mayor irene ripsaw, district seven | finished

[gamemaker 🍒 maryn hale]

mayor irene ripsaw
— twenty-seven ^95th —
district seven



elected as mayor for the 95th-100th cycle

[gamemaker 🍒 maryn hale]

Irene's life has always been a gentle one.

Two parents who loved her unconditionally, who played the part of a whole, content unit for her benefit. As much as her mother struggles to speak about her father now that he has passed, Irene can only remember the good times. The treehouse her father had built just on the forest's edge, how she and her older brothers would race across the big front yard for hours on end, the way her mother would smile when Irene brought fresh wildflowers home for the dining table vase. Her childhood had been a soft, precious thing, and it shaped her into the woman she is today.

She excelled in her schooling, quick to start hosting annual sleepovers at the Ripsaw Estate. Academic success and social prowess came to her naturally, the dual inheritance of her politician father and socialite mother. Top of her class, queen of the spring court, captain of the debate club. No one ever really thought to be cruel to Irene, so she never thought to be cruel to others. Happy to tutor her classmates, never one to brag about her blessings. Her father served as the mayor of Seven for the better half of her life, and she played her part as his youngest child accordingly.

Well-mannered, privileged but humble, keen to follow in his footsteps. Even if her brothers seemed so focused on growing up and getting out of that old house, Irene never once faltered from her ambition to be just like her father. She can remember her high school graduation, standing at the podium giving her valedictorian speech. Even back then, she said that she would one day be the mayor herself, and that she would find a way to serve all the people of her great district the way the district had served her. Seven was kind to the Ripsaws, after all.

And it would take Irene many years to learn that the Ripsaws were not always kind to Seven.

Interning at the Justice Building had been a good start to her career, assured to her by her family's familiarity with the political system. She invested her full attention to her duties, completing every task assigned to her with calculated precision. If her superiors told her to jump, she didn't bother to ask them how high, she just naturally assumed that was what they were asking of her. Of course, some part of her was aware that people made her obstacles just a bit less inconvenient due to her station, but she still treated them with respect. Others would always say her good fortune had been gifted to her, and so she made it her ambition to prove that she worked hard to maintain that fortune.

As a Ripsaw, she knows a thing or two about maintaining wealth. Money is rare in Seven, and old money is even rarer still. For decades, the family manor has stood proud, and the vaults have never known emptiness. Losing her father was like watching the paint peel from the walls, like witnessing the grand piano in the foyer collecting with dust; the vanishing of a beautiful illusion. Her mother seemed to sigh in relief, her brothers didn't attend the funeral, the world seemed to agree collectively that Bryson's passing should be a quiet thing. And no one thought to inform Irene of the reason.

She can only remember looking up to him in adoration, grateful for the past and future he worked so tirelessly to provide for her. From him, she inherited her tenacity, and with that she has climbed her way up the ladder. She allows the silence to fill a family home that was once overflowing with love, she focuses her attention on the dream she never thought herself incapable of achieving. She was a creature of pride, just like her father before her, and she still believed in the weight of the Ripsaw name. Strong enough to carry the entire district on the shoulders of its influence.

Irene wanted to be strong in that way, too.

When she finally had the opportunity to campaign for the 95th election, she pursued her goal relentlessly. She attended every meeting, participated at every fundraiser, showed her smiling face and hopeful expression to the citizens of Seven. Always, she wanted them to feel as assured and capable as she did. But all she seemed to see these days was misfortune, a dejected somberness, a mother staring out the window at a dying yard with no children laughing or playing. The treehouse creaked with loose boards, the vase on the dining room table hadn't been filled in years. Irene moved away from her past and stepped assuredly into the future.

Her questions remained unanswered, and she did not ask for clarity. The happy image shattered, and she pretended to be none the wiser. With every fiber of her being, Irene believed she could help her district. She could make sure they received an education equal to her own, that all of the citizens would have the tools necessary to obtain their dreams just like she had obtained her own. As the mayor, staring out hopefully at the gathered crowd, she held tight to that ambition. It was another goal worth pursuing, another wish to make in the dark of the night.

And she hoped against hope that there were no more illusions to be revealed.

[gamemaker 🍒 maryn hale]

dars

[dars]