Bodega Cat (System Apocalypse, Deck Builder, Litrpg)

It was third time through the obstacle course that Espresso finally showed signs of slowing.

Maybe it was something about what the cat had eaten. Bagel wish that he had brought something for the cat to eat.

He hadn't because he hadn't expected this.

Passing from the bookshelf to the floating shelves, he gave Kate a helping of side eye.

The women had been watching them move around. Their rapt attention showed him that he still had a fan base.

It wasn't that he was losing against espresso. It's the espresso was finally gassed and finally slowed down and jumped up until his owner's lap.

Was that even correct anymore?

Could a person own an awakened cat? Or were they going to have to meet at sort of equilibrium somewhere. Bagel was about to find out. Raul had treated him like a adult and bagel expected nothing less.

"That was fun!" Espresso said.

"You're going to be hungry," Bagel said, circling the chair that held the cat and the woman.

"I can get him to eat. That's not a problem, is it, Espresso?"

"I am... Hungry." The cat spoke each words load and deliberately as if this was the first time it had been done on purpose.

And indeed, it probably was. They say in silence for a bit as he apparently now realized that he could speak. The implications were vast. The changed was marked.

"I can... Talk."

Bagel was sometimes patient, this being one of those few times. In order for espresso to become a fully formed cat it would need to understand what was going on and how to use cards. Their system will tell him with some things but he would be lacking in some of the current situation.

The system didn't tell Bagel what was going on in the water world. It just gave enough basic information that he wasn't lost.

Espresso looked entirely out of sorts. Hos brows were so furrowed that they might not ever return back to where they were supposed to be. He wouldn't have accused the cat of anything but he was pretty sure the cat was overwhelmed with all the options.

Bagel? Bagel had taken an extra energy so we could use more of his cards at once. He wasn't kicking himself with over the decisions. But it would make things a lot easier if he knew.

"I'm Bagel. I went through what you're going through right now, two months ago. I didn't have a choice in the matter. I know you're probably scared right now and don't know what's going on, but we've started a community now of awakened cats. That's what you are right now. You've become awakened and we understand that it's a big burden."

Bagel paused as Kate got out a bowl of food and place it in front of espresso. He was hoping to get some peregrine falcon for lunch today but that was looking like more of a pipe dream than anything else.

"It's going to be okay. Espresso, you can tell us whatever you want to tell us. If you want to take more time, you can take more time. Your destiny is now in your hands," the soothing voice of the elderly woman was a balm against the viciousness outside.

Bagel know when it's hard that not everyone was going to be able to survive. But he hadn't thought about the human cost of everything that had been going on.

There had to be people talked away that couldn't or wouldn't fight. Would they make it? He couldn't save them all.

He could barely save the people in his block. Why did he want to? Did he even want to? He hadn't sat down and examined his own feelings.

"Kate, maybe we should come back."

Espresso was nuzzling her.

Indeed, who was he to step in and bother them.

"Let's come back. Tomorrow?"

The elderly woman waved her away.

They stepped out of the apartment.

---

"So are we going to talk about what just happened there? I feel a little blindsided."

Kate held up both hands. "Look I've got as much food as you want in my apartment. The fridge never shut off and I've been making sure that she's been fed so I've had to put stuff here first. I don't take it all over."

Bagel grimaced.

"You could have led with that."

Kate opened the door with a chuckle and he was reminded how different life had to have been for her. She loved a life that was nothing short of opulent.

"Ashley thinks I live inside of a storage closet for lack of a better term. I didn't didn't want to disabuse her of that."

Bagel padded on the marble floor. It felt so... Smooth again. He jumped from carpet to marble and back again.

And then Kate was preparing some food and she was cooking and he was hungry and he let her do it.

"I was going to ask you what's going on. But I think that we're both on the same page regarding espresso."

"You think what I did was reckless?" She asked, moving the pan around as she seasoned some meat.

It smelled glorious.

"I think that I want... I don't know. I don't know if I should be making more cats awakened or not. It's a lot of responsibility. Does that mean that every cat that we meet when I'll become awakened?"

Kate moved to wash her hands in the sink.

"I don't know. Honestly she needs it. She's too proud to admit when she's in too deep."

That was when it hit him. This wasn't about Kate or Espresso. This was something else.

