4474/A Touch of Brimstone: der Schweinehund

A Touch of Brimstone: der Schweinehund
Date of Scene:	23 December 2020
Location:	Nymphenburg Palace, Munich Germany
Synopsis:	Emma has a private discussion with Friedrich von Roehm at the German HFC event. While she expects to have to trade on her own dignity for information, his interests prove somewhat less what she expected. In the end, she discovers more information on their trafficking network, although information about its main lab and project leader remain beyond her grasp. (OOC warning for some adult themes, as its the Hellfire Club being the Hellfire Club!)
Cast of Characters:	Jean Grey, Emma Frost

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Jean Grey has posed:
Where we left our heroine, she had just departed from her friends and compatriots - fellow X-women of distinction Lorna Dane and Ororo Munroe - in the company of one Friedrich Von Roehm, a portly and yet somewhat robust member of the Hellfire Club. Once a member of high status of the New York chapter, he has evidently returned to his homeland to enjoy the pleasures his wealth and status allow him, without intereference from the Americans.

Leading through an ornate set of doors at the back of the opulent ballroom, Friedrich escorts Emma from the public facade of the party - a glittering and yet ultimately public event attended by all manner of celebrities, politicos and professionals and held at one of the most famous historic landmarks in Munich - to the true event, open to the elite of the elite who claim membership in the Hellfire Club. Instantly, the scene is transformed from one of modern glitz and glamor to something more befiting of the history of the building: it is a display of utter decadence and debauchery, held within gilt halls that once housed kings and emperors.

This is the club as Emma remembers it.

Their walk takes them along a long gallery hallway, one of its side decorated with a variety of old paintings, and the other featuring huge windows looking out upon a portion of the gardens, an artful collection of hedgework and statues. Between the paintings, the hall opens on various smaller parlours and sitting rooms that once entertained numerous royal guests. Now, these serve as semi-private gathering places for the club elite. In some, these are no more than private discussions, card games, or other such clandestine gatherings. In others, the members lounge on couches while enjoying various pleasures or entertainments: an erotic performance, the artful 'disciplining' of a new initiate, and so on.

"So, Emma, mein liebling, what have you been up to, hmm? What brings you out to visit us? Have you grown bored of things back home? We have many entertainments here, you see." He gestures at a door as they pass, as if to demonstrate their range of offerings.

Emma Frost has posed:
    "Friedrich..." Emma says with a hint of sultry tones in her voice as she steps closer to the man, and slips her arm beneath his to hook onto his elbow and rests her palm against his inner arm and smiles up to him. "Straight to business, you know how we Americans can be when we're not stuffing our faces." With what is left unspoken, but she's sure he can imagine what the infamous White Queen can do with those silver painted lips.

    The blonde glances into the room, not really needing to peek inside before she turns to look more lustfully towards the large man, "I'm in fact here on business as well." Her tone lowers and her volume does as well, she's speaking of inner circle stuff on the down low, the auditory hints should be enough to catch on for anyone who knows.

    "I'm here to do a surprise inspection of the newest facilities and projects Friedrich." Followed by a coyish sort of wrinkle of her forehead.

Jean Grey has posed:
Of course, just a hint of the woman's rather inviting tone and posture is frankly more encouragement than Friedrich needs - he was already a bit handsy, when they met outside, and that was with little in the way of invitation! So he readily gets quite close, as she hangs off his arm while they walk. While Friedrich did once hold a high position, he was never exactly one of the movers or shakers, and not someone Emma likely would have sought much favor from, compared to Shaw. So it is a bit of a reversal of things!

"Oh, an inspection?" the man wonders, surprised, and thereafter shortly grinning a bit. "An inspection for -who-, liebling? I know you're on the outs there. And as I told you, it means very little to me, since I know exactly what those people are like, myself. But I'm sure you're still... with someone, yes?"

With his free arm, he reaches up to tug thoughtfully at the edge of his furry mutton chops. "And what about your friends? You really should have invited them along. Dane would be a good recruit. Her father has put us off, but it's rather silly- they would appreciate the sort of things we're doing, I think!" Oh, the irony.

