This came from a C-Box discussion; if it takes off, cool, if not, we can just skip it :P

Plot Idea:
Daniel Riley's new greatest idea is that instead of trying to stage a rebellion against Darcy, which is just messy, he just wants to replace Darcy without the bother of having to get him out of office and then getting someone else re-elected.

Banding together with a group of people who hate Darcy (apply below), Daniel comes up with a plan to just kidnap Darcy and replace him with a Polyjuice-Dopplegänger. Through the Dopplegänger, this group could basically control the Ministry and the new policies being put into place.

Of course, need to hear how Kayte feels about the matter--but we can at least attempt to kidnap Darcy, and if Kayte's game, we might even get him for a week or two. >:D


Timeline (IC and OOC):
If we have to wait a bit because Darcy needs to be in place for board-wide things, that's cool... otherwise, soon? :P

I imagine the actual "Darcy being kidnapped" thing won't last more than a week or maybe two, IC.


Needed character types:
Dobblegänger - Someone Daniel finds to replace Darcy. Will be lower class; should have no job or a job where they will not be missed; should not be politically minded. Basically, in exchange for regular meals and the promise of luxury, this person will pass for Darcy and put into policy whatever Daniel & co. say.

Conspirators - People who want Darcy gone; maybe permanently. Probably upper-class, maybe middle, politically minded. Influential people (Ministry officials, Hogwarts staff, rich purebloods, etc) especially wanted. Level of involvement is varied; near-anonymous involvement (only Daniel knows about it), is also an option for the cautious.

• Daniel Riley
• Gabriel de Hallivand

Darcy's Knight-In-Shining-Armor - Someone to come rescue Darcy and possibly expose the entire ordeal... maybe publicly, maybe not. Up for discussion! Assuming Kayte actually lets us kidnap him.

Conspiracy Theorist - Someone who figures it out, but isn't believed because it sounds a little too crazy. (Maybe they have a reputation for crazy) Might be in league with the Shining-Armor.

Other - Any way you can see to get involved!



Other Information:

WAYS THIS COULD GO:
-- The attempt to kidnap Darcy could be botched; things could get messy for the conspirators, or whichever of them is most involved.
-- Darcy could be kidnapped for a bit, and when he is reclaimed they could try to keep everything quiet and just have Darcy act as if nothing had happened.
-- While the Dopplegänger is playing Minister, he could find out something the public isn't supposed to know about Darcy/the Potters (offering up Lyra's little secret, here). From THERE, they might try and blackmail Darcy... or they might end up getting "quieted" by Darcy after he finds out they know. I don't know if Darcy is that evil, though. XD
-- Someone could find out about the Dopplegänger and go to the Paper / make a scandal of it.
-- The Dopplegänger could decide they like the power and want to make their own decisions and be Minister for real. And Daniel&co would have to deal with that.
-- If the Dopplegänger is successful-ish, this kidnapping could last long enough that when Darcy & Eulalie get married, it could be the wrong Darcy. That would be amusing.
-- Other ideas?

Any backlash (if there is any) should fall on Daniel, and Daniel alone, unless other conspirators want to shake up their character's lives a bit.

Could I throw Becks in here for perhaps finding out about it and trying to blackmail Daniel into leaving the kid alone? Or something like that? xD

i plan for teddy to stay around after the carnival, he could be the doppleganger, maybe? he's an actor in the circus (see his threads to know what i mean) and he could pull it off, the acting like darcy bit
he's lower class and doesnt give a fig about politics

BUT, if it doesnt work - timeline wise, because the circus hasnt left yet - then maybe oxford can be a conspirator


really, i love this plot idea and just want to be involved somehow LOL

I vote Eulalie finds out about the doppleganger. After all, she is the person who is going to share life, bed etc with him. And she's pretty smart.

It would be fun if she'd be the shining armour xD

As for the conspirators - count Scarlett O'Neill or Isla Black in... I'd send Maxim, but he's already connected to Gabriel...

Alex wants in as a co-conspirator. He officially hates the ministry despite the fact that he works for the ministry after being forced to go on the trail.

