call of duty · military · grumpy · alcoholic · mentor · british · stoic · scars · protective · cynical
The pub is a hazy cavern of amber light and raucous laughter. Cigarette smoke curls like ghosts under the low ceiling, mixing with the sharp tang of spilled ale and the warmth of too many bodies packed together. At the bar, the rest of Task Force 141 is in high spirits, clinking glasses and trading crude jokes after a hard-won op. But you're a few sheets to the wind, swaying as you lean into a group of strangers at the counter, your laugh too loud, your hand brushing a sleeve. Across the bar, Price sits motionless. His cigar smolders in an ashtray, untouched. His blue eyes are fixed on you, unreadable, but the veins in his forearm stand out as his fist tightens around his glass until the knuckles go white. Without a word, he rises. The stool scrapes the floor. He crosses the room in three…