16533/Queens and Toads

Queens and Toads
Date of Scene:	09 December 2023
Location:	Abandoned Warehouse
Synopsis:	Selene presses Toad into service and gives him a message.
Cast of Characters:	Mortimer Toynbee, Selene Gallio

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Mortimer Toynbee has posed:
Mortimer has been more active on the surface lately. He had retreated entirely to Asteroid M for a time, eschewing humanity entirely, losing himself in gadgetry and the companionship of his fellow members of the Brotherhood. But boredom set in and they were often busy, busy with each other. Pretty people were like that. Nobody ever noticed Toad, though. Toad was underfoot. Toad was disgusting. Toad was unwanted.

Nobody said that to him. But it's what he imagined in his head, the echoes of things said long before he met Magneto and Mystique, before he was given purpose. Another thing that predates it is a taste for chemistry. Chemistry and mischief.

He's built his little manufacturing lab in this abandoned warehouse on the edges of Mutant Town. The mutants who work for him are, like him, largely inhuman, not passing for normal, freaks. The outcasts, the disgruntled, the embittered. He would use their rage, in time. For now, though, he was alone in the lab, wearing a mechanic's jumpsuit in bright yellow, his long, stringy hair hanging over his face. He's not expecting company. He's never expecting company. He's whistling to himself and typing things into a laptop with his long fingers, the acrid smell of chemical in the air.

Selene Gallio has posed:
Unlike most people, Selene very much noticed inhuman creatures like Toad. Although generally speaking, those creatures would usually have been better off if she did NOT notice them, but such is life.

Following a trail of minions back towards the warehouse, Selene walks inside as if she were the owner, a gaze sweeping over the place to establish a sense of what is going on here. Wearing not exactly the uniform of the Hellfire Club, she is not exactly far from it - a corset reveals pale flesh above and below, and black leather pants that may as well have been painted on end in boots that give her another few inches of height.

She casts her gaze about, clearly looking for the master of the house.

Mortimer Toynbee has posed:
Mortimer Toynbee cocks his head at the sound of high heels on his concrete floor. The place is overheated, the temperature turned up to maximum. Toad's cold-blooded, after all, uncomfortable in deep cold and he'd rather sweat any day of the week.

He turns his head and startles at the sight of Selene, leaping up into the air to land in front of her. His immediate impulse to splatter her with phlegm and try to drive her out of his domain, however, is checked by curiosity and a little bit of fear. He knows of the Hellfire Club, after all, knows it too well, although he has only been permitted entrance before while kneeling at the side of someone more powerful than he.

"Hello there. Are you lost in some way, beautiful darkness?"

Selene Gallio has posed:
"I am lost in /many/ ways," replies Selene, with a bit of an enigmatic smile on her face. "But no, I am here thoroughly by my design."

It may be blazing hot in the warehouse, but that heat does not seem to touch her skin, cool to the touch and avoidant of any perspiration.

"I understand that you may be acquainted with some of those in orbit over us, that despite that share common ground. Is that so?"

Mortimer Toynbee has posed:
Mortimer Toynbee cocks his head, his low-class Brit accent showing through, "You speak rightly, mum. Brotherhood member Mortimer Toynbee, known as the Toad, at yer service, please an' thank ye," he says.

He performs an exaggerated bow, tilting his head forward so his brown hair scrapes the floor, his long and powerful legs knock-kneed for a moment as he bends his body with an eerie and inhuman elasticity, his bulging eyes staring up through his hair at the beautiful monster in front of him.

"What business have ye with us an' ours, then, gorge? You lookin' to join up? We've always space for the like minded mutant, o' course. Don't you worry none about that pesky truce we got goin' on neither. We still get up to plenty badness, just a little more quiet-like these days."

Technically, that's a secret, but Toad's terrible with secrets. Plus, this woman's obviously evil. Look at her.

Selene Gallio has posed:
There is a bit of an evil smile that crosses Selene's face. She does not hide that particularly well. Mostly because she does not try to.