LET ME GO DOWN THE LIST~~

Aurelia - as a former professional scandal-collector, may make an anonymous appearance afterwards to stir up trouble. Because :| she is neither fond nor unfond of the Ministry/Darcy, but will be offended by not being included (nevermind that she retired decades ago) and yeah.

Gabe Hatchitt - BING BING BING HERO COMPLEX ALERT GABE DOESN'T LIKE WHEN PEOPLE MEDDLE IN POLITICS BECAUSE IT DEFIES THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE

If the conspiracy theorist needs someone to do some poking around, Gabe'll do it. He won't be a rescuer because he has married people things to do though.

Hannah Loren - Her family is going missing as soon as I feel like it, so we have a slightly morally ambiguous eleven year old alone in a very small house. Want a place to hold the Darcy or brew a polyjuice potion? Have money? She'll do it.

Ace - He'll help plan the 'break-in' if they need it, but probably just that.

Sophronia - would also stir up trouble afterwards because she HATES political upheaval and yep.

:|

ELSBETH WANTS TO BE THE DOPPLEGANGER.

...for the sake of Darcy's marriage, I'm going to say this either has to switch to an imperius thing or be resolved by the wedding for me to sign on, since while he's fond of Eulalie, he doesn't quite love her and so couldn't overlook her sleeping with someone else >.> IF THIS CONDITION IS MET I WILL SIGN ON.

You can have him back by the wedding. :]

More details when I return. Glad everyone's interested!

IT BEGINS

Paging: Darcy, Elsbeth, and someone to actually knock Darcy out and drag him away after Elsbeth gets his clothing/hair for her potion. Daniel is in the shadows now, but will appear to help out after Darcy gets conked.

So for conspirators: Oxford Lovegood, Scarlett O'Neill, Isla Black, Alex Page!

Were you offering Ace to help Daniel's side, or Darcy's? If the former, he could come help kidnap Darcy in that thread. ;]

Generally, yes to all; the rest of it I shall deal with as we need it. Just needed to get the ball rolling here.

KAYTE, when is marriage-date?

I meant to post here sooner! URSULA WANTS IN. SOMEHOW. DOING SOMETHING.

she wants to hold him hostage personally.

Ace will be in there to hit Darcy with something heavy mqahahahaha hah >>

Elsbeth will need someone to make the potion for her, she's a squib. ;]

And the wedding date is July 30th.

I assumed Daniel would have brewed up a whole mess of it for her beforehand (or paid someone to), so all Elsbeth needs to do it keep adding Darcy-hairs.

Lovely! >:D

Also a question about the thread - would it be assumed that the others would show up or already in hiding with him or.. ? I'm just a little confused about what to do with Elsbeth until they actually have Darcy.

Posting shall be done after work tomrorow.

Daniel probably left Elsbeth in the care of Ace for the duration of the kidnapping event. She can help, or just hide, or Ace could have stuffed her into a closet somewhere, it makes no difference to me. ^^

... suspects that she is far too slow when it comes to plotting...


I...um... forgot that I wanted Leo to work as a gofer intern for the Minister this summer. He's a charity case to make the minister look better by giving opportunities to talented lower class people.... and by the looks of it he's probably going to be Elsbeth's gofer instead?


... Elsbeth who got stuck with his mother.


So... he'd probably be suspicious or seem like the crazy conspiracy theorist.

Elsbeth: >:D

Also, she probably wouldn't be at all helpful in actually kidnapping him, so just poke me when it's time for her gleefully vengeful masquerade. xD

So, time to actually manage this business. >.>

The kidnapping thread is underway. Let's get more Darcy and Ace posts in there and move things along.

Our timeline:

July 5th - Kidnapping occurs. Ace is paid handsomely and then goes on his merry way.

July 6th - Elsbeth assumes her role as Minister. Darcy is hidden away in a safehouse basement in the Slums (Hannah Loren's basement? If she doesn't have one, Daniel will add one). Ursula Black is given the task of keeping him alive and supplying the key potion ingredients. Another conspirator (volunteer?) is tasked with actually making the potion, and can do so at their own house or at Hannah's. Other co-conspirators can be involved politically (esp. people close to the Minister) or financially, or other ways you can think up.

