| The Rise of the Black Queen | |||||
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| What: Jeannette is recruited into the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club. | |||||
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Today was going to be a very special day though not many would know why. You see Sebastian Shaw had picked the next member of his Inner Circle. As such, even though there was no event, per se, at the club that was definitely an atmosphere of... something. Something was in the air and the staff and the attending members all knew it.
Shaw himself was dressed in the regalia of the Black King and Lord Imperial of the Hellfire Club. Dark blue frock coat with delicate gold embroidery. Frilled silk shirt with a elaborate ascot around his neck. Emma at this side and Tessa at their back. This was definitely an occasion. Some time ago the Hellfire club was stagnant and boring, but this has no longer been the case ever since Shaw took it over. But it was true something was in the air. The small sly smirk was ever present on Emma's lips that evening.
She was also dressed for the Hellfire occasion. The White Queen wore her heavy silk cape, with the thick fur collar (real fur thank you very much), with a leather front-lace corset cinched up tight, with a matching pair of panties, boots, and gloves.
Emma was laughing with one of the Hellfire club members as they discussed a scandal of a business rival.
The woman known as the Last Victim, or Jeannette to those she deems worthy of knowing a proper name, is /just/ late enough for it to be consider fashionable. Showing up early, or even on time, would give the impression of her assigning far more importance to her hosts than she's willing to concede to anyone. Showing up any later would just be rude. These things have to be timed very carefully.
When she arrives, she's in her usual ensemble, though her usual cameo choker has been exchanged for one of silver mesh studded with diamonds and pearls. "Ah, goodness, this brings back memories," she declares. "I don't think I've been here since prohibition!" Sabretooth pages: Sweet! Do you think you might have time later tonight, or tomorrow to get together about doing similar? It's--somewhat--more complicated now - I dunno if you saw the job I sent you and Emma - but I'm pretty confident that we can work something out.
Shaw saw Jeannette as she arrived, that was the woman he had chosen. He came to her attention quite by accident, just a random rumor someone had told him once at a casino. Pursuing that rumor was not very difficult and lead to her receiving the invitation to come to the club, personally signed by Sebastian Shaw.
With a glance at Emma he thought to her |That is Her.| as he looked back over to Jeannette. Without waiting for Emma's reaction he approached Jeannette and bowed formally, "Welcome to the New York Branch of the Hellfire Club, I am Sebastian Shaw and I am at your service." Emma's slid across the scene and took in Jeanette. She had to admit, she liked her look. A few of the Hellfire club members wore powdered wigs to get the effect, but Jeanette actually had the look.
She came up behind Shaw, with a hand on his shoulder and smiled at Jeannette. "And I am Emma Frost. I do hope you are enjoying yourself." From afar, to (Emma Frost, Sebastian Shaw): Millie sad faces. "S.O. took the controller back so I can't play my game." *hehehehe* "Alright, his game." "A pleasure," says the white-haired woman, giving the slightest of curtsies. The Bloody Lady may have been a cruel psychopath, but she did also teach the young Jeannette the ways of the Court. "I have to admit, your invitation has me quite curious. You're not going to make me wait too long to sate that, are you?" Sebastian had to smirk a bit, he was always happy when he had control of the situation. It been a while since he felt he held all the cards when deal with an attractive woman. So he nodded at her politely, "All in good time, Ms. Jeannette. But first I have a question of my own."
He gestures around the parlor of the club and asked, "I am, no doubt, sure you know of the Hellfire Club, nary a person alive has not at least heard of the place." Looking to her he added, "But I do wonder how much you know? As the Hellfire Club has its fair share of secrets. Secrets that very few people know about the club and it's history."
Emma sneers as she adds to Shaw's speech, "We have a penchant for debauchery, that's the stereotype at least. And is of course true. But we are a bit more interesting than that still."
Emma is now tapping Jeanette's mind for casual thoughts for now.
"I've been on the arm of a member of your club once or twice in the past," Jeannette shares. Her mind is... different from the average human, if only because of the sheer amount of memories she has to work with. Mentioning her visits to the Club in the past bring up flashes of men and women laughing and drinking with merry jazz music piping over the background. A full-colour movie reel of well-to-do America in the 1930s. Other flashes from earlier eras in the club's history, albeit from an outsider's eyes.
The instinct to flirt with Shaw comes almost without thought- a habit hard-wired into her brain, to play the part she's expected to for a powerful man with a clearly powerful ego. "I can't say I know /terribly/ much, but I admit, I've gotten the occasional whisper about there being a bit more to your organization than parties." But then, as a late, great man once said- is it so radical to think that powerful people might get together and plan things? Any place where people with this much money and power gather is sure to have dark and terrible secrets. "All you say is true," Shaw said with a smile, "There are much secrets to be known around places like this. And a mysterious yet beautiful woman, said not to age, is one that could fit in quite well.
