Notes: This is late, please don't mind it, I've been busy and mildly burnt out kfhgkfh
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As with all military and military adjacent operations, missions were important. Strategically, and somewhat as a release for any members of the team that were more… Highly strung, than the others. Giving them that release often made them much more bearable to be around – less snappy with the others, and more at ease with themselves.
Of course, there’s no avoiding how important and central missions and operations are to continuing the fight for… Whatever cause the crew turned their hands to, no matter which front the individuals were fighting from.
But the thing that really kept the team ticking along?
The down-time. The days of rest. The time away from the front lines. Even if the group was staggered around the globe, there was always one or two left in the Rook. Very rare was it to have all of them in the Rook at once as of late - though still they each had their own little activities that kept them going and helped them wind down between missions.
Woods - despite being mostly confined to the Rook and parts of its grounds, was often occupied with various plans for the safehouse, or helping work out wrinkles and foils in plans for upcoming missions and operations - working out routes people needed to take, and what contingencies needed to be in place should something go wrong out on the field. It may not have been as taxing in some ways as a lot of the tasks the others had to deal with, but he was still stressed, crabby, and honestly? Just very, very tired. Not to mention, somewhere within him, he missed being able to actually go out there, and help his teammates. He knew that what he did now was valuable, but sometimes it didn’t feel that way.
When he gave himself - or was told to have - the odd day off, he liked to channel surf whatever was on the TV, or play pool. Though, he mainly did the latter when there was someone that wanted to play with him. Case and Marshall were his favourite opponents by far - Case was slightly more likely to lose than Marshall, but even then, the three men were somewhat even when faced off against each other. Woods could always count on a good, fair match when he was against either of them.
Adler was okay to play against - but only when Frank was in the right mood. He had to put up a big fight every match against Russell, because if he didn’t, he was sure to lose. It was fun, but if he was in a bad mood? Not so fun - for anyone. So, he rarely faces off against the blonde, unless he feels lucky or has steam to blow off. There’s only one person out of the lot of them that he refuses to face.
That person? Sevati Dumas. This was because, no matter how hard he tried, he simply could not beat her. Match after match, and they got the same result. He’d ask her over and over if she had a secret, what she did to just be so good at pool - but she’d only ever shrug at him and reply with ‘practice.’
He had challenged Felix once or twice - when he felt that he was losing his sanity from boredom - but had been turned down by the German, being told that, “It is much more fun simply to watch.” With the quiet addition that Felix wasn’t quite sure he would hear of; “And if your reaction to Miss Dumas’ victories is anything to go by, I would not wish to cause you any more embarrassment.”
Troy liked to spend a lot of his spare time chatting with the others, about both everything and nothing. Exchanging advice, telling anecdotes, anything that came to mind - no matter how inconsequential it may be. His favourite talking partner? Woods. The man was an absolute goldmine of stories, good and bad, as well as tips for out on the field. He could be found talking with Frank a lot. Marshall looked up to the man, saw him as a role model of sorts - not that he would ever openly or directly admit to such a thing. It was one of those open-secret type of deals. No one ever commented on it, but everyone knew.
When not talking to one of the other crew members, he normally can be found working out on the grounds, testing his skill and trying his best to improve, or checking over his equipment. He often would discuss what the best upgrades would be with Felix, knowing that despite the man’s moral aversion to taking another’s life himself, he wanted his teammates to have the best possible advantage that they could.
Sev and Felix spent a lot of time together, doing various tasks. Quite a few of them, surprisingly, were domestic. With Woods unable to do a lot of cleaning, Felix took it upon himself to do so when not occupied with his own tasks. It was quite therapeutic to him, in some ways. He would get to methodically move through the Rook, cleaning each room in whatever way he liked, taking as much time as he so pleased. When Sev was around, she would occasionally help him. Only occasionally, since Felix would sometimes get a little bit agitated when she tried - he didn't mean to, but he had a system, and as much as he adored Sevati, he did not desire to explain the system to her whilst he was in the middle of it.
