[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

[generalflirt]

[Masaomi was actually outside the item shop eating an instant burrito when he caught a glimpse of this guy from within it. He only has a vague memory of meeting him once, but he recalls him being insanely cool. So, motioning for his new partner to get up on his shoulder, he's going to head on into the item shop and-]

Admiral?

[abidinglaw]

[When he hears his title and turns to look over his shoulder, it is the pichu that the admiral sees first. Hovering there at the window, a strange creature asking after him -- it is obvious that someone has been shifted into a yellowy rabbit-mouse. Oh fantastic. It is on this basis that he stands fully and proceeds to the window, and of course the shift in perspective brings the shoulder into view, and Masaomi himself. What was this boy's name? He had not had sufficient cause to dedicate it to memory at the time, but -- blast. He should know it. Propriety demanded that much of him. Of course, it didn't help that the boy appeared different somehow. It was probably the mouse. He didn't have a mouse before, did he?

There was nothing else for it but to skirt around the issue.]

Yes, can I help you?

[generalflirt]

[He probably also looks silly what with his hair being static-clung towards the rat on his shoulder. But... he just laughs at this, waving a free hand dismissively] I just though I'd chat you up!

[abidinglaw]

[Chat me... up...?]

Well, I am happy for the company.

[A pause.]

I trust you are aware that there is a mouse..? On your shoulder?

[In this place, it's always best to be certain of these things.]

[generalflirt]

[He nods. And then rolls his head to bop Linda with it. The pichu pouts at that, and even more of his hair is pulled into the static cling of the mouse as he cheeks spark a bit]

Yes I do, this here's my new partner.

[abidinglaw]

Your partner? In--..?

[In his own rightful time and place Admiral Norrington had rarely failed to finish sentences, but in Luceti he has found a combination of two factors which promote the practise - recommend it, even. First, the village is full of people who seem unable to keep their emotions to themselves or their tongues in check, and who are only too happy to anticipate him, vocally and without shame. Second, he frequently feels ill suited to grasping the nature of this world and its people. To refer to a mouse as a partner seems peculiar to him, but who is he to judge?]

[generalflirt]

Crime. [He even does a wiggly eyebrow at this. Actually, one better. He pulls up the tip of his hoodie to bring it over his mouth like an old time bandit or something. It's meant to be a joke, but it might not completely process]

[abidinglaw]

[The wiggly eyes would normally translate to some form of irony, yes, but this man has seen too many such expressions on an altogether hairier face, and never have the boded well there.]

Truly? He -- she? -- seems an odd choice of accomplice.

[generalflirt]

Well, you'd be surprised at what she can do.

[And he glances out of the corner of his eye at her. Linda responds in the form of releasing a small electrical discharge. so basically tiny thunderbolts on her cheeks.]

[abidinglaw]

[Magic. Right. Of course. And why shouldn't a mouse be magical? It makes perfect sense. Perfect Luceti sense.]

Shocking.

[The admiral says - sounding in no way similar to Sean Connery - and promptly disappears from the window. Not to worry. He reappears at the door soon thereafter. Now that he can be seen from head to foot, it is evident that he is holding a small, flat, plastic thing in one hand. He offers it to the boy.]

Now, I have had the good fortune to have discovered this - a cassette tape.

[The boy's reaction should answer the question he might have followed up with.]

[generalflirt]

[...Wow what really? Masaomi was about to go in so he ends up meeting the guy at the door, but when he takes the cassette tape, he sort of chortles to himself.] Man, I think my parents used to use these...

[abidinglaw]

To record music?

[So yes, Norrington knows what they are. Sort of.]

[generalflirt]

And play it back? Usually the play it back, I think.

[abidinglaw]

Why else record it?

[Well he has to grapple for some semblance of dignity. After all, it had been difficult enough to come to terms with the idea of recording sound as easily as one would write a missive on paper. He hadn't yet reached the point of accepting that - naturally - the only real reason to write anything at all is for someone else to read it.]

[generalflirt]

[He examines it further, looking for a label. Linda reaches for it, but he keeps it out of her hands. This is like film, right? There's a chance she's got enough electricity to be magnetic or something like that, right??]

To make a mix tape, for one.

[But that makes him envision his dad making his mother one. Which actually makes a sad smile crop up on his face.

Yeah, unlikely]

[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.]

[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]

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.]

[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.

[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.]

[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.

[generalflirt]

[...Oh. He looks at Linda and laughs]

Nope! I don't need that.