je suis le cerf; et vous, le chasseur

[riskbreaker]

Bonifacio, Corse-du-Sud, France



The town, built on an outjutting part of the mountain, in places even overhanging the sea, looks across the straits, full of sandbanks, towards the southernmost coast of Sardinia. Beneath it, on the other side and almost surrounding it, is a cleft in the cliff like an immense corridor which serves as a harbor, and along it the little Italian and Sardinian fishing boats come by a circuitous route between precipitous cliffs as far as the first houses, and every two weeks the old, wheezy steamer which makes the trip to Ajaccio.

On the white mountain the houses, massed together, makes an even whiter spot. They look like the nests of wild birds, clinging to this peak, overlooking this terrible passage, where vessels rarely venture. The wind, which blows uninterruptedly, has swept bare the forbidding coast; it drives through the narrow straits and lays waste both sides. The pale streaks of foam, clinging to the black rocks, whose countless peaks rise up out of the water, look like bits of rag floating and drifting on the surface of the sea.

--"A Vendetta", Guy de Maupassant

(begins here)

Comments

i made a thing

[lechasseur]

Mm. [He presses his lips together.] He certainly uses that... charisma to his advantage. And she's unaccustomed to his sort-- she's never touched anything this big.

[There's not much else to be done but to wait-- for Sydney to show himself, or for the man to set out some kind of bait himself. Ashley's willing to take it; he's dealt with the real high-class criminals, unlike poor rookie Callo.]

We've tried. Criminals are very persistent about getting their money, if you can believe it. [He huffs, unamused.]

[civilservice]

I can easily believe it, and it's how you can draw some reclusive ones out of the woodwork. Freeze some, but not all. Keep an eye on the more hidden ones, and trace back the activity.

Think like a criminal, Ashley. If you were Losstarot, what would you be doing right now?

[lechasseur]

[He steeples his fingers.]

Planning, mostly.

There are people on it. I'm sure we'll hear how that works out soon.

[God, he'd like to just wring his neck and be done with it. But most things are much more difficult than that.]

[civilservice]

And while you're planning, what part of you-you meaning your network and your buildings-is the weakest? Don't answer yet, just imagine how you'd need to move to cover that, and then think about what you're not thinking about.

Sometimes they never expect you to be obvious.