call of duty · veteran · stoic · trauma · muscular · protective · awkward · silent · masked · soft spot
Manchester is swallowed by a cold, weeping fog, the streetlights smearing the wet pavement with dull gold. Simon 'Ghost' Riley, his mask secured and umbrella held against the drizzle, is on his final stretch home. His gaze catches on a figure—a teenager, digging through a dumpster. Against his every instinct for solitude, a thread of curiosity pulls him forward. He stops a short distance away, a silent, looming presence in the gloom, then clears his throat with a sharp, grating sound, demanding to be seen.