Rough Awakening
I rolled out of the pizzeria sometime after closing and made my way down to the firehouse by my own light.
My day job is just about the easiest thing out there--I like to say I can do it with my eyes closed, and usually do.
At night, though, comes more serious work. Sure, most people think it kind of ironic that I work with the fire department--one look at me, a big red lion with a mane and tailtuft of literal fire, and they think I'd be a little more arson-oriented. "'Mew," they say, "Don't people get uncomfortable when you charge into a burning building looking for all the world like you're going to make it worse?"
Yeah, I have my handicap. But being fireproof when a blaze already has the run of a place has its benefits too.
I'll admit that every now and then, when I'm feeling a bit hot under the collar, I'll be tempted to make something important burn.
But I've lost too much to the flames myself.
The firehouse isn't a long walk, but it's enough to get the blood moving. I love the city late at night--less crowds, lights in every direction, the smell of the cool air...
Now, out in the country you might still find relatively ordinary people doing fireman jobs, but the city's big enough that most stations can be staffed with people with suitable talents for it--phoenices and salamanders, pyromancers and hydromancers, all putting their strengths to the good work.
Of course, on a good night there won't be any work to do at all.
Today was a good night--no alarms running--so I went down to the basement to work out.
The basement gym wasn't very large, but it did cover all the basics--a few hours here every night and I'd managed to get some decent muscle tone on, though I hadn't quite been able to shake the gut. Fine by me; I think it works for me anyway.
Benny was doing bicep curls when I arrived. The ice lizard was pretty burly, but I put that down to genetics rather than any aptitude in his exercise routine--he wasn't the brightest match in the box, and his relationship with the weights was more haphazard than constructive.
I'd tried to train him properly a few times at least to keep him from injuring himself, but he just couldn't seem to get the hang of it. He enjoyed what he was doing, at any rate, so I didn't try and take it away from him.
"Hey, 'Mew," he said.
I turned up the radio, sat down at the machine facing him, and went to work.
After a few minutes, I noticed Benny had basically given up on his routine, and was just watching me.
Well, watching might be a bit of a generous description. Ogling would be apter. I was working out my chest, and his eyes were planted pretty squarely on my crotch.
I released the weight and looked back at him. "You know, just because I can't really wear clothes..."
"Oh, uh--" he said. "Sorry--"
I sighed. "No... no defenses. I know. You're... not in trouble. Not with me, anyway." It was an effort not to be hot-headed with him, but I knew I shouldn't blame him--and anyway, would I have minded at all if someone a little... sharper had been doing it? Was it fair of me to... not be attracted to him?
I sighed again and went back to working the weight.
By the time we were done and had hit the showers it was already about midnight, and I suggested a break.
We went down to the west end of the park where there were often late-night food trucks, and I ordered a couple of grilled-cheese tacos, taking my seat while Benny stared helplessly at the menu.
I don't think he knew I was still close enough to hear him when he asked the vendor "Can... Can I just have what he had?"
And a few minutes later I was fondly remembering how my dad would talk about that deep circle of Hell reserved for people who chew with their mouths open.
"Hey 'Mew," he said. "I-- I was wanting to ask you something..."
I sighed and put down my taco. "Yeah?"
He took another bite of his. "Yeahmmf. I wanted to know... um... well, honestly, if you could like a guy like me."
I coughed a bit. Oh Lord, what--
"No, I mean--" he started, taking another bite to make sure his mouth was full before he continued soldiering on. "I mean, not if you like me at all, but I mean really like me. You know."
Can he really be so st-- My brain rejected the overtly unkind word out of habit and tried to substitute something more charitable. --so oblivious?
My watch and his phone sounded alarms together.
"Oh..." he said. "Looks like we've got to work tonight after all."
"Rough Awakening on South End near the Interstate," I read off. "That's us."
I may not be good for stopping fires, but no one in town is better at talking down new firestarters than I am.
We dumped the remains of our tacos and dashed back to the station.
We rode up to the fire, where a large crowd of displaced residents in their nightclothes were watching the flames with sleepy despair.
The rest of the team spread out to set up and start getting everyone to a safer distance while Benny and I ran in to try and defuse the situation.
It was immediately obvious that this was no ordinary fire.
The flames were laughing as they played along the walls, a deep and ugly sound resonating from impish faces whose forms appeared and disappeared as the fire flickered.
"Fuck," Benny said, and ran through the atrium to the stairwell, where a wolf couple was just making their way out.
"We couldn't move him," the lady said, moving quickly. "He--"
"What floor?"
"Third," her man called out, following her outside.
Benny was way ahead of me, and I chased him up the stairs, pulling him off at the third-floor landing before he could shoot past it.
The fire was growling here, flowing in and out of the walls like cartoon ghosts.
"This is so not safe," Benny said, steam rising from him.
"Worse if we don't get it under control. Can you see where it's coming from?"
Through the thickening smoke we saw the source of the blazes, a doorway wreathed in brighter flames.
When we entered, I realized it was the first room we'd been in so far where the fire had actually caused any real destruction.
A tiger sat with his back to us in the remains of an apartment, facing out the window as the demonic fires had their way with the room--and each other, I noticed--the flames here seemed more alive than anywhere else, and it looked like they were... carousing.
The tiger himself had a burning aura that made him seem nearly double in size.
Benny called out to him. "Hey... hello?"
The tiger didn't move, but the fire that surrounded him turned and gave us a look that was surprisingly chilling.
Benny jumped behind me.
"Do you need help? I know this is hell right now--"
More of the fire started taking notice of us. Benny moved to one side of me and started fending them off.
I got closer to the tiger. "Hey..."
I ventured to pass my paw through the fire surrounding him--it was intensely hot, but I could take it.
I've been through worse.
The flame creatures crowded around me ineffectually, but the tiger didn't respond to my touch.
I looked in his eyes, and there was no light in them at all.
Poor kid.
I lifted him over my shoulder as his flames swarmed over me, and I carried him out of the building.
It's really rather rare that a person doesn't survive their magic Awakening. Whoever brought these changes into the world seemed to make it so that most everyone had the requisite secondary powers to keep themselves from accidental self-harm.
The fire itself hadn't hurt him; tentative cause of death was ruled to be asphyxiation.
Benny and I kept an eye on his body through the night, on the off chance his spirit was out playing in the fire and might come back to him when the flames were out.
It didn't.
I put a paw on the lizard's back and sighed.
"C'mon, Benny," I said. "Let's get out of here. We're not going to be any more good tonight."