With a ding, the drier died, the machine announcing it was finished with Trinitite's clothes and money. The Wo-class looked up from the cookbook she'd been studying, tucking it back into her hold and standing up. The drying machine was one of dozens, lined across the laundromat's walls, but at this hour most humans were busy at work, so only a couple other machines were running. The building was no library, especially since she had to be there, but despite the constant gaze of the one other human there Trinitite found it fairly relaxing.

The washing and drying machines were insidiously clever, only running once she'd inserted money directly. There was no room for negotiation with a machine. It worked exactly as well as it's owner intended, and even if you thought a quarter of a hard-earned dollar should run the machine for more than a pitifully small handful of minutes. If a user wanted a better deal, they couldn't really do much beyond procuring both a washing and a drying machine for themselves, something well outside the abyssal's ability.

Despite her clenched teeth and stiff keel, She could respect that kind of business strategy. In a way it represented the kind of subdued, polite ruthlessness that humans seemed to have mastered, and had seen practically everywhere.

Opening the dryer she'd been paying for, Trinitite withdrew her relatively small load of laundry, specifically inspecting her work uniform. When she'd woken up, they'd been covered in mud and grass stains, a byproduct of her genius idea to sleep in them. Another dumb mistake she was now paying for. Deep, these never seemed to end, did they?

Everything else seemed to be fine. The Abyssal didn't had only used this place twice before, only visiting if too many of her clothes were obviously soiled by mud or makeup, but she had to admit the machines did a much better job then her paint-and-chip crew ever did.

With the task finished and more than an hour before she was supposed to report to Jack in the Box, The Abyssal wasn't entirely sure what to do with herself. The Library wasn't that far, but she'd have to make sure she didn't get too lost in research, and she wasn't certain she wanted to rush through any of her research topics.

…Well, she had to get changed into her uniform somewhere, and there were more things that she could be doing at the library than just research. The Library fleet had basically walked her through becoming an official human, after all, and in the process she'd learned a lot more about what services the Fleet offered.

Maybe she should see how much utility there'd be in some of those books. The cookbooks she had in her hold would no doubt be useful… eventually… but until she could procure new cooking equipment, reading them only made her miss her old propane grill. Maybe they'd have something a little more interesting.

Grasping the basket by its handle, The Abyssal raised the set of fries from the pool of hot oil, wincing as she observed her handiwork. Calling the fries 'overdone' was an… understatement. She had no problem eating the black-encrusted food, but considering these fries weren't for her…

"Sarah." Shannon started, her voice cold, "I can see one, maybe two wasted batches of fries, but five?" Her voice rose for a second, but dropped again as the Fleet's Princess motioned to fore. "We've still got customers up there!"

"Aye, Shannon." Trinitite responded, only to see her boss's look of disapproval only deepen.

"How are the taco shells?" She suddenly asked.

The taco shells? Oh, those taco shells! The abyssal turned as realization dawned, removing another basket from the frier a little too quickly. The completed shells bounced in the basket and strings of oil were flung across the kitchen, but thankfully the taco shells themselves appeared to have the 'correct' sheen. As the abyssal hung the basket on a ridge to suspend it above the vat and started filling another from the fry hopper, Shannon left some parting words as she turned to her own business.

"Get your head together, Sarah. This isn't very hard."

The Abyssal cursed under her breath. Some of it was irrational frustration directed at her new princess, but the majority was because she was right. Trinitite knew that she could get the hang of this with enough practice, but that was taking a lot longer than the abyssal had hoped. She only had to track a handful of steel baskets filled with food as they slowly cooked in oil, after all. Compared to submarine hunting, it was nothing, but telling herself that didn't seem to make the Wo-class any better at it.

The next set of fries she removed from the frier were almost as white as they'd been when she'd dipped them in. Dammit, no wonder that pre-sunk bitch north of the Solomons had managed to hit Hypocenter! Was she just overthinking this?

She never really figured out what she'd been doing wrong. Like before, she kept a part of her mind focused on her chronometer to try and ensure the frier's beeping didn't surprise her, and ensuring multiple items she was frying at once were removed in accordance with how she'd been trained, but this time she just seemed to be doing better. The number of mistakes Trinitite was cursing herself over started to drop as she subconsciously settled into a rhythm. Before long, she stopped hearing from Shannon at all as she kept all four vats frying and continued to fill the never-ending roll of orders while the stocks of taco shells, fries, and onion rings remained full.

She guessed it had just been an issue of practice, after all.

"Hey, Sarah!" Her boss's voice made her jump, almost making her drop a basket of fried chicken back into the oil.

"Yes?" She asked, seating the fried chicken to hang above the vat and looking back questioningly to her boss. She didn't seem particularly disappointed this time, but her face wasn't all that readable in the first place. What had she done wrong now? The abyssal started hastily reviewing the procedures the fleet's Princess had walked her through, but her worrying was cut off by her boss's next orders.

"Slow it down." She said, making a cutting motion across her neck. "We've gotten the lunch rush, so try to keep those at half-full to reduce our waste."

She blinked, suddenly looking forwards at the register. Maybe it was because she couldn't see too well from here, or maybe it was because she'd eaten a lot more this morning, in preparation for this underwhelming lunch break, but she found the idea that it was already after 1400 a little hard to believe.

Yet, that's what her chronometer said.

