Possibilities [Moscow Fire Department]

[Cor]

Cor stood outside, a cigarette dangling from his lips as he took a deep inhale. People thought it odd or even ironic that a firefighter was a smoker.  There were more of them than most thought.  It was a stressful job and people often found nicotine relaxing.  Strange since it was a stimulant. Oh well that didn’t matter. 

Cor removed the cigarette and blew out the smoke, deep in thought.  The Blackthorn fire still on his mind.  In the end, it was ruled as an accident. Cor was sure it wasn’t, but he couldn’t prove it. Things just weren’t adding up.  The damn house went up too fast, and the CCTV in the area going offline just reinforced that.  But technically it was all circumstantial evidence. There was nothing else to go on overall. So it went down in the books as accidental. 

A final inhale on the cigarette, and Cor blew out the smoke as he snuffed the cigarette out. He placed the butt in the receptacle next to the door before heading in, leaving his door open. Unless he was meeting with someone, his office door was open. The crew was sitting down, playing cards it seemed. It wasn’t a heavy day, but he knew they would all drop whatever they were doing if the call went out. They waved at Cor amicably as he entered, and he returned it with a smile as he entered his office. The Blackthorn Fire had him thinking of a lot of possibilities. Possibilities that he decided he wanted to discuss with someone else - just to see what they thought. He was about to call for someone when the door to the department opened. A brunette wearing a paramedic coat walked in and was about to join the rest of the crew. She would do.

”Raikov, come in here. Want to chat for a bit,” he said, smiling inwardly. She had taken a long lunch today. He didn’t care, but the use of her last name might make her think she was in trouble. At the very least it would get her attention.

[Anita]

Anita knew she was coming back late, but to be fair she hadn’t expected lunch with her twin to  become a miraculous healing followed by making sure that the guy who was healed wasn’t going to go the unaliving route. Thankfully things seemed to be okay. She got a quick lunch in with Adrian, who thankfully was understanding about such things. Emergencies didn’t happen on a schedule.

Still she wasn’t expecting to be called into the chief’s office right after she walked in the door and it caught her off guard. The other firefighter/paramedics in the building began jokingly saying their “oooooh you’re in trouble” speeches. Anita rolled her eyes at them and gave them a level look as she entered.

Why do I work with such children! she thought sarcastically as she closed the door. She really did love her coworkers.

”Listen, Cor, I know I’m back late. I had my radio on the whole time, and… she stopped as Cor waved dismissively at her excuse and gestured for her to sit.

”Not what I wanted to talk about.  I know if the tone had gone out you would have dropped everything to be there. Still it is unlike you.” he smiled disarmingly.

It didn’t require a response, but Anita still felt like she had to give one. She respected Cor too much to not do so. ”Friend going through a rough time. Had to make sure he didn’t need to be talked off the ledge.” Nox hadn’t been a friend when that conversation started, but he was at the end. They had walked back to his place together and gotten to know each other.  She hoped to see him again.

Cor’s nod was serious. He understood why she had told him. He’d also find it an acceptable reason for being late. She’d never seen any crew move as fast if there was potential suicide happening. ”What did you want to talk about?” she asked, switching gears back to the impromptu meeting.

Cor took a deep breath. ”What do you know about channelers - these magic users?”

Anita shrugged. ”Not much, but I know a couple. They can do some pretty amazing things.” she said, not mentioning her twin brother was one or that she just came from seeing someone who had lost their ability to use it get it back. Seemed like the burlesque club had become a gathering point for these people. Maybe more like a safe haven.

For tapped his fingers on his desk - a move that Anita knew meant he was deep in thought. ”What are you thinking? Worried that one of them might go arsonist?” Cor nodded, but his gaze remained focused on the corner. He had something else in the forefront of his mind. ”Or the other side - magic firefighters? Magic medics?”

Cor’s gaze shifted to her. ”Yeah - more along those lines now. It seems to good a thing to overlook.  Do you know what they can do? Can they diminish fire like they make it. Can they magically spray water? What about medical emergencies?”

Anita shrugged. ”I don’t know enough to give you definitive answers,” she said. She had seen someone who amazing things, but she had no idea the scope of what they could do. ”Sounds like you’re trying to get rid of my job.” it was said with a visible smirk to denote humor. ”What is it you’re actually wanting?”

[Cor]

Cor had been considering much, but recently at the forefront of his mind, Cor had been considering applying magic use to emergency services, but the problem with that was he had no idea what they could do.

Cor tapped his hand on his desk. Anita wanted to know what he wanted exactly. He always appreciated how she seemed to just move through the bullshit to the heart of the matter. ”I want to know what they can do,” he said, leaning forward in his chair. ”No…I want to see what they can do - particularly in fire situations. Think about the time and lives that could be saved if we had someone able to spray water without having to deploy a hose line. Even if they could just keep the fire at bay until then. There are possibilities here. At least I think they are.”

Anita pondered that before speaking, her voice serious. ”You want to put civvies in live fire exercises? Oh yeah, the city is going to be real thrilled about that.”

”Shit,” Cor said, rubbing his temples. Anita was right of course. ”If we hire them as consultants, we’d get them under our insurance policies. Make sure to get them SCBA trained as well. Putting on-certified in controlled live fire exercises is a part of training. That would at least get them partially on board. The issue would be…”


”Getting the city to approve paying for consultants.” Anita finished his sentence. ”No matter what, you will have to part the red tape.”

Cor nodded somberly. Fucking bureaucracy. ”Yeah. But before I go on with this, I wanted another opinion. What do you think?”