Valerie sat in the passenger seat, repeatedly adjusting the mirror and examining herself in the uniform that she was required to wear for the time being. She'd felt so cooped up in the hospital over the past couple of days, that the second she was offered to work EMT patrols, she practically sprinted down the halls of Bellmuse General. She adjusted the hat on her head so that the caduceus was properly station at the exact center of her forehead. Valerie wanted to look as professional as possible for whomever her partner was, but she was uncomfortable that her hair was too long to properly fit a ponytail under the cap. She didn't often like wearing her hair down in public, but she didn't really have a choice in the matter.
Val was content with the professionalism of her appearance, but had already been waiting for several minutes for her partner to actually show up. She leaned her head against the window and sighed just before a loud slap occurred against the window, startling her and causing her to slam her hand on the lock button. She looked out that same window to see a familiar face holding himself up against one of the pillars in the garage, trying to stay standing as he cries from laughter.
Valerie actually smirks a bit when she sees who it is. "Dammit Rice..." She whispers under her breath, already scheming. She glances at the dashboard and sees something she can use. She leans over and flips a switch, causing the sirens to fly on full-blast and echo through the parking garage they were in. Rice immediately flinches and starts stumbling to get to the driver's seat at turn it off. Unfortunately, the doors were locked thanks to his little prank earlier, and Valerie had no intention of opening them. Not to mention that she was laughing too hard to focus on something like that anyways, his expression was priceless.
Rice flips through his keys with a wide-eyed expression, fumbling and almost dropping them a few times until he finally gets the door opened, and flips the sirens off. He flops against his seat, panting heavily.
"Are you..... trying...... to get me fired?"
"Are you trying to give me a heart attack? Also, where have you been? I've been waiting for 20 minutes now." Valerie wipes tears from her eyes, finding it hard to speak through her smile.
Rice rubs his chest as though he was chasing away his own heart attack. "I was filing paperwork for you to be here. You're not exactly an employee here, you know?"
Valerie sticks her tongue out at him and mumbles something. "I might as well be...."
"Whatever. And you're driving for pulling that little siren stunt."
Valerie has know him long enough to know that protesting hill get her nowhere, and doesn't even bother getting out, just moving across into the drivers seat, grabbing the keys, and shoving Rice out the door. "Then get in so you can sit on your lazy butt." She turns the key and starts the engine up.
"Wait, we haven't run inventory yet."
"I did. You left me waiting for 20 minutes, remember?"
Rice gets in the passenger seat and makes a mocking voice as Valerie pulls the vehicle out of the parking spot and starts to leave the garage. "Well, aren't you just on top of things?"
- - - - - - -
The scanner was quiet for the longest time. Albeit, this was unconventional after all. They weren't intended to be on the list of patrolling engines for today, and before the calls started to pick up. This particular engine was meant to stay in the station, but things were not going according to plan. For some reason, today had been particularly bad for calls, so a few additional engines were dispatched for more swift response. The sun was starting to set, but at least now the heater was running warmer than when they first started it up.
Valerie suddenly grabbed the scanner and radioed in their engine number, letting dispatch know that they would be unavailable for a couple of minutes. Rice looked at her with a bemused expression for a few moments until she suddenly pulled into a burger joint and parked the ambulance. "I'm hungry." she said plainly, before hopping out of the drivers seat and heading inside, paying no mind to the fact that Rice hadn't followed her in.
She stood in line, playing a fighting game on her scroll while she waited. She only cast attention away from the phone for a moment when one of the couples behind her made a racist remark about how unfair it was for them to have to wait behind a faunus in the same line. Valerie let out a sigh as her only response until she was able to make her order, flashing the couple a harsh look as she passed them by with a bag of food. She made her way back to the engine with Rice still in it. She pulled out a burger and fries and was about to begin eating when Rice coughed once. She glared at him briefly.
"If you wanted something you should have gone in to get it yourself."
Rice smirked smugly. "Oh Valerie, we both know that you're too nice to be that way."
Valerie sat holding her burger for several long seconds. "I hate you." She reached into the bag and grabbed a second sandwich and slapped it into his hand, then reaching forward and clicking on the radio so they could listen for dispatch again.
"What? No fries?"
Valerie bit off a mouthful of her burger, shrugging and looking smug as she once again was able to get the last laugh on her old teammate.
Rice sat holding his food for a long time, 30 seconds at least. "... I pulled some strings to get you assigned to my engine. I wanted to talk to you... about the District 7 incident. We were both there, but..." Rice paused again.
