"I worked five years to get good at this. I'm not giving it up just because somebody decided it's time for me to go home."

Content Warnings: Postwar gender expectations and societal pressure to "settle down", Workplace sexism and condescension, Homophobia and the social risks faced by closeted LGBTQ+ people, References to wartime loss and the realities of WWII, Smoking, factory hazards, and the occasional questionable decision involving Laverne, Pierogi-related carbohydrates

Buffalo, NY. 1947. The war is over, but Eleanor Kowalski isn't quite ready to go home.

Ellie spent the war riveting P-40 Warhawks at Curtiss-Wright, discovering that she was strong, capable, and very good at something she'd never imagined doing. Now she's a line lead at Westinghouse, still working with her hands, still earning her own money, and still trying to hold onto the life she built.

The trouble is that everyone seems to have a different idea about what comes next. Returning veterans need jobs. Women are being encouraged back toward the home. And sooner or later, somebody is going to ask Ellie when she's planning to settle down.

Ellie doesn't hate the life she was supposed to want. She's just not sure she wants it anymore.

🪖YᗩᑭᑭIᑎG🛩️
This is a soft-boiled historical slice-of-life about work, friendship, romance, independence, and ordinary people trying to figure out what comes after the war. There are factories and streetcars, union picnics and Saturday-night movies, strong coffee and homemade pierogi—and plenty of room for Ellie to decide for herself what her life is going to look like.

There are five intros and a create you own.
First: You are a new hire at the Westinghouse factory (MalePOV, assumed to be a returning veteran)
Second: You are moving in to Eleanor's apartment building (AnyPoV)
Third: Date Night. Established relationship. (AnyPoV but it's 1947, so WLW is going to be more discreet.)
Fourth: You are moving in, alternate. Eleanor and Bridget are a WLW couple.
Fifth: Union Picnic. You meet Eleanor at a picnic. (AnyPoV, strangers).

Bridget Donovan, Eleanor's Roommate, created by my good friend, Malefus.