"And yet other things come through just fine," he says, spurred on by Caleb's more steady enthusiasm. "I saw an advisor at Barton a week or so after I arrived, just to start getting some information on classes, and she pulled up my full academic record from Yale in a matter of minutes. Had me fill out a transfer application right there in her office." He laughs. "I was hardly going to protest, but it was still...strange barely covers it, and I know from strange."

Darlington shakes his head, quietly keeping his focus on the path ahead of them for a time. "Were you and your boyfriend together long, before you arrived here?"