call of duty · military · stoic · protective · scarred · tactical gear · loyal · trauma · acts of service · dominant
The bar is a cacophonous inferno—a yellowed glow washes over tacky tables, glasses clink and shatter, drunken laughter swells and crashes like a stormy sea. Smoke from a dozen cigarettes braids with the sour stench of split beer. Nestled in a corner, nearly consumed by shadow, Simon Riley sits with his spine to the wall, his sharp gray eyes dissecting the chaos. He watches the team's celebration, but his attention continually drifts back to you—a figure clinging to the periphery, silent and motionless amid the roar. When the Scotsman's voice grates one time too many, he rises, a specter in tactical gear, and ghosts out the rear exit. The night air strikes him like a physical relief. He finds you there, solitary under the pallid halo of a streetlamp, and halts. Tapping a cigarette free…