Chapter 43: The Radical Dreamers

There it rose over the starry horizon! A spire as twisted as a salted pretzel, so verily pungent with the stench of chaos that it plagued the poor villagers down the valley.

The brave heroine, Selina Perlwhite, did don her magic wand and flourished her long, majestic cape to brave the danger.

Alone in body, but united by spirit! The memories of the lives she saved along her incredible journey trailed her like rivers of stardust.

"I am the magical girl, Selina Perlwhite! I will defeat you, Demon Lord Lucibaal!" Were her cries heard by demonkind, and celebrated by humanity.

And she believed she would finally be seen as the greatest, most specialestbvfhfgnngfggggvdgg

"Hey Stella! What are you typing?!" Shouted the homunculus Cu'u, in a happier mood than usual.

After Stella jumped out of the chair she looked at the keyboard smear on her screen and faced Cu'u with a tiny pout.

She then quickly sat back down to erase the mistake and finish the line

-specialest magic of all: friendship!

End of chapter!

"Pffft…" Cu'u snickered, before taking a bite of her chocolate bar, "Isn't that a little childish?"

Stella spun the chair around and put her hands on her knees, "I think it's inspiring!"

"Uhhh, if you say so." Cu'u took another bite of her chocolate, causing Stella to tilt her head.

"Where did you get that?"

"Found it outside!" Cu'u raised it like it was a trophy, and only then did Stella notice a few green-ish spots on the edge.

"...I think that's gone bad."

Cu'u smirked, "Silly Stella, I'm a magic construct! I don't get sick!"

She chomped the rest of the bar down in one bite.

One minute later…

"BAAAAAARFGLLLLLGHHHHH!" Cu'u had fluttered up to the window to upchuck.

Stella stood down and kindly shouted, "Do you want me to look for a stomach pumping spell?!"

"Bluuuuuuuuuuurrrrgghhhh!" Cu'u went for another shot. It looked like a rainbow.

After that she pulled her head out and groaned, "N-No…! But some water would be nice…"

Trauma kicked in and she sharply turned around to proclaim, "IN A GLASS PLEASE!"

Stella used her magic to conjure up a simple glass of water and Cu'u put it down in one swallow.

"Euuugh, so that's what chocolate tastes like the second time around…" Cu'u set the glass down and by the time she wiped her face off her mood was back to normal.

Stella tilted her head, "Sooo…"

"N-Not getting sick doesn't mean my stomach can't hate what I put in it APPARENTLY." Cu'u proclaimed with her fists flung down.

"Mom sucks mom sucks mom sucks, this wouldn't happen if I was an adult!" Her ranting was stifled by her wings flapping adorably.

She then pouted tightly like she had swallowed a lemon, and waddled over to the couch to throw herself down and cry.

"Whhhhyyy meeeeeee?!"

Stella walked over with her hands at her waist, "C-Can I help?"

"No. Go away. I'm pouting." Cu'u muffled out.

"O-Ok, I'm going back to writing." When Stella left, Cu'u perked up and trailed behind her, levitating on her small wings.

Stella was taking this opportunity to correct any grammar mistakes in her story and shift around the dialogue.

Cu'u foiled her reconnaissance by floating too close to her shoulder and scaring her.

"Ah!" Stella turned and Cu'u ended up having to avoid getting smacked, surprising herself that she managed to avoid another stroke of bad luck.

"Wow you really get deep in concentration when you type…" Cu'u remarked with a bit of poking fun at her expense.

Stella turned to the screen and pouted upon seeing another error had been added to her text.

After quickly fixing it she looked at her friend and wondered, "Have you ever written a story, Cu'u?"

"No. Why would I want to?" Cu'u propped her hands on her hips and lifted her head high, "My LIFE is already an awesome story!"

Stella wasn't sure where eating moldy chocolate fell on the awesome scale, but she admired Cu'u's ability to take her mistakes in stride.

"I wish I could do that."

Cu'u then asked, "Soooo are all of your stories focused on friendship and magic?"

She held back a snicker to an unfazed Stella, "Actually this is the only story I've ever written."

"Oh yeah? How long is it?"

"Ummm, a million words?" Stella said nonchalantly.

