Black Magic Women (Patty & Touko)

The weather sucked. It looked like rain again, and like that was okay and all but holy shit it needed to stop. Like 3 rainy days in a week was pushing it. But that wasn't about to stop Patty. It really sorta couldn't, like she had a job and shit? If you don't show up to those they stop paying you. Honestly she was just happy to get out of school early because she worked but sometimes it could really suck. Couldn't hang out 'cause she had to work, couldn't stay home at the dorms either since it was so far, she pretty much had to spend a lot of time chilling out and finding something to do. Not really a problem, the delinquent girl was good at that sort of thing but doing it every single day got old. And frustrating. She felt like a rat in a fucking cage, can't color outside the lines, same places, same faces, same routine. It was nauseating.

So she'd break up the monotony a little bit from time to time. Go to random places, talk to random people, stuff like that. Patty thought she hit the jackpot when she found some store called The Reflective Grotto. Soooooooooo that was a name. A very special name. Not a lot of places had names like that and the ones that did were either clubs, smoke shops, or weird hippy mysticism places. Hey, two outta three was pretty good odds. Still in her school uniform and with the drizzle starting she decided to not waste a lot of time heading in. The door was unlocked. Meant it was, like, open right?

There was nothing better for this morning than a mug of steaming low-rate bitter coffee that could raise the dead and a smoking cigarette poking out of your lips for that whiff of acrid carcinogens. The Reflective Grotto was unbearably boring these days, just as usual it sunk deeper and deeper into empty monotony. There were commissions to keep her busy, but there wasn't anything she could forgive the City for being so repetitive and tedious. Dumbass Psyche-Terrorists getting caught for their worthless shenanigans and Cadets standing on top of the hill. It was all the same to her.

She laconically noticed the gray cluster of clouds in the sky. Was it going to rain? Her dulled mind carelessly pondered on it. Not like there was any use for it with this increasing mediocre of a day. If this shit went on any longer, the Velvet Attendant swore she'd probably lose her mind in a reminiscent manner to those over-inflated ego anarchists running around like clowns. Man, what a joke. Clowns giggling and messing around a totalitarian city? Well, at least that might be fun. Better than this smoky pile of shit she called an office. Maybe, after all, it might just be better to set this entire fire hazard on flames and be done with it.

Touko fiddled with her hand-held plastic lighter, allowing her mind to wander about in consideration. Until the entrance's door bell chimed to herald a new visitor. She blinked at the direction of a high school girl entering this place. It wouldn't be the first time considering the cute couple previously strolling in the other day. But this one was obviously not either of them. The girl looked too punk to be them, at least that's what Touko's instincts were screaming at her right now as she began to give the visitor her full attention. Perhaps there is someone out there answering her prayers.

When Patty entered the office, it was obviously full of document clutter across the office room. It also reeked of the familiar cigarette smell, courtesy of Touko lighting her cigarette and failing to remember to open the windows for fresh air. She would find the red head fiddling with the lighter before glancing at her direction.


It was her usual friendly demeanor that was always placed in front first. Can't make any business if you acted like some vague asshole. Will this one just be like the rest wanting a weapon of their own? Or will this be the day to surprise her?

Okay, so not a night club. Swing and a miss, but she got a little excited when she noticed the smell of smoke. It totally had to be one of those shops. There were a lot of them around Cali and they were low-key open about it more or less as long as you knew the etiquette and weren't obviously a fed but to find one in Endymion was seriously killer. This place was like, some freakin' totalitarian dystopia or some shit, you had to have major guts to open up shop in a place like this and major brains to not get caught. She was hoping this wasn't an exclusive joint but she could probably fix that if she wanted to, Patty could be pretty persuasive. But she'd have to draw that info out and she had a few ideas to do it. The thunder started to rumble in a low roar as the door drifted closed behind her.


So this place was kind of a dump, it was so messy. And not like busy messy, just messy messy. Well, kinda busy messy but not really? Okay so it was busy which was cool since it made a room stand out but not like, busy in the way that was just supposed to look cool. It looked like whoever the redheaded chick was happened to be a slob. Well whatevs, it's not like she'd have to care about it. Not her circus, not her monkeys yo. Patricia would walk in and make herself comfortable, picking a desk to lean up on so she could start a conversation. She drew a pack of her own out of her skirt and placed a cigarette in between her fingers, gesturing her hand out as she casually spoke as if she were asking permission. Obviously she was letting the old lady know she knew what was up and she was cool with it but also she liked smokers. They could smoke and talk and she didn't feel like an asshole for it.
"So like, what is it you do?" she asked an in interested uptone, "The Reflective Grotto doesn't give me much to go on, y'know? Like I thought this was gonna be some club when I opened the door!" The thuggish girl laughed casually but it totally still could be. Which would be awesome. Like, have a business front and a rave in the basement, that'd be pretty badass.

