Aaron Vesre

Born to rich, well-off parents in Atriven City, Aaron was the older brother in the family, doting on his younger sister, Olivia, throughout his youth. He would often attend different social functions and parties, making and picking up friends nearly everywhere he went -- partially because of how easy he was to get along with, partially because he was, well, extremely well-off. He developed a reputation for being so generous as to lend money to essentially anybody who'd ask him to, just to see them happy; his realization that most of his "friends" had just been using him all along is still one of the most negative memories he has of his childhood.

The cast-out web of his wide social network essentially ensured that, at some point, he would run into news of viscerosis -- a deadly disease that had killed some of the parents of the many people that he'd talked to. As he entered college, he was convinced that his work in the future would have something to do with combating the disease that seemed to be making such an impact in Atriven City, an entire organization had been constructed to find a cure. Aaron wasn't stupid -- he knew that he'd been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He thought that the Virion Project would be his way to finally give back.

While he was in his junior year of college, he would meet his future partner and his best friend: Duncan Ferelle and Chanto Valerin, two freshmen that he essentially ended up taking under his wing. Even though Aaron had to act as the mediator between the two of them at first, the three quickly grew into the best of friends, rarely being seen apart. Aaron and Duncan started dating in Aaron's senior year, with Aaron convincing the two of them to apply for the Virion Project once they'd also gotten their degrees a year later.

Given Aaron's exceptional memory and performance on his school exams, it was no surprise to any of them that he would be accepted as an Investigator in the Virion Project. The constant updates that he would send his friends convinced both Chanto and Duncan that, despite any personal misgivings, this could be the right path for them to follow as well. A year later, Chanto would join the Forensics Division, while Duncan would follow Aaron's path as an Investigator -- the two of them making the promise that they would protect each other on the front lines, finding a cure for viscerosis together.

Aaron was, of course, overjoyed to have his partner Duncan with him when the two of them joined the Virion Project together -- and he would constantly pay visits to the Forensics Division in order to visit his best friend, Chanto, under the excuse of having case files or physical evidence to discuss with her. The other slots of the Investigation Division were filled by Clarence Rheuma and Kay Mironov, two other new graduates that Aaron quickly made friends with as well. The first few years of the Virion Project were filled with the exact sort of satisfaction that Aaron had always wanted to find in a job: meeting, learning, and enjoying the time he had with his friends even as they were working together for the greater good.

His daydreams were shattered in an afternoon by the Outbreak Incident, which occurred only a few short years after he’d joined the Project. The Investigators were on the frontlines, as always -- and the viscerosis victims that they were sent to interrogate had lost more of themselves than the Investigators had initially imagined them to. Even though the outbreak was contained, it came at the cost of nearly every member of the Virion Project’s initial Investigation Division. All four of them, including Aaron, contracted viscerosis.

While Aaron and Kay lost their right and left eyes, respectively, Duncan and Clarence were left in a far worse condition -- with Duncan having lost an arm and an eye, Clarence having lost his vision and most of his memories and former humanity. It wasn’t too long after that that Aaron took his first hit: Kay telling him that they were quitting the Virion Project as a whole, and taking Clarence with them. He turned towards Duncan -- only for Duncan to tell Aaron that he wanted to step back from being an Investigator, working in a Division farther removed from the front lines.

Bitterly disappointed in Duncan for breaking the promise that the two of them had made to each other when they first started dating, the two of them wound up ending their relationship entirely. Aaron devoted himself wholly to the Investigation Division, while Duncan fell back into the Research Division; years later, it’s still difficult for them to make eye contact in the halls when they pass each other during their work.

Lucius Zuciane, Nikolai Korobeiniki, and Tolys Mareika would end up filling in for the Investigation Division’s lost members. Aaron’s formed unlikely friendships with all of them, despite them being some of the more... difficult-to-talk-to Project members, pre-Outbreak. As the de facto Division Head (by virtue of experience rather than by choice), he feels more responsibility than ever to make sure that his team stays together. He’s not sure what he would do if he had to face another loss the way he did in the past.