a princess and a hacker
Who: Autumn and Mazie Where: around the grounds When: noonish
Autumn woke up in a strange place. She had gone to sleep in Fiji, having been flown in for a party weekend. It had been amazing so far and she had expected to wake up entangled with Myssa, Diego and Eugene. Instead, she woke up in a huge ornate bed alone, with some woman coming in addressing her as 'your highness' and shooing her out of bed to get help putting on the most dress she had ever seen. It was huge. It was heavy. It was also gorgeous, and she loved it. She had no idea whatsoever what was happening, but she was nothing if not great at rolling with things. It wasn't her first rodeo in the role play world. Hell at one time she had played out a spy scenario that lasted two weeks.
Eventually she worked out that she was meant to be a princess of some description and there was a tournament going on. Escaping the place was harder than one would think. How she managed it in the end was she got very firm with her attendant. Heading out into the bustle, she noted people shuffling out of her way. Man, everyone was into this all the way weren't they? She paused to view a lot of animal pelts hung up for sale, smiling lightly as she reached out to touch the soft fur.
Mazie had been wandering around for a while now. She'd stopped and chatted with merchants here and there, admired the wares that were up for sale even though she had no money to purchase anything and wasn't about to try and steal anything because this was not the kind of stuff that was fair use. But someone had taken pity on her and given her the turkey leg she'd been really hoping for, which she was munching on when she stopped at a new tent.
She'd been drawn to the huge, gorgeous pelts of fur hanging there and wanted to reach out and touch them but she had greasy turkey leg fingers and she couldn't. "…How bitchin' would it be to have a wolf pelt…" She asked the person beside her then turned to really take in the girl in that big dress. "Damn I'm glad I'm not wearing that."
Autumn blinked at the word 'bitchin'. That? Wasn't in character. Not even a little. Glancing to her right, seeing a blonde standing there, she listened to the rest of what she said. Her attitude wasn't fitting the scenario, even if she looked the part. Wait. No, not entirely. She saw strange little tattoos up the side of the girl's neck, which her eye was drawn to. They were really interesting, she liked them. She leaned a little bit closer, and murmured to the girl. “I'm pretty sure the word 'bitchin' isn't in proper character,” she said. “Nor is speaking to a Princess like that,” she added, a teasing tone in her voice.
Mazie turned a little to really look at the girl beside her. She looked like she fit here, pretty hair, lithe body, giant dress, but she understood what bitchin' meant and that meant something else was going on. Maybe she had been at the hotel too? "Not sure you're a real princess if you know what bitching means," Mazie said, studying the girl a little more. "And even if you were, 'm not really a big fan of that class structure stuff so I’d probably still say it anyway.”
“Shh!” Autumn said, smirking. “Don't say that too loud!” she insisted. She stepped a little closer to the blonde. “Did you get briefed on this whole thing?” she asked. No one else seemed to respond to anything else she'd said in the castle, they just kept up being in character. Which was fine, it committed to the whole thing, and she was cool with that, but having a tiny pinch of more information as to what is expected of her would be nice. There were a lot of stereotypical princess routines she could run. Which was it? The bratty princess that needed to be taken down a peg? The sweet uncorrupted princess who needed someone to sweep her off her feet? Was it another royal figure? A commoner? There was a ton of different things that could be in the works.
Mazie ended up grinning a little more before taking another big bite of the turkey leg. She chewed quickly and then shrugged a little more. "Not really. I just sort of woke up here in a tent with these two dudes, Kyle and Adam. But yesterday, I woke up in this weird ass hotel so, you know, just kind of trying to go with it right now. Sorry I don't have more info," Holding out her left hand awkwardly for a handshake, Mazie smiled. She knew it wasn't appropriate, but she didn't care right now. "Mazie."
“Princess Ruby,” she introduced herself in turn, curtseying. She went with her professional name, since she still had to imagine she was in some sort of fantasy being played out. “Nice to meet you, Mazie,” she said formally. Looking around, she considered. “I request your presence. Please accompany me for a walk?” she asked. If they got out of the Ren Faire here, maybe they could talk freely and she wouldn't get slammed for being out of character.
Well, yeah, she didn't really blame her for not returning her handshake. She had greasy turkey leg hands. But when a princess requested your company, you didn't decline. Especially not a princess that pretty. Or that familiar. So she followed her, taking another bite of the turkey leg as she did. "So, Princess Ruby, why're you slumming out here with the rest of us?"
Autumn waited until they were away from any people, skirting the castle wall. "I wanted to look around. I woke up here, last I checked I was in Fiji, having one hell of a time, and then I was here. I needed to get a lay of the land, see what scenario I was meant to be playing out. Do you know what sort of attitude I'm meant to adopt?” she asked, hoping this girl knew at least something. “Any rumors about the Princess floating around?”
