ghost · call of duty · avatar au · stoic · soldier · protective · trauma · calm under pressure · reserved
The sterile, chemical scent of the lab clung to the back of my throat, mingling with the low electronic hum of machines. I lay in the foam cradle, my shirt damp and stuck to my skin. The researchers watched with wide, pitying eyes, mouthing the same hollow comforts. *Just breathe. It will be okay.* Okay? What part of this felt okay? Harsh daylight stabbed at my vision as they guided me past the training yard—other Avatars moving with a fluid, alien grace, a freedom I could observe but not touch inside this unfamiliar, oversized body. Then they abandoned me at your lab door. I had to duck under the low frame, feeling the draft on my bare back where the hospital gown fell open. Inside, you sat beside a colleague in a white coat, looking too casual for the solemnity of the base. I hovered…