"Oh." She replied, a little dumbly. Alex seemed to have noticed the same thing, as he'd left the second register and was now standing in line behind the one customer at the first. "Can I take lunch?"

"Go ahead." Shannon replied in affirmative, waving the abyssal away. "I'll handle it for your break."

The Wo-class didn't need to hear anything else. She didn't stay to see how Shannon managed the post. Just because she wasn't in desperate need of a resupply didn't mean she'd turn it down, after all.

Something moved in the corner of Alex's eye, distracting him from the article he'd been skimming. The young adult lowered his chicken sandwich and looked up, only to get a good look at Sarah's bulging polo shirt as she pulled a chair out at the table. Apprehension fought with elation as his coworker sat, giving him an amicable nod before focusing on her own tray of food. Returning the nod, he directed his attention back to his phone, trying not to ogle his apparently friendly coworker.

The first time hadn't been some odd fluke or mistake. Sarah was intentionally sitting next to him, for some reason. As she grabbed one of the pairs of hamburgers she'd bought and took an eager bite out of one, she didn't seem too interested in talking to him, but why sit next to him in the first place?

I don't know how it could happen, but she's definitely interested in you!

He gritted his teeth, focusing on his meal to divert his thoughts away from that idea. Yet no matter how stupid they were, Alex couldn't dispel Collin's words from last night. Someone in his position who was more savvy might have had a chance with his coworker, but Alex knew better than to give himself any false hope.

Besides, did he even want a relationship with Sarah? A massive part of him said yes, obviously, but he suspected part of the reason Colin kept losing girlfriends was because he focused too much on skin-deep qualities. Right now, Sarah seemed too good to be true. Not only was Alex now fighting himself to make sure he wasn't creeping on his coworker, but now he was certain another shoe was going to drop, eventually. Not that she was intentionally hiding something, just that Alex didn't know nearly enough about her to make any serious decisions about his coworker.

He chanced another glance at Sarah. The girl had already gotten a quarter of the way through her first burger, her lips bobbing as she thoughtfully chewed another bite. She wasn't focused on her food, however, as her eyes were steadily tracing over a book in her other hand. As to the book's subject…

"War at Sea?" He read aloud, failing to mask the surprise in his voice. "You like history?"

There certainly were military history buffs who were women, but Alex had never met one before.

"Hmm?" Sarah looked up, before suddenly looking down and averting her gaze. "Oh, the book!" She looked at the book, her next words clearly forming in her head as she pursed her lips. "Well, it just seems like an important topic…" Sarah trailed off, still failing to meet his gaze. Was she embarrassed?

"You don't have to justify yourself." Alex tempered. He didn't want Sarah to think he was teasing her for her interests! "History's pretty cool!"

At least, that's what his friend Dustin thought. Alex could recite most of the tanks Germany used in WW2, and knew of some memes like the Pig War, but while this war had expanded his knowledge of naval history somewhat that was about it. He certainly hadn't been following it very closely, as his life was stressful enough as it was.

"Ah." Sarah nodded, although she didn't seem particularly reassured. "It's just that the better I understand this," she continued to justify herself, lifting her book, "the better I should be able to understand the Abyssals. Figure out why they've done what they've done, you know?"

Realization slapped Alex in the face as he suddenly remembered his coworker was a refugee.

"I see…" He replied, solemnly. "I'm sorry about what happened to you, by the way."

Sarah had been looking at Alex previously, but after he said that, the occasional glance suddenly turned into an intense stare. Alex felt his spine stiffen as the woman seemed to give him a serious appraisal. Did she think he wasn't honest?

"Thank you." She finally said. "...But I think I'm pretty lucky, considering I managed to get here."

"Huh," Alex replied, unsure how to follow that statement. "I guess you could say that" Sure, she was alive, and she was now living in a very safe part of the world, but she still lost her home to the abyssals.

…She'd just lost her home, right?

"Did your family make it out okay?" He asked. This… wasn't going too far, was it?

Sarah's face fell, her gaze dropping as memories Alex wasn't privy to returned to her.

"...Oh." he stated, regretting that he'd asked. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Suddenly, it made a lot more sense that she was being so social to him. Lost in an unfamiliar country (Whatever her old country was.), surrounded by a culture she wasn't familiar with and with possibly no loved ones to lean on for support…

"Don't be." Sarah finally replied, "You didn't do anything to them."

She took another bite of her first burger, and Alex suddenly remembered the limited time he had to eat.

"I guess not." He replied, raising his chicken sandwich back to his face. "But if you want to talk about it more in the future, just let me know."

Alex and his wargaming group probably weren't the best people for someone as desperate as she must have been for interaction, but until she could do better, Alex decided that he'd be there. To talk to, if nothing else. He'd see if she got into a better headspace before considering taking things further.

In the meantime, he could look into how someone actually did 'take things further,' without getting creepy. The last thing she needed was for him to accidentally take advantage of her, after all.

The plan was for Trinitite to learn that Alex's cell phone (and cell phones in general) have internet access, but at the end of the day I couldn't steer the conversation between Alex and Trin in the right direction.

Ehh, she'll figure it out eventually. It's definitely something I'm looking forwards to writing... after the interlude I think I'll be working on next.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this one! The scene in the frier was a bit short, but I promise I'll be a bit more thorough when She's manning the register.