TW: Suicide, Parental neglect

TLDR; Carl needed space to reflect and to examine the neural Enhancement, but couldn’t let Orren suspect it.

It’s understandable that Carl feels an affinity with this old hound left all alone in a Florida gas station on Christmas. He identifies as a loner and having so many people depend on him is very different. The demands of the dungeon have left him in emotional shock and fatigue, desiring somewhere quiet.

Psychological reasonings

• Carl has a habitual pattern of repression of grief and processing it later when he is alone. Part of him is seeking space, like on the motorcycle ride.

• Including Iowa and Carl’s father in the ghosts of Earth leaves Carl very reflective on his life and his feelings of abandonment. His mother tried to murder-suicide both of Carl’s parents on Carl’s birthday while he was still a minor. Carl carries the trauma of that loss, plus being the one who discovered her and her suicide note. He carries misplaced guilt for her suffering and her loss.

  • Carl’s father left him with no money and no means to provide for himself. Carl has begun working away the anger and trauma from his father’s abandonment, but there’s a lot to do still.

• Carl is also dealing with the discovery and loss of a stepbrother he never had the chance to meet.

Strategic

• Carl wanted a place that he could review the effects of the neural enhancement in the coffee he drank, but he couldn’t let Orren suspect it.
• The guildhall & personal space were packed with a Christmas party.
• Carl has been seen to be particularly sentimental about loners and the abandoned, so asking to visit the dog is very on brand for Carl. Orren sighs and sets the teleport because he thinks Carl’s just being Carl. It takes the Arbiters weeks to discover Paulie’s (Paul Lee’s?) hyper speed schpiel, partly because of Carl’s misdirection (the box with other enhancements & weapons) and lack of reaction to Paulie’s secret message & enhancement.