Shirley
[West Courtyard, 1:30pm...]

◇ And with the changing of seasons came fishing season, a time Margo was totally prepared for.

□ So prepared, in fact, that her fishing rod had just arrived from the family manor in Brooklyn, wrapped up all neat and sturdy presumably by ol' Reggie. She'd been called down to the mail room about twenty minutes prior, and now she was outside, seated on an empty bucket, her tacklebox sitting peacefully opened up at her feet and her rod shooting up from between her legs. Practiced hands deftly untangled the crow's nest that had wrapped itself into the reel, one thread at a time being tugged out in such a way that the nest was slowly becoming undone.

▪︎ As it turned out, these nests took an awful long time to undo. Thankfully Margo had all the time in the world, and she had no other plans for today, so there she sat, on her bucket, a mug of earl grey next to her tacklebox and some Marty Robbins playing off of her phone. Today was a day of preparation, and she wasn't going to let the good weather go to waste.
Tim
Ukulele in a case on their back, Taffy leaves their room, groaning. She figures that it might do her some good to take a breather outside, considering her current state after the laxatives is very far from good. He makes his way out to the courtyard, head down. It's dressed in a large, black hoodie, with a picture of a duck on the front. Under it, the words 'you quack me up' are written in comic sans. They are also wearing dark grey skinny jeans, which show off their alarmingly skinny legs. Their hair has been unbraided and tied back into a low ponytail, and, as always, their eyebags are dark are prominent.

Upon seeing Margo sitting in the courtyard, he stops and looks at her for a moment, before walking over to where they're a few metres away, but close enough to comfortably talk.

"Which one are you?" They chuckle lightly, after pulling the hood up over their head in an attempt to somewhat hide their face. "You like fishing, I guess?"
Shirley
◆ "Huh...?" Looking up, it took her a moment to connect the words in her head. "Oh. Hey. I'm Margo, I guess. Also, yeah, I like to fish during the warmer months; my rod just arrived from home, so I'm fixing it up. Nasty crow's nest tangled itself in the reel, so I gotta get that out before I do anything else."

□ Surprisingly, as she spoke she never stayed her hands, continuing to unweave the mess of line that had tangled itself into the reel. It was years of familiarity, one shared father-daughter hobby that survived the rift between them tearing itself open, and it was just another one of her meditative hobbies. Of course, though, she still made a point of acknowledging the other person's presence, looking up and noting some of their features.

▪︎ Purple hair, dark eyebags, a little case on their back... Maybe a wandering minstrel?

◆ "Anyways, erm... You? What's your name?"
Tim
For a moment, Taffy pauses, their breath catching slightly in their throat. They had spoken to Margo online, but weren't quite sure if they wanted to be open about who they were. After all, he certainly didn't trust anybody here, and while Margo's animals are cute, Margo herself seems almost like a risk to Taffy.

"You're the one with the cute pets, right?" Xe asks, attempting to change the subject. "They're adorable. Wish I had one. Don't know if I could handle the responsibility, though."
Shirley
◆ "Oh, yeah, that's me, and those are my sons." Margo chuckled, another loop passed through itself to untangle the nest a little more. "They're honestly a fair bit of work, but I love them regardless. Maybe get yourself some guinea pigs or something, man... One of my sisters back home had a few, they're sweet little things. Contagiously vacant upstairs."

□ Tug, tug... Pinch. She nearly had the majority of the mess undone, and now it was the final stretch. While she worked and let the silence fill the air surrounding them, though, she thought about Ginny's guinea pigs, how sweet and docile they had been, and how cute they were running free in the family home's backyard. Admittedly, if she hadn't fallen hopelessly in love with reptiles, she might have been the sort to own guinea pigs, but by now her heart had been won over by their scaly hides and endearing personalities, so the opportunity for a guinea pig arc had passed.

▪︎ After a few good moments, she cleared her throat.

◆ "But, seriously, there's plenty of choice here. As long as it's smaller than, say, a medium-sized dog, and it's got a cage or whatever, you've got free reign, man. I even heard some chick in the cafeteria talking about how she has pet ferrets, so... Fuck, if you can keep those shit-stink noodles then the sky's the limit." She laughed, reaching our for her phone and putting on some Cash. "Anyways, nice day, huh? What's in the case?"
Tim
They listen to what Margo's saying, standing there with their hands in the pockets of their hoodie. She looks as if she's genuinely intrigued, but that eventually fades by the time that Margo finishes talking.

"Little gay guitar," They chuckle, nodding back towards the case. "It's one of my only comforts here. Actually, it's really my only comfort here. Pretty sure everyone already hates me, but you know, that's life I guess. Not my problem."

After a moment, he realises what he just said, and the concern that it would give him away started to dawn on him. It shuffles its shoes slightly, looking down awkwardly.
Shirley
◆ "You... Did it to yourself." Margo replied, firm in tone yet walking lightly. "You kinda *Did* Arrive and immediately start throwing fit after fit, insulting the staff, and constantly swinging at everyone in the chat. That anger's going to get you nowhere good, man... So take a breather. Life's not so bad here; aside from the occasional dorm search, this place is basically one big apartment complex. It *Is* Kinda weird that all sorts of countries have ties to this place, but... That's just another mystery for us to speculate over."

