chiron_survivor | A deal's a deal ((for nevertrustcrows

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A deal's a deal ((for nevertrustcrows

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.

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After she left, Lichtenstein was quick to get home and organise things, impatient in dealing with his few patients, and eager to return to the Nexus. He had intended to get some sleep, but didn't get as much as planned, and it showed.

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!"

She quickly spots him -- hard to miss her name being called out in such an urgent tone -- and approaches him. "Hi, Martel." She smiles and holds out the book to him. No sense in making the poor man wait. "I hope it suits your needs. It's the most recent edition." The knowledge within is as advanced as cutting edge 21st century Earth research.

As soon as the book comes into view, his eyes widen significantly. He slings his bag over his shoulder so he can take the book and run a hand along its cover. Flipping it over, he skim-reads the blurb, and then opens up the contents. A quick glance at it prompts a short, strangled, but happy noise that he can't help but make.

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?"

"I'm glad you like it." Adia's smile fades at his question, as if she forgot why she had gotten him the book in the first place. But it's too late, at least in her mind, to back out now, and as scary as this endeavor is, she really does want to speak to the dead. Or at least, one dead person in particular. "S-sure. Lead the way."

He leads her to a paved clearing settled in a quiet little spot in the Nexus. As soon as they arrive, Lichtenstein roots out a piece of chalk and starts drawing wards on the pavement around a bench.

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?"

She watches what he's doing silently, although she does startle a little when he creates a flame from out of nowhere. "How did you do that?"

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.

He blinks at her. Sometimes he forgets that he has to tell people about that for them to know. "Magic."

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?"

Adia looks away sheepishly. Well, duh. Lichtenstein can talk to the dead, how else would he start a flame without any obvious source? "Magic. Okay."

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."

If it's any consolation to Adia, Lichtenstein is too socially blind to notice any blushing.

"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?"

Adia puts a hand to her mouth to hide her nervousness. There is a sudden ache inside of her of something she didn't even know was missing. She both does and doesn't want to see him, and the indecision makes her forget to answer for several seconds.

"Is... will he... how will look? Like when he died?" She already has that image burned in her brain.

((Reposted to fix icon.))

"Most of the ghosts I've met seem to take the form that feels most normal to them. Unless he's a particularly nasty or vengeful spirit..." He breathes gently for a minute before prompting her for an answer. "So would you prefer not to see him? I might not even get the chance."

That just makes her worry more. Would Caspar be vengeful? Would he hate her in the afterlife, now that he knows what he truly is?

"I think it'll be enough just to talk to him," She finally says, feeling like a coward. "His death was... messy."

Lichtenstein nods and closes his eyes. He wills a barrier into life, one to stop unwanted or possessive spirits, though Adia will not be able to see it. With some concentration, and, of course, more magical aid, he loosens the veil between the living and the dead around himself. Now it's just a matter of reaching out to the spirit in question.

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."

Adia stands outside of the wards, watching Lich anxiously, clasping her hands together as if holding onto herself would give her some courage.

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.

Lichtenstein pushes away a twinge of annoyance and a niggling foreboding feeling. He's seen inhuman creatures before. All he needs to do is stick to his ritual.

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."

"I know, I heard you the first time." The voice is stronger -- a man's voice, ancient and grizzled. It also sounds annoyed. "That's what everyone says at first. Then, suddenly, there's a living soul on my boat and I'm short a fare."

A pause, and then the voice speaks again, grudgingly, "Besides, the one you seek is not dead."

Lichtenstein is about to reiterate that he really doesn't intend on leaving the land of the living, when the voice speaks again. Though it serves to irritate Lichtenstein, he tries to remain calm. "And how would you know if he's not? He should be dead."

"I am Charon," the voice replies, "Ferryman to the Underworld. Dead souls must ride with me if they wish to cross the river Styx. I have never transported this man you are looking for, nor turned him away because he lacked fare." The voice is as serious as a grave, although there is a hint of patronizing when it adds, "And should is not the same as is."

"I wouldn't know for certain, I didn't kill the man personally," Lichtenstein can't resist retorting. He can't imagine Adia will be pleased, or maybe she might be... It's hard to tell with people. Either way, he has no more to say to the ferryman-creature, so without so much as a thank you or goodbye, he grounds himself, bringing him back to his body and the right side of the veil.

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?"

Adia had taken a seat on the ground while Lich attempted contact with the Underworld, and though still anxious, her attention had wandered. But now she snaps to attention, getting to her feet while Lich speaks.

"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."

The mage extinguishes the sage just to be careful, then stands and walks over to Adia. He'll have to get rid of the wards, but one thing at a time.

"His soul might still be wandering the mortal realm." He pauses and takes a jab at interpreting her body language. "Are you alright?"

She reaches up to adjust her scarf, forearms pressed against her chest in a defensive gesture. "I'm fine," she says quickly, in a tone that wouldn't fool anyone. "I just..." Her gaze drifts downward. "I wasn't sure if I really wanted to talk to him or not. But I don't like the idea of his soul wandering aimlessly, or... or not even having a soul."

He stands there awkwardly for a moment before considering that, perhaps, he should try and do something about her anxieties. At first, he moves to open his arms as if to offer a hug, but hastily reconsiders. His arms move behind his back instead.

"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.

Adia looks up quickly, the movement catching her eye. Was he about to...? She decides that she's just imagining things, but the thought does manage to shake off some of her dark thoughts.

"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."

"Well then. Perhaps that is what happened." He can't help but feel a little pleased with himself that he managed to stop her from looking quite so glum.

"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.

"Perhaps," Adia echoes, although she sounds skeptical. Then again, before she found the Nexus, she didn't believe in much of anything that was in the Sacred Scrolls. Anything is possible.

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?"

"Yes! It was very enlightening. I'd still want to be careful... but it was enlightening. Something to remember in future. A development in magic, and the book will help my science. Certainly a productive day, all in all."

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."

"Oh, it's-- I mean. You're welcome." She was about to say it was no problem, but she didn't want to be dismissive of how much the book clearly means to Lich. "I guess I'm lucky our scientific knowledge wasn't lost, along with everything else." She smiles hopefully. "Maybe it'll make a little difference in your world."

((Sorry for the late reply. RL ate my head. ;_;))

"You are lucky. Very lucky," he agrees, then holds out a hand for her to return his bag. "Hopefully... We'll see. If it's as much use as I think... Then yes. It will do more than you'd expect."

((It's quite alright!! ^^))

"I never thought of myself as lucky," Adia replies, but she appreciates Lich's remark all the same. "You're lucky, too. You have a world to go back to."

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?"

"Just because you've lost things doesn't mean you're not lucky. You still have plenty."

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."

"Okay." She smiles, sincere. She looks down at the runes surrounding the bench, most still intact. "Should I rub these out? Or is it okay to leave them there?"

"... To leave them here?" He actually laughs. Treasure it, Adia, it is a rare thing. "Definitely not! But I'll take care of them. You can go home if you like."

"I don't know how this sort of thing works," Adia replies, a little defensively. But yes, it's best to leave it to the expert.

"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."

He's still somewhat amused, and a little intrigued, at the idea of necromancy runes being left in the Nexus of all places. Still she has a point, so he does his best not to smile at it.

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."

There's another one of those hesitations of his. She'd understand his dilemma if she knew. Goodbyes in the Nexus are strange. "Um, okay. Bye." She presses a button on her PINpoint and disappears.

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A deal's a deal ((for nevertrustcrows

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