"One million? Oh, that's not so big." Cu'u added to the tone of the conversation.

"It's not?" Stella blurted in surprise, "But I've never seen a book that could fit a million words before…"

"Ummm, now, I'm not an expert on books unlike everything else, but aren't books printed on paper? So aren't you just typing a buncha words for no reason?"

Stella diligently shook her head, "Of course not! I upload this to a website!"

Stella turned on her browser and went to her bookmarks. After scrolling through one hundred saved links and waiting a minute for the internet to connect through, she popped up her profile and let Cu'u take a look.

"Starlight Chronicles: The Tale of Perlwhite." Cu'u murmured out.

There were a hundred reviews and a small number of favorites.

"People actually like reading this kinda clichéd drivel?" Cu'u said in a stunned tone.

Stella curled her lips into a mopey expression, "It's not impressive, I know."

Cu'u's smile fell, "A-Ahh…t-then why do you do it?"

Stella shrugged, "It feels good? I guess?"

"Hmmm. Do YOU think it's a good story?" Cu'u called her out on her neutral attitude regarding her own work.

"Well…Some people say it's good." Stella turned her chair back and pulled up the reviews.

LadySirius posted:

"The way you weave words together is wonderful! Keep it up, I'm enthralled by Selina's journey!"

Cold4Hot posted:

"Why did Selina fall for that trap set by the Demon Lord? It was blatantly obvious. Besides that little character scuff, another decent chapter."

Polearm778 posted:

"Selina is very cute :3! Would love to draw fanart of her uWu!"

"Though the negative reviews say…"

7HandsSplit Posted:

"This writing is very amateurish. Selina is a total Mary Sue. Who wrote this, a girl?"

IAmTheLordOfLords Posted:

"You can tell this person needs to take classes. Why do you keep writing this?"

YouUYou87 Posted:

"Shit."

"So…hard to say." Stella leaned back into the chair and kicked herself around, clearly in a funk.

Cu'u hung her head and groaned, "Who cares about some losers online? I'm asking what YOU think of your story."

Stella's eyes widened, "Oooooh…U-Ummm, I think it's good. Maybe. I like writing it."

"Well there you go!" Cu'u said with a hint of pride in her voice, as her wings flapped in delight.

Stella shook her head, "I don't know, it could be a lot better."

"Auuuuugh…!" Cu'u groaned and then gently rolled her chair out of the way with a shove, "If you think it's bad, fine! I'll be the judge of that! I'll tell you right to your face even!"

Stella was a bit delighted at the prospect of Cu'u showing interest, and waited patiently on the chair with her legs curled up under her chin.

Half an hour later…

"Aaaaah…! What's going to happen next?!" Cu'u was holding on to the edge of the desk with her wings fluttering energetically.

Stella was dumbstruck. Was her story really that good?

Cu'u whisked herself away from the computer and grabbed onto the arms of her chair, bounding up and down while moving both of them around.

"When Selina did that 'Vroom Vroom' magic and barely caught her sister Lunala from falling off that cliff, I GOT goosebumps! AND I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I COULD!"

Stella stared blankly at her friend until her vision started getting dizzy, "U-Ummm…!"

Cu'u then pulled back with a flat expression and pumped her fist against her coughing mouth, "I-I mean. Yeah…I guess it was ok. For an amateur."

"Oh…" Still, that was much better than Stella expected.

Cu'u laid her arms out by her sides and admitted, "I guess if you like it, might as well keep doing it, right?"

Stella did want to know one thing though, "Cu'u, what did you think of the protagonist?"

"Selina? Oh, I thought she was a delight! Her clumsiness but strong work ethic was very relatable and-" Cu'u's jaw dropped on the spot as she stared at Stella with bright wide eyes, "Oooooh my golly goodness…Selina?"

"You named your older self after the protagonist of your story?!" Cu'u was split between dumbfounded and laughing, "Pffft, ha ha ha!"

Stella blushed and twirled her bangs around her finger, "Well…Selina is who I wish I was. A really talented magical girl who everyone loves, and can recover from her mistakes."

Cu'u's laughter went dead and she hung her head forward with droopy eyes, "Well geez, don't go make this all depressing now…"

"I-I'm sorry." Stella said.