Emma Frost has posed:
    "Friedrich..." Emma says playfully, "You know a girl has to have SOME secrets in order to be much more alluring" Emma says with a playful sort of wink. "But I want to teach Shaw that you don't fuck with Emma Frost and walk away cleanly." Emma says with a smile across her lips but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. "I'd like to know where they're all at..." Emma says with a squeeze of his arm.

    "My friends... aren't exactly the type I'd subject to ... our intensity of debauchery... though trust me, I've thought about it plenty myself." She says with that coy grin once again and then adds. "They're all pretty much babies in this department, and I don't think shoving them into the frying pan of the Hellfire Club is a good way to start any kind of S and M life style." Emma smiles as she continues to walk beside Friedrich. "Now, what can I do for you to earn those locations from you?" Emma asks with /that/ look on her face. Tit for tat, so to speak.

Jean Grey has posed:
"He's rather self-important, isn't he?" Shaw seems to be a subject on which she and Friedrich share some feelings, perhaps even without Emma having to fake anything. "Although..." And here he takes a pause. "On this, we may still have some common ground. After all, it's a bit of a question these days, isn't it? If our club should be one of the rich, powerful, and -superior-, or merely one of whatever new money happens to be in the spotlight at the moment." He almost seems to puff up a little more (if its possible), as he speaks of such superiority.

Then there's a laugh. "They're shy? Those two? I can't believe it. And besides- its not as if we don't know a thing or two about breaking in someone new here!" Here, the man's smile turns especially suggestive, particularly vile.

But he's soon distracted by Emma's- well, by Emma making every point to BE distracting. "Do /for/ me? Liebling, you make it sound so transactional. I want you to enjoy yourself, hmm? Like you -can't- back in New York. But if you're so curious about everything, and clearly someone's told you a bit- well, perhap it's better that I show you, hmm?"

As he speaks, the man stops short before one of the many doors, and turns to lead them inside, now moving his hand to the small of Emma's back to encourage her along. The room they pass into is occupied, by a party of four- a man and woman on the couch, dressed as aristocrats, and a girl in one of the beerhall outfits and a young man in a speedo, harness, and mask on the floor in front of them -in the midst of some obscene game. Friedrich treats this all quite casually. "Hello Franz, don't mind us-" he calls, as they pass through to a door on the far side.

"Feel free to stop us if you see anything you like!" he tells Emma, as they pass a few more such scenes. Eventually, they reach a smaller room, a private study, perhaps. It is noteworthy not so much for the usual trappings (fireplace, desk, couch, and so forth) but for several pedestals with busts upon them, set all around the room. Perhaps they depict former residents of the place? Former club luminaries? Who knows. "Ah, here we are..."

Emma Frost has posed:
    "I'm not going to stop until we're at something I /haven't/ seen before." Emma says with that coy look in her icy blue eyes, though his less than pristine hand falls to the small of her back, Emma doesn't react in any manner that would be thought, unbecoming of a White Queen. She could take his hand should she so wish, but that would likely end with him having her cast in a bust like those lining the room.

    Emma moves about the room, breaking away from the large man and moving about casually to stand near the fireplace. Her gloved hands move up, teasing the hem of her bodice with those white fingers before she moves her finger tips up her chest and to her shoulders and then unclasps the fur lined cape that really finishes off the ensamble. "You've been doing a good job looking like you're not staring Friedrich. That's very commendable for someone in your position." Emma notes, with a sort of back handed compliment as she drapes her cape across the back of a wing back chair near the fireplace. "What do /YOU/ have in mind sir?"

Jean Grey has posed:
"Hah! That might be hard to manage," the man declares. "Something you haven't seen. A tall order. But then again... I did promise you I would show you something interesting, ja?" It seems the man is headed somewhere in specific, toward one corner of the room and the bust on display there, although he pauses and turns back as Emma roams it a little more freely. And while she makes a point of how 'polite' he's been, the show she puts on of casting aside her cape does seem to draw his attention, from one bust to another, as it were. He smiles rather wolfishly. "Of course. I am still a gentleman. And you are better class of woman than much of what we keep around here," which is... just so /lovely/ a way to put it. "But I am looking now." He sure is.