□ Speaking with the sort of confidence that only came with time, she clearly understood how the other felt. When she'd first arrived it had been without handcuffs, but only begrudgingly and spurred on by the awareness that she was best off not thrashing against her binds. She'd nearly gutted Uri several times over the first week, and she'd been a hellish inmate, but with time she'd simmered down. It hadn't been long enough for her to forget those first uncertain, vulnerable days, though, and she hoped that maybe, just maybe, she could help this lad come to terms with their life in the Cradle.

▪︎ At the very least, she figured it'd beat sulking in a constant firecracker state, ready to go off at the slightest provocation.

◆ "So, what got you sent here, man?" She spoke after a few moments, pulling yet another loop out. "Like, how did your parahumanity crop up and get you shipped out here? And before you snap at me, a lot of people here ain't guilty of shit. This place is more of... A government facility for us parahumans. Safer in here than out there, I think they'd say."
Tim
"Safer, sure, but there's no such thing as real freedom here. You can distract yourself all you want, but at the end of the day, you're being forced to stay here against your will. At least, I am, and I fucking hate it here."

He pauses for a moment, trying to calm down the anger seething through into his voice.

"It's really none of your business, anyway, why I'm in here. You won't believe me, anyway. Nobody fucking believes me when I tell them I'm ordinary, and it pisses me the fuck off. All you need to know is that I was blamed for something I didn't do."
Shirley
◆ "Matter of perspective, I guess." Margo shrugged, nimble fingers doing their job as she spoke. "If you see this place as a prison, then that's what it is, man. It's what you make of it, but... They aren't gonna just let you leave."

□ With one final tug, the crow's nest came undone in a cascade, the entire knot finally undoing itself and letting its contents sprawl out messily along the reel. Now that she *Finally* Had that mess sorted out, she began to spool it properly, keeping a firm grip on the line as she slowly reeled it in with a focused stare. Of course, though, as she reeled she chewed on the words the other had spit out. Clearly, from what she heard, they felt wrongfully imprisoned, and like their freedom was more important than anything else, and this mindset wasn't entirely lost on her. Freedom was valuable, sure, but their claims of wrongful imprisonment seemed almost hollow.

▪︎ How the hell would someone end up at the Cradle if there wasn't irrefutable evidence of parahuman activity at work?

◆ "That's a goddamn lie." She shook her head. "Nobody ends up here for no reason. You aren't some special, unfortunate one-off; you've got magic in your blood, and it's why you're here. The sooner you just... Calm down and get used to it the easier your time here's gonna be. Be realistic, where the fuck would you go? You're in *Sweden,* The nearest English-speaking country is the UK, and that's still half a continent away."
Tim
"I've heard enough. You aren't helping like you seem to think you are," Ae spits, pulling down aer hood from over aer head. Ae reach up and pull the hair band from aer hair, letting it loose. It falls over her shoulders, and seems somewhat oily.

"I'm not parahuman. I'm not lying. I've been accused of lying far too many times and it's fucking painful to hear. I'm the only one who knows that I'm telling the truth, and everyone else is convinced I'm some big fucking joke. This place is quite literally a prison. There's no 'seeing it' differently. That is what this facility is. I figured you would know that much, at least."
Shirley
◆ "Yes you are." Margo responded in tow, firm yet nonchalant. "And if all you're going to do is spew your gospel of self-pity and guilt dodging, then get going. I'm not out here to hear you bitching; grow the fuck up, one way or another you're gonna be here the next few years. It's like... Never mind."

□ She'd tried patiently reasoning, or at least offering her own perspective of life at the Cradle, but it was all to no effect. This kid, whatever their name was, seemed hellbent on liberty or death, and she wasn't about to be fussed trying to completely change the kid's mind. So, rather than continue arguing she simply went back to her rod, spooling thread and humming along to the Waylon Jennings playing off of her phone, seemingly tuning the other kid out.

▪︎ What a nice day.
Tim
"I hope you fucking burn," They growl, the colour in their face draining slightly. They take a step forward, before leaning forward to speak closer to Margo.

The next words that leave his mouth have an almost echo-y sound to them, almost ghost-like.

"I hope that you burn here, Margo. I hope that your precious little home shows its true colours soon. Don't come crying to me when it all goes to shit. It will, eventually. That much I can guarantee."
Shirley
◆ "Okay? You're going to be here when it goes to shit too, stop acting like - actually, just get the fuck out of my sight."

□ With that, Margo dropped her head back down, focusing on the task at hand. She was done arguing with this doomsday preaching kid, and she was more or less at the point of tensions actually escalating into violence, and given her previous experience fighting another parahuman she decided that she wanted to avoid that if possible. Any illusions she'd held about her martial arts training holding weight here had been shattered when that first rubber punch broke her nose without any effort, and now she was very much aware of her relative vulnerability. Stretch had elasticity that didn't lose any of its oomph, Sanity or whatever his name was could apparently produce explosions from his hands, and Uri themself could have easily put anyone they chose into a genjutsu that would make even the most powerful of Uchiha members blush.

▪︎ Needless to say, she was *Outclassed,* And maybe that was why she was picking peace instead of war.

• She leaned down, grabbed her cup, and took a sip. Hopefully she'd be free to relax soon, once the thundercloud had passed.
Tim
"You know what? I hope I do get to see it all go to shit, because then I can rub it in all your disgustingly snotty faces. Burn in hell."

With that, Taffy quickly storms off, but not before flipping Margo off. He has an idea, and he's decided he's not going to let anybody get in his way.