The other task they do - more as a team, as Sev tests them - is tech modification. Upgrades, and getting them to seamlessly integrate with whatever equipment or gear they needed to use and wear next time they were out in the field. Whatever they’re doing, the others usually found it a good idea to leave them alone - so as not to intrude on the unnervingly thick sexual tension.
Adler’s favourite way to pass the time or relax was, to the surprise of absolutely no one, smoking. That, or sulking around in the kitchen or saferoom with a downright sour look on his face. Sometimes the look bordered on sad, in a certain light. Not that Adler would ever even entertain that idea - Case tried to once, and the look that he got from Adler? One of the dirtiest looks he had ever seen, bar none. So, Russell was normally left to his own devices when not discussing anything related to leads and the like - and honestly? He much preferred it that way.
Case was perhaps the… Strangest one, when it came to his spare time. He spoke to people, was involved in banter and menial tasks around the place - so to anyone not around him for an extended amount of time, he seemed fine, normal even.
Unfortunately, to the rest of the crew, who had to spend nearly every day with him, he was anything but. He was weird. It wasn’t glaringly in your face obvious - he didn’t threaten anyone or stash weapons away in his quarters like some people may assume; but that’s what made iti so unnerving. Because after breakfast on a day with nothing to do, he just… Disappears. No one finds him for hours - until someone hears a shuffle from a dark corner.
And there’s Case. Staring into the middle distance, crouched in the shadows of the corner. He doesn’t speak, doesn’t even acknowledge anyone else in the room with him. He’s in a world of his own. If it was just one corner, it wouldn’t have been so bad - but no. There were many places that Case deemed appropriate to lurk. So, whenever Felix was doing his usual chores, he got to play the wonderful game of; “Where’s Case”. Thankfully, after a while, a man can grow accustomed to another just lurking in whatever corner took his fancy.
It's free day! You know what that means?! Time to push my CaseBell propaganda!
(I really waited all week to draw this one)
The Black Ops protagonists are such green flags 👍
Hey, I actually made it to the end of the week with only minimal lateness! It was really fun to participate and see what everybody did :D Love you all, I hope I'll keep seeing you around!
I had to think of an outfit for Vietnam!Bell that would hide their face without being a balaclava. Because they would have died from the heat before any enemy could put a bullet through them lol. So of course I had them match with Adler!
But yeah, here's a few bonuses
Fellas, is it gay to paint your CO's face before a battle?
Or rather, is it gay to hallucinate having cradled the face of the man you have a very unhealthy codependent relationship with?
So... I'm late. Coz what was supposed to be a simple sketch turned out to be... well. That. (I have no self control whatsoever)
Hesitated a long while between Bell's doors or Case's zombies for the nightmares, and settled on Bell since the last couple days were about the Rook already. I might do a Case version later.
(Kudos to @woods-and-adlers-left-hand-chap who posted this headcanon)
Case is a gremlin in the body of an orc who likes to just sit in dark corners during his breaks.
The boys have pool nights and talk shit the whole time.
Case and Sev come bother Felix in the kitchen, one is on duty to keep his attention away while the other steals food. (Felix knows about their stunt but pretends not to)
Case loves to put his nose where it doesn't belong, and can be found picking locks everywhere around the house. Some are not exactly fond of having their rooms broken into.
Felix improved Woods' wheelchair once. Of course Sev's stuff has been stolen and broken for this to happen. (The number of times Sev almost murdered Felix has reached the double digits after the second day knowing each other)
Gee, I had so many ideas involving Adler and Perseus but I went for a simpler one for now. As much as I love the mess that is AdBell, I also have an alternate headcanon version in which Perseus is Bell's father, and Adler ends up taking over the role more or less accidentally during the brainwash. Gotta love the protégé/father-kid vibe those two have.
Plus that would explain why Perseus so easily trusts Bell again after they went MIA and actively worked against him for weeks. And why Arash is jealous that Perseus prioritizes Bell so much he decides to kill them. And why they get to make the call to bomb Europe. Look, it just makes sense, you'll never convince me otherwise.
Also it's the perfect opportunity to write/draw crack about Perseus and Adler being in the middle of a divorce and fighting for Bell's custody.
