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[ Up Fabian meanders in his slow placid sort of way. He drapes his arms over the podium and links those bony fingers for a moment before deciding this question would be best delivered around a cigarette. Once that's been taken care of, he goes back to previous posture. ]

Do you fear death; do you long for it? Does death inspire a curiosity or a paralysis within your thoughts? Have you put great thought in to after death? Do you have your own personal belief?

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I think there are two sets of people. Those who ache for something more and those who fear it. The latter tends to be those who already know too much. [ Just tell him if he's warm, here. Oh- thanks, he'll take that drink again then. ]

What were you expecting, honestly?

I tend to be wayfaring more often than not these days [ he says with an exhale. Don't let him catch you calling him a wizard. Really, just don't. ] Small towns. I don't take to large cities much.

What had you been doing in the tundra?

[He crooks an eyebrow. Everyone always thinks that what they practice and focus on is the most important thing. Lichtenstein just happens to be focusing on something that quite probably is, in his own perfectly unbiased and logical conclusion.]

If I understand the rest of the world, I'll get around to looking into art.

Something more — in art, or in death?

[ His artplebeian act isn't usually much of an act, but it comes in handy when he doesn't feel like giving any indication of what goes on in his head. As now. It's a difficult balance between that and boring Fabian away, which he doesn't want. ]

Not that.

[ Baby steps and all that. You shouldn't fear boring him. He's already intrigued and pushing and prying at something doesn't warrant results. You have to learn trust. He is patient. ] Art is a reflection of life, so I would say life and therefore also death.

You should try akvavit sometime.

[ True in many cases. He thinks art is important but not important to everyone. He thinks it is important to himself and should it touch others, very well. It's more that this Professor is terribly fun to prod at. ]

So indulge me then, what is your current focus?

The reinforcement of good medicinal practice and the thorough investigation of practical uses of magic. [A slight tilt of the head as if you say 'See? Far more important'.]

Really. [ You have immediately climbed the ladder on his list of interesting people. Indeed, it is important. ] Has real magic ever been impractical, do you recall?

Yes. Uneducated mages and those who persist in street magic are hardly contributors to society.

I'm quite surprised you would consider them at all.

They exist, so they must be considered, if even for a fleeting moment.

Huh. That's pretty unusual.

[ He might be safe on that score. Wizards are screechy floating things to her. Not creatures you'd want to have a conversation with. (That said, 'witches' are an even less flattering comparison. Space, it turns out, is full of 'we-might-as-well-call-it-magic'.) ]

It was just the regular kind of work. Putting the heat on the enemy, salvaging tech. Usually both at the same time. You can find some good fights in the ruins up there.

[ Nate appears to meditate on that, as the progress of their conversation has meandered a bit. So much of what he does in being evasive isn't... very evasive. Everything is very neat and folded up and ordinary. ]

I personally don't know too much, I think. Not about life, death, or art. Sort of like if you're standing somewhere very high up, you don't need to be able to see the ground to be afraid.

I'll. Consider that. My first exploration into international liquor was baijiu, so.

I always liked what Plato (and Derrida, much later) said about it, that all philosophy prepares us for death. There is a completeness in death that is impossible to attain while alive...not to romanticize, because I don't. Can't.

When I was younger, I was a bit obsessed with it. I hated the not knowing about what would come after, and if I ever thought about dying, well, it was more to eliminate any sense of that ambiguity than anything else. [ So she says, anyway, speaking in a way that's both absent and practiced. These are statements she has made in her head before, explicitly and deliberately spelling out her own thoughts. It's mostly true. Control freak since the age of twelve. ]

Some people look at death like an adversary. Something tangible they have to fight against.

That they do, unfortunate as it is. You practice, then?

[ What a strange world you hail from, he'd think. In his world wizards are elemental magicians who usually have no idea how the hell to use the power they have. Good thing they aren't all that common, could you imagine if they were. ]

Safe to say we come from very different backgrounds. Vagabonding is strange to you, or being uncaring for large cities?

Fair enough. What drives your desire for mediocrity, then? [ Chainsmoker that he is when drinking, he lights another. Not like he can get fucking cancer anyway. ]

Just curious.

I practice, I study, I teach. I take it you do as well.

Same analogy from the other side, I guess. If you're at the bottom of the abyss, just get a little higher up. No need to shoot for the stars.

[ His smile is more sheepish, as if this is the slacker sentiment of a chronic underachiever and not, for example, the words of someone digging his nails into the metaphorical cliff face while shadowy hands pull on his legs. That's a little too dramatic for easy analogies. ]

So are you and your art are part of those who long for more?

[ And he was one of those people. It started so small. It started with love, ironically enough. Love turned to greed, greed turned to vanity, vanity turned to pride, and pride turned to fear when he watched his partner and he did not. The blood was Fabian's hands. It was a lot of blood, a lot of blood. Three hundred and ninety seven years later, he's impossibly thankful to see his face aging. ]

I feel there's nothing wrong with wondering. There are so few ways to truly understand what lays beyond that veil. Certainly not healthy and safe practices with insurance of return. [ Which doesn't mean that there's not ways to see without possibly returning. Difficult? yes. very. dangerous. ]

I wonder sometimes what it is that drives this fear beyond the key idea of unknown. A life not fulfilled?

No, it's a part of a longing for destruction of the self. [ stark moment of honesty here ]

I don't paint or write for anyone. If it effects someone, then it does so.

[ Now this is fun. Someone more practical and skeptical than he. Rare when in such a practice, but suddenly sheds a light on a lot of respect. He may be an artist, yes. It might be a waste of time in this man's eyes but magic is another matter and an entirely difference side of him. ]

I do, yes.

[ His glasses might hide it, but his gaze drops from Fabian immediately, at least for a moment. Surprised, maybe not that surprised, he's not good at analyzing his own reaction. To hear that from someone else's mouth. ]

I can see how it might.

[ A bland automatic response to tide the conversation over while he rallies himself to produce something more normal. ]

I — would like to see them. Some day.

[ ... not entirely successful. ]

[Even before every breath was a conscious effort, Lichtenstein had been focused on facts and study more than people. Although he understood people better now, he disliked wasting time on trivial social games. So his direct manner remained on after death.]

Your specialties are?

Herbology- Healing and charms, primarily.

[ Well, that's all he's going to offer up now as that's the main reason people come to him. ]

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