Leon
◆ "...The fuck is wrong with people here, man?"

□ An annoyed utterance, from a disgruntled teenager sat at a public park table with chess pieces and a cigarette on the go. Margo had been rather bored, to put it lightly, and boredom always seemed to drive her out of her room and into town. Perhaps it was the change of scenery, or the noise that kept her brain on edge in such a way that she couldn't even really *Process* That she was bored out of her skull and about to start talking to volleyballs to cope. Whatever it was, she'd found a bit of solace in her life at the Cradle simply heading into town, and getting up to whatever she felt like doing.

▪︎ As it turned out, today it was chess. Just one small problem remained: nobody seemed to want to play.

• Understandably a little frustrated, she now found herself stewing at the table, shooting leery looks, and wondering what the hell it was about this place that nobody seemed to want to play chess in a public park. She'd done it all the time back home, so what gave? Was it her tattoos? The haze around her head? Her generally unapproachable air? Whatever it was, she did not like it one bit.
Carmen
*Connor found Margo as he was strolling through town. He hadn't been at the Cradle very long, and had almost immediately gone to the site itself when he arrived in town, so this was his opportunity to explore the city. He took a seat opposite of her and carefully (but obviously) tucked the chains of his manacles into his sleeves to prevent them from scratching the chess board or knocking pieces over mid game.*

"It's been a while since I did this so forgive me if I'm not the best." *He said, going ahead and moving a pawn forward to start off the game.*
Leon
◆ "No questions, no introduction, nothing, huh?" Margo commented with an amused lilt as the stranger sat down and quickly made his first move. "I can fuck with it. You're on."

□ Of course, as she spoke she eyed her mark down, trying to get an idea of whether or not the shackled boy across from her was being genuine or deceptively modest. He seemed to be telling the truth, but his move, some sort of strong opener, told her that he was at least familiar with the game; whether this was due to actually playing often, or watching chess content creators online, she figured she'd know eventually. Humming, her lips flattened out and curled up at the corners, mirror eyes scanning the board and considering all of her moves. Did she go with her tried and true opening? Or did she listen to common sense and swap it up in response to this lad's move?

▪︎ After a few good moments of humming and hawing, she made her move.

◆ "Thanks for sitting down for a game, man. I've been here about an hour, and fuck, barely anybody's even given me a second glance." She broke the silence after her move. "Back in Brooklyn that'd be a fuckin' sin, but I guess Swedes aren't as fond of playing chess with strangers as us American intellectuals seem to be. You smoke?"

[Yeah, I tend to write a decent amount, it's just my personal style lol]
Carmen
"Figured we'd get to know eachother as we played, since we might be here for a little while." *Connor responded first.* "It's been a hot minute since I last played. I normally have other things to do, but today I keep getting distracted. Might as well keep the streak of not doing what I need going." *He said with a chuckle.*

"Not a smoker personally. I have my vices, but smoking isn't one of them." *He explained, making a responding move with little hesitation - a sign of impatience or of having pre-planned, even he wasn't sure.* "My old group used to but I never got into it. Just wasn't the type of thing I really had much of an interest in. Few of them drank to take the edge off, most of them smoked, and some of them had some... Other things." *Connor's words landed with some negative undertone to them, despite being references to the people he used to hang out with consistently.* "I'm Connor, by the way. Just got here today for Newton's Cradle, which I figure was remotely obvious by the fact that I present myself like a fucking anime character."
Leon
◆ "The longer the better. Even with air conditioning the Cradle's fuckin' unbearable this time of year... Better to be outside, weirdly enough." 

□ A hum of amusement left her throat as she postulated on the weirdness of outdoors being better than indoors. She'd heard tales of European homes and buildings being designed to retain heat much better than the American standard, but experiencing it firsthand reminded her just how *Much* Poorly insulated homes with air conditioning seemed to help when the thermostat got cranked to one oh six. Fishing out her pack of smokes, she flipped the top and nabbed a cancer stick with beaked lips, lighting it with the strike of a match like a total fuckin' hipster before making her play. Offensive-defensive, she strove to straddle the line between aggression and caution, and it was what made her so good.

▪︎ That, and her brain was so sharp it could split an atom.