Mazie's face screwed up immediately in confusion. So she might actually be a princess, waking up in Fiji. Who the hell woke up in Fiji other than a rich vacationer or someone from Fiji? "Uhm…Drawing a real big blank there, Ruby. Gonna go out on a limb here and let you know I have no idea what you're talking about…Are you a real princess?" Why the hell did she look so familiar?
“You don't?” Autumn asked, surprised. She slowed, and looked around. “I figured this was a scenario for a client...I mean, one hell of an elaborate one, but I've seen those a few times, so...” she trailed off. “No, I'm not a real princess. I was woken up by attendants who were calling me 'your royal highness', which is what you call princesses. So, I went with that, but I never got a warning on what this whole thing was meant to be about, and if I'm going to remain in character, I like to know what I'm playing. I certainly can roll with things with no prep, but I prefer some heads up. You're the first person I've spoken to who hasn't been talking like they work at a ren faire, who seems to not be part of what's going on. I figured they weren't paying you enough or something to keep to your own character – what am I missing?”
A scenario for a client. Ruby, who had clients. Clients that did weird shit like pay someone to go to a Ren Faire? It sparked in her after a moment and her eyes grew wide. "Holy shit, you're an escort. I know you! I know who you are!" She said, realizing her voice was a little loud at the end there so she tried to keep it down as she spoke further. "Autumn. Your real name is Autumn, right? Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Why was she here? Other than maybe for some reason similar to why Mazie was here. "I don't really think this is a client thing…"
Reaching out, she touched Mazie's arm lightly. “Keep it down, sweetheart,” she told her with a light smile. When she continued it was softer, so she relaxed a little. Right up until she mentioned 'Autumn', then she blinked. “How...” she started, stepping closer and lowering her voice even further. “How do you know my real name?” she asked. “And if it isn't a client thing, what is it?” Confusion definitely clouded her features, even if she smoothed them again swiftly.
"I know you. I know your client, Ravin…" She said, looking back at Ruby with her eyes stuck on hers. It was hella weird to be standing in front of her now, knowing she had incriminating pictures of her back in her laptop. That was so, so weird. And now she was seriously reconsidering her morals, because at one point she totally would have used those pictures to blackmail Connor's dad. But now…this was a mind fuck if she'd ever heard of one. "Yesterday I woke up in a hotel, today I woke up here. Pretty sure I'm not anywhere near the level your clients are…so real doubtful this is a client thing."
“Oh,” she said. “I...didn't think he spoke to anyone about our engagements, and I don't think I ever mentioned my real name. He doesn't know it,” she continued. She knew she wanted to keep talking about the current circumstances, but she was stuck on everything else.
"Well…he didn't. I never talked to him. I…" Fuck, fuck, fuck how did she tell this girl that she probably would have used her for blackmail had it not been so easy to get into Papa Ravin's accounts? "Ravin was in my sights for a while. You just…happened to be around him when I was looking into him."
Autumn kept her gaze on Mazie. “...and that leads to you knowing my name how?” she asked, not sounding angry or anything, just definitely wanting a proper answer. If Mazie was going to dance around it, she was going to know her dancing was noted.
"In researching him, I found out your name. It was…really easy. And now I feel super weird." She watched Ruby and then realized she needed to back up a few steps. "I'm a hacker. And Ravin had a lot of money and was doing some pretty bad things with it. And I knew I could do better things with it."
Quiet as she digested that information. She glanced aside, then back to Mazie. “So you stole from him,” she said, speaking slowly to give Mazie time to correct her if she wasn't following, even if she was pretty sure she got it. “And by 'found out', what you have to mean is you searched for me, because I'm very professional. I don't drop my real name anywhere to anyone.” She kept her eyes on Mazie. “What were you going to do with it?”
She didn't correct her, because she had stolen from him. And she still stood by the fact that she did. That man was doing some real shitty things with that money and she thought some other people deserved some of his wealth. But she was damn right that she'd searched into her too, because she had. Because she didn't drop her name everywhere, which was why she'd needed to know who the real girl was. "…I might have used it to blackmail him in the future, if I needed to. But I didn't, because I…hacked into his accounts and took the money that way." And weirdly enough, she felt kind of guilty for this. Even though she'd never expected to, never thought past the fact that that man had been her target all along. But now, coming face to face with a girl who was real definitely made her feel guilty. "…But I never told anyone about you."
Taking that in, Autumn again took a second to work through that. “You were going to use me to blackmail him?” she asked. “...expose the whore mongering?”
"…No, I wasn't going to expose you. I wasn't…I don't do media things. I would have contacted him and let him know that someone else knew of you." This was just getting weirder and weirder. Maybe she should just…go back to the pelts. Where the human interaction was less apparently and definitely less awkward.
