The Back Room

Monroe nodded to Pierson as he followed Destrey.  It was comical how surprised she'd been, not that he'd known she would be here either.  He'd simply assumed that with such an open invitation, all sorts would be turning up.  

Like those sorts, he presumed, Monroe's main reason for turning up tonight was to hear out Audriana.  How committed he might become was entirely based on how persuasive she could be.

So far, he wasn't feeling persuaded.

Nevertheless, he was reluctant to let Pierson know that.  From little things big things grow and all that.  Monroe had never been one to show his hand too soon.

Unfortunately, the person Monroe would usually rely on to provide a somewhat thought-out disruption seemed to have grown up while off in those mountains of his.  There was nothing for it.

He elbowed Destrey in the ribs and cupped a hand over her ear.  Unfortunately for times like this, he wasn't party to the almost-psychic bond she seemed to share with Shylock.

"There's an awful lot of mights in that sentence, Bentley, darling," Destrey remarked with a tilt of the head.

The purr hadn't let up in the slightest.

"Well," Audriana put in before Ben could make some snide comment, "that's sort of the point, is it not? The idea has kinks in it, and the reason we're having this meeting at all instead of seeking people out directly is because it needs work. It needs input."

Ben, it seemed, could not keep from giving his own opinion, though. "Des, sweetheart," he offered, his tone almost saccharine, "if you don't have anything useful to put in, perhaps you shouldn't be judging the wording of what I've said, hmm?"

Audriana rolled her eyes, glancing towards Gabby and his friend, as well as their new acquaintance, Anya, hoping that someone would have some sort of suggestion for them.

James finished up with the dragons who were being extra ornery with him today. Seeing the time knowing he didn't have time to change out of his clothes. He grabbed his jacket then apparated to Diagon Alley. Looking around he saw that he was actually far off course, groaning he exited the alley. Seeing where he was he started running towards the Leaky cauldron slipping slightly on the slush and ice. Finally he reached the Leaky out of breath and a little damp from falling a few times on his way there.

Walking in the front door then making his way around to the back room. Walking in the door then seeing his sister sat next to her. Taking off his jacket the leather he was wearing had several burn marks across the shoulder as well as the chest. "Sorry I'm late," He said to the people in the room seeing his sister shake her head out of the corner of his eye. Looking at her he gave her an apologetic smile hoping she wouldn't be too mad at him.

Anya whispered to him everything that had been said since he wasn't in the room. It was low enough for him to hear but he also payed attention to what was in front of him. Nodding at Anya for her words he sat back carefully against the chair's back. He looked around and only recognized one person in the room which wasn't surprising to him.

Remy's leg bounced up and down, shaking his chair, shaking the table. The mad Frenchman was full of energy, perpetually high-strung. Gabby considered himself pretty lively, but there was a nervous energy in Remy that tended to drive people nuts. Gabby swatted the man and Remy crossed his ankles, rolling his eyes, jostling a little bit.

Gabby was very curious to see the society he was now keeping. Everyone seemed so... fresh, and new, and eager. It was an interesting change of pace, to say the least.

He felt his eyes linger on the Destrey woman for a moment. Very interesting.

"Getting into the thick of it," Gabby said. "What tasks do we need to do? You two are convincing Death Eaters - I won't lie, I'm not a big fan of them, but as long as we can all keep our differences aside..." His teeth were a little gritted. Whoops. Moving on.

"Forgery," Remy said. "I have a friend who's an artist. I'm certain she could forge a nearly perfect copy of a signature if we needed it. We just need the signature-"

"-and then someone to get that paper into a WWizengamot's hands," Gabby said. "I'm sure I could do it. Make it seem like a heist gone wrong." He was getting a bit desperate to see some action again.

Destrey wasn't stupid.  She was an Ashcroft, after all, with all the brilliance that entailed even if she did bury it beneath promiscuity and extremely dubious lifestyle choices.

So as Audriana spoke, she narrowed her eyes.  This night would be more interesting than she'd anticipated.

"I was rather under the impression the style of invitation was part of your ideals," she dropped all pretense of civility.  "Are you renegging on that now?"

She turned her attention to her nails as Bentley spoke up, apparently trying to turn the tables on her teasing.  When he was finished, she glanced at him.

"Would you like to screw me here on the table and get your frustrations out right now, Ben?" she asked archly.

Others took up the conversation and it seemed that the conclusion was forgone, so Destrey left off for the moment, but her measured gaze didn't leave his face.

