Bodega Cat (System Apocalypse, Deck Builder, Litrpg)

As it turned out they had established a meeting for every fourth day starting on on the thirteenth day from the beginning of the integration. It was either that or they would be implementing the day after a big thing happened.

They called those pop up meetings.

Bagel immediately hated the idea with a fiery passion. He would go but he was going to complain the whole time.

Jelly side layer was quickly growing to have roughly the same amount of cats as newly awakened deck bears as they had mantled cats. The nine founding members now each played host to a newly awakened House guest.

For Bagel's second meeting they held it at his Bodega.

He was thrilled to host, and even more thrilled to not have to leave.

They needed to deposit their credits by giving that to him in person. It was a strong choice for them to do so. He had a ton of reservations about them all showing up but if it meant less work for him? He was all for it.

He just wouldn't volunteer it.

The first eight had all met up and formed the firm before inviting him in. Bagel had not been privy to any discussions prior to his arrival. He was hoping to piece together some of what they had done, but in thirteen days, a lot happened.

Paradoxically, very little could happen with institutions not able to support what was going on.

They had said that they would send the meeting notes, and they had, but he had no way to check on the veracity of their claims.

Just because you could see it didn't mean that he could reach back in and have Janet's prior memories. So he had to take what they were saying at face value. They were all cats; they were all the first of their kind to be awakened, and so far their interests have aligned.

---

"The city is looking for some sort of business license," Copernicus said. "Apparently, we cannot just become citizens. They have to do something. Someone has to push a button."

The cat in the center sighed. Bird Catcher, first of his name, was a regal Tabby. They had tapped him to be the liaison with the city government. "Of course they do. They are saying that it will not hold up. I have filed a motion."

"If they will not accept us as citizens then what recourse do we have?" Copernicus said. "Times are changing."

"We do not need to help them. If them seeing us as equals is contingent upon us working like dogs-" At those words, every cat recoiled. "-then they have to understand who has always ruled this planet."

In the outside of the circle, a young cat chased a ball of yarn. The meeting broke up briefly so they could all watch. Bagel fought the urge to chase it himself, but this was important.

"Bagel, you have worked closely with the humans," Copernicus said, focusing his attention away from the yarn that moved like prey. "Some of us have, some more than others. You're the host. What's your take here?"

"I have at that. They have no problem putting on airs of us being equal. Equals with different needs and expectations but that is one human at a time. It is different when it is a group such as this."

Copernicus went into a brief history of how humans treated other humans. Bagel had an idea, but Copernicus laid it out in stark relief.

"They kept other humans as slaves?" The idea was immediately repugnant to Bagel. Making someone's entire life about their slavery to another was beyond the pale. It was like humans existed only to make other humans suffer.

"No cat would do such a thing, of course. We are loath to repeat their... example. This period has witnessed many shifts in things that had been entrenched for years. Humans are not the dominant force on the planet any longer. Or perhaps we should say that humans alone are no longer."

"That brought things into focus for me at least," the cat named Caliban said. "If we work at this, and dedicate a team to harvesting cards in certain spots, we can get ten cards every three hours."

Bagel did a quick calculation. Eight new deck bearers a day could be harvested from one spot, perhaps more. Caliban had some long range focused mobs that he was fond of. Something about sniping from a distance made things easier for him to make credits for the organization. He had been making credits out on the streets and using one of the new deck bearers to grab the resultant cards that dropped. The credits automatically went into their manifestation of the system, like a personal wallet. Unfortunately they could not do much except give or accept others credits unless they had a shop card of some sort.

Bagel took advantage of the pause in conversation to change the topic. "Did we find anyone else with a bodega card? Or some variant?"

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Unfortunately, those have been frustratingly few," Copernicus said. "According to the city government and our own network, there have only been about one hundred mantle cards in the greater New York City area. Outside there have been more for certain, but inside... It's a mess."

"We're lucky to have you," Caliban said. "Of all the entities that we can have on our side, having you with us will help the most. We need more mantle cards like yours for the war effort."

"More cats with mantle cards that let them buy up land, you mean," Bagel said.

"Of course, of course. Things are looking up in some neighborhoods here, but it's not all fun and games."

There had been reports of mobs spawning in new places, inside of taller buildings and sometimes breaking up or causing fires. Bagel nervously looked around as if there were a fire around him at that exact moment. There wasn't, but he did not want to experience anything like that. He wanted to stay far away from any proper fires.

The group broke up into subcommittee time as the cats decided how to address several items as a group. Most of it was not relevant to Bagel, Bagel, but he listened intently. Janet would record this for later, and he would be able to check his notes. Then they returned to a topic that he had wanted to talk about.

