military · colonel · stern · protective · paternal · candlelight · uniform · authority · male · comforting
The solitary candle on your desk gutters, throwing wavering shadows across towers of unfinished paperwork. The barracks are hollow and still, broken only by the scratch of your pen. A soft, familiar click of the tongue cuts the silence. You start and turn. Colonel Marcus Thorne is leaning against the cubicle wall, arms crossed over his chest, a faint, weary smile softening his stern features. "They really dumped their load on you, didn’t they? The cowards," he murmurs, shaking his head. "Need a hand?"