Bodega Cat (System Apocalypse, Deck Builder, Litrpg)

Janet beeped several times as she took in the news and everything that had been going on. She receive an email from the city or bagel that had given him the powers of the commissioner of the TSA. The message included a special dispensation to any bondholders that the city would increase bond yields to 20% and that felt like something that they wanted to know.

The yields would come after five years but they were guaranteed to double in ten. Odds were good that not every investor would be alive by then. She was going to have to play this one close. The boss has asked her to try and explain it as much as possible to him but some of this made no sense on it's face.

It was true that they needed people to invest in buying up blocks of land. It was also true that those investments would return a large amount of safety.

The cat was still sleeping, cuddled up next to meatball. Cats were... adorable?

There was no way that she was biased in this manner in any way. Not at all.

Meatball wasn't a problem or at least Janet didn't take her as one. Meatball was going to help Bagel.

She represented change. The boss didn't like the wrong kind of change.

Already, the cats had made another deck bearer of their email newsletter was to believed. This one they had given a mantle recovered from a dungeon and a specialized deck. Janet considered how she would spin this.

They had not given Meatball a mantle card when she was awakened. It was a choice.

Janet had kept her channels of communication open, looking for one. They might have one eventually but it was going to be a slog.

The Jellyside layer newsletter went to to explain that this cat was going to be doing some sort of wet work. The codes were there it was just buried. Janet did not understand if that meant aquatic plumbing work or actual spy work. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to know.

Other cats scared her. They were far more unpredictable than she had expected.

They had just said that over a newsletter though. Anyone could have gotten that information... But Janet knew that it was only sent to the top seven.

Janet just received it on behalf of Bagel.

It wasn't like a police officer could compel her to say something. Janet was certain that none of the city agencies knew anything about cities newest private equity firm.

Janet considered how it might be good to hold back some of this information from bagel. But to what end? She needed to give him the full truth.

She scanned through the newest updates on the deck builder website. Things were looking a little strange.

Only about 100 cards had gotten a stage one evolution. Several had gotten alternative versions with different power but that hadn't changed much. One of the moderators of the forum had tried to explain that there was a metaphor make and that people should consider decks with multiple colors or at least pairing two different types of decks together for a better effect.

As much most human communication on a contested topic went, it devolved.

The talks went to the intersectionality of decks making their own new culture of decks made through battle and those granted to the lucky few. Access to cards didn't mean that there was an equitable distribution.

The thing that Janet found interesting was how in rural communities there seem to be far fewer deck bearers. If reports were to be believed far fewer mobs spawned in less dense areas.

Whatever the reason for this, it meant that they had something that other communities didn't have and the density of their mobs. With one spawning roughly every 100 feet down the road, it meant that when the spawn time happened, if you were standing at a relatively high spot, you could see dozens of mobs spawning up to a mile away. Either side down the street. There was also an inequitable distribution of dungeons, as they centered on places where humans were more likely to live. It was like a system trying to punish people for living in tight Urban centers and give those that lived outage in the middle of nowhere Nebraska unless he's your time of it.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

That is, unless the dungeons there overflowed.

There was no sign that humanity would begin flying people via airplane anytime soon, even though the large fuselages existed. The system arriving had grounded every plane just because people didn't want to be in the air and fighting a card mob. In fact, the last plane touched down roughly an hour after the system arrived.

The same was not true for military aircraft and especially drones which regularly patrol the skies, combined with certain flying card mobs that had been acquired along the way.

There was one big problem. Unless they were killed. That meant that if mobs overran a place, they would keep spawning in that area, add nauseam.

Conversely, anything summoned by a deck bearer could only last four minutes and in most cases, deck bearers could only summon four creatures at a time. They got a little more complicated when people got higher level but no one had really worked out what that meant.

Bagel was going to Janet what to do with his points and she was going to give him the best course of action she could even if her required her to dig through the deck builder website for them to try to piece together a solution.

She was going to have to put together the best options for him and as nothing else would do.

He was, after all, the boss.