"You want to form a cat only adventurer's guild?" Bagel said. "How would we even?"

Behind him, Meatball stirred. She had been listening, but mostly just waiting. "Am I going to be able to run dungeons with more cats?"

"That was the idea behind it," Copernicus said. "This gives us the best chance of getting more rare mantle cards. We all get stronger together."

If they all got stronger together, then it would be a simple matter. Take your dog and Sarah together. But they were all different cards that Bagel wanted, that he knew the others wanted them, and this was going to be one of those things where the cards went through him, but maybe not by him.

The good ones? He would keep for his people and Jellyside layer.

The rest? He would sell.

There would be others in need. He needed cards just as much as they did even if he didn't respect their choices in how they went about not working for them. Did his good looks, which could have landed him on the cover of Cat Fancy, cause the problem? No, but he was going to exploit it.

That was what humans did. Wasn't it? They exploited things. Why wouldn't he be doing the same thing? Why couldn't he do what date it after all he was trying to keep his own kind safe.

They spent the better product. 2 hours going over potential bills that they could use for their new recruits and there were some synergies that worked better than others. Some that were not even worth mentioning in company. He was excited.

Jelly side layer finally had things under control and things were moving in a positive direction. Or at least that's how it felt. He could always be wrong. That was a place that he could find himself in easily when he didn't know enough about what was going on and when the humans were kg about if they would actually let cats be at the table. So to speak.

Copernicus had gone on and on about being a part of the discourse and being at the table and he believed in that but there was so much left unsaid about the inequalities between the brand new species and a species known for their unique way of treating others.

At the very least, they wanted to be first to the table, before dogs.

All the cats agreed on that part, at least. For as many animals that had shown up awakened after the integration, cats were not among them not among them . The majority. Dogs were not the majority either, but nobody really cared about the deer. And there were so many deer.

---

"Did you hear about this deer problem?" Ashley said, putting the finishing touches on a cake. She held it up for inspection.

"Don't tell me they're being hit by cars or something like that. Is that what's going on? This is like the most Midwestern thing you have ever said. Also, grab a knife."

The glare that Ashley gave her girlfriend would have caused several wars. Luckily, it did not go beyond her apartment. Of course she could have opened a window, but a girl had to think about property values. There were only so many loud yells from a midwestern transplant that the mobs outside would accept.

Ashley placed the cake on their table.

"I heard that they're formed armed mobs to take down..." Kate said, placing the knife into position.

"Don't say it-"

"Armed mobs! Like these special long-armed guys that are normal. It's an upstate thing."

Kate cut through the cake as if it were hot butter.

It would have to do.

There was no chance that she was going to be taking Kate up to Storm King or Bear Mountain soon. "You ever think about how we've got to basically work the streets in shifts to keep everyone safe. Do you ever think we'll be able to go upstate and like... relax?"

One slice went to each woman. This was the best that Ashley could do. Store-bought mix combined with icing that... while it wasn't the best she had seen in the city, rivaled the best on the block.

"Someone has to have a plan. The military?"

Ashley shook her head. "They're hunkering down in their bases. I mean, this is great for all those guys that were prepping for the apocalypse, right? They get to live out their dream, right?"

"But like someone is buying up land. Eventually, this has to stop, right? But not the cake, of course. Keep this coming."

Someone placed seconds evenly on both plates. Someone placed seconds evenly on both plates. Neither one needed to say anything. Dungeon diving was tough on the body. Ashley longed for a day at a spa retreat or even just a jump into a body of water. She could imagine herself lying there for far longer. She might even jump into the East River. It was nearly clear after only two weeks since the system had arrived, as if the clams had finally gotten off of their asses and gotten into gear.

"Whatever magic caused this? It's got to be so powerful that we are not even worth a sneeze. The best we could do it get some superpowered flying mobs or companion mobs to fly over land and deal out death. Heck, even Russia stopped invading Ukraine... You saw that right?" Kate smiled.

There had been some international news. The system had spread out, spawning mobs all over the planet, but the mobs did not spawn evenly. They were more concentrated where humans were, at least according to the best theory put forward by the thought leaders that had been on the news.

"Experts have been popping out of the woodwork to explain this," Ashley said. "But none of it makes a lick of sense. Of course, now that the world follows video game logic, now every world leader reveals they used to play Pocket Monsters."

"We're going to see the other side of this. We have to. We're some of the strongest women in the guild and... third slice?" Kate waved her fork over the chocolate cake.

"Third slice."

"Of course. Let's celebrate, uh..." Kate looked like she was at a loss for words.

She took her third slice and celebrated Kate. It was what one did.