Scene #8438: Blackmail Is Only A Crime If You're Not Cute About It

Owner	Pose
Petra Soroka	It's getting to be routine, at this point. Petra's web of meetings and phone calls has spiraled out from the people closest to her, from Berislav and Hibiki, to people she at least knew enough about to have strong opinions, like Ishirou and Xion, to now, contacting someone she barely knows. Collecting as many people as possible in her efforts to build networks for Lilian, hoping that even if each one can only give her a tiny fraction of the care she needs, it'll eventually add up to enough. Concentric rings of ice and dust, growing more and more distant but brightly, visibly locked into orbit. Nearly the same thing every time. 'Hey, it's Petra, don't freak out, don't say anything, I need your help to help Lilian. No, I'm not joking.' This time, Petra has arranged a meeting with AME, someone who, now that she isn't part of the Watch anymore, Petra has practically zero connection to. But it's not as though it's been long enough for Petra to have forgotten what her former coworkers each specialized in, and Xion had suggested a method of finally putting the scalpel to Matthew Rook. PHONE: Phoning Xion, Petra Soroka says, "H-he, he's trying to control her for his own reputation. Because he thinks that, that it'll reflect badly on him, and he h-hates that." PHONE: Xion says, "Mmm. I think that's right. I've never met him, but the echoes I've heard of him... He sounds like 'that kind' of father. I know the sort of wizards who don't raise children, but have them." PHONE: Xion says, "If you're asking me what to do, miss cold caller, I'd say you should try to find ways to erode Lilian's father's connections to power and the world. Find his disgraces, the things he's covered up, and hold that black mail together with Lilian. He must have some - he's using it on his own daughter." PHONE: Xion says, "Obviously, you should also build support for Lilian where you can, apart from her father. That'll mean a lot of things - are you ready to find them?" And so here she is, waiting on a bench outside of a deserted train station, in the humidity-choked evening. Her choice of meeting place, given that she still doesn't have a method of transporation, was limited. Intent staring out of the windows while the train rattled down the tracks brought her here by coincidence, to this damp field with its patchy grass and waist-high shrubs, so out of the way that the wooden staircase leading down from the elevated tracks would seem comical if not for the presence of a dirt road and parking lot. It feels appropriately clandestine. Petra sits, and waits, exhaling tar-black smoke from her silver-lined mouth around her white-ash cigarette. One ankle is crossed over her leg, secondhand boot bouncing anxiously. Not a scrap of skin is visible, besides the only part unmarred by chrome wounds, her face. Even her neck is wrapped in gauze, down into the neckline of her shirt.
AME	That she, technically, has no current ties to one Petra Soroka, does not even come into question in AME's mind. Actually, she's more than overjoyed to have even been remembered as a minor factor in everything that went on, frustrating as it is that she had so little idea of what it even was; the cameras cutting off at a critical moment during the maid competition comes to mind, in particular. So many missing pieces of the puzzle. And DRYCLEAN wouldn't even help with that one. Petra having remembered that AME exists and has utility function to others means that she exists, at all, in Petra's mind--and that her past attempts to gain leverage with her weren't for nothing. It's for this that AME happily arrives at the appointed time, her space shuttle parked a decent walk's distance away from the given location, clad a lot less brightly than usual, and with way too much sweet food and a lot of hidden weapons, just in case in tow. She double-waves brightly to Petra, making absolutely no comment on her new silvery appearance. "Hey! I'm here! You want a space eclair or anything, while we talk?" The pastry in question is provided and is blatantly a Twinkie and not whatever a 'space eclair' is, but whatever. Cultural differences.
Petra Soroka	Petra, honestly, has no idea who AME is or what makes her tick. Every Elite she knew-- especially Watch ones-- had some cloud of suspicion layered over them in her mind, both from her simmering antipathy that she developed from talking to Lilian in jail, and because every interaction with them before jail was filtered through her hostile and self destructive perception. So when AME cheerfully shows up, waves, and offers a treat, Petra's comfort with reciprocating is, at least a little bit, feigned. "AME! Hi, I--" Petra straightens up in her posture on the bench to address her, and pauses, expecting an embarrassingly-conveniently-timed grumble from her stomach. It doesn't come, because she doesn't actually need to eat anymore. "--No, I-I'm good, but thanks. I'm...." "How much do you, um, actually know about Lilian? The whole.... Have you met her? I don't actually know." Petra rambles awkwardly for a few seconds, unsure of how to lead in to the subject. AME is practically a blank slate to her, so Petra hesitates on broaching the request from a cold start. "I need your help helping her, basically. Because you-- you were doing PR for the Watch and stuff, right?"
AME	"Hm? Oh. Yeah, I've been, ah, passively looking through, more or less, and making sure nobody tries to spread any awful rumors about anything the Watch's been doing. It's not really PR, I haven't made any explicit appearances, but..." AME shrugs vaguely. "Mh. I don't... really know Lilian all that well... We met once, I think, but we never spoke." Already, AME's trawling through the Multiversal widenet at rapid pace for references to Lilian, or anything she's been doing, but still, she asks Petra, "Aah, is something spreading about her? I don't think I've heard anything..." The space eclair is left on the bench.
