Kerr nodded along as Vincent complimented Ben's foresight, proud of his fledgeling for the choices he'd made regarding the Academy. The fact that his disappearance had inspired the idea was nothing when compared to Ben's ability to turn his personal tragedy into pure hope and education for twenty-three sire-less vampires. And Murphy. He was intrigued by Ben's unwillingness to elaborate on Murphy's circumstances, even though Vincent obviously wondered what he was alluding to; it piqued Kerr's curiosity.
Was his silence regarding Murphy because he'd never talked about his friend with Vincent before or because of the bitterness he felt over Murphy's siring and consequent training by the Sacramentum? Would Vincent not approve of Ben's strong emotions on the subject and that's why he was avoiding it? Perhaps Vincent didn't know how Ben could fall prey to his own insecurities and passions... or, rather, Ben didn't think he knew, so he politely refused to expand on the topic. Kerr bet Vincent understood far more than Ben gave him credit for (mostly because it suited Ben's view of their relationship to see it that way, he supposed).
Personally, he'd have been very interested to hear Vincent's take on the Murphy situation... but there was no way he was going to discuss it when Ben avoided it. He'd be left to walk home if he did that. Plus, there was a secret part of him that exulted in the knowledge that Vincent only got to see the nicer sides of Ben's personality. It meant that only he was privy to the whole of Ben and he was both enamoured and humbled by that privilege.
Owen was very pleased the topic shifted from dead sires to work. Vincent's history was long and filled with numerous instances of love - lost or otherwise - and although he'd made his peace with it, it didn't stop him feeling bitter, jealous, inadequate or angry if he thought on it too long. Mostly, it just brought back his ire over being a designed puppet from the start of his own life and it wasn't pleasant to think about. Work, however? That was a topic he could get behind (especially since he'd finished his meal rather quickly and had begun eyeing Vincent's largely-untouched one hopefully).
"They're so cute, the way they all hurry out of the dorm when they finally rise and line up for their blood, all jiggly and big-eyed, like cranky baby birds," he snickered, too superior in his observation of the fledgelings to be aware he'd had much the same look when all the blood had hit the table not that long ago. He used his hands for emphasis as he described the orphans. "You know," he chuckled, turning his grin from Vincent to Ben, "Tate is really obsessed with porcine blood. It's reaching a whole new level - Sean and Mack keep giving him shit about it and they totally embarrassed him in front of Sora and Jenny the other night!" he laughed. He talked to Tate a lot - mainly because he had his middle name and that of the man he'd been named for, but never known. Well, he talked to all of them a fair bit, really.
Once started, Kerr noticed Owen embraced his topic with enthusiasm. He wasn't perturbed by Ben's blank stare or Vincent's mildly concerned looks (like he wasn't sure Owen should be gushing about all the topics he was, in front of his boss). Kerr only understood that look as Owen progressed from talking about the freshman class of fledgelings in a very familiar manner to dropping comments about other students and then the lecturers. It became clear, as he talked, that he'd sat in on every class at the Academy, more than once.
"You saw that?" Kerr asked with surprise, when Owen mentioned how cool it was when of the students in his telekinesis class had succeeded in lifting a pencil and moving it partway around the room. Kerr had obviously been so busy celebrating with the class that he'd not even noticed Owen's presence.
"Are you kidding? It was awesome! Yours and Astrid's classes are the best!" the young blond enthused, then widened his eyes before he looked back at his husband, smirking because he was about to tease him. "I mean, yours are great too, Honey, but there's nothing in there I don't need to know so others are just... better," he shrugged, wrinkling his nose cutely as he reached over to pat the back of Vincent's hand. With a cheeky giggle he made a show of drawing in a breath as he turned to face Ben. "So, do you like the new librarians Sam hired?" he enquired brightly.
Owen was Head of Security but it was clear that he was all over every aspect of every occurrence across the entire campus - if asked, he'd even be able to tell Ben who'd been absent and missed lectures in the last couple of weeks. It was also clear that Owen's job was not demanding enough.
