The Madness of Henry Mortimier (For Masako)

"Come on! This'll hurt a lot less if you surrender!" Henry yelled as he was chasing down some crooks who had tried to take his wallet.
Big mistake once they found out he was a cadet.
A.k.A, a cop by any other name.
Thus, the scene now.
"Alright, I didn't want to do this, but... SHIIIIRO!" He yelled, causing the albino crow to swoop down from the sky to his master.
"Murder them." He said to it calmly.
And then hell broke loose.
Shirokarasu,  Henry's pet albino crow, flew off for a bit...
Then returned with a murder of crows in tow that flew right at the two would-be thieves.
The criminals did what any sane person would do: stop.
"Ahahahaha!" He said, laughing as the two men struggled to escape the murder of crows.
"See? Crime is a lost CAWse, something you can reflect on... in jail!" He said, making the obligatory pun required in such situations. He then arrested them, and took them to the cops to be then handed over to the police station.
By this point, a crowd had gathered, asking questions.
"Wowzers! So many questions.... hmmm... eenie, meenie, minie... you!" Henry said, pointing at a woman that had asked him something as he decided who's question to answer.
"Tell me, what was your question again?" Henry asked her.

Her assignment for the was a time consuming one, and one that involved a bit of walking around. Masako was told to pick one of the locations of Endymion an become well acquainted with it. She was then to write a small report about it. The purpose of the assignment was to help students get more familiar with their town of Endymion.

She had chosen Sunlake Palms on the likelihood that it would be nice and peaceful, perfect for gathering notes with little interruption. She was due for a nice, long, peaceful walk.

It seemed fate decided on a very exciting distraction instead. The cry of criminals to stop quickly got her attention. She was ready to jump in at a moments notice to assist, but she quickly found how very unnecessary that was. After all, it was a cadet that was after them.

She should have continued her work. She should have gone back to her assignment. But this was an honest-to-goodness cadet at work. A superhero in action, in her eyes. She had to follow this brief adventure.

She has seen some cadets at work before. When one lives in Endymion, sooner or later they will get a chance to see a minor scene involving a cadet. She had seen that they are capable of some impressive feats. But to call forth a murder of crows?! That on it's own was jaw dropping.

And he knew puns?! Already she had developed a very high opinion of this one man. She couldn't help but watch how things unfolded. She couldn't help but follow him to some nearby cops. She didn't noticed that there were a crowd of people gathering around her to do the same. She was caught up by the momentum of excitement the crowd had, asking questions of the man. She even found herself trying to ask a question, though in all honesty, she didn't expect to be noticed.

So when it turned out she was noticed, she found herself caught off guard when his finger pointed in her direction.

"M-me?!" she cried out, suddenly feeling the spotlight on herself. Ugh, how unprofessional of me to act like that! No, I can recover, I just need to ask a question. It seems everyone is expecting one of me, anyhow. ... can't remember what I asked before. Okay, ask a new one!

"Excuse m-, I mean, I have seen cadets in action before," she began, trying to reclaim the cool and collected posture that she had so nearly lost earlier. "But I've never seen anyone utilize animals with such efficiency as yourself! Did you train all of those birds yourself?" Nailed it.

He couldn't help but mentally chuckle at the woman.
"Man, she's acting like a chick that just got asked to dance by the football quarterback! The same, good-old deer-in-headlights look. HA! Never gets old." Macabre said mentally.
"Yup! Totally a struck-DEAD-with-amazement look. But play nice, she's still young, probably nowhere near her time." Henry replied. The two proceeded to mentally laugh for a bit before he answered your question.

"Well, thank you for your praise, but, nah, I didn't train all of them. Heck, most of the work was done by ol' Shirokarasu here." He said, pointing towards the albino crow that had perched upon his shoulder.
"Although... I always did have a way with animals." He added.

"Why, are you planning on joining the cadets, miss? Fair warning, you'll be pushed hard. Success there isn't as far as the crow flies... but then again, you knew that already." Henry asked her.

Somehow, the reply made him seem all the more impressive. Suggesting that the crow did most of the work also suggested that he had a very strong connection with it, enough that it deemed his cause a worthy one.

To be fair, she did kind of envy him. To think of some of the fun things she could do if she was as good with animals as he seemed to be.

No, I mustn't give in to envy. she thought to herself, This mans talents are his own, and I shall make it on my own talents! Still... to have even a quarter of his talent, enough to have a position such as his...

It seemed envy managed to make a small stay in her heart.

"I-I am well aware of that," she replied in response to his question, "I understand that the work of a Cadet can be very strict. Even so, I've already set my mind to it. I want to do the most good that I can for our community, and I am willing to do whatever it takes to get there. After all, to keep the order, the justice, and the peace of our community should be it's own reward!"

