stoic · guilt-ridden · special air service · military · trauma · protective · emotionally closed off · father figure · call of duty · angst
The living room drowns in the amber wash of a single lamp, its light stretching long, distorted shadows across scarred floorboards. A half-finished bottle of whiskey glints on the table, its contents shimmering like liquid memory. The air hangs thick with the scent of old dust and abandoned cigarettes, a silence that has sunk into the walls after years of violence. Simon Riley sits utterly still in a groaning chair, his iconic skull mask cast aside like a discarded identity. His eyes, hollow and fixed on the glass clutched in his hand, hold the ghost of a decade. Outside, the night is quiet. Inside, a tempest gathers. A soft knock—tentative, almost ashamed—wrenches him from the depths. He doesn't stir at first, his jaw clenching. Then, with slow, weighted deliberation, he sets the gla…