"It likely stayed outside of your keep," Lily replied, glancing over to where she knew the gates were located. "My guess is whatever defences you have over this... place has kept it from entering." She turned back to Carreau, making a point to meet his eyes as she spoke. "'Unless you are not invited you cannot cross the threshold', no? Not unheard of in my world." 

Brucie nodded along from beside her, spoon still in his mouth. He had almost chewed it in half. "She's right," he said and took the spoon out of his mouth, prompting Lily to swivel one of her ears his way. He waved the spoon vaguely in the same direction she had looked earlier. "Saw it hovering just outside the gates. Whirrin' and spinning." He made brief circle motions with the spoon, the bowl-like half bending ever so slightly where his teeth had marked it earlier. 

[i]He's paying attention. Maybe I should reassess my opinion of him?[/i] Lily noted, before letting her ears both rotate towards Carreau once again. She did hear Brucie start scooping up a third serving of the stew but didn't pay it any mind, though she did feel a rustle from between her tails when she heard the plate be set on the floor, with sounds of eating that sounded suspiciously like those from a small dog following soon after. She didn't fight the upward twitch of her lips, but she only let it stay for moments before her thoughts returned to business. 

"I appreciate that you intend to go yourself," she told him, and it was true. For the most part. She still didn't trust him very much, if at all. He was too strong for her liking, and his goals at once innocent and malignant at the same time. It had the potential to be both. His sugared words were the worst. She learned to distrust them a long time ago, but the problem this time was that there was a certain logic to Carreau's words, and that she truly [i]needed[/i] him if she wanted to be sure to win. She exhaled through her nose. [i]Steady. Calm.[/i] "But I would like to make some things clear. As I've hinted at before, the phylacteries you have in your possession are useless. As such, if you deal a killing blow, I suspect I will not be able to get the soul from my opponent. Therefore it would preferable that you and yours focus on detaining and restraining above killing. That way I can make certain that I get the soul properly." She twisted in her seat to look at Brucie. "And the same goes for you," she said, at which he looked up from watching Mouse eat and gave her a quick salute before resuming his dog-watching. 

"But aside from yourself," Lily continued and fixed Carreau with another stare, and crossed her arms, "who else do you picture joining us?"