i see the strings that control the system

[hellisforchildren]

WHO: Your Acting Mayor and OPEN
WHERE: City Hall!
WHEN: Sunday, May 8th through Thursday, May 12th
WARNINGS: None yet?
SUMMARY: Alex is doing his best to run things, feel free to bug him with issues, complaints, offers of help, attempted punches to the face, whatever!
FORMAT: WORDS, but make sure to mention when you're visiting in the subject line!

He'd set up food lines, he'd begun establishing a peacekeeping network, he had people in place to handle the power plants, the biggest jobs were out of the way. He even had someone else picking up the slack. There were still things to do, there would always be things to do, but for right now, just for this one moment, he thought he might get a moment's rest.

Boy, was he ever in for a surprise.

Comments

[daft_old_man]

He spun in the chair as the young man slammed shut the desk drawers. Out came his hand and that smile brightened just a bit. "Mr. Mayor I assume. Hello, I'm the Doctor. Now, from what I can tell this incident is spread over a wide area of the city but seems to effect citizens at random. Unfortunately my colleges have refused to supply me with a child necessary for analysis, so the first thing I need is one effected citizen."

[hellisforchildren]

That title rung a bell. "Oh god, you're the guy that snooty nurse was talking about, aren't you?" Alex buried his face in his hands. "what, exactly, do you expect to learn from such a volunteer?"

He knows the Doctor hadn't mentioned anything about the kid volunteering, Alex offered that bit all on his own. Just in case.

[daft_old_man]

Out came his sonic with a flick of the wrist and that familiar glow and buzz. He hummed a bit as he read the reading coming from the office before snapping the screwdriver closed.

"Readings. Hopefully there's something that can reveal exactly what is going on and then we can work on how to fix that something." The Doctor paused and raised an eyebrow at the boy. "'Snooty nurse?'"

[hellisforchildren]

"English, condescending, he talked you up as some generic save-the-day material."

He looked down with consternation at the mess that had become of the desk. This guy was no better for it than six-year-old Mitch had been. "But that fact of the matter is, we don't have any affected citizens here at City Hall. Only ones working here are myself and Rose, and we were teenagers before this whole thing started! Why don't you try asking the Network if anyone wants to be your guinea pig?"

[daft_old_man]

Jumping to his feet the Doctor gives the boy a once over scan. Normal...ish. Import then.

"I tried. Zatanna refuses to let me scan her charge, but there is a child who may volunteer. And what of you and Rose. She wouldn't happen to be a Tyler would she?"

[hellisforchildren]

"Lalonde," he answered. "Like I said, she was already a kid before this whole thing started."

After a moment, he let out a chuckle as he realized who Zatanna's charge would be. It was only a few days ago that Alex left him with her. "Funny thing is, this'd probably be the only chance to get any scan of Hundred, he's never been too fond of being prodded."

He moved past the Doctor and took back his chair, which he spun around to face the other man; fingers netted, serious-face employed. "If you really want kids to help you out, an incentive would never hurt."

[daft_old_man]

The Doctor's own face was one of pure stone. Humans. Apes. He never underestimated their potential for greatness, nor did he underestimate their potential for corruption.

"I don't bargain for help." He moved into a chair across from the boys and smirked. "How long can your little supply lines last? Should these 'children' never grow, or this anomaly spread, then what? There have already been instances of outsiders attempting to corner the market in the child trade. All these small ones running around with minimal support or care; some with powers that those without could only dream of...Your city is about to come to a standstill unless someone helps. I'm offering myself, no strings except for cooperation."

[hellisforchildren]

Alex displayed no worry at the question. He was in control of this situation, and even if he wasn't, he was confident he could make things last. "If it starts looking like this won't reverse any time soon, then we start looking into long-range plans. We'll reestablish the City's economy, bolster it's government, let people know we're in for the long haul and we aren't about to give up."

He cocked his head to the side. "I'm not against cooperating with you, but as yet my influence over the City's children is minimal. I'm not here to lead them, just to provide a safety net. Me asking them to help you isn't likely to have much more effect than anyone else. I was merely making a suggestion as to how you could best bring them into your corner."

[daft_old_man]

"So you're plan is to wait for the last minute before making any actual plans?" He raised an eyebrow and grinned. Really he shouldn't be so concerned; this wasn't his world or time no matter how long his predicament, but what was it Amy said:

So is this how it works Doctor? You never interfere with the affairs of other people or planets, unless there's children crying?

The Doctor leaned back and stretched his long legs. Really, these were rather comfortable chairs. He's have to see about getting some for the house.

"If not you then who? Leaderless humans tend to get into all sorts of mischief. Usually universe end kind. So far this universe has been very kind to this backwards water planet." He reached for his sonic but pulled out a floaty pen with a caveman inside of it. Grinning madly he jumped up and plopped the thing right in front of the boy. "Well, should the situation become dire just give me a ring. I'm much more available without my TARDIS around and there's only so much linear time I can take before I need a bit of excitement."

[hellisforchildren]

"I never said there weren't any plans, I've been preparing contingencies should the need arise. What I'm saying is it's best to pay attention to patterns in these matters, the cyclical nature disasters tend to take around here.

"Ask any imPort, they'll tell you these kind of things rarely last longer than a week. Should that prove inaccurate in this case, I'll start putting structures in place to ensure a more permanent stability. Right now our priority is the safety and survival of our citizens, and we'll expand our efforts in that direction as the need arises."

He, of course, knew exactly how long this would last, but that didn't mean the contingencies didn't exist. He wanted this to look good, and there may have been some small but ignored temptation to put some of them into place.

He took the pen and regarded it with some curiosity, uncertain of what the Doctor meant by 'universe-ending mischief'. In his experience, it was usually corrupt leaders themselves who caused that sort of trouble, not their absence.

"Well, I'm sure that most of us won't be too keen on that happening. What are you going to do in the meantime?"

[daft_old_man]

The Doctor could tell there was so much this boy was hiding, but he was of the opinion humans had to learn things themselves, besides things really didn't seem as dire as Rory had made them out to be.

"Oh, this and that. Rory's nearly alone at the hospital and someone decided it would be a fine idea for Jack to watch over children, so I suppose I'll have to help those two until you little crisis is over."

[hellisforchildren]

"I would've imagined the hospital'd look more like a nursery what with all this going on, though. But yeah, good luck with that." He offered his hand over the desk, but did not rise to see the Doctor out. Sooner the better, as far as he cared.

[daft_old_man]

The Doctor shook the hand and offered a sly grin. "Yes. Well, not to worry, I'll be around." And he'd be keeping an eye on the boy especially now that he had a good 'feel' of the child.