in my blood

'You're late, Gabriel.' , Gabe looked down at the ground, with a bow of his head. He had apologised for being late when he came in so there was no point in apologising again, hopefully showing some shame would make the boy forgive him. Gabe glanced at Briallen as William told her not to hurt him and tilted his head curiously. He wondered how into the whole thing everybody here was.

Gabe unlike Einar often went along with things for 'the heck of it', especially if they were things created by Bill. He nodded as Einar spoke, it was true that surely somebody would notice that there was something up. They'd have to hide it extremely well for it not to be noticed, but then again he supposed that was what Bill meant by secret .

As Félix entered the room Gabe turned his focus to him. I swear I don't remember getting this many people to join. They just seemed to keep arriving. However Félix was clever, that showed from the first few sentences he spoke. "Pardon Your Grace if I am speaking out of turn, but I think Félix has the right idea. Turning Queen Ania's own forces against her could prove very useful, or perhaps if we cannot do that we could at least infiltrate them. Get a spy?"

Claire seemed to be another useful member of the team, Gabe noted to himself. She was intelligent and already thinking outside of the box. He found himself nodding along to what she was saying as well.

When Carl started to speak though, Gabe narrowed his eyes. This kid appeared too cocky for his liking, and that was coming from Gabe who could act a little egotistical at the best of times. Let's hope his attitude improves, perhaps he's only joking after all. .

Feeling a little cowed by the tactics that were flying around, August thought desperately of something that he could add to the conversation. He wasn't really known for his excellent battleground skills, nor fighting or anything like that. He had only met their proclaimed enemy in passing, and hadn't ever had a lengthy conversation with her. Who was he to say what he thought she might do? Well, at least he could probably spin some sort of plausible story, at least to make it look like he was thinking about things properly.

"Well... In my ah, humble opinion, it doesn't really seem like the Queen would take our forces seriously, since she's already established her throne, so perhaps ... We can use that to some advantage?" Pausing to quickly gather his thoughts, August scrambled to try to think of an actual way to use that to their advantage. "So ... Perhaps it would be best to attack the people in her council, even. Befriend them individually, and try to make them betray her, or let a secret or two slip." August didn't imagine that Ania would have gotten trained councilmembers, ones that knew how to keep secrets. "There has to be at least one gossip in her group. There's always at least one." With that thought, August glanced quickly about the room, trying to figure out which one would be the most likely to spit out all the information put forth. His eyes settled on a couple people, but quickly flickered away, just in case anyone was watching.

If you need a spy Einar said, looking around the room I am willing to try to befriend her officers. Or whatever Her Grace has in mind. he said, getting more and more into this whole thing. He was, in the end, quite used to it, his Everchangable making him a perfect infiltrator, for people somehow never seemed to remember just how he had looked like, and even if they did...well, by that time he didn't look the same anyway.

His shifting eyes landed on Carl in the end, thinking that the man spoke with arrogance that was completely out of order, but he said nothing, simply frowning. He was not here to discipline stary children. And princes William seemed to find that was her task anyway.

The Grand Maester's singular thought quickly tumbled down the hill into an avalanche of discussion. Such was the talent of a knight of the mind. Where great soldiers could inspire courage and fortitude, the maesters could inspire strategy and cunning. Félix remained quiet even before Princess William had more than enough of everyone's yapping... though that had more to do with being nervous of Carl and his boistering, as well as the crowded room. He thought this was supposed to be a small council.

It felt inappropriate to advise Princess William on her...er...his behaviour and tongue. It was improper for a Princess to speak such vulgarities, even to those who deserved it. On the other hand, it was improper to scold royalty especially in such a public space.

The conversation returned to their planning. William wanted a suitable spy. Félix considered mentioning that Ania's Queensguard happened to be Félix's brother. It felt like... cheating, sort of, to take advantage of that. As much as Félix tried to play his part, he still considered it a game with its own rules. On the other hand, all's fair in love and war.

“Eric Tenebre is one of Ania's trusted guards. He has a...” unquenchable lust, overactive fondness, unhealthy addiction... that all seemed too harsh for his own brother. No matter how true, “...certain weakness for women.” He scanned the room. Unfortunately, there were only two to choose from for that job.

“A smile and a wink could very well subdue an otherwise unbeatable swordsman,” he offered the suggestion to August, for consideration.

