Ominous! And here Lucien is, at the right place with the wrong book, he suspects. He keeps it tucked under one arm, and continues sifting through the pile for anything good. The Heraclitus, for instance. Hides [i]A Victory of Crows[/i] in the pile he's making. Plausible deniability that he was trying to hide it, if it comes up. 

And- Good heavens, someone put Cioran under "self-help"?! These clowns [i]do[/i] have a sense of humour after all. Definitely taking those.

He quite likes Ailee, but he doesn't... Does he trust her? He does, but he feels like he shouldn't right now, and he trusts [i]that [/i] feeling more. He definitely doesn't know how he feels about the newcomer, yet. 

"Oh, you don't want to do that." Lucien says cheerfully, matter-of-factly. "First you'd hit me, then you'd miss me, so it goes." 

And is that- Ailee just suppressed a bitter rant. He saw the Look. Ailee also didn't immediately hassle the professor, upon seeing him next to this miserable pit that puts the lie to everything he believes. Ailee is seeing Pagliacci in what might be his lowest moment, and she instead chooses to [i]rib Lucien about his shirt?[/i]

It is decided. Ailee cannot be trusted right now because she has a [i]crush.[/i] Does [i]she[/i] realize, yet?

Stars above.

Lucien keeps his books tucked under one arm, keeping the spines facing [i]away[/i] from the arriving pair. He considers going for a handshake, but decides... [i]no.[/i] He snaps his heels together and gives his swoopiest courtier bow, dancing on the razor's edge between sarcastic and sincere - neither one nor the other. He rakes his hair back with his free hand as he straightens - but never [i]too[/i] straight, eh? 

"Hullo. Lucien Roue, charmed. If you can find anything worth a damn in this paper-puddle, you've a keener eye than I. I'll have the pleasure of adding 'myself included' before the delightful Ms Sundish gets another jab in. Our mutual here," this field intentionally left blank, "the Professor was just... you know, I'm not actually sure?"