She… wasn't sure what she was looking at.

She knew its name, of course, but she neither understood what 'spam' or 'musubi' was. The majority of the brick-shaped food was rice, prepared in such a way that it stuck together as a rectangular block. It accompanied a perfectly-rectangular slice of the smoothest meat she'd ever seen, it's edges charred black from the cooking process. It was secured to the rice by a long, dark band of… leaves? It was oddly familiar, reminding her of something she'd seen back on Bikini, but she couldn't quite resolve the memory.

"So, Sern." Tirto started, looking up from a food Trinitite didn't recognise. "You're looking for another job?"

Sern was busy chewing, but gave a loose nod.

Surprise halted the musubi in front of Trinitite's mouth, the carrier's eyes widening despite herself. Sure, she didn't feel particularly loyal to McAlley Construction Group, but she wasn't even human! The idea that an abyssal would even plan at leaving their fleet, let alone nonchalantly admitting it in conversation, was unthinkable!

"Need to get away from us, huh?" Alton asked, but his teasing tone took the edge out of the accusation.

Of course, if an abyssal had said she was leaving her fleet, the response also wouldn't have been so casual. Now that she was thinking about the issue, however, it made perfect sense that changing fleets like this wasn't a major event. Trinitite herself wasn't planning on staying in this fleet forever, so why would she expect the humans to?

Deep, she was confusing fleets and families again!

"Oh, not at all!" Sern denied, enthusiastically shaking his head. "My parents found a home in another state, so I'll be moving out with them to help them pay for it."

"Where are they going?" Alton asked. Trinitite's attention started to wane, as she took a bite of her meal. The important information was that Sern was leaving, which made things a bit easier for Trin. Of everyone she worked around, the Malasian had given her the most attention, so seeing him go was going to make life here a bit easier.

"Moscow." Sern replied, as the abyssal focused on her mouthful of lunch.

Like the jerky, this meat had been treated until it was unrecognizable from the original meat. The meat's salty savor complemented the rice nicely, but the chemicals left her thirsty despite the meal being not particularly dry.

"Moscow?" Alton echoed, the incredulity in his voice pulling Trinitite away from her food. Was it in Hawaii or somewhere equally dangerous?

"Uhh, in Idaho, not Russia." He clarified. "I'd prefer a town with a more original name, but I haven't been the one trying to get out of the refugee camp."

She recognized Idaho from her stolen charts, as one of many 'states' that formed the American Fleets. If the distance had been water, it wasn't that far away, but when it comes to practical land distances she had no idea.

"Looking forward to getting out of the barracks?" The third member of her work team spoke up. "Your internet friends will probably hear you better when you don't have to whisper everything."

Trinitite quietly took another bite of her meal, thinking about that new information. She wasn't surprised that you could use the internet like an open channel, but the how, again, eluded her. The focus given by her research list was useful, but perhaps she should spend some time just… exploring when she had the computer later today.

"I wasn't that loud," Sern asserted, "was I?"

"Your keyboard was." Tirto replied, but he was looking at Trinitite. "You can't imagine the clicking."

The abyssal hadn't seen a human blush before, but Sern's reddening face was probably one of those.

Seeing his target's flustered reaction, Tirto's tone shifted. "At least you don't snore, like-"

"Bapak!"

At the unknown woman's shout, Trinitite's rangefinders snapped towards her, along with everyone in her group.

There were two newcomers, their uniquely-colored helmets marking them as visitors. One wasn't moving, leaving the Wo-class's attention to focus on the second.

"Hesti?" Tirto breathed, his lunch forgotten as he stood. The other human had a similar skin tone as him, and an odd mark stretched across her face, but more importantly, she was staring back at Tirto as she approached.

The Wo-class had never had an easier time reading a human's expression.

She made the connection instantly. Part of the family Tirto had talked about, the one he'd thought he'd left in the south pacific, had escaped as well. He'd talked alot about his daughter, right? Was this her?

As her coworker rose, his daughter broke into a jog, arms outstretched. Tirto did the same, and the distance between the two rapidly shrunk until they were in a tearful embrace.

For several seconds, nothing was said, the two humans enjoying the comfort of each other's embrace. They'd been separated for… Trinitite wasn't sure how long, but Trinitite knew it would have been painful.

