Kyle arrived at the Mucus Swamps with seven cats and a bucket.
The System counted them on the way in. Seven. Then the small gray one stepped out of the fog behind the last cat in line, sat down, and looked directly at the nearest camera, and the System wrote down eight, and then crossed it out again, out of respect.
System NoticeWATCHLIST ENTRY: KYLE. FELINE HEADCOUNT: 7. POSSIBLY 8. THE EIGHTH HAS BEGUN FOLLOWING THE SYSTEM BETWEEN FLOORS. PHOTOGRAPHS RECEIVED: 0.
The Bait Bucket of Questionable Cheese came too. Still closed. Kyle lifted the lid once last week, long enough for the smell to escape, and closed it again. The cats have not forgotten. The cats walk in formation around the bucket now.
His opponent was Vicky.
Vicky arrived in rubber boots with a small piece of paper. She looked at the cats. The cats sat down. All seven. The gray one did not sit down. The gray one looked at Vicky for a long moment, and then looked at the System, and the System had the distinct impression that two parties had just agreed on something without consulting it.
Kyle set his full lineup by Thursday and took the Floor 2 bonus. He put up a respectable week. 160.9.
Vicky put up 176.5.
160.9 to 176.5. A loss by 15.6. Kyle is 1-2, seventh in the Dungeon, and it was Vicky’s first win of the season, which means Kyle has now been the answer to somebody else’s story for two weeks running.
“She was due,” he said.
She was.
“I’m not upset.”
You are holding the bucket very tightly.
He loosened his grip on the bucket.
The System has an update on the matter of the photograph. Last week, the System checked the rulebook and found no deadline. The System said it would amend the rulebook.
The System has drafted the amendment. The System has not posted it. Amendments require 72 hours of notice, and the System is choosing, for now, to simply let Kyle know that the draft exists. It is in the folder. The folder still has nothing else in it.
“How long’s the notice?”
Seventy-two hours.
“So I’ve got time.”
You have exactly as much time as I decide you have.
He thought about this. The gray cat thought about it too.
Week 4: Dani. She is in the Pit with her goalie locked. Kyle finished last a season ago and still has the title on his profile to prove it.
He of all people knows what that is like down there.
The System wants to see what he does with that.