most_unwanted | [Video]

[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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[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)

[Monsters. Oh man, is he ever pinged in major ways by this.]

How did you manage to survive that ordeal?

[I didn't.]

By way of a quick wit and a competent sword-arm.

[He had suffered heavy losses at the hands of these creatures. The pursuit of Jack Sparrow to the Isla de Muerta had lost him both the HMS Interceptor and the HMS Dauntless. The ghostly crew of The Black Pearl had had no small hand in the destruction of those vessels. Later, aboard The Flying Dutchman, he had lost his life to a deck-hand more barnacle than man. If he is suspicious of magic and of mythical beings it is not without very good reason.]

Edited 2011-10-20 00:59 (UTC)

Sometimes, that's all it takes. [At least, he's used to often improvising and going on his wit in so many odd situations.] Sounds like you have the kind of experience you'll need to make it on the drafts they send us to.

Indeed.

And when it came time to select captains for the fleet for which we fought on the most recent draft? The final tally of the ballots reflected just that same sentiment.

[Proud? Maybe? A little. And James Norrington is not generally one to sing his own praises. Certainly he believes that if the appointment had been made on merit then he should have been given charge of the fleet without question... but he had been elected. That was a different matter entirely. In effect, he had earned the promotion in this new world -- he had been recognized by his peers in this place and its citizens alike. Legitimized. Now he had a just claim to responsibility for its people, and that was something to be proud of indeed.]

Edited 2011-10-22 19:15 (UTC)

Ah, so you were one of our captains out there... We didn't get a chance to meet out there, but things were pretty chaotic.

[And there was all that enemy ship hijacking to be done.]

I was the admiral of the fleet.

[A necessary distinction as far as he is concerned.]

Might I ask which ship you were stationed on?

Edited 2011-10-24 17:11 (UTC)

The cargo ship, for part of the journey... [And he'd been keeping a pretty low profile, because he'd partially been interested most of the time in devising a way to find out about that cargo.] ...but I spent some of it off on -[How to put this]- a special mission.

Jack Sparrow.

[For a moment it seems as though this is all that he is going to say in his disapproving tone. Norrington had set out on that voyage with the desire to protect the people of Luceti, to prevent the Malnosso from taking so much as a single Lucetian life. Jack's ludicrous operation, for all of its successes, endangered far too many men and women - and Jack himself besides. Never mind there there were no fatalities as a result of that wreck. Never mind that the one person who did die was nowhere near the pirate at the time.]

You were involved in the capture of the enemy vessel.

Yes, yes I was.

[Mulder is pretty used to Disapproving Tones, and has a tendency to ignore them. Norrington is reminding him strongly of Skinner right now...]

I know Sparrow's methods may not be the most... conventional, but you have to think outside the box if you want to get by. Especially when it comes to anything involving the Malnosso or that Third Party.

I will take your opinion into consideration.

[The admiral replies, his voice taking on a steel edge. He had contacted Mulder as a means to answer a question that Fox himself had posed. James had answered a number of private questions, questions which even now he hoped would be kept in the strictest confidence, and now somehow his command was on the verge of being questioned. Furthermore, as far as he is concerned, Jack had only been able to attempt to capture of the enemy vessel because Norrington had permitted it. Because Norrington had thought outside the box.]

Edited 2011-10-30 15:27 (UTC)

[Yeees, definitely one of Those tones, the kind that he's dealt with before from people in the Bureau. He doesn't know the whole dynamic between Norrington and Sparrow- yet- but he does notice which topics seemingly brought up the change in attitude. Hmmm.]

I suppose we got ourselves a little sidetracked.

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