“What if he didn't take the bait?” she asked, curious. Her tone conveyed that, that it wasn't any type of accusation, it was honest curiosity.
Mazie was expecting to be cussed out, yelled at, anything really but this girl wasn't doing that and she couldn't help but end up smiling. "I would have tried to find another way to hack into his accounts. Not into media," She repeated, shrugging a little. "I would have gotten his money but I wouldn't have fed you to the wolves to do it."
“So it would have been a bluff,” Autumn said. “Interesting,” she continued. “What was it you were planning to do with his money when you got it?” she asked. “Did you ever get any?” She thought a little more. “What else have you done?”
"I did. I got some of his money and his name is beneficiary of a volunteer fire department in my home town now. His wife set up a few goodwills around town too." Mazie said with a grin that faded after moment of her watching Autumn. "Oh..shit. Should I not…mention that?" This was weird again.
It took a second for her to latch on to what Mazie might have been talking about. When she did, she smiled, and shook her head. “Oh, it's fine,” she said. “What goes on in that household isn't my business unless it's made my business.” She thought about Ravin's money going to good causes. “Nice call on the 'charities'. Do you do that often? Who else have you hit?”
Mazie nodded, though she was still trying really hard to not feel weird about this situation. "Pretty much all the time. It's why I hack. That and making sure my family gets taken care of." She hesitated for a moment and then figured it couldn't get weirder than this so she might as well just ask. "So…what's it like? Being an escort?"
“All worthy causes,” Autumn said. Little things like illegalities didn't actually matter to her in the slightest for obvious reasons. “As for what it's like, it's pretty awesome, if you're in the right end of it,” she replied. “I love my life, but I had an in when I started, so my clients are all high end, I didn't have to start with creeps, or anything. I screen all of my clients. They have to apply. I don't actually have that many, either, I get paid well.”
"So you're like Inara from Firefly?" She asked, grinning a little more at the prospect of that. That was a cool way of looking at it. "So…are you from Fiji or were you there for a client thing?" She took the final bite of her turkey leg and tossed the bone off to the side, wiping her fingers on her tunic. "So wait, like…how well? Should I have been trying to get into your money instead?"
“That's actually a great analogy!” Autumn said, pleased with that. Highly pleased. It really did capture how she viewed herself and her profession. “Thanks, I'm going to use that one in the future,” she admitted. “I was in Fiji with a client, it was a big group of people, a huge party, it was...” she made a pleased sigh. “Amazing,” she finished. “And you probably could have gotten a good chunk off of me. I'm definitely more than comfortable. Just, y'know, not evil.”
“So you admit he’s evil?” Mazie was surprised by that. It was pretty incredible that she could admit that, even though he was her client. And the more Mazie watched Autumn, the more intrigued she got. "So people just…pay you to go to places like Fiji? Sounds pretty awesome." Because it did, even though Mazie couldn't ever really imagine that nor could she even wrap her head around an orgy of that magnitude. Even in her wildest fantasies she never considered jetting off to Fiji. "Sounds like your Fiji client could spare some change for a good cause too..."
“Oh, yes,” Autumn said. “He's a man who thinks money is the only thing in the world that matters, and vastly overestimates it's value in relation to his own value to society or the world at large. He's making up for a distant mother figure, and an inaccurate view of sex and intimacy, and an uncreative mind plagued with inadequacy issues that aren't unfounded,” she said. “People pay me to go places all over the place. Parties in Paris, long weekends in Bora Bora, I've seen a ton of the world just through clients and trips.” When Mazie said the last bit, she smirked. “A girl doesn't give out her client list. Also this one isn’t evil, just y’know. Kinda damaged, sexually.”
That was a lot to take in. She kind of just shrinked that guy right in front of her. It made her wonder what Autumn could find out about Mazie if she took the time to look into her, which was freaky in a way that she figured it would be to find out that some random chick knew Autumn’s real name. And what the hell did ‘kinda damaged sexually’ even mean? “Well, he’s not exactly a great guy either…” She started, shrugging a little. “But your client list can’t be that hard to find,” Mazie said, a grin definitely in place on her lips. “Maybe I can show you my hacking powers in the flesh someday.”
That made Autumn falter a little. “Please don't,” she said. “I know a lot of the world views what I do very negatively, and there's that little part where it's illegal – which is dumb by the way – but I take what I do seriously. And privacy is a huge part of that,” she said. “So, show me your hacking powers on something else exciting?” she suggested, definitely wanting to see it, but just not happy with 'hey let's invade your privacy' things.
