Bodega Cat (System Apocalypse, Deck Builder, Litrpg)

The AI was letting them do so much. Ashley worried that it was a part of the system that had become a little unruly. Wasn't the system the thing that had brought so much uncertainty?

Even the system coming and the end of the world hadn't been enough to end capitalism. That had been funny for a few days but now they were in a different position. The comic shop was still receiving deliveries despite the mobs spawning at regular intervals.

Humanity had adapted.

Humanity *had* adapted and that meant that she still had to go to work.

She groaned, flipping over out of bed. The clock read eight in the morning. In honor of the weekend, the shop wasn't even open until noon. This would be the day that she let her boss have it.

Except... she still needed to pay cash to her landlord. But... she didn't anymore, did she?
The system recognized her as the building's owner but... the city was not so quick on the uptake. She brushed her teeth as she fumed about it.

She created a mood board for the scenario where she became a big time landlord. She cursed the age of digital media for not having enough magazines or to use cutouts of. True, she could have cut out any of her stack of manga or graphic novels to do something but it just felt wrong. They were hers.

She ended up doodling. Several completed doodles were now above her dresser. I was staring back at her as if it was the panacea to her anxiety. It couldn't be harder for her to go out there and do another dungeon and it was for her to do an audition. It wasn't even like there were going to be more additions. With the amount of mobs spawning on Hollywood in it around Hell's kitchen, there would not be working the arts for a fair bit of time. This letter to our next conclusion. This would be the greatest time to release an album if she had anything.

Unfortunately, she didn't have anything in her. Heading to work at the store and then returning home everyday. Just kind of left here. Feeling like she had a regular job and a irregular job.

She just needed a bit of breathing room in this new chapter or life to go rewrite it and get on her feet. Being next to the only card shop in the neighborhood was just a perk. The stability of mobs not spawning within in a very clear and short distance also helped out a ton. She wanted to be stable. She felt amazing when they came back to look for those pizza rats and they were gone.

True, other Pizza rats small and across the street or down the avenue but right directly next to her, those pizza. That's no longer spot. But there was a niggling fear in the back of her head that perhaps the system had just chosen to spawn those pizza rats elsewhere. It wasn't entirely clear what the system was going to do long-term to humanity, especially the implementation to kill a lot of them and only leave survivors. The strength of their community was going to be the thing that kept them afloat.

Unfortunately for Ashley, she felt adrift from the community and was in a sullen mood. She found herself tired but wired and able to rest. Laying awake in bed, trying to clean up the courage to call somebody and talk to them but just not being able to pick up her phone.

All she had to do to talk to somebody was to walk downstairs and across the way Bagel would be there. The cat was nice. True, he kind of stopped her from making a move on Kate the other day but that was to be expected.

She hadn't even processed those feelings yourself. Was she interested in the tall blonde girl? She might be. It all depended on if it's all the long girl wasn't to her.

Kate was going to be there. Maybe she was feeling all the same things.

She'd taken all the playbills. She had, the little records from the musical she's been to and put those to the side. For now. Now. The dream wasn't dead but it was on pause.
If she had to clear the entirety of Manhattan by herself so she could resume her career in his post- apocalyptic capitalist hell, then she would do whatever it took to get there.

Her stomach growled and she got up to check. The fridge, her other nemesis for life, needed assistance. She needs sustenance.

She could go back just food for now.

She got herself over to the Amish market and stocked up on several things. The lines that had been there before were not so long and if it weren't for the amount of people with a mob next to them clearly someone by them and being controlled directly, she would have thought that this was just an average day.

She got enough for a few days. It would tide her over. Things looked rough in the store but she had lived through covid.

She didn't have space despite having a building and realizing that if she had chickens on the coop, she could make a killing.

What would she do? Sell a dozen eggs for a credit or something?

The ideas played out as she thought about her life. Farming, chickens, an urban home with a tall blonde girl with pigtails and overalls and nothing else and she had to snap herself out of it. Maybe if she checked Kate's YouTube channel again for that farm girl rap video?

She found herself scrolling again distracted or trying to be distracted from the world outside. It was not Just going to get her anywhere except in the same spot she was but she was needing to take her mind off stuff. She briefly considered calling Bagel but he didn't even have a phone. Come to think of it. How was her phone working?

It made sense that her carrier was still providing service, but was she going to have to log in and check her phone bill?

Ashley: The apocalypse is the worst.

Kate: you know it

She resumed scrolling until she found something distressing.

Kate had done some auditions and apparently she had a YouTube channel. Not only that-she was aesthetic as fuck.

Ashley: So you have a YouTube channel huh?

Kate sent back a smiley face.

And then she looked and there were just so many thirst traps. Ashley smiled, realizing that she found her morning activity. Sure. Kate might be the worst room in the world but she was hot as hell. And if the girl was going to put some straps out on the internet, who was she to say no?

