01 | video | locked to ENMA | un. dimitri

[stubboarn]

[ A very blonde, young face appears on the screen. He is charming and personable enough but looks very much cookie-cutter type in terms of outfit and presence. He’s channeling less suave boy next door, but more newscaster for the 6 o’clock news. Think your grandpa going golf on a Sunday morning kind of vibes. ]

Good day. I am Dimitri.

Following the announcement of the huge bounty tied to the kidnapping of Finance Wolf Kaberou Kannazaki’s daughter, several bounty hunters have made it their business to claim the cash reward tied to her recovery. As a matter of public safety, it is in our best interest to detain these independent bounty-hunters before it escalates in the city.

I propose an operation to make use of the city’s robust network – to create fake advertisements, print or online or by word of mouth, to lure them locations around the city where they can be apprehended and detained with force, if necessary. The advertisements need not be sophisticated. As hunters are motivated by greed and money, it is enough that it contains a reference to having a party of sorts that they can join to navigate the Wastelands, and a decent offer to split the rewards amongst themselves after. Online it is easier to track such interest, but we can utilize whatever method of spreading the word in order to pick up others as well.

[ Dimitri says this in a matter-of-fact way. He tilts his head and adds, rather thoughtfully, ] Of course, it is understood that not all would accept the bait. However, for whatever number we can corral and detain, more will always follow given that all of them are united with the same goal. And the more we detain as a department, the more it will stand as a warning to others and dissuade them from acting foolishly – at least, one hopes. [ He has a wry smile on his face when he says this. ] I leave it up to my colleagues for more creative ways of finding the rest of the troublemakers headed to the Wastelands.

If we move quickly before these hunters make alliances amongst themselves, we can nip the problem in the bud and maintain order in the city. [ a pause, and then he adds, ] Or before other Factions can lay credit to having maintained order instead.

Any other help and suggestions would be appreciated. The plan is quite rough around the edges and will need refining, and I am prepared to be schooled for it to be more effective where necessary.

I will be responding in text unless requested otherwise. Feel free to chat in the comments as you wish.

To all our new co-workers: welcome. I look forward to working with you.

[ feed off. ]

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ooc: log to follow! it'll probably be up in the weekend.

Comments

[itstillhurt]

Fascinating. How would you describe them, then?

[saintclaire]

They're people. Some of them may be criminals, but it's the law's duty to determine that later. It's not personal or prejudicial.

[itstillhurt]

They're disturbing the peace. We're peacekeepers. That makes them our enemies. You seem to be the only one implying that it's anything personal.

[saintclaire]

"Enemy" is a strong word for something impersonal.

[itstillhurt]

As a rule, I don't favor weak words. Do you?

[saintclaire]

I favor words appropriate to the situation.

[itstillhurt]

The word 'enemy' is appropriate to this situation.

They are actively working against us and against the common good. This makes them our enemy.

Are you always so squeamish about these things?

[saintclaire]

[She thinks: This girl sounds thirteen. No point in running in circles with those logical fallacies. She types:]

Are you going to make a compelling argument for why your proposed actions are appropriate or effective? A numbers game often isn't a winning game.

[itstillhurt]

[And here she thought she already had.]

The point of this operation is to eliminate as many bounty hunters as possible, as quickly as possible. From there, we can use the useless ones who actually fell for it as a lead regarding the ones with an actual brain, who would keep away regardless of our visible presence.

Numbers matter for two reasons. First, the more we eliminate at once, the fewer we'll have to contend with individually. Second, the more fools we catch, the greater the likelihood that some of them have somehow stumbled onto useful information despite themselves.

[saintclaire]

We do have to deal with them all individually. Every single one will have to be processed, held, charged, and brought through the justice system. That's how an arrest works. That you don't know this is concerning to me.

The sole reason to play a numbers game is to prevent a larger number of people from venturing into the wastelands to a certain injury or death. Otherwise it's just targeting people for the sake of looking competent, to avoid having to admit you don't have leads or information on these "smarter" bounty hunters.

[itstillhurt]

I am aware of post-arrest processing, actually, but it's merely time-consuming, I assume nobody in the department is so incompetent that they'll somehow botch that.

Actually catching criminals, on the other hand, carries a risk of failure, which is a waste of time and resources. Bringing more of them in efficiently reduces that waste.

[saintclaire]

Noted.

The “princess” in your display name. Is that literal or a state of mind?

[itstillhurt]

Does it matter? Titles from our old lives aren't really relevant here, now are they?

[saintclaire]

You set your display name and brought your experience to the table, so you tell me.

[itstillhurt]

Being a princess is not the relevant experience I was referring to. A display name is just a display name.

[...so that's a yes.]

[saintclaire]

[Definitely.]

Also noted, but I stand by both my experience and name, as well as my assessment that this is an inadvisable approach.