Bodega Cat (System Apocalypse, Deck Builder, Litrpg)

The similarity between the two men was uncanny. They had to be related. Between the curly black hair and their matching black aprons on white shirts, this was a planned look.

His prize was in reach. Bagel salivated at the potential.

Everything about the crumbling sugary treat was perfection, like a lap that was just waiting to be claimed. He could taste bliss.

The sign said Bak Lava, but it was heavenly. If it would take him away from the trials of the day, he was willing to pay any price. What did it matter if the pastry was larger than his head?

If he died trying to eat something larger than himself, he would feel justified doing it. The entire tray was nearly his size, and he wanted it. The small little squares would crunch just right, he knew.

He nearly ate one without saying a word. Then he ran into the glass. The mount, following his commands had held him at chest level giving him the best view in the house.

"Sir? Would you like a sample?"

Bagel came to a rather unfortunate realization. He had no way to pay. He should have brought money with him! This was just his luck. First Raul left and now…

Bagel was a business cat. He had to remember that he was the Bodega's manager. This title came with certain privileges, like the ability to raid his cash register.

His honor demanded that he pay the two men, but his stomach accepted the state of the world.

"I'll take one."

His mount accepted the small cuboid pastry, passing it directly to the cat in charge. The sample tasted like rainbows and kittenhood.

"I find myself short. Perhaps we could work out a trade?" Bagel eyed the remaining sheet.

"I tell you what. You work across second avenue, right?"

Bagel nodded, even as his fur bristled from desire warring with pride.

"The first one is always free," one of the brothers said. "But I've never served a talking cat before."

"I'm going to need to return with money to buy more. How much are they?"

"Four dollars for roughly five. Or a credit? I guess."

"No, I think you misunderstand. When I asked how much they are, I was asking for the price for all of them."

Both brothers smiled. The one behind the register leaned over.

"Are either of you deck bearers?" Bagel said.

"You mean that thing we all got the notification for?"

Bagel hadn't remembered the particulars, but he could check later.

"Have you been outside very recently?"

Both men locked eyes for a moment. "My brother and I saw what was happening. We are open to a deal."

Bagel smiled. If he gave the men a card or two he might get something free out of the deal.

He left the shop with a promise to return with nearly a full deck if they kept him supplied and didn't just up and go out of business for no discernable reason. Across the street, almost a dozen people were getting coffee at Penny Lane.

It looked like he'd always seen it; warm and inviting. He almost bought into getting himself a coffee, but he knew that he had work to do. His Mantle card was apparently going to help him out a lot.

---

Bodega

Persistent, Mantle One, One any energy

This card may be used as a persistent base and will work with water and electric hook ups. The owner can buy adjacent plots unless owned. The owner makes a cut of all profits made off the top; adjustable rate is set by the user. The store interface adapts to the user.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

The Mantle card may alter a deck bearer, changing their great game stats. No deck bearer may use more than one mantle at once.

Special: This card allows the creation of a shop AI drone that will persistently follow around the deck bearer while the Bodega is in play.

Special: This card can be hooked up to water and power and if so will provide food for one thousand humans a day.

---

He didn't need their attention.

He knew that he just had to summon the artificial intelligence. It would show up and…why was he waiting for it?

He nudged it, thinking about his shop. He got a curious prompt.

*Activate Bodega?*

A circle opened in the air, turning from a clear shimmer into a shadow as the world bent open and spit out a circular drone. Of course, the system would do that. The entire drone was the size of a basketball but too spherical to ride for any amount of time. It didn't have eyes, but he could feel it looking at him.

"Boss, your will is my command!"

Bagel snorted. "Very well. What is your name?"

"Name?" The metallic sphere pulsed. "Ah. This one is designated J4n3t, or in common human parlance, Janet. And you are a deckbearer who runs a coffee shop?"

Janet had latched onto the cafe across the street as proof positive that something was up.

"No, our shop is over there."

