A/N: I'm sure you guys remember the Seven Deadly Sins. This is the opposite: The Seven Holy Virtues. Holy shit, this is so damn hard... First one: CHARITY. Defined here as the benevolent goodwill toward or love of humanity. Light spoilers for the Modern Warfare: GHOST comics...
FuriousPanda: Kira is such a badass, even if no one wants to accept it 'cause she's a girl. XD
iTestedGarrussReach: See, hot foods don't bother me so much, but I really have to be in the mood for it, haha. I had a guy try using pickup lines on me once. Just like that drunk bastard, he didn't get the hint, so I resorted to gratuitous amounts of violence. :D And I agree. If you're hot enough, chances are I'll put up with your shit for a while. XD Kira, Kira, Kira... Her biggest freak out was that she might've been knocked up on a trip all about booze, sex, and drugs. D: And as for that theory about my "world domination"... If you tell anyone else, I'll have to kill you. XD
UnlikeAnyOtherDay: ...But... If I marry you... It would be immoral for me to spazz over Soap and Ghost! T^T hahaha. And in regards to the Ghost Pepper, IT WOULDN'T GO THROUGH YOU UNTIL IT LIKE ATE THROUGH YOUR STOMACH OR SOME CRAZY SHIT LIKE THAT! lmao
duvalia: I hope you're not busy now, 'cause I'm updating again. DX haha. Of course MacTavish would go to sleep right after! He had to fight back that massive ego of his or he'd never get off. XD Although... Riley molesting him at gunpoint sounds like a particularly fun idea... I'll have to toss that one around for a bit... To be honest though, a pregnancy scare is the only thing that will ever scare Kira. Ever. I just have this mental image of a child running up to her screaming "Mommy!" and her only response is to do the Exorcist head-rotates-360-degrees thing and she just screams "DON'T FUCKING CALL ME THAT! I DON'T KNOW YOU!" Meanwhile, baby-daddy (likely Alastair) runs into the room, grabs said child, and runs away, saying something about hiding in the kitchen with Daddy. XD
Deviant-Jubilant: Yes, the spicy foods would have me sitting out too. XD John knows better than to make those bets. Because he knows if Kira catches wind of them, she'll do everything she can to make sure he loses. Because that's what siblings do, lmao. I rather enjoy Alastair being the polar opposite of everyone else in Kira's life, because it shows that, while she loves her brother and the extended family that comes with him (e.g: The entire 141), she needs something a little more civilianized and "normal". And Simon ALWAYS knows what's going on. DUH! lol
Arhani 'Hanny' Daforcena: Thanks, love. :)
xGhostxStealth: Kira is a subtle bad ass. Everyone wants to be afraid of the Task Force guys, 'cause they just look mean. But beware Kira, who secretly knows how to kill you with a handful of fish scales and a chocolate bar. XD Kira is still John's sister, and technically Simon's by proxy, so of course they're going to use their powers of intimidation to scare the holy Hell out of Alastair, especially if there's a chance he did something to hurt her. And my reasoning for Ghost winning the pepper contest was pretty much, "Well, he has something as hot as MacTavish in his mouth on a regular basis (and I mean that in the dirtiest ways possible), why can't he handle something so silly as a pepper?" :P
TheBleeding: A vast majority of the pepper segment was largely to do with a video I found by accident of these grunt-shit Army boys sitting around, challenging each other to eat these dried ghost peppers. It was hilarious. I had to do it... I just... I had to. XD
Reeserella: I have no idea why it's called the ghost pepper. It's also called Bhut Jolokia and Naga Jolokia, so maybe it's just called that because it's easier to say? lol Of course Kira can kick ass! Do you really think John and Simon would let her slide by without teaching her how to annihilate EVERYTHING that crosses her? haha. Alastair's just a little oblivious in general, a lot like Royce was, just considerably less adorable about it. XD I really wanted to include the bar scene, but I needed everyone at the bar for me to go with it where I wanted, but the bar would have needed to be on the main land. And then I remembered Stray's terrified of bridges. So that concept got scrapped pretty damn quick. lol
GranBoy: There's always a line. Our favorite boys with the Task Force just happen to LOVE not only crossing that line, but ignoring it completely. I'm working out the kinks for a future scene involving Kira, Alastair, John, Simon, and 'hypothetical children'. What band did you get to meet? Now I'm curious. X3
xStealthxSniperx: YouTube search "Ghost Pepper". Some of the funniest videos ever. OMG. Haha. I like the idea of John imparting some of his wisdom in the way of all things badass to his sister. Because that's what my brothers do for me. Hell, even my YOUNGER brother is teaching me the finer points of throwing knives. XD
PhonyPrincess: Kira can get Simon to do just about anything. Because she's fucking awesome like that. The only person who can compete with her level of Making-Simon-Do-Stuff is, of course, Soap. lawl.
