The green light of the screen reflected against his skin and turned him emerald. He knew this was a choice to demand his fate. The cards, the cards. If he were going by which card was more powerful than it would have to be the Ace. Ace is greater than King or Queen but maybe this was blackjack, the Ace could be a 1 as well.

Winning bets were never won on Aces. His hand hovered over each choice. The card had chosen him, it had decided to pick him but for what end he couldn’t tell. He had been captured in his own mind by a force.

He was thrust into the great gyrating vortex of it all. Jules put his finger on one of the cards.

Are you sure you would like to select the Queen of Bodies?

Yes?

No?

Jules put his finger on yes and woke up.

It’s a very odd sensation waking up after having been conscious, Jules found out. Though he might’ve not been quite conscious only hovering on the baseline between sleep and unsleep.

The Chew had disintegrated in his mouth and no longer was the familiar sensation of it still there. Instead, in his eyes appeared an interface. Jules had used Builder-tech before, interfaces like this were both rare and dangerous.

Hello Queen of Bodies,

Welcome to the CARDS

There are only three instructions that can be said now:

COLLECT CARDS (either by doing, meeting or a combination)

COMBINE CARDS (just think CARDS and pull up your cards)

HAVE FUN (please do, nothing else, no responsibilities, this should be your world now)

There’s some other wrinkles and what-not. They’ll be explained in due time.

CARDS or (Cool Ass R-no-point-in-doing-an-acronym D-Crystalized S-Experiences)

What can you do with them? Imbue them onto yourself, imbue them onto others or imbue them onto objects (though that one’s harder).

Cards come in ten tiers, and fourteen different types.

That’s all.

Jules read all the information as it appeared in front of him. God had been good. This was good shit. This was the way forward, it would bring him… Everything. Jules just needed to test it.

Ten minutes later, Jules sat hunched over sipping a cup of coffee in the coffee shop watching people go by. He had no idea what he was doing. The coffee was shit, he didn’t even drink coffee and this wasn’t one of those Chew-mixed coffees that gave both effects, no this was just pure stuff.

A woman walked into the coffee shop, she was pretty but in a very unattractive way. Perfect aryan jaw-line that seemed to call out “Sieg-Heil” just by looking at it, blond-hair in the typical messy blond fashion.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

She went to order her coffee and then Jules couldn’t pay attention anymore. So useless, all of this was useless. He didn’t even know how this thing worked. Jules just stared and looked at his drink.

“Hey you good?” A feminine voice. What? Jules looked up, the blond lady was sitting across from him, her coffee sitting on the edge of her knee. Maybe she didn’t expect an answer?

“Ok asshole. I asked you a fucking question.” Who’d she think she was?

“None of your business fuck off.” Jules wasn’t in the mood to deal with little miss “exterminate”. Jules returned to staring at his drink. She should just let him be sad.

“I should just let you be sad? Fuck that shit, talk to me asshole.” This little fucking. Wait what?

“Wait I didn’t say that aloud.” Jules said, lifting his face back up to stare at her. Her lips curved into a smile, Jules could make out beneath it, a row of smiling white teeth.

“Are you sure? I swore I heard it.” She said.

Card being gained: WARBLER 1%

Jules tried not to think about the notification but the lady didn’t seem to notice.

“You’re thinking of some dangerous stuff, there aren’t you.” Jules didn’t respond, just looked at her saying and thinking nothing.

“Come on I really didn’t like the Nazi comparisons I’m nothing like those scum-bags down in Jersey.” Jules kept his lips close to his mouth, yet he could feel sweat form between the tips of his lips.

“What do you fucking want.” She looked at him and smiled.

“An apology.” Jules raised an eye-brow and lifted his chin.

“For… Umm. What?” She almost laughed. The gasp of laughter drown though before it could reach Jules.

“For calling me average attractive. Like come on I know I’m gorgeous your internal monologue is so boring.” Huh?

“Oh come on don’t huh me. I’m literally the most gorgeous woman you’ve seen today and you’re huhing me. Asshole. If I’m an average good-looking person than what the fuck does that make you. Ugly. Small dick.” Jules looked at her, he tried to see beyond her eyes. Into that brain of hers.

She stared back.

“Anyways guys like you need to take care of themselves more. Unless you’re like homeless but you aren’t because I would’ve heard it anyways. Clean up that mark on your face it’s ugly.” Mark? Jules didn’t have any marks. Besides the scar above his eye.

Card Gained: Barista

The women stomped off without even saying goodbye, Jules watched her as he sat there. A random encounter. A superhero from within the dark and she had just approached him out of the blue.

No rhyme or reason, maybe she was vain, maybe she just actually wanted to lecture him on her attractiveness. What’s more important is that...

He had a card now? How did he get these cards to pull up again?

Just think “Let’s see them cards.”

Jules pulled up the interface. Two cards sat in front of him. One card depicting a smiling barista setting down a cup of coffee and another was entirely blacked out. Nobody looked at Jules.

He tapped the barista card.

Barista Tier 1:

Use or Embue?

Jules hovered his hands over the use section. Should he do it? Jules tapped the use icon. As soon as he did it the card disappeared, dissolving into brown sludge and entering into Jules’s body.

It felt like the best Chew he’d ever had, the real pomegranate stuff straight from the manufacturer, he felt the liquid fly, swim, right through his nervous system, into his blood, all over his body.

It was over as soon as it started. Yet Jules felt incredible. He felt high. There was something new in Jules’s mind. Knowledge. Huge swathes of knowledge. He sensed in the folds of grey matter, information. It was all about different drinks.

Mocha cappuccinos, americanos, and even stranger concoctions Jules had never heard of, the ancient Mayan coffee drink. Strange images flowed in his mind of foamy designs made in coffee cups.

Jules sniffed the air, mass produced beans, slight flavor of genetic modification, with a tinge of elvish earth magic? His nose could smell the coffee flavor so well. Like a sixth sense. Hearing, seeing, tasting, feeling, smelling and coffee. The coffee sense.

It was like having an extra ear, just for smelling coffee. It was wonderful, this whole thing was wonderful. He had… superpowers. Didn’t every kid wish that? He smiled. Jules had a good plan.