April 2, 1891 — Spirit Division

Checking in on Fortitude Greengrass had very much been on his agenda since they had gotten sealed into one of the break rooms but it had been waylaid by his increased responsibilities. His boss had gone on a cruise and Leonid felt lost without him. He wasn't sure what was going on with Dorian and Greengrass but that tension between them had niggled at his mind. Plus, the fact the man had come across to him as a little jumpy. He didn't know if that was connected to Dorian or not but a combination of Leonids innate kindness, compassion and - yes, nosiness - had Leonid approaching Greengrass just before the end of Friday.

He'd had other business on the floor and had spotted Greengrass. It had seemed a good time as any. Is there anything of concern going on with you? You can confide in me over drinks? He had quickly written on a note which he then pressed into Greengrass's hand, disguised as a friendly handshake. "Hello, Mister Greengrass. Seen much action today?" Leonid had seen too much of it but had managed to finish a detailed report that he had attached to a poor owl that already had it hard enough being one of the cruise ship owls.

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Fortitude Greengrass

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Set by MJ

After taking some time to process the events on Wednesday, Ford had decided it would probably be best to just ignore all of the Fisks for a while, unless he was specifically tasked to collaborate with one of them on something. The most likely area for overlap was with Nemo, and since they had an extensive history together Ford was a little more confident in his ability to act like nothing was going on with him if he had to, at least for a few hours, but if he didn't have to put on an act he didn't want to press his luck. Which meant that when he saw Leonid Fisk heading his direction on Friday afternoon, his initial reaction was a flash of panic.

Fisk was just being friendly, though — he was just passing through, and they were marginally acquainted, so this was the nice thing to do — and Ford figured he could survive a conversation with him without doing anything too bizarre and giving himself away. He thought that as he returned the gentleman's handshake and mirrored his smile, anyway. He'd even started to answer: "Nothing too interesting toda—"

Why was there a piece of paper in his hand? Ford glanced down at it, brows knitting in confusion and his sentence dying on his lips. Without really thinking it over, he moved to open it (Ford was not the sort to typically be passing secret notes, and this was so entirely unexpected that it didn't even occur to him he might not want to open it right away). "Did you —?" drop this, he was going to say, except by the time he'd gotten the first two words out he'd seen what was scratched out on the paper, and the color drained out of his face.

  

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Set by Lady!

Leo eyed the other man as the color drained out of his face. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "You seemed a little out of it back then." Of course anyone would be when magically sealed into a room. But Greengrass had been especially acting odd. And there had been that tension between his brother and Greengrass.

"If you're having life troubles sometimes it helps to talk it out with someone on the outside of it all. I wouldn't judge you at all." After all, how bad could it be? Greengrass didn't have the usual disposition of a murderer and Leonid had dealt with his fair share of those.

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Wouldn't you? Ford thought immediately. He rather doubted it. If he'd thought it was the sort of thing that might be met without judgement, he wouldn't have told Dorian Fisk they ought to stop when he'd...

No, no, no, he absolutely could not think about that at the moment. Not while he was in a conversation with a different Mr. Fisk and not while he had this horribly awkward note still in his hands. Horribly awkward, but actually sort of sweet in a way. Not that there was any chance that Ford would ever want to take him up on it, but it was kind of Leonid Fisk to offer a listening ear, he supposed. He'd gone very much out of his way to do so, and he really hadn't had to.

(Why had he gone so far out of his way? Did he know anything about what had happened earlier that week? This timing of this was a little suspect if it was really meant to follow up on that afternoon in the break room, wasn't it? Goodness gracious. What if he wasn't trying to offer a listening ear at all, but was actually — spying for his brother? That was being melodramatic, but Ford couldn't think of any other word. Maybe Leonid Fisk knew what had happened between Ford and Dorian, or maybe not, but his brother might have prodded him into doing this either way. If there had been any color left in his face at this point, it would have drained anew at this thought).

