Re: Dinah + Maria
There was a small part of her that was wondering how Bruce had gotten out of coming to this when she hadn't, but then, Bruce didn't have nearly the same connection to half the people here that she did. A connection that was more official than personal, but in this business, when it came to parties, there were few enough people who were safe enough to have people letting their guard down and actually celebrate the holiday; she thought there might be as many SHIELD agents here as there were in the various offices.
"That is," Maria began on a groan, then thought about it. "Horrible," she decided. "It is horrible and it's horrible that it's actually a good idea that I'm even considering. If I convince him to do so, I will proceed to blame you." It just might work. Or might fry everyone's brain.
"Might be nice," she added thoughtfully, "to claim a spot in the Manor that's just yours." Otherwise she could imagine that it would be overwhelming to be surrounded by all that Wayne Family History, pressing down with every elegant wainscoting and original art. Dinah seemed to be holding up okay, but Dinah was absurdly comfortable in her skin wherever she stood; Maria envied her a bit. Her usual way of dealing with the same concept was to walk around commanding the area, or trying to, which wasn't the healthiest or friendliest, even if it did work for her.
That was about what she expected, so Maria just grinned and bit into her burger. "Can't blame a Director for trying?" she asked. Because, really, it was about perfect, but SHIELD was fully capable of finding their own unremarkable place - less remarkable than a brownstone, even - and securing it down to its foundations for use of whichever SHIELD agent was passing through at the time. "Not right off the top of my head," she repeated with a shrug. "But that's not to say one won't come up. Or you'll just have to go the deserving civilian route, someone who might need the security but couldn't afford it on their own." Which would be a very Wayne thing to do anyways.