Stories from RhyDin & The Rings

The day had dawned relatively gray and chill and haven’t improved with time, moderate clouds half-obscuring the sun from the citizens of the city below. Jaycy frowned as she peered up, wondering the chances of encroaching rain. She stood outside the Courthouse and Town Hall in the plaza, standing next to the Great Fountain and flanked by the cornerstone trees that bordered the square she was in. For this anticipated meeting, she was wearing a simple white silk blouse tucked into slim black slacks and underneath a black blazer. Plain red heels covered her feet and a purse hung loosely from her elbow while her hair was curled in an elaborate tangle of silver-streaked red locks and black ribbons. She had to look the part, aye?

She hadn’t expected the votes to be counted so quickly - last night they’d been certified! - nor did she expect swift communication from the current Governor. That wasn’t because Pharlen was remiss in her duties (far from it) but because she was still Governor and the city business stopped for no one. It was a surprise, then, that midmorning she’d received a text from the lady herself (of course candidates had to give communication information, it was totally understandable) offering to meet in a few hours for a tour and potentially discussion about how, well… to do the job.

So here she was, frowning both at the weather and at the trepidation of what she was about to undertake.

“Come in, come in,” Pharlen called with a cheer and smile, effortlessly elegant in grays and whites, even having her hair up in an artfully messy bun. The city stopped for no one, and Pharlen was her own little force of nature, and also, probably had a vacation planned. So!

Across the wide lobby and off to the elevator they would go. Eventually, joined by poor Tommy, Pharlen’s assistant throughout her tenure. A medium height man of medium means, he seemed perfect for the role he had been cast into.

Except he was the plumber.

This did not concern Pharlen, he looked like an aide, therefore an aide he was!

“Everything usually runs on its own fairly well. There are times when you may need to go in and kick things in the teeth to get them moving again, but if they’re already afraid of you, half of your work is done.” Such a smile! From the elevator, towards the Office of the Governor. Pharlen smiled, and presented the key (and the key to the executive washroom!) to Jaycy.

“Madam Governor. If you would open your office…”

She’d followed with brows uplifted, strides easy even in those heels (partly because they weren’t so high!), making sure to smile at the various aides de camp and other employees of the office. She wasn’t doing so well with that ‘if they’re afraid of you’ thing already! “I don’t know if I could make anyone really afraid of me, I hate to say,” she countered (with an attempt at sounding relatively humble about it) with a soft chuckle. She did at least have the (lack of) height going for her, aye? At 4’11” she cut a petite figure but the strong walk and lift of her chin belied any potential harmless image.

Tommy even earned a wink. Aye, she really was bad at scaring people.

“It’s as simple as that?” She had to ask, hand lifting but then not extending as she peered first at the key and second at the woman herself. “No week where I follow you around and you tell me all the tricks of the trade?” Suddenly her face lit slightly as she offered a wry grin. “Let me guess, this is so people can’t change their minds?” Scrutinizing the key once more, she seemed only moderately reluctant to take it but finally she did. Fingers curled around the thing and she turned, staring at the door. “You sure?” came the sidelong, wry question.

Finally though she set that key into the lock, turned it, and then, finding the knob, opened Pandora’s Box.

Babum! There, was the office, as the door opened. Pharlen had been quiet as she let Jaycy ask her questions and look around, and finally laughed softly. “Of course you can. Believe me, once they’ve gotten onto your very last nerve, you’ll find the Inner Mom and unleash on them. I have faith.”

Poor Tommy! He gave Jaycy a smile, it was hopeful! Maybe she’d let him get back to working as a plumber.

“It is very simple, yes, yes, but if you would like a week of following me around, that would be fun, too!” She added.

Oh yes, the Office. It was spacious and airy, wood paneled to the waist and simple floral paper to the ceiling. A huge, large oak desk, simple and clean. Leather chairs and sofas. A well appointed liquor cabinet and of course, WIFI. A sleek Mac desktop sat on the desk already loaded and ready to hack into whatever needed spying on, or, alternatively, with the programs that helped run the city loaded and ready to work.

“This is Tommy, you’ll have to negotiate with him if he stays on as your aide, but he’s very good at it,” she added, indicating the man. He gave another smile and wiggled his fingers.

“I do have an Inner Mom,” she agreed with a quiet little mumble, stepping inside fully and moving aside so Pharl and Tommy could follow her in. Green-gold eyes drifted from one feature in the room to the other before landing on the pair. “Well met, Tommy. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of times where we can talk later.” A second wink! Apparently her MO was to put people at ease with her … friendliness. We’ll see how that goes in a government setting!

“While I don’t want to trouble you for a week, I may need a day to learn about budgeting and…” She trailed off, lifting a hand to wave it toward the Mac. It was true that she’d had exposure to technology but the inner workings of all the applications that helped run the city were a mystery. And the spying and hacking resources needed explanation. Not that she’d use those! Neeeeveeeerrr. “Is the Office soundproof?” Eyeing the walls, she turned to grin slightly at them both.

What an interesting question.

It was a good question!

