Misc.

the hunchback of notre dame 16

he had only been seated for five seconds when he had to get up again. 

phoebus groaned exasperatedly, pinching the bridge of his nose before turning his attention to the young man who'd just walked through the door. 

"what is it now." 

"sorry sir, there's another call. another report." fredrich said, handing him the phone and a clipboard with an incident report filled out on it. 

"another fight?" phoebus asked, groaning.

"no sir, another riot." 

"but that's the fourth one-"

"i know sir, i'm sorry sir. we also just got word from the regional hospitals, their emergency rooms are overflowing and the icu is practically full as well. they said to prepare for a long night." 

phoebus looked up from the clipboard to fredrich, then glanced outside the window of his office.

there was already smoke rising from several buildings, and the background noise for the past few days had been mostly compromised of a steady consistent line of sirens, not only ambulances, but fire and police as well. 

phoebus looked back at the young officer, still rather bright eyed and painfully youthful. he'd recently been married and wore his wedding ring with pride, speaking about how much he loved his wife on a day to day business, and how she'd recently found out she was pregnant with their first child. 

"fredrich, go home." phoebus told him softly.

"but sir-" he protested.

"please. go home. go to your wife and tell her how much you love her. take the day off."

"phoebus i don't think that's a good idea. we're already short staffed- three more officers failed to show up today. everyone's leaving the city." 

"i know they are. and im telling you that you should go home while you still can." the police chief replied, his voice dark. he had seen the worst parts of the city. he'd seen innocent people get beaten, guilty people shot, all together too much violence and death for any one person at any time. but this- what was going on right now- was that violence tenfold. phoebus didn't blame the other officers for jumping ship. this wasn't their job on the line, it was their lives. 

"call me if you need extra staff tonight." fredrich said, nodding to phoebus before heading out, picking up on the seriousness the chief of police was alluding to. 

he sat down for approximately three more seconds before the phone rang once again.

---

"would you like expired chocolate ice cream? or gluten free cookies and cream?" clopin called over to his niece, head stuck in the fridge. 

"what?" esmerelda asked, too preoccupied with her uncle's tv screen to pay attention to expired dessert. the was a thunking sound and clopin distinctly muttering a colourful array of curse words under his breath. a second later he came into the living room with both pints and held them out, sighing. 

"i'll get groceries once all of this has calmed down, but for now we'll have ice cream for dinner." he said, jokingly prideful.

"i'll take the expired chocolate please." esmerelda said, taking the cup and the spoon. 

"it's only like a week old. you won't get sick or anything." clopin said, collapsing on the couch next to her. 

"you're so funny." esmerelda said sarcastically, jamming her spoon into the cup.

"would you rather talk about all of this seriously? 'so miss esmerelda, how do you feel about the health crisis rocking our globe in today's day and age?'" clopin replied in a mocking voice bordering on annoyance.