[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

[flickerflash]

[It's very hard to concentrate on graffiti-ing all over her attic walls when there is such curious noise coming from outside. Perhaps it's a burglar who doesn't know how to use a door and is intent on breaking through the wall with a spoon.

Look, you never know.

Either way, she's quite sure Jack is still inside, and so after a few minutes of listening, Katie lets herself out onto the roof and peer over the edge to find the source of the noise.]

[abidinglaw]

[James Norrington certainly doesn't know. He doesn't have a spoon, though, at least not in his hands. What he does have are his hands on his hips while he scrutinizes this side of the house -- and very intently indeed. On the floor beside him are a number of tools which would usually be put applied to the hull of a ship. His eyes are working their way up the wall. No doubt they'll reach the roof soon.]

[flickerflash]

[Those tools are somewhat familiar after having lived here for some time, but why he'd use them on the house... well, all sorts of possibilities spring to mind. Some of them are quite fun.

Katie is content to be spotted, though she makes no sound until he actually does see her. Then she shall just be direct.]

What are you doing?

[abidinglaw]

[Norrington has been at this for some time, so to his eyes it seems that she may as well have teleported there. BAMF. Like that. Children. Still, he meets the sight not with a startled shrieking, but with a slight widening of the eyes and a severe raising of the eyebrows. He has seen this young lady about the house, but he has never gone out of his way to speak to her. What would he have to say to a child? No more than he would have to say to a cat.]

I am seeing about refitting this house with sails. Evidently.

[The answer is delivered so straight, he might well be telling the truth.]

[flickerflash]

[Katie is more than willing to entertain that idea as the truth, as it sounds fascinating. And more importantly, sort of fun.] Really? [She wriggles forward on the roof a little, arms folded over the edge.] Do you think it might work? I'd like to sail around the ocean on a house.

How do I words?

[abidinglaw]

[Alright, this movement is enough to encourage Norrington to side-step until he is standing directly under the empty space that the girl would surely plummet down -- if she were to lean in the reckless way that children have of leaning.]

Perhaps you would like to help.

[Yes, he'd be willing to endure her company if meant would go into the house and crawl down out of the attic like a normal person. Of course, the other option was to bore her away from him. He was rather good at that.]

It is frightfully dull, however. There are measurements to be made, of course, and numbers to be drawn up -- an abundance of mathematics.

XDD

[flickerflash]

Mathematics? [She draws back, looking faintly horrified.] Is that really the only way? I thought you'd just have to make it float.

[abidinglaw]

One does not simply make a house float.

[and if he woke up one morning to find that all of their windows looked out onto the sea? And if on that day the front door opened to a five foot drop into the open ocean? Why then he'd only have himself to blame.]

[flickerflash]

[If she were powerful enough to do just that, it'd be a definite in the next week, that's for sure. Still, this requires serious thought.]

Houses float all the time at home. Maybe they just use lots of floaties.

[abidinglaw]

Floaties?

[And now he lives with this child?]

[flickerflash]

[She's harmless. Really.]

You know. Giant inflatable raincoats that you can put your house on safely.

[If. Inane.]

[abidinglaw]

[He had heard that this girl was more than she seemed, but giant inflatable raincoats? She seems child enough to him.]

So I take it you do not wish to help.

[flickerflash]

Do you really think I'd be much help?

[abidinglaw]

Oh yes.

[He lied. Nor did he know quite how to lie to children.]

Tell me, do you know your sums?

[flickerflash]

I failed maths in school. [She's sort of retreating shiftily over the roof so she's just peering over the edge at him warily, now.] One plus one is much more fun when it equals six.

[abidinglaw]

So you did go to school.

[Well, that's a start.]

At any rate, if you do decided to join me then I would request that you go -- the long way around?

[His eyes gesture indoors.]

[flickerflash]

But there's no doorway on the roof. I have to jump down.

[Nevermind how she got up there to begin with.]

[abidinglaw]

You will do no such thing.

[But though his tone was certain, his actions belied that certainty. He moved ever so slightly, you see, to account for the way in which she may have shifted since he last put himself directly beneath her.]

[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.]

[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.]

[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.

[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.

[flickerflash]

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

Would you prefer I hadn't?

[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.

[flickerflash]

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