessly sold them to scientists for money, so they could test on her, give powers in a dimension where those were rare and quite priceless. She was tortured both mentally and physically, making her grow insane, as she opened so many portals and to so far away that were behind her reality, leaving her completely exhausted, and also was broken, smashed, cut several times, burnt, twisted, even decapitated, had her heart removed and heart removed, and yet she never died, always to see the next day of this vicious cycle. Luckily she managed to find a way out, out of that prison, out of the dimension, out of that way of living… But also, found a way to keep her emotions regressing mentally to when everything was seemingly good, back to being a kid, where reality was different, from the one she was forced to live, she wanted to rewrite the story she had lived, instead of growing into a cold monster or a insane overlord with her abilities.

And now she was given away by one Officer of the Warden Guild onto another one. Pranking and ignoring Claudia’s instructions until she grew pissed off so much, that reached this point, and perhaps was for the better as they couldn’t get along it seemed, however the Neko couldn’t exactly say she wouldn’t miss the annoying elf. But now she was in the hands of a much better company, someone who truly got her attention and seemed to keep up with her antics and childish demeanor. Maybe Eros was the only to fully teach Felis the Warden’s Duty and Will of the Overseer, or would she be one more of the failed attempts at it?

Felis continued to watch her shows, completely distracted about everything around. After a few more shows her doorbell rang, exactly when her usual programming ended, almost if someone knew or something. However she didn’t think about it and went to the door, only to be greeted before even looking at who it was through the peep hole. Her cat-eyes sparkled with enthusiasm, as she immediately came to a conclusion, one that her visitor could see through walls. If it wasn't for the different voice, Felis would have thought that it was one of the Head-Warden’s abilities, but seeing the lady in front of her almost seemed like a ghost.

Then hearing the voice from the other side, Felis noticed something. That she wasn’t prepared… At all. Quickly looking down at her figure, she didn’t waste any time upon stopping time and rushing to her room. The cat-like creature quickly started dressing into her normal attire, putting on her orange shorts, followed by her orange knee socks, shoes and finishing with her big blue coat-like shirt, before opening a warp gate before quickly appearing behind the woman at the door.

“Hello there! Are we going?!”

As Felis was stepping out of the warp gate, they would find that the lady in red was already looking at them. The long, stringy black strains of hair rolled over the woman’s face in a messy batch, making it difficult to see her face beneath it all. What made it even worse was the medical mask that covered her mouth to the point where only occasionally could a single eye be seen beneath all of the strands of hair and mask, with little else clearly visible. The lady in red’s hands were clasped in front of her, but what made it readily apparent she was not human was just how she was looking at Felis. The strange cat creature had teleported behind her, and the woman was indeed looking at her...but the woman’s body was still facing the door. Her head was turned completely around, like a doll. It was only after a moment that the woman would turn her body around to match the position of her head, audible snapping and crunching of bone and cartilage happening as she did so.

“Felis? Are you there?”The woman asked, despite looking at Felis.

“The Head Warden has sent me...I’m here to take you back to her office. Are you ready?”

Felis had already arrived, and even expressed excitement on leaving! Why was this woman asking her again? Even stranger, the lady in red didn’t wait for a reply, only turning away and began walking down the hallway towards Eros’s office. She had a strange walk, almost like a limp. The lady in red seemed to take twice as many steps with one foot then she did the other, like one could only move half the distance the other could. She muttered to herself too. Whispers came from beneath the mask, but they were quiet enough that Felis couldn’t hear. Despite her strange behavior, the steel golems guarding the head warden’s office door didn’t seem to pay her or Felis any mind. The lady in red knocked on the door, once again calling out to whomever was inside.

“Felis? Are you there?”

“Come on in!”

Obeying the order, the lady in red stepped into Eros’s spacious office. She left the door open, allowing Felis to follow if she wished while the Bakeneko continued to scribble her name on various reports on her desk.

Quickly noticing the weird woman, Felis didn’t waste time to greet them and wait for an answer back. However what she found was the being already looking at her, like if she was expecting the Neko to appear of there, which did surprise her, almost if she was able to predict the future or was “Locked-on” Felis, but she didn’t notice that, instead seeing that her head was backwards as well of how much terrifying the woman was taken a better look. The sight alone was enough to send shivers down her spine along with some weird feeling… And when the rest of the body came into place, the sounds made that feeling even worse, as if she was getting glimpses of a forgotten past. She looked visibly ok, however on the inside she felt trembling fear.

