Bodega Cat (System Apocalypse, Deck Builder, Litrpg)

"Now here's the reason why I wanted you to come with me. I have been stopping here very so often to feed the cat upstairs and I think that it's time for us to help her out."

"You've been keeping a cat?" Bagel wasn't surprised. He had smelled cats on her before but Kate had been taking showers at Ashley's place so they had been a little muted. If the clothing she'd worn was from this apartment then it would have been an indicator.

"I'm sorry. Meatball knows about this but I look; she said that it was really good to have you around when she was awakened. So I thought want to do the same thing because meatball is definitely not going to be able to do that. I'm not saying she's two excitable but she's young."

"According to my awakening date, I'm only two months old. Like I remember stuff before that but I was a different cat then. But lead on. On let's take a look at this cat."

Bagels joy, now fleeting felt short-lived. She had another cat in her life.

That was going to be fine, right?

Cats didn't get jealous. They knew what they were about.

They made their way upstairs and Kate had clearly been taken care of the animal but also the woman who was living there.

"Gretchen, I brought my friend Bagel. As a reminder. Reminder he is a talking cat."

"I'm sorry dear. What? Oh it's Kate. How are you doing my dear?"

"Mrs. Rain, I'm so glad to see you."

Kate took a moment to pull several things out of a backpack for the woman with the striped hands. He hadn't noticed until it was right on top of him.

Her hands were cracked and tired and worn and all those things that cats loved about old people. But there was one thing that cats loved more than everything else.

And unfortunately for bagel, someone else was doing that.

The tabby cat sat in the woman's lap as if this was some sort of challenge. As if he could defend the place himself. He knew this was his territory. In his domain? He would not be questioned.

Bagel knew the feeling.

He also knew how afraid the cat looked.

The world had changed and so many subtle ways since the system came and everything outside sounded different. Everything that had happened before had meant that this cat would be used to traffic sounds and honking and loud noises. The absence of those things when the cars went away would have been noticeable.

Bagel padded around the carpet.

"I just need a minute," he whispered.

The cat growled low, almost so low that the humans wouldn't be able to hear.

Bagel had the warning land and clear. This was the other cat's lap and he was not going to be able to get out there and must do as your grin, Kate hadn't yet sat down on the cedar Cross the old woman. In fact, they've been talking this whole time and he'd been so hyper focused on the other animal that he hadn't even listened in.

"... And so meatball is a different cat? But Meatball didn't get the system on day one. So added that to the cat and the cat became awakened? What's it like?"

"Meatball is very kind and giving but I think that's just because she wants to be. She's also very scary. She's been doing dungeons non-stop. That's dangerous. It's at least as dangerous as going to Staten Island."

"Is it as dangerous as it's going to Newark?"

"1990s Newark or 2020s?"

The women laughed.

Bagel was still looking at the cat and he was looking back at Bagel. It was like staring into the void. But in this case, the void was turning back at him and he was kind of okay with it. The black cat looked like it had been through a lot and he felt for the cat but that didn't mean that he wanted to just bring it into the real world.

There were obligations and then responsibilities and he didn't want to be responsible for any of that. Maybe the old woman did. You looked at her and she was still talking with Kate.

"We can awaken your cat. There's a lot of responsibility, but that's something that you're going to have to take has a good chance that his personality might change a lot. It might stay the same. Who knows. I don't know."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

She listened.

"But you think you could do it?"

"I could definitely do it."

"So there's something else about this then?"

Bagel considered her words. "We have enough cards now that we could make half of the people on the street into deck bearers. Given more time, most humans will be able to have a deck should they want one."

"I could have one as well?" She said, suddenly sitting up straight. "But at my age?"

Kate moved in. This was something that the cat didn't have problems with. So the cat had a relationship with Kate. It was probably one that projected the system then based off of their their ease and friendliness.

"All Bagel is saying is that he wants you to consider that you're bringing in another awakened being into the world. Bagel isn't anyone's pet. He's more like an investment banker who owns a Bodega."

Bagel hadn't consider those words. Those are definitely where the Kate had said but he hadn't considered himself an investment banker of any kind. True, he took people's money and he sold him stuff. He also took money for bonds but he hadn't thought of himself and that way. If that was what the human thought of him, then there was something else entirely he couldn't be blamed for human Mistakes. He could barely be blamed for cat mistakes.