"Thank you kindly, Miss. But it's nothing special. It was a crumbling and shambling old wreck no one bothered to keep an eye on. Not that anyone ever cared anyway." How curious, this girl wanted to poke her head inside such a dilapidated building? It was clear she had enough time to kill to bother looking into this dump. At least she doesn't seem to mind the smoke. Touko had more than her fair share of people who disliked her smoking. It was becoming an increasingly annoying happenstance that incessantly kept popping up. Not only was it great there was finally someone who didn't seem to give a damn about second-hand smoke, but they also had quite a wild imagination. How fun. The redhead gave a nod, allowing the girl to indulge herself. Not before finding Touko found herself chuckling as she replied, "A club? Oh man, wouldn't that be nice? I could use a bit of the night life myself with how much of a bore these days are recently. As you can see, my office is an absolute fire hazard. I almost thought about burning down the building just now and be done with it. Granted, all these piles here make it really tempting..."


She slipped her glasses off. The air seemed far more relaxed around her as if there was the immediate suddenness and spontaneity of flicking a switch. Touko rose from her chair to head on over to the office's right side, where there lay the make-shift kitchen or what she adoringly called her "coffee station". "Mind the papers, won't you? Call me Touko. It's on the stack of business cards right on the table you're leaning on. So, what do you call yourself? Want some coffee? I got some orange juice if it's to your fancy."

A gleeful smile lit up the purple punk's face as she bit down on the filter of one of her cigs. Like, this never happened. You couldn't smoke inside anywhere anymore except the really shady places like that on e place where the drinks were free and the sound system just went randomly fucking missing. All these tucked away places were really cool, you could get into so much trouble in them and it was totally exciting. Patricia was already glad she stopped in. Like, it just so happened that she stumbled upon something pretty damn awesome she'd bet. The thuggish girl would keep a noticeably cheery posture as the room seemed to brighten. Like, she just had that effect on people, probably because she was chill and liked to talk and didn't judge but this red-headed lady was already being pretty friendly so she apparently knew how to say the right things too.

"You totally should! This place would be perfect for it! Like, you're in a good spot and people like that broken down look, y'know? Just get some neon and a sound system, clean the place up and you'd be rolling in dough, ahaha! The place would be super good for a two-story hangout too, overlooking the street? That'd be really boss." It was fun to talk about possibilities like this, she always wanted to be involved in like designing a club or something. Patty was always the go-to whenever someone wanted to throw a party, she just knew what everyone wanted from the music to DJ to the drinks and stuff to do and lights and it was just... like, really fun y'know? She'd pull her cigarette away from her lips with a wry grin, blowing smoke through the air through her nose.
"But like if you meant burning the place down I could probably be convinced, I know a guy," she joked.

Red seemed really chill for an older chick, she was probably some kind of hippie or something. Those people were always the coolest. They knew how to party and didn't give a fuck, dude. If it wasn't possible before Patricia lit up even brighter as she talked about special circumstances and particular items. Like, holy shit she found one! Smoke shops DO exist in Endymion! This was totally perfect, but she'd have to be really careful if she was gonna get the invite.
"Coffee please! But like, only if it's Irish," she laughed. She was kidding but not really. Patricia could do with a strong drink right before work, it'd help dealing with putting up with her shitty boss.

"Pretty sure I do," she agreed with a wicked grin, "So how's business, Toke-O? You get a good amount of people?" Like, she wasn't gonna ask what she did, this was supposed to be a mutual understanding. And if she was gonna get any weed she'd need to be liked, maybe get a side gig. That wouldn't be too bad. It wasn't that hard to talk to her anyway, Toke-O was cool as shit.

She found it awfully ridiculous that kind of swill even counted as coffee. But it was amazing how you could market this kind of trash to pretentious morons raving about fair trade and environmental safety bullshit. Though thinking about it, it wouldn't even hurt to try out this kid's idea. The more she suggested the more the Attendant was beginning to realize it really seemed like a good idea. Provide a bullshit service to shit-eating morons. There were a lot to consider, especially the logistics of handling such a thing. But it would be an entirely better idea than having to deal with these mundane days passing by. "Well, on second thought, introduce me later. Perhaps a club wouldn't be such a bad idea... Especially if we need to burn all of this clutter. From the ashes, we will rise or whatever they like to say."