Valerie swallowed her food, waiting for Rice to say something. "I-" She was cut off by the dispatcher speaking over the radio. There was a situation with police involvement, shots fired, and wounded civilians. She dropped her sandwich into the bag and gave their engine number, and confirmation of response. The sirens flipped on for real, and the ambulance pulled back onto the Bellmuse freeway to get to where they needed to be.
- - - - - - -
The engine pulled up to a small apartment complex after being given the all clear from the patrol officers. The two of them hopped out of the ambulance with medical bags in tow. They ran up to the first officer they saw, and followed him to the area where the victim was. A back alley. How normal... It was an older gentleman, whom must have been upwards of 50. From what she'd heard, this had been a disagreement between the man and his daughters boyfriend. The guy was a known hoodlum, and the father had started an argument which eventually led to this point. The shot had gone straight through the mans abdomen, but showed no signs of an exit wound. Valerie nodded to Rice and ran back to the ambulance to grab the gurney. When she came back, the man was unconscious but ready to be loaded onto the gurney.
It took little time to get the ambulance loaded, their information to the police, and the ambulance back onto the freeway. Rice was driving, and Val was in the back, making sure the man was breathing normally and reading his heart rate. She wasn't able to risk using her semblance since the bullet was likely still inside the man, and her semblance would have healed the wounds shut around the bullet. For now, she gave the guy an morphine injection to slow blood flow and made sure the wounds were bandaged right.
- - - - - - -
The pair were back out, pushing the gurney through the emergency desk before long, and the rest of the night was spent filling out reports on the incident, as well as answering a few police questions. By the time they were done, their shift was done and they were gathering their things for the night. Valerie walked out of the locker room, in her civilian clothes again and a sling bag on her back. Rice walked out of his locker room as well, but Val started to walk past him toward the door.
"Val, I-"
"Shut up." There was no kindness or sympathy as she cut him off. All that playful demeanor was gone in an instant. "You quit the EMR Program after District 7. You don't get to talk about Ormu to me like you understand it all. You were there, but you weren't there, staring him in the eyes as he went. We were a family, and after he went, his memory is what drove the rest of the brothers and sisters of the team. When you decided that you'd had enough, you lost the right to carry his memory with you. We live for the people that fall, we don't give up because they're gone." Valerie waited for a response. She heard nothing behind her, and so she walked away from him, leaving the hospital and hailing a taxi, driving off into the stark Winter night.
Val was content with the professionalism of her appearance, but had already been waiting for several minutes for her partner to actually show up. She leaned her head against the window and sighed just before a loud slap occurred against the window, startling her and causing her to slam her hand on the lock button. She looked out that same window to see a familiar face holding himself up against one of the pillars in the garage, trying to stay standing as he cries from laughter.
Valerie actually smirks a bit when she sees who it is. "Dammit Rice..." She whispers under her breath, already scheming. She glances at the dashboard and sees something she can use. She leans over and flips a switch, causing the sirens to fly on full-blast and echo through the parking garage they were in. Rice immediately flinches and starts stumbling to get to the driver's seat at turn it off. Unfortunately, the doors were locked thanks to his little prank earlier, and Valerie had no intention of opening them. Not to mention that she was laughing too hard to focus on something like that anyways, his expression was priceless.
Rice flips through his keys with a wide-eyed expression, fumbling and almost dropping them a few times until he finally gets the door opened, and flips the sirens off. He flops against his seat, panting heavily.
"Are you..... trying...... to get me fired?"
"Are you trying to give me a heart attack? Also, where have you been? I've been waiting for 20 minutes now." Valerie wipes tears from her eyes, finding it hard to speak through her smile.
Rice rubs his chest as though he was chasing away his own heart attack. "I was filing paperwork for you to be here. You're not exactly an employee here, you know?"
Valerie sticks her tongue out at him and mumbles something. "I might as well be...."
"Whatever. And you're driving for pulling that little siren stunt."
Valerie has know him long enough to know that protesting hill get her nowhere, and doesn't even bother getting out, just moving across into the drivers seat, grabbing the keys, and shoving Rice out the door. "Then get in so you can sit on your lazy butt." She turns the key and starts the engine up.
"Wait, we haven't run inventory yet."
"I did. You left me waiting for 20 minutes, remember?"