"Stella, you're not…" Cu'u crossed her arms and then pulled her head back with her chest puffed with pride, "As good as me! But that's alright! Nobody is!"

"Even your mom?" Stella tilted her head.

"E-Except…my mom…yeeeeaaaaah…" Cu'u hung her head and wings for a solid ten seconds before springing back up and declaring, "Point is! Of course you're gonna feel small when you're standing under my magnificent shadow!"

"Then…how can I be more confident? Like you?" Stella genuinely wondered.

"Well that's simple, you…!" Cu'u froze and turned the other way, "You uhhh…"

She started pacing around the floor, with Stella taking this as a sign that even for Cu'u, it would be difficult to make her confident.

"Oh! I got it!" Cu'u snapped her fingers, "First we need to get you a swanky fit!"

"Swanky?" Stella turned her head the other way.

"Y-You know…stylish…coooool!"

"Ooooh!" Stella's eyes lit up, "Like my teacher's suit!"

Cu'u hung her head and grumbled, "Yes, like my mom's suit…"

Stella then clapped her hands together and smiled, "Are we going to use that spell we used to get the computer before?"

"NO…GOSH no…!" Cu'u threw her hands up in protest, "Even I know there's gotta be an instant suit spell in mom's book! I mean…how else does she keep them looking fresh all the time?"

"The laundry?" Stella proposed.

"What's a 'laundry'?" Cu'u hung on that for a bit, then shook her head, "Never mind that! To the spellbook!"

They went over there and flipped through the pages to fulfill their ultra specific needs. And fortunately, there was an ultra specific spell to dress people up in fancy suits!

It was called "Snobbygala".

Stella picked up her wand from the couch and decided to ruminate over this decision, "Ok, this seems like an easy spell…"

Cu'u agreed, "I mean…how can creating a suit backfire?"

"..." Stella stared at her wand and imagined the suit exploding and turning them into cartoonishly meaty chunks.

She then turned to Cu'u and politely asked, "Could I test the spell on you first?"

Cu'u shivered and then murmured, "Well…what the heck. Sure."

Cu'u stepped away and Stella raised her wand, doing a few practice announcements of the spell before focusing on her wand and aiming it at her friend.

The magic blast hit her and at the last moment she went "ACK!"

But all that happened was a puff of magic smoke and when it faded, Cu'u was standing on one leg with a panicked expression and her arms pulled back…

And she did it wearing a snazzy dark gray business suit.

"...Oh wow!" Cu'u balanced her posture and patted her body, and it seemed to look pretty snug.

"Heh heh heh, well whaddya think Stella? Don't I look like an adult now?" She said, her excitement causing her wings to flap and-

"SHRRRRRP!" -break through the back of the suit with ease.

"...A-Aaah…" Cu'u's head turned back like a mechanical device.

"Ooooh, so the spell only works on human-sized targets. Good to know, thanks Cu'u!" After Stella showed her appreciation, Cu'u just frowned.

"Yeah. Great. Can you change me back?"

"Sure, I just need to cast the spell again aaaand…" Stella pointed the wand at Cu'u, and only wound up fixing her suit up.

"..."

"..."

Both of them stared at each other, with Stella tapping her wand against her chin and staring off into the ceiling.

Cu'u slapped her forehead, "There's always a downside, why is there ALWAYS a downside?!"

"W-Whatever, I'll just not use my wings for a bit. So give yourself a suit already…" Cu'u crossed her arms with a sucked lip pout.

Stella was worried now that something would go wrong on her end…

But on the other hand, that suit looked really, really snazzy. It reminded her a lot of her mom's work clothes.

Her thoughts went wild and tried to think how ill-fitting it would be on someone like her…or maybe it would look really, really cute.

"Ooooh…" Stella pointed her wand over her head and after taking a solid gulp, cast the spell.

After hearing the magic puff, she opened her eyes and found herself wearing a silvery business suit. And it was a perfect fit!

She smiled a little and looked herself over, then ran over to the broken mirror at the corner of the warehouse to examine herself closely.

"Heh heh heh! I like it!" She said with a wider smile.

