She was passing by, dancing her way along, when she caught sight of Skid and his round table. Altered course to settle into a chair without the slightest hesitation.

"Hi there sweetness. So, tell me more 'bout the half naked hot-men who'll be parading 'round for my viewin' pleasure on Tuesdays. Or, do you plan on combining that with the pancake dinners on Wednesdays?" Because, damn.

The sandy-haired Jak Siv approached the Nightmare at the table, tentatively pulling out a chair across from him and settling down with a tremulous little shake to everything he said.

"Sooo...H-How will you m-make it safer for people on t-the streets" Like f-for people who are n-not demons or p-powerful m-magic people, with f-fire" Pancakes" S-Something else?"

Skid smiled so terribly wide for the boy!

"Excellent question, scared weakling! "I have a multi-pronged approach to your problem, as it is the problem for so many other sad, scared people in this city who aren't walking apocalypses. "Now, everyone knows about the Watch and how many of its branches, while effective, seem to also not be so very effective. And everyone knows we have problems with Orphans. There're probably more of them out there now than there are non-orphans. "Therefore, should I be elected, the Rhy'din department of child services will begin to employ civil service training programs that I'm definitely going to probably make happen, to allow the orphans of Rhy'din a proper education, and essential job training to ensure they don't further contribute to the filthy, bedraggled homeless population of the town unless they try really hard to. I'm not their Dad though, I'm not gonna make them make anything of themselves. This is Rhy'din, not cuckoo-requirements-every-step-of-the-way-land! "About thirty percent of the city's absurd amount of orphanages will be converted to training centers for the Orphans, and their food will stop being mostly garbage and shoes, from what I understand of the current model, and turn to something more muta-Er...Healthy! "I bet you're pretty confused as to why I started talking about orphans, huh' Well, the brave or capable among them will be trained to seed into the Watch when they're of age! And with their new mutageni-Er....TRAINING, their new training, they'll be an essential and strong force in keeping normal people who can't do anything fun from being dead. "Speaking of, the current Watch regulars will be getting something of a refined training regiment as well. Maybe I can get Brian Ravenlock to do it if I win. His people are practically indestructible. I hear he's got a dinosaur that can throw cars in his division!"

Skid grinned like some kind of demented schoolgirl when Jack sat down across from him and posed his question.

"Well Jack, that's an excellent question and despite the fact that you've already promised me your vote, I'm going to tell you something!

"Beyond pancakes, shirtless heart-throbs, a possible army of mutants, happier orphans (one can only assume) and a great new intern program for neophyte Necromancers and Vampires involving the coroner's office that I'm definitely not going to talk about right now, all of which I'm exasperatingly aware you in particular couldn't care less about"

"There's the fun of it, you ridiculous pi"ata-flavored man from the sky!

"You see Jack, being the Governor isn't all fancy balls and rubbing peoples" elbows " which I assume requires the Governor to undergo some kind of extensive massage therapy training " but about instilling something something values and embodying something something spirit of Rhy'din, which in my opinion is the spirit of fun or, at the very least the spirit of keeping things interesting.

"Yes, fun! All of these programs, these new councils, and these crazy off-the-walls ideas I have about various things aren't just because I definitely think this city is circling some kind of boredom-related drain, but because I want this city to stave off or even disembowel stagnation! Rhy'din is an exciting place if you let it be, and I want to give everyone a chance to take it by the horns and see if they can avoid getting gored, kind of like in a dream I had about Andu the other night!"

"The citizens of this city don't need a leader, as they constantly seem to prove and insist upon stating over and over and over again every other week, but what they might need is someone to shake things up now and again, and to present them with the opportunities to get involved, or to validate their sitting on their backsides getting drunk every ruinous evening, which I will certainly validate!

?Ultimately, to me, the Governor doesn't run Rhy'din or have real tangible control; the Governor's only real value is in offering opportunities to people, chances for them to take or ignore, ways for them to stoke their interest or rage and wail. That's what I can give them, and you.

He looked for a moment like he'd finally decided who he was going to kick, but the urge passed and he opened his arms congenially.

"Of course I can, terrified bystander!

"Aside from the taxes paid by fine citizens that aren't freeloading jerks, I intend to funnel money through several charitable and perhaps not-so-charitable foundations to improve or alter the conditions of offices, departments, or branches related to their funding, such as those orphanages or the current Watch contributors for alterations in training regiments or facilities, even partnerships with new contractors for getting the children and brave souls of the Watch the food they need, rather than what I now assume is a bunch of city workers stealing garbage out of G"nort's trucks or whatever he uses to collect in order to produce the slop I assume they consume so regularly.

"Of course, that wouldn't be enough to get all the things I'm looking to do done, so I'll be looking to cut corne- COSTS, cut costs, where and whenever possible, as well as wrangle investors into the city's system through service contracts, if they're so inclined as to not suck."

He took a moment to shuffle some blank papers in front of him before putting them back where he'd found them.

"Otherwise, my hopes for funding are based in getting the Barons" Council to get off their butts and getting the other small councils or appointed positions I've yet to dream up to do their jobs and improve the efficiency of their districts, either economically or in whatever other ways that would improve their conditions enough to become producers, or whatever it is they want to become."

He leaned across the table, then.

"I'm also considering devoting fifty percent of the city's municipal laborers to dig for buried treasure and steal from Dragons to supplement our city's budget, but that's off the record."