◆ "Fair. Figured I'd offer." She took a drag and exhaled, thin wisps of off-white smoke trailing from her lips like ephemeral waterfalls. "Anyways... Gotcha. Sounds like your friends were druggies... God knows I was friends with one back home. Amazing guitarist, but how the fuck does he live with himself knowing he's an addict, man...?" She groaned, all too aware of the hypocrisy of calling one of her close friends an addict while smoking the world's most widespread addictive substance in public. She was underage, why was she so confident? "Connor? Gotcha. Name's Margo, welcome to the Cradle. How are ya liking it so far?"
Carmen
*Connor responded with a move first before responding with words; overall, his strategy was mostly defensive, but he was attempting to spread it wide so he could protect multiple fronts. In spite of this, he was the first to take a piece.* 

"They had a lot of issues. *We* Had a lot of issues. I'm in chains for a reason." *He said.* "As for the Cradle, it's... Nice. I've met a few interesting characters so far but overall it's making me feel like this coat is more than a fashion statement."
Leon
◆ "Because of your friends? Sounds like you're a sacrificial lamb, man." Margo commented, watching as Connor made his move. Wide-spread defense, like the Maginot Line, and like the former she'd figure out a way around it entirely in time. For now, though, she set up a piece in position to trap the offending piece in as many possible moves as possible. "But maybe I'm misunderstanding, huh?"

□ Rather than directly ask what was up with the chains, she figured if Connor wanted to talk about them he would. It was the same with anyone at the Cradle who had visual deformities or oddities: if they wished to speak, she'd let them, but otherwise she figured it best to leave it alone, and to not push too hard. She might have been fine with discussing her deformities at length, but that didn't mean others were, and it was something she had been troubled by in the past.

▪︎ For now, though, she took a drag and hummed. 

◆ "Yeah, man, it's... It's summer. Sweden's crazy warm in the summer. Why the fuck are you wearing a coat?" Margo laughed. "Like, don't get me wrong, I adore my camo jacket, and I love cold weather because it gives me a reason to wear it, but even I'm not foolish enough to wear a heavy-ass coat when it's, like, one-oh-two out right now. Maybe you have a reason for it, though, huh? Maybe I shouldn't judge."
Carmen
"Honestly I'm just used to it at this point. That and..." *Connor lifted his coat slightly and showed off that underneath were several sets of interlocking chains wrapped around him, with only cloth to separate it from his skin.* "Easier to just explain the shackles than to explain all this. Which, no, I am not going to explain now." *He said. He was also very intentionally ignoring the first comment; perhaps he was a sacrificial lamb, all things considered, but in his mind he had enjoyed his time with them, even if he was through with it now.* "You're pretty good at this." *He said, changing the subject.* "Been practicing a lot?"
Leon
◆ "Wasn't planning on asking about it... *Oh.*" Margo failed to keep her surprise in as Connor lifted the jacket off and unveiled several sets of shackles. "Bit more than I was expecting, man. Must be heavy."

□ Casually talking, she eyed the board down, plotting her moves out way in advance. She'd learned, through years of experience and watching grandmasters play like the nerd she was, that planning ahead was key for chess. Five, ten, even fifteen or twenty moves in advance often was the difference between a stalemate or a loss and sweet, sweet victory.

▪︎ Thankfully, Connor seemed all too eager to inflate her ego. She smirked.

◆ "Been playing since I was a kid." She spoke, tapping her fingertips against the table. "Learned from an uncle, and never stopped. You?"
Carmen
"Heavy as hell. I'm not going to say 'Oh, the weight of my sins is more!' or any basic, borderline self-righteous bullshit like that. I just find it comfortable. Oddly so." *Connor was only thinking slightly in advance as he made his next move; not nearly as much as Margo was. He was considering a few options, but truth be told, was not seeing several of Margo's potential setups across the board. As he made his next move, the flaw he made was obvious to even the most new of players - whether it was a trick or a genuine error in judgment, that was the more complicated question.* "I haven't played that long, just a few years now. It takes my mind off things."
Leon
◆ "Like a weighted blanket, huh?" How very neurodivergent of her to jump immediately to the weighted blanket she'd received in the mail recently. "I getcha. Makes sense, man... Makes sense."

□ Casually talking, she took note of her opponent's amateur blunder, but debated on capitalizing on it immediately. What were the chances he'd move that piece again? Not likely, given the weakness she was planning on poking at. So, she made her move, and the mistake was unpunished.

▪︎ Of course, though, now a large part of the left side was now in danger. Win some, lose some.

◆ "More like keeps your mind too busy to think about bad shit." She chuckled, taking a drag of her cigarette and attempting to blow rings only somewhat successfully. Baby steps. "I know that's why I try to keep myself busy; downtime is downertime, as it turns out."
Carmen
"Never heard that before, I kinda like that." *Connor replied both verbally and on the board.* "I have no issue with downtime personally but yeah, I get that. It's nice to be able to have time to think sometimes, I find. Plus more downtime means less time dealing with people I don't like." *He stated.*

"If you don't mind my asking, you're at the Cradle. So what's your power? I mean, your... Eye is also more than a bit unusual. So you definitely have something going on, and I'm curious what it is." *Connor tried to tiptoe around the topic slightly, just in case it was a sensitive subject. But he wasn't about to not ask his question, so he went with it anyway. He was potentially digging himself a hole - one that might be a grave if he wasn't careful. He had a pretty good eye for telling when people were dangers to him, though, and Margo didn't seem like she'd threaten him.*
Leon
◆ "Guess so."