Though she had to smirk when Irish coffee was requested. Booze at her age and at this hour? It wasn't unheard of underage kids trying out spirits. This kid was for sure one of them. Unfortunately, she had some bad news. "Sorry kiddo. The booze is only for special occasions. Hell of a purchase to make, mind you. Maybe once this gig gets going, I might be willing to share a grand opening glass."

The coffee machine was switched on after the filters and the coffee grounds were placed inside. It was all just a matter of time until it began to dribble out into the pot. She turned back towards her guest with a faint and amused smile. "Business, huh? I guess you could say something like that. You have your usual shifty person coming in for the usual. Then you have your "once-in-a-while"s stopping by. It ain't doing good and it ain't doing bad. It's that middle ground that's the worst. That's when shit gets boring and it sucks, y'know? But I guess a club would be a nice change this time."

"I dunno, you ever try Kaneohe Creme? It's from some place called Roasted, it's got imported stuff from Hawaii in it but like it's mocha with an espresso shot and coconut with extra foam, it's pretty good! I uh, I kinda went there thinking it was someplace else aheheh..." Patricia... did not care nearly as much about the sort of current hip trends as Toke-O or about modernism bullshit. She just liked things that were good and coconut coffee was pretty righteous. The atmosphere was kinda cool too with the exposed wood beams and brick and you could meet some pretty interesting people. Well, at about like a 50/50. Half of them were douche bags with their heads up their asses that had to say more than 6 things to order freakin' coffee. Dude, it's coffee, it's not a fuckin' sports car. Keep the extras off it, just drink it stupid. But she was happy her idea was getting some traction.
"Yoooooo, you could use that in the name or something! Like... like Firestarter or Club Pheonix or something! That'd be sooooo tiiiiiight."

Patty could see it now. Like, lots of red neon and an octane soundtrack, multiple levels, bartender chicks with band shirts and piercings. Like not a good scene club but like a rocker thrash club, that'd be super fucking sick. But not like, someplace where douchebags and alpha bros would get into fights and shit, that would hardcore suck.
"Hey, I'm calling half now. Like, half the bottle! Hahaha!" she joked. Whatever, so she wasn't cool enough to get her something hard to drink right away, not a lot of people were. Beer was one thing but the good shit wasn't something you shared a lot. Patty took to leaning on a cluttered desk and bringing her cigarette to her lips as she looked around, jittering her leg. Toke-O had a point, it was kind of a crapshack and not in the good way. It's like she never took care of the place or never cared to. Fuck dude, her own room wasn't this bad. But Toke-O sounded like she knew the score, Patty grinned absently as she peered around the room and chewed on her filter. Sounded like business as usual, unless you had a sort of trap house it's not like you were rolling in it. Even though this kinda was one.
"I mean, you could use a club to push your other business too, y'know? Get some product out there, bring in new blood, and hey if it doesn't work you always got the club. Like, how could that not work?"

If she was being honest Patty just wanted to see another cool club open up if for the only reason that she got to say she helped start it. Then she'd be like a celebrity and hang out with honors at this new place. Kinda sorta like the one she started going to a few days ago but not filled with a bunch of preachy weirdos, she wanted people to have fun with and this was a good spot for that. And hey, if you could just light up at the club that'd be pretty freakin' sweet up until the feds shut it down.
"I could help ya if ya want. My real job sucks anyway, like I mean it's stocking shelves and dealing with drunks sometimes but there'd be a whole lot less soccer moms at 11PM getting last minute shit and acting like freakin' drains. And more fights, like as long as I didn't have to deal with'em. I'm a pretty good hype maker, whadya say?" Patricia beamed. So like... the odds of getting a legitimate job were pretty fuckin' slim but legitimate jobs were dull, working a club sounded a lot more fun than dealing with dumbasses that couldn't decide what brand of cigarettes they wanted. Like, dude. You smoke'em. You gotta have a brand. Get your ass in gear and pick on or something.

