Another few minutes passed.

"You have kids, Carl? You sound like you're a father." Rex asked suddenly.

"Yup, two of 'em. You?"

The shorter man was silent a while. "No, never. My wife, Zoe, passed away due to complications in childbirth, and I never remarried."

"Wow, I'm sorry for your loss," Carl said, staring down at him. That must've been tough. Can't imagine what I'd do if anything ever happened to Annie.

Rex waved him off. "It's… I'm past it. Made my peace with the whole thing years ago. Now I try to use all the energy I would've put into my son into helping other people. Used to spend more time doing volunteer work than my real job."

"That's really admirable, Rex." What an amazing guy. Not sure I'd ever be able to put myself back together after something like that, let alone focus on helping other people.

They stood together in silence for some time. A few fish were caught, but none that were in any way noteworthy.

"Sorry, that got a little heavy," Rex said with a sigh. "You've, ah, got something about you that makes it easy to talk to you, you know?"

"Hey, if you wanna talk, I'm not going anywhere for a while," Carl said, recognizing the signs of someone who had something they wanted to get off their chest. He had a discerning eye for his daughters' moods when something was bothering them, and he was pretty darn good at listening. Not super close to the guy or anything, but everyone needs to vent sometimes. Still no rush to go anywhere, and it's not like I've got plans for the rest of the day.

"Well, I don't want to burden you," said Rex, "but if you insist," he continued, seeming to need no additional prompting, just as had been expected. "I try to help people, like I said before, but sometimes they're ungrateful. Incredibly frustrating, as you might imagine."

"Yeah, sounds pretty annoying. Nothing worse than going to some effort to try and help people out and they don't even thank you." Reminds me of Accounting the first couple times they got the porn malware back when I didn't make a big deal out of it. What a mistake that was. Carl pulled his line up just as the core started to cackle quietly next to his ear.

Rex's head turned back to look, but Carl was frowning at the latest fish he'd caught, which was emitting a thick, black smoke.

"What the actual heck," Carl grumbled. So many awful fish in this game. Why is this a thing. Just put in some normal freaking fish!

"That's exactly what I'm talking about," Rex said after a moment. He shook his head. "Last place I worked was the worst of it. Treated everyone there like they were my own kids, and all I ever asked for was a thank you for taking care of so much work for them." He tsked. "Ungrateful to the last."

"Can't let it get you down," said Carl. "Small-minded people are always gonna be like that. Can't appreciate it when other people are putting themselves out there to help out. You gotta just be the bigger man and let it go." He finally finished working the smoking fish free of his hook, unable as he was to see anything he was doing in the process, and heaved it over towards the side of the pond that had been dumped into.

Rex grunted. "Yeah, I know, I know. And I wouldn't be where I am now without having gone through that, but it still grinds my gears." He started reeling in another catch. "You give, and you give, and you give, and it's not enough for some people."

"Yeah, some people are like that," Carl sighed. Gave Accounting two free passes on that because I was new to the company and didn't wanna make waves, and then they just started walking right over me. Didn't wanna have to bring the Wall of Shame here from my last job, but they didn't leave me much choice.

"Can't help everyone," Rex said. He pulled up a small octopus.

"Nah, you really can't," Carl agreed. Didn't expect to see something like that here. Aren't those supposed to live in salt water? "Can't stop trying though. You never know when you'll come across someone who really needs you." Like Mina. I gave her the little push she needed to get herself out of that awful situation with her family and that guy. Just have to see if she's gonna need another push or if she's gonna be able to handle it on her own this time.

Rex paused, his hand midway through pulling the hook out of wherever it had been stuck in the octopus. He turned back to Carl. "Yeah, maybe you're right," he said slowly, beginning to nod along. "That's a great way to look at things, Carl. Thanks." He finished unhooking the octopus and tossed it back into the pond.

"Don't mention it."

They fished for a while in near-silence, each catching a number of things—some of which were even fish—but none that were particularly notable, save for a fish caught by Rex which had the ability to fire water out of its mouth. They had a minute or so of entertainment firing the squirt gun fish out over the pond before throwing it back.

"How about you, Carl?" Rex asked. "Anything bothering you? Seems only fair if I lend an ear now."

"Hm." Carl considered it, but he wasn't exactly about to start talking about Mina to some stranger, and there wasn't really anything… His eyes widened. Wow, did I really forget about that whole freaking network thing?

He brought a hand up and ran it through his beard. I guess in the full scope of things it's maybe not as big a deal as helping Mina out, but I can't believe I just blanked out on it like that. And I was trying to get some other perspectives. "Yeah, I guess I've got one thing."

"Let's hear it."

"Well," Carl began, preparing a suitable disguise for his work-related problem since he wasn't about to go talking about his professional life in any context where his words might be quoted in another context where they would make him look bad, "I have a new supervisor in something I'm doing, and he wants me to do something in a certain way that I don't think is ideal. I thought a lot about the issue, and there's no clear benefit that I can see in doing things the way he wants over how I've been doing it."

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Ah, that's a familiar problem," Rex said with a knowing grin.

"Is it?"

"Easy solution, too." Rex grunted. "Think I got a big one here." His rod bent severely as he struggled to reel in his latest catch.

Carl lazily swished his own line in the water while he waited.

"What the…" Rex heaved mightily, and a rusted out car flew up out of the lake towards him. He knocked it away with his right arm, and it helicoptered over onto the scrap heap at the far side of the pond. "Second time that's happened to me here," he grumbled.

"How deep is this pond?" Carl stared at the silvery waters.

"Deep." Rex checked the watch on his left arm. "Think that about does it for me today." He looked up at Carl. "As for your problem, the answer is just lie. Say you're doing what he told you to do, and then just do what you were doing before. He's a supervisor. Not about to check everything you do, is he?"

