Democracy.
"So how does it work, this government choosing machine of yours?" Said Doctor Kureha, poking the box with a finger. Dalton laughed, and gestured towards a line of curtained booths to the left of the old (but still young) woman. "Would you like a demonstration?"
Kureha watched him warily as he pulled aside the curtain from one of them.
"This." He said "Is the basis for the machine's mechanism." She peered into the cubicle, expecting gears or levers, maybe a steam pipe or two. It really wasn't a machine without steam pipes she thought. There wasn't any of that. Just a desk, and on it…
"Dalton. Are you saying that your machine runs on a pencil and a piece of paper?"
"That's correct. Would you like to try it?"
Kureha walked over to the desk and stood in front of the piece of paper. Now that she looked at it properly, the paper was divided into sections, each with a name (Dalton was the second on the list, with some villager above him) to the left and an empty box to the right.
"Instructions are on the top." Said Dalton, leaning on the pillar outside. Glancing towards the top, she followed the bullet points line by line. Cross one box only, don't write your name on the paper, ect. Picking up the pencil, she crossed the box by Dalton's name and turned around.
"So. Now what?"
"Just place it in the box." Said Dalton, pointing at a purpose made hole in the top. She jabbed the paper in, and then turned to the de facto ruler of Drum Island or the Sakura Kingdom as it was now called.
"That it?" He nodded.
"Yes, that's it."
"So what happens afterwards?" She asked
"Well, once everybody has put their papers in, we count them up, and whoever gets the most marks by their name becomes the head of the government for a maximum of three years, when we repeat the process."
Kureha blinked. "So, you are relying on the people of this country to choose their own government to rule them fairly?"
"Yes. That is correct. It's worked well in other nations apparently. I thought we might give it a try."
"Sheesh. Getting a load of people, with their own experiences that don't nearly correlate to reality most of the time to elect who is good to lead their country, a position only one man has any real experience of? You're mad Dalton."
"But Dr Kureha! Surely the people can be trusted to choose who shall govern them, what laws they should make!"
"Can they? I dunno. I've lived for 139 years and not seen any evidence of that. Still" She said, striding towards the exit and taking a swig of her sake bottle "Could work, could work. Probably better than a monarchy anyway. What's it called, this system of yours?"
"I believe that they call it a `democracy`" Said Dalton, swinging his coat on and following her out the door.
"Democracy huh? A bizarre, fancy word for a bizarre fancy system. It fits I guess. Well, I'll come down after you've finished counting the votes and see you back into power."
Dalton laughed and waved his hands modestly. "Now now, there's no guarantee I'll be looking after the country after the people have had their say."
"Ha! You think? How about a wager? You bet you won't get into power, I bet you will." Replied Kureha, mounting her rabbit to return to the castle.
"I daresay I could do that." Said Dalton. "How about two bottles of sake?"
"Sounds good to me Dalton. See you later young'un!" And with that, she took off across the rope that lead to the top of the mountain.
A week later, Dalton owed her two bottles of sake.
AN: This piece was brought to you by the British elections that are happening today, and the letter `J`.
I quite like the way the dialogue came out, considering this was my first piece with people speaking for aggggeeeeeessssss. :P