Topic: First Days On The Job

Riley ORourke

Date: 2010-05-11 21:15 EST
Gales of giggles carried from the upstairs reading room down through the ground floor of the Rhy'Din Public Library, permeating the entire building with the sound of Riley's amusement. She'd been holed up since just after the Library had opened that morning, pouring over the City's law books. Quite a few of the laws were sensible, but would no doubt prove difficult to enforce. Some of them completely contradicted each other. And still others were so ridiculous, they made her laugh raucously despite dirty looks and repeated shushings from the librarians.

She'd written a list of her favourites to bring home to share with Danny. Included on this list were such gems as "It is illegal for a man to beat his wife with a strap wider than two inches without her consent", and "Criminals must give their victims 24 hours notice, either orally or in writing, and explain the nature of the crime to be committed." The Governor would no doubt be delighted to know that he was required by law to provide all newly-settled families with a hog and that one may not host a game of marbles in the Marketplace unless he or she first obtains a written permit from him. Well, that particular law could be amended to reflect the newly-created office of Citizen Resources. Maybe those cute girls of Brian's would like to take care of those permits.

Just as she'd calmed down enough to stop giggling, she stumbled across yet another gem, this one indicating that catapults may not be fired at buildings within city limits. Apparently it was perfectly all right to fire them into crowds of people, vehicles, the river, and buildings outside of the city limits, however. "Wow," she muttered and shook her head. These books were definitely in need of complete review and overhaul. It was a job that would no doubt take at least a month and probably require at least one other person, maybe two.

She frowned suddenly as a thought struck her. Did the city have something like a Constitution or a Bill of Rights" Would she have to hold a general election just to get laws changed" Would it be possible to get a representative from each race in the City together on a judicial review council" Should she even attempt to license attorneys and require a Bar Association' What about court records" Where were they kept' Were they even kept at all" "Jesus," she muttered as she jotted down all of these questions on the flip side of a sheet of paper that already contained 20 or 30 other questions. "You've gotten yourself into quite a position, haven't you, Ri?"

Chewing thoughtfully on her lower lip, she turned back to the books and snorted with amusement when she discovered that it was illegal to carry a fish into a bar. It was also apparently against the law to shoot at a member of the Watch with a laser gun, but there was no mention about conventional weaponry, clubbing one over the head with a blunt instrument, or stabbing one with the sharpened end of a pencil.

She felt a gentle tap on her shoulder and looked up to see Miss Krunkle, the head reference Librarian. "We're closing now, Ms O'Rourke," she said in her soft voice.

Riley nodded and gathered up her notes and rose from her chair. "I'll see you tomorrow, Miss Krunkle. Hey, do you think it'd be possible for me to reserve one of those private study rooms for a while" I have the feeling I'll be here a lot for the next few months." The Librarian nodded and told Riley to stop by the reference desk when she came back the next morning to get a key for one of the private rooms. "I'll have all your books waiting for you," she added.

Riley left, feeling more than a little overwhelmed. But she was back doing what she loved most and would make it work...no matter what this odd little slice of the Multiverse threw at her.

((OOC Note: All of the dumb laws mentioned in this post are based on actual laws in the US, with some minor adjustments to reflect the...special nature of Rhy'Din. If you're curious about what other sorts of stupidity your lawmakers have dreamt up, check out Dumb Laws))

Riley ORourke

Date: 2010-05-12 20:02 EST
Riley wrote lists. It was how she kept herself organised. Anyone who had glanced through the knee-hole drawer of the desk in her loft would see that it was entirely filled with lists " lists of books she wanted to read, lists of books she had read, lists of shops in the city, lists of things she'd bought from each shop, grocery lists, lists of random ideas pertaining to god only knew what. There was no organisation to her list drawer; they'd been thrown in willy-nilly and most had never been looked at again. Danny teased her about it, even going so far as to tell her that she needed a Master List, where she kept a list of the lists she'd written. He'd earned The Look for that comment.

Of course in keeping with her penchant for list-writing, she'd begun a few since accepting the appointment to the Minister of Justice position. So far, there were only four lists. There was a to-do list, which was very, very bare right now. It had exactly three items on it: Staff, Office, Laws Review. None of them were crossed off. The second list named the positions on her staff that she needed to fill. Originally when she'd written this particular list, there had been only two items " Deputy Minister and Executive Assistant. Now, however, four more positions had been added: Prothonotary, Review Council, Review Consultant, General Council. There were only three names on this list: Mindy McKnight had been written in ink next to Executive Assistant; written in pencil and followed by four question marks next to Review Consultant was Jin Mishin; and written in pencil but without question marks next to General Council was Lucien Mallorek.

The third list contained items she wanted to take from the loft to her new offices in the Courthouse, things like her diplomas from Boston College and Boston University, the photographs of her shaking hands with the governors of Arizona, Massachusetts, and California, and the President himself, various framed newspaper and magazine articles detailing her legal and political careers, and books " lots of weighty books on lots of weighty topics, such as the Constitution, capital law, the death penalty, and civil rights.

The fourth and final list was the longest so far. It was four pieces of paper stapled together and covered on both sides with questions. The deeper Riley went into the laws of the city, the more questions popped up. And of course, questions begat questions, which in turn brought up more things she need to learn. If she could answer even half of these questions, she'd be ahead of the curve.

She'd spent enough time in the library for now. Time to get the office set up. She went home and cornered Mr Cheung, asking him nicely to help her move the three boxes from her loft and into her office at the Courthouse " with a bribe of a grape-flavoured lollie now and one when he was done. The Zen Gardens Building's super agreed, though he made it apparent that it was an agreement under duress, and carried the boxes through the city and into the Courthouse. He left, grumbling under his breath in Mandarin and sucking contentedly at his lollie.

She moved the desk, credenza, and bookshelves around, rearranging them into a more pleasing array, and then started hanging pictures and diplomas and articles, and then started filling the bookshelves with well-read legal tomes. Then she stood back, hands on hips, and studied the area. It needed something else, something green, something alive. Right now it was just kinda...cold and clinical. She'd have to stop by the florist's on the way home and pick up some plants or something.

For now, though, she seated herself at her desk and began reviewing her list of questions. The first one was possibly the most important. Just how much authority and power did she really have" Could she make autonomous decisions or would she have to get an okay from Dris on everything" This had to be answered before any of the other could even be addressed. Riley gathered up her list of questions and left her office, heading towards the Governor's office, in search of answers.