[Ferris Felwinter]

[for Tawny Vokes ]

The detective stood in the office hallway, waiting on the elevator. His gaze traveled over the wall of work and motivational posters. There were a few fliers for various upcoming holiday events that he didn’t even pretend to read.

Usually, Ferris didn’t deal directly with the social services that the Sector offered to Gifted. It wasn’t exactly his purview and he was solidly not a people person. But sometimes, like with working with Bridget, or the monthly follow up on his cases, he did have reason to visit that floor of the building. He was familiar with some of the advocates, but as with most people around the office, the very normal human felt like he was on an island.

He’d sent an email to one of the advocates already with the files of a few new Gifted they had made contact with and had either passed their initial investigations and were deemed not to be risks to themselves or others or had reached out to them about something else and those issues had cleared up. He didn’t have a lot this month, though largely that was because he had spent the last couple weeks on medical leave. He’d been told to do a house call for one of them and to be honest…while he understood the idea, he wasn’t sure he was qualified for that. So it was probably best to ask for some guidance on that.

Ferris rubbed a hand over his chest subconsciously, looking up to watch the numbers tick down on the elevator slowly. Like the thing was stopping on every floor. By the time it got to him, however, there was only one person inside, a woman from accounting, that he traded waves with before stepping inside and punching in the number.

[Tawny Vokes]

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LOW I GO, REALLY HOLDIN' ME BACK

detrimental, i know, just a little relapse; what's the issue?

Tawny made her way down the Sector corridor in a... medium-high... rush, heels clicking faintly through the hollow, empty space. She held two drink carriers, one in each hand, an impressive stack of folders between her arm and chest, and a determined line across her mouth that looked a little severe at its corners. [break][break]

An entire hour and a half earlier, she'd sent a message in the group chat, asking if anyone wanted anything when she made a "quick" run down the street on her early morning break. But she hadn't realized it was the wrong group chat and included a few more people than she'd wanted. Not just Luck, Bridget, Evan, and Josh (only included after Luck's prodding insistence). But Brian, too. And Todd. And Jess. And Kimberly. Why had they even created that group chat? Had it been for a meeting? To share an off-hand joke regarding a situation they'd all been party to? To try and recruit new blood for the softball team? [break][break]

No matter the circumstance... Tawny had ended up with a few more orders than intended, had been out a little longer than she planned, and had to stop at a couple more floors than was ideal. And she'd had to talk to Brian, who'd taken the opportunity to load her with some files and applications that she'd purposely been swerving him for. She'd had to talk to Jess, who'd been incredibly icy for obvious reasons. And she'd had to talk to Kim, who'd been so puppy-dog excited to be included at all that Tawny had ended up promising an after-work hang some upcoming night just to end the chittering conversation and get away. [break][break]

(Which wasn't awful. Kimberly was adorable and Tawny didn't dislike her. But she could only handle the bright, sunshiny cheer in measured doses and Kim didn't have a brake for it.)[break][break]

Now, at least, she'd nearly emptied one drink carrier and could more easily shrug up her bag when it started to slip. Unfortunately, Brian's addition of files and paperwork meant she still didn't have the range of motion to fix her hair or do much else. She felt like she'd been running the block around the Sector building, the halls, and the elevators for ages now, and it'd been so windy today, and ugh — she couldn't wait to plop down at her desk and get herself back in order. Maybe, after she'd decompressed and before she started making up for lost time in her work, she'd re-label the group conversations in her phone so no mistake like this happened again.[break][break]

As she neared the elevators, she heard the doors open and quickened her stride. A woman stepped out and turned down the other direction. A beat passed, Tawny realized she wasn't going to make it, and she bounced a little on her toes. "Hey... Sandra! Sandy, hold the door, will ya?" The woman turned but her step didn't falter. She smirked a little, winked, then faced forward without slowing for even a single, considering second. Tawny's head tipped and her brow leaped up her forehead. She tried to recall if her and Sandra had ever gotten into anything to earn the treatment or if the accountant was just "kinda like that".[break][break]

