To all appearances Belle was unfazed by the bickering and baiting in the room.  What she truly thought she kept behnd her emerald eyes.<br/><br/>"Precisely, Samuel.  Keep them looking at each other, they are less likely to look to us."  The cadence of her words, her accent had both changed slightly since Nobility entered the room.  She seemed to be modeling a new speaking voice after the upper crust talk.<br/><br/>She favored Alexander with an open grin "Marvelous idea!  And since there are less than a dozen of us,"  a quick look at the Boss, "that we know of, we had better be that ruthless."<br/><br/>She  listened quietly while the exuberant ranger spoke.<em>Oh god</em>, she thought to herself.<em>A man of the people</em>.  "Being one of the urban poor myself, I'd say they are likely to go with whoever restores order from the chaos we are about to bring.  Seeing to it that they stay fed won't hurt either.  the gangs could be used for that.  I know, I know the leaders are thugs for the most part.  But smart thugs for the most part."<br/><br/>Belinda leaned back in her chair and sipped more of her watered wine while the elegant slave spoke.  "Give the money to the people..."  Her eyes widened with a spark of malicious glee.  "Yes!  I like it!  Scattering coin among the crowds, boasting that it came from the vaults of the rich.  Yes!  Oh yes.  You want the people on our side, that's a damn good way to start!  An act like that will have a much greater impact than you would think from the amount of coin that can be safely turned out that way.  Very good Idea, very good."  She grinned at the blonde latecomer.  "That would be exactly the sort of show you said we needed."<br/><br/>She raised a brow at the loud grumpy paranoid.  "Springtime, precisely.  A very vital fact as you point out  We will need the time. The new tax receipts will be collected in the fall.  We must be ready to make our first real moves just before then for the most financial chaos in the system."<br/><br/>She smiled at Samuel.  Perhaps her first genuine smile of the meeting as she patted his arm. "Relax.  This is a meet and greet.  Most of us have never seen each other before and well, even where women are concerned there is always a certain amount of dick-measuring at first-gatherings like this.<br/><br/>She snickered then.  the bickering between the grumpy fellow and the blonde bespoke a long turbulent acquaintance.<br/><br/>"They will not step down, Alexander."  Belle said flatly "They have been born into power, bred to believe they have a right to power.  We will have to pull them down."<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>