This Carl guy. She did not like this Carl guy at all. Everyone else seemed fine enough, but this Carl guy annoyed her.

“It’s the small council, not the army. Duh” Briallen rolled her eyes.

Then her name was brought up—and it’s not like Briallen would necessarily want to beat Gabe up; she was cool with Gabe. But she did enjoy William’s confidence in her abilities. A cocky smirk crossed her lips as she lifted her baseball bat up and glanced at the blunt end of it.

“I know this isn’t a sword and all, but…I’m sure I could find a way to stab someone through the heart with it anyway.” That wasn’t particularly directed toward Gabe…if anything it might have been slightly more directed toward Carl.

Briallen once against pressed the end of the baseball bat against the floor, slightly leaning into it. There was mention of Eric and his ‘weakness for women’ and she knew that she was only one of two women in the room. She grimaced.

“I definitely could not be assigned to the task. Eric is already well aware that I am…um…’courting’ his sister.” She grinned a bit as she thought about it. Ah, Fleur…how could she ever fake having the slightly interested in a man when girls like Fleur existed?! Her long silky hair, her athletic body, her flexibility…

Snapping out of her brief daydreams of Eric’s sultry sister, Briallen noticed Carl kept sending funny looks in William’s way. She would be keeping her eye on this guy…she didn’t trust him.

Gabe was surprised when William rounded on him, he hadn't thought William had been inviting him over simply because he didn't realise that Princess William deemed him worthy enough to sit beside her. Gabe lowered his head, a faint streak of colour rising in his cheeks and the tips of his ears. He didn't like being given out to in front of so many people. He didn't think it would do much good to explain what had happened, so instead he apologised.

Gabe looked William in the eyes as he spoke, "I'm awfully sorry, Your Grace." He then bowed his head, "please forgive me, I did not mean to seem like I was ignoring you." He was unsure whether he should go join William now or if he wasn't wanted any more. "May I come join you,my princess?" He asked nervously, he had realised that he had to be extremely careful around Princess William, as if you thought regular William was sensitive then you had another thing coming with Princess William.

After William had told everyone to shut up, Gabe decided it was best to rest his voice for a while. The boy seemed angry enough at him already and he didn't want to say something out of line that would frustrate the boy even more. He'd simply keep a low profile for a while and listen, unless he thought of something really useful that he could say. Gabe didn't imagine he would come up with something useful though, he hadn't exactly had much experience in this kind of field before - the again he doubted anyone else had much experience either.That being said there were some very clever strategies that had been suggested.

Claire quickly looked around the room, again, letting everyone have their chance to talk. As she did so, she tried to work out the details as to how all of this would play out. How many people did they have? What were their forces going to look like? Did they have enough people to guard and protect everywhere? All of these questions may have better be unanswered until the time was right. Claire knew that their number in forces wasn't very high, maybe around fifteen, give or take.

The head count was always different, as people had homework to do, or they thought it was weird, or people just left for all of this was taking too long for them. It made her a bit worried, as people weren't as committed to it all as she was.

It was a break from school, so that was the only thing she needed. "We have about fifteen people for our forces right now, your highness." Claire said clearly. "But the numbers keep changing." She lightly sighed and put on a serious face. "I'll be sure to round up some more low-life's and make them fight for your side." She smiled a bit, unsure if that last sentence was really necessary.

August almost jumped when his name was mentioned. After Princess William's little fit, he was feeling a little more uneasy than usual. If he would snap so harshly at someone close to him, he would surely bring down wrath on half a stranger. The best he could do now was try to stay on William's good side, and try very hard to avoid that nasty baseball bat. "Ah, as Félix mentioned, Eric would probably be the easiest and weakest target ... So perhaps if we assigned such a task to a woman...?" His eyes flicked to Briallen, but she had said she would not be a good candidate. The only one left really was the smaller girl with silver hair.

Though, the other girl looked a little young to seduce a stranger. Rubbing the back of his head, August knew it would be wrong to send a young girl directly into the line of fire, but if she were willing...
"If possible, we may have to force an outside woman to the task. An outsider may be best, because if she is caught, she will not be able to spill any secrets in return, and we will not lose a valuable member of council." Yes, that sounded good. He was starting to get better at this.