However Felis was quickly broken out of this state once her visitor spoke again. This did confuse the Neko that she asked where Felis was, even though the one she asked for was right in front of her. But Felis didn’t mind much, perhaps that’s how they played around, however she didn’t exactly know how to go from there so decided to simply respond…

“I’m here Nyan~! Don’t you see I am right in front of you?” Felis asked playfully, curious to where this could be going.

She was disappointed when then the woman repeated the same sentence from once she arrived at the door. Without not even waiting for Felis to process, the Ghost-like creature started moving away and Felis quickly followed alonge. Noticing her limping, the Vice-Warden almost felt bad for her, thinking she had broken legs and couldn’t heal them or something, however she could try to do something about that creepy appearance… Not wasting much time, or even none at all, Felis quickly stopped time before opening a warp portal back to her room and quickly appearing back before time resumed.

Felis let out a few giggles, having an idea of what to do as she simply waited for her ability to come back. Once it was fully back, The Time Stopping Neko used it and started working on the woman in the few seconds she had, before backing away once the ability’s effect wore off. The woman’s hair would be pulled back and stuck with a hair pin, now revealing her face as now her mask was drawn on, having been pictured a big smile along with two red dots, one on each side, depicting the cheeks and one small nose on the top of the mask. Felis had to put her hand in front of her mouth, trying to muffle the sound of her failing to stop herself from laughing.

Seeing them arriving on a door protected by two Steel Golems, Felis quickly assumed that was Eros’ office, before seeing the woman knocking on the door and asking the same question from before. Before Felis could even call her out, a voice from inside called them in as the woman entered. Shortly after The Nekos was seen sliding in, both of her knees sliding on the floor as her face was full of excitement.

“Nyan-Nyan~! Herro there Errros!”

The strange woman in red didn’t seem to notice that time had stopped or that her appearance had taken on a somewhat drastic change. She simply continued onwards towards her destination, mumbling along in her newly decorated mask. Felis was doing a poor job of hiding her laughter, but her guide had already proven herself to be a strange and thoroughly unobservant type of character. They would reach Eros’s office without any further incident, and after being called in both the lady in red and Felis would step inside. Felis practically rushed in like a launched torpedo, her excitable and energetic personality instantly energizing the relatively calm mood inside the office.

Eros was just finishing up her forms, setting the final one aside before peering up and seeing Felis crawling across the floor like a kitten exploring a new room. While not an unexpected sight, it proved that Felis was going to need to mature a little bit in the coming months if Eros was going to expect her to become a proper Warden. And speaking of immaturity, Eros would only then notice what Felis had done to the Lady in Red’s appearance. With a cartoonish smile sketched onto the mask and her hair pulled back, the relatively creepy woman almost looked as though she had gone through a sort of metamorphosis. She looked much less unnerving, but a lot more cartoonish as a result. The Head Warden couldn’t be sure which she preferred, and decided not to bring it up as a result.

Lady in Red.:

“Thank you, Ms. Onna. I appreciate your hard work. Will you wait outside for me? I’ll have another task for you soon.”

“Thank you Ms. Onna...wait outside...another task for you soon.”

As absent minded as ever, the Lady in red would turn around and limp out the door, closing it gently behind her without so much as a noise. Other than her near inaudible mumbling. Eros would finally bring her attention back towards Felis, giving the new vice warden a smile.

“Sorry if she gave you any trouble. She is a relatively new addition to the staff and we are trying to get her to socialize with new people and focus less on her appearance...that makeover you gave her might be good practice.”

Getting out of her seat and retrieving her cane, Eros would move over towards Felis. She extended a gloved hand to help the cat...thing, up off the floor.

“With today being your first day, I figured we would start you off slow and get you acquainted with your work station. Ease you into your duties and try to get you properly acquainted with the staff.”

Eros would gesture for Felis to follow her, stepping outside to collect the mumbling woman waiting by the doorway as well. The two would walk down the hall, hopefully with Felis not too far behind as the strange trio continued to loop and slip through the long winding corridor of the facility. They seemed to go further down into the depths of the building, only the sound of Eros’s humming and the group's foot falls making any noise. To someone like Felis, the journey might be considered creepy, as the electrical lights were soon replaced with magical lamps that shined different colors and hues. Would Felis feel nervous? Could Eros actually be just as bad as Claudia, or even worse? Just how much did Felis trust this Bakeneko?

Felis rushed into her superiors office sliding in, full of energy. It was weird seeing her excited to meet her boss, however Eros seemed to interest her quite a lot due being some willing to keep up with her games and pranks but also had some power that could show to impress her and other stuff to keep her entertained. The neko quickly started to look around the room seeing how Eros’ office was and how her “friend” was doing. Seeing her sign papers or something alike got her curious about what was that about.

