Van held verself back from laughing as ve watched the student blank out, and then shake his head. It was a little cute, if anything.

"If we're doing full names, I'm Vaniah Ewen, but only my grandparents call me that. You can just call me Van instead," ve says with a grin and a wink.

It takes a moment for Van to pull out vis phone again and bring up the email with the location of the lecture, but ve speaks as ve does so, just to answer Agate's question. "One of my old professors is giving a talk here, so I thought it'd be a great chance to see him and catch up-- Ah, here's the location."

Van lets Agate see the screen with a finger pointing to the building number and classroom listed in the email, "This is where I'm going, do you know where it is? It's not around here, is it?"

AGATE HAWKINGS

Van is a little surprised by Agate's offer, but it's definitely a good kind of surprised. Ve'd honestly expected to just get some directions and be on vis way, but this is a good opportunity, and ve's never one to turn down a good opportunity, "Sounds good,"

When Agate turns and starts walking, Van doesn't hesitate to fall into step with him. It comes as naturally to ver as making small talk does, which is to say, pretty easily.

"It's nice to meet you as well, since I didn't say it early," Van says as they walk together. "I'm so lucky to have met such a nice person today, I would've really been in trouble if you hadn't passed by."

Van admires the campus a little as they walk before ve lets vis eyes land back on Agate, "That aside, I'm going to hazard a guess and say you're not a law student, right?"

AGATE HAWKINGS

Van has met a lot of people, but the amount ve's met that are so open with their emotions are far and few between. It's refreshing to say the least, especially considering the people Van spends most of vis time with can be quite the opposite.

"A PhD? That's incredible, especially in math," Van says with a grin. "I hated math in school, still do too."

Van notices how fidgety Agate seems to be, a little nervous, a little on edge, but ve doesn't bother bring it up. No point in possibly making it worse. Ve may as well do vis best to make the boy feel more comfortable around ver, if anything.

"I'm definitely not, haven't been in a while," Van says, trailing off the end of vis sentence a little. "I did my seven years of post-secondary, and my reward is a shitton of paperwork and some fat paychecks."

Van laughs, and the smile on vis face gets bigger, more affectionate too, as ve thinks about the cases ve's worked on and the people ve's met along the way. The work ve does is what ve's always wanted to do, is probably the only thing ve'll ever want to do, at least in this lifetime.

"I wouldn't have it any other way though," Ve says, before immediately switching gears. "If you don't mind me asking, why a Math professor, of all things?"

AGATE HAWKINGS

"It's not that impressive," Agate says, and some part of Van wants to say otherwise but ve doens't. It's subjective, what is and isn't impressive, and ve won't argue about it. No point in it. Ve nods with a hum at Agate's mention of math not being for everyone. They together are an example of differences in interest.

As Agate talks, Van takes in the Quad. Ve's never been one to stop and take in the scenery - has, especially, never been one for campuses - but ve has to admit Washington's campus is, at the least, nice. The colours, the architecture, the designs, the landscaping, it's all prim and proper for a university campus, which is to say, it also is a little boring.

Van's finds Agate's reasoning behind wanting to be a professor understandable to some degree. Ve would never subject verself to teaching, but ve respects the enthusiasm and dedication to it. It takes drive to do a PhD after all.

Van smiles when Agate asks about what ve does, but despite it, vis face remains fairly neutral, giving nothing away as ve speaks.

"Oh you know, a little bit of this, some of that, lots of paperwork," Van says nonchalantly, almost wishy-washy in his tone. Ve doesn't associate with people outside of vis occupation much. Ve'll take this opportunity to see what is thought of ver without the title of occupation attached.

Ve looks at Agate again, and vis smile turns into a grin edged with something a little more mischievous as he speaks, "What do you think I do?"

AGATE HAWKINGS