"Eh? Oh, well, that's great too. Me? I just kinda go along so that I might have less bodies to examine. I'm a forensic pathologist and a coroner, you see. Hell, I even have my doctorate/P.h.D in the stuff,  the medical license and everything! " He said, with the first statement referring to murder victims. This wasn't entirely true, though. 
In truth, he was there for the file access and to kill demons. 
But she didn't need to know THAT.

She needed to calm down. This man was becoming more and more impressive as the conversation went on. She needed a means to calm herself down before the tension of her excitement caused her to completely ruin her cool image in front of this man.

"A forensic pathologist and a coroner?" she commented. The set up was too perfect. It was begging her to knock it down. How was she to resist this seemingly perfect opportunity?

"So that means you must deal with a lot of... 'murder' victims?" She stated, looking straight at... what did he say the name of his crow was? Ah yes, Shirokarasu.

"Indeed I am! Finally, someone who doesn't back away from me when I say that! Usually, most people tend to stay away from me like i'm one of the dead bodies I examine." He said, nodding in acknowledgement to her statement.
Then he heard her little pun. Now, normally, this would have made little sense, except Hitchcock had done it before, so in this case, it actually worked.
"Ha! Nice one, kid. Although... i've never really seen anybody pecked to death by crows before in my line of work.... yet." Henry said. "Although if it ever does, whoever would must have a high interest in Hitchcock, or something." He thought.

She couldn't help but feel a little bit of pride. Normally people would give her an ugly look just for making a pun, but it seemed that this one had an appreciation for it.

Finally, her humor may have found an audience.

"Considering how things have been going, I suppose I wouldn't be surprised, there have been all manner of rumors flying around that one can't help but wonder sometimes."

It seemed that she somehow managed a conversation of sorts with this one. It was suddenly kind of awkward. Still, she was talking to a Cadet. She had to take this opportunity.

"I don't suppose I may be allowed to pry at you for wisdom, could I?" she asked, "As someone who wishes to become part of the Cadets, I wish to be able to get myself noticed."

"Yeah, well, if it has happened, it's something classified. Hell, i'm the best public coroner in the city, and i'm DEAD on with that. If something doesn't go to me, it's buried with the cadet's private ones, who have the good stuff..." he said in response to her on the rumors.

"Nope! No trouble at all. You ask me, um... I kinda just asked, filled out a few forms, went through the application process, and BAM! I'm a cadet." He said, leaving out the bits about how he had to fight a demon, drink blood, and such.
He figured that those details were probably classified, seeing as that wasn't exactly publicly advertised.

As simple as that? Seriously?

"That's all there is to it?" she replied, "Forgive my giving into assumptions, but I've heard that there was a selection process involved. That you must be at your absolute best before you'll be recognized and invited." The people she had asked about it before seemed so absolutely certain that she never questioned it. Then again, they did manage to pass themselves off as very knowledgeable people.

"I suppose I should have just taken the first step instead of working so hard on my studies and my swordsmanship. Though, in the end, I don't regret how I chose to go about it. My actions may have given me an early advantage, and besides, it's good to be a studious student."

"Yeah. Pretty much." He said in response to it.
"Really? Well, guess it might be because of my reputation, then." He said when he heard her describe the application process.
"Yeah, that's good too. I was pretty smart myself, still am, actually." He said in response to her conclusion on it.

I suppose there's no harm in trying. If nothing else, I'll have to at least try. I'll have to put that on my list of responsibilities... oh, right! My homework!

"Thank you for your time," she replied with a bow, "I won't take up anymore of it. I need to finish my assignment if I'm to turn it in on time." With that, she started to back away. "Thank you again for your time!"

She couldn't help the smile on her face, somehow confidence filling her steps more than usual.

It's such a simple thing, why didn't I bother to try before? What was I so afraid of that kept me from just walking up and registering? As soon as I'm done with this report, I'll head right into their offices and make an application!

She took one quick turn in the man's direction before heading back into town.

I wonder if I'll see him again? No, I will see him again. He's a cadet, right? Once I'm a Cadet, I'll likely be working with him at some point! So I know I'll bump into him again. I will not rest until I make that a possibility! ... I never asked his name...

"Alright then, Miss." He said, waving goodbye cheerily as she ran off confidently. Once she was out of sight, he began to walk off himself.
Then another thought occurred to him.
"Oh skullhearts... I should have offered to write her a letter of reccomandation!" He said, face palming.
"Man, that's rich! You made such a GRAVE mistake." Macabre said, laughing like mad.
"Oh... drop dead, will ya?" Henry fumed mentally, even more so once he realized he didn't even ask her name.
"Ah well... least she seemed more confident now. Maybe i'll even get to work with her in the future...." he said.
Exit. Report indicates that this thread is officially over. Grade: S. Perfection. Please standby for the soundtrack:

Soundtrack:
Opening theme (s-links): Macabre Man

Henry's Theme (1): Mr. Macabre

Masako's Theme: A Life of Harmony

To see the full, overall soundtrack, look no further!