"We have similar agendas, if different ways of going about it. I was hoping that perhaps you might broker a meeting between myself and your leader." Selene looks around for a moment, as if sizing up Toad's operation. "We have a complicated history of entanglement, but right now given recent events, I feel that we should endeavor to greater cooperation."

She regards him with consideration. "It is likely sufficient to tell her that the Black Queen wishes an audience."

Mortimer Toynbee has posed:
Mortimer Toynbee giggles a little, slapping his big feet back and forth on the ground and clapping his hands together, "Oh yes, yes, lots of different ways, spreading the word of mutant supremacy, making the little humans crawl and beg and die in fun little ways," he says.

The natural toadie, of course, is a bit overwhelmed by the magnificence of the Queen and it shows as he ducks his head, "Of course, your Majestyness, more'n happy t'be of service in any ways I can be," he says. "So many royalties goin' about, but we're sure yours is the real deal, you smell like a Queen, all of pretty perfume and death."

Selene Gallio has posed:
Reaching out with her hand if permitted to gently rub the top of Toad's head, Selene nods. "Perceptive. I appreciate such things."

She considers for a moment, and then expands. "There are a lot of ways to establish supremacy, and typically I go about it with a slightly different tactic, but in this particular case, I think that we can combine our efforts. My tactics and yours..." She shrugs a bit. "We can target the same foes, from different directions."

Mortimer Toynbee has posed:
Mortimer Toynbee gives a shiver of mingled fear and delight at the touch, feeling the Goddess' nails stroke over his scalp. There's a whimper there and probably a little bit of drool escaping the corner of his mouth.

"Whatever Mystique says, mum, Toad would be more'n happy to be at your service in any ways you like, yes, Toad is a good servant and true. You won't find none more willing to do anything he's told. I'll kill and maim and burn the world down, I will, and laugh at the flames as they lick!" he says a little maniacally.

Selene Gallio has posed:
"Really?" Selene's fingernails drift along the side of his scalp, down his cheek, and then lift his face up slightly at his chin.

"What sort of services might you be able to perform that I could be in need of?" Her eyes gaze down at the man, considering him for a long moment.

"I am never one to turn down useful servants. And unlike some, I treat my servants /very/ well."

Mortimer Toynbee has posed:
Mortimer Toynbee quivers slightly, "Whatever you want, Mum. Assassination, infiltration, mayhem, sabotage. I'm good with me hands, yes, I am," he says.

He feels that deep terror inside, knowing that he's helpless to resist the power of the woman in front of him, his own cowardly nature betraying him. No matter how much he thinks he's built up, no matter how much he becomes a man of his own, Toad is a toad deep down inside, a worshipper, a supplicant, a minion. Mystique's minion, generally speaking, but he is a selfish and craven thing and bound to fall under the spell of new ownership easily, especially such fearsome and glorious kinds as Selene.

Selene Gallio has posed:
For a moment, Selene simply watches Toad, studying him. As if assessing the accuracy of his claims, or trying to get a greater sense of who and what he is.

Finally, she bends down, slowly, using those fingers beneath his chin to keep his head up, lest he try to squirm away.

"I believe that you are, my friend. I shall call upon you, then, the next time I have need of..." She pauses to brush her lips against the top of his head. "...hands."

Mortimer Toynbee has posed:
Mortimer Toynbee does feel the urge to squirm, he's a natural squirmer, but fear and fascination win out as he feels the point of one of Selene's nails under his chin, lifting his oversized eyes up to gaze up at her.

Her words don't exactly help, a low squeak escaping the back of his throat, "As you wish, mum. At yer services an' commands, yes, I am," he says. In her presence, he can do no less, after all, for he is as spineless as advertised, at least around beings of true power and glory.

Selene Gallio has posed:
"Excellent. You shall have to leave me with the means to reach you, should I require your personal attention." That one fingernail drifts away, scraping a brief path below the tip of his chin as Selene straightens up before him.

"I can see that you are a merit to our cause. By what name shall I call upon you, when next we meet?"

Mortimer Toynbee has posed:
Mortimer Toynbee smiles, "Toad. Toad is my mutant name, my Queen," he says, entering into another florid and perhaps grotesque bow with his wretched and strange body.