There was… love, here, something she hadn't seen in humans before. She'd known it had existed, but hadn't seen what it had looked like until now.

Pressure in her strained boiler rose slightly as she realised just how… similar it was. How often had Trinitite seen one of her sisters in this kind of embrace with her mother? How often had she buried her head in her princess's shoulder?

Tirto's daughter straightened, words pouring out as she started to speak. It was a language that The Abyssal had never known, but Trinitite knew what the human was probably saying anyways.

I wasn't sure I'd see you again.

You're alive! So much has happened since I last saw you!

Thank The Deep! We can go back to being a fleet again!

Ever since she'd left Bikini, she'd been thinking of what she'd say to Jellyfish, after all.

If she is still my princess.

The traitorous thought entered her mind like an unexpected torpedo, a wave of sudden terror ripped up her keel, causing several casualties in her boiler room as additional steam leaks opened up in her active boiler.

The scene before her was her goal, the planned culmination of everything she was doing here, but expecting it would be foolishly optimistic, wouldn't it? It was possible that the type of reunion she was watching wasn't in her future.

She sniffed, adjusting her safety glasses to wipe condensation from her rangefinders. Tirto's daughter… the Wo-class wouldn't say she was lucky, but she at least had the guarantee that her parent would still love her if they found each other. What if, after finally meeting her princess and calling out to her, she only found herself staring down her 8-inch guns?

She'd be sunk, defeated in more ways than one.

She couldn't bear to look anymore. The conversation between the two continued, but Trin wouldn't be listening even if she did understand their language. A part of her was happy for her coworker, knowing that a problem he'd had since long before Trinitite had met him had been solved, and another was busy processing the fact that human relationships were this deep, but as she stared down at her lunch...

She sniffed, her gaze settling on the odd, tan smear on her work gloves. Where had that come from?

A moment of panic shot through her as she recognized her foundation. She could feel another tear sliding down her cheek, and knowing her makeup...

Thankfully, everyone else seemed to be focused on the reunion. Trinitite hastily set her lunch aside, shooting up and quietly excusing herself. As long as she kept her head down, nobody should notice her slipping disguise, but she still needed to find somewhere private to correct her makeup.

She sniffed again, ignoring the other visitor as she slipped down the scaffolding. Somewhere quiet to get her feelings under control wouldn't hurt, either.

These moments were what she lived for.

It was a perfect story. Hesti, the woman who'd just barely dragged herself and her children from the tempestuous hell that had claimed her husband, had been desperate for news on a missing parent. In that desperation, she gambled what little wealth she could gather on Katie, the best private detective in the west. Weeks had passed, then months as the overworked sleuth had searched, determined to reunite the long lost relatives.

Eventually, she'd done it, tracking him down to here and confirming The Contact's information within a couple of hours. Hesti had wanted to come immediately, obviously, and while Katie had to cover the exorbitant cost of flying her and her kids over, she didn't mind.

With the stressful shitshow that was the other job she had here, she was more than happy to help with this one, and the feel-good blog posts about it would probably be much less… pointed then news coverage about a missing abyssal.

The father and daughter pair separated slightly, speaking to each other in what she assumed was Javanese. Right now, there was no doubt she wasn't in their thoughts, but Katie knew that those two would never forget the name of the woman who got them back together.

One of the construction workers Tirto had been eating with hurried past Katie, her face hidden by her helmet as she kept her head down. The detective only realized the worker was female when she sniffled, her form hidden by her bulky clothing as she hurried away. It was kind of nice to know the scene was touching others, as well, but the female coworker was a bit odd...

She shrugged. It was 2022, of course there'd be women working here.

Another mystery solved, Harmon turned her attention back to the pair. Things seemed to be slowing down between the two, so she started to walk forwards, eager to see what kind of person her quarry was.

It wasn't often the object of your search was grateful you found them, after all.

This chapter's a bit shorter, as I wasn't sure if I wanted to be a part of the last one or not. Still, I think it's just barely long enough to hold on it's own, and the next chapter will be out in a few hours either way. There's enough going on here for a full chapter anyways, even if the wordcount is on the short side. Next chapter will be a bit longer anyways, and conclude Trinitite's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Thanks to Jessetheswift for betaing this one and a lot of the previous chapters, by the way.