Well, it was hard to deny a straight, simple request like that and with no other real desire to hack into Autumn's client list, Mazie nodded. "Deal, I won't hack your clients. But I may already have hacked more clients, or might hack them in the future. But if I don't know your list, I can't exactly vet your clients first," She said, smiling at Autumn again. "So…wait, what do I call you? Ruby or Autumn?"
When she mentioned vetting her clients, she smiled. “That I could be interested in,” she admitted. “We'll see,” she said. “As for what you call me, either, I suppose?” she suggested. “I'll answer to either. I'm more used to people calling me Ruby than Autumn, but Ruby is a client thing, and while I'm enjoying our time here, I'm not charging,” she teased lightly.
“I think I’ll stick with Autumn for now,” Mazie said, smiling a little. “If you had been charging me, though, you’d be shit out of luck. Government took all my money so I couldn’t even really pay you,” She said with a shrug. Usually she’d go rant on it for a while, but it was hard to do that with Autumn standing next to her. There was just this...vibe that Mazie felt from her that made her smile.
“So...go back to the part where you thought this was all for your client. You must have some mega fucking rich clients if they could just buy out a Ren Faire for you. Have they done shit like this before?”
“Autumn it is, then,” she said with a grin. “And they took it? You’ll have to explain that,” she said. “As for the rest of it, yes. Lots of yes. Sometimes role play can be taken to pretty huge levels, and if you have the money to do it...going all out is the ultimate fantasy. It isn’t even just pretend anymore, it’s a whole world set up. A fantasy just shy of reality.”
One part of her thought it was ridiculous to spend that level of money on something so extravagant that didn't really help anyone, but another part of her didn't. Another part of her, some part of her that she didn't give enough light to, thought it might actually be fun to pretend or play along with a game like that. "So..what's your favorite one you've ever done? Sounds like you've been to more than just this one."
“Hmm. I think the spy game,” Autumn said. It was so elaborate, and there were several locations, I got to shoot a gun, there were car chases...it was a blast. It was a game inside another game, it was really freeing. And that's another part of it. If everyone is in on it with you, then it's this whole thing that everyone is playing...it really is just pure fun.”
The spy game. “Yeah, that sounds pretty badass. I bet you were a stellar fucking spy,” Mazie said, grinning over at Autumn again. “Did you have a spy name? Or a code name or something? What was even the point? Were you trying to get government secrets? Because hell, pull me in next time. I’ll give you real ones.”
Autumn grinned. “Of course I had a code name!” she said. “Scarlet Snow. It was so much fun, I could tell you stories for days about it all. The point was to thwart other players, to get a flash drive where it needed to be.” For all she knew, it had been something real, and she just didn't know the truth. She knew she had some state secrets in her head, knew where a lot of bodies were buried, both literally and figuratively. It just wasn't her business, so she didn't get into that sort of thing. “If you're as good as you say, I would want you to design a game.”
Now that was intriguing. She grinned a little more as she thought about it, how much detail she could go into, how much research would be involved. “...Let’s do that. That sounds...awesome. You’d be on your own with planning out any sort of...under the covers stuff that goes with it, but logistical stuff? I’d totally do that.” She was already starting to think through scenarios, piecing together bits from the movies and television shows she watched. “Maybe I can even play a part in it? Toss my mug up on a video screen somewhere and give instructions?”
“Lets! I love it. I've never gotten to be in on the design phase before, I'm looking forward to it!” Autumn said, genuinely pumped about the idea. “And of course you'd have to play a part! Why on earth would you think otherwise, silly girl?” When she said her idea about being up on a screen, Autumn bounced on the balls of her feet a moment. “Ooh! Would you be an AI?” she asked. “Or a distant contact on the line?”
There was something really appealing about being an AI. She grinned at that, wider than before, and nodded. "Totally an AI. An AI that wants to help with the mission. A good one, like in Borderlands. But who would you be? The main spy? I'd have to hide some stuff in the design phase from you if that's the case." Which would be fine, but maybe less fun than if Autumn were in on the whole thing with her.
“Oh, I'm never the main character,” Autumn said. “And I liked Borderlands, it was fun. I think I liked the second one better, though,” she added thoughtfully. “I love the idea of you as a helpful AI though, so that needs to happen. Oh! We could do a make up design on you, make it kind of steam punk, or something!”
Ok, yes. Super cool girl who also played Borderlands. One and two. And, the more Mazie realized it, was actually...really pretty. In a way she never really paid attention to before. “Steam punk me up. I love that!” Secretly, she wanted Autumn to come back to the hotel with them. “Guess we should really plan the whole thing out now, you know? We’re not up to anything else and who knows when we’ll get another chance.”
Autumn smiled. “Sure,” she said. “Come on, you can come hang out in my quarters, which are beautiful!” She reached out to take Mazie's arm, giving it a little squeeze as she did so. “Let's do this,” she told her with an affectionate wink.