A confused look crossed Audriana's face as she was apparently not able to comprehend fully what the other woman was getting at. "I was under the impression that asking for help fulfilled that ideal. We would have asked it of specific people were it not for the need to ensure that we have all of our bases covered," she explained, unsure exactly how to phrase it so it sounded better.

It wasn't until Destrey spoke again that Ben actually gave a genuine smile. In fact, he laughed quite loudly, the action mirrored somewhat by a quiet, almost embarrassing snort from the brunette seated next to him. "Oh, love, I'm sure you'd like that. The only problem, I'm afraid, is that I am quite gay. So I'll have to say No, but thanks for the image of that," he grinned. Unable to help himself, he turned to Audriana and added, "Merlin, but Baldric will get a kick out of this."

She shook her head and smiled, but then turned to Gabby and Remy as they spoke. "Yeah? That would be brilliant, actually. We have a friend at the prophet, like Ben mentioned, and she could be convinced to write something wasn't technically true. Especially if we presented it in a way that sounded honest. If, that is, you all think we should keep it quiet."

"Plus," Ben added, "I know a girl in the law office at the Ministry who you could get to help you if need be. Then again," he admitted with a shrug, "I think you might have more contacts in there than we do, if you have someone else in mind. Or if anybody else," Ben gestured around the table, "wants to get involved in that."

Destrey's attendance was turning out to be a greater boon than Monroe had expected.  Usually, her endless disruption was a thorn in his side, but tonight he was finding that her antics provided a useful gauge of their hosts.

Audriana and Pierson didn't seem to know what to make of her, and Monroe cautiously decided that this was a good thing. That they engaged her at all indicated a naivety he welcomed.

"What my sister is trying to say," Monroe interjected quietly, "is that she's a wholehearted proponent of equality."

"And she wants to know if we were invited here only because you need our skills or because you intend to give us input to future endeavours."

Gabby did not know too much about Remy. But when Destrey snidely offered to screw Bentley right there on the table, they both turned to look at each other, eyebrows raising, obviously impressed if not at least interested in getting to know her a little bit more. But they both realized it was nooooot the place, so they turned back to the rest of the meeting.

Audriana seemed interested in their proposed idea, and Gabby tilted his head, smirking a bit - though, really, it did not take much for him to be impressed with himself. "We have quite a few contacts, really, and I have to be in and out of there to have my case of the furries checked out." He rolled his eyes. The rules for werewolves could be soooo annoying.

Ben couldn't help the fact that he rolled his eyes at Monroe's comments. "I think you're confused, mate. This meeting wasn't done by invitation. Anyone who wanted to be here was allowed. Hence our meeting new people," he gestured towards Lilyanya and her brother. "So really, this was more about your being interested, and us opening the floor to people who can offer improvements to the idea we have. We'll need suggestions for actually making it work, and that won't come from our initial idea. We are aware of this."

When Gabby spoke, Audriana nodded, accepting their offer. "Right. So you guys handle that," she agreed, "and we'll see what we can do about getting it in the prophet. As for making it seem believable, would anyone be willing to sort of spread the word? Make it sound like a rumor so perhaps it will get to the Death Eaters before the article is released?"

"Yes, I'd really rather not put the idea out there first. Especially considering who I'm known to be friends with. I don't think the leaders on the other side would really appreciate that, eh?" Ben frowned.

"So, perhaps if anyone has a way to get in the Death Eaters' ears, they could help with that?" Audriana suggested, looking around. "Or if anyone has suggestions for other ways to convince them that the Ministry isn't on their side, that might help? We'll need to figure how to draft up legislation and get it agreed to while all of this mayhem is going on."

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ooc: Regarding the legislation thing - Basically, the idea is that they push for a law that allows Muggles to stay, but I think Robert or someone will end up stopping it. I'll have to talk to Khaat about that one.

Monroe ignored Pierson's less-than-tactful eyeroll. Lord knew he'd been receiving them for long enough from plenty of other people.

"Conceptually speaking, the lack of invitation is, in itself, a form of invitation," he said. "Open the floor implies you have a forum for participation therein. You cannot open the floor if you have no floor to be opened."

He paused momentarily.

"However, this is perhaps not the time for philosophical argument."

His tone lifted toward the end of the sentence, as though asking Pierson to agree with not only the suggestion, but the implication that he wouldn't be able to understand such a conversation.

"I merely mean to point out that some of us are attending in order to gauge our interest and that an on par arrangement may engage our interest further."

"For example, may I ask what other courses of action you considered before deciding on this... interesting plan?"