Scene #9184: An Evil Consultation

Owner	Pose
Rufus Shinra	METHOD ONE Rufus stands in front of his smart TV, which is allegedly off. "Boy, I wish right now I had a PREMIUM FAMILY PLAN with STREAMING EXTENDED AD-FREE SUBSCRIPTION WITH PRO WRESTLING SEASON PAY-PER-VIEW season pass to watch on my big screen tv - which I desperately need to buy SUGGESTED BASICS ACCESSORIES SPEAKERS POWER SUPPLY BLU-RAY STREAMING STICK TV TRAY for, to watch while I browse BEST SELLING FICTION NON-FICTION E-BOOK AUDIOBOOK STORIES NOVELS NOVELLAS BY BEST SELLING AUTHORS on my TABLET WITH SCREENSAVER ADS." He pauses. "It's a shame nobody is here to sell me those things." And then he waits. METHOD TWO If this doesn't cause HEYALEXA to spontaneously appear, Petra in tow, then he actually sends Petra an invite like a normal person. That is, an invite with a contract attached. There's a generous consulting fee, four digits per hour of Petra's time, minimum guaranteed four hours regardless of how long it actually takes, plus travel costs to and from. There is also an NDA, though - Petra's not allowed to discuss what Rufus is asking about for 30 days (Petra's not at fault if this gets picked up by mind-readers, fortune tellers, divine intervention, Petra's brain ending up in a jar that gets hooked up to a machine that displays her thoughts, etc - you know, fairly common contract terms, Concord Legal has a ready-made template on their intranet, etc) or else she'll forfeit those payments. The address given is one floor below Rufus's top-floor penthouse, which Rufus has, on a whim, bought out and converted into an office. It looks as though someone said to an interior designer: "Make this look grown-up", because that's basically what's happened here. Imported hardwood flooring, marble countertops (also imported), brass bathroom fixtures, and an impressive looking coffee maker (as yet unused). "Miss Soroka." Rufus is at the BIG BOY DESK (carved out of one solid piece of expensive wood or something) in the SERIOUS OFFICE CHAIR (has seven different levers and dials). "I trust the trip wasn't too onerous? Traffic not too bad?" There's an artificial warpgate in the lobby, like there are for most towers here.
Petra Soroka	EARLIER . . . Heyalexa: Give me Surveillance State ! "Heyalexa, it'd be such a hassle to start, like, mass factory producing ratbots. You know that, right?" Heyalexa: Okay ! Adding 'Massive Hassle' to my to-do list ! Heyalexa: Thank you for resolving all issues and now please give me my surveillance state . "Why would anyone even buy ratbot toys? Like, there's videos of Quicknest. People know my brand." Heyalexa: You have ! Heyalexa: A spider on top of your head ! Heyalexa: That is sending Psychic Spy Update Televised 24/7 All Day Information to a general of a Demon Army ! "Hey, that is Charlotte and you will be nice to her because she's cute-- ohhhh...." Heyalexa: You have been defeated by facts and logic ! Heyalexa: Bask in your hypocrisy and give me unlimited access to the innermost desires and feelings of the multiversal public Now !!!! "... Well. I'll think about it." AND THEN PETRA GETS AN INVITATION LIKE A NORMAL PERSON . . . Being requested for consultation is novel enough to outweigh Petra's revulsion to doing Business with people. Especially since it's someone she knows personally, and is in fact the boss of (at a Corporation. Which is a downside, but it's Lobotomy Corporation, so it's basically all her friends, which is a plus, but then that's almost like networking which is bad but--), Petra is at the very least willing to hear Rufus out. So, feeling somewhat conflicted but mostly curious, Petra is in a relatively open mood when approaching the penthouse front desk for someone to press the button up. Because it's important to her that she separate this from Lobotomy Corporation-- just on instinct, she feels like she would be made lesser somehow by showing up in her typical company suit-- Petra got slightly dressed up in an office casual that's rare for her. A green sweatervest over a black turtleneck with simple slacks, played up by a simple gold necklace and played down by a soft gray jacket with its oversized buttons undone. Coincidentally, this is Petra's own version of requesting 'make this look grown-up'. "Miss Soroka." The penthouse is... exactly as Petra expected, really. In an almost unnerving way, it hits all the beats of being normal enough to put her in the mindset of it being somewhere that she's forced to care about societal regulations; so rather than her comfortably relaxing in some weird Concord Elite office where she hangs out with billionaires weekly, she feels like a regular girl in an Important Office. The face she makes when addressed that way slips through that feeling primarily because it's Rufus, and, unfortunately, she knows Rufus. "You can still call me Petra. I'd actually specifically prefer if you did." Her objection is much more polite than usual, too. She awkwardly hovers for a moment, and then settles down in the chair acros the desk from Rufus. "So, uh, you needed consultation? What's it-- what's it for?"
