Books. Everywhere.

Books on demons, books on how to be perfect in three days, books older than his ancestors, books with bad poetry, books... ranging from number of pages, and thickness of covers. Books. Just plain books. Text.

Logan wasn't exactly fond of books. What he was fond of, were the people there. Victims... everywhere. A lot of people liked books, and that gave him a wide selection of people to stalk, and potentially hurt. Because he was still hurt about Criss having cancer, even though he promised he wouldn't die. Logan was still angry that he had cancer, and needed to take it out on some innocent, unsuspecting someone. Which wasn't right, exactly, but then again, Logan's whole life hadn't exactly been what most people consider 'right'.

Today, Logan had a single silver hoop earring in his right ear, and nothing else in the way of jewelry. His black and white colored hair was combed just enough, and just messy enough, to look kind of, in a boyish way, slightly cute. He was wearing a not quite skintight red sweater, and some nice black pants. He was clean, and not covered in blood, dirt, or water. He looked like a fragile, shy child in a bookstore, with icy blue eyes that almost glowed with innocence.

But oh, Logan was far from the innocent person he always tried so hard lately to look like. His nose was buried in a a book, as he leaned against one of the shelves of books. Well, at least it looked like his nose was buried in a book. One eye was actually scoping out people.

His eyes locked on someone. Tall. Too tall. Not as pretty as Keye, so he had no excuse for being that tall.

He scanned the bookstore, with an unamused expression.

He wasn't looking for a book on magic, or on gods, or on demons, or on any of the mny other things that he had been brooding about lately. Alexander Barclay was looking for something to read that would keep his mind off of all the irritating little moral complications and the confusion and the imminent completion of that rather dangerous little project.

Something by Dickens, maybe. Great Expectations, here, that would do. Many details to keep him occupied, many characters to keep track of. It would do. Hopefully it would occupy his mind long enough that he could pretend to be an ordinary English professor for a while.

Which was something he didn't often feel like doing, but today, he did.

He was being casual, so the usual suit was replaced by a dark green polo shirt and a pair of jeans, though his hair was still combed and precise as always. He might show up in public in casual clothing, but he still looked professional. Too professional, maybe.

Controlling the only things he could still control completely, perhaps?

If Alexander currently wanted the book Great Expectations, well, let's just say that he'd have to go through Logan first. Because, oh so coincedentally, he happened to be leaning on the shelf with that particular book on it. It wasn't like he wanted to draw alexander's attention, anyway. He was tall. And sorta pretty. Okay. Pretty... old, that is. Well preserved, maybe, but to Logan, just... old.

Flip, flip, went the pages of his book, and he idly looked around for people. Some were too fat, some too skinny, some too young... some too ugly, some just... hard to explain in words, some scarier than he... none that were real eye-catchers, however.

"Excuse me, young man." My, this was familiar. Remarkably like the way he'd met Keye... No. Thinking about Pip, today. Pip and Estella and Miss Havisham and all those other people in the book.

He hadn't read it recently enough. He couldn't remember all of the characters.

He reached past Logan for the book, firmly ignoring the deja vu feelings that this engendered, and deciding that if this one had a demon, well, he could deal with it all on his own, sorry.

Or not sorry, as the case may be.

"Well, excuse me," the boy retorted irritably. Very rudely, in fact. He didn't move from his spot, either.

Flip, flip, of the pages, yet again. No, Logan didn't have a demon, but he did happen to know a little 'friend' who did.

Boredly, he cast a glance Alexander's way.

The professor glared. Rude boy. Ought to be scolded.

But he was too tired and too preoccupied and too... just uninterested in adding another complication to his too-complicated life to start anything with this boy.

"Would you please" Note the heavy, angry, and sarcastic emphasis on the 'please.' Alexander hasn't been having a very good last few weeks. "move? You are in my way."

Get out of the way, before I lose my temper.

Scolded? Logan would have laughed. He was far too off the deep end to care if he was scolded. Especially by some weird, tall guy. That, might I add, he does not care about, at all. As far as he's concerned, he's just another person in his day that deserves to be killed.

"I might." He gave a one-shouldered shrug and flipped the page, casting his eyes down at the text, now.

"Now. Might be nice." And we all know that the slightly more polite second half is very much an afterthought.

He's not furious, yet. This isn't something that means he should be furious, after all. It's only an irritating little boy who is amusing himself by standing in the professor's way. That's all.

Of course, that progression requires logical thought, and lost tempers don't usually encourage logical thought.

"Frankly, something must be so important that you want me to move, so all right." He stepped out of the way, so that the book Alexander wanted came into view.

"Happy now, old man?"

"Thank you."

Not worth losing your temper over, Alexander, remember. Not worth it.