□ A short hum, and eyes fixed on the board. By this point her whole posture had shifted, thoughtfully leaned in towards the board, her every breath deliberately shallow to keep her mind as focused on the song and dance of chess and conversation she found herself in. Fingers tapping against a rook as she considered whether or not to move it, she noted Connor's question fired off from eggshells, and figured she might as well talk a little.

▪︎ It wouldn't hurt.

◆ "My left eye's able to see in ultraviolet, infrared, and x-ray, and my eyes can also zoom in quite a bit." Margo calmly spoke, clearly used to talking about her powers at this point. "It also marks me out as a weirdo, but not much I can do about it. Your go."
Carmen
"Infrared... Do you ever use it as a lie detector? You could tell shifts in temperature and use that as a makeshift way to tell if someone is being dishonest." *Connor asked, debating his next move.* "I'm into physics. It comes in handy." *He called himself out, and then responded to his question himself, just for the sake of respect; he took a moment to consider his move one last time, then slowly and carefully manipulated the gravity of his piece, floating it up and across to its destination.* "That knowledge also helps with my power."
Leon
◆ "Not really, no. I've got a good enough sense of people to tell when they're lying." Margo shrugged. "But...? That's not a bad idea. Like a polygraph, except temperature instead of heart rate. Not bad, man."

▪︎ Shallow nodding, she took the moment or so it took Connor to move to think on what he'd said. Infrared... As a lie detector? There'd be no way for it to be entirely truthful, but no lie detecting test was infallible, so it still seemed a reasonable way of doing things. Eyes trained on the board, she noticed one of the other lad's pieces floating a bit above the chiseled-in board, and immediately noted it down in her head.

▪︎ Telekinesis, but by what mechanism?

◆ "Just noticed that." She hummed, considering her next move for a few good moments. "Physics and telekinesis tells me you're fucking around with gravity; mind telling me about whatever your powers are, man?"
Carmen
"You have it spot on. It's basically just control over gravity, to an extent. Issue is it's more than just 'think about it and it does it', I have to actually take care to use the right amount of force or things go flying into walls and shit." *He said.* "It has its uses. Means of both offense and defense, if I ever need it, and of course I can get from place to place easier.

"Don't get too distracted by my powers; we have a game to play. Though maybe distracting you would play to my benefit."
Leon
◆ "No shit. Gravity's a fundamental force, so once you start playing with it I can see how... Y'know. Tiny perturbations turn into giant issues, like... *This.*"

□ Without breaking a sweat or veering off course, she quickly and decisively snatched up one of Connor's pieces, opening up a hole in his defenses he may not have seen, or perhaps ignored. It was the old instincts coming into play, and while she'd also lost a few so far she seemed to be doing a wholly better job at both keeping her defenses up and applying foresight-aided pressure.

▪︎ But, hey, she wasn't about to get cocky. She knew her last move was a bit of a gamble, but even her gambles had Lady Luck at their back.

◆ "I've been trying to actively improve my powers, though, and... It's not easy, man. Or, maybe it just doesn't come naturally to me..." She hummed, taking a drag from her cigarette and ashing it into an empty soda can she'd plucked out of a recycling bin for this exact purpose. "Is it like that for you? As in, er... It comes so naturally you don't even how to really work on the basics. That sorta idea. I know I can activate different wavelengths at will, and focus to zoom, but how do I work on that? What helps improve infrared sight, for example?"
Carmen
"Fuck." *Connor muttered as Margo completely tore a hole in his oh-so-carefully prepared defenses. (/s)* "The power itself doesn't come naturally to me. But the knowledge of physics needed to use it does, to an extent. I've had a few times when I've just naturally, completely accidentally known some sort of physics answer without any clue how or why I know it. So I feel like there's a side effect I don't know about.

"As for training yours..." *Connor made a move on the board as he spoke, thinking about options for Margo. The move was suboptimal, but basically everything he could think to do now was suboptimal in some regard, and it was just a matter of doing the most optimal suboptimal move.* "I can't say if it'll work, but you said directly, it's infrared *Sight*. It should just be able to be trained like any other form of sight. Eye exercises, focusing and unfocusing on things, et cetera. Worst case scenario, it might not be 'stronger' by any means, but it should be more natural. And if it's more natural then maybe you can slowly, naturally build it up. I really don't know how these power things work, I just kind of exist with mine and don't think too much about anything."
Leon
◆ "...Huh." An eyebrow inquisitively rose up, lazy yet steady. "So, you're born with physics in your blood? Fuck, man, that's pretty cool. It's basically a primal instinct sort of thing, huh?"

