Carl strolled down Victory Avenue in D-five towards the workshop. He felt like the street was aptly named. Who knew fish could be so valuable?
He'd earned a whopping five hundred thirty three marks, the bulk of it from a pair of the glow-y purple fish he'd caught which weren't quite big enough to send to Bobby. Some haggling had been required after he'd noticed the fishmonger's interest and subsequent attempt to lowball.
Nobody lowballed Carl Weathers.
He had an extra spring in his step as he walked after having earned so much money. Can't believe how awesome this game is. I can fish and get rich off it? He shook his head in wonder. Games are weird now but also awesome. Used to be fishing was just a way to waste time and zone out.
He stopped at an intersection to check for traffic, and his thoughts changed direction in the process. Also can't believe nobody in the game's thinking about safety. I mean, I get that you can just respawn and run back to your body if you die, but wouldn't it be easier to just not do that? Plus teaching kids all kinds of bad driving skills…
Upon seeing that there were no cars looking to run him down, Carl started walking. Then again, I guess it's already realistic enough in a lot of ways. Feels like having a second life, really. Not that I particularly want one. Can't believe the best idea I've had so far is this partial segmentation thing. Should see if I can find some other people to bounce ideas off.
He frowned. That reminds me, I was gonna check and see how Ir'alith's doing. Don't wanna be a bad friend. "Friend list."
The window appeared in front of him while he walked.
Ir'alith Redrock Highlands Mina Onyxfell BobTheGreatest Offline ➤ FE 0/2 Online
Huh. Wonder what that place is like. "Message: Ir'alith."
A gladiator-y-looking kid walking the opposite direction gave him an odd look, so he waved.
"Message activated," the game's voice announced.
"Hey, Ir'alith, how's things?" he asked.
"Carl?" her eminently-listenable voice said, slightly filtered by the game's annoying processing effect.
Carl smiled. "Yeah, it's been…" He considered that he'd been meaning to consider time again. "It's been a while, so I thought—"
"Hold it steady, Jungrathol!" she shouted.
"It was steadied, but you grew distracted!" called a deep, masculine voice.
Oh, she must be doing something with her friends. That's cool.
"I did no such thing!" Ir'alith protested.
"Uh, is this a bad time to talk?" Carl asked. He stopped at another intersection for a moment as he checked his sides before proceeding.
"No, I would enjoy speaking with you at any time, Carl," she replied quickly.
That's awfully nice of her to say. She's really got one of those voices you could listen to all day, too.
"This is a bad time!" shouted the other, deeper voice.
"Jungrathol!" she hissed.
"I speak the truth! Your wings have turned pink!"
"Jungrathol!"
"Alright, uh, I'll let you get back to whatever you're doing," Carl said, reading the mood. "Glad to hear you're okay though, Ir'alith."
"Y-yes, I am well, Carl," she said, sounding incredibly pleased. "I…"
There was a deep grunt and the sound of something clanking.
"Yeah?" Carl prompted, slowing his stride as he approached the workshop.
"I…" Ir'alith seemed to be hesitating. "It was pleasant to speak once more, Carl," she said, now sounding slightly upset.
Carl frowned. "If you ever wanna talk, let me know," he offered.
"I thank you, Carl," she said quickly. "Until next we meet."
"Message ended," the game's voice declared.
Hm. Carl dismissed his friend list window after a moment with some reluctance. Really sounded like she wanted to talk. I can't force her or anything, but maybe I could've handled that better. He stopped in front of the workshop's door. I'll ping her again another time if I don't hear from her, I guess.
He scratched his beard. Time. I vaguely remember only another three minutes had passed when I logged out. But that doesn't really make sense. It was supposed to be four hours per minute, but that was thirty two hours for three minutes. If it was time scaling, which I'm pretty sure the game doesn't have anyway since I didn't see anything about it and Bobby would be acting really freaking weird if there was—not to mention Annie would've nixed the whole idea, I'm sure—then it'd have to work off a fixed scale, wouldn't it? Unless…
Carl nodded to himself. Yup, gotta be some kinda incomplete beta feature thing where the scaling's not consistent yet. Explains how Mina and Ir'alith and I are on all the time without getting automatically logged out, too. Kinda messed up that Roger didn't mention it to me though. Wow, that would've been really bad on Friday if John hadn't pulled me out. I could've gotten stuck for like, years. He must've just enabled it recently and forgot about the whole thing. Ah, and that explains why he seemed so concerned when I told him, too. Man, I really had my brain switched off for that whole episode. Gotta pay more attention to stuff.
