Chapter Two - The Bloody Bat

"You want me to go where?" Fasmine asked.

I huffed, which I instantly realized didn't help me look any more intimidating or serious. All it did was make me puff out, which, if anything, made me more furry-looking.

I wasn't sure what kind of cat this body was, but it was definitely one of the more... hairy sorts. This was going to make everything harder, I could just feel it. But complaining about my current condition wasn't going to improve it. "Sharp, you're living in an alley."

"It's homey?" she tried.

"It's unsanitary."

The girl winced. "I'm sure I can find things for you? Uh, people throw away cat towers all the time, right? And we can make a little box with sand? I think? Maybe gravel?"

"That's not the issue," I said. Though I was adding it to the list of issues even now. "Look at your stats growth. Several levels in Anima, but nothing in the rest, correct?"

"Not nothing," she complained.

"Then very little. That means you've been holding back. We're going to change that. First, you need a job. Stable income will do wonders for you."

"Ah, I'm too young," she said. "And I don't have papers. The orphanage only releases your papers if you go to work for one of the companies sponsoring them. Otherwise you can pay a certain percentage of your wages for a few years and they'll release your information back to you. It's fair because they use that money to pay back your debt."

What in the capitalist shitscape was that? I shook my head. A problem for later. "There are places you can work where papers don't matter as much. Which part of Boston Two are we in?"

"Uh, we're in the eastern bit of Southie," she said. "Not too far from the marina, I guess. This is Rivet territory."

I racked my brain trying to remember what I could about Boston Two. I'd been in the city a few times, for work and otherwise, but I'd never truly immersed myself in the culture here. South Boston was near the waterfront from what I could recall. It was one of the larger districts in the city. Half residential, half industrial, with plenty of smaller gangs and--if I recalled correctly--two larger ones.

The Rivets was one of those. The other... I think it was the Iron something. In the grand scheme of things, they were still pretty small.

Now, South Boston was right up against Central, which was one of the more... rambunctious parts of the city. Busy and noisy, but that wasn't all bad because it bordered Fenway, and in Fenway...

I nodded my head. That could work.

"Did you come up with an itty-bitty kitty plan?" Sharp asked.

I glared, then smoothed my features. Polite. I had to be polite. "Yes. How would you like a job?"

"I just said, I can't," she replied.

"It'll be under the table. No paperwork or anything like that. You'll have to be on your best behaviour and work hard, but you'll earn some money and maybe an in towards getting a place to sleep in that isn't an alleyway."

She only considered it for a few moment before nodding. "Okay," she said. "Yes, that does sound nice. What kind of job, though?"

"You'll see when you get there," I said instead of admitting that I had no idea. This plan was... half-baked at best, but it might work, and that's all that mattered for now. If it failed, we'd likely be no worse off than we had been before. "First, I need you to get to Fenway."

"That's super far!" she gasped.

Right. She definitely didn't have bus access, and the metro was right out.I could forget about getting a ride from any sort of app too.

"We're going to have to walk," I said.

"You mean I'm going to," she said.

I looked down at my little paws. Yeah. Crossing a city on these little things wasn't gonna happen. I could measure my stride in milimetres, which wasn't a good start when it came to long-distance travel.

"Don't worry, you're light!" She scooped me up and I resisted the urge to swing and claw at her as she deposited me on her shoulder. "So... uh, let me pick up my stuff? Do you know where in Fenway we have to go?"

"It's a bar called the Bloody Bat," I said. That would be our best starting location. I had a few contacts there. Of course, Sharp couldn't just set me on their table the way I was. I'd have to play things by ear, which I never enjoyed.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Is it a club for vampires?"

"There's, as far as I'm aware, no such thing as a vampire."

Sharp frowned in the act of awkwardly squatting--perhaps not to lean too far forwards so that I'd fall off her shoulder--and tapped her chin. "What about magic that uses blood?"

"That's magic. Not vampirism. The Bloody Bat is a baseball-themed bar."

"Oh." She nodded.

"It's also a meeting spot for Edgerunners."

Her breath caught. "Really? Wait, really-really? I get to go there? I'm not ready!"

"We'll talk about readiness on the way over," I said. "Don't think you'll be getting anything impressive as a job there. Not for now, at least. You don't seem experienced, capable in a fight, equipped, or knowledgeable enough to do any work as an edgerunner. Not that being one is a good idea to start with."

They tended to die... usually soon after they started. Protagonist powers or no, this girl wouldn't last a day. "What kind of work would I get, then?"

"If you're lucky, washing dishes."

"That's not nearly as exciting," she whined. Then she raised an arm and flexed, or tried to flex, her bicep. "But I'll give it my all!"

"Good. Good. So... did you have a conversation with the Cat Eidolon before I was summoned here?"

"Huh? No? I mean, the perk activated, and I had to pick what kind of animal companion, there was a long list!"

"What did that list have?"

"Crows, dogs, cats obviously, snakes, bears! I almost picked bear because that sounds cool, but what would I do with a baby bear? Uh, rats and foxes... I think a few more?"

So, all the common eidolons were on the list. I wasn't sure what to do with that information, but it might well be important. Did picking cat mean that Sharp was favoured by the Eidolon of the Cat? That was something to keep in mind. Could an Eidolon remake a human body?

"I almost picked bunny. They look so cute and fuzzy!"

I shivered. That... no, that would have been a disaster. Small mercies, but it was better to lose my body and be turned into a harmless kitten than to live within a hundred miles of someone empowered by that Eidolon.

"The perk said that the companion would be my mentor and teach me!" she said. "You must know a bunch, then, yeah?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, I know a thing or two. But that can wait until we have a place to stay."

A mentor role, huh? That would be... doable. I'd considered taking on an apprentice a few times, but my line of work wasn't the sort where that kind of easy trust was easy. I wasn't sure if Sharp here had what it took, though, but I'd only known her for an hour or two, maybe she had more of a backbone than I thought.

"Are you done packing?"

She nodded and hefted a backpack up and over. It was a ratty old thing that she'd stuffed a heap of clothes into as well as a couple of cans and a blanket. It really wasn't much to look at, but I supposed it was the bare necessity to survive. The girl grabbed a small folding knife and clipped it to her pockets next, which was good to see. She wasn't averse to carrying a weapon, even if it was the bare minimum.

"Okay! Fenway... that's like, a two hour walk from here."

"It'll be a good opportunity to see if any of your stats increase naturally with light use," I said.

The stats thing was bothering me still, at least in the back of my mind.

They had to represent something. But in my face... well, I had a passing knowledge of technology, and yet my Tech level was at zero. I had been something of a casual athlete as well, and yet Body was also as low as it could go. So Stats likely didn't represent knowledge.

Did they, therefore, reflect the person's current state? If I was injured, would my Body stat decrease? If I was impaired, would my Reflex lower?

Or were stats a representation of experience gained from the moment the status system was unlocked? That seemed like the most likely possibility if the system was capable of pushing people towards becoming legends of some sort or another.

That would be one of the first things I'd have to figure out. And then, a training regimen. The goal: to hit level five in as many stats as possible to get those perks Sharp was talking about. But before that... I had a two hour walk to figure out how to convince an old contact to give an unknown girl a chance.

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