□ Watching as Connor made his next move, she hid her displeasure pretty well. She'd had him in a bit of a pre-determined gameplan for the past couple of turns, but now he'd veered far off of the course she was planning to take through the rest of the game. Unfortunate, but nothing to cry over; she moved a piece, then looked back up at him. "That's not a bad idea, honestly. It still feels a little bit... Sticky, for lack of better words, when I use it. It's like the cogs that make it work take a bit to lurch to life, and with my x-ray sight it's basically non-functional. Flickers, afterimages, impossible colours... But nothing solid. It's frustrating, but there isn't shit I can do except work on it, so."

▪︎ A brief pause followed as she took another puff. Awfully bold for a sixteen year-old to be smoking so flagrantly in public.

◆ "Also, you said it's been a while...? Well, you just threw me for a fuckin' loop, so you're not doing half bad. You should hit the online sites after this, though... Your defense could be better, man."
Carmen
"We have iron in our blood, that's what gives it that distinct red color." *Connor began, at first completely nonobvious where he was headed with his topic.* "You know where iron comes from? Supernovae. Nuclear fusion inside long-dead stars combining lighter elements into heavy metals. Iron is one of them. So, we literally have stardust in our blood." *Connor leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms, then put them on the table.* "Look, I'm not a romantic or anything. I'm not religious or spiritual in the slightest. But you saying I have physics in my blood makes me laugh a bit, just 'cuz I know that it's not entirely inaccurate even from a scientific point of view; my blood is inherently the product of billions of years of physics."

*Connor made his next move with more than a hint of hesitation, a bit nervous as to how the game would turn out at this point, but nevertheless continuing with it.* "I'll check it out. Appreciate the compliment though."
Leon
◆ "...Quite a roundabout way of saying I'm technically correct." Was all Margo crooned out lowly after Connor was done talking. "How'd you find out about your powers?"

□ *Casual segue,* She figured as she swapped the topic up slightly from the passé notion that humans were all made of stardust. It was a nice idea when one was fourteen and still in the valley betwixt childhood wonder and adult defeat, but at sixteen? With an attempted murder charge under her belt and traumas beyond what she was even aware of? It was all frivolous and silly, though she didn't outright beseech it as such. So, she took one last puff and outed her cigarette, dropping it into the awaiting can and observing Connor's next play.

▪︎ Thankfully she had a great poker face, otherwise she'd have gave her satisfaction away without meaning to.
Carmen
*Connor made one more move in response, setting himself up for a loss within just a couple of turns, unbeknownst to him.* "Originally figured it out from... Honestly, I can't remember. I think it was a gradual thing, something innate, when it first figured it out. Then when it developed further, it was from stress brought on by the original power. That was when the gravity revealed itself." *He stated.* "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that I got the out I needed in that situation. But I also wish that situation hadn't happened at all." *He sighed.* "How about you? Just woke up one day with a funky eye?" *He joked.*
Leon
◆ "Fair. It's less you figured it out and more the universe told you, hm?" Margo spoke with a lazy, airy cadence, observing how Connor's hand curled and contracted as he grabbed a piece and moved it, directly into extreme peril. If she wasn't the sort to take chess seriously, she'd have let out a laugh at the move. "Makes sense."

□ A hum left her lips, jaw clicking lightly into place as she made her move. Confident, she placed down her knight, and promptly scooped up one of Connor's pieces. Perhaps he hadn't realized it yet, but she knew that things were as good as over now, his king doomed to shimmy in misery for eternity as she placed the damned thing in check over and over, tapping her fingers against the granite tabletop surrounding the carved chessboard.

▪︎ A faint smile crossed her lips as Connor asked about the origins of her powers.

◆ "I was born like this. Kind of, at least." She calmly replied, fishing another cigarette out of her pack and lighting it up with flagrant disregard for any police officers that might have been around. The flick of a Zippo later, she took the first drag, and exhaled a thin wispy cloud. "At birth my left eye was actually... Believe it or not, shit was clouded over with a huge cataract. Apparently that was really unusual, and for a while they were considering calling my condition an Abernathy Cataract – by the way, that's not my last name by choice, and I *Will* Throw your ass into a dumpster if you dare use it." Half-joking, half threat. What a classic. "But anyways, when I was six I got roped into a dare with a few of my siblings, and in the aftermath I nearly fuckin' died, and all I got was this lousy eye."