Rice gets in the passenger seat and makes a mocking voice as Valerie pulls the vehicle out of the parking spot and starts to leave the garage. "Well, aren't you just on top of things?"
- - - - - - -
The scanner was quiet for the longest time. Albeit, this was unconventional after all. They weren't intended to be on the list of patrolling engines for today, and before the calls started to pick up. This particular engine was meant to stay in the station, but things were not going according to plan. For some reason, today had been particularly bad for calls, so a few additional engines were dispatched for more swift response. The sun was starting to set, but at least now the heater was running warmer than when they first started it up.
Valerie suddenly grabbed the scanner and radioed in their engine number, letting dispatch know that they would be unavailable for a couple of minutes. Rice looked at her with a bemused expression for a few moments until she suddenly pulled into a burger joint and parked the ambulance. "I'm hungry." she said plainly, before hopping out of the drivers seat and heading inside, paying no mind to the fact that Rice hadn't followed her in.
She stood in line, playing a fighting game on her scroll while she waited. She only cast attention away from the phone for a moment when one of the couples behind her made a racist remark about how unfair it was for them to have to wait behind a faunus in the same line. Valerie let out a sigh as her only response until she was able to make her order, flashing the couple a harsh look as she passed them by with a bag of food. She made her way back to the engine with Rice still in it. She pulled out a burger and fries and was about to begin eating when Rice coughed once. She glared at him briefly.
"If you wanted something you should have gone in to get it yourself."
Rice smirked smugly. "Oh Valerie, we both know that you're too nice to be that way."
Valerie sat holding her burger for several long seconds. "I hate you." She reached into the bag and grabbed a second sandwich and slapped it into his hand, then reaching forward and clicking on the radio so they could listen for dispatch again.
"What? No fries?"
Valerie bit off a mouthful of her burger, shrugging and looking smug as she once again was able to get the last laugh on her old teammate.
Rice sat holding his food for a long time, 30 seconds at least. "... I pulled some strings to get you assigned to my engine. I wanted to talk to you... about the District 7 incident. We were both there, but..." Rice paused again.
Valerie swallowed her food, waiting for Rice to say something. "I-" She was cut off by the dispatcher speaking over the radio. There was a situation with police involvement, shots fired, and wounded civilians. She dropped her sandwich into the bag and gave their engine number, and confirmation of response. The sirens flipped on for real, and the ambulance pulled back onto the Bellmuse freeway to get to where they needed to be.
- - - - - - -
The engine pulled up to a small apartment complex after being given the all clear from the patrol officers. The two of them hopped out of the ambulance with medical bags in tow. They ran up to the first officer they saw, and followed him to the area where the victim was. A back alley. How normal... It was an older gentleman, whom must have been upwards of 50. From what she'd heard, this had been a disagreement between the man and his daughters boyfriend. The guy was a known hoodlum, and the father had started an argument which eventually led to this point. The shot had gone straight through the mans abdomen, but showed no signs of an exit wound. Valerie nodded to Rice and ran back to the ambulance to grab the gurney. When she came back, the man was unconscious but ready to be loaded onto the gurney.
It took little time to get the ambulance loaded, their information to the police, and the ambulance back onto the freeway. Rice was driving, and Val was in the back, making sure the man was breathing normally and reading his heart rate. She wasn't able to risk using her semblance since the bullet was likely still inside the man, and her semblance would have healed the wounds shut around the bullet. For now, she gave the guy an morphine injection to slow blood flow and made sure the wounds were bandaged right.
- - - - - - -
The pair were back out, pushing the gurney through the emergency desk before long, and the rest of the night was spent filling out reports on the incident, as well as answering a few police questions. By the time they were done, their shift was done and they were gathering their things for the night. Valerie walked out of the locker room, in her civilian clothes again and a sling bag on her back. Rice walked out of his locker room as well, but Val started to walk past him toward the door.
"Val, I-"
"Shut up." There was no kindness or sympathy as she cut him off. All that playful demeanor was gone in an instant. "You quit the EMR Program after District 7. You don't get to talk about Ormu to me like you understand it all. You were there, but you weren't there, staring him in the eyes as he went. We were a family, and after he went, his memory is what drove the rest of the brothers and sisters of the team. When you decided that you'd had enough, you lost the right to carry his memory with you. We live for the people that fall, we don't give up because they're gone." Valerie waited for a response. She heard nothing behind her, and so she walked away from him, leaving the hospital and hailing a taxi, driving off into the stark Winter night.