He pulled open the door and walked in.
Another large fireball died away as he walked through it.
"Master!" the doll shouted with glee.
"Wait, you've not finished the task," Mina said, grabbing her by the wrist when she tried to run towards him. The girl had changed outfits, now wearing a set of blue overalls which were smeared with grease and soot, a white shirt which was similarly affected, and her ever-present boots.
Carl stared at the center of the workshop.
In the time that he'd been gone, Mina's car had been completely transformed. The most obvious change was that it was now entirely enclosed. The car's sleek design now included an equally-sleek top as well as doors with glass windows and mirrors. There were front and rear windshields, and it even seemed that the wheels had been replaced.
The doll was currently pouting as she looked between him and a gap in the car's metal near the rear wheel which glowed red and welded itself into a seamless stretch as he watched.
"What, uh…" Carl walked forward. "Wow."
"Yes, it's quite incredible what can be done with magic, isn't it?" Mina said, giving him a tired smile.
There were parts and scraps of metal scattered along the left side of the car, and a small cart that he didn't recall being present was stationed nearby with various tools stacked up on top.
"Where'd you get all this stuff anyway?" Carl stepped closer. Wow, she did all this work since I left? He ran his fingers over the hood and onto the windshield. It's perfectly smooth. Crazy when you can do when you've got game magic to help you build stuff.
"Well," Mina said, looking at the doll and wiping her forehead on her sleeve, "it seems that Phonia is quite a lot more useful as an assistant than I'd originally thought. Magic is quite powerful, you know."
He rested his hand on the roof of the car. So this thing can make parts to build stuff with too? What the heck. No wonder it was so expensive. Though I bet the intent was to make sex dungeons and stuff. Hoo boy, Linda or Greg, you guys have weird imaginations. "Cool," he said, trying to grapple with the possibilities. "I see you even got some mirrors for the doors here." He looked down at the crude, rectangular mirror which was attached on an angled sheet of metal to the side of the door.
"Yes, it was quite tricky to determine the correct angle," Mina said. She brushed her hair back over her shoulder with her hand. "I believe I adjusted them no less then four times after sitting in the car to verify that they'd achieved the optimal increase to my vision."
The doll bounded over and stood in front of him with her hands clasped in front of her chest and a pleading expression on her face, which looked like Annie's. "Can I hug you now, master?"
Carl sighed. This thing just gets more and more annoying. Now it's trying to guilt me into stuff. He pointed to one of the corners. "Time-out."
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
The doll pouted, looking truly sad as she dragged her feet on the way to the time-out corner, and he had to forcefully remind himself that she was Phonia and not actually Annie.
"Carl, I believe you're being a touch harsh," Mina said with disapproval in her tone and a cute frown forming on her face. "Phonia has been the very model of an effective workshop assistant in your absence. Surely a time-out is not the correct reward in this case."
Carl looked over at the doll, who was standing with her shoulders visibly drooped as she obediently faced the corner. "Really?"
Mina wiped a sooty hand on a grimy cloth. "Truly I've no wish to praise it, but its usefulness and efficacy are without reproach, at least on this occasion."
He grimaced. Ah, shoot, now I feel kinda bad. I mean, it's still annoying, but maybe Mina's training it to be a little less annoying? "Alright, no time-out," he said reluctantly and with the certainty that the freaking thing was gonna—
"Thanks, master!" the doll exclaimed, whirling around to look at him with a relieved expression. She charged towards him, and he readied himself to reinstate the time-out.
"Phonia."
At Mina's call, the doll skidded to a stop just in front of him, her bare feet sliding on the stone floor. She frowned at the girl, then looked back to him. "Hug now?" she asked, pressing her lips together nervously like Annie did sometimes.
Carl wrestled with himself. He wasn't particularly interested in being hugged by a sex doll that looked like his wife, but apparently this was some sort of reward-type thing for all the help she'd given Mina, so… "Okay, just this once."
The doll approached him cautiously, then moved slightly to his left side and put her arms around his torso. She rested her face against his side.
Gah, stupid thing feels way too realistic. A small horn poked at him reassuringly, a constant reminder that this wasn't Annie no matter how much it looked like her.
"Thanks, master," the doll said with a happy sigh. "Does this mean you're gonna f—"
"Phonia." Mina said again.
The doll flinched away from him and shuffled back to stand beside her.
