Bodega Cat (System Apocalypse, Deck Builder, Litrpg)

"What do you mean that doing a social club. What the hell does the social club mean?"

Meatball stretched out in front of him indicating that she wanted to play. "They just want us to have a nice little social experience out there and they want us to meet all the people that made all this possible."

They were having a little meaning of their own before they did anything. A meeting before the meeting as the humans called it.

The word had gotten to them for through through jelly side layer that the cats wanted to have a social hour. Of course he wanted to host it at their place meaning that if Bagel and Meatball wanted to go what they would have to get a ride down there. And is it turnout, the first one was free. So she took a second to get all of her stuff out into the ocean do that to

I mean I don't care what to do. I do but I don't. I might just be a member just because I want to be around other cats, bagel said.

"And there's nothing wrong with that. We don't need you to be a frontline fighter," meatball sit rubbing against him from the side.

"But that's what humans do, right?" Meatball asked. "They form social clubs. They form numerous self referential cliques. They form groups and then they hunt big prey together by running. They hold events."

Bagel did not want to experience that. He had no problem being in in the middle of a dozen events but he did not want to be responsible. He had people for that. They could do his dirty work. Plus Jelly side layer was enough of a thing. He was only in the adventurers guild for the benefits.

Benefits that had as of yet, not arrived.

"They're such a like minded species. So predictable. I like them but they're... Some of them you can just see if they miss home."

Bagel withdrew into himself. This was his home why was she... oh. "What do we want to do? You know I never really thought about that."

"You're living in the moment. You're not worried about the future like his humans are. They keep telling me that they're worry about the future, but I could care less," Meatball said. "I would have never experienced this without you and jellyside layer."

Bagel purred. Someone opened the front door to the Bodega. That familiar bell rang. The worker adjusted the way he was looking to stare her down. As a general rule, when he was in the shop and not intending to go anywhere, he cycled through his deck until he had two cooks and one worker out. The bodega was persistently out and it let them not return to his deck while they were it or directly around it.

"Excuse me, can I leave this here?" A middle aged lady said. He voice sounded resolute. "It's a pamphlet for our ... Services. I would love to put it on the door if we are allowed. So many people come through here and all the normal places we used to go to are closed."

It hadn't been a need to talk about what they were going to do after this because they hadn't really known that they were going to survive. But the humans were planning something. They planned ahead, having plans within plans.

It was one of the best things he had learned from them. That and the importance of towels.

If Bagel didn't know if he was going to survive, he wasn't going to plan for anything more than today. He might buy up more buildings because that was what he did. But that wasn't planning for the future, that was just him doing the thing the government asked him to do on their behalf.

He stayed in the moment

They had asked a lot.

If you had asked Bagel, how the TSA thing was going he would shrug. But this woman? Bagel scanned her paper.

---

Gathering of the church of the system

Praise service. 1130 daily at the Turtleback chapel.

Pastor Gonzalez presiding

---

The worker looked up to them and Bagel flicked his tail.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"That is fine," he said. "I'll allow it."

The human craned her neck up to see them. The combination scratching post and house was about twelve feet up into the air situated along a narrow catwalk that he had installed early on.

"It's true that there are animals awakened through the covenant! Praise be!"

Meatball poked her head out as well. "Praise be? He just sells energy drinks and farts. Some awakened hero. He even makes me kill his mice for him."

``" All I needed in this new system worlds. Praise be to the system and praise be to the proprietor," the woman said. She placed the flyer on the door using some tape and well they watched.

Bagel wasn't gently curious as what kind of thing she was selling and delve into his system. Knowledge of religions prior to the system integration. It was a normal human thing and all cultures had religions but you knew religion popping up and that perhaps the old ones were not enough for people. Or perhaps it was that there was no time for that when there was no more weekend or different s*** in between days. They were just times when a mob spawned and times when they didn't. And it was really up to you to make sure that you're locked clean so the other blocks not have to worry about that.

