((I am so very awful at titles.))

Alexander is en route from class to his office. He carries a briefcase, wears a coat and scarf, and generally looks eager to get out of the cold and indoors again. It's a shame that he's a homicidal maniac, you know? It's times like this that he seems so very normal.

That, I'm sure, is about to change.

Anyway, he's got his face hidden in his scarf, his free hand in his pocket, and isn't looking anywhere but right in front of him. Wouldn't want to step on a patch of ice and fall, after all...

((I'm pretty awful at starting, too.))

Wick's visit to the campus today has nothing to do with Alexander. In fact, the professor is the last thing on his mind. He's come looking for any of his few human friends, hoping maybe they could explain to him why Dave has turned (comparatively) nice all of a sudden.

He's fluttering along, invisible, minding his own business for once,... and then he spots Alexander. He stops - really stops, even his wings, and he just barely restarts them in time to keep himself from hitting the ground.

Then he glares.
He's nowhere near strong enough to confront the professor, and he hasn't found anyone to do it for him, either, though he hasn't had much of a chance to look.
Almost without thinking about it, he coats an icy surface (in Alexander's path) with the illusion of firm ground.

Old habits die hard, don'tcha know.

Alexander doesn't (quite) fall. He slips, staggers, regains his balance, and steps off the sidewalk into the snow, which makes him mutter profanity under his breath because he isn't wearing things for walking actually in snow...

... wait just one minute.

He looks at the sidewalk and murmurs a word.

Just how strong is Wick's illusion? Hopefully it's strong enough that it will stand against Alexander's anger-powered spell...

But I doubt it.

He suppresses a snicker, and then a sigh of dismay as Alexander fails to fall all the way.
What a pity.

...Wick's still quite tired from his outing. That illusion couldn't be counted on to hold for more than few seconds, though if he was stronger, it would be much more difficult to get rid of. Fae magic is tenacious.

And there is ice.

There is also a faery, as the spell was intended to dispell any and all illusions in the immediate area.

I'm guessing this is a bad thing.

"You." His voice is quiet. Calm. No hint of surprise, or really even of anger.

"Oh, hell..." Wick hisses, upon realizing he's visible.

There's only one thing to do now, and that's get out of here before Alex can get his hands on him.
So he flies for all he's worth (which isn't much) away from the professor.

"Don't you dare."

Alexander is creative when it comes to thinking up spells for things that he's never done before. When it comes to things he needs to do rather often, well, he just doesn't bother coming up with new ones. Saves time.

Yeah. You know that barrier-thing? Deja vu.

...And Wick is stopped, yet again. He gives a strangled squeak as he hits the barrier- I'm trapped! - and futilely scratches at it. He doesn't really expect it to do anything, but he can't just give up.

"What do you want?"
He peers at Alexander over his shoulder, shvering. He remembers all the details of what happened last time he was in this sort of situation, and none of them are pleasant.

"Let's say I'm curious."

He wants to know why Wick isn't dead from their last encounter. After all, he shouldn't have survived that little crushing episode...

"About what?"

Wick was careful to keep his tone from becoming too defiant - it wouldn't do to provoke the man, if possible.

"What do you want?"

"Frankly? I should like to know why you are not dead."

It's as simple as that.

So far, he's not angry. Just curious, perhaps vaguely annoyed.

Blink.

"...'Cause of Dave 'n Alan, I guess..."
Dave for finding him and getting him help, and Alan for providing said help.
He shrugged a shoulder, but the movement was jerky and tense, not nonchalant as it should have been.
"Why?"

"I believe I said that I was curious, did I not?"

He folds his arms and looks Wick over with a frown.

"Dave Tuckey and Alan Gardinier?"

"Um... yes..."

Wick frowns back.

"But don't you even think about hurting them," he snarls, though he's in no position to be giving orders.

Alexander chuckles.

"That was not my intention."

Dave's his cousin, and he owes Alan for helping Bo. So hurting them is not an option.

... besides, he isn't angry with Wick anymore. He did hurt Wick quite enough to revenge himself for the pictures.

"Well, good."
Be amazed - Wick is actually concerned about someone other than himself.

"...Are you gonna let me go?" Blink. "Alive?"

"I suppose that depends on what you will do if I do."

For example, if Wick plans on trying any tricks or any such thing, Alexander may just crush him again, and be completely certain the faery's dead this time.

... Wick's a smart boy, he can figure that out, right?

He's not smart, but he's not that stupid.

"Nothing!" Wick's eyes open innocently wide as he wills Alexander to believe him. "I won't do anything. Promise!"

Oh, I don't know. I would have said he was completely lacking in common sense, but he's not stupid. He does have that lovely creative streak...

"Really."

Alexander sounds skeptical.

"Really! Cross my heart," he insists, making the appropriate gesture but not adding the 'and hope to die' part, because, simply put, he doesn't hope to die. "I won't do anything. I mean it."

"Mm."

Alexander seems to consider this for a while.

"And how do you know Tuckey?"

"Uhh. Well, he used to date Violet,... you know Violet, right?... Right. You do. Well, that's how I know him."
He says used to because he wasn't aware they got back together - his time at Dave's has so far been spent mainly in sleep, and he and Dave don't talk to each other very much. Nor is Wick the most observant of people.

"I am aware of that."

He nods to himself, filing this bit of information away with all the other odd bits that don't actually have anything to do with anything but that he likes to know anyway. Alexander is a tad obsessive.

"And Gardinier?"

"Alan?"

He shrugs, seeming more at ease (but only slightly).

"I wandered into his office once. Nothing special."

"I see."

Such an interconnecting web of interaction, and Alexander was aware of none of it. He'll have to be more careful about that sort of thing in future. He'll have to watch out.

Paranoid? Oh, maybe a little.

The barrier shimmers; Alexander's about sure he's asked all he needs to know.

Wick stifles a sigh when he sees the tremble in the barrier, but doesn't manage to keep himself from slumping in relief.
It apears he's going to be getting out of this intact.

Isn't that unusual?

"One last thing."

Alexander smiles. Remember the way he smiled when he almost killed Wick? It's a very similar smile. Perhaps slightly less fucking scary, but not by much.

"Try to avoid touching my personal things, hm?"

And the barrier vanishes.

"Okay."

Just 'okay'. No frantic promises.
As soon as the barrier is gone, Wick disappears from sight, and gets as far away as he can, as fast as he can.