Whatever he was doing, the man has stopped, attention fully turned on Emma. He steps - waddles, in a way - closer to her.

"Have in mind? Oh, I can show you that later," he says, a little offhandedly, as if putting aside some other plan he'd conjured together. Maybe she's distracted him a little TOO well now, because he is closing in upon her. "I am a simple man. Although I suppose-" And he pauses a moment, reaching into a pocket of his vest to produce something to show her. "I do have my own... preferences, as we all do here." It is, apparently, a dog collar.

Emma Frost has posed:
    <<FUCK.>> Emma barks internally as she sees the collar come out of the man's pocket and then she steps closer towards him, her hands falling down to her sides, carefully so as to not slap against her hips as she sashays away from the chair and closer to the dutchly man.

    "Friedrich, you should certainly know, all men are simple." She says as she intercepts him in the middle of the room and with a firm hand she takes the collar out of his and in a more than practiced motion, she has it snapping around his neck and she catches it in both hands and with the collar, she pulls him as close as their bodies will allow and she plants a passionate kiss to his mouth.

    The collar will be clasped as she assumes her mouth and tongue can distract him fiercely enough to allow her to lock the collar on /his/ neck instead.

Jean Grey has posed:
The man proves to be, well, as sloppy and gluttonous of a kisser as she might have imagined. But some other things seem slightly -not- what she was expecting. For instance...

She would note, quite immediately, that the collar is mostly a simple leather band, albeit with some metal studs, a loop, and of fine craftsmanship (of course, this is the Hellfire Club!). But it is hardly large or bulky enough to conceal the kind of suppression technology that Emma had been exposed to, indeed subjected to, only very recently. No, it is, in fact... an expensive dog collar. Or an expensive man collar, as the case may be.

Also? It seems like he wanted it on him!

This is evidenced by the fact that his rather sloppy, amorous efforts seem to -intensify- as it tightens into place, and by the time they break apart, he his nearly panting with enjoyment. "Hah, hah... Yes, just like that. Does it look good on me, do you think?"

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma finds herself catching her breath and wanting, a towel. Gluttons. She swears inwardly again. Her breath caught and pulling away from the man and his intrusive belly, she places a hand on his chest as she backs up half a step and looks closer, that coy sort of smile returning as she flirts with her eyes briefly. "It's a start." She says, motioning for him to turn around for her to get a chance to look him over from all angles.

Jean Grey has posed:
At this juncture, von Roehm obviously takes it that their 'play' has begun, and happily turns all around for her. Indeed, as he does, he begins removing his longer coat, pausing to toss it over a couch. After he's turned fully around for her (a lovely display, no doubt!), he goes digging in another pocket. "I have this too." Of course, the leash to go with it!

Thus, the man puts his particular 'preference' on full display. Obviously, the Hellfire Club began as a screen behind which members could display and indulge all variety of such impulses and interests, and the man keeps up the tradition. It's just that said tradition has room for more than submissive beer maids! Still, maybe there's a reason he wouldn't be too bold with showing this one off to the rest of his peers.

But he looks quite happy once Emma has the leash in hand, and him on it, looking to her like a puppy might to its owner, for direction.

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma, puts the man on his hands and knees and she has ordered him to follow her, usually walking around the room, and of course she has him slobber and lick across her heeled boots. She pauses to find a bowl and with it full of water she sets it down before the man and she stands beside it. Looking down and past her bosom, she's making a show of enjoying herself, while she's really feeling like she's wasting time, and she's going to be beyond harrassed should Lorna learn about this. Ororo, not so much, she seems understanding, but Lorna.

    Putting her hands on her hips, leash looped around one wrist and with the water bowl down she lifts a foot to put it on Friedrich's back, near his neck. "You ready to play /my/ game now?" Emma says, that tone being higher pitched and playful, this time.

Jean Grey has posed:
Is it weird that Emma knows what she's doing, so very well?!