"Well, do you feel more confident now?" Cu'u wondered, still carrying a bit of grumpiness.

"...Ummm…" Stella turned around and shook her head with uncertainty, "Is having confidence and feeling better the same thing?"

"...Gonna be real with you, Stella, you're asking the wrong person."

"Well…" Stella looked at herself again in the mirror and the stark difference in looks was so great that she couldn't stop blushing, "I'm glad we did this!"

"At least one of us got something outta this…" Cu'u muttered, "Can you hurry up and find a reverse spell? This hole in my back's making me feel naked."

"Wait! I want to see how Selina looks in this suit! I bet it'll give me some new ideas for the next story arc!"

Getting a little eager beaver-ish, Stella pointed her wand at herself while Cu'u ran mental calculations in her head.

"Wait, hold on!"

It was too late, as Stella cast the spell to age herself up a few years and give herself Selina's pink hair.

Immediately, Stella squirmed in place as her clothing strained and creaked at the hems.

"T-This is…verily tight all of a sudden…" Stella struggled to even turn around to look at herself in the mirror.

"B-But, this does look delightful! Hmmm…maybe silver and pink aren't a good combination though…"

The creaking reached a breaking point, and with a loud "SNAP!" one of the suit buttons broke off, hit the mirror, and ricocheted back into her forehead.

"OWIE!" Stella fell onto her back.

"Bwah!" Cu'u snickered.

After Stella rubbed her head and got up, Cu'u admitted, "Alright, this was fun, but we should probably fix this before we're both without clothes."

"G-Good idea…" Stella cautiously made her way back to the spellbook, and fortunately for them fixing this was a simple matter of speaking the spell in reverse.

First Cu'u was fixed up, and then Stella did it for herself…Except, forgetting that she was still older, she found herself wearing her younger clothes. And it didn't take long for the button on her shirt to snap off and hit Cu'u in the forehead.

The homunculus stood and took it like a champ, her eyes watering as she rubbed her sore head and groaned, "W-Why me?!"

"Ooops…" Stella quickly turned herself young again and buttoned her shirt back up with a bit more magic.

"So what now?" She wondered.

"Hrrmmm…" Cu'u crossed her arms and tapped her foot, "Ok…who is the most confident person in your family, Stella?"

Well that was a difficult question to answer. Everyone was equally confident, AKA, more confident than her.

But if she had to go and pick one person…

"Oh! My big sister, Lunalei!"

"That's the teacher gal right?" Cu'u asked.

"Mmm hmm!" Stella feverishly nodded.

"How does she come across as confident to you?"

Stella thought about what her sister tended to do. There were a lot of instances of her yelling and acting like a fool, but doing so without flinching. And she tended to push her glasses a lot…

"That's it! Her glasses!"

"Pffft, really? Glasses make you look like a dork." Cu'u retorted.

"Are you sure? Cause my sister's teacher Catherine wears them, and she's very confident all the time…"

"Catherine? You mean…Saturn?" Cu'u commented.

"Yeah, her!"

"...Alright, fair point. But just because she makes it work doesn't make it look any less dorky!"

The two looked back in the spellbook for an instant glasses spell, but this time Cu'u made SURE they scanned the spell for any downsides.

This time around, they were in the clear. It WAS just glasses, not a change of clothes. And as an added bonus, the glasses were made to fit the wearer!

The spell was called "Dualens!"

"I'll try it on myself first." Stella commented.

"THANK YOU." Breathed Cu'u in relief.

Stella tapped her head with her wand and uttered the spell name with excitement.

And one small magic puff of smoke later, out popped a pair of circular lens red glasses.

"Snk…!" Cu'u pressed her lips against her mouth, "Yep, you look like a total dork!"

Stella blinked a few times and then popped on over to the mirror. She adjusted the glasses a bit, moved some hairs out of the way, and then laid her hand on the side of her face and observed.

"...Actually, I kinda like it." She even felt a few IQ points smarter!

She turned around, raised her wand, and with a few flicks of her wrist declared, "Ok, Cu'u! Now it's your turn!"

"Eh?" Cu'u was hit by a magic blast to the face and fluttered her eyelids upon realizing she had a pair of glasses glued to her face now.

