NOVEL NEXT 113.
"I must insist that you have a seat and be relaxed. I am told that these are things that normally people like us in these positions would offer to each other."
The squirrel took one of the animal size seats endemic to the canteen side of the floor. The scones smelled fresh for once.
Bagel was still not pleased that Gladys was going to have him talk to the squirrel but he was going to have to put his prejudices aside for at least a little bit. He liked the money more than he hated the idea of a squirrel.
"Understandable. I did not expect that we would be making this contact today but I have been informed that La Noche is interested in at least attended a partnership between ourselves and you. So we'd like to explore a partnership where we stay out of each other's way or work together."
It would be beneficial. "What does La Noche need for us? Or what are they offering us?"
Melpos nodded. "La Noche has an interest in Staten Island. As it's the largest green space around until you go far north, we would like to be a part of the official committee to return it to a functional borough."
I'd spent the better part of 2 weeks sending people back and forth to Staten Island to try to get a foothold onto it. The humans had a last stand moment on the Verrazano bridge on the New York side and they were now finally pushing out into the rest of the island. But it had been so over with mobs that the entire Island had been evacuated and any survivors that hadn't evacuated were assumed to be dead.
"You understand that this is a official City business that we're doing. How would you expect us to help you out with that?"
"The Chelsea pigeons let us know that you had the potential to acquire some warehouse cards. Those will be worth a lot of money to us. And we understand that the city also wants those warehouse cards."
Bagel purred. This part he understood. They wanted the same thing that he wanted. They didn't want to be relegated to an unimportant species, when push came to shove. They wanted to be a part of the action.
And as a part of that, they had to think about their appearance and how things were going to be after this all ended. Bagel didn't have a best guess as to when the insanity of the system apocalypse would slowly end but some of the humans thought that it would be approaching two or three years from the start. That would certainly be a long time, especially since he'd only been awakened for about two months.
"Those are heavily controlled items. You and I both understand what's possible with those," Bagel said.
"I understand that it's going to be quite an ask. But we also understand that you have a lot of land you want to buy up and we can make it worth your while. We can give you enough money to buy up the next two blocks. As a part of this, we'd also like to get to an understanding about and being transported there via the ferry that you guys have requisitioned."
Gladys shuffled. "The ferry is through the adventurers guild but we can arrange that. Any representative you want just to send to Staten Island we can send them. It's a great place to level right now, as fewer of the streets and buildings here that had spawns now have them."
They could concede that point to ease the next request. That would be an easy win for La Noche.
Malpo was all of a sudden the most serious squirrel Bagel had ever encountered. "There was another matter. I must impress upon you at this point. La Noche is interested in. Shall we say redrawing the map of Manhattan as it stands. We would be interested in not competing for the same resources."
Bagel shared of glance with Gladys.
Gladys cleared her throat. "We're not sure that we want to start any wars between any factions. We don't plan on moving to your turf right now, but please understand that the situation is very fluid and based off of our ability to purchase more New York City real estate. The more chaos there is, the easier it's going to be for us to establish our territory for whatever happens next."
Melpo nodded. "Perhaps we need to have a high-level meeting between the heads of the factions. However, so long as you stay out of Central Park, north and west, we should be amicable. We want to keep the actual Central Park as a neutral zone though we are going to buy it up to make sure that nothing spawns there."
It wouldn't do to just take this line down but Bagel wasn't certain if Melpo was the boss playing the messenger or just the messenger. Time would tell on that front.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
"For the time being we intend to stay in Turtle Bay. I do want to acquire all Roosevelt Island because of our ferry business. We have no issue taking on more adventurers. If you need some pointers, I'm sure that Ashley or Kate downstairs will be more than happy to help you out."
To his disgust he found himself ready to offer the squirrels some sort of deal. Even though he didn't know the shape of the deal. They would Hammer that out.
"I am certain that La Noche will appreciate that. Any offer that you give us is going to look favorably upon you. I must further ask you how you feel about the pigeons. Specifically the ones that appear to be using an agent of the jelly side layer in order to get Chelsea and the surrounding neighborhoods under control."
Bagels apprentice, Meatball, by virtue of having a mantle card which let her buy things was a hot commodity. Jellyside layer had authorized her to be the conduit for the Chelsea pigeons acquisitions efforts.
It didn't really matter who bought the land up so long as that person disabled mob spawns in the area. That was the important thing. The fact that it was a cat from a different group was far less important, overall.