He took the book off the shelf and brushed roughly past Logan, heading to the counter. Buy the book, get out of the store, and no need to deal with the brat ever again.

That was the plan.

"You're not welcome." Logan shrugged, slipping back into the spot, leaning against the book shelf.

If Logan knew that this was Keye's professor, he would've really had fun with this. And he wouldn't just have called him an old man and left it at that.

Something about Alexander made him want to go right up and deck him in the jaw, though. So he'd follow him, probably, just for the hell of it.

If Alexander knew what Logan had done to Keye, he wouldn't have 'had fun.' He would have killed the brat, and thought afterwards. It's probably a good thing for Logan that Alexander didn't know about what happened after class Saturday...

He paid for the book and headed out. Logan was the furthest thing from his mind--he was already reading. It's a talent he has, to read and walk at the same time. He developed it back in high school.

It comes in handy.

Logan slipped the book he was reading back on the shelf, without care that it was the wrong one, and slipped out of the bookstore, following Alexander, his footsteps nearly silent.

Reading and walking isn't always the best talent. Especially when you're reading, and someone's following you. But, because you're reading, it's hard to pay attention to what's behind you, much less following you, silently. That made reading and walking a useless talent, when you thought of it.

Well, Alexander has never really needed to worry about someone following him, before--he's big enough, and buff enough, and intimidating enough that most would be muggers aren't interested in him. Or he makes them leave him be by dint of magic. Useful, that.

So in this case, he's much too absorbed--and stubbornly so--in his book to notice that the annoying kid from the bookstore is following him, and probably wouldn't be worried even if he did.

After all, what can someone that small do to him? (Magic versus telekinesis. Should be interesting.)

Logan hated, muchly so, to be ignored, but he ignored the fact, right now, that he hated to be ignored. He took notice to the fact that Alexander was bigger than him, but it didn't bother him. After all, Keye was bigger than him, too, and also had a demon on his side, and he'd still managed to take advantage of him.

Keeping a safe distance from Alex, Logan followed without a word.

Alexander is less easily intimidated than Keye. The last person who'd managed to totally cow him was a god. Keye, on the other hand... well... We'll just say that Keye should work on being assertive.

And Alexander wasn't ignoring Logan, per se, he was simply... not noticing him. Or at least, he wasn't paying attention to anything that might have made him notice the boy. He doesn't want more complications.

Logan, bless his heart, would be a complication. Definitely.

So on he went, following Alexander, inching closer to him, almost to the point where he could now be reading over his shoulder as he walked. But he didn't. Logan would've rather liked it if Alex didn't notice him the whole way there. It would be much, much easier that way.

Let's just say, that Logan is still quietly following Alexander, without having to use paragraphs.

No one could ignore someone as close as that. At least, Alexander couldn't.

He turned around quite quickly, almost whacking Logan in the nose with his newly purchased copy of Great Expectations. He probably should have--it would have been nice and therapeutic.

"What do you want?"

Logan looked at him quizzically. "What do I want? I don't know. Should I want something? Everyone wants something." He rolled his shoulders into a relaxed shrug.

If he would've hit him with the book, he would've hit him right back with it.

And then Alexander would have had an excuse to hit Logan into next week, which would have improved his mood greatly. Make the annoying little kid go away and leave him alone.

He grumbled something low in his throat about idiot teenagers, and rephrased his question.

"Why are you following me?"

Logan really didn't want to be hit into next week, so, it's a good thing he didn't hit him with the book. Not that he didn't want to hit him with it, though.

Logan ignored the grumbling, and cocked his head.

"Should I have to have a reason?"

"Most people do, when they do such things." Growl, glare. Go away, stupid boy; I don't have time to deal with an ornery teenager.

"But if you didn't, then I suppose I have no reason to continue this conversation."

And he turned and began to head along his way again.

Sure, he might've not had a reason to follow him before, but now he did. That was rude. He was the ornery one, in Logan's point of view.

Alexander walked on, and Logan followed, waiting a while before doing o, and straying far behind him as not to be suspicious.

Well, as Teague had pointed out rather recently, Alexander wasn't precisely known for being kind and polite. Cold, hard, and a bastard are a few of the adjectives that come to mind when describing him...

At the moment, he could also be described as oblivious. Deliberately so, it seemed, because he was stubbornly inserting himself into the world of his book and not paying any more attention to the world around him than necessary to keep from running into anyone.

Logan had been following for a few mintes now, keeping the same pace as Alexander, athough he kept up a great distance behind him, so he wouldn't be noticed, even if Alex was stubbornly gnoring everything too much to notice.

Turn here, stop briefly to slow his pace there, and that wa pretty much all he had to think about. The rest was mindless work. Following, that is.