Rufus Shinra	> The face she makes when addressed that way slips through that feeling primarily because it's Rufus, and, unfortunately, she knows Rufus. This is Rufus, in the Big Boy Chair, at the Big Boy Desk, doing Big Boy Business. Consultation contracts! With NDA's, instead of just asking for confidentiality like a normal person. It is like a set of clothes that do not fit, that clearly do not fit, that are probably but not provably uncomfortable to wear, and yet he persists to wear them. Even if, by the expression that slips through after Petra's slips through, he knows you know he knows you know. ... Bribing someone to pay attention to him is normal, though. That's the part that hasn't changed at all. Recovery, clearing of throat. "Petra. Of course. So." Rufus pauses. "If you want to smoke, you can, by the way." "Right!" He clasps his hands together, on the desk. "Evil. Supervillainy." "The meteoric rise of Petra Soroka - quite literally a rise - from the ungood doctor's apprentice to a star studded supervillain in her own right." "What I want to know..." "... Is why." The hands are unclasped, and Rufus leans back, but the Serious Office Chair ends up stopping short. "Ancients - hang on. Thought I had the right lever pulled..." A moment of groping around under his seat later, he leans back properly. "Why did you do it. What appealed, what drew you in - and what parts are you most fond of, now that it's over." "I guess also, what parts did you regret, but my main focus is on the positive aspects."
Petra Soroka	This situation is good for neither of them, but for whatever reason, both of them will doggedly stick it out. This is a Business Meeting, in a Professional Office, in a Professional Penthouse, with Professional Contracts, and because of that, Petra will be Professional. She has absolutely no methods of alleviating the awkward stumbling correction as Rufus tries to get his social footing back, and so she just stiffly sits in the chair without her back relaxing into it, eyes drifting to the window as she wars with the looming impulse to comment on the view. Thank god. Smoking and supervillainy. Now we're back in Petra territory. Still, Petra's discomfort leads her brain to leap down several thought associations in a row, so instead of directly responding to Rufus, she blurts out, "On my home Earth, it was really normal to smoke in offices forty years ago, but not really anymore." That's just a fun fact from Petra! She doesn't take out a cigarette. Once she's being questioned, she incrementally leans back a little more in her chair to get comfortable. "Well, first off, I think there's a bit of a difference between evil and supervillainy. The key parts of supervillainy are... spite and performance, I think, and malice is, like... usually there, but not always. There's a lot of overlap, but you can be evil without supervillainy, and you can do supervillainy without... well, with being less evil." "God, though. It's kind of complicated why I got into supervillainy." Recollecting on the actual origins of it makes Petra wince, and she folds her arms across her chest to flick her eyes back over to Rufus. "Why, though? Are you planning on getting into it?" "If you are, the biggest thing a supervillain needs is... I mean, kind of the same thing every person needs, but everyone will notice if you don't have it as a supervillain. And that's direction. It's about, like, spite. Towards a specific thing, or person, or-- you can do society, but it'd have to be a specific part of society. If you don't have a bit that you're really focused on, you'll get washed up." "Mine, uh..." Petra hesitates to figure out how to approach the subject. "... Well, remember the Easter Egg Island thing? I've been a supervillain ever since that bet. I'm still one, just... you know, whenever it becomes relevant. Because Quicknest was all about spiting Proudpick, and I'll do it again when I have a reason to hate someone else."
Rufus Shinra	> "On my home Earth, it was really normal to smoke in offices forty years ago, but not really anymore." 'Honestly that's what I'm thinking about going for, the aged smell of second-hand tobacco giving it a very executive feel.' Is what Rufus does not share in return, because he's managed to make his own save against fun facts. "Mmm. Good, good. Already we're drilling into why I've brought you on," says Rufus. "Performance is workable, spite might be hard to manufacture, but that's something I can have the team workshop a bit..." "... But, no. I am not getting into supervillainy myself. I think, I wouldn't have the knack for it," says Vice President Rufus Shinra of the Shinra Electric Power Company, without a hint of irony. "I should say, I am not personally getting into it. I have plans on getting into it... as a business. Selling the opportunity to others." He sits up again. "Do you know what a smash room is, Miss S- sorry, Petra? It's one of those new generation business fads. You fill a room with things, typically things like old televisions, furniture, occasionally an old car, and then people pay to come in and take a baseball bat or a sledgehammer to those things. It is good for channeling out aggression, and letting peace and inner calm take their place." "Likewise. People that have... villainous tendencies. The heroic types that feel like they've been pushed around a bit too much, that feel like they could accomplish more if they gave up heroism, that feel like they don't get enough respect or they have too tough a time of it." Rufus spreads both hands, palm up, above the desk. "Giving them a place to explore those... intrusive thoughts. To vent those dark impulses. To, honestly, maybe just have a bit of fun, ordering around minions and planning museum heists and getting to grab the microphone for their big villainous speeches. All without any real harm, all fake sets and stunt actors, and then at the end, returning to their heroic careers with palettes firmly refreshed." "So - spite, performance, direction - camaraderie?" Rufus counts on his fingers. "Would you say camaraderie was a large factor? And having your own flying city lair? What was the first thing you bought or stole for it, once you had it?"
