Trenton
```[West Courtyard, 7:15pm...]```

◆ "Finally..."

□ Saying that today had been a busy day would have been an understatement. Waking up early was normal for her, sure, but what wasn't normal was stepping out the moment curfew ended, heading an hour and a half out of town to nearby Karlstad for a day on the lake, then coming back by bus and processing her catch. But, that was how her day had gone, and now she was stepping out of a cab in the late afternoon, opening the trunk up and also fishing out her rod and large cooler full of today's catch.

▪︎ And as it turned out, today's catch was a good one. 

□ Of course, though, the catch wasn't going to process itself. A fish hauled out of water wasn't going to do her a solid and flay its own flesh off in clean-cut chunks, so she knew she'd have to get her hands *Dirty,* Much as the feeling of fish guts and blood on her skin felt weird to her. Leaving the cooler near the empty flour bucket she'd claimed as her own outdoors perch, she busied herself with grabbing the essentials from the kitchen: a garbage bag for the guts and bones, a firm yet flexible fillet knife for cutting purposes, a facecloth to occasionally wipe her hands, the like. Stepping back outside she also took a moment to grab a nearby garden hose, ostensibly left out by Graham or some other groundskeeper, and she dragged it over to her bucket and cooler.

• Now, she was ready to begin the bloodiest part of her day: the processing. Oh, how her hands would be stinking for a week after all this was said and done...
Scott
It's been difficult for Caspar "Cas" Dolorosa to find a footing in Newton's Cradle so far. Being so far away from his family, the only people who've been consistently *There* For him, has been affecting him, though he'd never willingly show it.

There's a slight change in the air... A noticeable drop in temperature as Caspar wanders around the outdoors. He recognizes the smell of fish before he notices the fish-gutting woman. Curiosity overtakes the boy, and as he seeks out the source of the piscatory odour.

Upon noticing the woman, Cas would walk over to her, hands in pockets. Though the smell bothers him, he doesn't seem all that disturbed by the gutting of the fish. It reminds him of fishing trips back in Canada.
"Yo! Nice fish you've caught there! Is it fishing season?" He asks, his hands deep in his thick coat's pockets.
Trenton
◇ A frigid change in the air, and then...

■ "Oh, hey. Yup, the fishing's good up at Vänern right now, spent the whole day up there from around nine in the morning to four thirty this afternoon. Lots of stuff biting; had to replace my hooks a few times, actually." Margo chuckled, nonchalantly slicing the head off of one of the pike she'd caught with the kind of confidence and motion that only came with years of experience breaking down her catches. "There was one, though, man... Not sure what it was, but I was reeling it in, and it was fighting like fucking hell, and *Right* At the coast it managed to snap my hook off and swim away! Fuckin' pissed me off so bad I had to go for a walk to calm down."

◆ "Anyways..." Margo settled down after a few moments, slicing the tail off as well. "It's fishing season up on Vänern right now, and I guess we're allowed to go up there if we make it back before curfew. Pretty slick if you ask me, honestly."
Scott
"Damn... It's always the big fish that end up getting away..." Replies Cas, shaking his head with mutual understanding. He crouches down where he stands, assuming the "Slav squat" Position in leu of any convenient box to sit on. "Still, sounds like there's plenty more where that one came from! I'm totally gonna go try catch something later." He watches Margo's fish-gutting technique, silently marvelling at her mastery of the fillet knife.

"Not gonna like, it *Is* Pretty slick. They give us a weird amount of freedom for a super-juvie, though." Cas contemplates their current situation. He supposes that it would be hard for someone to get pretty far away from NC. Isakstad and the surrounds don't seem *That* Connected to the outside world... And besides, a runaway parahuman would probably end up diverting a lot of attention their way anyway.
Trenton
◆ "Can say that again." Margo grumbled, shaking her head. "Then again, they're the ones with the strength to break free. Unfortunately, just about everything in that lake seems to be big compared to what I'm used to... Good thing I work out, otherwise this fucker in particular probably would've ripped my rod right out my hands."

□ Chuckling, she thought back to earlier in the day. It had been about an hour into her trip to the lake, and the nibbles had been fine. The bite that had led to her hauling in this massive pike, however, had come suddenly, and with such force that it nearly ripped her from her camping chair. What a fight it had been to get it out of the water... She sighed at the thought, sliced the belly out of the pike a few inches at a time, and looked up at the icy lad who'd apparently decided to keep her company while she broke down today's catch.

▪︎ Admittedly, it felt nice to be talking shop with someone who seemingly fished as well.

