Dan Pratt was a practical man. When he got his first management job, the Manager invested the majority of his new salary into a college fund for his future kids. When his family outgrew his Boston apartment, Dan moved into an older suburb west of the city, where house prices were lower and they wouldn't have to spend as much on maintenance.

When a Tsunami warning interrupted his sleep at three in the morning, he quietly guided his kids into the house's attic. When explosions silhouetted the Boston skyline and brought attention to an occasional line of tracers, Dan ventured back downstairs and killed the house's power. After day had come, the abyssals had withdrawn, and the tidal wave had lost its steam, he packed whatever he could and put his relatively undamaged house up for sale. Boston needed rebuilding so business was booming, but if the abyssals came back…

The media, of course, tried to keep him from leaving. On the TV, geologists said another landslide Tsunami, like the one which had lead the Abyssal assault along the east coast, couldn't happen again. Pundits said the fragile web of alliances that held the Abyssals in the Atlantic had shattered, and another attack on that scale wouldn't happen any time soon. The Military swore that abyssals wouldn't be able to hit the east coast again, rambling about the activation of this air wing or the redeployment of that carrier.

He ignored all of them. Let the young rebuild Boston: Dan had a family to take care of.

The Tykes were just entering kindergarten. In Washington, where there was plenty of work and a lot more land, metal and water between him and those white-skinned bitches. Maybe Colorado would have been safer, but they weren't having a refugee crisis. There were a lot more jobs for those who built on the coasts, like this one.

Situated outside Redmond's city limits, the Union Hill Affordable Housing Project found itself in the center of new urban sprawl. When the buildings would be complete, someone standing atop the fifteen-story buildings would see themselves in patchwork of freshly-built buildings the ran east until the Snoqualmie River, contrasting sharply with the checkerboard of wealthy subdivisions to the immediate west. On the other side of the river, an array of hospital-white FEMA tents marked the buildings' future residents.

That is, if this ever got finished. With the persuasion of the State of Washington and several Governments-in-exile, the County had been forced into greenlighting the project. The Council was still bitter about it, and they were constantly trying to push him over-budget with unending code inspections and attempts to revise the blueprints. He was close to giving the inspectors a little extra to ensure they didn't waste so much of his time, but a part of him suspected that's exactly what the bureaucratic pricks wanted.

That wasn't the worst of his problems, either. Their clients wanted simple, fast housing, and a lot of it. The tent city on the other side of the river was developing into a traditional slum, but the natives who knew fire season around here said it would be a tinderbox. That somewhere with this much rain had a fire season was a surprise to him, but given how well evergreens burned, he guessed he could see it. That meant his clients had dictated a fairly strict deadline, rendering his budget a little optimistic, but making things work was why he made over 80k.

In order to meet this deadline, he had to hire more workers than he'd initially expected, specifically cheap ones. Of course, that came with its own set of problems.

LOST TIME INCIDENT REPORT

14 Sep 2022

McCally Construction Group

Thankfully, it hadn't been serious. Someone had lost control of their mallet while removing post-tension framework, accidentally hitting a coworker with the tool. The victim's arm was only bruised, but this was the latest in a string of small accidents he'd been dealing with ever since he started this job. Maybe it was all this damn rain, or perhaps he was pushing his crews too hard, but he honestly believed it was growing pains. A lot of refugees from the south pacific knew their way around a construction site, but they weren't the ones walking into his office for a Construction Labor job, and those that did needed to reteach themselves around the imperial system!

Wasn't that a headache and a half!

Beyond that, the war had given several of his employees a pre-existing injury. Many were illiterate. Half his labor force didn't speak English.

Still, when someone stumbles into his Site Office, poor, broke, and desperate, after narrowly escaping the same eldritch horrors that had hit his hometown, he was at least going to give them a chance.

A buzz interrupted the Manager's thoughts, and Dan's attention was abruptly drawn from his laptop. Speaking of which…

He checked his schedule to confirm his suspicions, before rising and approaching the door. He felt fairly certain it was another perspective employee, looking for work in exchange for some cash and a roof over their head, but he hadn't seen anyone from OSHA in a while.

The door opened, and Dan started his canned greeting before what he was seeing actually registered in his brain.

"Can I help you, uh… Miss?"

The first thing that greeted him was a bright cowboy hat. On someone else, he probably would have ignored it, but on the slender woman in front of him it looked comically out of place despite her height. Under that, an unruly white mop of hair framed a young face which Dan might have found pretty if he was younger. She was soaked, the constant rain permeating her clothes and her hat's brim still dripping with water. Her sky-blue shirt and soft orange scarf clung to her, contrasting with the girl's dry hair and face to give Daniel the impression of a cat who'd just suffered through a bath.

Sure, the weather was bad, but it hadn't been raining this hard. Either his guest had detoured for a dip in the Snoqualmie River, or she'd been outside for hours.

"Hello!" The soaked girl abruptly smiled, a trickle of water pouring from her hat's brim as she spoke. "Are you in command here?"

Dan blinked.

That wasn't what he was expecting anyone to ask, but it did clear some things up. Judging by her age, this was some college student from a nearby, probably a military brat who hadn't done a minute of honest work in her life.

In short, a naive idiot.

"I… am, yes." The Manager replied, and took a step away from the door. "Why don't you come in?"

She didn't show it, but she had to be miserable, soaked to the core like that. Even if the kid didn't mind, somehow, the threat of hypothermia wasn't to be taken lightly.

"Ah, thank you!" The girl replied, her boots squelching as she followed Dan inside.

"Pretty wet out there." Dan added as he closed the door, noting as his guest barely paused on the doormat. He needed to find some towels before all that water that was dripping of the newcomer created a tripping hazard.