Tawny made a noise in her throat, something between a frustrated growl and a bitten-back curse, and turned at the elevators; fully expecting to find the doors had just finished closing. But, to her surprise, there was a hand held firmly against the jam and the doors were open. With a startled inhale, her mouth jerked upwards and she bolted inside.[break][break]

"Ah, phew!" She half-breathed, half-laughed, as she turned to face the closing doors. She let her shoulders sag with relief and shook the hair from her face, then brightened her eyes and turned to aim a wide, grateful grin at her thoughtful elevator-buddy. She began a happy 'thank you' but, when her eyes found Ferris' face, the words caught. Her smile stalled. Simultaneously, the papers within the folder smashed to her chest slipped finally from their precarious hanging-on and scattered across the elevator floor. [break][break]

"Damn it," she muttered, frustration swung swiftly back in place and mouth falling into a grimacing line. She re-shouldered her bag more firmly and carefully lowered herself into a crouch. After a moment of trying to balance everything, she reluctantly set aside the drink carriers so she could start gathering the papers back up. Her eyes trailed to the elevator buttons. Her floor was already pressed. Then she flickered her gaze up to Ferris, only fleetingly, before she lowered it once more. "Thank you for holding the door," she tried again, though the gratitude was notably more stale than it'd been on her first attempt.[break][break]

She wasn't sure if he'd known it was her calling out. Part of her suspected he hadn't — that, if he had recognized her voice, he'd have been smashing the 'close doors' button instead. They hadn't spoken since that night in her apartment. She'd tried to keep an eye out for him but hadn't seen much of him. Whether that was due to some hyper-vigilance on his part and his level of avoidance had improved — not surprising, very telling, and admittedly impressive — or if they simply... hadn't crossed paths... she couldn't rightly tell.

i don't need your wary tone in my head, i'm petty[break]so i don't really want it, you can save your sorry

Tag: Ferris Felwinter [break]
Give me a nudge for any changes!

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[Ferris Felwinter]

Ferris was looking down at his watch to check the time when someone called out to Sandy, not really listening. But he did hear it. And more importantly, he heard the sound of quick, sharp steps. Someone in a rush as the doors began to close. He debated for a moment and then shot his hand between the doors, the metal bumping closed into him. There was that tense yet amused moment where he wondered if he might lose the limb. But then the doors stopped and slid open and he still had his right hand.

He stepped back and to the side to make room for the unknown p-

Tawny.

That broad, almost child-like smile lit up her face, making her look younger and not quite so tired and brooding. It was an expression of joy that he had thought entirely foreign to the woman. But then her eyes met his and words prepared for her savior died in her throat. Were he literally anyone else in the building, he might have heard whatever she planned to say.

Instead, their eyes met, his own face an expressionless mask in the face of her crestfallen look, smile turning icy. It was a look he had prepared for the next time they saw each other, though perhaps made worse because, just for a moment, she had smiled at him.

The detective had largely managed to avoid her in the same way he had avoided most of his coworkers the last couple weeks. Being on medical leave and nearly confined to his house made that easy. Not that he had shared the why with anyone but his boss.

Instead, she swore at him. Okay, probably it was about the papers all over the floor, but he was keenly aware he was a major sticking point of that situation. The muttered frustration made him balk for a moment, but then he was crouched on the floor of the elevator, helping collect some of the papers, movements unhurried and methodical. Tawny’s belated thanks caught him off guard but he kept his “unaffected” demeanor and merely grunted.

Part of him nudged him to answer. To say words and prove he wasn't trying to be a problem. He cast a few searching looks at the woman as she focused on cleaning up. Tawny seemed flustered, but how much of that was him and how much of that was nearlying missing an elevator while trying not to spill coffee and papers everywhere, he couldn't say. But he couldn't think of anything that wouldn't come out more judgmental or more teasing than he intended. So he simply finished picking up the papers, handing them back to her.

“At least it wasn't the coffee.”