◆ "Yeah, I've kinda... Stopped questioning it, I guess. I ask Ms. Karlsson stuff about our freedoms sometimes, but otherwise it seems like as long as we're back by ten pm then they don't give a shit what we get up to." She shrugged, slim fingers curling themselves around the now-planked body as she began to feel around for where to cut off the back fillet. "The pike are huge here, man. Fuck... Back home, my father had a lake house in Maine, and there were pike in that particular lake that I used to fish up. They were *Never* This big... Anyways, erm, I'm planning on going up again in a week or two. You're free to come along, there's a bus that goes to Karlstad from downtown, it's pretty affordable and it drops you off pretty much right on Vänern's shores. It's great."
Scott
Cas whistles. "Damn, really? That big?" The idea of a fish that could put up a challenge to someone like Marco is certainly impressive. The idea of *Catching* Said pike is exciting, however... "Just means you can get some payback when you catch it again." "Heh, wonder if the fish here are like... Supernatural or something. Wouldn't be too weird considering... All of us are here."
Cas was enjoying talking Fishing with Margo. It's clear that he thrives in this sort of social setting, just having casual conversation with someone else. While the air is still chilly, it feels slightly warmer.

Cas becomes visibly more animated when Margo mentions Maine. "Yoooo! You're from Maine? Maine's like... One of the parts of America I've been the most! Even lived there a year. Kept to the coastline mostly though... Stayed in Augusta with a relative." He snaps back to the present. "Uhhhh... Yea, I'd totally be down for fishing. Haven't fished in some time though." It occurs to Cas that he hasn't even told the fish-gutting woman his name. "Oh right, name's Cas, by the way."
Trenton
◆ "Doubt it." Margo clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and shook her head lightly. "Parahumans on their own are extremely rare, and I don't think our powers' existence is able to corrupt the land we live on. Otherwise, the earth would be a far scarier, weirder place... As if it ain't already."

□ The whole time she talked, she had been running the blade of her fillet knife up one end of the pike's body, trying to get a good feel for this particular fish and where the best spot would be to cut. Of course, though, she never looked *At* The fish; this lad was chatting, she could at least look up at him. Once he'd finished talking and she fired something off she began to slice into the flesh, stabilizing the still-slippery scales with her rough thumb as the fillet knife slid through the flesh with very little effort.

▪︎ Clearly she'd made sure to sharpen it the night before.

◆ "I'm from Scotland originally, but I grew up in Brooklyn." Margo casually spoke as the knife ripped fully through the white flesh of the fish in her lap, sliding out and leaving a lovely fillet in her lap. Flipping it over, she could be seen quickly slamming her right eye shut, and after a moment one of the small eyes in the outer ring of her left eye began to glow a faint purple. "Good thing about my powers: easier to see pinbones in ultraviolet. Anyways, nice, man. We had our lake house out on some really isolated lake in the woods. Father wanted his privacy and all that bullshit. Fishing was fine, at least, but the Belgrade Lakes outside of Augusta were always better."

• "Also, Cas...? Gotcha." She nodded, plucking a pin bone out. "Margo. Nice to meet ya."
Scott
Cas catches the hint in Margo's voice: She *Probably* Doesn't like her father much. That's something that the two of them can agree on, anyway. He doesn't mention anything, only nodding in understanding when she mentions his need for privacy.

Cas generates a little snowball in his hands, and begins tossing it between them. "I dunno about *Corrupt* But I'm pretty sure my powers fuck up local weather patterns at least a little." He chuckles. "I mean, I haven't seen or heard anything that says there *Aren't* Animals like us..." He muses on the topic a little bit, before continuing: "Stranger things have happened."

"Scotland, huh?...I *Did* Kinda hear that... Haven't been to Scotland, though I *Did* Live pretty close for a couple months. Well... As close as Orkney, anyway." He stops fidgeting with the snowball to scratch his head in thought. "Can't remember the circumstance behind that trip though... I was like, four at the time.
Trenton
◆ "Maybe." Margo absentmindedly spoke, setting the first fillet aside into an ice bucket to keep it fresh while she kept on working after making sure she'd plucked all the pinbones out. "Also, I knew I felt a change in the wind. Fuck. It's, like, a solid ten degrees colder now. Actually a good thing, if I'm being honest; keeps the fish from going bad while I process 'em."

□ Speaking, she set her knife into her lap and began to feel up the fish's spine, the tip of her tongue barely poking out of the right corner of her lips as she focused. She knew from experience that these particular fish were absolutely riddled with pin bones, to the point where it was questionable to even put the effort in to clean them up, but she *Had* Caught them and she refused to just leave them on the shore for the wildlife to pick at.

▪︎ Thankfully, she'd learned from the best, so as she felt up the fish's backbone she quickly had a good idea on where exactly to cut.