"Yeah." She replied. "Is it always like this?"

"Not always," Dan answered, turning the office's space heater up a little. "But I'm told we can expect this for the rest of the year. Guess that's why they call this place a rainforest. Coffee?"

"Huh?" The girl was standing in the middle of the room, suddenly unsure of herself. "Okay?"

Dan sighed, surprised he'd ever have to ask this question.

"Ever had coffee before?" With most people, he'd consider that question a patronizing insult, but with this girl? He was getting the same impression he got from his own kids, just older.

If his own kids acted like this at this age, he'd be terrified.

"No."

Some times, he hated being right.

"You probably won't like it at first, but this stuff grows on you." Grabbing a styrofoam cup, he filled it using the office's constantly-heated carafe and handed it to the girl. "Besides, you look like you need warming up."

"I'm fine." She replied, accepting the coffee with her left hand and taking a cautious sip.

"You sure?" Unless she was hiding a personal heater under her shirt, there was no way she was enjoying that. "Let me dry your scarf, at least."

The kid finally relented, unwrapping her scarf to handing it over. He rung the cloth out over the office's sink, he threw the garment in front of the office's space heater. A bit of a fire hazard, but as long as he kept his eye on the situation shouldn't be a problem.

"Now." Dan added, having gained that small victory. "How can I help you?"

"Oh!" She almost jumped, as if she'd forgotten something vitally important. "I'm Elizabeth Groves." Jerkly, she rose a gloved hand, holding it out in front of her.

A moment passed. After placing the scarf in front of his space heater, Dan was over four feet from his visitor. Still, if she was going for a handshake…

"Dan Pratt." He replied, covering the distance between the two to take the girl's hand. "I'm the Manager here."

For the first time since meeting her, Dan was impressed. Her gloves, dark and smooth looking, felt remarkably coarse in the Manager's hand, gripping his skin like ultrafine sandpaper. Must be pretty expensive material, but he could see the utility. The handshake itself was just as timid as person giving it. The fancy glove had dried of already, but her lackluster handshake still gave Dan the impression of a dead fish.

"Alright, Dan." She started, unaware she'd completely failed the handshake. "I'd like a job."

What?

"Excuse me?"

Elizabeth paused, a confused expression visible from under her cowboy hat.

"I… would like a job."

She didn't have to repeat herself. Dan understood perfectly well what she was saying, but why? He could count the number of female construction laborers he'd worked with his fingers. Even then, they were usually built differently. The potential employee might make a good swimmer or gymnast, but her arms looked like they'd snap if she lifted too much.

"Are you sure?" He finally replied. "You look more suited for another job, like serving tables or-"

"No!"

Dan jumped, surprised at the girl's sudden energy. Where did that come from?

"I can't! I've been trying to get a job like that, but they say I'm not good enough with people!" Well, Dan guessed he could see that. She was pleading now, her eyes… what kind of color were they supposed to be, anyways?

"Just give me a chance, sir! I can work!"

"Hey, I never said I wouldn't let you try!" Dan needed to cut this girl off before she started pouring her heart out to him. The war had devalued sob stories, and he didn't need to hear another one.

He paused, looking over the girl's attire again. Her jeans seemed useful enough tougher than most he'd seen, but while her hiking boots were more utilitanian than he'd expect from the girl, they wouldn't stop . "Do you have steel-toed boots?"

"Uh- yeah." She nodded.

"Good." He didn't think he had a spare in her size. "You start tomorrow. See me in this office at 6:30. If I'm not here, tell whomever you see you're here for the new employee orientation. They should be able to start briefing you on how we do things. After that, we'll give you your gear and start putting you to work."

Her face suddenly lit up, like he'd just bought her ice cream. God, she really acted like his kids.

"Ever done this kind of stuff before?"

"No, not really." Her smile fell as she shook he head, but only for a moment. "But I've watched a lot of construction!"

Let's see her keep that energy after an hour of bending rebar.

"That probably won't help," He replied. "But if you follow your senior's orders you should do fine. If it's too much, you can leave at any time and I'll pay you for the work you've done so far, but at eight PM, I can guarantee you one hundred and fifty dollars, cash. That sound good?"

She nodded. "It does."

"Alright." He replied, turning towards his laptop. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thank you!" Thankfully, she understood the informal dismissal. The woman tapped her cowboy hat in a loose salute, before turning and leaving for the door.

"Uh, your scarf-"

"Right!" She pivoted on one foot, snapping the scarf from the portable space heater and turning to leave again.

"You know, a waterproof coat would help a lot on the jobsite, too." He added as the woman curled the scarf around her shoulders. You'd think that someone who thought they needed a scarf would carry a windbreaker, at least.

"Aye Aye!" She called, shutting the door behind her as she left.

Dan fell into his chair, turning his attention back to the incident report. Weird girl.

Then again, not just any woman would ask for this kind of job, especially in a city with so many new businesses. He'd work her, like he did every other new employee, and if she came back the next day?

Well, there was plenty of uses for someone as light as she was.

...And the rest of the chapter is up, and faster than I expected! I haven't worked in construction (at least, not on a construction site), so thank you to MarekGutkowski for advice on this and the direction of the upcoming arc, but he didn't have a preview of this chapter so don't blame him for any mistakes I make.

Speaking of mistakes, feel free to correct me on any inaccuracies in depicting this. I try my best with research on the topic, but I've already gotten my research wrong once at the Battle of Kalaloch, so I have no problem going back and fixing serious mistakes.

That being said, the next chapter in the pipeline is going to be another interlude, this time much farther south than normal.