"You're training her?" Carl asked. That's a whole new level of… I don't even know.
"Insomuch as it's possible," Mina said, sighing as she clasped the bridge of her nose between her delicate, dirty fingers. She brightened after a moment and moved closer. "That aside, welcome back," she said, giving him a hug.
Carl hugged her back out of habit, just as he would do for any of his daughters. Even though she wasn't his daughter, of course. "Thanks, Mina. I got you some breakfast if—"
"Ooh, thank you so much, Carl!" she exclaimed, drawing back and scrunching her face up in an adorable smile. "I'm absolutely famished after all this toiling. What's the time…" she wiggled her left arm and looked down at her old-looking watch. "Oh my, nearly twelve already!"
"Time flies," Carl said. "Inventory."
"It does, doesn't it," Mina said thoughtfully.
He pulled out a cup of still-steaming tea, which she received with a certain amount of incredulity and glee, followed by a ceramic plate of scones with various types of berries in them, which he set on the workbench since her hands were full with the teacup and saucer that he'd had to pay an extra couple of marks for, but it was absolutely worth it to see the look on her face.
"Also got you this," he said, pulling out a light blue, cotton band he'd spotted in the window of a shop. "For your hair, since you're always…"
Mina was staring at the accessory, her lips trembling and her eyes beginning to water. She set the saucer on the workbench and wiped at her eyes. "Thank you, Carl," she said quietly. She tilted her head down and sniffled a little.
Carl held his arms open as he knew he should at that moment, and she moved forward into them to be hugged. He rubbed her back, feeling his own eyes growing misty as she sobbed quietly, even though he didn't know exactly what made her get so emotional over the closest thing he'd been able to find to a scrunchie.
----------------------------------------
"That was fast."
Carl and Mina stood before Pertinax again. At the girl's insistence, they'd taken her car out of the workshop and had gone across the street to the forge to inform their landlord that she was prepared to start racing, as she'd promised.
Naturally he'd done some further inspections for safety purposes himself in addition to helping her finish the scones. He found that she'd affixed a mirror to the inside of the car as well to let her see out the rear window, though she'd placed it on the dashboard part instead of hanging from the ceiling, citing the descending angle of the car's chassis as reason for its location. The car now had blinkers, operated by the same mechanism of doing some kinda magic-y thing with the steering wheel which activated some type of sympathetic resonance in pieces of glass positioned at the front and rear of the car. There were no bumpers, true, but it seemed like rubber and related materials were difficult to create using magic, and it wasn't like they'd really be that helpful while racing the more he considered it. Also, the peach-y ones were his favorite.
As a demonstration of the vehicle's integrity, she'd hurled a wrench—though she'd insisted on calling it a spanner—with all her might at the car's front windshield, leaving it completely undamaged. She'd performed another demonstration using a hammer on other parts, which seemed pretty good to Carl's untrained eye since he couldn't imagine the same type of thing being possible in real life.
No airbags though. Carl frowned as he considered it. I mean, I'm not really sure how you'd manage it without some of the more modern materials anyway? Some kinda spring or something maybe, but then you'd have to get it in the steering wheel somehow.
"I'm quite used to making the most efficacious use of my available resources," Mina said with a hint of smugness.
Pertinax rubbed his bald head as he looked at the car, which was now a light shade of blue. "Unconventional. Still looks fragile, but I'll give you the benefit of a doubt. Let me get something." He walked back into the forge area.
"Afterwards, I'll be relying on you to tutor me in fast driving," Mina said, looking up at Carl. "If there's any technique which might benefit me, I'm eager to learn."
"Hm." Carl considered it. "We'll need somewhere to practice."
"Let's see how it does," Pertinax said, walking back with a huge hammer over one shoulder and a spear over the other.
"Uh…"
"Do your worst," Mina said, seeming oddly optimistic about the car's odds of survival despite the size of both the guy and the weapons about to be beating on it.
"The most common attack between drivers," Pertinax said, "is striking at the other driver directly to disable them." He let his hammer fall to the ground with a whump and balanced it on its head before taking the spear in both hands. "You've got your car sealed up," he continued, looking to Mina, "which is smart since you don't seem like the fighter type, but that means you'll need to be able to withstand a blow like this." He lunged towards the car in a smooth motion, thrusting the spear's point at the driver's window.
Carl grimaced in addition to squinting from the too-bright light of the suns.
The car was knocked back a few feet into the street, but the window seemed entirely unharmed.