Petra Soroka	AME's search brings up a lot of information on Lilian's appearances on television or interviews as a Paladins Chevalier, a torrent of history of good deeds and accomplishments, high profile missions, meetings, and presentations, and one fairly profilic security camera video of her chokeslamming Petra and magically tasering her over and over in front of a crowd. None of the significant information is from the past two months, however. Even that video's presence has died down, both due to natural decay and active efforts from other organizations. Petra reacts with a little surprise at someone actually not being particularly familiar with Lilian. The question was mostly rhetorical; Petra assumes that everyone else is thinking about Lilian as much as she is. "N-no, not exactly, sort of.... Someone is holding blackmail over her, that could ruin her reputation. I-- don't think that could be stopped, if he... revealed it. But what I want to do, is blackmail him in return, so he never, ever would." Petra exhales through her nose, forcefully and determinedly, to emphasize the point. It comes out as a short, resonant hum. After reopening her eyes, Petra notices the space eclair on the bench, with AME still standing. Slowly, Petra casually reaches for it to move it to her lap, as if worried that the barrier of the treat was preventing AME from sitting down somehow. It feels weird to talk to her while she's standing.
AME	AME genuinely just forgot to sit down on the bench, being more than a bit distracted from trying to appear physically present while rapidly accessing significant amounts of websites (something that not having a face tends to help with), but the eclair removal jolts her out of that, and she sits down. While she folds her arms over her lap sweetly initially, it's not long before her hand starts fussing with her ponytail absently. Though, it's more petting it than twirling it. This is interesting. Even with this video of the two fighting, Petra's now trying to help Lilian. Ostensibly, at least. Could be that this entire meeting is just a bizarre angle of Petra trying to get that blackmail on Lilian for herself, but... being indebted to Lilian would be incredibly good for AME. Far too good. Assuming, at least, that Lilian doesn't already know about her. (That damned smile-and-wave.) And if she doesn't, then being in her good books would be invaluable in making sure she never knows or cares. AME tilts her head curiously. "I'm not sure about, um, blackmail-- but... Hmm." Make sure you look visibly uncomfortable with intentional acts of aggression. "I guess I can make sure that the right information is out there, you know? That nobody knows anything, um, untrue or irrelevant, about Lilian. And that they do know the truth on whoever is trying to hurt her." Reframe it.
Petra Soroka	Wait-- blackmail's a crime, I forgot. Shit. "Well, I-- I wouldn't be, I mean more like, I gather the documents, and you, um, spread them? For effectiveness?" She's Watch anyways, why's that a problem? Petra instantly looks flustered when AME hesitates, pressing her hands together against her lap and leaning forwards. "I-I mean, the goal is, to not have to use the blackm-- information at all, you know? But if I get it into your hands then-- then yeah, maximizing the impact against him and... hopefully that being enough of a threat that he gives up." Petra draws her shoulders up in anxiety, her thumbs fidgeting with each other in her clasped hands. She has other options, probably, but getting this angle of attack over Matthew is absolutely vital. Petra absolutely refuses to fuck it up. "S-so, really, you might not need to do anything at all, if everything goes perfectly. Just hold the information I get you and release it on my signal. But-- but I'd still give you full pay, either way, though right now I don't have any... money...."
AME	AME nods to Petra's explanation of how it totally isn't blackmail, streamer instincts taking over and exaggerating it for proper readability. Innocence gambit passes again, thankfully. "I see what you mean. I can just add this stuff to the list of stuff I already keep an eye on, easy." A tilt of her head, this one more subtle. "And that's easy enough that it'd just be weird to expect pay for it, you know?"
Petra Soroka	Petra pauses, head quirking fractionally to the side. It really does sound like practically nothing, when AME puts it like that. But still.... "I don't know, I-- it's important enough that I might need to have you, um, ready for whatever, you know? Like if I need you to release a tiny bit of it during a conversation, like while I'm talking to him, so he can feel pr-pressured." That's called being on retainer, right? Or is it 'on remainder', because they're like, remaining available? I just shouldn't say it at all. "I just, don't know how the situation will develop, so I'd rather just promise you pay regardless." Her head droops and she mutters, "I need to get a job.... You do take money, right? I know you're friends with Dryclean, so I can't actually be sure."
AME	AME's hand pauses for a bit, fidgeting stilled. She's actually low on money, herself, but in the moment, making sure that Petra's perception of her is exactly where she wants it (apparently too nice to accept money, but still vaguely owed something, if only nebulous social capital) matters far more. "I... do take money, yeah, but... I just don't want you to feel pressured to have to pay me for every little thing, especially if you're having a hard time getting money yourself." AME shakes her head. "We can decide that after, alright? Just get me started on who's planning on hurting Lilian, and if I end up having to do anything crazy out-of-my-way, we can talk about it after?" Petra seems so easy to deal with... she's in panic mode from the start. Was it something I did? Is she actually playing on a higher level, like Rita? Does she know more than she should, can she read people, like DRYCLEAN, or... like Lilian hopefully can't.