Already, he was thinking about how it would be to expand to a new neighborhood but that just seems so impossibly distant. He hadn't even been able to get the cops to get out of the building he needed to buy so you can buy it. He didn't have the deed from the system and he wasn't the only person that was there when it had integrated. So he had to go by the Simpsons rules regarding acquisition hotel. And that was acquisition by conquest or acquisition by no one being there and you being able to buy it.

What was happening here was happening across the world and he was worried that eventually one of these neighborhoods wouldn't be able to handle its own population of mobs and those mobs would just move on out. The anxiety ate away and him a little bit everyday but he was doing what he could.

" You think this is going to be a problem?" Bagel wasn't sure but it could have been. Humans did not make sense to him when they got on about religion. Didn't they know that they were all going to go to the jelly's side later later on after all this was done? It was in the musical after all!

" I know with humans. Sometimes the things they do they cause problems. But then again they also they made the guild and they're basically bankrolling you're buying up of land from the system. Joe, it's a bit of good stuff for the humans. A bit of bad stuff but overall they're all right." Meatball hadn't even opened her eyes during that.

" I guess we could ask Khaleesi or Janet what they think. But what's Janet going to tell us?" There was only one minor problem. It was just that there was so many humans around. Dad, one good one was not going to race the problems of several bad ones if they had to run it to those.

A lot of his problems might have been mitigated by having an NYPD station extension parked permanently right out front, but a lot of those problems didn't even have to exist in the first place if humans just listened to each other and worked together.

"Khaleesi had more entertaining answers."

"But Janet giving answers... It has a certain style to it. Also she's not human."

"Just because your shop AI gives snarky answers that doesn't make her any better than my human. I'll put them against each other in most things and Khaleesi will win because she's cute."

Bagel paused. "You know they call us cute, too, right?"

"They are cute. I mean they're cute in so many ways but like humans right?"

"Exactly."

---

"So that's the reason why I left the cult my family was in and made my way out here and the whole thing about getting caught up with Doechi..."

Behind them the artwork for Doechi-stan was black and white imagery on the background. Mascot mobs were being dispatched and disrespected left and right.

"We all got caught up and stuff. She's fucking hot shit and especially at this at the time she was on she was hot shit," Kate said. "Can you imagine her doing a rap album now though?"

"Who the fuck would have time to listen to a rap album right now in the middle of all of this?"

"I mean we didn't have time before because of late stage capitalism but now? As long as we get all of our damn spawns we should be good. I mean how long is it now? Like an hour? We could pause it halfway through and fucking...."

Both women fell silent for a long moment.

"John Hughes?"

"John Hughes."

"Who even has a boom box? Fuck I... I think that there is one on the set," Kate said.

Behind the poster, another block stretched out where several matinees showed what was playing there. One of them was clearly the actual billing for Doechi-stan, matching the color palette of the poster they had passed.

"We're right here," Ashley said, licking her lips. "Fuck-I haven't never broken into a theatre. It sounds kinda hot."

"Honestly, I am feeling the same. If we got the boom box we could... Fuck who has aux cables in the damn apocalypse."

"Fuck who has aux cables in the apocalypse? The would be a dope ass album title," Ashley said. "You want to uh..."

But girls instantly were in tune despite the chaos around them. It was like the whole world fell away and all she wanted to do was make the other girl happy. Ashley could do that. She could definitely find a DJ to lay down a sick beat so that the two of them could wrap together on an album. After all, if there was nothing else to do then why the fuck not?

Why wouldn't they make art?

"Fuck you want to make art in the apocalypse?" Ashley said. "That would be..."

"We could perform it here! Oh Broadway!"

Kate had both arms extended, as if a big shot director was about to cast her to play herself in the play about her life.

"Let me guess. We call it the Kate story?" Ashley said, giggling.

"The Ashley and Kate story. Midtown East side story. Whatever it is it, it doesn't matter we will be the only game in town. Of wait who is going to have time to see us on stage?"

They both stood there for a long minute. Ashley clapped her hands together. "Good fucking point. I hate this new world. You make it better but it still sucks."

"I'm just glad to be sucking here alongside you."

"So long as it isn't cats."

"Agreed."