Petra Soroka	"Mmm. Good, good. Already we're drilling into why I've brought you on," Petra narrows her eyes uncertainly. "Wait, is that what this is? You're already my employee. How much advice-- consulting, do you think you're going to be needing?" Petra's dubious expression at Rufus insisting he doesn't have the knack for supervillainy isn't because of her associations between corporate nepo babies and supervillainy-- personally, she feels the opposite way; that supervillainy is a good way of being something besides a corporate loser. Instead, it's in anticipation of what comes next, because that's what explains this awkwardly professional tone best. Her gut-discomfort with the idea of supervillainy as a product is something that'll take her a little while to work out the origin of: is it that she's taking offense on behalf of some degredation of the career of supervillain? Is it that she's uncomfortable with a long term business prospect that isn't rooted in evil directly? Or is there some repulsive vapid core at the center of the proposition that ideologically disagrees with her? Whatever it is, Petra's best way of figuring it out is by verbalizing her discomfort and seeing what lands. "Oh, yeah. Smash rooms. I kind of get it, but... I guess, the thing I've always been a little suspicious of them for is-- anyone who's able to work those feelings out on someone else's terms is kind of, like, an enemy to me." Petra taps her knee thoughtfully, and leans forwards now that she's getting more into her own recollection and ideology. "So, the thing is, that's a little bit why I'm a supervillain, personally. Supervillainy is different from evil, generally, because it's a little more... toy-like, because it's a performance. Everyone involved knows-- or at least, should know-- that it's kind of a little bit fake, even though the stakes are real. You can hate people and hurt them and everything, but afterwards, it kind of goes back to being... sort of okay." "It's kind of like how the Kamen Riders do things, you know? Some parts are silly and fake, so the other parts can be more real. I don't know what... what people would get out of it if the spite is kind of fake too." "Or..." Petra leans her elbow on the chair arm and plants her chin on her hand, looking out the window. Already, talking out loud has enabled her to contextualize and process this feeling into her existing worldview of having insurmountable contempt for practically every other person in the world. "I guess they might not be able to tell the difference, huh? Put them in a situation where they're given fake permission to feel fake feelings and that's basically indistinguishable from how they function day to day already. Oh-- oh, what you'd need to do is, you know Sonic? The Hedgehog? Take a look at some of the videos of him, have the clients get got by some asshole hero who talks like that early on, and then they'll be so mad about being told 'no' literally ever that they'll forget all about it being fake."
Petra Soroka	"Would you say camaraderie was a large factor? And having your own flying city lair? What was the first thing you bought or stole for it, once you had it?" "Ehhh..." Petra thinks back on the time, that she mostly spent hanging out with Concord Partners, Lilian, and Dimo. Then, meeting Heyalexa and Emmy, setting up the duel for Lilian to watch, building structures for the agents and everyone else. "... Well, actually, yeah. I feel like I kind of, got along with people a lot better during all that, and it was nice to... basically have infinite resources and space to do stuff for other people. I mean, that was where I started getting along well with Partners besides Ange and the Doctor, and fixed stuff with Dimo, and made-- eheh-- some close friends. But do you really think you could get any random fucking loser hero to develop meaningful relationships like that? You might as well give them a fucking damsel in distress printed on a pillow that's programmed to say how cool and strong they are after they fumble through whatever retarded evil monologue they manage to come up with."
