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Vyn had clear and definite opinions about the members of the NXX.
Artem? Infuriating most of the time, but contrary to what seemed to be popular belief, they could have civil conversations. His company wasn’t all that bad, and they often found themselves working together in silence. An acquaintance or a colleague, Vyn would call him.
Marius? Absolutely insufferable. The youngest of the team, and yet he knew exactly just what buttons to push to make Vyn want to leave him in a ditch. He tried to spend as little time as possible near him; or at least that is what he tells himself. At least he was a good student.
Luke? He was tougher to define, as Vyn hadn’t known him for as long as the other two. He was helpful, both smart and physically strong, and Vyn appreciated how reliable he could be. Still, he made a mental note to ban Luke from the vicinity of the kitchen last time he had stepped there.
Rosa? The only one he would willingly call a friend. She was helpful as well, and he enjoyed her company greatly. They shared quite a few hobbies together, and she was receptive to anything Vyn would introduce her to, willingly accompanying him to outings even if she didn’t know much about the topic or the place. He hadn’t quite shared as much of himself as he did with her in a while.
Well, that was for the members of the current NXX. When it came to the previous ones, his opinion was more… complex. Vyn would like to believe nobody betrayed the team, but he wasn’t nearly that naive, and he knew one of the missing two had to be a traitor. That certainly didn’t make it easy; he had enjoyed Neil’s company. He was entertaining, and a good mentor. As the oldest out of the three, he typically took the lead on their missions, and Vyn had even come to think of him as a reliable person. Still, so many clues pointed towards Neil’s guilt, and as much as he didn’t enjoy considering the possibility that he could have sold the team out, he couldn’t stay in denial forever.
The hardest part came with defining his opinion about Giann. Like with Neil, Vyn knew there was a possibility Giann was the traitor, but he was much more ready to deny that, no matter what his morals told him. He couldn’t possibly think badly of Giann. No, that would make all of his thoughts negative, and Vyn knew that wouldn’t be good for his mental state.
He remembered this one time he was tutoring Marius, and while he was a good student, he still tried to distract Vyn in order to slack off sometimes. He had ended up asking him what he thought of Giann, since the two were friends.
(“Friends”, Vyn laughed. Definitely friends.)
Vyn had had to stop himself from going on and on - and giving Marius what he wanted - about Giann, and told Marius to go back to his work.
Giann had been everything in Vyn’s world. When he had just arrived in Stellis, Giann had approached him and made sure he was living comfortably, until he could support himself. He made sure Vyn was doing well, and visited him everyday, invited him over or out, and would even try to include him to his friend group.
(Vyn had gotten along well with Ailine, but that was about it.)
Giann made Vyn feel happy. He had this unfamiliar warm feeling in his chest whenever they were together, a feeling that made him want to open up, and give his entire self to Giann. This was so reckless. He was aware of it; opening up and showing so much of himself to someone he had known for such a short amount of time was definitely dangerous. But something about Giann had made him unable to stop himself.
And so, over the course of the almost two years they had known each other, Vyn had found himself changing from Giann’s influence. “To be loved is to be changed”, he had once read; he remembered thinking that was a stupid saying, that changing for someone that loves you was not a good thing. Yet when he kept track of his daily recordings, he could tell that Giann had changed him, gradually, into someone better, happier, and not lonely anymore.
And when Giann and Neil disappeared, he was suddenly alone again, alone with his thoughts and his heavy heart and the memories of the fleeting touches and the brushing of lips and the gentle hands in his hair and all the gifts and the whispered words that only he held. Vyn was alone with the memory of Giann, clinging onto the desperate hope that he would one day come back.
Vyn’s opinion of Giann was so complex, tainted by feelings and emotions and regrets, that if someone were to ask him once more what he thought of him, he would only be able to give his usual smile and call him someone dear to him.