carl@fire

Carl leaned back in his seat rubbing his hands on his beard, his eyes wide. What do I think she should do? How the fuck do I even answer that? He breathed deeply, forcing himself to think.

Mina stared across the table at him with an almost curious expression on her face.

Can't believe I thought she was a guy. I really gotta focus on the details more. It's obvious if I think about it now; she probably followed the ultranoob to that shoe store and was just pretending to look around while she listened. And plenty of people rub their chins when they think. And it's totally okay for girls to like engineering, too. Bobby's a chip off the ol' block already in that sense. Mina might talk a little oddly, but she's got that highbrow English accent anyway, so—

"Well?" Mina asked.

"Gimme a minute, Mina," Carl said in his most soothing voice, holding his hands up. "I don't want to be too hasty. Just going over everything in my head first…"

The girl looked down at her hands, which had resumed their position clasped on the table. "My apologies," she said. She sighed and leaned back into her seat. "I… You're the first I've confided in regarding any of this, and I'm feeling quite some anxiety."

Carl grimaced, feeling his anger continue to bubble away. Alright, a quick rundown:

• Her father engaged her in real life to a guy who abuses her, and the marks from it transfer into the game because it's part of her mental image of herself.

• The guy who she was seeing before the new guy just tried to blackmail her into having sex with him in-game, which is a thing.

• Her family doesn't care about any of this.

• Her mother seems like she's actively working against her, even in the game.

• She's too afraid to tell anyone else.

He watched as she chewed her lip nervously without looking up again. This isn't what I figured I'd be getting into when I logged in tonight. She needs help, that's for sure. Not a lot I can do, either. Maybe I can poke around internally when I get out? Plenty of other stuff I gotta look into already, but this is way more serious. "Have you gone to the authorities or anything yet? I mean, this seems like an easy case in any court where—"

"No, they are all above the courts," Mina said in a sad voice. "There are those to whom the rule of law does not apply."

That's messed up. I guess it's true, though, there's tons of really rich people who've never gotten more than a slap on the wrists. Ugh, this better not be some kinda insane in-company thing I'm out of the loop on. But maybe… "Your mother," he said quietly. "You're only worried that she'd destroy your stuff here?" If she's out of the picture aside from game stuff, I can at least try to help a bit there, even if it's just being encouraging. If her regular life is that bad, she should at least be able to have an escape here.

Mina's expression grew hurt. "I suppose, though you might think it silly to—"

Carl shook his head. "No, not what I meant. If you left this city, that'd make things a little better, right?"

The girl's breath seemed to catch.

"You should do that, then," he continued, nodding along with his words. "I don't really know what else is out there yet, but just get in your car and go. Then, at least, you—"

"You truly believe that the best course of action is for me to leave Charus City?" Mina asked quickly.

Carl nodded again. "Definitely. It won't solve all your problems, but it'll be a start, at least. Why haven't you already left, if you don't mind my asking?"

Mina frowned. "I… I've never left before. I've gone outside the walls, yes, but I've never left."

"First time for everything, I guess," Carl said, trying to muster the energy to smile a little and failing. This is way beyond messed up. I know the game's all about "realism", but we should at least have some kind of reporting function for this! How the hell are we not getting sued? Or are we? No, I'd have seen something in the regular news for sure. We've got that huge legal department, and they're all pretty busy…

Ugh, what a colossal screw-up. This isn't the kinda stuff anyone should ever have to deal with. I'll—

"Carl," Mina began, once again staring down at her hands, "if… If I were to leave Charus City—no, Charus Kingdom—could I perhaps persuade you to accompany me?" She looked up again with a pleading gaze that reminded him again of his eldest daughter.

"I don't know, Mina," Carl said, rubbing his beard as he adjusted his thoughts to consider the in-game request. "Not sure you'll really like where I'm headed. You seem more like the crafting type, and I'm looking to check out some dungeons and maybe go adventuring a bit if I have time." Anywhere I don't have to be in character, that is.