Friedrich seems quite the happy 'pooch,' or at least being treated as such, although at times the way he seems to sniff or growl or otherwise put on his role does seem rather realistic. He goes on his little walks, drinks from the bowl, and (often!) pauses to look up adoringly from his place beneath her, no doubt enjoying the particulars of that view from below. He may like playing the beast, although he's clearly still a bit the man as well. People are weird, OK?

But it's particularly that final gesture, the heel digging between his shoulder blades, that encourages a certain gasp from the man. "Oh yes, mistress. What shall we play? I'm very eager, you know." Talking doesn't seem to be against his rules, at least!

Emma Frost has posed:
    "I asked you before for a favor." Emma says, losing the high pitch of her voice, her timber moving to something more sharp and less playful. She pushes a bit harder against his back, almost forcing his face into the water. "Help me with the locations of the projects, and ... I'll make sure you can get back into the inner circle." Emma makes a promise that would be hard for most anyone to keep, but she's ambitious enough, and he could already understand she has plans for adjusting the membership of the circle as it stands. Does he want to be on her good side, or her bad?

Jean Grey has posed:
"Of course mistress. Or well, I was going to... show you what I know about it. I haven't been to the sites. Benedict, he's the one in charge of all of that. But, if you'd allow me to continue-" Roehm tugs a bit at the end of his lead now, back toward that corner of the room where he had been standing before.

Once Emma gives him a little freedom on his lead, he will happily walk her to the corner. By necessity, he has to give up on the doggy facade at least to some degree (though he still seems happy on the leash), but he rises to his feet. And there, well, he reaches out for the bust's... bust. Well, really just to get his hands on the front of it. There he gives a slight turn, which causes a click, and then pushes backward. Shortly after, a panel of the wall slides up to reveal a passage.

"We didn't even have to put this in, you know? Our predecessors, back then they -really- knew how to live, how to rule... this place is full of delicious secrets like this. I can only imagine what they originally used it for."

Soonafter, he's leading her down the tunnel behind. While it's a little dark, it still seems 'civilized,' part of the palace, with bare masonry walls. It zigs and zags a little, and they go down stairs, until they eventually reach a room. Maybe once, this was a wine cellar. Or a dungeon, whether of the 'fun' kind or the 'disappear your enemies' kind. Or both! Now, well...

There are cages, lined up. And there are people in them. The scene is very similar to the one Emma recently endured, in Long Island. The notable exception, perhaps, is where they've likely come from. Many are obviously Mediteranean, Asian, African - part of Ororo's mystery might lead here, as well.

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma stands before the cages hard and then rips hard on the collar and downwards, hoping to pull the nude man off his feet and onto the cold and grimey floor. "Where are they going next or are you doing everything here?" The white queen demands, moving to press her heel into the back of the man's palm, but with an eye glancing towards the mutants in the cages, looking first and foremost for collars of their own, or any kind of binding that might be a surpressor.

Jean Grey has posed:
It's probably worth noting that Friedrich is definitely quite strong, whether by virtue or in defiance of his bulky physique. So the tug takes a moment to get the reaction she wants out of it, the time it takes the man to feel it, realize what she wants, and then get back down onto the floor on his own. He's a good boy!

"I told you, mistress. Benedict handles that. But I think... I don't think -these- go anywhere else? I think these are the rejects. Useless mutants or humans. The ones they don't have better use for. We keep them here, or at various other private residences and clubhouses for, well..." She can -hear- the smirk in his voice, even if his position down on the ground makes it hard to see: "For what they'd have ended up doing anyway. It's quite the industry here, you know."

From the ground, he looks around. "Maybe pick out one or two you like? I've been a good boy, haven't I? Surely I'm due a reward."

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma looks down her nose and chest towards the man and she looks to those in the cages and she has a thought, a long hard thought. Save them. Out her and the others back in the ballroom. The eyes within the cages, the eyes so full of hope, so full of pleading to be rescued, and in this moment, there's little Emma could do without giving away everything.

    Emma looks down at the man and takes a breath, "You've earned something." Emma says, her voice shifting back into that sultry tone. "You know what I truly want, and need, I need Benedict, and I need you to do something for me. Guaranty what I want, and I will absolutely give you what you want." Emma says, her heel still against his hand and she lowers herself down to say her piece before she pats the back of his head and pushes up off him to stand back straight and remove her foot from his hand.

