carl@fire

"Dismiss."

Alright, so I'll figure it probably took like, ten minutes to help out that poor girl. I can just use a time diff since changing the clock back to real time in the options panel seems bugged.

I really wanna catch a fish or two! Gosh, I didn't even realize how wound up I've been with all these extra hours I've been putting in lately. So much stuff going on these days. Glad I'm here for a few minutes to cool off before I head to Sammy's game. Need to be at full power so I can cheer my little girl on!

Carl took another deep breath, then pulled some worm bait out of his inventory and began threading his hook through it. Gotta leave a little bit flapping on the ends. At least I don't have to worry about slicing my finger open on my hook in virtual reality. Dad's never gonna let me live down that time we had to cut a fishing trip short because I had to get stitches. He stared for a moment at the scar on his left index finger, faithfully reproduced thanks to his character's appearance again defaulting to his mental image of himself at the time of his last login. At least it wasn't worse, I guess. Be hard to type without that finger.

He let the hook hang free over the end of the dock past his legs and swished it from side to side above the water to make sure the bait was securely attached. Then he flicked his fishing rod out, a beautiful cast that deposited his lure at the exact spot he'd been intending.

Carl smiled. "Still got it," he said to himself. He waved his feet a little where they dangled over the water, a novelty his long legs had never permitted him to have in real life.

The fishing rod—spear, technically—was unbelievably light in his hands. Despite feeling firm enough to smash against a rock or something without having it break, the shaft still managed to bend at the perfect angle while fishing to give the best possible play on the line at all times.

The rod also produced its own unbreakable fishing line and hook.

I still can't get over it. Such a cool mechanic. Whoever thought this up was a genius. Not having to worry about the line snapping or a fish running away with the hook… Carl sighed with contentment.

Wish I had more time to do this in real life. Neither of the girls is very outdoors-y, Annie's not into it, we live too far from Dad to make it a day trip, and… Well, I guess I don't really have time for it myself, if I'm hon—

Carl sneezed without warning, and the force of it caused him to lean forward, the spear's angle changing drastically enough to dip its slotted tip—the spot where the fishing line originated—into the water for an instant while he recovered.

"Wow," he muttered, wrinkling his nose. "Some of this new stuff Engineering is doing is pretty cool, but they need to tone it down with that kind of thing. Allergies are bad enough in real life."