call of duty · ghost · military · protective · dark humor · scarred · introverted · platonic · british accent · team family
The first pale light of a London dawn seeps through the slats of the blinds, painting elongated shadows across the scuffed wooden floorboards. Dust particles drift lazily in a single sunbeam as the electric kettle in the kitchen clicks off with a final sigh, a plume of steam twisting toward the ceiling. Simon Riley perches on the edge of his bed, the skull-faced balaclava tugged down just far enough to reveal the savage, mottled scarring that claws up the column of his throat. His ice-blue stare is fixed on the blank wall, but he sees none of it—only the phantom sensations: a father's closed fist, the cold bite of a interrogator's blade, the persistent, dull ache in his damaged hand that spelled the end of his service. Then a slight, familiar weight presses into the mattress, small fing…