ameij: ...Why would I hit you? That was my thought process too! Haha. I mean, come one. We all know that MacTavish is a hell of a lot hotter than anything else Ghost could possibly put in his mouth. XD Kira's little slang explanation was actually a composition of phrases I use. And it makes sense for Ghost to know her so well. I mean, lover's twin sister that you spend so much leave time with? It's practically a prerequisite. XD
It was a high contrast between what was expected and what was routinely presented. For a man called "Ghost" more often than his real name, with a mask like a skull and wit sharp enough to draw blood, he was surprisingly human.
They were walking through the mostly deserted streets of a tiny, half-forgotten border town between two warring countries in the Middle East, just a little speck of humanity in the glaring head of the desert. They weren't on any official mission. Just a stop on their way back home. But while they were on base, they were expected to perform standard duties, and that included patrol, even if they were patrolling a long, empty stretch of nothing at all. This wasn't even really a combat zone; the only live ammunition used was down at the firing range on base, or at camel spiders if someone was bored. But they were told to patrol, and they walked their patrol.
Roach was kicking at pebbles and tin cans and glass bottles as he walked. He sighed almost silently and cracked his neck. Soap returned his attention to Ghost, who had a stick in his hand and was dragging it through the sand, leaving a line behind them. There came a chorus of giggles as they approached a small alley between two buildings. A line of children with rags tied over the lower portion of their faces formed up behind him, all dragging sticks in the sand as well, imitating his militaristic gait and exaggerating the way he walked. Simon paused and the children stopped with a giggle. He turned to face them and they froze, coming as close to attention as five children could. Ghost turned around and started walking again, the children again imitating him. This time, he turned quickly and the children couldn't form up fast enough. They dissolved into giggles and ran up the road ahead of them.
They'd been in this forgotten strip of desert for two and a half weeks waiting for their intel to hit, and had spent most of that time wandering around in the desert in full gear, carrying weapons weighted down with more bullets than they would ever fire in the middle of No-Mans-Land. In those two and a half weeks, Simon had managed to befriend the few children that this side of the city offered. It had become routine for them to meet up with the children, who seemed to find Ghost entertaining, Soap moderately interesting, and Roach rather boring.
It had started when a group of the children had been spotted playing in front of a building and one of them had fallen down the three concrete steps the building boasted and began wailing pitifully, as injured children usually do. Simon, being the secretly caring person he was, had approached the situation with the intent of helping the child. These children were used to seeing men in uniform, but the skull balaclava was new and unusual, especially in this heat. The sobs were reduced to fearful whimpers and Simon reached into his pack and removed a roll of gauze and proceeded to bandage the boy's arm from the wrist to the shoulder, and, using the bit of Arabic they'd all learned on their travels, told him he looked "just like a real hero now". The boy's face lit up and he began talking to his friends in Arabic, far too quickly for any of the Task Force members to follow, but they could tell the Lieutenant was receiving positive reviews. That was their second day in the desert.
On the third day, the little boy Riley had "saved" ran towards him, holding a black bandanna with a white skull painted across the front. Riley pulled off the balaclava, enjoying the slight breeze as it touched his face, and he replaced it with the bandanna the boy held extended. The children all giggled and ran away. They had been in the desert for around 18 days now and Riley wore the bandanna through the desert instead of his balaclava.
