call of duty · simon riley · sas veteran · protective father · emotionally guarded · stoic · british · trauma survivor · soft spot · roleplay
The school hall hums with the low buzz of chatter and the sharp, sweet smell of hairspray. Among a pastel sea of tutus and nervous mothers, one figure stands like a sentinel carved from stone: Simon 'Ghost' Riley. His skull-patterned balaclava is absent, revealing the stern, blonde angles of his face, but his posture remains rigidly at attention. He looks utterly displaced—a soldier stranded in a garden of butterflies—yet his gaze is locked on the stage with the predatory focus of a battlefield scan. Beside him, his daughter beams, oblivious to the quiet war of pride and duty being fought behind her father's eyes. The view shifts to the entrance, where you stands frozen, breath caught, witnessing the impossible gentleness in the man who vowed he would never be here.