City of Smoke // Brian 'Otis' Zvonecek ✔️

01 || AURORA

The early morning sun shone through the crack in the curtains. The bright rays, which reflected off the sun catchers that covered the window, projected colourful patterns on the bedroom wall, filling the room with a warmth of rainbow light.

Ever since Rory moved into her loft apartment a few months back, she'd grown to love the early mornings. The huge windows covering the walls allowed her a great view of the sunrise, one she often managed to catch on her shift days. And today was Rory's first shift at a new firehouse. A firehouse she'd heard plenty of stories about.

Firehouse fifty-one was one of the most talked about firehouses in the whole CFD. From the strong family bond between the firefighters working there, to the incredible saves or the exciting calls they'd worked. There wasn't a firefighter or paramedic in the department who didn't know the tales.

Rory had been quite surprised when she'd gotten the call from Paramedic Chief Hatcher, informing her about her transfer to firehouse fifty-one. In all honesty she'd thought someone was messing with her. But when she arrived at her previous firehouse for what would then have been her last shift there, she received her transfer notice and was told to pack up her stuff come end of shift.

Nervous was an understatement to how Rory felt about joining the famous fifty-one, especially when she'd heard from a friend that she was replacing a rather loved member of their little firehouse family. But she was determined to make a good first impression and fit in with her new coworkers. Only to do that, she'd have to show up on time, which meant she'd have to get out of bed.

And it seems like someone else had that exact thought as Rory had barely rolled over away from the window when she was pounced upon by four rather tiny paws and one whipper of a tail.

"Wow, okay, easy... Easy." Rory chuckled, trying her hardest to move her face away from the licking assault that was currently happening to her right now. Using her hands as a shield, Rory managed to pull herself up and lean against the headrest as she motioned with her hand for her dog to stop, which she did. Although reluctantly.

Domino was a rather energetic little Dalmatian puppy, one Rory had rescued about a year ago. The dog sat down giddily on the bed, her long tail smacking against the mattress as she practically shook with excitement now that her owner was awake.

"Are you hungry?" Rory cooed, also signing at the word hungry due to the fact that little Domino was deaf, something that had been the result of the breeding in which she'd been born from.

It had taken Rory quite a while to teach Domino how to understand sign language, but she was a smart little puppy and once she got the hang of it, there was nothing she couldn't understand. But... that didn't mean she didn't ignore a few commands and pretend she couldn't see Rory's hands, mainly when it came to treats or walks.

"Come on, let's get you fed before we drop you off at grandpa's." Rory motioned with her head, tossing her duvet off her legs as Domino dived off the bed, skidding across the wooden floor and almost bumping into the doorframe in her hunger induced excitement.

Rory's loft had a pretty cozy feeling to it, whether it was the brightness the space always had or the vast amounts of colours filling the place... Perhaps it was both. But whatever it was, Rory loved living there, and so did Domino. The little pup had had a tough first year of her life, but now that she was in her forever home, she was completely and utterly spoiled.

With Domino now fed and taking her after breakfast nap on the flower shaped rug, Rory had a quick shower and then changed into her uniform. It wasn't her favourite part of the job, the uniform, the dark blue colours were not at all her style but there wasn't exactly much she could do about that.