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The walk over to the administrative office building was quiet, a comfortable—for Aaron, anyway—silence falling over the trio as they crossed the campus, following the same path Salem and Lilie had taken before. Aaron took note of Lilie’s sudden hush, but from the glassy look in her eye he could only assume she was falling asleep on her feet. Right, he recalled her mentioning that the adjustment to nocturnal life would be difficult for her. She’d probably call it a night shortly after he had to leave for his curfew, he imagined, unless she had some reason to push herself.

As they neared the building, Aaron was surprised to see Max ahead of them on the path. For a second he thought he must have been leaving just as they arrived, but he was definitely heading inside. Must have taken longer than Aaron expected to get back to campus after their conversation. Much more notably, however, he was holding what Aaron could only recognize as a small, peculiar mass of white fur under his arm.

[color=deepskyblue]"I didn't know he had such a cute dog!"[/color]

Salem’s comment was all but lost to Aaron as he stared at the thing, brow furrowed. He’d been wondering what all that ‘dog’ talk was with Max on the phone, but he’d thought it was some kind of mundane turn-of-phrase he didn't recognize. And surely [i]that[/i] couldn’t be a dog. It looked more like a fluffy baseball than an animal of any kind, and surely if it [i]was[/i], Max wouldn’t be holding it.

Briefly distracted by the smell of fresh laundry—presumably the result of whatever Salem was mumbling about—Aaron couldn’t resist a smirk as he watched Max bolt into the building, definitely purposely ignoring the three of them. Funny, Aaron had known the man all of a night and he was already so predictable. He could only shake his head, an amused sigh escaping him, and continued inside with Salem and Lilie, not exactly [i]following[/i] Max but definitely going the same way. He caught himself holding his earring to stop the swaying as they walked, and forced himself to use that hand to open the door for the other two instead. He’d have to get used to the sensation eventually, no sense in walking around like a fool with his hand to his ear in the meantime. 

Luckily Salem and Lilie knew the way to the housing office, and they found their way without issue. Aaron briefly wondered if he’d be able to get a duplicate key for his own dorm while they were here, but dismissed the thought just as quickly. Even if they would issue him a third key, he had a sneaking suspicion Varis wouldn’t be pleased if he tried to weasel around his little dorm access arrangement and Aaron didn’t need more lines. 

Aaron didn’t need anything here, and there wasn’t exactly much he could help Salem with either. So, either out of restlessness or poor judgement, he decided to see if he could talk to Max while Salem took care of his business. 

[color=f0d705]“Don’t tell me [i]that[/i] is the thing you were talking about on the phone,”[/color] he chuckled, sauntering over to the grump with the fluff ball under his arm. [color=f0d705]“I thought all that dog talk was a weird figure of speech or something. Where on earth did you get that?”[/color][right][sub] Interacting with: [@Hero] [@Trainerblue192] [@Scribe of Thoth] [/sub][/right]