"It's just a different type of responsibility then?" The old lady took the offered ten cards in one hand. "Is this for me?"

"It can be. All you have to do is put above your chest."

Without saying another word, the woman placed the deck over her chest and pushed it into her very the cards flashed and disappeared as she absorbed the deck.

"Oh wow. System, huh?" She was clearly looking at her status and log.

"The best thing we can say is that it's like a video game. You might have played with your cam. I don't know. But they were a big thing when I was a kid," Kate said.

The gaming analogy actually made made a lot of sense to Bagel. If these people were treating this world like it was a video game, trying to get more points and more cards then that explains so much. It explained their need to get rare cards to fill their decks to broaden their horizons and get perks to get more card slots.

It explained all the guides on energy distribution.

He didn't understand so much of what humans did without the context of human media breaking things down for him. The media that he'd watched while he was a normal cat just to feel alive had really shown how humans thought about things.

Now that he was actually working with humans they were far messier in person.

He didn't want to be that mean. He just wanted to be effective, as least for now.

"Okay, I'm going to pick some of these perks real quick. Then we can talk about my cat but I will accept the risk when it comes to him."

They debated for a little bit but after about b minutes it have been decided. Kate knew what she was doing. She'd brought enough cards to awaken the cat and his owner.

The question now was were they going to do it here. Were they going to do this now?

What options did they have?

Not that many.

The world needed more deck bearers. Mobs were deadly to people without decks.

It was almost like she had already decided before Kate has arrived and they were just putting on a show for him. He loved that idea that they were trying to do this out in plain sight. Like someone was going to audit their discussion history.

He could care less. He might pretend to say things but... They had already decided. He wasn't a part of the decision. He could do what he could either way.

Before long, they were putting the cards into the cat. There was no way to make the cat except this

There was nothing to do but wait. Bagel just kind of sat and watched. It was calming to see the cat awaken, slowly.

He has a good idea of what was going on. Was he going to dedicate his time to bringing up another awakened cat? In this economy?

But then again who else would be able to get the resources needed to the cat to make it. Surely none of the humans could even compare to the hundreds of credits he made each day.

He was getting close to his dream goal of two thousand a day. Then he would be able to use the surges to get more. He could buy a building every other day at that pace, assuming each building cost five thousand base and he got half off...

Then the cat was exploring.

Everything in the room was all new to Bagel, but it also looked like it was all new to the black cat. He prowled around, not even paying attention to any of the people. Just sniffing and bagel knew that feeling.

Bagel himself hadn't said much when he had gotten his cards and become a deck bearer. Not in the first couple days when he was just getting adjusted to it.

"Now there will be an adjustment," Kate said. "We don't know what's going to happen. It might be a few days until things are at a new normal."

But the black cat was all over the place. All the sun was up on the bookshelf running across and Bagel- he couldn't help himself.

It was a very well hidden maze wrapping around the entirety of their own through several shelves and he hadn't really caught it until the black cats started moving through it. But it was definitely a series of obstacles that the cat knew.

Bagel was behind him then, moving through it. A paw here, a paw there and he was on top of a bookshelf. Then he was in on a floating shelf above the ground.

Five feet up.

Seven feet up.

Then they were touching the ceiling with their tails.

He has to tuck his tail down to fit. His whiskered brushed against the walls of a elevated tunnel that spanned the whole room. This was extravagant. He couldn't imagine this, but seeing it in action, behind the other cat?

He was going to have to bring Meatball.

Not bringing her was going to get to him later if he didn't.

Bagel poked his head out far from where he has entered the tunnel and then climbed onto a large cat tree. It felt wonderful. The rush of sudden quick movement drew him in.

Bagel had attempted to embrace being more human and more of a person. This cat was taking it the opposite direction.

The first thing that Bagel noticed was that the cat was faster than him. The second thing that Bagel noticed was that he wanted to keep up. It had been awhile since he wanted to chase after another cat but he felt the calling and his instincts took over.

Espresso the cat was about as fast as a cat could be. Not only that, he knew the terrain far better than Bagel could. He'd clearly run this before and it was now doing it intentionally with speed.

Bagel's mind race to the possibility of getting something like this installed in the shop. And he realized that he didn't really need to get that much together. He had someone constructing a damn building after all. How much would it take for him to get more? He didn't know.