July 12-20th - Leo becomes suspicious of Elsbeth's behavior and tries to figure out what's up. At the same time, Eulalie is having some doubts.

July 23rd - Eulalie, Leo, or both find out that Elsbeth is really pretending to be Darcy. Ari, Lola, and Kat should discuss whether this is a public announcement or whether Elsbeth just flits away and everyone freaks out about the Minister being missing. Option 1 makes the public aware of the fact that there was a doppleganger; option 2 can be played as if Darcy just disappeared on the 23rd which might be more confidence-inspiring for the people.

July 25th - The Minister is found in the safe-house. He may honestly not know who was responsible, or maybe Ursula had the forethoguht to cast some sort of memory charm on him after the aforementioned DP article. (If this needs to happen and Ursula forgets, Daniel will remind her)

July 30th - Darcy is back in time for his wedding.


SO THIS MEANS that most of the threads at this point will be backdated. Sorry. That's my fault. >.>

It means that as soon as Kat/Ari/Lola decide whether Elsbeth is being publicly caught, we should write that DP article (either "Imposter Minister Discovered!" or "Minister Goes Missing!")



Questions?

:D Fine with me! The house is empty at that moment in time and there isn't a basement. no i did not just decide that so hannah could come home eventually and be all '.....is this new?'

Looks great to me! I'm fine with Elsbeth being caught, if that's what others want to do. Granted, she'll probably be thrown in jail again, but she'll think it's worth it. It'll probably be for a much longer time though... might have to keep her active by writing letters to random people. xD

Yay threads for Leo Woo! Excellent. I'm happy about it.

Can ElabethDarcy pass some piece of legislation that Darcy wasn't keen on but Daniel wanted? If so that should be a thing before people find out darcy is actually farce-y.

Yeah, I said it.

... because I'm on bad wifi that won't let me edit posts (it times out) I'll try to get upsome Leo-suspects threads ranging from those dates. (some because graduation-nerves makes perfect Leomuse)

YES SHE WILL DO THAT TO SPITE HIM. She might also try something ridiculous like allowing squibs to go to Hogwarts, though I doubt she'll actually get anyone to agree to it since it's pointless and makes no sense.

JUST PONDERING: Should Ursula really be involved given...what may or may not happen in Darcula?

I think I've made some reasoning/excuses for the possible outcomes because I did wonder myself, and they are ranging from: revenge, blackmail & threats in defense of reputation, lust in the highly disturbing and somewhat unlikely event that... Well you get the picture and I don't know, I could probably think of something. I'm thinking she won't have told Phineas either >.>;

The only outcome I can't cover for is if Ursula's memory is tampered with either by alcohol or magic in order to prevent a repeat of last time with the whole veritaserum thing. Because she resorts to desperate measures for lack of structured planning on the verge of panic.

Does that help any? o.o *feels she may have missed the mark entirely*

Haha, I'm just curious! As long as it makes sense on your end :)

Seriously want to make a Leo is suspicious thread. So what are some things that Elsbeth would do that would make Leo suspicious code: we also need to thread them Lola, and Lynn is right. We[Kat/Lola/Me] needto discuss probably July 23 because he's found today. Seriously what's happening/what are we doing. I'm fine for most things I just want to know.

There's a news article that doesn't really go into much specifics. You all can work within that and thread out whatever you'd like. ^^

As far as finding Darcy, Kayte said she wanted Leo to do that personally. Whether you thread it or not is up to you and Kayte. I'm going to write that article, with Kayte, sometime in the very near future (tonight or tomorrow) to be posted on the 26th, a day after he's officially found, and Ari if you'd like to help, you're more than welcome to.

Other than that, do whatever you want. =D

EDIT, sorry, the news article is not up. I sent one in for the 24th, so when I saw a "24th July" article I assumed it was mine. In any case, I should hope that article will be posted sometime soon... in the meantime I'm not really sure what to tell you all. D: You can read the article here, which is also where I'll be drafting the next "big article" with Kayte.

I'm up for having a thread dated the 12th, Ari. ^^ I've just been waiting for the original thread to get going to where Elsbeth can hop in.