"Holy crap that was terrifying," my best friend sighed as she all but crumpled to the floor. She ended up on her knees, staring down at the carpet with her shoulders slumped.

  We'd just watched her parents get in their car and drive away, and it felt like all the stress and tension evaporated after that.

  Chelsea's ears stood up while her tail swished back and forth behind her as she crouched down next to the elf girl. She looked and sounded worried as she asked, "Gwen are you ok? Did he hurt you at all? I thought you were going to lose some teeth when he swung at you like that!"

  "I'm fine," Gwyneth mumbled as she slowly shook her head. "He didn't even touch me."

  Then she looked over at me and added, "Whatever you did, it sure worked. Thanks Lisa. For everything."

  "I'm just gd you're alright," I replied as I moved to her side.

  She was still kneeling on the floor looking like all the energy had been drained out of her. And Chels remained crouched next to her, so I ended up joining them.

  I sat down beside my best friend and put an arm around her waist. Then as I held her I said, "You're safe Gwen, you've always got a pce here with me and Chelsea."

  "Thanks Lisa," she gave me a weak smile as she leaned against me. Then she sighed again, "Sorry my dad broke your door. I hope that's not too expensive to get it fixed?"

  I shook my head, "Don't worry about it. I'm pretty sure I can fix that easily enough with the ptop."

  The catgirl's ears twitched as she asked, "Speaking of the ptop, you said you needed to make some adjustments to keep us safe? Now that the crisis is over do you want to tell us how that worked?"

  "Yeah we need to talk about that," I agreed. "What do you think Gwen? Do you want to go sit somewhere more comfortable while we talk?"

  "Ok Lisa," Gwen nodded slowly. Then she suggested, "Or maybe you should try and fix the door first? We should at least close it, even if we have to use something to wedge it shut for now."

  "I'll get it," Chelsea offered as she stood up.

  With her tail slowly swishing back and forth she moved up to the front door and peered outside, as if double-checking that Mr. and Mrs. McFarne really were gone. Finally she swung the door shut, but with the door frame splintered there was nothing for it to tch onto. So it wouldn't stay shut on its own, it kept trying to swing back open as soon as Chels let go of it.

  "Give me a sec," I said.

  I still had the ptop with me, so I set it on the floor in front of me and opened it back up again. It was a little slower typing one-handed again but I didn't want to let go of Gwen just yet. So it took a little longer for me to get back into the inventory editor, then I found the appropriate entry and drilled down a few levels into that to try and find the stuff I'd read about earlier.

  Sure enough it was there, and a half minute ter the front door and doorframe went all pixelted for a couple seconds. When the visual effects faded it was like the door had never been damaged in the first pce.

  "Cool!" Chels grinned as she double-checked that the door was tched and the deadbolt set.

  With the house secure, my best friend and I finally got up off the floor. And all three of us ended up in the living-room, where we sat down together on the sofa. Gwen was in the middle, with Chelsea on her left and me on the right. And both of us were cuddling the elf girl again, we both wanted to make sure she felt safe and loved and accepted.

  "So how'd you do it?" Chels asked. "You did something so Gwen's dad couldn't hurt her, but you said you wanted to discuss it first?"

  I grimaced, "Yeah. I was hoping we'd have more time, so I could properly expin it so you'd know what you were agreeing to."

  "I can undo it at any time though," I added quickly. "I can even reverse it right now if you want? Then I can tell you about it, and if you want I could turn it back on again."

  Gwen shook her head, "It's ok Lisa. I trust you, and whatever you did it obviously worked."

  Chelsea agreed, "So just tell us what you did. We can always ask you to undo it ter if it's something bad."

  "Yeah," I nodded. "So like we were talking about before, it turns out that there's a sort of 'safe mode' option? It's not quite like a 'god mode' or 'dev mode', it doesn't grant any additional powers or control over anything else. It's mainly so SysAdmins can work in dangerous realms without having to worry about getting hurt or sick or stuff like that."

  I continued, "It basically disables or janks a bunch of standard stuff. Sickness, disease, injury, even aging all gets turned off? And some physics stuff gets disabled while other stuff gets blocked or inverted. Like any kind of kinetic impact with enough energy to cause an injury is just reflected back."

  "That all sounds pretty damn cool Lisa," Chelsea responded. "So what's the catch?"

  I grimaced, "The catch is that mode is only avaible for SysAdmins. It's a special feature avaible to me, but not to either of you."

  Gwen frowned, "So how did you protect me? You found a loophole?"

  "Sort of," I replied. "Like I said, the idea behind having a safe mode was so a SysAdmin could work in a dangerous realm without getting hurt or killed. But they sometimes need equipment or other stuff to do their jobs? So they need a way to make sure their stuff can't get damaged or destroyed or even lost or stolen. So I found a way to apply that to you two."

  The catgirl's tail twitched and she grinned, "Did you make us your property? Do we belong to you now?"

  "No!" I insisted as my cheeks started to flush. "Not exactly."

  They both listened quietly as I expined, "I made some modifications to your kitty colr. And Gwen, I did the same thing to that pretty choker chain you're wearing? I had to cheat a little since our world doesn't have a magic system, but in those terms your choker and Chelsea's colr are both now 'cursed items', so they can't be removed or lost. Then I fgged them as being part of my 'mission critical' SysAdmin equipment. So when I have 'safe mode' engaged for myself it extends to cover the two of you as well."

  Gwen stared at me for a few seconds as all that sank in. Her eyebrows slowly crept up as she finally asked, "You can do that? You can grant mundane items magic-like properties? Does that mean you could imbue them with other powers or effects?"