Jean Grey has posed:
The man whimpers just a little as she puts pressure on his hand, although he doesn't try and move or free himself. And it may be a (shudder) 'happy' kind of whimpering, for all she can tell. THIS GUY. Still, Friedrich looks to her with a certain sort of appeal in his eyes as Emma leans down, eager to please and to be praised, it would seem.

"Of course, mistress, I'm happy to do anything for you." And there's a sense that he really would, at least... in the hopes of serving her, of prolonging this particular relationship he thinks that he has blissfully discovered. "He just doesn't- I haven't seen him here tonight, at the party I mean. He keeps busy, you know how it is. And with all of this. You know, he's behind a great deal of it, with his powers- he's able to change things in people, unlock their abilities. It's- well, it's very impressive." Granted, he seems a little bit easier to impress than one might think of such a 'powerful' figure as he claims to be!

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma bends over at the waist, mindful of the cages, to an extent and lowers her face towards Friedrich and allowing him a once in a life time view of her in a corset at this angle and she motions with a finger for him to come closer to her lips.

    "That's disappointing... I was going to make you an offer, with a promise of me coming back to finish our ... meeting ... but if you can't give me what I want..." Emma then unclasps the collar from around his neck and drops the leash onto the small of his back before it rolls off onto the floor beside him and she turns and the clicking of her heels walking away echoes in the dark space.

Jean Grey has posed:
When finally freed and left alone, left to linger on that brief heavenly vision, it definitely leaves Friedrich in a somewhat forlorn and desperate state. He's left scrambling after her, first on all fours, before he remembers that he's a person and scrambles up to his feet to pursue her like that. "I don't know what more I can give you, mistress. I have contact information, of course, for when I need to reach him on official matters. But you know how it is, how all the lords tend to view each other, the caution and suspicion, it's no different here than what you're familiar with-"

Which, if you think about it, sort of blows holes in all his earlier claims of European superiority.

"Please, what can I do-" And then, maybe in the last moment, something seems to snap, or click into place into his mind. Desperation IS quite a motivator, after all. "There are, well, they're all brought here from somewhere, yes? If they don't come here first? And I'm familiar with how the deliveries are made..."

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma turns and in a quick motion she snaps her hand out to grab the man beneath his jaw, her fingers and thumb pressing into the sides of his cheek just past his lips and makes him put an 'O' face on. "I need you to tell me where they're coming from and if not that, when the next delivery is." Emma says before she steps closer and her other hand reaches down to press her fingernails of her hand into his stomach below the belly button and hard..

    "Let me know, and you might want to take a sabbatical around that time... Then you'll get to have some real fun with me Friedrich." Emma says, letting go and turning back to walk back through the hidden door into the man's office.

Jean Grey has posed:
The man is about to speak again- as best as he can, anyway, with her hand holding his mouth in that particular shape -when he gives a bit of a yelp, and then looks a bit more panicked or confused. Whether it is the warning to 'take some time off,' or something else, it does seem like his demeanor, behavior, all of it, that it now changes somewhat. For good, for bad?

"Emma, liebling-" And he's not calling her mistress anymore. Perhaps these things can come and go as well. "If you're planning something-" He frowns, and backs away a step. "I have no desire to go against Herr Kine. Now, if you wish to be included in things, certainly, we can find a place for you- I am sure we would all very much enjoy having you here. I've certainly enjoyed your company, and no doubt, you could do a great deal for us-"

The fact that he's now trying to stand a bit more square-shouldered, to look a little less pathetic, may be somewhat amusing. But all the same, he attempts to resume a more 'dignified' mode. "But I fear I've said too much."

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma, reaches out to the wingback chair as she is walking past and grabs her cape, on her way back to the entrance of the office. "You haven't said enough, and in that, I've no time for further games, Friedrich." Emma's shoulders bounce firmly as her steps out are firm and paced as quickly as she dare move in these heels and with this corset. "I'll be seeing you soon, do make sure it's in the most ... beneficial light." Emma says as she closes the door and moves back through the halls and scenes of debauchery.