logan_watcher (logan_watcher) wrote in city_limits, @ 2009-04-15 14:35:00 |
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Entry tags: | janine weiss, logan guevera |
Game
Between the close brush at the bar last week and the offer from The New York Post to be their supernatural affairs reporter, Logan had a busy week. He was dreading the call to Grant Norris to turn down the offer, realizing he wouldn't have a good enough reason for doing so in the eyes of the editor. He could just hear Grant now ... You're turning down a return to the lucrative field of journalism for what? Retail?!
Yes. Yes, he was.
It wasn't so much that he loved retail -- though it certainly had its advantages -- but Logan knew he was doing a lot more good running Thoth's Library than he ever would as a reporter for that paper in New York. The Post wasn't nearly the reputable paper the Times was -- for all the former Watcher knew, the Post was some tabloidesque rag that spent all its time and resources tailing Alex Rodriguez and trashing the Yankees if they had the nerve to so much as lose a game.
It was enough to make Logan glad he was a Mets fan.
Still, the way he was helping people with the store was fulfilling; so much so, it made up for the fact that Logan just lost his girlfriend and had to deal with the fact that the vampire who killed his only Slayer was after him again. What Diego wanted was still a mystery, and he was becoming a bit of a nuisance, but the former Watcher refused to bolt on his life in Chicago for some job in New York because things were getting a little rocky in the Windy City.
As bad as things were, Logan knew they could always be worse. He also knew that, soon enough, they would get better. He just had to wait it out.
Janine was a flurry of activity. The theater had begun turning a hefty profit in the recent business quarter -- and part of her, deep down, credited her contributions for that turnaround -- and the company had hired on two new people to be of assistance behind the scenes. Once again, the brunette found herself in the position of delegating tasks that usually she'd be required to do. Which meant she could leave the theater to pick up a book she had ordered. However, it also seemed to mean that she was glued to her cell phone.
"There's a difference between rhinestones and sequins," the diminutive woman was explaining as she entered Thoth's Library, the handset pressed to her ear because she refused to cave and buy one of those ridiculous looking ear-pieces. "Not that it matters, because they're totally wrong for the costume. Just get the iridescent thread I asked for. Thank you." She clicked the 'end' button and looked up at Logan.
"Hi." An abashed smile crept over her face. "I got your voicemail, about the book. I really appreciated that little touch."
Logan smiled, waved back. "No problem," he offered, reaching under the counter for the volume in question. Looks That Killed: a History of Vampire Fashion was a hard book to track down, but not because it was such a hot seller. The publisher, realizing the tome was probably for a niche market, only printed but so many copies, and for some reason overlooked Logan's store when sending out the last shipment.
No matter. A few phone calls to other shop owners throughout the states led to a copy being delivered to the store. Logan made a mental note to thank Jerry at Weird, Weird and ... WTF? in Detroit. Maybe send over some inventory that some of the customers up there were asking for.
"You said you needed some reference material for one of your plays," he offered, sliding the book along the counter and cocking his head to the side. "I figured ... what better reference than historical accuracy?"
His eyes glanced down at the book for a second, returning to Janine. "Or so the author says."
She pulled the book toward her, studying the cover. It was one of the few things that she couldn't find on Amazon.com. "You're awesome," she told him sincerely, looking back up at him. Janine rifled through her pink and green tote bag for her wallet.
"Historical accuracy is definitely a help," the brunette admitted to him. "Also, when the actors don't like their costumes and try to argue with me, I can show excerpts from the book to them. And if they still don't like it, well ... they can go argue with the vampires themselves."
Logan chuckled, shaking his head. "Well, we don't recommend that," he offered, pausing. "Unless you really don't like them, then they can have at it."
The former Watcher was joking, of course; he would never actually want a human seek out a vampire. Even if said human wanted to fancy him or herself a vampire hunter, Logan would be against it ... leave that to the superpowered, underpaid professionals.
He enjoyed Janine's visits to the store. They didn't know each other all that well, but Janine was one of his more frequent repeat customers, and they always seemed to make a point to chat whenever she stopped by. The costumes she was designing for the latest show was always a point of conversation, as was the blog she'd been keeping.
The fact that she kept Avery's true nature off her blog after Logan told her went a long way to telling the former Watcher he could trust her if volatile information were to be bandied about. He appreciated her sense on secrecy, and he wasn't sure he'd properly thanked her yet for it.
"Hey, thanks for keeping it quiet," he said, scratching his chin. "Ya know, the Avery thing."
Janine shrugged affably. "I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize the continued existence of my favorite bookstore," she replied casually. "Besides, how else would I get my daily dose of conversation with you?" That was a bit of an exaggeration: she was there about every other day, to the protest of her paycheck. "Honestly, though, some things are just better left clandestine." The brunette had seen how the media had went to town on the store, on both Avery and Logan, and she didn't want to rip open that barely-healed metaphorical wound.
"How have you been? I know I haven't been a fixture in awhile, things got a bit hectic at work."