◆ "Oh, in my voice? I still kinda have the accent, yeah." She spoke, making the first of several cuts into the fish's side. It was less of a final cut and more of a preparatory slash, lining up where she'd be slicing to get the next fillet. "Nice, though. Nice... I spent the first four years of my life or so in Glasgow, until the family house burnt down, after which my father decided to move us to New York of all places. Fuckin' stupid decision, but I was four at the time, so I couldn't exactly protest. Where'd you come from? I know you said something about spending time in Maine, but I spent time there as well, and you don't read as a Maine native to me, so..."
Scott
Cas chuckles. "Sorry 'bout that! Can't really turn off the cold." "I can turn it *Up* Just fine, though. Or... Down... You know what I mean." He tosses the snow ball against a nearby tree, scattering snow and spooking a nearby bird or two. He shakes the cold off of his bare fingers and sticks them back in his heavy winter jacket. "I'm basically an icebox, so if ya need me to chill those fish I totally could."

When Margo mentions NYC, Caspar visibly recoils slightly. "Ouch... New York? I feel your pain. New York fucking *Sucks.* Just... In general." He says, an unusual amount of spite in his voice. For Cas, New York conjures unwholesome images of rats, shitty hotel rooms and childhood bullying. "Though, I will say, the food was good... But so is Québécois food." He leaves that statement hanging, as if it's meaning were wholly evident.

Cas pauses, thinking about the technicalities of Margo's question. He seems zoned out for a little "Hmm... Well I was born in Canada. Saskatchewan, actually (Kinda makes us country neighbours.) But I dunno if that counts as being *From* There, y'know? Family travelled a lot so I dunno if I'm really from anywhere specifically? I don't even think my family owned, like, a non-moving house until three years ago."
Trenton
◆ "I'd say you already are." Margo plainly replied, beginning to run her knife deeper through the fish's side, her expression twisting into one of focus rather than banter. "I have that cooler full of ice, but it only does so much, and I still have a bunch of fish to cut. I'm gonna be here all fucking night, I fear."

□ Well, not all night. If push came to shove she knew full well that she'd have no objections to simply wrapping the rest of the fish up and dropping them in a chest freezer, mostly to keep them fresh overnight while she got her beauty sleep on the couch. Of course, though, that was looking towards the near future, and not the real present, and the real present had Cas' entire body recoiling at the thought of being from New York City. A reasonable response, she figured, the blade of the knife gliding through the pike's side like it was open air.

▪︎ As it turned out, Margo was oddly skilled with a knife for someone who couldn't heat a can of chicken noodle soup without burning it.

◆ "Can say that again." Margo chuckled. "New York ain't perfect, but the food's crazy good. I still miss those pop-up carts a month after getting here... Anyways, isn't Québécois food kinda just poutine? I've been to Montreal exactly once and that's all I remember eating. Anyways, gotcha... Gotcha." She nodded, finally freeing the fillet and flipping it over in her hands so she could begin to pluck all the stray pinbones out. "So, your father was in the army? Or was it business? Because I can hardly imagine that you and your family would've been moving so much if there wasn't something constantly uprooting yous."
Scott
"So many tiny bones too... You're gonna be gutting fish in your dreams, I swear." Cas chuckles.

"Yea it's basically just poutine, pickled beets and Quiaude." Cas replies flippantly. "It's pretty good, but I'm still not a huge fan of Quebec. It's a pretty nice place, but there's this... Weird, pro-French xenophobic bullshit undercurrent there that I hear *Way* Too much of." 

Cas gives Margo's questions a bit of thought "Oh it was... I think it was mostly my Dad's job shit? My dad did a lot of investing and we were often dragged around for, like, meetings and stuff." 
Not that Cas can remember his dad *Actually* Having any sort of work obligations... Often, it felt like Mr. Dolorosa just... Had money. 
"...Though he and my mom often just... Took us places. We went on a lot of vacations basically every year."
Trenton
◆ "That's why I'm thankful for my eye being the way it is." Margo looked up at Caspar, managing to make eye contact for a whole second and a half before her skin began to crawl like conveyor belts. "Turns out fish bones flouresce under my ultraviolet sight, so it's really easy to spot 'em out. Also helps that I'm, erm... Handling the pike first. Trout and salmon aren't nearly as bony, so I'm getting this shit out of the way first."

□ It was an annoyance, sure, to have to deal with such bony fillets up front, but Margo also felt as if tackling the most annoying parts first was the only real way to handle things. After all, once she got through this pike and the other two she'd been able to keep it'd be smooth sailing, and the concept of being able to break down some salmon and trout in a fraction of the time it was taking her to break the pike down was alluring.

▪︎ Of course, though, she'd first need to actually trudge through this initial slog... Boring.

