Carl dozed in a recliner on the evening rooftop.

The after-real-noon day had been packed. Pertinax had hassled him for an inordinate amount of time after the annoying kids left, during which Carl had been forced to stand outside and talk to the man about skills and whatnot while he'd really just wanted to go inside and relieve himself. His reluctance to allow anyone inside where they might see the in-game sex doll that he now owned had nearly been his undoing, with Roger's frustratingly-realistic programming causing the feeling to gradually intensify until he'd finally just told the giant blacksmith-y guy he was gonna explode and darted inside, slamming the door shut behind himself. It was to his great dismay that he found Roger's team had programmed the full range of bodily functions with disturbing realism, but also to his great relief that toilet paper was a thing in this city and the workshop was stocked up.

Next, Mina requested his help with the seatbelt installation. They'd gone back across the street and paid a few marks to have one of the forge workers craft a bunch of small, metal objects according to the specifications the blonde girl had provided along with precise, detailed diagrams. While Carl waited on the parts, Mina declared that she was going to bathe, and when he'd returned with the jumble of parts securely stowed in his inventory, she was still in the bathroom with the door shut and the water running. He imagined the cheap blocks of soap they'd bought from the small general store next to the shop where they'd gotten lunch—bowls of some sort of zesty, beefy broth filled with meat and veggies and accompanied by cups of tea—were being put to good use, though the idea of showering in a game to him still seemed weird—but then again, showers were pretty relaxing, and he did a lot of great thinking there, so maybe he'd try it at a later point.

He'd spent time amusing himself by sitting on a stool practicing his magic next to the workbench, though not because he had any desire to get better at using it, of course. He imagined that the perspective of being a magic-user would be beneficial for his ability to think about the network problem that he'd sort of been putting off for a while when he was spending time with Mina but that he absolutely was still actively thinking about and considering. He hadn't made much progress in that important matter, but he'd been vaguely pleased with himself when he'd managed to slowly grow a head-sized ball of water which remained motionless over his finger while he slowly moved his hand back and forth.

Pleased, of course, until the stupid sex doll jumped into it and soaked her entire torso. She then started stripping, claiming she couldn't wear wet clothes, so he'd had to put her in time-out again despite her vigorous protestations.

Mina had emerged some time later after finishing an unbelievably lengthy shower—the same sort that Sammy so frequently took—wearing a nondescript set of light blue cloth pants and a white, short-sleeved shirt that fully encircled her neck and hung loose just past her waist. The outfit made her look a little younger and a lot more adorable, but it didn't stop her from becoming a demanding taskmistress when they'd started working on the seatbelts.

No, when the girl was working on something, she focused. Measurements were made no fewer than two times before any action was taken, using either a measuring stick or tape depending on the surface, and every metal object that was attached to the seats in the car had to have its facing angle checked repeatedly before fixing it in place, either by directly fusing the metal to the frame by magically heating the contact points until they merged or…

She was thorough, that's for sure. They'd added two harnesses, each a series of pieces cut from the sheet of cotton she'd bought according to her specifications and then bundled around themselves to further improve the restraining force. Hooks with clasps were affixed on the insides of the bench seat, which Mina had cut into with great precision for the process.

The whole thing had gone far past Carl's expectations of the father-daughter science fair-type project that neither Bobby nor Sammy had ever shown much interest in. He'd expected it to take maybe an hour, tops, but instead it had taken closer to four, with breaks regularly taken while she sketched out some new idea she'd just had, or decided to check and very slightly revise the fixture points for the harnesses, or when the doll, having been asked to help out and hold something steady, had begun asking very rude questions, which led to it being put in time-out yet again.

The safety harnesses were finally attached, and they'd celebrated with a quick drive around the city to do a road test, which had led to more in-game food—this time some sort of veggie pita thing with a sweet sauce and a fizzy drink that was almost like pear soda—which had spent the very last of the hard-earned marks Carl had gathered that day.

The last, of course, save for the three marks that he'd set aside for coffee the following morning in case he needed them. Tea was fine, and that was okay, but coffee was coffee, and that was just how things were.

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And then…

Well, Carl had asked, but Mina said she just wanted to spend time thinking about designs for car stuff, so he'd gone up to the roof to have a think for himself. That had been something like five hours ago.

