Achille murmured to himself for a moment, glaring at the glass as though it bore some portent; which it, (being transparent), clearly did not.
"Wine and cheese? Well, certainly a preferable prospect to the cabinets, clip-boards and dissertations my underlings usually palm me..."
"...Placing aside the mild abhorrence of these "cute ladies" upon whose mention you place so much emphasis, (for the sake of argument), what causes you to presume that the wine and nibbles I could derive from some other source is preferable to that I could receive from the arms of..."Achille winced, dialogue severed by a considerable crash of crockery and glasswear from Reece's general direction."...More dependable sou...."He finished, overlaid inaudibly by the sound of the youth's cusses.
"...So, my brother, why should your employer express any intrest, no matter how quaint, in your family reunions?"The Councillor grinned, with a notable shrug.
THE SYNDIC LEAGUES
(A co-operative of Rheinland's outlawed trade unions, determined to take the underworld for themselves.)