"Prime Minister… what are you doing?"
Cabinet Member LCP Yang walked into the Prime Minister's office and saw a peculiar sight, that of a frantic Prime Minister Gardevoir searching through the data files on her pixie computer for the name "Sol Ying".
"Huh? Oh, Lieutenant Yang, there you are, come look at this!"
"It's cabinet member now Gardevoir…" LCP Yang sighed, sitting next to the Prime Minister. It had been years since the pixies had been at war, "what am I looking at?"
"Does the name 'Madoka' ring any bells Lieutenant?"
"…yes Gardevoir…I too have been on Tumblr at least once in my life… is this really the proper data we should be focusing on?"
"It's the only data we should be focusing on in fact!" Prime Minister Gardevoir said, again scrolling through her government files. It was a track record of "Sol Ying's" browser history. "How else do we know if we are setting our Pixie graduates up for success?"
"…No, I mean… shouldn't we focus on the issues of these… adult websites Sol's been going on instead? Maybe that's why star dust accumulation has been slow…"
"No no…" Gardevoir said, holding in a disappointed look, "the human world will be mad at us if we disagree with Neon Genesis… best not argue about that one."
The Prime Minster closed all the NSFW tabs from Sol Ying's Pixie Data and instead focused solely on what media he had been consuming the most during his non-horny free time.
"Magical girl shows have been popular since, "Sailor Moon" Prime Minister, so what if he watched a few of them. It was probably for hentai reasons… HE PROBABLY JUST DID IT BECAUSE TWICE LIKED IT TBH…"
"…"
"…"
"I can't argue with that one Lieutenant," Professor Gardevoir sighed, closing the browser, "But even so, Lieutenant… check this out."
She searched up another name now, "Professor Elizabeth Topstring Graves" pulling up her data as well.
"What am I looking at Prime Minister… what is so impressive about Professor Graves listening to Megan Thee Stallion…"
"…"
"…"
The Prime Minister Scrolled through a couple pages before she got past the Megan Thee Stallion data on Professor Graves Playlist.
"Okay… here, you see she turned off the pop music, you see what's next?"
"…"
"…"
"Okay… so Professor Graves also listens to Madoka… none of this is going to determine anything when it comes to who can gather more star dust. Content is just a matter of opinion Professor… it doesn't hold a candle to practice and perseverance you know! Surely, there are more important matters to attend to in the kingdom, are there not Prime Minister? Sabs academy is in need of newer wands that have updated firmware for example."
"What! I thought we just replaced those!"
"Apparently not Prime Minister… that's what the reports told me at least."
Prime Minister Gardevoir groaned but got off her chair and flew towards LCP Yang.
"Alright alright… let's just get this over with quickly then…" she said logging out of her account under username: "Animeloverxoxo"
"But we're going to discuss this afterwards, Lieutenant," she said with a smile, "the content one consumes 100% affects one's artistic outcome."
Meanwhile:
"See ya tomorrow!" Rachel said getting out from the passenger seat of Yuko's car and entering again the comfy 2-bedroom apartment she shared with Calypso, "alright, now to unwind."
Being the busy woman that she was, usually Rachel enjoyed being as efficient as possible going for a quick shower after coming home, but on a day like today, right after a big performance, she thought she should treat herself with something a little nicer as she began filling up the bath at the apartment.
"Okay… now let's add a little lavender mix," she said doing just that and taking off her jacket, "perfect! Time to…"
"Woahhhh girl"
"Ahhhh… what the…"
But before Rachel could take any more clothes off, suddenly appearing from seemingly nowhere, was a dark-haired female pixie wearing a dark black dress floating in front of her.
"Just look at these proportions!" the pixie said flying closer to examine Rachel's toned dancer muscles and defined waistline.
"No wonder your potential meter's so high!"
"Uhhh…" Rachel said blushing slightly, "who the hell are you? I never do drugs until after the shower…"
"Huh? Oh right," the dark-haired pixie said floating up in front of Rachel to meet her face to face, "I forgot here in human land… someone as pretty and infamous of me is not known."
She smiled, clapping her hands together at Rachel.
"But I'm sure that will change quite soon," she said, "the name's Elizabeth, Elizabeth Topstring Graves to be exact."
She put her hands on her cheeks, tilting her head at Rachel.
