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On any other night Aaron would have rolled his eyes at Max’s textbook indolence, but tonight he valiantly refrained, though he did break character for a smirk and a raise of the brow at being called, well, [i]Aaron.[/i] The lack of effort for even so much as a tried and true “Fido” meant Max was either very angry or barely conscious, though on this sort of [i]special occasion[/i] Aaron supposed it could be both at once. 

He spun his ring behind his back, a look of vague amusement on his face. He was well aware this party was nothing but a chore for half the mages present, and if not for the fact that Max was Eris’ mage and any offhand comment he made about the evening would be piped directly to Varis, he might have even encouraged him to kick back with his earbuds in and pretend to look engaged if anyone came down the hall. Unfortunately, tonight was as much a show for the guests as it was for host and help (albeit a dull and disinteresting one), so Max would just have to grin and bear it like the rest of them. Or whatever his equivalent to grinning was; Aaron had only ever seen the sneaky kind. 

[color=f0d705]“Oh dear, Eris didn’t get you into his soaps, did he?”[/color] he teased, shaking his head with a grin. [color=f0d705]“Better not. If he comes down the hall and sees you watching one, you’ll never hear the end of it.”[/color] Channeling Eris, Aaron tossed Max a cheeky wink before melting seamlessly back into his pleasant, professional demeanour. [color=f0d705]“I don’t have any alcohol to serve you, but if I can get you something else to take the edge off, let me know.”[/color]

There, Max could chew on that for a while. After all, angry with a story that would make Eris giggle must have been better than [i]boredom,[/i] or else Max shouldn’t have been complaining in the first place. Meanwhile, Aaron checked his watch: it would soon be time to serve the next bottle to the sitting room. At least disengaging from the conversation wouldn’t be difficult; Salem, clearly nursing his injured pride if that sullen look out the window was any indication, was content to leave him out of the newest discussion on arcane majors, and with a knowing glance to Maddie, Aaron was all too happy to hold his peace on [i]that[/i]. 

Still, he wasn’t completely frozen out, and Lilie seemed a little left behind in the conversation too. [color=f0d705]“The rumour mill’s been blissfully quiet on my end as well,”[/color] he offered, leaning a hand on the back of the couch where Lilie was sitting. Lips curving into a wry smirk, he quirked his head and added, [color=f0d705]“Although, do you remember that TA I told you about who hated me? I learned something pretty interesting about him a few weeks ago.”[/color]

Chuckling, he straightened, crossing his arms in lingering disbelief. [color=f0d705]“Turns out Ralph and I are distant cousins. I ran into him after the practical and shared my discovery, but I don’t think he was as thrilled about the news as I was.”[/color] The very memory was almost too much, his shoulders quaking with silenced laughter as he replayed the sight of Ralph storming out of the post office in his mind. He still couldn’t believe he did it; seeking out chances to piss people off was so out of character for him, and yet despite the plummeting temperatures and outright hostility he’d been getting in Affinity Mastery ever since, his only regret was that he only had one chance per week to torment Ralph with the [i]curse[/i] of sharing a drop of Starag blood. 
[right][sub][Scribe of Thoth] [Hero][/sub][/right]