Petra Soroka	While AME's thought bubble is filled with a scrawling monologue, trying to read into and second guess Petra's apparent nervousness, studying her behaviors, above Petra's head is just a cloud of bubbles that all read 'Lilian'. Petra is operating on such a low level of social maneuvering that she somehow comes across as competent and conniving. AME is playing poker with a dog and losing. "It's-- Matthew. Rook. Her dad. He's the one blackmailing her. Fucking rich piece of shit narcissist, obsessed with his own image." Petra's eyes, which were wandering before, snap onto AME's screen, glinting angrily. "Do you have any particular insight into how to hurt someone like that? Someone who's carefully built up a particular image for that role, and will do anything to maintain it? You would, right?"
AME	All the cards were in AME's hands up until that moment- or maybe they never were. Did she let something slip, just then? Polymer pseudomuscle structures tense, all but ready for Petra to drop the act completely and start a fight outright. Does she know that I was watching the maid competition? Does she think I know what happened after the cameras cut? Did DRYCLEAN do something, am I involved now? She fidgets, not just with her hand but with her paws, channeling the urge to jump up and draw a laser pistol into tapping the bench and kicking her legs back and forth. Better to not be the first to escalate. Keep playing on her terms, see where she wants to take this. Figure out her angle. Making a sound somewhere between a bird's trill and a sigh, AME nods slowly, looking down at the ground. "There's... a lot of people like him, like that, online, you know? You run into them a lot, when you get big on the widenet. They... tend to be hard to deal with. I had to get good at what I do, with PR management, just because there's so many people out there who thought they had to spread awful lies about me. You know? I just wanted to have a fun time streaming video games." Let's see what she does with that.
Petra Soroka	Petra and AME practically aren't speaking the same language anymore-- literally they aren't, of course, but the multiversal translation effect can only bridge communication gaps to an extent. Petra blinks in confusion at her earnest request for blackmailing tips being met with AME talking about her backstory, but tries to slow down and engage her at her level. She's asking the positronic for a favor, after all, so if this is what she wants to talk about, Petra has to reciprocate. "Oh, you were a streamer?" Has she told me that before? I hope I didn't just forget. "I'm not super familiar with the scene, but I'm close enough to know that those kinds of audiences can be really nasty. They always act like they know you so much more than they do, right?" Petra tries to give AME a thoughtful, empathetic look, but it might accidentally come across as ominously meaningful. "A high society billionaire wizard is a little different from internet trolls, though. So you don't have any particular tips on how to agitate him? It's okay if you don't, I guess your background is a little different from what I thought."
AME	So Petra is choosing to keep it on subtler lines... that's an interesting tactic. Is this whole thing a way of her telling AME that she has blackmail on her? That there's concrete evidence, visible to the public, that something is deeply wrong with AME in a way that almost nobody has ever been able to identify? AME responds to Petra's 'playing dumb' with a pensive nod. "Mhm. It was basically all I did, before I started doing stuff for the Watch. Dealing with, awful trolls and all that... it was pretty intense, you know." Her paw clenches, metal claws scoring light marks on the bench. AME begins to turn, to face Petra, in the beginning of some undecided element of body language intended to say at least five things at once, when the nerves nearly get to her. The turn, briefly, almost becomes the anticipated pistol draw--"they always act like they know you so much more than they do", don't they?--but something conflicts, and not all of her turns at quite the same speed. Something light red leaks through AME's long white sleeve, just below her shoulder. Shaking, she returns to sitting down, facing away from Petra again, holding that shoulder tightly, shaking slightly. "I think I could definitely... I could definitely do my thing on a billionaire wizard, though. I've... done similar, for the Watch, already. You know."
Petra Soroka	Petra continues to be the reigning champion of being dialed in on the feelings of girls with something deeply wrong with them. Unlike with Lilian and Rita, however, it isn't intentional. "Yeah, I can imagine. I had to deal with some people like that too sometimes, on my--" Petra stops talking just in time to avoid blurting out that she runs a fujoshi blog. She coughs, and looks away, rubbing the back of her neck. "Anyways. Yeah. I totally get it, what you went through." Petra finally starts unwrapping the twinkie when AME twitches to draw her gun, not noticing the jerky movement. She pointedly avoids bringing attention or comment to the leaking fluid-- after all, she has her own weird metallic ichor hidden beneath her bomber jacket, and she wouldn't want anyone noticing that. Double-hand-gripping the twinkie like a mouse, Petra takes a small bite out of it, watching AME out of the corner of her eye. No actual advice from her, though. I guess the promise of pay from a homeless girl only goes so far, huh? "...Yeah. That makes sense. I'll-- I'll let you know, once I need you. Thanks, AME."