Spain Catalonia, Late-1936

"I hear the uh, the Public Works thing is going well." Says Gennaro, digging a hole, as per usual.

Rafael nods. "Yep. Lots of people are getting signed up." Rafael is helping to dig the same hole. As per usual.

"Do you two ever talk about anything interesting?" Interjects Savannah, who's taking the dirt they remove from the hole and putting into a larger pile, which is going to serve as the outer earthworks.

"Yes." Replies Gennaro.

"No." Replies Rafael.

They continue to dig in silence.

"So, uh, either of you excited about how the Olympics are going?"

"I'm not really into sports." Replies Rafael.

"Oh, man, I'm so excited! Not that it's better than the Spartakaid, but did you hear about the new world record the French team set in-"

"Republic of France or Communes of France?"

"Communes of France, obviously."

"Ah."

They continue to work in silence.

"So, any favorite foods?"

"No," says Rafael, "I don't really eat out much."

"Ooh, you know what's good?" Says Gennaro, "You get some pasta, take a little canned meat, some cherry tomatoes, toss it in with the rest of a Paella, and then you--"

Rafael and Savannah give him a look. "You put canned meat into a Paella?"

"Well, uh, uh, n-not often, I-I'm just saying..."

He trails off, and they all return to removing dirt from a hole and putting it somewhere else.

Savannah puts down her bucket and leans onto her shovel as a reprieve. it's been hard work, all day, today; the earth is frozen due to the cold, and for the past hour the sun has been out to maybe heat the ground a little, but mostly to fry everyone in their coats and scarves. She has no clue as to why these two hang out regularly.

"So, are you two sure you're friends?"

Gennaro answers "Of course! We're friends no matter what our differences!" and Rafael answers, in unison, "No, not at all."

They continue digging into the frozen earth. The earthworks are looking formidable, now. Perfect for repelling any hypothetical attack.

This is just one of many such projects to create the groundwork and foundations for SWF forts all across Catalonia. If anyone notices and bothers to make a fuss, the official story is that these are just going to be out of town headquarters for Union organizers, nothing at all suspicious, we've even had the plans drafted up for the buildings to show off. But if we're lucky, nobody will notice too much at all.