"May we make… an unstoppable duo,"
Rachel blinked at her, still not sure how to react.
"Uhh… sure…" she said, "I'm too tired for this… let me get relaxed first."
"Whatever you need to keep your body in shape," Professor Graves said as Rachel began undressing and getting into the bath, "you are a pro already after all."
"I guess so?" Rachel said going into the water, "and what the hell are you supposed to be? A Pixie?"
Professor Graves raised an eyebrow at the mention of her species as she flew in front of Rachel in the shower.
"Oh? So, you've heard of us? Most people aren't so easily accepting. I'm surprised…usually we're mistaken for fairies. What made you say Pixie specifically may I ask?"
"No real reason really… my roommate was just mentioning how she was talking to a magical Pixie earlier this week, and it was on my mind I guess."
"Your roommate?"
Professor Graves groaned as information of Rachel having a roommate was left off reports the Prime Minister had given her.
"Yeah? Her name's Calypso, she works for the Video Game company down the street from us. All of today and yesterday she's been talking about how there's this Magical Pixie who keeps ordering her around and telling her how she "Has to be a" Star or whatever."
Professor Graves was curious for a moment as to who the other pixie could be but didn't give it much thought as it was likely just one of the standard female pixie graduates from the society. Female Pixies are usually always supposed to be assigned to women after all, and male pixies to men.
"Yeah… that's kind of our jobs to be honest…"
"What?"
"What?"
"What do you mean your job…"
"Well, I'm glad you asked!" Professor Graves said waving her wand as the same guidebook Sol had used previously appeared in her hand.
"Miss Rachel Alto, yes?"
"That's my name…"
"You have been selected Miss Alto! By the prestigious Olivin Pixie Academy to be…"
She waved her hands in the air.
"A Star!"
"…"
"…"
Rachel looked at her curiously as she began washing herself.
"Go on?"
Professor Graves smirked.
"People who understand the importance of the spotlight always thrive in it."
"Uhh… if you say so?"
"I know so…" Professor Graves snapped. She flipped into her guidebook going over the same details that Sol had done over the collection of stardust and explained the whole system for Rachel and stardust conversion rates.
"So, what do you say?" Professor Graves said when she finished, "you ready to start after the shower?"
"What do I get?" Rachel asked.
"Huh?"
Rachel washed her hair before putting it in a bun staring at Professor Graves.
"I get why the pixies take interest in us if what you said about Star Dust generation is true, but why would I agree to help you?"
She stared at the dark-haired pixie puzzled by her question.
"What do you mean? Don't you want to be a star?"
"And what makes you think you can help with that?"
"Sorry?"
"I can do most of these things recommended in the guidebook myself. Record a cover song, perform on the street? These are things I already do… why do I need someone else to help me? Pixie Society also doesn't affect me in any way."
"…"
"Do you have any merit?"
The Professor smiled at the comment. It was one that only real performers made.
"But of course," she said as a small piano manifested in front of her. It was her specialty, even back when she was just a Pixie undergrad spending countless hours playing multiple classical instruments, with the Piano being her favorite.
It wasn't a rare instrument by any means, but for Professor Graves, that was a positive. For her, the essence of art and performance was about being the best, the most elegant in a crowd, where all-the eyes focused on. And that was most easily done on the most popular instrument available, given the talent was there to match.
"That's Mozart," Rachel exclaimed recognizing the tune instantly as Professor Graves began playing. She was the only one who could hear it, but the vibrant movements and perfect tempos echoed brilliantly in her ear, demonstrating all the merit Professor Graves needed.
"Turkish March?"
Professor Graves nodded continuing to smile as she played through the difficult parts of the song as if they were nothing. Notes she had been playing for over 20 years at this point, and for many more to come. There was no need for "cheap" entertainment and gimmicks like "variety" in the Professor's mind. There was no need to appease Rachel with the promise that she could meet a Video Game Character like Sol had done. It was all about talent and ability. And aside from the Prime Minister, her abilities surpassed that of every other pixie she ever came across as she finished the song taking a bow in front of Rachel.
"Impressed?"
Rachel couldn't help but nod and give her applause.
"Well, what do you say then? How about let me help you, help me?"
"Sounds good," Rachel said standing up ready to get out of the bath, "I don't argue with merit."