Mattchstick — Roleplayer Guild

KRISS MAUSER

LOCATION: SCVRS

TIME: EVENING

"'33. Roman goddess.' Ah, crap."

Kriss lowered his pen and furrowed his brow, staring at one of the few unanswered questions in this week's newspaper. Lately he had taken to tuning his brain as well as his body, and, since the newspaper was delivered weekly and paid for by the Sol City Volunteer Rescue Squad (i.e. home), he got a free workout for his mind every seven days. It offered a Jumble, a Cryptoquote (all the letters of the alphabet get mixed up and assigned to other letters), a Sudoku, and a crossword puzzle. None of them were particularly easy, especially the crossword. His lack of academic success coupled with a general disinterest in world events and television generally left about half of the boxes empty on the first run. But there's a strange thing about crossword puzzles; every time you come back to an unfinished one, you suddenly know one of the answers. Sometimes it's intuition, but for Mauser it was mostly from snap calls.

"Hey Snap, four-letter word for 'Roman goddess,'" he called without turning his head. A few doors down, a woman's head poked out into the hallway with a moody look.

"I dunno, Kriss. You tell me. How many letters do you have filled in?"

The voice belonged to Kelly Snapdragon, also known as Snap. She was the only other paramedic on duty for the night. At the moment she was more inclined to get her chicken and rice Tupperware dinner out of the microwave and into her stomach before they got another call.

"None. This week's is a three-star, so I only have a few. Do you want another clue?"

"Kriss, would you chill? I'm starving. I didn't get lunch and breakfast was, like, a cereal bar."

He resisted an eye roll as he flipped the page back to the classified ads, adjusting his position in the only lounge chair in the building so that he was more upright and less sprawled. It had been a disturbingly slow day, considering the party downtown. So far there hadn't been any dispatches but the night was young. He was dressed in his uniform and had already checked the ambulances for surplus and gear, but it was otherwise dead quiet, minus the beep of the microwave a few rooms down.

A few minutes later, Snap appeared, Tupperware in one hand and plastic fork in the other. She was already in a better mood, having eliminated about a third of the dish already. Her foul moods were invariably associated with meals (or lack thereof). She brushed her wavy brown hair behind her head and wrapped it in a hair band to form a short ponytail. If Kriss could hazard a guess, he would say she was in her mid forties, but the stress and trauma of her 20 years of service, stamped in silver on the badge she kept pinned to her front pocket, had brought along some premature strands of gray in her chestnut hair. She was the CO for the PFVRS and she was almost always on deck. Kriss didn't know how she found the time, but then again he didn't know anything of her personal life. All he knew for certain was that she was an absolutely brilliant medic, and that her temper was connected directly to her meal schedule. The unofficial motto for the past twenty years had been 'Feed the dragon.'

"My guess? Either Luna or Juno. They come up a lot in crossword puzzles," Snap said, reloading her fork. "But Spes is a Roman goddess too. Does it say anything besides 'Goddess?'"

"No," Kriss replied, writing the three names in the margin before flipping back to the jobs page. There was a long silence as Kriss checked the jobs and Snap finished her meal.

"So any luck getting an outside job?" she asked, wiping her mouth with a napkin and tossing it and the fork into the nearby trashcan.

"No, nothing."

"Have you considered lowering your standards?"

"I am pretty sure they don't get much lower than 'Janitor's Assistant,' but it doesn't look like I am going to get that without a Bachelor's degree," he replied dejectedly.

"Keep your head up. You're a bright kid, doesn't matter what the rest of them say," Snap sighed, laying back on the couch and reaching for the television remote. The silence was replaced by whatever cooking show was on their cable channel for the evening. Kriss ignored it. So did Snap, for that matter. She just didn't like silence.

Fortunately, the television was overridden by the alarm. The duo jumped up, simultaneously checking their radios. 911 call for a woman collapsing at the party. Snap grabbed her dish and slapped Kriss on the shoulder.

"You're driving. I'm going to grab whoever else is here. We're on the road in two."

Kriss nodded, rushing through the lounge door and into the wide ambulance bays. One minute and fifteen seconds later, Snap hauled herself into the passenger seat, clicking the garage door opener as she slammed her own shut. 

"It's just us. Let's go."

LOCATION: CENTRAL POINT, PUBLIC PARTY

The ambulance peeled into the parking lot, sirens wailing and lights lit. A woman in an evening gown was out front waving a phone wildly at them, which Kriss took as an indicator that they had reached their destination. He hit the brakes and locked the vehicle in Park as Snap jumped out. She clicked a side panel open and hauled a trauma bag out, then met Kriss at the back doors as they pulled the stretcher from the back and lowered it onto the pavement. Kriss turned and found himself face-to-face with the woman, who was on the border of hysterics.

"IN THERE, IN THERE! SOME LADY, I DON'T KNOW WHO, SHE JUST FELL OVER. THERE'S A FIREFIGHTER BUT I DON'T KNOW IF SHE'S OKAY, I DON'T KNOW, SHE JUST-"

"Calm down, ma'am," Snap interrupted, raising a hand and motioning for her to quiet herself. "Just show us where to go."

The three of them made good time, reaching a small crowd of people who were, as usual, fixated on a disaster. They were greeted silently by Ashton Griffone of all people @Silver Fox, who gave them a smile and stepped aside. She was a well-known firefighter (mostly through gossip, unfortunately), but Snap followed protocol anyway and checked for vitals and response to cues. Satisfied that the woman was stable, Kriss aided her into lifting the poor unconscious woman onto the stretcher. 

"Everyone stay here," Snap said to the crowd sharply, turning to give them a clear view of her badge. A sense of authority often gave bystanders a sense of ease, and nothing helped more than a big silver pin. Without another word, she and Kriss raised the stretcher and rolled it to the ambulance. She helped him raise her into the back, then closed the doors and returned to the party. She was going to get some testimonials from eye witnesses. Hopefully Ashton, if she was still there. He glanced down at the glassy-eyed woman as he secured the stretcher to the floor.

"Is there any chance you know what a four-letter word for 'Roman goddess' is?"
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