The evening was relaxed and enjoyable. They got dinner at a small family owned restaurant, and then went for ice cream after.

  Though, throughout the evening, Lucian couldn’t help but wonder how long things would stay as they were before. He knew the impacts of the global shift would catch up eventually, and probably sooner rather than later - but he also wanted to enjoy his time with Annabelle so he pushed the thought from his mind.

  The next morning, he woke up in her bed with a yawn, stretching and sitting up. His nose twitched as the smell of breakfast wafted in through the open bedroom door. He got out of bed and picked a new outfit from the clothing he brought with him - another pair of jeans and another hoodie, of course.

  “Good morning,” he said as he walked out and headed into the kitchen, leaning against the counter beside Annabelle.

  “Good morning to you as well, sleepy head,” she glanced back and smirked, “I’m shocked you woke up at all.”

  “Your bed is much more comfortable than a sleeping bag, and I needed my beauty sleep,” he retorted.

  She chuckled in reply, “Yes, yes, I’m sure you do,” before starting to plate up sausages and eggs for them to eat. Lucian slipped beside her and picked the plates up, bringing them to the table while she grabbed glasses and juice.

  Breakfast was a lovely calm start to the day - a stark contrast to mornings in the jungle region of the city. They finished eating and then took care of the dishes together.

  Afterwards, Annabelle brought out the card Stevenson had given her, and they made a call.

  Within the hour, a black SUV had pulled up outside Annabelle’s apartment and they got into it. They were driven to a nearby hotel and before long they were stepping into Stevenson’s suite.

  The elf greeted them with a handshake, “Welcome. We have much to discuss.” Eric led them to a coffee table and offered them seats before sitting down himself, crossing one leg over the other and taking out a tablet. He looked up at the pair, “I imagine the two of you want to skip pleasantries and get right into it?”

  “Yep! That would be best, I think.” Annabelle nodded.

  “Agreed, I’m curious about the finer details of your offer.” Lucian seconded.

  Eric nodded, “Then allow me to begin,” he swiped on his tablet a couple times, “You already know the general idea. You’ll be tasked with exploring shifted regions of the United States, assessing and cataloguing geography, resources, threats, and such. You’ll be assigned roles and tasks based on your capabilities and areas of expertise - in your cases your focus will likely be on terrain exploration and threat assessment and handling, though you may be asked to do other things as well. Rather than have you take on specific tasks for rewards, you’ll receive a more normal salary. The contract will be month by month, which will allow renegotiation of salary and benefits on the basis of performance much more easily than a year-long contract might.”

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  Lucian and Annabelle didn’t say anything, and simply listened. Eric Stevenson was a professional, and the way he spoke was almost enthralling to listen to.

  Seeing as they had no comments, he continued, “For the two of you, we will begin with a monthly salary of 6000 dollars - obviously subject to increases based on performance. For now, we’ll be providing lodging and food as well, specifically near the 95th parallel mountain range as it’s going to be the focus of your work for now. Transportation into, out of, and around the region, as well as medical care, will be provided. We have two classed medical professionals on payroll, though I will admit they aren’t capable of regrowing an arm.” Eric chuckled, “Oh, we’re also offering dental.”

  “What about anything we find?” Lucian leaned forward, “I’m not keen on giving any magic items or materials we find away.”

  “We won’t ask you to. For the moment, we have no real knowledge of what such things can do. We also want to build a good relationship with the two of you, so even if we wanted to impose some kind of item tax we would exempt or vastly discount you both. We will, however, offer to buy finds from you - though that may be difficult in terms of pricing until a market forms around them. Unless of course, you’re given a task to say, go retrieve a specific thing.” Eric smiled and Lucian nodded in understanding.

  The group spoke for a while. Eventually, Lucian and Annabelle decided they would give it a try. After all, it was on a month by month basis, so if they didn’t like what they were getting they could simply leave or renegotiate.

  They were driven back to Annabelle’s apartment, where Lucian made some phone calls. His apartment was basically solved, since it was no longer really livable, which made backing out of the lease easy. Similarly, leaving school wasn’t hard either. There were some other things to take care of, but nothing exceptionally complex or difficult.

  The next few days passed quickly and pleasantly. The pair went on another date, and Annabelle dragged Lucian off to go shopping for him.

  Congress finalized and passed their bill, and the Federal Shift Association, FSA for short, was publicly announced. Eric Stevenson made a public appearance on television, introducing himself as the Association’s director, and made a promise to the nation that they would strive to prevent further tragedy.

  Many other countries formed similar organizations to handle their own regional Shift related problems, though Lucian paid less attention to that.

  Lucian had no doubt that in the days following the formation of the FSA many non-government guilds would form across the nation. People moved fast when there was money to be made.

  Later that same day, Director Stevenson personally arrived at the apartment. With the FSA officially formed, contracts could be formally drawn up and signed.

  Afterwards, Lucian and Annabelle were issued identification cards marking them as members of the Association.

  They all agreed that they would depart to the newly sprouted mountains in two days' time - when the temporary lodging was finalized - to properly begin the next step in their journey.