Being the on-call spirit division personnel for the weekend usually meant nothing. There were very few situations that arose with people who had been dead for decades or centuries that needed to be resolved immediately. Of course the one weekend where he felt least inclined to do any work was the one where something would come up, though. Ford supposed he should have been grateful that it was today and not yesterday, when he had been fighting a hangover as well as grappling with his not-insignificant amount of feelings over Valerian Macnair's sudden engagement. That didn't mean he was happy to be here, though, and he was hoping things could resolve themselves quickly so that he could go back to — sulking in his bedroom, which was actually all he'd been doing so far today except for family meals.
The Three Broomsticks wasn't much of a walk from home at all, so he was there within a few minutes of having gotten the owl from the Ministry. The dispatch had been scarce on details, though, and Ford was somewhat surprised to see a familiar floating face as the prime antagonist. Not surprised because it was out of character for him, particularly, but only because Ford hadn't put enough thought into it yet to realize that he probably could have guessed which spirit was trying to incite arson on High Street.
" 'Distressing to the citizenry'?" Ford repeated incredulously to the man engaging with Wye — one of the constables? He seemed vaguely familiar, probably from Ford having passed him in the street in the year and a half since they'd come to live here. "Would you say that if he were a living person, just talking to folks who passed by?" He suspected the answer was no, which was why he'd asked it. It made him a little irate when people treated spirits as though they had less right to exist than living people did, though he was aware that he would probably need to side with the constable sooner or later here in order to deescalate the situation.
Speaking of which, Ford glanced over at Wye and added a simple, "Good day, then."
The Three Broomsticks wasn't much of a walk from home at all, so he was there within a few minutes of having gotten the owl from the Ministry. The dispatch had been scarce on details, though, and Ford was somewhat surprised to see a familiar floating face as the prime antagonist. Not surprised because it was out of character for him, particularly, but only because Ford hadn't put enough thought into it yet to realize that he probably could have guessed which spirit was trying to incite arson on High Street.
" 'Distressing to the citizenry'?" Ford repeated incredulously to the man engaging with Wye — one of the constables? He seemed vaguely familiar, probably from Ford having passed him in the street in the year and a half since they'd come to live here. "Would you say that if he were a living person, just talking to folks who passed by?" He suspected the answer was no, which was why he'd asked it. It made him a little irate when people treated spirits as though they had less right to exist than living people did, though he was aware that he would probably need to side with the constable sooner or later here in order to deescalate the situation.
Speaking of which, Ford glanced over at Wye and added a simple, "Good day, then."
Set by Lady!