  "Ooh I like the sound of that!" Chels added with a naughty grin, while her tail and ears all stood up straight.

  I rolled my eyes, "Seriously? You're already thinking about some way to make it kinky?"

  The little catgirl was shameless enough to just nodd eagerly as she smiled, "Of course!"

  My friend wasn't quite that bold yet. Her cheeks coloured as she mumbled, "I was actually thinking more about like, a protection charm or something? But um, Chelsea makes a good point. If we're both going to be wearing 'cursed colrs' then I'm sure there's plenty of ways you could make that more um, interesting."

  "It's like you've both got a one-track mind," I groaned as I face-palmed, then slumped back on the sofa with my hand still covering my eyes.

  Chels stifled a giggle as she responded, "Just making up for lost time, Lisa. All this is very liberating, after having to pretend to be something I'm not all my life."

  "She's right," Gwen added in a softer, almost mencholy tone. "After a lifetime of dysphoria and masking, after being stuck with my parents and knowing how they'd react if I ever let them see the real me, this is like a dream come true. No, it's like all my wildest dreams came true. You've given me the body I always wanted Lisa, and you're letting me live out all my fantasies for real."

  After a little pause Chelsea commented, "Honestly, I'm surprised you're not taking more advantage of the whole situation? I mean, I know living with me and my dad was hell for you. Now you're free. And you've got an affirming body now, same as Gwen. So why aren't you being all giddy and horny like the rest of us?"

  I finally let my arm drop back down to my side as I turned to look at them both again. Then I sighed, "Because of that whole 'great power great responsibility' stuff. And because I don't want to let that power go to my head."

  "I'm gd you two are happy," I added quickly. "And I'm pretty happy about how things worked out for me as well? I don't know, I just don't want to get too carried away."

  Chels watched me for another second or two, then gave me a sad look. "You're afraid of getting into trouble, right? You're afraid of having the rug pulled out from under you, of finding out something's gone wrong or you've made some kind of mistake? I can't bme you for that, not after the way your life's been up until now."

  "Yeah. I guess so," I sighed.

  Then I sat up straight as I added, "Which reminds me, Gwen I figured out how to move all your stuff here. Without having to go and get it, I mean. The only question was where to put everything. Do you want to take the guest room upstairs?"

  She seemed momentarily surprised by the sudden change of topic. Then she looked thoughtful for a second or two, before her cheeks coloured again.

  "To be honest Lisa, I think what I'd like to do most of all is just stay with you?" she admitted quietly.

  That made me blush a little too but I smiled, "Alright. I still have to move your stuff somewhere though, so how about I transfer it into the guest room for now? Just to get it all out of your parents' house, I mean. We can always relocate it ter on, when it's convenient."

  "Ok Lisa," she nodded. "That's a good idea."

  The ptop was on the coffee table in front of us, but I grabbed it and perched it on my p for now. Then as I started the process of transferring my friend's belongings, I noticed Chelsea was giving me a thoughtful look coupled with a mischievous grin.

  "What's that look on your face mean, Chels?" I asked as I continued working on the little computer.

  Her tail twitched then the asked, "Can your pet kitty move in with you as well? You've got that huge comfy bed after all, and your room's nice and big now."

  I rolled my eyes again as I reminded her, "We have the whole entire house Chels. We don't all have to stay in the basement anymore."

  "Good point," she grinned. "That means you don't have to hide down there all the time either. Maybe you should move upstairs? Take the master bedroom for yourself?"

  That made me pause for a moment, and a thoughtful frown settled on my face. Then I shrugged, "I only just got the big bedroom upgrade Friday evening. It feels wrong to abandon it so fast."

  "I'll think about it though," I added. "Honestly, we could probably redecorate the entire house if we wanted? Should be easy enough with the ptop."

  Both Chelsea and Gwyneth seemed interested in that idea. The catgirl had another excited naughty smile on her face while my best friend just looked thoughtful. Fortunately neither of them started bombarding me with questions or requests. Instead they stayed quiet for now, while I got on with the process of transferring all Gwen's belongings out of her parents' pce and into the guest room here.

  That only took me a couple minutes, and when it was done I let them know. "Ok Gwen, I've transferred all your inventory that was fgged as being in your parents' pce from there and into the guest room upstairs."

  "All but the bed that is," I added. "The guest room isn't big enough for two beds and there's already one in there. I can swap them though, if you like? Bring your bed here and send the guest room bed there?"

  The elf girl smiled and pulled me into a side-hug, "Thanks Lisa, that's amazing!"

  "And don't worry about the bed," she added. "Like I said earlier, I'd rather spend my nights with you."

  "Me too," Chels chimed in with another naughty grin.

  I rolled my eyes again, but I couldn't help smiling as I closed the ptop then put it back on the coffee table. As I rexed next to Gwen on the sofa I commented, "That's pretty much everything taken care of now, right? All that's left is to deal with people at school, but that's not until tomorrow. So what do you two want to do now? We've got the rest of the afternoon, and the entire evening ahead of us."

  The catgirl smirked and gave both Gwyneth and I a suggestive look, but my best friend had something different in mind.

  "I think I'd like to go up to the guest room and go through all my things," Gwen replied. "Considering I haven't seen any of it since you did the inventory update, I want to see all my new clothes. And maybe there'll be some mage stuff too? Like my staff? That'd be cool. And maid stuff too, although I'm not sure that'd be as exciting."

  Chelsea nodded, "That's actually a good idea. Can Lisa and I help?"

  Gwen smiled, "I don't know if there's anything I need help with, but I'd love have the company."

  "And I'm definitely up for some fun afterwards," she added. Which put another naughty grin on the catgirl's face.

  PurpleCatGirl