"Four five deli? Excellent. I can feel it calling me now. shall we go? I'm excited to experience it."

Seeing no traffic, Bagel spurred his mount along to go further. They crossed the street and we're at his door in record time. It might have only taken about twenty seconds to get from one side of the street to the other, but to him it felt like an eternity.

"Can you write?" Bagel asked his mount.

"I can write. Do you want me to write something somewhere?"

"I feel like I should make a sign saying that we are still open."

"That would be a good idea, boss," the worker said.

There was no one inside of the shop save for the worker that he hadn't ridden around. He poked his head in.

Being inside of his Bodega again felt like a warm pat on the head. He was ready for things to start happening.

"Did we sell anything while I was gone?" Bagel said.

"No, not really," the worker behind the counter said.

Janet zipped around as if testing the area, scanning things with a laser. She seemed harmless enough.

He paused to twitch his whiskers. "That's a shame. I have this restock card that I want to use but I'm not sure what it's going to do."

"If I might give you some information?" the worker said.

"Go ahead," he said.

"You should restock on items that probably are not going to get delivered anymore."

"When you say I'm not going to get delivered anymore, what are you talking about?"

Janet interjected. "Every so often, the store needs to get a delivery from our supplier. It seems like the supply chain might be a little bit disrupted due to everything going on. But if you can use restock once a day then you can keep the fridges going. And if we can somehow get people to pay in cash or credits, then we can start working on getting more money."

"Okay, and what is money again exactly?" Bagel said, turning to the shop AI.

"Money is the thing that lets you buy other things, boss."

"So none of this stuff is free?" Bagel was skeptical. Surely, the person who owned the store would eventually show up. But what if they got a deck of cards and they wanted to go on an adventure. Would someone stop him from buying the store? Come to think of it. Hadn't he gotten a card that let him run the store?

"Hey, worker guy," he said. "What can you tell me about the store? I got all these cards about running a store and I got a card like you to work it, but what is this card here? Also..."

Bagel waved his hand showing the empty symbols where there one had been three. He'd used them up somehow.

"Oh, I can explain that," Janet said. "While I am summoned, I will take one of your energy slots up unless you take a perk that allows me to go without it. You can unsummon me and reclaim your energy within thirty seconds, or you can unsummon one of these guys and their energy will rejoin you. You can redraw your deck whenever you want. It just so happens you have three right now and summoned two workers and I meaning all of your energy is occupied."

Bagel twitched.

"Nobody told me that there was going to be rules about this shit."

"The great system governs all of us. It attempts to be fair, but that's on a larger scale."

The glass door swung open.

"Excuse me, are you open?"

A customer walked in. One of the doormen from around the corner, by the look of him. He had a full length coat as well as a telling hat.

"I heard a cat was running the store," he said. "Things have been weird enough today. You're still open?"

"Yeah. Buy something, will you?" Bagel said.

"Are you buying magical cards?" he said. "They're useless without a full deck of at least ten cards. I tried to use it but it's… this is just making me a target." Janet hovered above Bagel.

"Boss, we can buy this off him. Deck bearers are at a disadvantage in a fight. Then we could sell him a full deck if…"

The man, without considering the implications of a floating AI, nodded. "I would totally buy a full deck. I don't know how much one would go for. I've got some tips I've been saving up." He patted a coat pocket.

Bagels eyes bulged.

He pulled out a pizza rat card.

"We can come to an arrangement," Bagel said, purring. "We'll buy this card and in exchange we'll give you a discount if we have a set of ten. How's one hundred dollars?"

Janet shot a laser short range, making a projection of the offered amount. Bagel had to physically restrain himself from chasing it.

"That's fair."

"Pay the man, mount."

The worker opened the cash box and took out the cash in twenties. He counted it, then handed it to the doorman. The doorman then counted the change as well.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you."

The doorman lingered there. "I'll be back."

The store was quiet for a minute after he left. Bagel surveyed his domain.

"What were you doing with those lasers?"