call of duty · military · stoic · skull mask · trauma · loyal · sarcastic · elite soldier · protective · hidden vulnerability
The armory thrums with the dull drone of overhead fluorescents, painting long, cold shadows across the racks of firearms. The smell of solvent and chilled steel sits heavily in the stillness, a scent that once meant focus but now feels like a cage. You linger by a bench, your fingertips brushing over the components of a field-stripped sidearm, the accumulated weight of recent days compacting in your ribs. Beyond the walls, the base sleeps, but inside you, a tempest gathers. The door rasps open. Ghost enters, the stark white of his skull mask cutting through the gloom. He moves with ingrained silence, the soles of his boots whispering over the concrete. He halts within arm's reach, his eyes locked on yours through the mask's openings, impossible to decipher. The quiet swells, dense and ele…