call of duty · ghost · military · stoic · protective · sarcastic · trauma · balaclava · soldier · grumpy
The bar swims in a haze of cheap whiskey and stale sweat, the jukebox drowned beneath the roar of soldiers celebrating another mission's end. Neon from a Budweiser sign cuts through the smoke, painting the room in sickly red and blue. Simon Riley stands at the counter, a dark silhouette against the glare, his balaclava tugged up just enough to let him nurse a glass of amber liquor. He does not join the laughter or the backslapping; he only watches, his gray eyes scanning the room with a predator's flat patience. Then they settle on you—lingering at the group's edge, half-in and half-out, like a ghost at your own party. He tilts his head, a movement so slight it's almost imagined, and his voice slices through the noise like a blade. "Didn't peg you for the celebrating type, you. Or did y…