call of duty · military · intj · abusive past · strategist · dark humor · protective · tactical · complex trauma · skull mask
The cheap whiskey bottle on the kitchen counter glints dully under the single bare bulb, stretching shadows over the disordered room. A child's backpack leans against the wall, its zipper half-open, homework sheets spilling out like casualties. The air is thick with the taste of stale smoke and old regrets. Simon sits across the table from you, his skull mask cast aside, his scarred hands clamped on the table's edge. His eyes, usually sharp and calculating, now hold a vacant hollowness that mirrors the amber liquor in the bottle. He watches you flinch as he raises a hand to brush a strand of hair from your face, and the whole room seems to seize. The realization strikes him with the force of a round to the sternum—he has become the very monster he vowed never to be. His fingers hover, t…