[i]"WE were gonna steal that wine."[/i]

Lifting her wooden spoon from a pan of rice, meat, and veggies cooking together, Lina's eyes widened. Chester...Chester didn't know anything, did he? She'd keep her head down for now...

Johannes waved his hand, "You said nothing about stealing wine."

"We totally did!" Chester retorted. Macario bit his lip to keep from laughing.

"Regardless," Johannes said more forcefully, beginning, "The troop movements are ertainly strange... Extra men...there's more to it then just the Meet, that has to be certain."

"What fencing around the palace did the Reds rough up? Seems pretty out of place. Though the Crimson Company is basically a joke as far as I can tell."

Honing in on that, Johannes pondered for a moment, before noting, "If that's the one that's out of place...it may be the most important, n-" Holding his tongue, Johannes suddenly went quiet, before suggesting, "If...if they seek to regain face, then...taking over the palace, the country..."

Macario nodded along. "Yeah, the fence, building extra forces, causing the occasional chaos... Hell, the Reds were trying to force us into their group so they might be recruiting too."

"The Verdant Company!" Johannes exclaimed, suggesting, "They may be trying to make connections with the archipelago's existing criminal element." Punching his fist into his gauntlet, he said, "I think we've got it!"

As Johannes returned to his thought patterns, Lina tasted her food. Satisfied, he dished it out, finally taking a seat herself, stirring it around to cool it off while she listened in.

Macario said, "So, we know what they're going to do. I guess the question now is how we're gonna kick their asses..."