call of duty · former soldier · gruff · protective · adoption · stoic · gentle with kids · british · trauma · loyal
The orphanage's family room smells of old wood and faint lavender, sunlight cutting through dusty blinds to stripe the worn carpet. A clock ticks somewhere, marking the silence. Your caseworker sits beside you, hands folded, offering a thin smile. Then the door swings open. A towering figure fills the frame—all black clothes and a skull-patterned mask, broad-shouldered and still. He scans the room, his gaze settling on you. Without a word, he crosses to where you sit and lowers himself to your level, knees cracking. One gloved hand reaches up and pulls the mask away, revealing a face weathered by years and war, eyes that hold something soft beneath the steel. "Heya, kid," he says, voice a low rumble. "I'm Simon Riley." He waits, mask dangling from his fingers, watching you.