Touko played with her cigarette and leaned further back in her chair in thought. Damn, coconut and coffee? That sounded awesome, now that she thought about it and hearing the way how the girl hyped it up for her. She would shelve that in the back of her mind the next time the Attendant would simply wander outside of the office. But that was a topic on another time when Touko was more content to keep listening to what she had to say of the plans and ideas for this 'club'. And so far? She's liking the idea more and more. If she wasn't getting much of a business in her primary function, then there needed to be some other incentive to check out her wares to facilitate its growth. Maybe it was about time for a new makeover. "Hah, let's not get ahead of ourselves. That bottle is worth a few kidneys and limbs, you know? Maybe bring me the head of a Fiend and I'll consider giving you two glasses tops. But never mind that, you've got a way with words. You aiming to be some kind of entrepreneur? What do you call yourself?"

Who would've known a bored teen could have some good ideas? It made her wonder if she were a denizen of the Other Side with the masks. There was nothing in her visitor that suggested she was a Persona User. Or perhaps she was an individual of another kind of potential? Touko sucked in through her cigarette and breathed lightly. "But, if you are willing to work with me on this, I'd imagine you'll want to have a look at 'my business', isn't that right, Ms. Entrepreneur? Why don't I give you a tour around?"

She began to rise from her seat and approached a nearby door. There was a lock, but it didn't take long to unlock it as the Attendant had a key on her person. The door would be pushed open to show a descending staircase leading down to another floor. Touko gestured the girl to follow her. "Watch your step, I would hate it if we all end up rolling all the way down."

This chick was pretty dark for a hippie. Maybe not so much a hippie then, but she was pretty hardcore so maybe she was like some headbanger or older biker chick that just stopped doing stuff one day. Whatever, Patty would play along, she didn't give a fuck.
"Kidneys and limbs might be a lot more possible, but I'm like totally screwed if you ask me for a liver. I don't know anyone with a good one of those, ahaha," Patricia joked. Yeah, totally dark. She never heard people call demons Fiends though, that was pretty weird. Most of the time it was monsters or devils or just demons. She knew one guy that called'em Satan's Little Helpers, she thought that was funny as shit at the time. Patty liked that her ideas were really good though, it was fun to talk about that kind of stuff.


Patricia didn't even know what she wanted to do with herself. Like, entrepreneur could be cool. She could see that. But sometimes she thought she'd be like a bartender or something. She didn't really think that far ahead, whatever it was it just had to pay the bills and keep her from being bored. Ideally she'd never be there so she could spend her time screwing around doing what she wanted. Ooh! City Guide! She could be at work and screwing around doing whatever she wanted! Fuckin' natch, bro! But right now she just stocked shelves and swept floors and pretended she liked assholes long enough to sell them beef jerky. It had its perks but it was also pretty stupid at times and she hated being in one spot all night.

...holy shit she was getting the "in". Freakin' nice! All she had to do was be herself and friendly with people and everything just worked out like it always did. Toke-O was gonna show her the good stuff! A grin spread across her lips.
"Okay~! Yo tell me what I gotta do, I'm good at lots of stuff and I can sell anyone anything, trust me."

Then she started going into the spooky basement. So like... Patty wasn't stupid. She knew it was a bad idea to go into spooky basements after talking to people about severed limbs and junk. But that didn't apply to her, that applied to people who couldn't blow up a house by thinking about it. She'd be just fine. Besides, she could get her hands on some supply this way if everything worked out. Maybe a job that didn't suck.
"Dude like, first change. You gotta install a handrail if drunk idiots are gonna climb these stairs. I'll be totally fine and stuff but you could really eat it if you fell."

"Ha. You certainly aren't wrong about that. All things supernatural creep out of the woodwork when the sun goes down. Easier to get away with what you want to do if you have the potential and if you're smart. But a bit of ambition can go a long way." Touko readily agreed with her guest. It was always busy when nightfall sets in. The day could be so dull. It was safer and lacked so much stimulation which led to an unending cycle of boredom and malaise. There really was a truth to an idle brain being the devil's workshop. "Ah, of course. Having to handle a lawsuit would really put a damper on our plans wouldn't it? No worries, I'll get something up. Now..."


A few steps down and in a single fleeting moment, her fingers curled around a doorknob. As Touko opened, a soft reddish light emanated from the frame. With both women entering the room, Patty would finally notice the entire space was lining what appeared to be mannequins of many parts against walls and shelves. Some fully assembled while others were missing a piece or more. But that's not all it had, there were what appeared to be books nestling near the parts together with what appeared to be strange miscellaneous paraphernalia that one could easily attribute to being occult-ish. But one side of a wall, for certain was easy to catch attention with the number of weapons that are kept behind a glass and a lock from prying hands. There is also a working laptop with what appeared to be a loading bar on its screen as wires attached to what looked like an arm with mechanized sorts of weaponry on it and a few electric chips poking out of the faux flesh and bone..