"That's — uhm, very kind of you," he said haltingly, crumpling the note in his hand and shoving it deep into the pocket of his robe. "But —"

Oh no. What was the but? Obviously he couldn't agree to this offer, whether it was sincere or not, but Ford hadn't actually gotten as far as thinking up a good excuse. He could just insist that he wasn't having life troubles, whatever that meant (he felt as though it was probably accurate to say he wasn't; this certainly didn't rise to that level) but if he said that, would it make it seem as though he was and he was trying to deny it? Or maybe he could have said that he had plenty of people to talk with who were on the outside of it all, which was true — well, true generally, anyway. He didn't have anyone he could talk to about this, but Leonid Fisk didn't need to know that.

Aware that he had paused a suspiciously long time and needed to say something sooner rather than later, Ford eventually managed, "— I'm feeling much better about it all now."

Which was not true at all.

  

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Set by Lady!

Leonid watched in hidden alarm as the mans face seemed to slowly seep of color. He had not meant to cause the other man such alarm! Was the problem the man having so awful that the thought of speaking about it terrified him?

"That's a relief. And I suppose talking to a stranger about deeply personal issues wouldn't be very comfortable," he said with a sheepish, embarrassed grin. Or perhaps it was just him that Greengrass didn't want to talk to. Especially if Dorian was somehow involved with things. Also possible was that Greengrass just didn't like him. The thought made him flush. "But I hope you know that I am around if you ever need a friend." Which felt a little pointless to say now that he was 90% certain Greengrass didn't like him.

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Set by MJ

Mr. Fisk's characterisation of the matter as a deeply personal issue wasn't inaccurate, but it did make Ford's shoulders tense slightly. What did Fisk know about it, that he had assumed it was deeply personal? Was there any chance Dorian Fisk had told him about what had happened? Surely not, especially given the way that things had ended.

Then Fisk was flushing and saying something about if he ever needed a friend, and Ford couldn't help but stare. Did he mean a friend, or — was there some ulterior motive in going so far out of his way to ask about it, that had nothing to do with his brother? Merlin. That couldn't be what Leonid Fisk was trying to get at, but with the way his cheeks had colored Ford couldn't entirely shake the possibility. Of course that wasn't a thought he could entertain, any more than he could have entertained the idea of continuing to kiss Dorian Fisk, but — where had all these men been two years ago, when he'd had leisure to do this sort of thing if he wanted? Where were all these advances before he'd been settled with so many more important responsibilities?

"That's — uhm, good to know," he said, flustered now himself. "... Thank you."

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Set by Lady!

Leonids assumptions about Mister Greengrasses personal opinion of him only deepened as the man stared at him. It felt like he was saying ha, friends with you? Dream on! "Of course you don't have to. I'm sure it is grating to have me seemingly trying to nose into your business." Not that he was doing so but he could see how it might seem that way.

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Set by MJ

This was a difficult statement to respond to, and it sent Ford's mind whirling trying to process it on multiple levels. Trying to nose into his business — it had seemed that way, though Ford would not have called it grating so much as mortifying. But if he said anything that acknowledged that, it would be as much as admitting that he had business worth nosing in on, and he didn't want to give off that impression. It was contrary to Ford's polite way of navigating conversations to come right out and say that he resented what was apparently a well-intentioned intervention anyway, even if it hadn't had the additional complication of everything that had been going on recently. And all of that was before he started thinking about this strange double-speak he'd been finding himself caught up in lately with Dorian Fisk. Was there an ulterior meaning to what Leonid Fisk had just said? Would Ford responding in a certain way send a message that he was or wasn't up for a particular kind of follow-up?

Ford's cheeks flushed. "No, it's, uhm — it's very nice of you to offer. About the drinks. And it, ah, sounds lovely," he attempted, but — lovely, what kind of a word was lovely? Why had he chosen that particular word? He was making an absolute fool of himself, he was sure, and he wasn't even sure what he was saying. "I'm just — very busy, you know, with my sister's debut coming up and everything, so — but, it's, uhm, not that I wouldn't —" What was he even trying to say now? He didn't know, and he very much wished this conversation was already over. "Uhm, so, thank you, and — and I'll let you know."

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Set by Lady!

Leonid got the message loud and clear. His smile stayed on his face nonetheless. He didn't want to make a nuisance of himself so he figured he best get going anyway. "Of course, I understand," he said as he edged towards the rooms exit. Thank Merlin, this one hadn't vanished. "I have to get going and as you said, you are quite busy so I will leave you to it."

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Set by MJ