“It is soundproof, and there are also wards against bugs and other devices, electronic as well as magical,” Pharlen replied, serenely, “Budgeting will be done usually the first weeks you’re officially in, and in general, as long as you don’t find things like ‘thirty days in a tropical paradise with fifteen hotties’, it’s usually okay. You can cheat and hire someone uninvolved who can pick out the problems.”

That was, of course, what she did!

“We also established a system of disaster relief personnel, so, when something starts stomping down the Marketplace, have them deployed. I’d also be interested in discussing some sort of decoy Marketplace,” Pharlen went on. She opened the liquor cabinet and took down a nice bottle of white wine, pouring them each a glassful, Tommy included.

“The main thing to remember is this city has tons of money, you just need to make sure it’s sent to where it’s supposed to go, and things will usually be all right. When they’re not, you can send in rabid heroes and watch the fun.” Pharlen beamed, lifting her glass in salute.

Setting her purse down on a nearby sofa, she crossed to take the invited glass of wine, stem between her fingers, pads lightly pressing into the body of the vessel, and raised it both in thanks and salute. “These are nice things to know. I’m also definitely interested in hearing more about this decoy Marketplace, especially given events earlier this year.” While she hadn’t been involved to any great degree during Harris’ reign of terror she had been in the City and of course she was dealing with the aftermath even still. She swirled the glass

“When you say tons of money…” The rest of the question went unspoken but her brows lifted to make the question obvious. “... are there cameras in the city?” That was next. She seemed both fixed to her spot and simultaneously relaxed in the space she’d inhabit at points for the next year.

“Did you enjoy it?” That might be an important question too, asking as she waved her hand to encompass it - even Tommy.

“We’ll need to gather up some of the cyber techs and illusionists, but I’m sure they can hammer something out. Because the folks in the Marketplace, they’re pretty tired of being stomped on,” she mulled, sipping at the wine.

“Tons of money. For decades, longer than that, guilds, clubs, associations, you name it, they’ve all opened big fat bank accounts which they subsequently abandoned. Once you do a legitimate search, and no one claims the account, it belongs to the city. In fact, there’s even a few defunct banks that simply closed doors and those are also subject to surrender to the city. I don’t tell anyone where all of them are, I don’t even know, honestly, because we do need to keep crazy adventurers happy.”

One of RhyDin’s dirtiest secrets: where all the money springing majestically from people’s wallets ended up.

“There are cameras, but not many. I wouldn’t advise putting in more than the usual traffic cameras. There are a lot of drones. The media deploys them for the duelling matches, for big events and when there’s a lot of fighting. Some are tech, some are magical, some are psionic.”

As Pharlen explained, she tapped at the Mac’s keyboard, and showed a map of the traffic cameras around the city.

But the last question, she took a moment to consider.

“I did not appreciate getting blown up when Harris had his little … thing. But mostly it’s a lot of fun, yes. As long as you remember, your power comes from how much people want to work with you, you’ll do fine.”

“So basically we have an almost unlimited amount of funds that we can use for anything that benefits the City as a whole?” She’d moved over toward the Mac, trying not to look too excited at the prospect. The Overlord Initiative might just find an easier road with that knowledge. Green-golds pored over the screen as she stood close but not too close. “Drones, mm. I’d seen a couple but didn’t realize mayhaps the extent of them.” They were better than the cameras she’d anticipated.

“This is amazing. And the city records, birth etc, are databased on here too? Anything else I need to know?” Sneaky or otherwise. She did pause and turn her smile to Pharl. “It sounds like you had some fun … besides Harris. I’m glad. And thank you for your service, and stewardship.”

“Yes, yes. Though do remember, if you get too koo-koo bananas… Heroes happen. It’s not really checks and balances, it’s that this reality allows for heroes to save the day a good ninety percent of the time, and you don’t want to be the evil stepmother when that happens.” Even RhyDin did have its rules of physics, so to speak.

As Jaycy got nearer to the computer, Pharlen started going through the various programs. “You must keep up on your computer security. Even people who want to do good are not above hacking into the system.” Thus, she spent several moments detailing the computer’s security.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go over this with you until you’re comfortable, because you’ll have to change all the pass words and such from mine,” Pharlen finally murmured.

“All the city databases are here, yes yes. As much information as we can gather, because we do need to know how many doctors and healers and teachers and ect familiar with the needs of, say, orcs, should be hired and in place. It’s a huge melting pot.”

And then she smiled and gave Jaycy a fluttery hug.

“Aw, thank you. It’s really fun. You get to hold all the adorable babies and give them back to their moms, you get to cop feels of all the hot honeys, and send them back to their lovers, and you get to pry excellent recipes from the elders. ...Which reminds me. Carry a bottle of hand sanitizer on you at all times. The kids around here are adorable plague beasts.”

Important tip! She chuckled and pulled up the budgeting program.

“We’ll go through this, and the other programs, then we can go get some lunch. We can pick up Collie, Ebon, Dris, see if Katt’s around, and you can pick their brains.”

Jaycy had seemed surprised at the hug but grinned at the other woman and returned it, afterward listening to the advice and turning her attention once more to the computer. “That sounds like a plan... let’s talk money.”

With a shared smile, they set to work.

(( Written with the awesome Pharlen! Thank you! ))