◆ "Yeah, I've heard that, man." Margo calmly spoke as she plucked pinbones out of a fillet with needlenose pliers. "At least, vaguely. Haven't really *Done* Any research into it, though, so... I dunno for sure. I generally don't consider Quebec politics to be interesting, so I don't keep up to date. Anyways, fair. My father used to do the same thing, actually..." Her brow gnarled itself into a fierce knot, and her jaw clenched. "No chance you've got smokes on you, huh? Anytime I talk about my father I can feel every blood vessel in my head and neck about to explode and I could really use something to calm down."
Scott
"No shit? That's a pretty cool, like, niche power benefit there." Cas stands back up and stretches. It seems he was getting cramped from slav squatting. His knees audibly click as he straightens up. He briefly considers calling Quebec a "Localised national issue" And attributing the obscurity of his misgivings of the province to that, but decides against it.

Cas starts rummaging in his jacket pockets. The sounds of clinking plastic and rustling matches can be heard as he searches the contents of his massive jacket. Despite the fact that Cas doesn't look or sound much like a smoker, he is able to produces a single slightly battered cigarette and a box of matches from his pocket.
"Here ya go! One cancer stick." He says, handing over the item in question. 

"Damn. Two shit investor dads? That's gotta be, like, a statistical anomaly. Probably best not to give either the mental time-of-day honestly. Lettin' them live rent-free in our heads is bad for the blood pressure" He says wryly.
Trenton
◆ "I know, right? And that's only one thing it does." Margo spoke as she looked the fillet over once more, chucking it into the icebox once she was satisfied that it was deboned. "Like... It does a lot of crazy shit, man."

□ And that was the truth of the matter. While, at the absolute most, a regular human might have been able to see a touch of ultraviolet or infrared, Margo could see far beyond that. It was a skill she'd honed since it first awakened, and by this point it was second nature to slam her right eye shut to let her left eye do its thing. Just as she was about to slice into the fish that sat in her lap she heard the familiar sound of matches rattling around in their box, and upon looking up she noticed Cas' hand outstretched with a cigarette in hand.

▪︎ Her eyes lit up. It was the first cigarette she'd seen in *Weeks.*

◆ "Fuck, man, you're a saviour." Margo spoke incredulously, reaching out and nabbing the cigarette with the hand that wasn't fully covered in fish blood and guts. Also taking the matches, she quickly struck one and lit the stick up, tossing the burnt match into the gut bucket that was sitting at her feet. "A real goddamn saviour. I haven't had access to cigar-anythings since I got here. Christ... Anyways, yeah, man, we're in the same boat. All over the place, shit investor dads, fishing, lake houses in Maine... If I didn't know any better I'd be asking if your mom slept with my father. He's an unfaithful cocksucker, it'd fit. And that's all I'm saying on the subject, fuck 'em."

• "Anyways, you old enough to buy? Or do you have a fake?"
Scott
"Daaamn! That's some Bya- I mean that's some Naruto shit. It's fuckin' cool" Cas quickly skips past his little Freudian slip. "Pretty damn iconic look too."

"Amen to that, sister" He says, pocketing his matches once again. "Unless your dad looks like a somehow more homeless Steve Jobs I doubt it." Cas stops to form a thought. "Yea there are some, like, goddamn *Specific* Parallels between us, right? Kinda... Both weird and cool, I guess?" Cas leans up against the same tree he tossed the snowball at earlier before resuming his ramble. "Call me a little self-centred, but it's nice to meet someone who knows The Struggle™️, y'know?"

"As for my age..." Cas pauses for a moment, before answering Margo's query. "...I'm old enough to buy in *Liechtenstein*..." Pausing again Cas lets his statement hang there a second, before letting out a warm chuckle. "Nah I'm not old enough to *Legally* Buy here. I got it from my Uber drive from the airport. Driver dude traded me for some snacks I had."
Trenton
◆ "Oh, yeah. It kinda does look like a sharingan, but... Instead of genjutsu and shit it's just infrared sight and whatnot." Margo spoke as she began to slice into the final side of the pike, also puffing the cigarette betwixt her lips with enthusiasm and a clear expression of joy at finally having nicotine on hand again. "Genjutsu's more Uri's thing. I'm damn near certain they could actually do that to someone, but... I don't think they *Would.*"

□ Shrugging, she continued to slice through the pike's side, experienced strokes making their way through the white flesh with very little effort. This was going to be the next couple of hours for her at least, a lap full of fish blood and scales, hands covered in guts, a cigarette from her lips... Good thing she didn't mind. "Oh, no. Think less homeless Steve Jobs and more Jacques Schnee with brown hair dye in his shampoo. He really has that look, and he's just as fucked. Anyways, I getcha. It's nice to just... Meet someone who understands the struggle of having a shitty investor dad, huh? Not self-centered, it's solidarity."

