The newcomer entered and Pete smiled sweetly, tilting his head curiously to the side, and giggled as the other told them to be more silent.<br/>"I told you so," he said softly to Worthy. Within a second of his arrival, the new man had gotten Ashton riled up, but Pete did not let out the exasperated sigh within him. Ashton got emotional over everything. If they had the time Pete would have to teach him to smile at his enemies, but he did not appear to want to learn anything.<br/><br/>The new fellow was noticeably tall, impeccably dressed, and, of course, carried a sword. They were three swordsmen in the room, and a part of Pete wanted to jump on the table with his weapons drawn, distract Ashton by kicking the mushroom gravy in his face and proceed to duel the both of them. It was particularly tempting, since they really did not need three swordsmen. They might not even need one, Worthy was the only indispensable one on the team, so the best use for all three swordsmen was to keep him safe. Then again, Worthy was a fool, so someone had to do the thinking, and it could clearly not be Ashton. Before Pete appointed himself to any unofficial position of leadership he would need to assess the other man, and he genuinely hoped he was a man after Peteâ€™s own temper. Pete was very fond of himself, but never to such a degree that he did not value the ideas of others.<br/><br/>"Have a seat, Mr..?" Pete said in a noticeably lower voice than they had used previously and gestured for the stranger to have a seat near the gravy.<br/>"Cain, and yourself?"<br/>"Pete, a pleasure to make your acquaintance."<br/>"Pete... Girly?" Cain seemed to weigh the name on his tongue and Pete chuckled.<br/>"The very one. I am pleased to already be on first name basis with you, something Ashton seems to have difficulty getting accustomed with."<br/>Pete took a sip of water and played with a lock of his amber hair when he decided to turn crass. "Frankly I wipe my ass with courtesies, Cain, and use them only when it serves a purpose. Sweet words may endear you to men of sensitive stomach, but I find nothing forms friendships as quickly as murder. That is why, Ashton, we are going to start wrecking chaos as soon as you are all done eating here, "he gestured at the potatoes, "and not waste time in restaurants. Hesitation is always easy, rarely useful."<br/><br/>Pete spoke with no hardness in his voice, but in a silent, cheerful manner, bare emphasizing the harshest words. He looked at Cain's face searching for a reaction, preferably hints of a smile, to see if his little speech was endearing as he thought Cain might find it, or if he would be insulted by the frankness as Ashton no doubt was. Then again, alienating a member of the small team was hardly the mark of a clever man and Pete decided to form his next words in a way that would warm Ashton up.<br/><br/>"As for going to the party of nobles, I like the idea. We can assess the political situation and find out who and where to strike. And if it is prudent we'd be in a wonderful position to make an early strike. I have no objections to Ashton's proposal that I play the role of the swordmaster protecting this nobleman's son. As to which of you two should be the noble..." Pete once more tilted his head and thought about how he could play both of them.<br/>"Ashton is the most faint-hearted of us, it would seem, and reacts strongly to, well, anything, but this is a trait most useful in the role of the noble." At least, Pete imagined so. He had spent precious little time in the company of<span style="font-style: italic">real</span>nobility. "Ashton could certainly play the role; he is polite, delicate and beautiful. You, Cain, would look like a noble if you shaved. Your nose might need straightening out, but there is no rule saying a noble cannot break a nose as well as anyone elseâ€™s. We'll say you got it practicing your sword and was hit with a blunt training edge. By another swordmaster. Perhaps that is why I was sent for," the last part Pete mused more silently as if talking to him.<br/><br/>"Regardless, my fine friends, you are both suited for the job in looks. Ashton is suited, however, in acting the part... but if our Cain can only demonstrate his skills as a cunning linguist then I see no reason this nobleman we impersonate could not have two sons. And older son, more battle-heartened, and a beloved little brother.â€œ<br/><br/>â€œAs for Worthy, he can either stay here and work on the bombs or we can sneak him in to start fires. Or if he really wants to see the inside of the castle, perhaps young Ashton never travels anywhere without his fool.â€