Pauline
Ares and Finley sat side by side throughout the early morning. The two had been laughing and teasing the other over video games and stolen snacks, a truly eventful mid night meet up. Ares knew that they were breaking an enforced rule, Finley wouldn't let him forget, but he was having a difficult time finding regret for agreeing to let them come to his dorm. Even at such a late hour, Ares had to admit the company was nice.

Their laughter carried through the silence of the night, far above the disturbances on the floor below. The two had stationed themselves on Ares' bed, sitting comfortably against the otherwise uncomfortable concrete wall. The laptop Ares had placed in front of the two, casted a dull blue light across his dark bedsheets. Ares had switched on a movie, after the two of them played many rounds of various video games. Whenever Ares won he would cheer and laugh, and whenever Finley won Ares claimed it was rigged. The two of them knew such a thing was false, but that didn't stop the dark haired boy from teasing the other. 

Ares' broken comments and jabs at the idiotic characters in the horror movie they turned on slowly became less and less frequent as Finley's responses became less and less enthusiastic. The dark haired boy wondered if they were getting bored, it wasn't an outlandish thought. The two had been awake for hours, and it was almost half past seven in the morning. 

His dark eyes cast a sharp gaze to his side, where the other sat. His brow softened as he realized, Finley had fallen asleep. Their eyelids were softly closed over light eyes, and their mouth was relaxed as sleepy breaths fell out in small puffs. Their long blonde hair fell in front of their eyes as their body leaned against the wall. They hadn't changed positions, and managed to pass out sitting upwards. Ares let out a soft laugh at this, but quickly realized his confusion. He pursed his lips as his mind swarmed with thoughts.

*"Ay dito- What the fuck do I do now..."*
_ _

Ares said sharply under his breath, his otherwise loud voice fell quiet as to not wake Finley. Ares got up, slowly and carefully, and grabbed his laptop on the way. He pressed his finger to the power button, and the room fell silent. Ares paused and kept his gaze on Finley. They looked at ease, comfortable even, in the dark haired boy's presence. *Strange,* Ares thought. He shook his head the moment his mind started wandering, he knew he felt nothing about the situation. 

His laptop was now resting on his desk, placed down haphazardly on top of all of his papers. Ares had to brush a few ink markers out of the way to make room. After he had set down his laptop, he walked back over to his bed. He picked up the controllers the two had used earlier, and put those away too. His bed was now free of everything, except Finley. 

Without much hesitation, Ares reached his rough hands towards Finley's face. He brushed their golden hair out of their eyes, and softly pulled their glasses of their face. His thumbs fell against their cheeks as he pulled his hands away, a slow movement. Ares turned and placed their glasses on his bedside table, carefully folding the temples against the lenses. Ares then placed his hands on Fin's shoulders, he held each side with a solid yet gentle grasp. He moved them out of their sitting position, and down into his bed. Finley adjusted slightly when their position changed, but fell immediately back asleep. Ares let out a teasing sigh, saying *'you asshole,'* With his breath despite knowing they wouldn't hear. Their blonde hair fell softly against Ares' pillow, and their hands curled against their face. Pulling his large heavy blanket over the other, he figured he might as well let them sleep.
_ _

Letting out a sigh, Ares made his way over to his desk, sat down, pulled out his phone and began mindlessly scrolling through social media. The morning birds chirped in tandem with Finley's slow breathing. The room was otherwise silent. Ares let his head fall back against his chair, confusion pulled on his furrowed brow. He couldn't decide whether this was an inconvenience, or the farthest thing from a big deal. He sighed once more, a sharp heavy breath that reverberated in his chest and made his ribs expand and collapse into his normal resting position. 

Ares decided to stay awake for the rest of the night, his bed was occupied.
_ _
Nona
With a grunt, Taffy gets up from xyr bed, grabbing the large water bottle xe owns from xyr nightstand. It's a solid litre-size bottle, and it's about two thirds full. Pulling it to her stomach and holding it tightly, she walks over and opens the door, before leaving and closing the door behind her.

Taffy slowly makes his way over to Pernilla's office. A slow knock can be heard on the door.
Judith
Taffy had wrecked Pernilla's office earlier, and it still hadn't quite recovered from the carnage, but it was pretty close. The plant was back in the windowsill, the trinkets back on the shelves. A few of the things had been broken, but they would be replaced or repaired soon. Until then, the walls and shelves where they had been would simply have to be slightly more bare than usual.

Pernilla answered the door, seeing what she'd expected - Taffy, standing outside her office, holding a water bottle tightly to its stomach.

"There you are, dear. Come on in."
Nona
Without another word, Taffy steps into the room. Ze seems angry, but too weak to act on it, so instead ze just walks over and sits on the first chair ze sees.

After a moment of silence, they look up at Pernilla, a scowl on their face.

"I'm going to leave," He says plainly, voice slightly strained.
Judith
Pernilla takes a seat opposite Taffy, trying to give her some space. The atmosphere is tense and uncomfortable, but, at least to Pernilla, it doesn't seem hostile.

Taffy is a child. A scared, emotionally vulnerable child. Ey're not the first Pernilla's dealt with, and ey won't be the last, but empathy overcomes Pernilla just the same. It's such a tragedy that this keeps happening.

*I'm going to leave.* For a moment, Taffy's statement doesn't quite register for Pernilla, but when it does, it elicits a furrowed brow in response, clearly out of worry.

"Where will you go?"
Nona
"Don't know," They shrug. "I'm in a prison and I want to get out. Is that so much to understand? Why does nobody fucking understand that?"

She's actively avoiding any eye contact with Pernilla. Honestly, at this point, she was just desperate for somebody to listen. With a grunt, he readjusts his sitting position slightly.

