Garden Party {plotting}

[SIR PERCIVAL BLAKENEY]

Ok so I have two characters for you guys here at the garden party –

Percy –
Will likely be gathering information on the republicans and also building connections among the Aristocrats, in order to try to save as many as he can in the future. He will of course be doing this behind the mask of Sir Percy. This might also be where he gets wind of Chauv plan with King Henri and perhaps works out his own plan to try to intercept and take the boy King to England instead when the time comes? In regards to the things that have happened in Essonne with Percy? As we’ve not fully played this out yet, I think he will just be standoffish about it to Chauv and suspicious about Helene?

Eleonore –
She will be trying to further her families standing and perhaps trying to find a good match for her daughters…so watch out men! I’m up for a lot with her. If rebel Henri’s there she will recognise him and perhaps try to cause him problems somehow.

[HENRI D'ARTOIS]

Henri - okay my suggestion is that.. in addition to wanting to reassure people, Henri is throwing this party as a way for Chauv to reel in Robespierre so that he can learn more about him and see what his competition is. I think they'll have a subthread running at the same time talking about plotting the party and "fishing" for Robespierre (slightly set before the party obviously). I think it'd also be cool if there's some talk of politics that starts to make people realize that Henri was the choice to cast their lot with (even though he's young).. not the Chouannerie.. but by now it's too late. However, I'm not sure how Henri could prove his intelligence beyond his years and Wunderkind potential without making the Chouannerie try to take him out right then..

Marie - This should be a fun mess. At this point Marie is pregnant by Chauv. But she doesn't know it yet. They're together but secretly. No one knows except possibly Henri (her son) because if Ash is keen CC and I may have him walk in on them in some other thread at breakfast together or something... and Paul wants to keep them a secret because he doesn't want Marie as a target. Anyway.. while there we're thinking Margo is going to figure out that they're together and.. since Margo and Marie are besties.. thhhhatt may not go over so well. Chaos.

[PAUL CHAUVELIN]

I've got all three of my characters there, it seems. I'm going to be quite busy on this thread, lol.

Chauv -
On the surface, Paul will just be there in the same 'minor aristocrat' sort of role he was playing at the Masquerade. He might even have arranged to 'take shelter' in the palace escaping the unrest in the city, thus positioning himself well to whisk le Roi out if/when the mob eventually storms the place. Since Beck and I have a plot or two planned for the boy's bunking with Chauv for awhile post-revolution, Percy wouldn't be able to thwart the initial escape (but he might well pick up something that gives him a crazy idea where to look for the missing King later ... )

Behind the scenes, Paul has also brokered a clandestine meeting between Henri and Robespierre taking place at the Party, with the faint hope of a face-to-face averting (or perhaps just mitigating a little) the coming storm. He figures it's probably futile, but he's got to try, so he's going to have a lot of delicate operational balls in the air. Add in his current and former lovers discovering they have him in common and ... poor Paul.

Robespierre -
As one of the most outspoken leaders of the republican insurrection, Robby is at the party incognito. Via Chauv, he has le Roi's promise of safe conduct, but he's a suspicious and paranoid man. He's there primarily to assess the aristo mood and power dynamics, but he's also curious to meet the King.

Sylvie -
With a mob of unwashed peasant louts rampaging through her upscale neighborhood, Sylvie has taken refuge in the palace (perhaps escorted safely there by Lucien and/or Victor). She is outraged, offended, appalled, and generally in a state of high dudgeon about this turn of affairs. She wants it put right as soon as possible and with a bodycount so astronomical the low-born scum will never even contemplate challenging their betters again.

[VICTOR D'ANTHÈS]

Okay, so:

Henri: Is not there by choice. I imagine (and I spoke very briefly to Beck about this, but not in any detail) that Marie thinks that it's either going to change him or keep him safe if he goes. If he's still recuperating from a wound taken at Essonnes, that will be there too for people to notice and make comments about. And cause him to have to offer awkward explanations for. A hunting accident or something else suitably aristocratic. He'll be very interested to hear some of the plans put into play by the other side, but likely he will mostly be a quiet observer unless something causes him not to be.

And I'm totally fine with having Henri walk in on Marie and Chauv having breakfast or whatever else! Just start a thread and point me in its direction and I'll add it to the list of things I have to write!

Victor: Victor is in fact there by choice! At least one of my characters is, hurrah! haha. Anyway. He will, in characteristic fashion, spend some time trying to check out the ladies and availing himself of the refreshments. He's not a total dolt, though, and he will also take note of the scheming around him--and will probably play bodyguard for the king a bit, too, if anything gets the slightest bit tense (say from Eleonore trying to call rebel Henri out). He may well try to flirt with Sylvie and act rivally with Lucien, too...

And I'm fine with him escorting Sylvie, too! He'd certainly be willing to do it, though I'm not sure if it offers any more or less potential for interesting subplot for him to do it or to see if Gwen wants Lucien to do it. I'm fine with either way!