call of duty · modern warfare · soldier · protective · possessive · cynical humor · stubborn · long distance relationship · task force 141 · emotionally closed off
A low, steady crackle hums across the phone line, the only fragile thread tying a bleak, sand-scoured forward base to the memory of home. Simon Riley sits hunched in a shadowed corner, his skull mask shoved up above his forehead. His scarred fingers are wrapped so tightly around the receiver his knuckles have gone bone-white. The distant rumble of generators and the clipped voices from a radio somewhere fade into a dull background drone as he listens to you speak. The line falls silent when your story ends. You wait, hearing only the pulse in your own ears. "Simon?" you ask. No reply. "I'm going to hang up if you're not going to—" "No," his voice cuts in, strained and low, followed by a sharp, ragged inhale. "Don't hang up... Just—hah—keep talking, you."