fiddlestick | aefenglom | Trails of Group Chat

Well, that goes right into me thinking it ought to be a local decision, and a local operation. It should be their call whether or not that's a risk they're willing to take.

[ The guy who basically said "okay, Crossbell is gonna have to suck it up and get invaded" because the alternative was the enslavement of his tiny WMD daughter is clearly willing to take some risks. But he also knows this ain't his lane. ]

I get that, but the only ones able to make the call right now are the ones not enslaved. With how they are right now, there's no way the locals will ask for the monsters input.

Yeah. My main goal here is to learn what I can and give it to the people who need that information.

Although, on that note. Elliot, do you have resistance contacts?

Right.

Yeah, I do. They've been helping me get on the radio and I've been teaching them stuff I know.

I was hoping you could pass some information on for me, since you're not at so much risk of being watched.

The pictures of the compulsion spell were part of it, since I was hoping there'd be something more useful in the library. But I also have some information on the auction.

[ This picture is of a map drawn in Lloyd's notebook of the auction venue. Aside from having guard positions marked, there's a lot of annotation - arrows pointing out security patrol routes, notations of the timing for shift changes, notes about the route the monsters are brought to the block by, and such details that you'd expect from a security professional. ]

Although you probably need to translate for them, since writing doesn't seem to benefit from...however everyone is able to talk here.

Oh wow, this is detailed.

Sure Lloyd! I'd be happy to pass it along. I'm sure it'll be a big help.

Thanks. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get into anything else before we leave without attracting too much attention, but if I do, I'll send it your way.

Well, even if you can't, it's still appreciated. Having your input on things has been a huge help. You bring things to the table that the rest of us don't have.

If there's one thing I learned leading the SSS, it's that our differences make us stronger. We all had completely different areas of expertise, and all of it came together and got us through cases one of us would never be able to solve alone.

Haha, you know, that actually sounds a lot like Class VII.

But you know, with cops.

Honestly, I'm the only one who was actually planning on being a cop. We're kind of a weird unit that way.

- well, I guess the chief, too, but he's pretty hands off. Mostly he just lets us do our thing and covers for us if we're about to piss off the brass.

Really? How does one unintentionally become a cop?

And that makes it sound like you make the brass mad a lot...

Well, Elie joined intentionally, but she never planned on making a career of it - she wanted to get another perspective on some of Crossbell's governmental problems. Tio came on loan from the Epstein Foundation, since we were testing the orbal network as our means of reporting. Randy got recommended to us by the CGF commander; she thought it might be a better fit.

And we...don't make them as mad as we used to? But when we were going after Revache's operations, the crooked ones wanted them left alone and the honest ones thought we were nosing in on an investigation that should've belonged to Section One.

Oh wow. Sounds like quite a team. The others I can take a guess, but what else did Elie do in the government?

Aha, I see. Sounds like a rock and a hard place situation. And let me guess, Section One wasn't doing a good job going after the operations because of the corruption?

She did a lot behind the scenes to help her grandfather out - she's Chairman MacDowell's granddaughter; I guess the name wouldn't tip off anyone who isn't Crossbellan.

Section One's never been able to do as much as they'd like, wherever the mafia is involved. They're just too high-profile not to have the hammer brought down on them. There are...a lot of things the police aren't really able to crack down on in Crossbell. It's frustrating.

Yeah...sorry, I'm not exactly well versed on Crossbell politics. I bet our friend Machias would know, he went to the political academy in Heimdallr.

Jeez, that sounds really frustrating. And I can't really see it improving anytime soon with Erebonia there either.

Well, I imagine they're a little more willing to bring the hammer of the law down on Calvard nationals, at least.

[ The inability to bring any kind of lasting consequence to Calvardian and Erebonian citizens who break the law in Crossbell is an immense frustration. Now it's probably...half a frustration? ]

Yeah, good point. Anything to aggravate Calvard really...

[Which is a terrifying thought all on it's own]

Ugh. I should probably just focus on Dorchacht for right now before I worry myself sick.

Yeah. Sorry, I didn't mean for that to become such a tangent.

No, it's okay! I like learning more about you!

If anything, I kinda wish Erebonia had more police like the SSS. Law enforcement in our country is pretty...um, political.

I think we'd rather all stay out of politics...it just doesn't always work out in practice.

But it's a military thing in Erebonia, isn't it?

Aha, somehow that doesn't surprise me.

Yeah, that's right. And which army or agency runs the law enforcement depends on the region you're in. So Heimdallr's managed by Imperial soldiers, the provinces have the provincial armies run by the Dukes, and anywhere with a railroad might have the Railway Military Police show up.

Unfortunately, they tend to just follow the will of whoever commands them. So if you're in an area where their commander doesn't see their civilians well-being as a high priority... it can get pretty bad.

[Understatement there, just a little]

Edited 2019-09-23 00:13 (UTC)

That's what, four provinces? Six different forces to coordinate between?

What a nightmare.

More actually, once you account for the different military branches and the regions with lords that rule more independently from their dukes...

Yeah, it's a headache to say the least.

aefenglom | Trails of Group Chat

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