The tendency to not age was a familiar concept to him since he himself had pretty much stopped aging about twenty years ago, "I am sure you know much more than you are letting on, but I believe you will find what we are offering you to be a very interesting concept."
Emma stood to Jeanette's side and slid a hand around her waist. And she herself was a flirtacious woman. Emma had to admit, Shaw's research on Jeannette seemed sound. She gave her a wicked smile, "Exactly. How about we find a more private room to get to know one another. I heard from a little birdie that you liked lollipops, as I can see. I had made wine-flavored lollipops. I do hope you like red."
She contacted Shaw telepathically |She certainly is old, if you'll forgive the adjective. It's hard to say just how old her mind is...odd. I need more time.|
Going digging in the woman's memories will not be a fun experince, should Emma decide to do so. Collective decades of first-hand experience with some of history's most cruel prisons, flashes of historic events, either read on paper or through other media, and snippets of life (and/or unlife) that would probably take a historian's knowledge to decipher just /when/ they were taking place. All that, with several centuries of experience tangled up, some lost to the subconscious... and then, somewhere in the center of the ball of things fabulous, fascinating, terrifying and gruesome, are witnessed murders so heinous, even the most gore-happy of today's horror filmmakers would cringe. Have fun sleeping tonight, Emma.
"An invitation, and now an offer, hmm?" she says, brightly, totally oblivious to any scans of her mind. "Ah, how thoughtful!" she says, smiling as the candy's presented to her. "And inventive. I like it here already."
"Yes I do believe some privacy is in order. There's much to discuss, besides some things are just... better when they are in private." He thought for a moment and went, "Well... most of the time."
Sebastian lead both of the lovely ladies who, with hope would both be his queens by the end of the night to one of the annex rooms attached to the club's parlor. Despite what many would think the room is quaint antique settee, a charming little coffee table and a fully stocked liquor cabinet. Though to be fair there was a liquor cabinet in nearly every room of the club. Shaw did like his drink.
And to that point he went right to the liquor cabinet and made himself a scotch, "And can I get anything for the lovely ladies?"
After Jeanette's thoughts Emma was going to need a drink as well, "Martini, Sebastian. Dirty and plenty of olives."
Her eyes went back towards Jeannette as she lounged comfortably on the couch. There was plenty of room for them all to make themselves comfortable. Her own mind was sorting through all of the gore and history in Jeannette's mind. She had seen quite a lot as a telepath. And this was one of the many reasons why she drank.
She added a bit more to Shaw, |Old and deadly. The sort of woman you want on your side, rather than against.| "Surprise me," Jeannette says, finding a nice, comfortable spot with her back to the wall, and both new aquaintances in plain sight. Possibly a conscious decision, possibly instinct. Probably a bit of both. As for the drink, letting Shaw choose both gives him a touch of power, and gives her an opportunity to see what he thinks she'd like, which gives at least some little clue as to what he thinks of her.
|My a lovely combination, I believe.| He thought at Emma as he made her martini. After ten years of association with the woman he knew how to make it they way she liked it. He then gave an admiring look back to Jeannette, looking at her body a bit more obviously, |Yes, I'm quite pleased with this chose, much more so than with Alexander. Also, less boring.|
Handing Emma her martini, he turned back to the bar. ""And an absinthe for our guest, I believe," taking a bottle of one hundred year old absinthe. preparing the sugar on the spoon, pouring the absinthe over it and then the ice water. Stirring it to dissolve the sugar. He walked over and handed it to Jeannette, "Your drink, my dear."
Emma's eyes took a quick look over Jeanette as well, and a sly smirk spread across her lips, |Now that I would agree with. I /still/ think the inner circle would be interesting with all women.|
She reached out to take the martini glass and crossed her legs, "I'd wager that Sebastian is better than most bar tenders I've encountered. But you'll have to find that out for yourself."
She took the first sip, "Do tell us about yourself Jeannette." Jeannette nods in appreciatiation of the drink. "Oh, I'm afraid I'm not nearly as exciting as the wardrobe and bank account would imply," she says, with that tongue-in-cheek humility that only the very, very rich are capable of. "I do like to keep /some/ mystery about myself... but I can tell you I'm older than the both of you put together." She sniffs the air, delicately. "And I can tell you, with certainty, that neither of you will die for quite some time. Although you may want to arrange some medical appointments for the fellow who opened the door for me. Has the air of an undetected heart defect, if I'm not mistaken," she tells them. "Or an embolism. It's always hard to tell the /why/." Shaw smirked, well he didn't expect that being immortal was her only special ability and the research he had done did suggest a bit of an obsession with death so this was not surprising, "We all have our secrets, its what makes us who we are. And I can only imagine what sort you have."
Taking a drink of his scotch he thought to Emma |And I told you I have no problem with that idea. That is why we are here with her and why I'm tracking down Anastasia Cisarovna as well.|
After the drink was finished, "For example, me and Emma have been having a secret conversation about you since you arrived." A wide smile spread across Emma's face as she took the pick of olives and took one into her mouth, "All pleasant things I assure you. But telepathy does have it's uses."