Reading Dickens isn't mindless work. Driving, though, can be pretty mindless, if there's not much traffic and one knows the way...

And speaking of driving, there's Alexander's car. You didn't think he walked all this way, did you? Certainly not; he never walks places, though he takes walks for his health on occasion.

If Logan wants to do anything to get him for the rudeness, he had better act quickly, since Alexander will be at the car in only a few more steps.

Wordlessly, an still hanging several feet behind Alexander, Logan stopped. A car. A car? Shit! He forgot about car, stupid little air polluters that they were.

Without moving from his spot or even reaching out, a hevy hand clenched on Alexander's shoulder. That should be enough to get his attention, maybe?

"What the hell...?" The professor half turned, surprised that anyone would grab his shoulder without at least announcing their presence--and wondering who in the world he knew with a grip that strong--and frowned.

No one there? Or at least, no one right there, close enough to grab his shoulder.

Which meant that it wasn't a normal hand. Bother. He didn't much want to deal with this kind of thing today.

Unnish, Alexander is not.

Logan was not at all pleased with his reaction. Mot of his victim, you see, had been woefully unnish, and he'd been able to scare the crap out of them with that trick. It was sad, that Alexander was innish, for his reaction was not as good as if he hadn't been.

Alexander's not just innish, he's a mage, too. Logan's in for more than he bargained for, here.

"Playtime's over," he ground out. "I don't have time for this."

He hasn't connected this with the strange kid who was following him, by the way. It's sometimes a weakness of his.

"Let go."

"But why." The voice. Alexander could probably pair the voice with the kid who was following him, though. It was the same.

If Logan knew that he wa a mage, he would have never, ever even chanced following the man. But he didn't know that.

"... Don't you have something better to do, young man?" He sounds like he's scolding one of his students. That's because it's the same tone, only with a touch more irritation. He's more annoyed with Logan than he usually gets with his students.

"Go pull the wings off flies, or whatever boys like you do today. Play violent video games. I don't care. But let go, and go away."

He's running over spells, mentally. Make the kid go away, and teach him a lesson while he's at it.

"This is much more entertaining though, hm?" He inquired, the invisible hand clenching harder down on Alexander's shoulder. He didn't know that Alexander wa that irritated, or about his problems, or what he could do, so he just pressed on on the subject, and didn't let go.

"... you're just asking for a comeuppance, aren't you?" Alexander muttered absently, then he didn't say anything else--well, anything else in any language that normal people understand.

And a matching hand clamped down on Logan's shoulder. Then one on his other one. And they were squeezing probably a little harder than really necessary.

"I said, let go."

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm--" he paused to wince at the hand on his shoulder, and then smirked. This made the game so much more fun. "--not. But you never..." a trashcan a few feet of Alexander began to rise, "know."

Alexander glared. "I don't have time for games." And the hands moved to Logan's neck and squeezed harder.

Note that he wasn't intending to kill, or even seriously injure the boy. He just wanted Logan to get out of his hair and let him go on his way without a huge arcane confrontation. Though he wouldn't mind teaching the boy a lesson while he was at it.

Squeeze.

Maybe he didn't see the object a few feet from him rising into the air, higher and higher, or maybe he just didn't care. But it was still lifting, lifting...

Alexander might've been squeezing, but it hadn't been so much as of yet to make Logan choke for air. It would've, in a few seconds, if he squeezed harder.

"It's a good thing I do," his voice was slightly pained. Cutting off his air supply wasn't exactly the best for his health.

And what's he going to do about it right this moment? Smashing it would be counterproductive, and there's no reason to worry about it until it actually comes at him. At which point he'll do something. Maybe just move.

The hands squeezed harder, and Alexander strode towards the irritating little boy, with the intention of replacing those hands with his actual ones. It takes too much energy to keep this kind of thing up for long--he's not telekinetic, only good at imitating it, on a temporary basis.

"You're going to end up hurt, if you aren't careful, young man." His tone was oddly conversational, as if he were merely giving advice to someone who didn't actually need it.

Aaand, cue choking. Even if the hands aren't really visible, they still squeeze like normal hands would. And after a while of squeezing on one's throat, one starts to choke.

But the object didn't stop. It came hurtling towards Alexander, and between trying to get air, Logan spat, "Leggo of me!"

Alexander dodged. Or at least, mostly dodged--the trashcan clipped his side as he twisted and clattered to the ground some ways past him. He growled something irritated and probably impolite, and wrapped his hands around Logan's neck.

"No."

Now the professor was more than annoyed, he was angry, and Logan was the convenient target for that anger. Not to mention that beating things is always a good way to get rid of excess tension.