Protect

[processions]

♔ｐｒｏｔｅｃｔ♘ You're a someone on a dangerous quest, a hero in a not-so-easy spot, a royal, or maybe even the last of your kind who will bring about the Earth's redemption. Whatever the case may be, you're valuable, and you're in a position that may be a bit dicey if you attract the wrong kind of attention. And you're the protector, the only person who can keep that erstwhile hero or heroine out of harm's way. Somehow, you've been roped into protecting this person, whether it be through your loyalty to them or someone close to you, a mission, or a promised reward. You'll be rewarded, of course. The work may be cut out for you, but just do your job, keep your head down, and it'll go smooth. Except, as things get more perilous and truths are revealed, the two of you break the bounds of protector/protected or guide/guided and feelings may begin to flourish. Being in such close quarters may get you to see the other in a different light, and saving someone's life just may be the ultimate form of intimacy. Could this be the real danger? To feel so strongly for the one you've sworn to protect...are you compromised? ʜᴏᴡ ᴛᴏ ᴘʟᴀʏ »1. Comment with your character and preferences, being sure to put if you want to play the protector, the protected, or either. Also, you may want to put if you prefer fluffy, angsty, or smutty interaction - or have no preference. »2. Comment to others. »3. Thread. »4. Some ideas: the beginnings of the relationship, just meeting, getting used to each other/not getting along at first, the obligatory first time, a threat on the protected's life and how their protector responds, how the feelings between the two has changed the protection, etc. Your only limit is you.

Comments

[brainsqueeze]

It would probably be quicker to ask who my friends are.

( Maria gave a gentle sigh, tapping her finger against her coffee cup. She wasn't sleeping - or she wasn't yet. It would end up getting to the point where exhaustion took her down before she chose to sleep. She was too wired - the coffee and nerves over the situation. She wanted to be in the loop - to know what was happening. It was an excuse, badly covered the fact that she was too unnerved to try and relax enough to sleep. A fact more obvious than she wanted to think about )

I've had threats before. Attempts.

( Kidnapping more than death. It might be easier to kill her but she could be valuable if anyone could get intel from her. At least that had been before SHIELD had gone down - since then it was just easier to kill her. Although this had been the first actual attempt - something more than just a threat, or shadow )

What was on the drive?

( She'd say that she'd never open foreign flash drives again after that one but- )

[redhourglass]

( she can tell that the other woman is stressed, and she doesn't blame her. it's one thing to be expecting attempts when you're constantly on the run - natasha was used to that. maria, however, probably wasn't. this kind of thing had you glancing at shadows, which got old after a while. that was why natasha was here - to watch the shadows for her. )

Enough.

( also known as classified information about a particular syndicate, with a built in tracker aimed to send info back on whoever opened it. bad luck, maybe. could have easily been fury or someone else opening that folder. )

Drinking more coffee won't make you feel any less like you're going to jump out of your skin.

( just because they're on high alert doesn't mean maria has to be. )

You should try and sleep.

[brainsqueeze]

Do you really think I can sleep?

( She never slept enough normally, and never had. It was late nights followed by early mornings and hefty amounts of coffee. Sometimes it wasn't so much as something to keep her awake but a natural part of her day - or a comfort. If something stressed her a good cup of coffee, or something a little sweeter, could pull her mood back up.

She'd made one then partly out of habit - partly out of wanting something to drink. It was easier to avoid a question or delay it when you could do something for a few seconds )

It's not the threat that's bothering me. ( It is bothering her, but it's also not the first threat she's had to contend with ) It's how close they were. That I didn't notice.

( She's a light sleeper. It's something she'd always been - had to be. From fears in her childhood to always needing to be alert as a marine. It's helped her mostly, except for now )

[redhourglass]

You could try.

( of course she doesn't think maria can sleep. but it's a good enough suggestion and more than she would do for anyone else who was placed under her charge. as far as she was concerned, maria was easiest to guard if she stayed in one room that natasha could keep under lockdown at all times. that could be the bedroom or the living room, it didn't matter to her.

doing one last survey of the room, she crossed it and then leaned against a chair where she still had a good vantage point of the window and the door, though her body language was fairly relaxed. )

Sometimes things slip through the cracks. No one is perfect.

( but she understood the instinct to beat yourself up about it. )

You were watching Fury's back. It's hard to watch your own at the same time. He had yours.

[brainsqueeze]

I don't exactly feel reassured.

( Having Nick Fury watching your back- it wasn't something that many people had. On a normal day - on a day where she didn't feel so vulnerable, where she hadn't come so close- on a normal day it was good knowledge.

But things didn't slip through the cracks. It was one thing that Maria prided herself on - that she'd thought of every possibility. On a mission she did - things didn't often go wrong on a mission, and if they did it wasn't because of poor planning.

The same couldn't be said about her own life. Things did slip through the cracks there - she didn't take as much care on personal matters. Though she might argue that there wasn't anything to take care about )

How long? ( There was a small sigh, and Maria pressed her elbow into the arm of the couch, resting her head against her hand. She would much rather be out there trying to do something - to find the bastard after her ) How long am I out?

[redhourglass]

( natasha only shrugs at that. she can't help maria reconcile with discovering she was only human - it would be the blind leading the blind. she struggled with this herself. the only difference was that right now it was maria who was struggling, and she was trying to console. not exactly the best person for it, though she was willing to try. )

Until Fury tracks down who did this.

( which, honestly, wouldn't take as long as she's expecting. from the way fury had been talking when they'd had the meeting to divvy up roles, natasha would bet that he would find these creeps sooner rather than later.. and give them hell. attacking maria had been too close to home for him.

for all of them, really. )

You know how he gets about work. I wouldn't get too comfortable, here. ( though, that said.. ) Doesn't seem like you have many personal items here anyway.

( natasha gets it though. )