The next day in Steven's living room...
"You can't be serious!?" Pearl yells out in frustration and confusion. "Mayor!?"
"I am serious." Lapis replies dryly. "I'm going to show that human what's what."
"Don't you need to... Uhm... Know what you're doing first?" Amethyst responds with a subtle smirk.
"I've got a campaign manager to help." Lapis says with a confident grin. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl all look accusingly at Steven.
"Don't look at me!" Steven says defensively. "I learned my lesson after Connie's student council election!"
"Poor Tiffany..." Amethyst mutters under her breath.
Pearl turns her attention back to Lapis. "If its not Steven then who-" Pearl gets cut off by a loud thunk on the screen door.
"Stupid door!" Peridot yells as she hops on one foot. "It opened this way yesterday!" Peridot groans with frustration as she pulls the front door open and walks with a slight limp into Steven's house. She's wearing a tie and carrying a suitcase. She clears her throat with a cough. "I will be Lazuli's campaign manager." Peridot says with confidence.
Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl all break into laughter.
"What's so funny!?" Peridot yells.
"You. Being a campaign manager!" Pearl says as she slowly stops laughing, wiping a tear from her eye. "Do you even know what an election is?"
"I've done my research!" Peridot says with a confident grin as she sets her suitcase on the table. It pops open revealing several books: Politics for Dummies, Water Gate: Cheating Gone Wrong, Charisma: If You Don't Got It Fake It, and the novelization of The Godfather.
"Please! That's hardly appropriate reading material!" Pearl angrily vents.
"Sounds like somebody's jealous that I got picked over her!" Peridot says full of snark.
"Why you!" Pearl rolls up an imaginary sleeve on her arm like she's going to punch Peridot, but Garnet puts a hand on her shoulder. Pearl calms down.
"Well, if you'll excuse us." Peridot says confidently. "Lazuli and I have an election to win!"
Peridot turns around and casually walks out the front door. Lapis smiles and waves goodbye to Steven.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Pearl says as she and Amethyst look up at Garnet. Garnet shrugs and lets out a sound of confusion.
Later, on the boardwalk. Lapis is sitting on the Beach letting the tide wash in and out over her. Peridot is pacing back and forth.
"Peri. Can't you just relaxe for a bit?" Lapis says as she flops onto her back and stares up at the sky. "It's such a nice day!"
"No! As campaign manager, it is my duty to not relax until you've won!" Peridot says as she keeps pacing. "Now. First thing we have to work on is your image."
"My image?" Lapis asks quizically as she turns her head to face Peridot.
"Yes." Peridot stops and faces Lapis and begins to explain. "You see. Humans have it ingrained in their psychology through thousands of years of social protocols to look up to the more 'mature' members of their society. Humans die easily. Age means strength! Now, we don't physically age like humans do. So Dewey and his wrinkled face have us at a severe disadvantage."
"O... Kay... So, I have to be wrinkly?" Lapis asks, even more lost now than a few moments ago.
"No. You just have to give off the appearance of maturity. Changing your outfit should do." Peridot explains. "Something that predates Dewey... Something classy..."
Lapis looks like she has a light-bulb moment. All of a sudden she stands up. "Like this?" Lapis asks with a smile as her clothes glow. Her two piece dress changes into a fancy blue suit with a tailcoat and frilly sleeve cuffs."
Peridot stares starry eyed for a moment. "That's perfect! Its older and sophisticated!"
"Its not too much?" Lapis asks as she looks down at her feet. Wearing shoes felt weird.
"You look great!" Peridot reassuringly states. Lapis looks pleased.
"Now we have to work on your appearance." Peridot explains. "Now Dewey perspires quite often, and we are near the beach, so the citizens must have a fondness for water... That's crafty of him. But we can do better... See Dad has this 'calendar' that he sells at the car wash with images of-"
Peridot goes on and on about her plan for changing Lapis's image, but Lapis's mind drifts elsewhere. "Why do I have to change my appearance?" Lapis thinks. "I mean. Shouldn't I just be myself? Does Peridot think that the real me isn't good enough to win? Why should I care about what everyone else and Peridot thinks of me? Maybe there's something wrong with me? Well she did say that I looked great. That does make me feel better. I'm still nervous about this though. Do I really have what it takes to beat Dewey... Frack! She's stopped talking. She's looking at me! Am I supposed to answer something?... I'll just smile and nod." Lapis half-heartedly smiles and nods.
"Great!" Peridot said with a grin. "Wait right here, and I'll go get the photography equipment!" Peridot runs off.
Lapis turns her head sideways in confusion. "What?"
Meanwhile, at the Steven Universe residence. Pearl is busy tidying up. She had just finished putting all of Peridot's books she left behind in a Steven proof lock box when she hears a knock at the door. She opens the door.
"Oh... Mayor Dewey!" Pearl says with forced politeness. "I'm sorry but Steven't not here right now... Bye." She goes to close the door, but Dewey puts his foot in the way.
"A-Actually... I came to see you..." Dewey stammers as he begins to blush. "Its about... the election..."
"Oh yes. That. Well... Good luck." Pearl says as she tries to close the door again, but Dewey's foot hasn't moved. Pearl is getting a bit agitated.
"I'm not an idiot! I know what you girls are!" Dewey yells half out of frustration, half out of desperation. "Beach City can't have someone who lives forever as Mayor! The system will collapse!"
Pearl didn't like being described as 'what'... "And how is that different than a single family running it since it was founded?" Pearl says with a biting tone.
"I... It isn't... Not really..." Dewey says with a scared and defeated tone.
"Good. Now that you're caught up, good bye!" Pearl says with a forced cheerful tone as she tries to close the door again, but Dewey stops her. "What do you want!"
"Please help me win!" Dewey practically screams, taking Pearl off guard.
"Wuh... Why do you think I could help you wi-" Pearl gets cutt off by Dewey shoving a quarter into her face.
"You're on the quarter!" Dewey says loudly. "I know you know about politics!" He takes a deep breath and calms down. "Please... Help me..."
Pearl was about to reject Dewey's request, but an image popped into her mind. An mental image of Lapis taking the oath of mayor and Peridot gloating... Something about that image made Pearl change her mind. She couldn't let Peridot have another one-up on her.
"Alright. I'll help." Pearl says with a sigh. Dewey lets out a cheer. "Buuut." Pearl adds with a smile. "You have to do things my way."
Dewey blushes and nods in agreement.
((Alright! Chapter 2 is done, and the pieces have been put on the board! Now we play! But who will win? The newcomer of Lapis/Peridot or the Political Machine of Dewey/Pearl? Tune in next time to find out!
Also! Peridot did intentionally use Dad when talking about the calendar. I think the idea is amusing that since Steven first talked about Greg he called him dad that Peridot would either assume its Greg's name, or his official title and would thusly call him that too.
The outfit that Lapis changes into is the same as the art used for the cover of this fiction and is designed by Sillystell. You can find their tumblr here (sillystell. tumblr. com ). I also have a tumble (address in bio) but the works on there aren't as good. Yet again, thanks Sillystell for letting me use the art as the cover!
Well, until next time, I have a little cipher for you all. Why? Because I like ciphers. Here it is: Dp L wkh rqob rqh vdg derxw Slccd Kxw gursslqj zdiioh iulhv iurp wkh phqx? Zkdw? L'p qrw jrqqd gurs klqwv wklv hduob rq. ))