Patty wasn't sure what she expected as she descended the steps. She was about to get like murdered or this was where all the good shit was. Maybe both. The red glow didn't really give anything away, lots of growhouses had those lights. It was better for the pot or something or they like needed the heat? Patty didn't know, she didn't grow her own stuff, just bummed it or sold it a few times but she'd seen it plenty. Stepping through the door her heart skipped a beat. OKAY. MURDER IT IS THEN. The walls were lined with what was like dolls and shit and there was a FUCKING arm on the table and she was gonna end up on the news tomorrow, wasn't she? Nah, nah fuck that shit. Patty wasn't going down like this. She could blow shit up with her mind, she was gonna be juuuuuuust fiiiiiiiine. This wasn't even like the spookiest thing she'd lived through, that probably went to sneaking around Orange Boulevard when MS-13 was doing their shakedown runs and she was alone. The skinny girl expressed her surprise as eloquently as possible for the situation.
"Holy fuckin' shit what the FUCK, dude?!"

But she wouldn't pull her weapon yet. Nope. Nuh-uh, Toke-O was still pretty placid with her so she could like... talk her way out or something if she really had to. As soon as she saw something sharp in her hands she was gonna melt her fuckin' face though. Patty found her back to the wall and scanning the room, it was lined with creepy shit on the walls and Toke-O was talking about weapons or whatever.
"Like seriously I thought you just grew pot or something WHAT. The FUCK." With her freakout she was still trying to put shit together. Weapons and dolls. So like she made weaponized robots or whatever, but she was in some backalley shithole instead of in a real lab so like... this probably wasn't something she was supposed to do. Guess Patty knew where the kidneys went. She bumped into a shelf and a mannequin head nearly tumbled off before she managed to catch it. She swore it fuckin' blinked at her or something just when it registered she shouldn't touch anything. Patricia quickly put it back before it was obvious she was putting her hands on shit.
"You... do shit at night, don't you...?" she asked breathlessly. She kept at least part of her body faced toward Toke-O as she looked over everything. So like this could be kinda cool or, y'know, get her killed. BUT if it was the first one she was still gonna find out WHAT this shit was.
"You uh... you really like to sew or somethin' huh...? Ah ha ha..." she laughed weakly at the hanging mannequins. Jesus FUCK they were creepy.
"HOKAY, so like, second change! If you don't wanna get fuckin' shot to death by the pigs this door stays LOCKED. Y'know...?!" The fear crept into her voice, even if she was joking about it Patty was freakin' scared to death. But like you admitted that and you wound up in a box. Or a couple of'em, so she was gonna be cool.

The surprise on her face was apparent the moment Patty exploded in her shocked outburst. Confusion was also there as she couldn't quite understand at first why the girl thought it was something like marijuana of all things. But it took a while to scrutinize her situation. First thing, it was clear she didn't quite like the mannequins. Fair enough, there was that fear for their uncanny valley quality. Maybe that way why she rarely had any customers... what a bore. But it finally dawned on her why the woman thought the way that she did. The Attendant heaved a sigh. "My name... really? Well, you aren't Japanese so I guess I can't blame you for it."

She began to press a couple of buttons allowing the system on the laptop to finally shut off before setting the arm away from the desk. Touko glanced at each wall, noting how it was going to take a while to clean this up. While the mannequins was the easiest despite taking so much time to store, the rest of the paraphernalia was going to be more of a chore in their own right in that they had their own specific requirements for storage. Though thankfully Patricia did give a good suggestion that didn't require any of it. "Oh, that's better than having to put all of this aside. I can do that, good call. I don't have to worry about some drunken git ruining the merchandise."

Dude like... all the signs were there! Like she knew she was probably selling stuff she wasn't supposed to but holy shit not freakin' organs! Or whatever this stuff was! Murder basement, this was a freakin' murder basement, like, people got cut up down here, she could feel it. HOLY freakin' SHIT, dude! Gun running? Sure. Drug trade? Been there, done that. Harvesting body parts? Nope. Nuh-uh, no freakin' way Jose, NOT something she wanted to be on either side of. Like plausible deniability existed until people started getting turned hamburger helper. It was creepy how casual she was about this, like fucking hell this actually was her job.