"You're worried about Ashley."

"She's been working all day everyday and she
... God, Bagel I can't believe I'm saying this but I haven't been in such a stable relationship. Two months? I never had anyone last close to as long. This is ridiculous."

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

This little jaunt here had been when there was a lull. There was a break in the normal cycle of dungeons because of the surge and now they were responding back at the regular interval.

The damn thing about it was that he wasn't giving his all. Not even close.

He didn't even know if he could. If push came to shove, he would quit done and diving and just killed mobs every so often to get experience. Even as the ones that spawned and moved further and further out. He didn't need to kill mobs.

Buying and selling cards was enough for him, at least for now.

"What are you worried about?"

Kate turned off her stovetop. She was done cooking clearly and she began plating. She and stared intently at him waiting for him to answer the question.

But there were so many things he was worried about. Imagining that humans could just enslave the cats that they made deck bearers or something would just be the worst.

The thought that humans had the capacity to enslave cats, even if they were deck bearers? They probably would. Cats didn't have thumbs and therefore it was harder to do so many things. Dogs would be a much better use case.

They couldn't open their own food in most cases.

Maybe using their mobs they could do that but that was relying on something that wasn't yourself. Bagel took full advantage of his mounts. Without them, he wouldn't have been able to feed himself in the immediate aftermath of the system integration. Having it meant that he was alive.

So many cats probably wouldn't have made it if their owners weren't around just based off of this. He started thinking about the cats that would have died if their owners had died; a lost cause in the larger apocalypse that was destroying all of the world.

"Do you think that will ever be equal citizens like humans?"

"That's a little bit heavy."

"Like I understand that we say things and we like equality. That's what a lot of you and media professes but like we're not even the same species."

Kate passed a plate of chicken to him. It was exactly the way he liked it.

"I understand that. Not everyone's going to treat you guys like Ashley and I do. But babe we appreciate you and if we're going to reclaim our planet? The way things are going then we need to have everyone we can on our side. And if that means we have to conscript some people to fill roles then that's what it is."

He didn't have a reference for the word conscripts. But he didn't think that it sounded good.

"A conscript is when you were forced to fight for your country. There was some study done where it was like ten conscripts equivalent to one recruit like the person actually wants to be. There is so much more effective than 10 people that don't."

"I can imagine why."

Bagel, already predisposed to malicious compliance, felt it in its bones. If he wasn't there for his own reasons, he wouldn't be doing it. If he wasn't there because he was curious about something then he was gone.

"So you can imagine that the person that's going to try to enforce this already knows what's going to happen. If we start enslaving cats and people to be deck bearers and they're more powerful than us than well, you can connect the dots."

"What's stopping a powerful group of deck bears and just heading into City Hall and taking over?"

Kate held up a half full fork. "Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Look I'm not the biggest supporter of the government but they are keeping the streets safe as much they can. The adventurers guild is the volunteer organization for a reason. The way things were before the system apocalypse was that you could just quit your job. The New York Police department might be a paramilitary organization, but they could quit tomorrow."

Kate paused to swish a glass of red liquid. "You could leave. Pick up your cards. Move whenever you want. The city will hate it it but what are they going to do about it?"

It was an interesting wrinkle that he hadn't considered. True, it was a function of his card that he could set up a bodega someplace else.

He was pretty sure that if he did that, he would still have the original setup. But he was too afraid to even pull his energy from the constant usage of the store. If he stopped it for one minute, then he'd have to go back and reset it and redraw the card from his hand.

He needed something, but he didn't know what.

"I guess I don't know how I can trust humans when they can't even trust each other."

Kate drained her glass. "Anytime enough people get together, they form some sort of system and and maybe a government around that system. It's only as good as the people."

"This is true. If cats were the dominant force on this planet, they would never have done all of this."

Bagel knew it to be true. Cats would have been content with living in forests and hunting prey; lounging around all day like it was a part of the job. In fact, it was very close to what big cats were doing nowadays.

"I don't think that big cats would have formed a society just like humans. In fact, I don't think that they would have been technologically advanced at all. They wouldn't have done much with what they had."

"That's the difference now. You have the benefit of seeing what human society is like with the option to just not be a party to it."

Bagel lapped up the provided bowl of water. Milk was one of those things that he couldn't get away from his block.

He missed it so.