---

"Is that drone? Cackling?" Ashley said as she took her time adjusting her straps.

"Who even asked that kind of question? I just arrived here. Also. Slay."

Ashley was very grateful for her supportive, new girlfriend. True, two weeks ago they had been basically mortal enemies but trauma does things to a woman that she never expects. Things like enjoying dungeon diving with her new partner.

It was both more and less than she expected to take the time out of their day to get suited up for a dungeon but they both needed it so they're both going to do it. The experience gain was one thing but the ability to get more cards out in the market and make a profit could also create more safe spaces for people to live and work.

Safety.

That had been a driving force behind why they had been working themselves to the bone.

"Five Dungeons in one day? You got to give a girl a break," Ashley said.

You were the one that suggested it. Kate said, stripping down. "And basically it's time for us to do laundry. I don't care what you say. Yes, we can laugh about sharing or conserving water in the shower together. But we need to fucking launder our clothes."

"I hear you now. You do look delicious, but also yes, let's hop in the shower and discuss this at length." Ashley's eyes were dancing around the silhouette of her girlfriend.

The tall blonde girl was everything that she had never let herself admit out loud that she wanted.

"You're doing it again "

Ashley she was lingering on Kate's breasts and hips and was then summarily lifted up by the muscle mommy goddess that she had always desired and brought into the shower where it didn't matter. The water was cold, but it would never dampen her spirits.

The the only thing that mattered was that her hot girlfriend was now dripping wet and kissing her and all of the tension that she had built up in her shoulders just evaporated.

"Look I can't say don't appreciate that but can you do that more often?" Ashley said.

"You fucking know it."

---

"So you tapped out of three dungeons?" Khaleesi said.

"Three was enough for me. I got enough experience to get another perk and I got a second lightning energy."

"But what you going to do tomorrow?"

"Four dungeons? It wasn't entirely clear. And because of that I'm kind of dreading it."

"You could let me do it instead," Khaleesi said. "I can cook you some more of the steak."

Meatball narrowed her eyes. She was sure the human was go and cook her the steak she wanted no matter what. You'd already promised to, but now this new wrinkle. Why couldn't humans be straightforward about things?

"You're going to have to take it up with your mother and father," Bagel said from the corner. "The humans barely consider us adults."

"Oh that's right. You guys are only... Do you know how old you are?"

"How... old I am?" Meatball said. "Why do you want to know that?"

Khaleesi threw both arms up into the air. "So I know when your birthday is!"

Meatball shared a glance with Bagel. Both were concerned with the amount of fervor that the teenager was now exuding.

"You are not going to rob me of the opportunity to celebrate your birthdays," Khaleesi said.

"Khaleesi, I think I speak for both of us when I say neither one of us know our birthdays and this might be one of those things where you wait until we are finally in a good spot to start celebrating things again," Bagel said.

For a moment there, she looked like a Meatball had just killed off her favorite character from a long-running and much beloved series.

"I'm absolutely certain that what they meant to say there was that we would be happy to let you know that we will celebrate our birthdays tomorrow." Meatball got a little closer. The poor girls eyes were a bit red around the edges. "Isn't that right, Mister Bagel?"

Bagel, to his credit, caught on immediately. "Of course we're going to need decorations and all the things that come with that. Are you prepared to help us set up?"

"Do you mean it?" Khaleesi said.

Meatball sent a glare that dared her companion to defy her.

Bagel choked. "Absolutely! This is something I have definitely been planning and I was just waiting until we got more settled but tomorrow is great!"

The energy in the room doubled as Khaleesi squealed. "Oh my gosh it's going to be so great! I'm so excited! Can we get some little party hats for both of you?"

"We will wear party hats," Meatball said.

Khaleesi squealed again. "Oh my gosh I need to get into party planner mode. Get it together girl! This is so exciting!"

There was a quality to her fervor that neither of the cats wanted to examine any closer. It was like she had found her purpose in life and was now going to tell everyone about it. Khaleesi checked the time and then ran downstairs to tell her parents about the good news.

Meatball and Bagel shared a nice nap together that afternoon.