Hard jobs and hard light.

The rain had soaked through his jumpsuit straight into his undershirt, but Lan was too tired to care. Cars flashed by, splashing him with putrid water. He could have shielded himself but why waste the mana. He didn’t understand why he couldn’t sit in the truck, but Felix had insisted he needed to give off the appearance of working. People loved seeing service workers suffer while they went about their day, it reminded them of how good their lives were. He was zoned out wondering what he was gonna eat for dinner when he realized Sanchez was talking to him.

“Fucking earth dragon? Who the fuck has an earth dragon for a pet? In the city no less.”

Lan only nodded. His first week on the job he realized Sanchez doesn’t care about a conversation, he just wanted to be heard.

“They said they were gonna keep tabs on this magical shit.” He continued

“How the hell are they supposed to handle fucking land dragons? Normal animal control barely works, you expect them to keep up with whatever the fuck these mages be doing?” Alejandro gave Lan a sidewards glance. “No offence.”

Lan didn’t understand what he was supposed to be offended by but he just smiled and nodded. The two had grouped themselves closer to him to talk, he wanted to step away for more space but didn’t want to upset them with the action.

“Why doesn’t it hum anymore?” Alejandro said staring at the shining road. “It used to hum, I kinda liked it.”

“I fixed it,” Lan said these were his first words since he started his shift five hours ago. “ It used to hum because it wasn’t stable, so I fixed it.” 

It was Alejandro’s turn to nod now, Lan was glad he didn’t ask for details because he didn’t want to explain how hard light worked. More cars zoomed by and the other guys stood further and further along the road, doing their part in giving the appearance of working. Lan didn’t understand why they’d all get paid for work he’d be doing by himself but he was getting paid and that’s all that mattered.

His mind went back to considering dinner when a sleek black car stopped in the middle of the road. Alvero,  the only co-worker Lan could say he liked, got up from the carton he was sitting on to tell the rich loser to move his shit. But the back door opened before he got there and a suit came out.

“What’re you guys using to maintain this construct?” The suit asked. 

Alejandro and Sanchez looked to Lan but it was Alvero who answered. 

“The kid’s a mage, now keep it moving. We’re specifically trying not to cause traffic here.”

The suit stood there a minute, looking directly at Lan then went back into the car. IT sat there for a couple of seconds before blessedly driving off.

***

Back at the office, Lan had made his way to the lockers when Felix cornered him. 

“Got a job for you.” He huffed excitedly.

“You’re my employer…”

“C’mon kid, I’m being serious here.”

Lan was being serious too but didn’t correct him, people hated that.

“Some guy saw your work on the streets and asked if he could rent you out for a couple of days.”
“Rent me out..” Lan repeated.

“Yeah, he’d borrow you and your — ya’know—  skills, for a couple of days and we both get a hefty pay.”

“What does he want me to do?”

“This is what I liked about you Kellan, always ready to work.” 

“I’m poor,” Lan replied deadpan. For some reason, Felix laughed at this.

***

After agreeing to meet with the suit tomorrow Lan made his way home, his closet of an apartment was on the side borough. It only took one train ride and a walk to get there but it was annoying because of all the people. Even worse now since the rediscovery of magic had made trains the best transport in the whole city. Spacial augmenting of not only the carts to fit more passengers but also the whole tunnel system to fit more trains had been done over the past five years.

The city could make more money doing projects like this, the rich could buy regular apartments and turn them into penthouses but what do the regular folk get? Squeezed into a building that has twice as many tenants now with the same about of utilities. Twice as many stairs to climb, but rent is no cheaper. If anything it's more expensive now.

He made it to his room only feeling the light touches of exhaustion, being a mage he needed less sleep and could do more physical tasks so long as he had mana in his system. He opened his door a slummed right onto his bed. His kitchen bedroom and living area were all in sight of each other, his bathroom tucked about in little clothes in the corner. His futon wheezed under his weight as he buried his face into his pillow took in a deep breath. Almost nine hours of work, he'd make three hundred dollars on that. If he kept this going maybe his entire check wouldn’t go into rent. But an earth dragon ripping up half a mile of the street isn’t gonna happen every day. He pushed his face deeper into his pillow and dozed off thinking about dinner instead of making it.

***

Lan stopped at the office door, he turned and realized someone had parked in Felix’s spot. Nobody parked in Felix’s spot, for one thing, none of the other guys drove other than the trucks we kept in the garage around back. But then it clicked, the same slick black car from yesterday. The suit was already here.

He made his way inside clocked in said his hellos to Rina at the front desk and made his way to Felix’s office. While everyone called the building itself ‘the office’ really it was just a place to sit around, answer calls and maintain the trucks. The real office was Felix’s where he’d spend the day watching movies on his laptop and entertaining guess if one had decided to crawl their way to this shithole.

He walked into the room and Felix had on his greasiest smile wringing his hands in front of him, his face broke out in genuine happiness when he saw Lan.

“And here he is, our resident mage.”

“Hello, I’m Kellan. Who’re you?” Lan said completely deadpan. Felix started but the suit only laughed. 

“Bas, nice to meet you.” The suit, Bas, smiled standing up. He had chestnut skin, his dark hair was a stylishly greasy mess, and his soft dark almond-shaped eyes swept Lan in one glance. He didn’t wear a tie, opting to leave the first couple of buttons undone. Lan knew everything he needed to know about this ‘Bas’ from this interaction alone.

“You said the suit from yesterday wanted to hire me, this isn’t him. Yesterday's was white.” He turned to Felix, fixing him with a blank stare.

Felix started to respond but Bas cut in “I was in the car, really good work that was. Half a mile of hard light? And you were managing it by yourself with hundreds of cars on it? How long were you out there for.?”

“Eight and a quarter hours.”

“Jesus you must be a beast.”

“So the job?” Lan said, getting to the point.

Bas turned to Felix, “Thanks for the hospitality.” He beamed him a smile and started for the door “Walk and talk with me?”

“I get paid by the hour, starting now.”

“I won’t waste your time.” He opened the door gesturing for Lan to go first. For some reason, the mage thought he was lying.

***

Lan sat in silence in the back of Bas’s ride watching cars and building pass by. His employer hadn’t said a word so Lan wasn’t going to either. It’s been years but it was still eerie to him to be able to traverse the city with little or no traffic. He checked his phone, he got in at eight his usual work hours were flexible. He’d come in when they needed him to magic stuff around or he’d be on standby for regular work. 

“Where did you study?” His boss for the evening asked breaking his laine of thought

“Munroe,” Lan answered still staring out his window.

“Community college? You learned to make hard light at a community college?”

“Yeah.”

“How much mana can you hold?”

“I got tested three years ago, fourteen thousand.”

Bas’ ever-present smile slipped slightly, Lan would have missed it if he hadn’t been finding his smug face so annoying. He didn’t say anything for a minute, fixed another fake smile, and leaned in conspiratorially.

“You’re joking.”
“I’m not.”

“You wouldn’t mind a test then?”

“You’re the one paying for my time boss.”

In response Bas tapped the driver on his shoulder and whispered something in his ear, the driver adjusted their route accordingly.