The cat was really just sitting there on her lap and just enjoying it and soaking it up. It felt wrong for her to just sit there.

  She could not imagine doing this to a person. It felt wrong. So was this some kind of assault?

  She petted the cat. Then she withdrew back her hand briefly. What was the cat doing? Was it trying to ingratiate itself to her, or maybe it was just as scared as she was, and just didn't want to voice it?

  Did it matter? It felt good.

  The cat under her fingers, the fur she'd forgotten how good it felt to have a pet. It was nearly therapeutic, almost like she was back at home with her parents and she was able to play with Donut. The long-haired Persian was now just a happy memory.

  Here in the big city? She couldn't afford a cat. Her roommates could afford one if they pooled their money.

  She wasn't even thinking about how she was going to pay rent. In the back of her mind, she knew that it might be a problem, but that wasn't for today's Ashley.

  She stopped petting for a second, and the cat gave her a withering look. “Sorry. Sorry! I'll keep going!”

  He, at least, was warming her lap. She didn't know what to say. She expected it to meow. How did you talk to a cat on your lap that could and would talk back?

  Maybe this was a different cat? She looked around, and there was no other cat. So, of course, the little drone with the blinking lights was just floating ominously above them. It glowed green as if it was—was it envious? Was that more like happiness? Could go either way. She was not threatening the cat. In fact, they did come jump into her lap and were asleep…

  She watched as the perfectly attired cook behind the grill prepared her food. She hadn't gone to this Bodega that often—it was across the street from where she lived, She hadn't made a point of going there, but they had good drunk food.

  The Thai place was great, but was it open? She was going to have to check, but as she touched the cat, her worries just left her for a little bit, and she felt at home.Ashley was in such a funk that she accidentally hurt herself on the way home, and to top it all off, now she had these cards, and she didn't know what to do with them. The fur felt so nice. It was everything she wanted at that moment. She couldn't help but hug the cat a little bit closer, and that was enough.

  So much had happened. In this moment, this was enough.

  “You're choking me,” the cat said. “Please refrain from choking me.” Its voice was a little bit strained. She immediately released it. “Thank you.”

  “I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you,” she said. “Let me make it up to you.”

  “No, no, you're fine. Keep doing what you're doing. That's what I wanted.”

  “Are you sure this is okay? Because usually pets don't talk back to me, and this is getting kind of weird.”

  “This is only going to be weird if you make this weird. You've seen me many times before. You live around here, don't you?”

  “I do, but I don't see how that has anything…”

  “Look, I'm going to be frank, here.”

  “Okay, Frank.”

  “Call me Bagel.”

  “Okay, Bagel, what's going on?”

  The cook behind the counter flipped something. It looked like a pancake that had been mated with a chicken tender. Ashley’s stomach grumbled.

  “Are you going to tell me how you became the owner of this store? Because that is—that sounds like a story, right there. I want to hear that story.”

  Bagel flicked his tail. “Well, I inherited it. The System gave it to me, so it's mine.”

  The drone buzzed close by. “The real owner passed away during System Integration anyway, so it was going to have to go to Probate Court. I just filed the motions to get this before that all happens.”

  “Wait, so what happened? The System taught you how to speak, or something?”

  He gave her a Look. “I mean, that's the thing that happens, right? It gives you stuff, like responsibilities?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “If you must know,” the drone chirped. “The great System gave Bagel his freedom and literacy to punk me, because why else would they do that? Oh, the indignity!”

  “Shut up. You love it!” Bagel said.

  “What is going on with you guys?” Ashley said. “Do I need to leave, so you two can sort this out?”

  “Chicken parm!” The worker behind the counter held out a sandwich for Ashley. She thought about getting up, but then she would have to move the cat that was sitting in her lap, and that sounded like a lot of work.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “It's not enough,” she said. The human had put nearly the entire length of the meaty sandwich into her mouth.

  “You should probably chew a little,” Bagel said. “Janet, bring her something to drink.”

  Ashley choked down the sandwich dry. “This tastes delicious. In fact, I need more of it. I…”

  Bagel rolled his eyes. Like a typical human, she was doing too much. They were always doing too much.

  Above them, Janet paused. “Boss, you're going to want to see this.”

  The girl was still absolutely smashing her dinner, but got up when he got up. He really wanted to go back to that moment, where he was sitting on her lap and everything was perfect in the world. But it had felt almost hypnotic, and he would be asking her to come back. Maybe he would give her something for free. Maybe he would leave the chair there as a trap.

  She smelled like Baklava at that moment. But it would have to wait. Bagel bounded to the door. An officer was entering.

  "We're just doing wellness checks, what with everything going on. It's been a pretty crazy day and a half, and we want you to know that we're here for…" the black man in the uniform stopped, the worker behind the counter giving him a smile. "You're not Raoul."

  The drone flew behind the counter. Bagel didn't know if he should let the AI speak, or if the worker would try to smooth the situation over.

  "That is correct," his summoned worker said. "I work for the new boss."

  The second police officer, a man with dark brown skin, though lighter than his companion, brought out a piece of paper. "Who is the new owner, and have they gone through the proper channels? The circumstances?"

