A deal's a deal ((for
nevertrustcrows
Jun. 2nd, 2011 09:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
After speaking with Lichtenstein in the Nexus, Adia visits the library on her ship, currently grounded on New Caprica but still used for its lab facilities. The books are saved for posterity, but almost never used since everything is available electronically.
She finds a copy of Aging at the Molecular Level, but then it's time to work, and that evening she has plans with a man who she is just starting to think of as her boyfriend. He doesn't know about the Nexus -- nobody does.
The next day she is finally able to slip away again, and she returns to the Nexus, book in hand, looking for Lichtenstein.
She finds a copy of Aging at the Molecular Level, but then it's time to work, and that evening she has plans with a man who she is just starting to think of as her boyfriend. He doesn't know about the Nexus -- nobody does.
The next day she is finally able to slip away again, and she returns to the Nexus, book in hand, looking for Lichtenstein.
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Date: 2011-06-03 11:48 am (UTC)He was currently cradling a cold cup of coffee as he sat and waited. It took him a couple of moments to spot her, and then register that he'd spotted her. Once he realised, he all but jumped out of his seat, grabbing the satchel he'd brought with him, downing the remaining coffee and abandoning the paper cup.
"Adia!"
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Date: 2011-06-03 04:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-03 04:54 pm (UTC)As much as he would like to dash home and lock himself into a room for a few days, a deal was made. Reluctantly, he closes the book, and puts it into his satchel. "Thank you, Adia, it will do nicely. And you want to contact someone who is dead, yes? I saw a nice, quiet spot coming in." Or rather, searched frantically for one. "Not inside, but out of the way, at least. Shall we?"
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Date: 2011-06-03 05:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-03 05:30 pm (UTC)In between drawing symbols out, he looks up at her. "I could proceed now but better safe than sorry." He takes out a couple of leaves of sage and lights them with a flame that he summons above his hand. He starts walking in a circle with the burning herb, but speaks to Adia. "Who would you like to contact?"
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Date: 2011-06-03 11:41 pm (UTC)She stalls in answering his question, clearly nervous. So many people run through her mind -- her parents, her relatives, former colleagues and friends. With the human population decimated from 80 billion to less than 50,000, there are plenty of options.
But that's not who she really wants to talk to. "His name was Caspar Millen," she half-whispers, eyes on the burning sage.
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Date: 2011-06-03 11:52 pm (UTC)Lichtenstein sets the sage down on one end of the stone bench and takes off his satchel, handing it to Adia. "You'd better take care of this. What did he do for a living? Was he a relative?"
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Date: 2011-06-04 12:00 am (UTC)She takes the satchel and holds it carefully. "He was a microbiologist, like me." She shakes her head and blushes a little at the second question. "N-no. He was a... a friend. A close friend."
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Date: 2011-06-04 12:24 am (UTC)"Caspar Millen, biologist. Caspar Millen..." He lets the name roll off his tongue a couple of times while he goes to sit down on the bench. Hands on lap, feet on the ground, he starts slowing his breath. Very calmly, he asks, "If I get the chance, if I have the energy, would you like to see him?"
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Date: 2011-06-04 01:00 am (UTC)"Is... will he... how will look? Like when he died?" She already has that image burned in her brain.
((Reposted to fix icon.))
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Date: 2011-06-04 11:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-04 01:24 pm (UTC)"I think it'll be enough just to talk to him," She finally says, feeling like a coward. "His death was... messy."
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Date: 2011-06-04 02:37 pm (UTC)Amplified by his magic, and his magic amplified by some of the symbols drawn on the ground, he sends out a message. He sends out a message, as clear and strong as he can get. "Caspar Millen, biologist, close friend of Adia. I summon you."
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Date: 2011-06-04 10:46 pm (UTC)Lichenstein's words ring out in the ether, passing from the land of the living to the land of the dead, his message searching for its intended recipient.
A minute passes of empty silence. Then another minute. Finally, something very faint responds... something old and weary and inhuman. "You do not have the proper fare to pass," it mutters.
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Date: 2011-06-05 12:02 am (UTC)Instead, he focuses on the source of the voice. Strengthening his own message, refusing to reach out to it lest it use that against him. "I am not here to pass. I am here to speak."
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Date: 2011-06-05 12:56 am (UTC)A pause, and then the voice speaks again, grudgingly, "Besides, the one you seek is not dead."
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Date: 2011-06-06 12:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-06 12:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-06 01:14 am (UTC)He takes a few minutes to settle himself. To lower his now unnecessary defences, and to eventually open his eyes. Lichtenstein begins stretching.
"I didn't find him," he tells Adia, finally. "I found someone who told me he wasn't dead. Kept talking about fares and trolls." He wrinkles up his nose and shakes his head. "Anyway, they're usually right about that kind of thing. Usually. Are you sure he's dead?"
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Date: 2011-06-06 02:26 am (UTC)"He wasn't..." She looks at him, wide-eyed, and tries to process his words. Her anxiety dissipates, and though she's disappointed, she doesn't seem totally surprised. "He's dead. I-- I saw him die. But... he's not human. He might not have a soul."
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Date: 2011-06-06 01:30 pm (UTC)"His soul might still be wandering the mortal realm." He pauses and takes a jab at interpreting her body language. "Are you alright?"
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Date: 2011-06-07 11:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 06:30 pm (UTC)"The death is a tricky business. From what I've heard about the afterlife, he might not be in the one you know about. Since he wasn't human... Or he could have been reincarnated. People can do that now, apparently..." Not that Lichtenstein sounds particularly convinced.
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Date: 2011-06-09 03:59 am (UTC)"Reincarnated?" She repeats. That's not a possibility she had considered. "In some of our myths, when a loved one dies, a god can turn them into something else... a plant or an animal, usually."
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Date: 2011-06-09 09:57 am (UTC)"I... I'm sorry I couldn't give you any answers," he tells her sincerely then. Questions without answers are the bane of his life, he understands the discomfort of not knowing something.
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Date: 2011-06-10 09:34 pm (UTC)She shakes her head a little. "It's all right. I wasn't sure what to expect anyway." She smiles. "At least you know it works in the Nexus, right?"
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Date: 2011-06-10 10:13 pm (UTC)He looks to the chalk on the ground and absently smudges a ward with his foot. For a moment, he pauses, then looks to Adia again. "Thank you for the book, I can take that back."
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Date: 2011-06-22 01:56 am (UTC)((Sorry for the late reply. RL ate my head. ;_;))
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Date: 2011-06-22 07:53 pm (UTC)((It's quite alright!! ^^))
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Date: 2011-06-23 12:45 am (UTC)She blinks at him, then blushes and hands him his bag as quickly as she can. "Sorry! I forgot I was holding it..." Her mind was still on the lack of a Casper Millen in the Underworld and what that truly meant. "You'll let me know how it goes, then?"
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Date: 2011-06-23 07:18 am (UTC)Once the bag returned to his hands, he honestly didn't mind. He clung to it for a moment before looping the belt around him and over his shoulder. "It's fine... And I will. When I see you again."
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Date: 2011-06-23 01:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-23 04:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-23 05:11 pm (UTC)"Home... I guess that's what it is, now." She's not keen on leaving, but she'll be missed if she stays in the Nexus too long. She pulls out her PINpoint. "I'll see you around, then."
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Date: 2011-06-23 07:25 pm (UTC)When it comes to saying goodbye, he hesitates, wondering what he should do. A wave, a handshake, a pat on the back... he settles on a nod. "Until then."
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Date: 2011-06-23 07:56 pm (UTC)