VEX

xi.

Dylan always felt bad asking the interns for anything, even as simple as a charging cord for her phone. Both interns, Ruby and Layla-Rose, were business students, and practically trailed Brooke around. Brooke loved it when Dylan, one of the other artists, or one of the other business people asked them to do something for them, and Dylan knew this. She tried to help her best friend out, before telling her colleague, Omar, to ask them for stuff. 

Even through her dislike, Dylan invited both of them to a day at the London Colney, where she and Brooke were to discuss how much she would get from this commission. Usually this would be done before the artist started working on the job, but Arsenal requested that the artist started as soon as possible, so Dylan and Brooke hadn't had time to discuss with the media team. Ruby and Layla-Rose got an inside look into the business side of London Studios, and they left after the negotiations. Dylan stayed to ask each player about their favourite art style. The small details might make it into the final cut, but it was better she asked than not. 

After watching the Gunners clown about for an hour, Dylan left the training grounds and went for a coffee. Her favourite cafe is on the other side of London from St. Albans, but the coffee and the people there always made going to that cafe made it worth the hour ride in the London Underground. It wasn't crowded at three in the afternoon, so Dylan chatted amicably with the barista. She'd been there enough times that the man knew her order and would ask about her work. There was a handful of people there, but a woman attached to her phone and paying no attention to her phone stuck out to Dylan. Dylan recognized her from somewhere, she wasn't exactly sure, and she kept looking over at Dylan. When Dylan obviously scanned the room, the woman looked back down at her phone and pretended like she wasn't staring at her. 

The woman intrigued Dylan. There was just something about her that Dylan couldn't quite place. She seemed familiar to Dylan, which was a bit perplexing because Dylan was sure she had never met the woman. She stayed in Dylan's mind all afternoon and evening. Dylan knew that Brooke could tell she was distracted during their routine movie nights, but she never pointed it out. They were watching, more like listening to while they both scrolled through their phones, The Disappointments Room when Dylan shot up and said, "Guro Reiten. It was Guro fucking Reiten."

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Vex started on the training centre on Friday night. With no knowledge of the individual players, they started on a wall that is in the same style of a tag. In a large graffiti style font, they wrote 'Arsenal' on the wall in red paint, with a white, black, and yellow background. 

They spent a couple hours at the training centre getting the piece done in one night. Looking back at the piece after they're done, it looked sort of like the 'No Expectations' piece from Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse, but without the silhouette in the centre. 

Following the style, the next night was spent creating a comic book pile with covers depicting players and accomplishments of the Arsenal. Gabriel didn't try to do anything with Vex. He first thanked them for gifting him the extra money and the job recommendation, and then stood in the corner to watch Vex do their thing. 

Vex did their thing for two days straight, and then stopped on Sunday. On Monday, there's a post it on the wall, asking why Vex is doing the walls. Vex knew it was Daniëlle van de Donk. She seemed like the naturally curious kind of person and would definitely be the kind to question about people.