"I'm good," Logan half-lied with a nod, unsure if he knew Janine well enough to just dive right in to all his personal shit. He wasn't really sure if she wanted to hear how he'd been dumped and that there was a vampire out there still trying to make his life a living hell.
Trying because Logan was determined not to let Diego succeed.
"Store's getting back to normal, I've hired a part-time psychic for readings ... life's been a little hectic of late, but that just makes coming here better. This place is like my sanctuary of sorts."
Glancing over Janine's shoulder at the old woman perusing the werewolf books, Logan folded his elbows on the counter and leaned forward, lowering his voice. "You hear what they're doing over at Lincoln Park?" he nearly whispered. "Buncha bullshit, you ask me."
The brunette perked up visibly. "A psychic?" That sounded fascinating. When she was younger, she would have said such people were frauds and fakes, but now she knew better -- some were legit, and she trusted Logan not to swindle his customers. Maybe she would come in sometime for a reading. She added it to her mental Rolodex, which was, admittedly, a scattered tempest of chaos.
Janine fingered the strap of her shoulder bag, looking uneasy. "I wouldn't want to live there, no matter how low the property values go. What if that happens all over again? Who can know for sure? Plus, it would just feel creepy." She tilted her head thoughtfully. "Still, I would be interested to check it out. You know, under the guise of seeing the properties for sale."
Logan smiled. "Absolutely," he agreed. "The former Watcher in me can't wait to just walk around and scope things out."
He shook his head, moving a stack of texts from the side of the counter to the floor below, thinking they were best kept out of sight due to their material. They weren't particularly graphic texts, but they were magickal volumes for incredibly advanced practitioners; the sort of thing Logan put in the back room under lock and key code.
He didn't want regular people seeing them on the counter and asking 15,000 questions.
"Just won't catch me living there," he added. "My luck, I'll stumble into the bathroom late at night and find a mutant snake in the toilet."
The young woman laughed quietly, leaning closer to the counter. "From what I hear, that's not too much of an impossibility." Of course, the thought of that really happening was horrifying, but some things just needed a little injection of humor, or else everything was wont to get way too dark. Then, her hazel eyes lit up, and she stood up straight, adding about another inch to her small frame.
"I have an idea," Janine informed him quietly but excitedly. "And it involves you."
She reached out without thinking and placed a conspiratorial hand on his arm. "You and I will go in there together, acting like we're looking for an apartment. We'll pretend to be a couple or something, to make it that much more believable. We'll get to check things out."
The idea took Logan by surprise, and at first, he wasn't really sure what to make of it. Not that he wouldn't like a chance to glance around what was now Lincoln Park, see for himself if the place really was suitable for human habitation again.
No, the problem was the whole pretending-to-be-a-couple thing. Not that Logan wasn't necessarily averse to the thought of Janine as acting like his significant other; she was cute enough, and from their limited interactions thus far, she seemed to be a smart, funny and all-around nice person. The former Watcher's hang-up was the acting part of it, since he never even so much as thought about doing something like that.
Still ... the temptation was far too great. Logan decided he had to see what was going on in Lincoln Park.
"I'm game," he finally said with a sideways grin. "When were you thinking of doing this?"
"Hmm," she said thoughtfully, pulling her little pink day planner out of her bag. She flipped through the pages, little bits of paper and other odds and ends falling out of the pages as she did so. The thing was stuffed to the gills, less of a 'planner' than it was a carry-all.
After a moment, she spotted the little calendar that indicated that month and squinted to read the scribbled words on the page. "I think I'm free next week," Janine decided. "Next ... Thursday?" The brunette looked up at Logan, hope displayed plainly on her face. She wanted to be a Mata Hari-type, for once, instead of just decorating their costumes.
Logan couldn't keep the smile off his face when he saw the planner Janine produced. It was a little surprising for her to have something so bright and colorful when her job was probably one of the darker ones a person in "mundane" society could have -- it was an interesting juxtaposition, and in spite of his own logic regarding recent circumstances, Logan found it oddly adorable.
And he was fairly certain Janine wasn't a vampire, since she was out and about at 3:30 in the afternoon.
Nodding and grabbing a calendar he kept next to his desk behind the counter, the former Watcher glanced at the week in question, smiling when he saw the block for Thursday completely blank. He penciled in the visit to Lincoln Park for that day before returning the calendar to its station on the wall and returning his attention to Janine.
"Sure ... I can get Purity to cover the day shift for me and we can go then. Something tells me an agent won't wanna meet us after dark."
Janine grinned, bouncing once on her heels. "Yeah, I don't think that's the kind of clientele they're looking for, exactly. Though it would be apt, wouldn't it?" She tilted her head to the side, her imagination revving up. "Luxurious vampire residences. No southern exposures, blood bank en suite," the brunette intoned. "But that could be handy to Slayers and the like, too. Your one stop shop for staking."
She grabbed the plastic shopping bag that held her book after putting her planner away. "Then it's a date. You have my cell, right? I'll give you directions to my place when you call and you can pick me up. I'm woefully sans vehicle at the moment."
"Sure," Logan said. "Beats taking the El sometimes."