  "Bagel is the new owner," Janet beeped, flying next to the worker. Bagel jumped on top of the counter.

  "Bagel?" the man looked around. He settled on the counter. "You're serious? Well, there is a peregrine falcon racking up kills here, so weirder things have been happening."

  "Thank you, officer," Bagel said. "Now I understand that the prior owner of the shop passed away, but the System has recognized me as the new owner, and…"

  The police officer held up both hands. "That's something for the fat cats downtown to take care of. All I need to know is that this business is still operational, as so many shops have closed. Even the international store two doors down…"

  Bagel's biggest competition was the larger market past the nail salon and the health food store. They had a buffet line. of all things. His shop didn't have space for that, but it did have character. Shops needed character, at least in Bagel's opinion.

  "Oh, shit, Jimmy, they're selling cards here!" the other officer leaned over the counter. "Ah, they're all Pizza Rats. Nuts."

  "You don't have any Fire Turtles, huh?"

  He was suddenly laser-focused on what was going on. He hadn't even seen the Fire Turtle card before, and now he was ready to trade for it, or pay money to get one. He didn't hesitate. "If you have any spares, I'll buy them off of you. Also, if you could tell me where to find some, I would appreciate that."

  Something flashed across the police officer's eyes, and Bagel knew that it was the same thing he was feeling at that exact moment. They were both about to have an incredible deal. At least one of them was going to come out of this in a much better position. If he had anything to say about it, it was going to be him. But at that exact moment, all he wanted was to figure out where the heck he could get some different cards. Then perhaps now he would be able to buy some more prime real estate.

  That might come later.

  "Two hundred for one of these? I've got three extras…" he flashed the cards in the air above Bagel.

  "I'll accept that deal. Six hundred for all three."

  Janet buzzed to the counter and then floated the payment to him in twenties. Bagel took a second to admire the artwork on the card, and then stuck it back with the rest of them. It wasn't that different from the Pizza Rat card, and he was going to have to check it out when he got a minute. He didn't want to put it into his own deck.

  "And where did you find all these? Because I need to get some of these back into stock here."

  "I got these on my way into work. South of Forty-Second Street, they're more common. It's like each neighborhood has its own specialty… Thanks for the money. If we find any more, are you still going to be looking for that?"

  "Of course," Bagel said.

  Bagel had Janet put the cards on the counter behind the rest of them, and that girl was still there. Because, of course, she was. She might be homeless, but she definitely used to live nearby here. He didn't have anywhere else to go.

  This was his home.

  Ashley pulled out some money. She didn't know why she'd even taken so much cash out.

  "Can I buy one of those off of you?" she said, her chin all but smothered in marinara sauce. She wiped her face ineffectively.

  Then she turned to the door and saw probably the worst thing that one could imagine at the exact same time. The day prior, she had gone to an audition, and she hadn't done well. There was, of course, somebody that did well. And she found herself staring at the woman that had followed her career for so long.

  It wasn't that the other one was a fan—far from it, in fact it was more that she was a thorn in her side, and Ashley hated the itch that Kate gave her. The woman had probably gotten by just on the size of her assets alone. It wasn't that Ashley didn't appreciate a woman with a princess build, but it was something that she thought might be a little bit tacky.

  Kate was dressed to kill, as if she had an assassin cosplay ready to go right then the System hit. She was all sleek, black, and dark. Her blonde hair was in a tight, hot French braid that kept Ashley’s attention on it…

  "Yo! I heard that this shop sells cards?" Kate said, walking into the room. She looked like a princess had decided to come to the city. "I need something for my AOE deck, and…"

  She locked eyes with Ashley. Both girls just kept their stare. Ashley was very conscious of the marinara that just wouldn't budge.

  "Oh. You," she said. "I guess I'm glad a Pizza Rat didn't kill you."

  "Kate, what the hell are you doing out here? Don't you have enough problems?"

  "Well, one, this is my turf, so step off, girl, and two, I have reason to believe that an instanced dungeon is going to pop up around here soon."

  "How did you…"

  "Trade secret... Oh, hey, they have a grill going, too? Fuck, that smells incredible," Kate walked right up to her. Kate was about five-foot-eleven, towering over the smaller, athletic girl. Ashley nearly growled at her.

  The cat hadn't said anything that whole time, and she was shocked to see Kate petting him. This was such an indignity. That was her cat, and this was her chosen Bodega, and she nearly rushed out without paying. It didn't matter how gorgeous Kate was, she wasn't going to wait around to be verbally assaulted by…

  "Instanced dungeon?" Ashley said, without turning around.

  "Oh, you haven't heard about these things? They're like little timed excursions, where you get to test your mettle, and see if you can get better cards or level up. But you're too dainty to go on these little adventures, aren't you?"

  Ashley seethed. Who was this woman, trying to come into her place and tell her how to live? Honestly, she was so done with her.

  "Where is this instanced dungeon supposed to be?"

  Kate shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. Probably next door? I think that we were less than twenty feet from it outside. That's me and my summon. He’s waiting outside. I got a good one."

  "Alright. Bye, Kate."

  The girl rolled her eyes at Ashley. She could tell just by the time, but she was a woman on a mission.

  Neither one of them noticed Bagel slinking off to the outside.