"Nobody even wants to listen. It's fucking stupid."
Judith
Pernilla doesn't interject until Taffy is done speaking. It's the polite thing to do - as a matter of fact, it's probably the *Right* Thing to do. Taffy is upset, and rightfully so. After all, the whole world is against him. Anyone would be upset and slow to trust. Anyone, if they had lived Taffy's life, would be feeling the way Taffy feels.

"Well," She begins, "I'm sure your therapist will want to listen. And I'll listen too, if you'd rather talk to me. That's okay too."

She pauses.

"But if you want to leave, I'm... Well, I'm actually not allowed to stop you. I know you're not really happy being here, and I know Oliver locked you in your room last night, but this isn't really a prison. The doors aren't locked. You can go outside. You can even go out of town if you like - there's a girl on the third floor who's planning a fishing trip to Vänern." She smiles a little at that. It's quaint, in a way, that someone is going out of town on a fishing trip. It's nice.

"If you do leave, just... Be safe, okay? You shouldn't be sleeping rough."
Nona
"I'm not coming back unless they drag me back," They say firmly, crossing their arms. "It's either freedom at the risk of danger or it's staying in a prison and just accepting my fate. I'd prefer the former, personally, even if nobody else would."

This is true. Taffy wants nothing more than to just have some freedom, and, at this point, he's just tired of it all. Everything feels cold and enclosed. Even when she goes outside, she doesn't feel any actual joy, because she knows that at the end of the day she has to go back to this place.

"Besides, the food is shit, and I could seriously do better."
Judith
Pernilla doesn't interject. How could she? What would she even say? She knows they *Will* Drag Taffy back. She also knows why they have to. But why would she tell Taffy that? How could she?

She decides to gloss over that.

"Yes, everyone does tell me the food is quite bad. I'm inclined to agree, though I'm not entirely sure what I can do about it. I'm not the one cooking, and as far as I know, we do have space in the budget for both ingredients and seasonings." It was probably more than a little awkward to ignore the heavier parts of the conversation, but... She wanted to engage in a way that Taffy wouldn't be upset over.

"I'm going to be here if you need someone to talk to. Your room's gonna be here if you need a place to sleep. Like I said, this... This isn't a prison, Taffy. I just want you to be okay, alright? I worry about you."
Nona
Taffy's arms snap down, their hands grasping the arms of the chair. They look at Pernilla with a look of absolute disgust.

"It is *Literally* A prison. That's what this facility is. It's just a fancy prison that likes to make people think it's harmless. This place is sketchy as *Fuck*, and honestly, I'm fully convinced you've been fucking brainwashed or some shit. How long have you worked here for? Do you not realise how bad it is?" His voice is filled with anger, along with a tinge of regret. "Stop acting all nice and tell me the truth. That's all I want. The fucking truth."
Judith
Pernilla sighs and shakes her head. "I can't tell you the truth. It's a little like a placebo - if you know the truth, it won't work, but if you don't know, it will. There are some things I can tell you, dear, and I've told you already, but you didn't believe me. This *Isn't* A prison. That's the honest truth. But I can't tell you what it is."

Difficult conversations were part of the job. Cleaning up the office after it had been wrecked was part of the job. Hopefully, seeing Taffy grow would be part of the job too. That was the part that made the job worth doing. Until then, it would just be uncomfortable.

"I've been here for more than 10 years. I know what we do here, and I know why we do it, and I think it's good. You can trust me or not - that's your choice. I can't make you do anything you don't want to do. But take care of yourself, okay?"
Nona
Taffy pauses, staring Pernilla dead in the eyes, before an innocent smile dawns on his face.

"You're right, ma'am. There is no point fighting it. I'm being rehabilitated, aren't I? It's what I deserve, after all. After what I did."

Any shake previously in her voice has dropped, and she looks oddly honest.

"It could be worse."
Judith
Somehow, Taffy's emotions disappearing felt even *Worse,* Even *More* Wrong, than when xe was upset. Pernilla stood up, dragged her chair to the other side of the table, and sat down next to Taffy.

"Rehabilitated? How would I ever hope to do that, Taffy, dear? You're not a criminal." She sighed. "I know you don't like being here. I know. If it helps, you can think of this like a boarding school. It's closer to the truth than prison is."

Another pause, with Pernilla genuinely unsure how to respond to Taffy's sudden change in mood. "Would you like to call your father? Would that help?"
Nona
"I can do that?" They ask lightly, voice hitching in their throat. They freeze up, and while the question they asked was a hopeful one, they almost sounded angry when they asked it. After a moment, their voice returns to its previous, emotionless state "I don't deserve that. What do you mean, I'm not a criminal? Do you not know why I'm in here? Isn't that your job? This is my home now. I can't leave."

Taffy smiles at Pernilla, leaning back in the seat, hands between his knees. As sweet as this smile is, his eyes look almost faded.
Judith
Pernilla nods. "Yes. Go ahead."

Mr. Weaver knew everything already, after all. Taffy could lie to him as much as she liked, say as many awful things as she liked. It's not like Pernilla could've stopped xem any other time - xer phone hadn't been confiscated.

Before Taffy could call, though, Pernilla responded to their questioning. "We told your father, you know. The truth. He agreed that this would be the best thing for you. There are criminals here, but... You're not one of them, Taffy."
Nona
"Oh, you misunderstand, miss. I don't *Want* To talk to my father," They chuckle lightly. "In fact, I just want to stay here and live peacefully.

With that statement, ze stands up, before giving a large stretch.

"I had better apologise to my new friends. I can't believe I was so rude to them." Taffy lets out a loud sigh.
Judith
Pernilla is still quite confused, but elects not to do anything. She nods. "...Alright."