One of the soldiers on the base had received a care package once and used a box of cookies and several chocolate bars as betting material for a poker game. Simon, even without the mask that was supposedly "covering his bluffs", had won the game and relieved the man of his prized snacks. Rather than keep them for himself, Riley took a few cookies and a chocolate bar or three and gave them to the children who now waited for their "friend" to arrive. They squealed with joy when he presented them with the presents and told them "thank you" and gestured to the bandanna wrapped around his face. The children followed them around and very patiently taught Riley their names and a few Arabic words he didn't know. When they reached the base, one of the smaller children, a girl about seven, hugged his legs tightly before running away, screaming with laughter.
"Never understood your way with children." Soap sighed that night. Ghost rolled his eyes and continued undressing, well aware of his lover watching his every move from the bed.
"I put up with you well enough." Simon smirked.
John stalked towards his XO with a very predatory air and pushed the Lieutenant against the wall. Simon gave in to MacTavish's persistent kisses with very, very little protest. The kids and sex with John were the two things that helped Riley stave off madness from the sheer monotony of things.
Soap remembered that night with the same startling clarity with which he remembered most things. He remembered the pitch of the moan Riley let slip when his neck was bitten the first time that night, he remembered the way Simon had screamed his name... A sudden shout brought Soap back to the present and he found himself holding his rifle a little tighter than before and with sudden purpose. He relaxed when he saw that instead of a gaggle of children gathered around his lover, there was only one who was trying to explain something to Simon, who was having a hard time following the rapid Arabic spilling from the boy's lips. The child soon grew frustrated and yelled something. An older child, probably around nine or ten years old, emerged from the shade offered by a building and listened to the younger boy babble quickly to him.
"He say can't come today. Khalilah is back. No walk no more." The boy said, struggling with the English words. Simon asked to see Khalilah and the children led him to the side of the building. John cringed. It was clear that Khalilah had been involved in something terrible before she returned to the quiet city. The left side of her face was scarred and she was missing both of her legs from mid-shin. The stark white bandages around her legs told Simon that "back" meant back from hospital. She was a pretty girl, older than the other children, looking about eleven or twelve, and she seemed only slightly disheartened by her new appearance.
"They want to go but will not leave me. I cannot come. Too slow." Khalilah sighed.
"Your English is very good." Simon murmured.
"American soldiers, American doctors, American teachers, American books. So much English. Learning was needed." She shrugged.
There was a distant cracking that could have been gunfire and Soap turned and fixed his gaze on the horizon, scanning the mostly empty area for signs of something that might become a problem. A squeal from the children brought his attention back to Simon, who was giving Khalilah a piggy-back ride, much to the delight of the girl and all of her friends, who now felt no guilt for following Ghost around. One of the boys twittered something, gesturing wildly to his face and then to Ghost.
"He wants to know why your face is covered all the time. He asks if you are superhero like on the shows." Khalilah asked.
John knows why he wears the mask; to the enemies that killed his first team, he was a dead man back from the unknown beyond, a dead man sent from hell to kill them, and he rather liked that concept of being perceived so hauntingly by his foes. But rather than scare the children with stories of torture and being buried alive and forced to dig his way out of his grave with a human jawbone (1), he simply laughed and said that yes, he was a superhero. This seemed to delight the children more than anything he'd previously said and they started asking questions about his superpowers. All translated by Khalilah. When they reached the base, Simon turned around and proceeded to carry the girl back to the shade of the alley where they'd found her, insisting that it was only fair since he'd carried her this far. He turned to leave, but the girl stopped him. She pushed his sleeve back and lifted a battered-looking paintbrush and dipped it in a small tub of black paint and wrote something on Ghost's arm in curving, arcing Arabic.
"What does it say?" Ghost asked, examining his forearm when she was done.
"Malika. It means 'Angel'." She explained. Simon smiled and thanked her and began walking back towards the base.
"She thinks you're an angel." Soap chuckled, his stride matching the Lieutenant's.
"You sure I'm not?" Riley challenged playfully.
"I'm fairly certain you are." John smiled.
(1): I haven't actually managed to get my hands on the comic books yet, but that scene was detailed out in the Wikia site, which is what I have to roll with for the time being. -_-;
DISCLAIMER: You guys KNOW I don't own any of this shit... If I did happen to own it... Well... The campaign mode would've lasted longer and we would have gotten an in-depth look at how they spent their leave time. And by that I mean gratuitous amounts of cut-scenes showing slashiness. :D