◆ "Anyways, goddammit." Her lips curled into a frown for a moment. "I was going to ask you to let me know when you go for smokes so I could wire you some cash for some, but guess that's scuppered. Fuck." She finished cutting the final side of fish off of the main body, tossing the now-skeletal remains into the gut bucket. "I know that Margarita chick has a fake because she doesn't keep her fucking mouth shut, but I'd rather rip her tongue out of her mouth than willingly ask her for a favour, so it's no dice there."
Scott
Cas... Did not expect Marco start talking Naruto lore. It clearly throws him for a loop a little. "Y-yea... You've got more of a Byakugan thing going on I guess?" Cas makes a mental note to look into this "Uri" Person. They sound... Mildly terrifying. "All the vision and super-sight and shit? No 360 degree though.

Cas thumps his chest twice with his hand, before flashing a 'peace' sign with the same hand, a sign of solidarity. He's pretty happy to have met someone with a seemingly parallel life to his, one who *Gets* Him. As for Margo's comment about her Dad's appearance, he nods in agreement. He recognizes the last name "Schnee" And assumes it's a RWBY character. Caspar never *Did* Get around to watching that show...

Cas puts his mind to Margo's tobacco problem. "Hmm... You could totally *Get* A fake ID for yourself. Would solve your problem. Though I feel like that might be more effort then it's worth..." He puts more mental effort to the problem of No Cigarettes, really wracking his brain over the issue. "...One option would be to grow your own tobacco. Set up some sorta grow-bed in the woods maybe? No fuckin' idea if we've got the right climate here, though. Or we could find someone here with, like, plant powers or some shit...?"
Trenton
◆ "Oh, yeah, it's definitely like a byakugan now that you say it." Margo let out an amused chuckle. "I kinda just jumped to sharingan because I've heard that one a lot more even though, in all honesty, the only thing my eye lacks is the whole three hundred sixty degree sight. Otherwise, man, it's... Ultraviolet, infrared, x-ray, and zoom. My right eye actually zooms too, believe it or not, it's just that it's *All* It does. Also, surprised? Kinda read that off of you. I grew up watching a lot of anime; don't watch it as much now, but I must have watched Naruto end to end a solid three times growing up, which, erm... With the filler it's a *Lot.*"

□ A lot was an understatement, but she wasn't here to ramble about how Naruto was more than half filler. She wasn't really around to gab about the anime she'd watched as a kid, either, since by now she hadn't really caught up on any of them in a long time. Instead, she was here to fillet her catch, and it was finally time to move onto the second pike she'd caught. Blessedly smaller, she could tell as the fillet knife made its way through the scaled and then skin of the fish that this one wasn't going to be such a hassle.

▪︎ Lighter, smaller, less likely to flop out of her grasp... She didn't even have to cut the head off this time!

◆ "Man, I've got, like... Plague thumbs in a garden. I can't keep a damn thing alive for the life of me, so I doubt I'd be able to grow my own tobacco crop. That and tobacco's far better suited to warm climates, which is why all the quality cigars are out of the Caribbean and Mesoamerica." She spoke as she began to lay down some preparatory slashes down the fish's back. "Also don't know anyone who could fuck around with plants and make them grow like that, so... Hm. I dunno. I really don't. Guess I've gotta savour this one."

• And like a chimney, she let out a puff of smoke right on time.
Scott
"Shit you've got like *All* The cool vision powers! " Cas chuckles, partly with embarrassment and partly out of genuinely finding his own inadvertent reaction funny. "I'll admit I was a little surprised. Always have gotten a little disorientated when people discuss anime and shit I am... Invested in." Cas puts his hands in his pockets and shrugs. "It's... Kinda my "Old shame", y'know?"

Cas is forced to admit to himself that he can't think of a way to deal with the nicotine problem. "Welp. Guess you've just gotta... I dunno... Maybe you could barter with some other weird Uber drivers for cigs but other then that I'm out of ideas." "I'll keep at the problem, though."
Trenton
◆ "Hah, guess so." Margo chuckled, faint tufts of smoke puffing out as she did so. "Anyways, man, I get that. I couldn't tell you a damn thing about any of the anime out now, but shit like Naruto? Bleach? InuYasha? Even shit like Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop? I grew up with those. Oh, and Samurai Champloo!... And Space Dandy. Really anything Shinichirō Watanabe worked on, honestly. Love that man's work."

□ If Caspar were even a bit familiar with Japanese, he'd have caught on to how she pronounced the man's name, fluidly and with barely a moment of hesitance. Of course, though, she didn't really have room to when she was gutting fish and cutting the fillets off of them *And* Balancing conversation, so maybe it was a moot point. Whatever. Now in the groove, she began to slice the back fillet off, years of practice showing itself in how she handled the knife. Humming, her face twisted into a frown for the briefest of moments, before resuming its normally stoic, calm appearance.