A girl has needs. And after days of being put through the ringer emotionally and mentally getting enough sleep that morning. And just attention from Kate last night. Ashley make sure that she left no no stone unturned.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

---

Kate: why are you creeping on my YouTube channel?

Ashley: Can a girl have a little bit of fun?

Kate Kate: a girl can have a little bit of fun, but you never told me you wanted to have fun.

Ashley: up until a few days ago I didn't have the highest opinion of you

Ashley: but I think.. Can we call each other friends now?

Kate: You're such an idiot. And I think you could have...

Ashley: where are you now?

Kate: I was filming content. But I got nothing else going on.

Ashley: I forgot to invite you to breakfast.

Kate: Are you any good at cooking?

Ashley: who said anything about eating?

Kate: I'm coming

Ashley: I fucking hope so

---

Bagel felt a disturbance in the litter box. Knowing I clean it in a day. He ordered one of his workers to take care of it.

By the time they got back to the Bodega, a trash truck was passing by, loading up all their trash bags. Bagel had forgotten about this and thankfully, always workers knew what to do. Jenny was keeping track of it for him. It have been the first day that the trash truck has shown up after the system integration and the driver of the trash truck definitely had an animal or mob companion in there with him. Bagel only got a hint of feathers before the truck was already on its way. Power armored as he tossed every single bag of trash if there was nothing.

No one had taught Bagel about the ethical use of card summons, but it seemed like this kind of thing was exactly what they were for. Making life easier and more convenient. It meant that he could step away from the shop and not have to do anything himself. It would have been tough to do things himself as he didn't have thumbs and the system hadn't given some magic power to float things around and scan them himself.

He could be useful in other ways.

The sound that the garbage truck made as it pushed the garbage inside was pleasant. At least. He never thought that large hinges moving trash route could be satisfying, but the crunch and the sudden disappearance of the mound of trash was beautiful.

The smell was going to linger and he didn't have anything to do about that. He was just going to have to get through it somehow.

A little nudge from the system told him that the word that he was looking for was nose blind. And that made zero to no sense to him. Based on the fact that he could also be what deaf from his eyes?

He shuddered. As much as he was able to get around by smell and touch alone, he wanted to see and understand this new world.

If you couldn't see then it would be tough for him to land on someone's lap and get the requisite number of pets.

Across the street Bagel could see Kate walking along.

She had the air of a kid who was just told that she could buy anything she wanted on a road trip stop.

She waved to him before opening the door to Ashley's apartment.

"Have those two been treating you all right?"

They were standing on the corner where second avenue met forty fifth Street.

The light turned red and the traffic began flowing south on second d avenue.

"I mean they have been treating me. Okay it's it's fine. Things are fine. I don't know how else I would be?"

"I don't know. But they do seem nice."

Bale gave him a bit of a side eye. "You have a family somewhere right? What is that like?"

Raul sucked in a breath.

"Do you have a cocker spaniel or a dog or something? Sometimes you smell like you've been nearby a dog."

"I promise it's not what you think."

A cab honked. Somethings never changed.

People could do without the honking. He could.

It felt like a cat trying to mark its territory and effectively. What the taxi cabs food did instead of pissing was to dominate the sound waves, not territory. He wasn't sure the taxi cabs could be or hold territory. They moved too much so they had to establish dominance.

The bodega was definitely his. He peed almost everywhere.

Even before the system came in, it smelled like him.

Now? He owned it, legally.

"Well what is it like? I don't. I don't know what it's like?"

Little drops of water formed on Raul's eyes and Bagel wondered if he needed a hug. Perhaps the most handsome boy on the block could fix this?

After all, wasn't the cat man's best friend? That was the people called it right ?

He purred, finding himself warming Raul's lap. That would help the man. Pictures of cats were like drugs for humans, so an actual cat would be like that first hit. According to the system, humans chased the high of that first hit for a while.

"Bagel you don't man. I shouldn't be the one to tell you these things. I am not qualified for any of this. I was just trying to put myself through college."

"College?" The system gave Bagel approximate knowledge of what that meant. Raul was trying to learn something. But if he needed to learn something, why didn't he use the system? Wasn't that what it was there for?

"We just got an email from a professor that classes are resuming. I didn't really expect to have this conversation with you, but I guess I have to change my schedule? Is that going to be okay?"

"Why would that not be okay? Oh wait, I'm supposed to deny that right?"

Raul smirked.

Bagel had finally nailed it. Boss mode was a go.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't deny my request for days off. I feel like it's not that difficult. It's just two days a week when I have classes where I would otherwise be working. I'm making enough money with mobs and credits to support the family. It's just like there's nothing else I can do with credits. It's hard to find a shop that accepts them."

"I mean if you just need to park your money somewhere, why don't you get some bonds?"
"Bonds?"

Janet appeared, beeped twice and circled around the pair. "You need diversify your portfolio."

A car honked right out front. Raul jumped. "God, I thought I had heard my last taxi."

"They're just trying to establish dominance," Bagel said.

"What?" Raul asked.