Fuck that. Tell her she's streaming

You realize you'd reverted to old-Mike, being whiny and needy and not asserting yourself. Which is not who you want to be.

Maybe being assertive will scare Carol away. If so, fuck that. Being needy and just hoping for a better outcome never got you anything before... unless you consider your so-called 'relationship' with Amber to be having something... and you're just not going to continue down that path.

"No," you say. "It's time you listen to me. There's something strange going on... something that's both criminal and hidden. You mentioned the Illuminati... well, I'm like you, I've always thought that kind of thing was just scare-mongering and a scam to get people to send money in to fake courses that would teach them how to work magic." You realize, of course, that some people might consider your 'hack the sim' streams to be exactly that but that's not how you see it anymore. "And I'm positive most of those organizations, and most religions for that matter, are just scams... people who can't make an honest living so they decide to exploit gullible people and the natural human inclination to look for answers outside ourselves. But that doesn't mean that there aren't organizations who really do seek control... organizations who exist to protect their own power and to ruthlessly squash anyone who gets in their way or who threatens to uncover their secrets."

"But--"

You're on a roll and you're not ready for her protests. "But nothing. I'm onto something and I'm inviting you to join me. I believe in your research skills but, frankly, you're not the only researcher I know. I'm working with a librarian who's hotter than you. She doesn't have your passion for true crime, which is why I looked to you to help with the streaming but, like I said, she's hot and she can be made passionate. Like I said, I'm not interested in doing a me-too stram. I'm looking for something original and something that will actually help people rather than reinforcing their paranoia which, I think, most of the true-crime shit on the Internet is all about."

"I... I never said I wouldn't help. Just that you didn't seem to have it all thought out, yet."

"I don't. And I was hoping for your help on that. Look, I understand that you have a concept of what true-crime looks like and this isn't it. So, if you aren't interested, I'll move on. I wanted to give you a chance because you turned me onto the idea in the first place but--"

"I'm interested."

"Really? Really interested or just afraid to lose out. Because I'm looking for your 100% buy-in."

"Okay, you sold me. What do you want. How can I prove it?"