▪︎ No sense in crying over no cigarettes; she'd survived a whole month without them, she could go back to it.

◆ "I'll survive, man. I went cold turkey when they arrested me and shipped me here, so fuck, I think I'll live, huh?" She joked. "Speaking of which, how'd you get sent here? Freeze some guy's cock off?"
Scott
One can almost see Cas mentally checking off the anime in his head. "Yea... Pretty much the same with me. *Think* I've seen all of those, but it's been *Ages* Since I watched 'em. I mainly grew up with DBZ and Naruto. Oh, and that Dinosaur King anime a friend pirated for me." Cas has heard enough Japanese media to recognize adept Japanese pronounciation. "Yo... Nice Japanese by the way."

Cas chuckles at the suggestion that he froze a man's cock off. "I wish" Cas replies. "There's a bit of a story there, actually. I was visiting my extended family, and a couple of my cousins were being dicks. I got heated, so I locked myself in their bathroom to cool down and... Cooled down. I... Kinda-maybe froze the door lock shut..." Cas chuckles again. This time, his chuckle is tinged with embarrassment. "Froze the plumbing and the windows, too. Took them, like, four hours to cut me out the room."
Trenton
◆ "There's one I never got into." Margo commented. "Dragonball never really interested me all that much. I dunno. Also, thanks, I actually took a real interest in the language when I was a kid and pestered my parents into hiring a Japanese tutor. Worked out, I think... I'm actually considering trying to move to Japan once I'm out of here. Maybe go there, go to university, become a herpetologist, find a pretty Japanese wife, settle down... Wouldn't that be nice, huh?"

□ Pangs of loneliness showed in the way her words twisted while leaving her mouth. She was definitely a lonely soul, but she didn't want to dwell on it, so she let the topic more or less slide by without much in the way of second thoughts, instead focusing on starting to slice into the side of the pike in her lap. Blood dripped onto the olive tarp-like material of her waders, another stain she'd need to wash out alongside the scales, and maybe it was this awareness that had led her to being a bit less cautious about making a mess.

▪︎ After all, what was the point in trying to stay clean when her clothes were already coated in scales?

◆ "Christ." Margo snorted. "You froze yourself in the bathroom because of your cousins? And even froze the pipes and shit under your feet? Jesus, man, that's cold. That's – oh, for fuck sakes that's a pun." She let out a defeated sort of laugh, nasally and somewhat gated. "But anyways, man, that sounds like it was probably pretty damn awkward once you got out. I've got my story too, but it's kinda violent, honestly, and it involves my father. Fuck it, I tried to murder him with my bare hands and nearly succeeded. If those joggers hadn't came around he'd have died and I'd be in Erie County right now, but he lived so here I am."
Scott
"Y'know what that *Does* Sound pretty idyllic, not gonna lie. Settling down somewhere actually static and all... Though..." Cas bites his lip as he thinks. He privately wonders if he'll ever get used to staying in one place. A part of him fears that he's already taken on that personality trait from his parents. "...Ehh it'll probably be fucking fantastic. Better than living in hotels forever!"

Cas isn't quite sure how to react to the emotional whiplash of going from lame cold pun to attempted fratricide. It's honestly quite interesting to see his face go from amusement to concern and several other places in the emotional spectrum. "That's... Moderately fucked up. Not that the dude doesn't sound like he *Deserved it,* Or anything. Honestly, fuck him."
Cas thinks for a moment, before continuing: "I mean *Attempted murder* Probably ain't even the worst thing someone's been brought here for. On the bright side, this place is pretty cushy for a juvie all things considered. And you got to meet me and all the other weirdos here! That's gotta count for *Something* Right?" Cas whips his hands out his pockets and performs a double finger-gun gesture. Little snowflakes shoot out of his fingers as he does it.
Trenton
◆ "Yeah, I think it'd be nice, but also the Japanese are horribly xenophobic. It's, like, a founding part of their culture; centuries of isolation does that to an island nation, I guess." Margo finished slicing off another side of fish, now operating more or less autonomously now that she was in the swing of things. "But man, look at me. Do whatever the hell you want to do, life's all about what you make it, and if that's taking the family fortune and never spending more than a week in the same city then go for it. I'm just a sucker for the idea of settling down with a steady job and a lovely wife and being domestic and boring."

□ Maybe it *Was* Boring, but deep down she knew it was what she wanted for her future. She wanted a wife, a family, a steady life drumming and working as a herpetologist or something along those lines, and while it wasn't exactly exciting it seemed like the kind of life she could get behind. Routines, schedules, work, order... Whatever. Noting the rapidly shifting look in Cas' face, she let out a faint utterance when she realized that maybe, just maybe, it was a bit too sudden to go from joking about an accidental pun to talking openly about her attempted murder charge.

