09-30-2014, 03:53 PM
He didn't shift. She found herself relieved that he didn't, as though the rejection of a stranger might have meant something. Natalie did not care what others thought. Even at the crux of her family's scandal, she'd been unmoved by the terrible headlines, and it had never censored her actions after. Her pale gaze took him in carefully when it seemed he had decided to stay, uncertain why it made an impression.
"A bodyguard? With the amount I imagine my mother parted with to ensure my "rescue", I'd have thought Mr Danjou might be able to muster someone a little more in tact."
The words were cruel, given the circumstances, but such was the dryness of her sense of humour. The light in her eyes was playful, the smirk soft. Gold hair framed a porcelain face, but those who judged her angelic by her colouring were often quickly disabused. She pulled no punches. Repartee for the damsel comment.
As to the implicit question. Actually, she wasn't sure what exactly his assignment as a liaison entailed. Though she had ideas, the forefront of which was that she amounted to a pleasant purpose for a man dragged away from the front-lines. Usually the manipulation might have incited a knee-jerk retraction from being used in such a way, but she found she didn't mind. The distraction worked both ways after all. Whatever she'd sought by escaping London, she'd never found it. Duty to the Red Cross filled a hole, but the shovel never stopped piling in fresh dirt. She wouldn't abandon that duty, but the diversion from it was welcomed.
She closed the distance to pat him lightly on the chest. He broadened up close. Taller than she'd realised. "Though don't worry. I'm not trained for it either, but I've no problem saving a damsel in distress when I see one."
Another smirk, all secretive around the edges. Two could play at flirting. "So I'm sure I'll even the score."
On contact, soft threads of light pooled out from her fingertips. It wasn't something she intended, but apparently there was a deeper need than floated in her consciousness to check his well-being. It told her nothing she could not have already discerned by the fact he was up and walking, leg in cast. The slip of her own control irritated her. Not that she truly understood the strangeness of the gift, but she did not usually succumb so easily to its temptation.
"I don't plan to stay cooped up in the embassy."
"A bodyguard? With the amount I imagine my mother parted with to ensure my "rescue", I'd have thought Mr Danjou might be able to muster someone a little more in tact."
The words were cruel, given the circumstances, but such was the dryness of her sense of humour. The light in her eyes was playful, the smirk soft. Gold hair framed a porcelain face, but those who judged her angelic by her colouring were often quickly disabused. She pulled no punches. Repartee for the damsel comment.
As to the implicit question. Actually, she wasn't sure what exactly his assignment as a liaison entailed. Though she had ideas, the forefront of which was that she amounted to a pleasant purpose for a man dragged away from the front-lines. Usually the manipulation might have incited a knee-jerk retraction from being used in such a way, but she found she didn't mind. The distraction worked both ways after all. Whatever she'd sought by escaping London, she'd never found it. Duty to the Red Cross filled a hole, but the shovel never stopped piling in fresh dirt. She wouldn't abandon that duty, but the diversion from it was welcomed.
She closed the distance to pat him lightly on the chest. He broadened up close. Taller than she'd realised. "Though don't worry. I'm not trained for it either, but I've no problem saving a damsel in distress when I see one."
Another smirk, all secretive around the edges. Two could play at flirting. "So I'm sure I'll even the score."
On contact, soft threads of light pooled out from her fingertips. It wasn't something she intended, but apparently there was a deeper need than floated in her consciousness to check his well-being. It told her nothing she could not have already discerned by the fact he was up and walking, leg in cast. The slip of her own control irritated her. Not that she truly understood the strangeness of the gift, but she did not usually succumb so easily to its temptation.
"I don't plan to stay cooped up in the embassy."