It just meant that the Chelsea pigeons gave her money directly to expand their safe zones.
"Have you had any dialogue with the Chelsea pigeons?" Gladys said. "We're not certain if you guys have reached out or not."
A range of emotions flitted across Melpo's face. It looked like she wasn't in charge. This led him to believe that she was the messenger. There had to be some consternation about whatever they were doing with the pigeons.
"I'm not currently tracking that we're doing that and if we're all in the front circle here then I'm not sure that my leadership wants me to say anything about that yet?"
"That is totally understandable. You do not have to address that. I understand that eventually we'll be doing some talks with them, so I expect that we would want to talk together, perhaps as a group," Gladys said.
There was a word itching in the back of his mind. Something about collusion? Bagel didn't want to say the word but he knew that if they could all get on the same page regarding who was going to take what part of Manhattan then things would be much happier.
"The humans have a group of buildings around City Hall. Assuming that the pigeons are going to expand north and south and Chelsea along the western side of Manhattan, they will eventually meet you guys somewhere around fifty ninth street."
Melpo swished her tail. "And we would meet you at the same spot on the east side if you guys continued northwards."
"Not that we are close to that happening. It would be a boon," Bagel said. " I'm not currently speaking with anybody who's got interests north of Turtle Bay aside from you and your faction, but perhaps we can come to some arrangement?"
"I believe that what I'm going to do is return in two days and perhaps we will initiate a dialogue with the Chelsea pigeons. La Noche takes its agreement seriously and it also wants to make sure that we give this matter the proper attention it deserves."
Bagel was pretty sure that he could do that. After all he had higher Gladys for her purpose. He needed someone to manages affairs and she was going that was her job. His job was to look pretty and have all the money.
In the background Khaleesi look like she was ready to pet Melpo or bagel and Bagel couldn't be more by the image of her perfect lap being utilized by basically an upjumped peasant rat with a bushy tail.
They concluded their business shortly thereafter. Bagel pledge to host the next time and they all decided that they would meet on neutral grounds of the Turtle Bay adventurers guilds. Even though that wasn't what drones and scones was meant for, that's what they were going to use it for.
Plus it gave Bagel a chance to impress the squirrels by was capable with an involved adventurers guild inside of your neighborhood.
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Ashley needed Bagel and Melpo to clear out of the guild. It was too much pressure trying to host two of these supposed animal gangs inside of the adventurers guild. The fact that they said they were going to come back again in 2 days? She was already planning for that to be your day off in Staten Island. Wasn't really a day off though. It was more like a cruise with heavy machine guns and a resupply to these small outposts there that was holding back the horde of enemies.
"You look a little tense," Kate said.
"Bagel has brought more complications to our doorstep. I would love it if you didn't make him. It's so weird. I would really love it for once."
Kate began to rub her shoulders. The woman made magic with their fingers and Ashley was always so happy that she had been chosen. Even though, they've started out as rivals, their relationship had blossomed into something where they could really take their aggression out easily.
"I tell you what boss lady. How about we have a picnic? We haven't done that recently? Just one picnic for all of us?"
Ashley shrugged. "Well, if you can't go to Storm King then I guess this is the second best thing."
"We can make our own Storm King. With blackjack and hookers."
Kate being a foot taller than her meant that Ashley had to reach up for a kiss. But she never regretted that. Who didn't want a tall muscle mommy telling them what to do?
"Oh that's so sweet. I was thinking Jones Beach though. I think it might be something we could navigate through."
Ashley was so ready to go to the beach but they wouldn't require them to basically buy off the entire beach or fight the entire time in their swimsuits.
"Or we can just go to Sandy Hook. I hear that there's a nude beach there..."
Ashley didn't normally check around to see if anyone was looking at her. But she felt conspicuous. She didn't know why she would feel that exact moment, but perhaps it was that she was asking her girlfriend to go to a nude beach in New Jersey using the Staten Island Ferry... It was going to be not even that much of a trip for them to go that far. Just a little bit further than they would have otherwise gone.
"Fuck I don't even know if we can get sunscreen anymore. Is that a thing we can do? That's going to make things a bit ridiculous." Kate groaned. "I don't suppose that the pigeons or squirrels started making all natural sunscreen or after sun."
"I think that if we were worrying about sunscreen then we might be on the right path."
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