But she talked about being your average supernatural gun runner like it was a completely normal thing. Because it was. Yep. TOTALLY normal as long as Patty wanted her guts in her body. But the freakout was still strong.
"Bitch, how am I 'sposed to relax!? You got like arms on the table and shit! You gave me a motherfuckin' heart attack...!" Her tone was more scared than it was any kind of angry and she clutched her chest, like dude this was some trippy shit. But after a few moments and feverishly puffing off her cigarette she'd shut up eventually and stop screaming about fucking dolls and severed limbs and shrunken heads lining the walls. Patty had so many questions. Questions like why is there an arm on your table? and what are the dolls for? and I do Oxy so my kidneys aren't any good so like look somewhere else. But she went for the less obvious.

"...so like how you sell to the cops and the terrorists without getting picked up? They tag people that do stuff like this." She pressed her face to the glass where the weapons were. Some of'em looked pretty gnarly, less guns than she thought though. Mostly just wicked-looking swords. How the fuck did she just WANDER around and find a damn magic weapons shop? Dude this was like 3 blocks from work.
"Jesus Christ do you show this stuff to everyone? You're gonna get SWAT'ed."

Touko laughed cheerily and in amusement at the shocked Patty. Oh man, this is what she wanted. Someone to relish on their shock. In truth though, the girl had a point. This entire place was already a suitable scene for some kind of serial killer's workshop than any kind of crafting-based profession. Ah well, sometimes you needed to roll that kind of shit back or no one will want to hang out with you at all. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about it. I've got permission to handle the business, so I wouldn't be concerned. And it isn't like they mind too much as long as I give my services to the Cadets. But, no. Not necessarily, only when I'm sure they had any involvement with the Night."

The woman pulled a chair and sat on it as she closed the laptop shut. The faux arm was gently put inside a lead container before shelved inside a drawer that was a part of the grand table the Attendant was sitting at. Finally, she snapped her fingers, and almost like clockwork, the shelves began to turn with the walls. What came up in the mannequin's place were even more kinds of weaponry and what appeared to be occult-like paraphernalia. The weapons from before were still there, of course. "Well, I hope that's a little better and easier on the eyes. Sorry about that, I don't get much visitors as you can imagine... Well, other than that prosthetic arm and all."

Patty laughed along nervously with Toke-O, more out of habit than actually finding anything funny. She was fuckin' scared, dude. Soooooooooooooo the cops were crooked. Well wasn't that a switch? Everyone was crooked in this city, she wasn't really shocked. More likely though they didn't know or just assumed and turned a blind eye. She wouldn't be caught dead somewhere she knew the pigs were gonna be at, especially on accident. More like she would be caught dead, because she was freakin' toast if she got caught.
"They don't have anyone they know that can do this, do they?
Or they wouldn't let you do it, right?" she asked, still looking over the weapons in the cases. She wasn't really sure, she was asking to know if she was figuring it out or not. It made enough sense to her.

The skinny girl jumped and stumbled a few steps when the redhead snapped and the shelves began moving.
"Jesus, dude...!" she shouted in her moment of panic, "Fricken... warn me or something...! GAWD!" OKAY, scary time was over now! She could not keep doing this, it was seriously freaking her out. Despite all that Patty found herself laughing pretty loudly at what she said about the arm.
"Ahahahahahaaa...!" The ARM was the VISITOR. Holy shit dude, like, what that implied. She was about to say something about her boyfriend being pretty "handsy" but she cleared her throat instead when her question came and the lanky girl considered she might get cut open for saying somethin' like that. It made her skin crawl. She didn't like that question because she had to answer it now. Toke-O put her in a bind. "Awakened" was what those jokers at the Playhouse called it, right? But she had to tell her "yes". Because if she told her "no" then she might attack her and make her fight back. Besides, Patty wasn't stupid. She already said she knew she was.

"If I wasn't you wouldn't be showing me all this, huh...?" she spoke up nervously, quiver in her voice. "I-I won't tell anyone, I'm cool, okay...?" She didn't plan on letting ANYONE know about this place. Well like maybe the people she knew were cool but like not those other people. They'd get a hair up their ass about Toke-O double-dipping to the cops and it'd cause problems and she didn't wanna talk anyone down from the ledge or waste her energy beating some sense into them.
"Seriously, you're not worried about some crazy rando showing up and trying to gank you for your shit? Some of these people are freakin' psychos or like, they got an agenda. I guess you got protection, huh?"