Carl considered it. I doubt Gab would check, but… "Could work," he said, though after spending even a microsecond thinking out how that course of action was likely to end up, he decided that it wasn't the way that he, Carl Weathers, would handle the problem.

He was Carl Weathers, and he met his problems head on now. He had to, or else he worried he'd set a bad example for Bobby and Sammy. Mina, too.

"Supervisors just want to feel important," said Rex as he reeled in the rest of his now-broken fishing line. "It's all about the appearance of power. You let them feel like they're in charge, and you can do whatever you want."

"Yeah, that's true enough," Carl agreed. But at the same time, if your boss finds out they're not really in charge, then you've got a big problem. Guess maybe it might make more sense in another job or field? Like if your boss is a real micromanager maybe. "Thanks for the suggestion."

"Happy to help," said Rex, showing a sunny smile under his hat.

Carl pulled his own line up. Time for me to get going too, I think. This pond kinda sucks. "So, uh… You gonna tell me where I can get one of those fishing rods?" he asked, nodding to the rod stowed over the shorter man's shoulder.

"Well…" Rex frowned. "The deal was if you caught a bigger fish than mine, but I enjoyed our chat enough that I don't mind telling you, I suppose." A sly grin spread over his face, and he patted the rod. "Truth is, I made it myself."

Carl blinked. "Really?"

The other man nodded. "Said it yourself earlier, didn't you? There's so much to do! So I made a fishing rod just the way I wanted."

"Hm." That's pretty impressive. Wasn't expecting the guy to be making fishing rods with freaking baitcasting reels. I figured there'd be some game spot where you find them, or maybe they'd be a monster drop or something like that.

"Care for another wager?" Rex asked.

"I'm listening."

"You've heard about the Hero's Cup that's happening in a few days?"

"Sure," Carl said, vaguely recalling having heard something like that—or maybe lying to himself in an attempt to feel better about his forty nine year-old memory.

"I'll be fishing at the lake in D-one every morning until then. Same wager. You catch a bigger fish than me, and I'll make you a fishing rod like this one." He tapped the reel. "What do you say?"

"What do you get out of it?" Carl asked. Can't imagine he's just making fishing rods for people, is he?

"Other than a nice chat?" Rex said in an easy manner. "Maybe I'm just trying to help someone out."

"Not gonna turn the offer down if you're just gonna give me a fishing rod," Carl said, cracking a smile of his own.

Rex chuckled. "I'll look forward to it then. Could use a bit of competition." He eyed Carl's fishing pole. "Might want to get yourself something a little more…useful beforehand. I've been taking it easy on you today."

It was Carl's turn to grin slyly. "I think I've got just the thing." Kinda cheating, but it sounds like he's got something up his sleeve too.

"Can't wait." Rex gave a wave and started off towards a well-cleared path nearby. "See you when I see you, Carl," he called back.

"See you around," Carl replied just as the core began to cackle in earnest. "Alright," he said more quietly, "what the heck's going on over there?"

The core's cackling changed to a high-pitched giggling.

"Core?" He started walking back the way he'd come in order to avoid the potential awkwardness of running into Rex again immediately after saying their farewells, tossing his fishing pole into his inventory along the way and dismissing it.

"S-sorry, Carl," the core said before lapsing into another round of breathless giggles. "Do you hehe want to come bhahack?"

"Uh, yeah? And what's—"

"Hey, Carl," Vol said from a little ways off to the side, wheezing slightly. "You're the best friend of all time."

Carl looked over, but then they were already back in the dungeon. "Is that a skill I can learn somehow?" Being able to teleport would be awesome.

"Nah, but don't worry about it," Vol said, looking back to a giant screen that blocked out everything in front of them. "Nobody else could ei—What the fuck are they doing?!"

The screen showed a trio of two men and a woman with glowing circles around their hands and sweat streaming down their brows standing at the edge of an abyss while another woman leapt between a series of platforms made of shimmering air.

"What's going on?" Carl asked.

The camera panned a little and zoomed out, showing that the woman was carefully making her way towards a ledge that held a sword which blazed with some sort of fire magic. Then the camera panned again, showing that it was just a sword in a corner on a ledge, and the fire was entirely separate and behind it in an alcove in the wall, creating the illusion of a flaming sword using perspective.

"I went…" Vol began before she started laughing too hard to speak. "I…" The attempt caused her to laugh even harder, and she doubled over holding her stomach.

The core cackled along with her, and the French-ish, pinkish core joined in a moment later.

The woman on the screen reached the ledge at last. "I got it!" she shouted. She darted forward and grabbed the ordinary-looking sword, then did a double-take to look at the fire continuing to burn in the wall.

"Hurry back with the treasure!" called someone from off-screen.

The camera zoomed in for a close shot on the woman's face as she held the plain sword across both hands and stared at it with a stunned expression.

Vol was rolling on the ground with her hands over her face. "She really…" she wheezed.

Feels like I'm missing something. "Wait, did you put that sword there?"

"Yes!" exclaimed Vol. She rolled onto her back and shook with laughter. "Bought it at the…" she tapered off into laughing again before she could finish her sentence.

The woman started jumping back across the platforms more hurriedly than she'd come, clutching the sword which Vol had recently purchased as an expression of deep worry spread across her face.

"Been doing this shit all day," Vol said, wiping her eyes. "Oh fuck, I don't know if I can laugh anymore. Feels like I'm gonna die."

"I believe we may see another attempt at Saxum's spike wall," said the core excitedly. The screen shrank and moved to the side, revealing another giant screen behind it with an entirely different spectacle.

Carl started to grin as he watched. He didn't have anything particular planned for the rest of the day other than checking on Mina periodically. Maybe he'd try some dungeoneering again.