▪︎ Maybe she *Shouldn't* Have been tossing it around so much.

◆ "Yeah, man, I think you get it. He deserved every last blow I laid into him, y'know?" Margo flipped the fish over in her lap and began to slice it again. "And also I think you're right. Some people must have been in here on much worse charges... But then again, how do governments decide which parahuman crimes get sent here and which ones get covered up and sent to maximum security?" She hummed. "Anyways, I... I guess I'm glad I wound up here instead of Erie. At least here I can go up to Vänern and fish from sun up to sun down, so that counts for something. Plus, shit, I meet people like you all the time, so that's slick."
Scott
"Yea... That checks out, honestly." Cas muses. At this point he's just chillin' cross-legged on the floor. "Didn't really notice it last time I was there but... Yeaaaa..." Cas readjusts his sitting position as the readjusts his conversation topic. "As for the family fortune... I legit don't know if there is one? Like, I dunno dude my parents haven't moved from Liechtenstein in *Awhile...* I'm kinda wondering if something bad money-wise has happened with them." Not that it affects Cas right now. It'd still kinda suck if he doesn't end up getting investor's son money at some point, but it is what it is. "...Ehh, it's probably fine. Not like I can benefit from travel money right now anyway!"

Cas is totally fine with shifting the topic of conversation away from dad issues, again. The implication that Cas might've been sent to maximum security wasn't one that Cas had considered, and now he's a little terrified of the thought. He quickly shrugs it off though. "Yea! See, there's alw-... Usually some sort of upside to most things. You get to hang out with a *Bunch* Of weirdos! It's like a sitcom but marginally more parental issues."
Trenton
◆ "Hey, maybe they like it enough there to finally plant their roots, man." Margo spoke, running her knife through what felt like the billionth pike side and flipping it over to start plucking the bones out. By now, though, she'd been at it for a while, and the side effects of overuse were beginning to show in the very corners of her eye, capillaries reddening by the second. "I've heard Liechtenstein's a beautiful fuckin' place, so I wouldn't blame 'em. But, yeah, Japan is definitely a place I want to at least visit, you know? The culture, the religious sites... The food. *The women.* I don't fetishize, but I've always had a thing for Japanese chicks. That a little fucked up to admit? Hope not."
 
□ Chuckling, she picked up her pliers and began to pluck pinbones again, dropping them into the same bucket as all of the other carcasses and guts and whatnot she'd split away from the good delicious meat. Cleaning up the day's catch was a tedious job, but someone had to do it, and she was the only one who could have been expected to. So, she sliced, plucked, and skinned her way through things, occasionally looking up at Cas as the pair exchanged stories and jokes and whatnot. Something about it felt lovely, and in all honesty the snowy lad had already formed a great impression on her.

▪︎ She just hoped she'd done the same in return.

◆ "I dunno, some sitcoms are riddled with parental issues when you break down the female characters." Margo remarked. "It's kinda fucked, actually, how many sitcom females are written as being riddled with daddy issues and unfaithfulness. Anyways, you wanna hear how I learned to gut fish? I promise it's... More interesting than it might seem."
Scott
Cas shrugs, unaware of the broader implications of her preference for Japanese women. "I dunno? Is's probably fine? I think?" He is getting a bit concerned over Margo's tired-looking eyes, though he's hesitant to interrupt her flow and bring it up. 
It's been nice to just have a conversation with someone like Margo. There's something calming about watching someone perform a task while they talk. It reminds Cas of watching Azerbaijani wilderness cooking videos late at night, specific as that sounds. Having these long, rambling conversations with someone who was such a good conversationalist was oddly enriching. Cas admires and respects Margo's innate 'coolness' and honestly, two traits he values greatly. Well... Maybe honestly a *Little* Less...

"Hey, I said *Marg*Inally worse, didn't I?" Says Cas, emphasizing the word in a way that sounds like he just realised he made a pun. "*Ehem*, sorry. Yea it's pretty fucked up, honestly. Kinda makes sense though, considering most TV writers are, like, Boomer age white dudes with a used car dealership side-hustle." Cas gives the thumbs-up to Margo's suggestion, though he can't help thinking it might have something to do with Margo. "Fire away. I wanna hear all the juicy fish-guttin' details."
Trenton
◆ "Eh, hopefully." She shrugged, chucking yet another pike carcass into the bucket and flopping the final (and smallest) one down in her lap. "Then again, I know it isn't fetish-y, and that's what matters. I love all women!... And they don't love me in return!"

□ Was it a self-deprecating joke? Or simply admitting that she had as much game as Chris-Chan? Whichever one it was, she was certainly sure of her statement, that girls never felt the same about her, and though she was chuckling it was clear that it wasn't from a place of innocent amusement. Whatever it was, she laid her knife into the fish again, humming softly as the blade glided through its white flesh without any hesitation. The magic of a whetstone-sharpened knife was truly a thing to behold, and from a young age she'd been privy to this fact of life.