Rufus Shinra	> "I guess they might not be able to tell the difference, huh? Put them in a situation where they're given fake permission to feel fake feelings and that's basically indistinguishable from how they function day to day already." "Mmm. Probably fits for the sort of clientele we're expecting..." > "Take a look at some of the videos of him, have the clients get got by some asshole hero who talks like that early on, and then they'll be so mad about being told 'no' literally ever that they'll forget all about it being fake." "I feel like I should be writing this down, actually," he says. > "You might as well give them a fucking damsel in distress printed on a pillow that's programmed to say how cool and strong they are after they fumble through whatever retarded evil monologue they manage to come up with." Rufus scrambles for a notepad. "Damsel... in distress... telling them how cool they are..." he says as he writes this down. "Genius. Simply genius. I was thinking the minions could give them some positive reinforcement, but that sort of external validation? Even if it's paper thin they'll eat it right up. Heck, they'll eat it up even more if it's obviously paper thin. I love it." "I gotta start casting damsels. Maybe a few damselettes too." The facade of the Big Business Boy is gone. Rufus is animated now, he's in his element, planning things out. "Just need to script a whole... external validation system. Add some room for improv. Make them feel like, like they're more heroic doing this than they were as actual heroes. And then they'll eat that stuff up." After a few more seconds of writing, he puts down his pen... and then he addresses the elephant in the room. "All this really isn't for your tastes. I get it." "But you told me something, once. It was..." He picks up the pen again, spinning it in his fingers as he thinks. "Detonate a normocausative crater violently enough that you and yours get a fucking second to breathe, and then do it again every day for the rest of your life." "This is a business, first and foremost. But can you believe me if I tell you, long term, it's in service of something greater? Something that'll give me and mine a second to breathe?"
Petra Soroka	"I feel like I should be writing this down, actually," Finally getting into her groove, Petra channels a tiny flicker of Lilian to raise her eyebrow at Rufus. "You aren't already? Was the hourly rate just for the pleasure of my company?" It's a scathing joke when it leaves her mouth, but inwardsly, she cringes at the idea that Rufus might slimily agree. Men, am I right? Petra hums and taps her fingers to her cheek, thinking about Lilian's supervillain simulation. Just by default, everything Lilian does is magnitudes better than whatever soulless garbage the rest of the multiverse could scrounge out of the desolate barrens of their souls, but when it comes to this conversation, the difference between Glascail and this perverse parody of villainy is staggering. Feeding validation to a bunch of the most bottom-of-the-barrel heroes, whose agitation and aggression comes from feeling like they should be owed more than everything and treated with unconditional adoration, rather than venting complicated and deeply emotional resentment of society through a toyetic route that still enables Lilian-- or Petra, for that matter-- to genuinely treat people better, feels bad. It feels bad enough that it kind of makes her angry. And then that makes her kind of want to hurt these hypothetical clients. And then that makes her support the business idea more, because she can so easily imagine one of those principle-less freaks letting the fake villain validation go to their heads and acting out enough that she'd be free to put them down; and in general, encouraging the heroic chaff of the multiverse to act out more is better for singling out which ones are worthless in her eyes. "... Yeah, you know what? I'm into this. I'd hate every single person that signs up for it, but, you know, that's fine. You're right. The business isn't for me. As long as you're taking advantage of those fucking losers, then it's still a win." "But can you believe me if I tell you, long term, it's in service of something greater?" Having her own words repeated back at her, Petra takes a brief moment to think about how cool they sound to herself. It's another brief confidence boost on top of being indirectly told that the words were impactful enough for someone else to remember them months later, so she's less cutting in her doubt than she'd normally be. "... I mean, I wouldn't. I don't believe you, and I'd way more easily expect that you totally misinterpreted me. So, like, convince me."
Rufus Shinra	Rufus had been bracing for Petra to bring up Lilian's simulation, and what he'd say in response, because - - because, well, duh, of course he's copying her. At least a bit. It's business, the people with original ideas got fired long ago, and everyone's just been endlessly copying each other ever since. But Petra doesn't give voice to the thoughts, so Rufus's defense (or lack thereof) also goes unheard. > "As long as you're taking advantage of those fucking losers, then it's still a win." > "I don't believe you, and I'd way more easily expect that you totally misinterpreted me. So, like, convince me." "Then stay tuned, and let me show you that I mean it," says Rufus. It's not clear which statement this is in response to. Maybe both? He opens a drawer and pulls out a prefilled check, which he signs and slides across the desk. "Anyway, I think that'll do. Thank you for your time, Miss - Petra."
Petra Soroka	"Then stay tuned, and let me show you that I mean it," Petra twists her lips, faintly disappointed. "Well, y'know, I don't know if I can get my hopes up after that. But I'll watch, at least." Petra takes the check, glances at the number-- rapidly goes through a long string of feelings about the oddly perverse relationship of 'being paid for her time' before remembering that's how the economy works-- and then stands up. "Cool. Well, y'know, I'll see you at work. And if you impress me, I'll say so."