"I may prefer to learn and to craft, as you've termed it," Mina said, reminding him more of Sammy's wheedling by the second, "but I'm also quite well-informed about the nations and their territories."

Carl frowned. I can't imagine I'll be stuck here that much longer, right? Annie's gonna storm the office any minute now since I missed Sammy's game and haven't been answering my phone. "Yeah, but—"

"And I also have the fastest steamcar in the entire kingdom, I'd wager," she said, her expression turning to a small, smug grin. "Surely you have no wish to ride horses or drive a slower steamcar, do you, Carl? Or perhaps you plan to continue walking?"

She's kinda got me there. It would be great to have that car of hers the rest of the time I'm here if I'm not gonna be moving myself around, which I can't really do if I don't know the place or the coordinates. Only reason I even came here was because I saved the coords before moving to the lake after making a new character on this continent…

"Please, Carl?" Mina asked earnestly.

Carl Weathers was no pushover.

No, he was the same man who required those who violated certain IT policies to write—in pen while he watched—a formal letter of apology that he then hung on his Wall of Shame for a period of no less than one week regardless of who was involved or how much they pleaded.

He was the same man who, when he'd received an inaccurate charge of one dollar as a late fee for a book that was not yet overdue, drove all the way to the library five minutes before it was scheduled to close for the day in order to declare that he would never pay that dollar.

He was, in fact, the very same man who had chosen to manually change his pants earlier that day inside a highly-realistic virtual reality-based game, despite needing to stand exposed outside, in no small part because he refused to let the game system prevent him from changing his gear just because he didn't know the keywords for it.

The three exceptions to Carl's unyielding stubbornness were his wife, Marianne, and his daughters Roberta and Samantha, for whom he tended to roll over under the slightest pressure.

Given this, it seemed strange to Carl that the next words out of his mouth were "Alright, fine."

Mina's eyes brightened, and a happy, excited grin spread across her face as she leaned forward once more. "Thank you so much, Carl! I promise you won't regret this!"

Carl sighed, slouching a little in his seat. Feels like I shouldn't even have bothered to try saying no. She really needs the help, and I guess I could use someone to show me around however much longer I'm here for. Plus, she's pretty adorable when she gets excited like that. "I still feel like you're making a mistake," he said, giving her one last chance to change her mind. "You'd probably have a lot more fun alone."

"But then who would give me ideas for methods of further improving my steamcar?" Mina asked, somehow managing to seem even more excited.

Carl rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Anyone ever told you you've got a real one-track mind?"

Mina sat back, and her hand flew to her chin as her gaze turned pensive. "Track," she muttered. "Yes, perhaps…" She looked across the table. "Perhaps we could visit the Stadal Empire at some point? I've heard they have a racing track for steamcars in Onyxfell."

Carl shrugged. "Maybe. I wanna…" He trailed off as he caught himself, then leaned in over the table. "I wanna get away from those Inquisition people for a while. Too tiring."

Mina giggled cutely, moving her hand to cover her mouth. "Yes, I can imagine."

I guess it won't be so bad. I haven't played a game with someone else in forever. Be nice to have someone to talk to when she's around, and I'm sure she'll just keep driving off to wherever when I get yanked out of the game since she'll have a little momentum behind her. The thought gave him pause. "You have anything you need to do before we get going?" he asked. "I'm not exactly in a rush, but I also don't have anything better to do."

Mina assumed her thinking posture once more, causing Carl to begin ruminating as well.

This is such a bizarre, messed up situation. I guess she must not live with her parents, at least, if the only thing she was worried about there was that her mom would log on and wreck her in-game stuff somehow. Kinda wish I could do something more real than just get her to leave this stupid game city. Man, if I ever met her fiancé I'd… Well, I don't know what I'd do, but that kind of thing is really the lowest—

"There is one thing," Mina said, her lips curving into a different sort of smile than he'd seen on her before. "Carl, how would you like to help me achieve an incredibly petty form of revenge before I leave?"