[Action]

[abidinglaw]

[After having shown his face little over the past few days – probably a joint consequence of not wanting to catch whatever Jack had and wanting even less to be press ganged into holding his bloody soup spoons – Norrington begins this morning absent from his bright and bedless bedroom. He wakes with the rising sun for a rousing stroll on the beach. On the way back, with Cullen house lit by the crisp light of morning, he recalls the recent ice storms and all at once he has a goal for the day. Assess the house for damages. If any housemates are home they might just hear some curious scrapings on the exterior of Cullen house, the occasional bangings, but most ominous of all will likely be the prolonged intermittent silences. Never you mind. It's probably just a woodpecker.

Later in the day he'll be in the village proper for the first time in days and days and days. The item shop is a high priority, and he spends a long time there scrutinizing things with narrowed eyes and a chin cradled in the crook made by his thumb and index finger. Later still, he'll be stopping in at Good Spirits for the sake of overhearing village-gossip. He'll even politely clear his throat behind one or two people in aid of this noble goal. It's amazing what a brief absence will do for a man's social skills.]

Comments

[abidinglaw]

Of course, to mix up the--...the uh-..

I'm sorry, what? I was informed that this was a cassette tape.

[He seems to sense the danger that Linda poses the tape. He cocks a brow and reaches his hand out for the cassette. The gesture is sudden, bordering on aggressive, but not quite violent.]

[herotypical]

"...You're joshing me."

[abidinglaw]

"Oh no, far from it. He was a wealthy fellow. He insisted upon French maple for the teeth themselves and a chap in London cut them for him. He said he would not trust the job to any man but the most humble British laborer. Or, I should say, that was what I took him to mean."

[herotypical]

"If he was so wealthy, why didn't he just...get...a non-wooden pair?"

[flickerflash]

[A direct order is somewhat chafing to a pooka. She pulls back from the lip of the roof.] As you wish. I suppose I could just simply fall down instead.

[Then she leaps.]

[generalflirt]

[...Well then he'll hand back the tape to him, looking... a little more serious than he should but his tone is neutral] ...A mix tape's when people put songs from all sorts of different artists and albums together, usually in some sort of pattern.

[abidinglaw]

"I did ask him that myself, but -- the clacking, you understand. It would have been impolite to press the issue."

[abidinglaw]

Dammit girl, be careful or you'll really--

[What, fall? He's prepared for a fall, standing directly below the roof. This is where she would end up if she tripped and dropped straight down. Jumping, though? Now that's another thing entirely. Propelling herself through the air takes her quickly over his head, and though he tries to stride backwards he cannot keep apace.]

[abidinglaw]

How many songs could one record on a single tape?

[He takes it and turns it around in his hands at waist level, watching it rotate as though by doing so he might determine the answer by himself.]

[flickerflash]

[Katie lands lightly on the sand behind him, feet first, as if she'd only jumped over a puddle.]

Oh, drat. I seem to have accidentally found my way down.

[generalflirt]

Maah, that's a question... I don't know. Back in the day with CDs you could bit between ten and twenty, but tapes? I'm not into vintage.

[herotypical]

"Your an admiral. Doesn't that give you at least one press-the-issue free card?"

[abidinglaw]

"I was not always Admiral."

If his tone was chiding, it was only so that he could mask the underlying regret.

[abidinglaw]

[Once the admiral stops his backward march he keeps his back turned for seconds and more, careful to reveal nothing beyond the broad expanse of his shoulders. It is his custom to answer such insolence with sharp words, a voice made for shouting over storms, a tone that makes a comparable substitute for the whip.

But this is just a child. And when he does turn, it is to direct his scorn not at Katie, but at--]

Magic. You used magic.

[abidinglaw]

[Even if he makes a conservative estimate of five songs per tape, he has a cache of some ten or more cassettes in his box. None are labelled, true, and Adele had explained that custom dictated that unlabeled tapes often indicated blank tapes, but if only a handful were -- what, printed upon? -- then he might have ten, twenty, thirty songs on his hands. Songs from distant times and places, voices of men and women dead and not yet born. If only he could hear them. And without the ability to hear them, what good were they?]

Would you have one?

[He is careful to keep his voice even -- disinterested. They are not Norrington's tapes until he chooses to claim them as such. They probably do not even work.]

[herotypical]

"You mean...you weren't born this way?"

This time, the snark is slightly buried.

[abidinglaw]

"You flatter me."

He knew she did nothing of the sort.

[herotypical]

"What can I say? I live to flatter. So. What's before admiral?"

[flickerflash]

[Katie blinks back at him, taken aback by that scorn. Then her eyes narrow.]

Would you prefer I hadn't?

[generalflirt]

[...wait what? Does he mean-] A tape? I don't got any tapes. If you mean CDs, I don't got that either. I got a few things on my phone, but I busted it up a while ago.

[abidinglaw]

No.

[He sighs, clearly losing patience.]

No, if I were to give one to you.

[He is holding the cassette tape out again, and preferencing the hand on the side of the boy's unoccupied shoulder.]

I am asking whether you would be interested in taking one off of my hands.

[abidinglaw]

[No, in fact. He had heard of her magic, but up until now he was willing to dismiss the talk as a foul rumor. He is glad to have seen the truth for himself.]

We are to live together - in a manner of speaking - and people who occupy the same space needs must establish rules. It is a natural process for the most part.

[He would not waste time skirting around the point, however.]

You are never to turn your magic upon me.

[abidinglaw]

"Commodore."

The urge to make up some nonsense rank for her to bring up in conversation with Jack an unknown number of weeks down the road is curbed only by his certainty that it would backfire horribly.

"What comes before Slayer?"

[herotypical]

...Reproach and sadness and a little bit of chagrin all touch her expression.

"Girl. Just...girl."

[flickerflash]

[Katie takes a step back, her expression getting even flatter.] Not even to save your life?