▪︎ And, if she *Ever* Managed to learn to cook for herself, God knows she'd have the sharpest knives around.

◆ "Hah, yeah. Fuckin' old guys with bald spots, guts, and circle beards. They're always the ones who you can just *Tell* Are behind the camera being sexist dickbags and generally weird as hell. Anyways." Margo briefly paused, collecting her words in her mouth and parsing them out with the tip of her tongue. "So, remember how you said you spent time on the Orkney Islands? Well, my grandma lived up there, and she was tough. Like, rip a bear's throat out with her bare hands tough. She worked her whole damn life on fishing boats *And* In the fish processing plants, and she learned a lot of shit there. She was the one who taught me everything I know about fishing, from how to spool a reel and tie a hook to breaking down anything and everything that comes out of the ocean. She's... I loved her dearly, man. She taught me so much in the scant time I managed to spend with her before she went up to Heaven or whatever afterlife is out there. I just hope she's looking down at me now and smiling; God knows I'm cutting these fish up exactly how she taught me to."
Scott
While Cas does chuckle at Margo's self-deprecating humour, he makes it clear he disagrees with the central joke. "Awww c'mon, there's gotta be like a handful of women that would love ya! I mean you're, like... Pretty attractive?" Cas gesticulates encouragingly at Margo. For what it's worth it seems to be Cas's genuine opinion. "At the *Very least* You're at, like, the the upper threshold of "Above-average", yknow?"

"Oh damn. Your grandma seems fuckin' cool." Cas replies, his voice filled with respect. "People who, like, work with fish on an industrial scale are pretty hardcore dudes. It's honestly pretty inspiring how you're kinda carrying her legacy? Through fish? Pretty awesome all around."
Cas scratches the back of his head in thought "Never was good at prepping fish myself. Always ended up accidentally stabbing myself. Or my sister..."
Trenton
◆ "All due respect, don't comment on how attractive I am." Visibly stiff, her jaw clenched lightly as her skin crawled. "I know you mean well, but man... I don't like being complimented by guys. Never have."

□ Falling silent afterwards, she kept on cutting up her catch, running the knife through flesh and plucking pinbones out with a needlenose plier. It was one of the skills she was most proud of, being a walking death sentence for all manner of aquatic creatures, and even in her stiff discomfort she worked as naturally as she breathed. After a few good moments she exhaled another puff of smoke and frowned at how little tobacco was left; more filter than filler, she knew she'd be spitting the butt out soon enough.

▪︎ But, now that she'd had a taste again after a month of freedom she was hooked once more.

◆ "But, yeah. She was hardcore as fuck, in every sense of the word. I guess she was also a boxer once? I'd believe it. She could put a hole in a concrete divider." She snorted. "I can teach you how to cut fish up if you want. The techniques are kind of the same for all fish, you just gotta know where the spines are, and how to get the pinbones out. Anyways, huh. Sounds like a skill issue to me, but knifework isn't exactly a born talent. God knows I was dogshit with a knife for a long time..."
Scott
"Won't happen again" Cas gives a thumbs up, and that's the end of the issue on his end. He knows when he has to shut up.

"Honestly the idea of a boxer-fisherwoman grandma is pretty badass, not gonna lie." Cas himself doesn't really have many elder relatives, and the ones he has are fairly distant. While he does feel a little sad, he supposes he's fairly fortunate in that regard. He's never really had to go through the death of a close relative... Yet... "...Anyway, yea I'm down to learn how to do some actual fish prep. Could probably tie that in to that fishing trip thing you mentioned earlier." Cas privately reminds himself that he has basically no extra clothes at the moment besides his thick jackets... He's probably gonna have to go buy more before he can do anything fishing related. One can almost see his forehead wrinkle as he does the mental calculations he's doing in his head as he plans this out.
Trenton
◇ Well, at least it ended off naturally.

■ "Yeah, man, she was pretty badass. Like I said, I'm sure she could have fought a bear and won." Margo mused as she plucked pinbones out. Moreso than usual, she missed her dead grandmother, even if she only had the chance to spend a few short weeks with her up in the Orkney Islands. "Old Scottish women are an entirely different breed, honestly, and I'm hoping my Scottish roots mean that when I'm seventy or so I'll be a badass grandma too. If I even make it that long..." She trailed off, fully aware that making it to seventy was *No* Guarantee. "Anyways, yeah, man, I guess that could work. I guess it could..."

• A yawn, and her eye switched off. Overuse was taking its toll; she'd have to finish off her catch without. Good thing she had good company to talk to.