suspect your elders | miller / shiv

First, to make a couple things clear: some day, he was going to run this place, but until he was ready to, Shiv Irvine was doing a pretty good job. You know, considering. It was a bit soul-crushing watching the peacekeepers pour in by the hundred, lining the streets in crisp white uniforms and looking for someone to make an example of. Miller knew that he had the privilege of working for the office that had orchestrated their arrival, but even still, he found himself hyper-critical of his every movement when he was out. But on the other hand, he'd always felt unsafe when he was outside. At least now he had to be caught doing something he shouldn't be in order to be punished.

When he was 10, he watched his father get robbed of his wallet by four men in masks only one block from their house. So many of the people here seemed to think that crime was the best way for them to stick it to the man but that wasn't true. This wasn't a war. That happened a century ago, and the other guys won. Acts of defiance now, this far away from it, were more like... unruly children being smacked across the knuckles with a ruler when they were naughty. It wasn't helping anyone except the people who got away with it.

And it was undeniably hurting the district. So he got why Shiv finally caved and changed the main export: what else was there to be done? She'd already spent five or ten years trying to make children feel safe the clean way, just as her predecessor tried and failed to do before her. And now, all this time later, Miller understood why she'd made the decision even more than ever.

It was the only real way of fighting back. Nine times out of ten these days, when Shiv left this building there was at least one armed guard keeping her safe. She had them wrapped around her finger- had even seen many of them who treated her as if she were some superior. She hadn't just reintroduced the law to a land which had been without it for decades- she wrapped it around her finger and wore it like jewelry.

Like he said: until he was old enough, she was doing a pretty good job.

"Good morning, Mayor Irvine! I'm early, I know," he said, rubbing his hands together as he made way for the coffee machine, "Wanted to get in a run before work so I set my alarm an hour early. Made good time, I guess."