When Carl wanted to think, he thought until he was done. And he wasn't done exactly, but he really wasn't making much progress or finding any new avenues he hadn't already explored, so he'd turned his roof-recliner—having left one on the workshop floor and another on the second floor, which, according to Recliner Arithmetic, meant that he still had one remaining in his inventory—to face away from the giant setting sun and sort of zoned out.

The heat and cozy chair made it so easy for him to just sit there and vegetate, finally having some of the relaxation he'd been unable to achieve at work or at home of late since there was always something going on. Maybe this was what he needed in order to come up with a good idea.

Actually… Carl yawned. Getting pretty late. Already tired enough. And it's only been like… He frowned sleepily. Shoot, I didn't check the exact time when I woke up. But it was around seven when I got coffee, so that's twenty hours, which means five-ish minutes in real time. Not like I wanna go back feeling all tired before this lunch meeting. Wouldn't be very responsible. He opened his eyes and found his vision obscured.

After grabbing at his face, he realized that at some point while he was half-asleep Mina must have come up and draped her new scarf over his face, likely in an attempt to prevent him from getting sunburned. That's so cute. He folded the accessory up with a smile on his face.

Carl stretched for a moment before pushing down the footrest and standing up. "Inventory," he murmured, fighting a losing battle against another yawn. He deposited the recliner and closed his inventory window, which revealed the mug he'd given Mina on the rooftop just behind, still half-full of water. Aww, she even left me water in case I got thirsty? That's really… He sighed with contentment. Kids really are the best.

He wandered down the stairs with mug in hand, sipping from it as he went. Can't get over how good this water is. Wish I could bottle it and bring it out of the game somehow.

Mina was at the workbench on her stool having a whispered conversation with Phonia when he descended. She brightened when she spotted him, and her reaction caused the doll to turn around and smile widely at him as well with an expression that caused his heartbeat to quicken momentarily until he reminded himself yet again that the thing wasn't Annie.

"Master!" Phonia called, rushing towards him with her arms over her head. As though remembering something, she stopped just short, a frown on her face as she looked back to Mina. "I was going to come give you something nice to wake up to, but somebody told me you wouldn't enjoy it."

Carl yawned. "Yeah, somebody was right," he said absently. He rubbed a hand over his face. Ugh, even more tired than I thought. This thirty two hour day thing really takes it out of you.

"You're so weird, master!" the doll huffed, frowning up at him.

"Did you have a nice rest, Carl?" Mina asked.

"Sort of?" Carl eyed the doll with unease when she didn't behave in an easy-to-understand manner. I can already tell it's just gonna be even more annoying somehow. "Come up with any good ideas? Thanks for the scarf and the water, by the way." He walked around the doll and set the scarf and mug on the cluttered workbench, glancing over the scattered papers, each of which had dozens of small, carefully-annotated drawings on it.

Mina smiled happily as she took the scarf up in both hands. "I believe I have," she said. "I spoke briefly with Pertinax earlier, and I've located a source of affordable parts." She paused for a moment, then seemed to recall something. "Ah, would you mind lending me the mask I wore recently as a disguise? I quite enjoyed it."

"Sure," Carl said, not really thinking about it. "Inventory. Glad you got some good thinking done. Mine was way less productive."

Mina took on a worried expression. "Is it perhaps a matter which I could assist with?"

Carl waved a hand. "Nah, not a big deal," he said, scrolling to the page he'd left the realistic skeleton transformation mask in. Not gonna involve her in work stuff. She's already got more than enough to worry about. "Here you go." He pulled out the mask and set it down on the workbench, fighting off yet another yawn.

Mina yawned in response, her nose wrinkling cutely. "Oh my, I'm quite tired myself."

"I almost forgot…" Carl switched to another page in his inventory and took out the sun-emblazoned mug he'd gotten from the Romuliana that morning. He set it on the workbench next to the other mug. "Now we both have mugs."

Mina stared at it for a moment before snatching it up and cradling it to her chest with the scarf. Her eyes crinkled as she smiled warmly. "Thank you, Carl." She set both on the workbench and gave him a hug.

The forty nine year-old father rubbed the girl's upper back. Yeah, maybe there were other reasons he was staying logged in, he allowed. He missed his girls, obviously, as he always did the instant he walked out the door of the house in the morning, but he could log out at any point and get on with his day, and then there would only be a few excruciating hours of work before he'd get to see them again and get hugs just like this one.

This was pretty nice too, though.