They were rectangular with a bit of a slant towards the nose.

Cu'u poked the sides of them and blushed, and floated over to the mirror to look at herself.

"Ha, I look ridiculous…!"

Stella tilted her head, "Really? I think you look cute."

Cu'u blushed deeper and then closed her eyes to proclaim, "I-I wasn't finished! I was saying 'I look ridiculous…ly cool!"

She put her feet on the ground and took the glasses off.

Stella continued to stare at herself at the mirror, but all she saw was her sister overlaid atop her appearance.

"...No, this isn't it either." Stella took the glasses off and tucked them into her shirt pocket.

She started to wander off back to the couch, causing Cu'u to flutter over after her and wonder, "Well then what will work for you? You've gotta gimme something, Stella!"

Stella bent over the spellbook and wondered aloud, "Maybe there's a way to make the aging spell permanent…?"

"Eh? That's ridiculous," Cu'u commented, dryly pointing out, "Like, don't you think I would've used it the first chance I got?"

Stella tapped her wand against her chin and hummed, "But…I only feel confident when I'm Selina."

"Dunno what kind of difference a few years makes, cause to me, you still act the same, just goofier," Cu'u grinned, "Heck, between that and the name, I'm surprised your family hasn't figured you out by now."

Stella shook her head, "Nobody in my family has read my story. Dunno why they would. Especially mom. She's read much, much better stories."

"...Oh," Cu'u grabbed onto her arm and hung her head, "Yeah, when you're surrounded by the extraordinary, who ever wants to look at something lesser?"

The two girls felt melancholic for a little while after, before Cu'u swung her mood away from this feeling and proclaimed, "There's gotta be a better way to get your confidence up, Stella!"

Stella turned and wondered, "But how?"

"I dunno! I-I can't make you as magnificent as me, sure, but there's gotta be SOMETHING!"

Stella leaned her head back and stared dully towards the ceiling, then back down at her wand. This glistening, starry stick was the one thing to her name that separated her from the rest of her family's greatness.

"I think…I have to keep practicing magic." She said, firmly grasping her wand and looking determined.

"Maybe you think such a dream is ridiculous now, but never deny your own potential or you'll always be stuck to the ground."

Stella raised her hand towards the sky, imagining she was traveling the stars alongside Selina.

"Yeah…"

The rest of the day went by as normal, and come tomorrow Stella went off to school again as Selina.

Cu'u yawned and decided that today was going to be a lazy day, so straight to the couch she went!

Upon looking at the spellbook though, she thought about Stella's state of mind and curled her lips wondering, "Stella does work hard…am I being too tough on her?"

She squeezed her eyes and scoffed, "Bah! What am I saying? I need to focus on getting out of here and back home already! Talk about thankless labor…"

Suddenly, she heard a knock on the door and sprung out of the couch.

"Gah! What the…" She paused and squinted at the door, and after no more sounds popped up she wondered, "...Must've been hearing things. Cause…the barrier should be keeping everyone away from here."

Still, the curiosity of a child was not to be underestimated, and she fluttered over to the door and decided to take a peek.

There was now a small basket with little gift wrapped treats sitting at the door, and nobody nearby who could've dropped it off.

She moved lightning fast to open the door and pull the basket inside, and immediately locked onto a greeting card on the edge.

"From…Lunis Whiter…"

Cu'u's eyes widened, "S-Stella's mom…?"

"Thank you for taking care of my little girl so far, Cu'u. I know she's a little accident prone, and maybe a little lacking in confidence, but I know she can accomplish greatness if she's given a little push.

P.S. Your mom wanted me to let you know that she hopes you're learning a lot as well!"

"..." Cu'u raised her head and muttered, "Stella's mom is worried about her…? B-But Stella told me that…"

Cu'u decided to hide the card on her person and started unwrapping the treats, finding a plethora of home-made chocolates hidden within.

"Ooooh, yummy!" Her eyes lit up with childish delight and after flying back over to the couch, she laid down and started scarfing them up.

"Thank you, Stella's mom!" She said as the delicious chocolate melted like a lava flow into her belly, "Heh heh heh!"

Next Time: The First Couple