Not long after Eros asked politely for the lady in red to leave. Felis looking at her again, couldn’t hold but try to hold her laughter again, before being interrupted by Eros. It had seemed that her joke did get approval from the Bakeneko, Felis eyes’ immediately started sparkling like stars in the night hearing about the good praises. She was so happy to hear that her pranks were somehow helping, even though not get the “Practice” part, but since had the word “good” on it must have been praised, right?

Seeing Eros extending her hand towards the neko, she grabbed it before being pulled up to a standing position. Her mind was thinking of that last sentence…

“So… She’s new… They’re like me, then? I mean I've just been here since yesterday so I’m pretty new! Do you think she can be friends with me? isn’t she much cuter with that little game?”

And here it was one of Felis’ usual swarm of questions. This was perhaps only the second time Eros was seeing this, but Felis is not wasting any time to make sure this would be a common occurrence.

Felis followed her out as Eros talked, following her down a strange path. It seemed a pretty normal hallway, however to Felis it had something to it. It seemed similar to another hallway that bugged her. They were completely different and everything, yet to Felis it still managed to jogg something that wasn’t meant to be remembered. Now they looked awfully familiar, as she tried to remember what it was, her eyes turning blank as her body simply continued doing what she was doing before almost unconsciously, as Felis’ body followed Eros and the lady like a zombie.

However she quickly regained consciousness, simply shaking her head as if was shrugging that idea away once the magical lights came into view. Instead of being creeped out by that, she was completely amazed, even getting closer to investigate them like a curious child or even attracted to it like a moth to the flame. The different colors were like eye candy for her as the lights filled the hallways, sparking her child-like demeanour even further, distracting her of what was going on. Quickly realizing that she was losing track, she’d blitzed right next to the pair like if she was always there.

“What are we gonna do Nya~ow?”

Felis was a bit nervous about all this. After all this was her actual first day on the job and for once was curious of what was asked of her, seeing that she both enjoyed Eros and that her pranks seem to be “helping”. For now she did indeed trust the Bakeneko even though they only had met the day prior, but the way she greeted her was enough to gain her trust currently, which was better than Claudia. She didn't upset Eros too much, in order to keep her wanting to play along with her and such. So the neko tried to keep in check and act nice so she could fall in the good graces of her boss, or at least while Felis knows that she is watching...

Eros didn’t mind the storm of questions. The Head Warden had long since grown used to the constant bombardment of inquiries and questions that practically came with her job. The Security guild might have appointed her as the Head Warden of this facility, but that didn’t mean they didn’t want constant reports and updates on every little thing. They blew everything out of proportion, causing a ruckus for even the smallest of hiccups in either Eros’s construction plans or implementation of policies. Simple, childish questions like the ones Felis asked were so much easier to wash off or answer. No forms needed to be signed or facts checked. The Bakeneko could answer off the top of her head and that would probably satisfy her curious Vice-Warden. Giving her a coworker was Eros’s idea of giving her a sort of friend to try and quell Felis’s obvious trouble with boredom.

“Well, I wouldn’t say she is as new as you are, Felis. She’s been here a few weeks, but we’ve transferred her over here to try and make things more...let’s say comfortable. Everyone could use a partner or two. I find it keeps my staff out of trouble when they have a friend to help them on the right track.”

As the trio continued to descend into the deepest depths of the building, Felis would start to fall behind. She didn’t go far, Eros’s feline ears making sure to track her Vice-Warden in case she were trying to sneak away to play. But Felis would soon come running back over, just as excitable as she was when she jumped through the Head Warden’s door this morning. Onna continued to walk her strange gait and mutter strange things under her breath, but thanks to Felis’s makeover, rather than seeming creepy, Onna simply came off as dim witted.

I guess that means I like the change…

“Felis...flames are hotttttt…”

Eros would peek over her shoulder, only to find a piece of Onna’s sleeves being gnawed on by the flickering lights. Apparently, Felis had gotten rather close to the shifting flames that lit the corridor, and Onna had decided to mimic her. Unfortunately, the lady in red did not mimic her caution, as she absent mindedly tried to shake the flame off her arm. It was probably right then and there as she threw water on Onna that Eros decided the Lady in red and Felis were a bit too perfect for each other.

“Alright, we are finally here you two…”

Eros stood in front of a large, imposing metal door with an electronic keypad just off to the right. With just a few buttons pushed, the door would rumble open to reveal a somewhat spacious looking room.

“The code is 1,2,3,4 for right now. I didn’t want to make it too complicated until you were all settled in.”