"Huh." Pertinax leaned forward and studied the car, running a hand over the spot he'd hit. "Not bad," he said, echoing Carl's thoughts. "Another one is aiming for the tires." He took the spear in both hands, executing a heavy downwards strike.
The tire sank down into the street a little, but it seemed otherwise unaffected.
Pertinax turned and gave the smirking Mina a confused look. "That's new."
"I've spent quite some time devising the improvements that could be made if I possessed a proper workshop and resources," she said with a wide smile.
Pertinax gave her a wry grin. "Hardly a proper workshop if you compare it to what some of the drivers in D-one make use of, but I'm glad you're putting it to good use."
"No, I've found it to exceed even my initial expectations," Mina said. "And the location truly couldn't be more perfect."
The huge blacksmith rubbed his head with his free hand. "Kind of you to say. One more thing though." He offered the spear to Carl, who accepted it and held it over his shoulder with a certain amount of comfort, though it didn't have quite the same perfect balance as his fishing spear. "The last weakness of a car is this," he said, hefting his massive hammer. He walked around to the front of the car, set his stance, and let out a grunt as he swung the thing down onto the hood.
There was a huge crash that made Carl wince and shut his eyes out of reflex, but when he looked again, the car was still undamaged, though its front had been pressed down a ways into the street.
Pertinax didn't stop, however. He stepped up onto the hood of the car with his hammer and let fly with another blow to the top of the vehicle.
The sound of the impact this time was even louder, but the car seemed similarly unaffected other than sinking down further into the street.
Wow. How the heck… Carl glanced at Mina, who he judged had reached maximum smugness.
"Satisfied?" she asked.
Pertinax hopped off the car, shaking his head. "Impressive, I'll give you that." He looked to Carl. "I thought you were a fool when you arrived, letting your daughter risk herself for a victory like that, but it seems I've been made to look the fool instead. Your confidence seems well-founded."
Carl felt a surge of pride at the statement, and he grinned. "She's pretty amazing, isn't she?"
Mina blushed, her grin somehow growing even wider.
"You could make a fortune here if you taught some of the mechanics in D-one how to do that," Pertinax said, eyeing the car. "But even if you don't, I'm glad you upheld your side of the bargain. There's victory in being cautious, too, and not everyone realizes that."
"Royalty always upholds a bargain," Mina said with a little haughtiness. Then she covered her mouth with an embarrassed expression as she realized she'd accidentally dropped back into her character. "I'd meant to say that I always uphold a bargain," she said.
Pertinax gave Carl a Dad Look at that moment, the meaning of which was to say, "Kids, am I right? So cute."
Carl replied in turn with a Dad Look to convey that he fully understood and agreed with the sentiment. Yup, dad language is universal.
Mina frowned up at them cutely, and it was a struggle for Carl to resist giving her a hug for making him so proud with her attention to detail and skill at something he didn't really understand.
"Know anywhere good we can get some driving practice in before she signs up for a real race?" Carl asked in a further attempt to stave off his need to show how proud he was of his daughter who wasn't actually his daughter.
"You should be able to drive around the lower track for a couple more hours before they clear it out for today's races," Pertinax said. "Fifty marks entry fee for practice, a hundred to race."
Mina turned to Carl with an anxious look.
"Alright, not too bad," Carl said, feeling proud of himself at that moment.
"And, uh, goes without saying, but since you're not from here, I'll say it anyway: you can't use magic while you're racing," Pertinax said, looking at Carl. "I know you say you're not related, but—"
"No, really, I'm not," Carl said with considerable exasperation in his voice. This is so freaking annoying. "I've never even met this Weathers group that supposedly lives here."
Pertinax shrugged. "Can't say I have either." He gestured, and Carl returned the man's spear. "Good luck, and I hope you find victory in your training. If you register to race, give me a holler. Maybe I'll come watch."
"Thank you, Pertinax," Mina said, once again smiling brightly.
He grunted while turning around, a weapon over each shoulder, and walked back into the forge area.
Carl squinted in the bright light of the suns as he stepped out from under the large covering of Pertinax Protectives. "Well, ready to get some driving tutoring done?" he asked. Hm, should probably get this out of the hole. Who's even gonna fix the road anyway? He picked the oddly light car up and moved it out of the small crater that Pertinax's hammer had created.
"I am," Mina said, looking like she was about to begin bouncing up and down with excitement. "If possible, however, I'd like your indulgence on the journey to the track…"