She lets out a soft laugh, and glances over to Shaw. It's nice to see him being "himself" given her brunch from the day previous. "However I'm delighted to know that death isn't milling about us currently." "Interesting," Jeannette muses. "If you did any digging around, I apologize for the nightmares," she says, tapping the side of her head. "One does see some terrible things when one lives past a century or two," she speaks about such horrors quite casually, despite the very real horror connected to them. Of course, if Emma goes back to analyze some of those nastier memories, she'll find they're from a much physically smaller stature's point-of-view. The most horrific of the things she's witnessed were through the eyes of a child.
"I take it you're about to make this offer of yours, given you've just revealed that much about yourself." A pause, and the gears turn. "Or you could just erase my memory of it, I imagine." "That is definitely an option. And one I could have done in more ways than one. My personal assistant is also a telepath. I like having the around, gives you a unique perspective on things," Shaw said quite seriously. He had finished his scotch and was moving to make another one, "But yes, there is an offer to be made. And I think that it is only fitting if Emma was the one to make it for a change. My spiel is getting rather stale to say the least, same one I've used for nine years now."
He turned around, new drink in hand and raised to towards Emma, "If you will." Emma moved to Jeannette's couch, and made herself more comfortable. Her eyes glanced towards Sebastian before giving Jeannette her full attention, "I've encountered all sorts of minds. I am used to nightmares. However, yours and of course your history is fascinating."
She took another sip from her drink. "However. You are a capable woman, that much I've already been able to surmise. We want you as a member of the inner circle of the Hellfire club. We have a great many goals for the future, and on top of this we have fun. We are the secret movers and shakers of current society, and we have many radical ideas in regards to the future."
She reached over and gently placed her hand on her thigh, "In particular, I think you would be a fabulous Black Queen. I am the White Queen Sebastian here is our Black King." Such power is not something that Jeannette is the type to go out of her way to seek. However... when it's offered like that, one can't help but take it, can they? Besides. Turning it down would just be rude. "It sounds like a fabulous oppurtunity," she agrees, and sets down her now-empty glass. "And Lord Imperial. I rule the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club and have for nine years. A short time I know, but the way I became the Lord Imperial is that Emma and I walked into the Council room. She controlled the White King's mind and forced him to shoot each other member of the Inner Circle, including the current White Queen, his wife."
With a smile of a happy memory he said, "And then I walked forward and snapped his neck as if it were a twig," he looked over to Emma and said, "And then I believe we fucked like rabbits for two days."
Back to business he looked at Jeannette, and specifically Emma's hand on Jeannette's thigh. Well someone was feeling frisky it seemed, "This offer will give you control over much, you will help the others of the Council of the Chosen decide the destiny of the entire planet. As we have done for nearly 300 years."
She smiled at Shaw as she recalled times far gone but memories still vivid as they still affected her every day, "Oh they were some of my favorite days. What a delightful memory. The present never disappoints, as well."
She turned her attention to Jeannette, and gently squeezed her thigh, "Exactly. We have actual goals, beyond our hedonistic endeavors. What do you want tomorrow to be like? If you had a say?"
A grin from Jeannette. She may not be as interested in plotting anyone else's life or fortune... but that sort of power /does/ prettymuch garuntee never spending another day in prison as long as she holds this title. She can certainly tug on the strings of lesser beings, and play to the ego of this man for that much. "I thought I caught a hint of a killer's scent on you," she observes.
She gives Emma's question some thought. "Interesting," she says. "The worst thing about a long life is boredom." "Despite my appearances I'm in my early sixties," Shaw said giving her a hint about how he was special, without revealing the details. The details could come later, "I'm well aware on how boring life can get. And how painful it can be to be immortal."
In truth, Sebastian wasn't sure if he was immortal or not. He just knew he had stopped aging thanks to his powers and baring someone finding an impressive way to harm a being that absorbs all kinetic energy he was safe from all harm. But he has already experienced the trouble of being immortal, watching those you care for die when you can do nothing else.
Her eyes turned towards Shaw, as she remembered that one of her plans was to turn to diamond just before she was too old to be anything. But she had too many confidence issues about herself as it was, "We are all mindful of boredom. I assure you. Shaw here is more beyond what he looks."
Thoughts of her own immorality are not quite so settled. She was young. Emma was beautiful. But she did worry about how men like Shaw would view her at 50. Thus she had a backup. But there would always be another day. She rested an arm across Jeannette's shoulders and talked closer into her ear, "And as I said, we all want fun. I can tell that is what you want, despite the horrors."
"I think this will work out /quite/ well," Jeannette says, still smiling like the cat who got the canary. In the very least, by joining forces with these people, she's making sure they're not her enemies... at least, not any time soon.