Stepping inside, Eros would look around as if she were searching for something. That something would be a strange looking cart in the corner, to which she walked up to and tapped with her cane.

“Felis, you asked what you would be doing? Well, for now I want you and Onna to use this room as your office. You can do whatever you want with it within reason. No fires, no weapons, and nothing that can combust. All I ask is that you get your work done first, and you can play as much as you’d like. Your job is easy enough. You two will be cleaning key areas of the SRW, such as the halls in the dungeon, the waiting room area, guest rooms and certain halls that will shift from day to day. Of course, when it comes to the dungeon you won’t have to clean in any prisoners cells or any place you feel unsafe. Just make sure it isn’t a pigsty.”

On the cart beside Eros was a number of cleaning supplies and tools. Onna seemed to peer around the room and it’s empty space. There were a few capenants in the corner, a simple table, and some chairs. An overhead light kept the room well illuminated, though Eros’s golden eyes still seemed to shine towards the two newbies as her tail twitched curiously.

So the Ghost lady wasn’t as new as Felis once thought… Having been here much more time than the Neko, they were just socially awkward it seemed. And she seemed funny, not as socially open like Felis, but she had her own way. At least Eros seemed to enjoy those little changes that she made to Onna. It wasn’t long after these thoughts that the Neko had her little blank-like state, where she slowed down compared to her usual walk, but quickly passed, before being distracted by the bright and beautiful lights. Her ears twitched as she heard her name being calmed followed by a weird and funny phrase in a soft voice.

Looking to where it came from, the child-demeanour creature found the pale woman, close to the flames just like herself, but less carefully as it seemed she tried to touch them and caught her sleeve on fire and started swinging it comically to try to put out the fire, causing Felis to burst into laughter while pointing into that figure. As Water was sprayed upon Onna to put out the fire, leaving her in a wet state caused even more laughter from Felis.

After calming down, she followed them until they reached a large metal door. Upon being told to wait a bit, Felis did so, which seemed weirdly enough of her, as Eros punched the code in on the keypad next to it, Eros told them the code and the door opened right after. Looking inside the Neko could only see a medium sized room with a cart in a corner. Felis was shocked to see that, waiting for an explanation before she herself demanded one, and hearing her explanation easened at least a bit…

“So we are on cleaning duty?! C’mon…!” Felis said angry, but started to slowly calm down and  look at Onna.

It was interesting to know that Onna was going to be her companion. And she was actually there for much longer than she was then, she was just… socially awkward, unlike Felis that was more open. But Onna still seemed funny and such, however Felis didn’t really know about it, but almost felt like the Ghost-like lady was there to keep an eye on her and keep her out of danger.

Felis smiled back at Eros, with a devious look on her face, as she noticed that she could still play and only had to “clean” but was free to do whatever she felt like as long as she did it, and with someone alongside her like Onna, maybe it could be way better. Could also be fun to see those creatures up close.

“Sure, we’ll do that… Won’t we… Onna?” she said as she looked at her new companion and friend.

The Head Warden expected a reaction like the one Felis copped. It was essentially janitorial duty with a lighter workload, but Eros had to compile this assignment rather last minute. Felis was practically thrown onto her by her superiors, and she wanted to observe her new Vice Warden a bit more before even thinking about giving her any important tasks. For the moment, keeping Felis busy was Eros’s only goal, but when the vice warden looked like she might throw a fit at her newest job posting, the Head Warden began to wonder if she was giving her newest addition too long of a leash.

Thankfully, Felis seemed to resolve whatever attitude she had on her newest position when Eros told them they can do whatever they wished with their free time once their work was finished. The Head Warden was more than capable enough of disciplining her staff, anyone could ask about that...but Eros got the distinct feeling that approach wouldn’t be all that effective on Felis. Not unless Eros really scared her. And Eros didn’t really care to be so scary so early in the morning.

“Well, I’m happy you like it. Just let me repeat myself: Use this room how you want, but don’t let it get too messy. I’ll be checking in on you two sometime in the afternoon if I’m not busy...so try and do your best, okay?~”

Eros gave the two a pleasant smile as purple smoke seemed to erupt from the floor beneath her feet. In a flash, the smoke crawled up her legs, then her body, and finally consumed her head before fading away entirely! Eros had a talent for magic tricks, and seemed to pull her disappearing act off without a hitch, leaving the two trouble makers alone.

“We’ll...do...that…”

The Lady in red would nod her head in agreement with Felis well after Eros had already left. If Felis moved anywhere, Onna would wait for a moment before slowly following after Felis like a little sister chasing after her sibling. Even going so far as to try and make small grunts, as though asking for Felis to slow down.