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[Things have settled down. Between experiments, amusement parks, abductions and drafts, this is the first nice calm stretch of time he's had in a while. So Mulder's hanging out in the Battle Dome. He's been coming there a lot more lately. The new features interest him, and there are places from home he can't help revisiting. Not always to fight, since it's no longer required, though he throws those scenarios in sometimes too. But mostly he's in there obsessively going back through particular scenes.]

[At the moment, Mulder can be seen sitting in the living room where Samantha disappeared from. The board game Stratego is still set up in place near him, the game left unfinished. It's exactly as the room looked all those years ago. A blinding bright light flashes somewhere in the background.]

I wonder what determines the point in time we're taken from? It appears entirely random from all that I've encountered so far. Almost like someone's throwing darts at a timeline or choosing those times out of a hat. A really ugly hat. I also wonder... why some people are brought here after death. [Jonathan. Gem. ...Sigh.] It doesn't seem fair, to grant someone a new life only to throw them back eventually anyway.

...speaking of that, I've been curious about something for a while. [And needing to expand his files, he's already delved into kidnappings, revival has always been somewhere on his list too.] If anyone who's died before, either here or at home, wouldn't mind indulging me for a couple of questions? I won't ask how it happened or anything, just... some related details on the topic. Thanks in advance.

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I am afraid I cannot tell. I have what I have believed were memories, but they are few and distant. The more that I think on them, the more that I fear I may have invented them.

It's only natural for the mind to try and fill in the blanks at times like that. Still, there could be something to it. [Oh, for a hypnotist! Mulder has a feeling there could be so many fascinating repressed memories to be gained about all the things the Malnosso do in their labs...]

...What about when you woke up here, do you recall anything unusual about that experience?

My last memory in which I was certain of my life, I was at sea. It is peculiar, therefore, that my first memory in this place is of awakening on a beach. I had thought for some time that these two facts were connected, but I have since been given cause to wonder about even that.

Edited 2011-09-18 13:09 (UTC)

Yeah, it's hard to make out what's random coincidence around here and what's deliberate... especially given the effects of many of their experiments.

Nothing is missing or wrong, either mentally or physically, correct?

[Well, there's the fact that he should be dead and isn't. In his mind that counts as an absence. Oh, and also:]

I had been stabbed before I awoke here. When I arrived on the beach, however, there was no sign of the injury. I was perfectly healthy -- if a little damp.

Edited 2011-09-19 20:35 (UTC)

Perfectly fine in one piece... ok, good. That's the detail I was hoping to hear. Though no one's experience so far gives any clue as to how they make this happen.

Magic.

[He says, balefully. He is not against the stuff in principal -- they had made good use of it during the draft. To think that it had been practiced on him, though? And without his consent?]

[Oh, that tone. Mulder knows that tone, he works closely with it on a regular basis.]

Do you have something against magic?

Only in so much as it applies to me -- and those within the scope of my care.

[So, yes.]

Edited 2011-09-23 13:05 (UTC)

Not all magic is bad, you know. It can be used for good just as much as evil.

And whether used for good or ill, it is up to the user to decide. For my part I fear that I would be hard pressed to sense it, let alone discern its moral character, so I would rather prefer that it were kept away from me.

I think you'll have a hard time avoiding it entirely, especially around here.

Are you, by chance, a magician of sorts?

[He doesn't look like a magician.]

I've wished that on many an occasion. But no, I'm an FBI Agent.

[And because he's used to that not being readily understood...]

Which is a type of law enforcer. The crimes that I investigate are all paranormal in nature.

[The term 'paranormal' is not in common usage in Norrington's world - at least, not within his time - but he is learned enough to match the word 'normal' and its prefix.]

A peculiar notion. To divide your law enforcement in that manner.

[In his own experience a regular admiral of the King's royal navy is perfectly equipped to rid the world of a crew of undead marauding pirates. A man ought do his duty - regardless of the nature of his opposition.]

[Mulder considers that.]

I guess it is somewhat peculiar. Though in the place and time I'm from, most people have stopped believing in the phenomena. They like to lump all unexplained things together and pretend none of it exists. But I believe in it.

[What a strange assertion. Who could spend so much as a night in Luceti and still deny the existence of magic? Norrington had met no-one yet beneath this bubble who staunchly rejected the miraculous -- and yet this man spoke defensively. Like a soldier without an enemy.]

You wear that fact like a badge. Why?

Edited 2011-10-01 14:00 (UTC)

Because where and when I'm from... people don't take the supernatural seriously. They don't take believers seriously. But I've seen things that defy normal science, things that most people would write off as the ravings of a lunatic...

[He pauses just a moment.]

It's been a completely different game in this world.

[And it's weird in ways to be taken seriously for once. Several months now and he's still just not used to it.]

If it ease your conscience, I would have you know that you need not be so cautious of me.

That's good to hear... have you had many supernatural encounters then?

There is no end to the superstition in my world - telling tales is the sailor's way. I feel no shame in telling you that the vast majority of the stories that are told aboard ships are utterly preposterous in nature, but with that said, I will confess that have experienced first hand the fact behind a scant few of them.

Edited 2011-10-09 19:01 (UTC)

What sort of things have you encountered?

[Ah. This is dipping into some rather personal territory. Regardless of Mulder's claims to open minded thought, Norrington feels foolish speaking of his past exploits -- especially these ones. If the stranger probes much further he will likely close up altogether. Only the knowledge that he consented to this questioning keeps him from excusing himself. He has a duty of sorts to see it through.

As it is he takes a long time in answering. It is as though he hopes that if he leaves a large enough void his co-conversationalist might fill it with a sudden and desperate change of subject. At last, though, he does speak.]

I have walked upon a ship believed by many to be a phantom. The Black Pearl. Perhaps you have heard of her.

Edited 2011-10-12 21:36 (UTC)

[Hm... The Black Pearl... it's not one he knows of, and he's surprised by that until he recalls the way all these alternate universes work.]

I can't say that I have, but I'm familiar with the phenomena. Something like The Flying Dutchman... a ship crewed by ghosts or other undead, doomed to sail forever, surrounded by an eerie otherworldly light...

You've really been on something like that? [He's excited about this.]

The Flying Dutchman and the Black Pearl share little in common. The one was a crewed by the immortal damned, the other by -- ...

[By what? Anthropomorphic sea creatures?]

By monsters. Monsters with even less resemblance to humanity than Barbossa's ghostly crew.

Needless to say, yes. I certainly have.

Edited 2011-10-14 22:10 (UTC)

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