Live Another Life (Job)

Arcadia, seated at the bar in Fairy Tail's guild hall, was drowning her sorrows from her current magical ailments in another of her favorite watermelon-strawberry slushies. She didn't bother maintaining a disguise of her usual older self, at least not while she was just around the guild. Mostly because she couldn't disguise her voice too. Looking and sounding like her five year old self, and not knowing why, really put a crimp in her style. She imagined  herself having a hard enough time being taking seriously already.


There was plenty to be happy for lately, but these magical ailments, including her currently most obvious one, put a real damper on all that. Arcadia took a big couple slurps of her slushie. Glancing up and down the bar, she was surprised to the place empty. There was one staff still at the bar, but others had slipped off to various other duties. Had she really been here that long? The one staff guy who had waited until any other staff was out of ear shot, now leaned over the bar to whisper to the young slayer. It was mildly startling, but Arcadia canted her head to listen.

Staff: “Hey Miss Arcadia? Before the others come back, I have a favor to ask. Not for me but for a friend.”

She glanced up from her slushie, offering a soft smile. She was rather flattered one of the staff would be asking her for a favor, even if it was only to cheer her up. ”S'alright. You dun gotta cheer me up. I think I'd rather sit and sulk for awhile. 'Preciate the thought though.”

Staff: “No, no. It's not that I wouldn't try to cheer you or any of the members up, but I really do need a favor. I promised a friend of mine. You've probably heard of her, Lina Reese. She's a kinda famous leading lady in theatre around here. More than kinda famous around Magnolia really, and she's about to get married.”

Arcadia looked a little lost, ”Who? I dun think I've gotten to see any plays since I came to Magnolia.”

Staff: “You're kidding right? You're not kidding? Even outside of Magnolia, she'sn ot that unheard of. What cave have you been growing up in?”

The young slayer took a sip of her slushie and matter of factly answered, ”I was under the magical hibernation of an ancient spell until a couple months ago.”

Staff: “Oh.. yeah . Sorry about that. Guess it's amazing you know as much as you do about Magnolia. Anyway, I'm sure you can pull off this job anyway. I've heard you got some pretty handy disguise magic.”

With a sigh, Arcadia nodded, ”S'pose I do, but none of it will help if I had to talk”

Staff: “Not a problem. She already has someone with a spell handy that will make for a near flawless transformation, only the wizard who knows it, is her personal body guard. Naturally she wants her body guard with her at her wedding, not running around away from her. So I told her I knew someone who had some hand disguise magic they could use in addition to that spell of her body guard's. It will change your voice and every thing. I just know with your disguise magic on top of it, you'll have no problem doing the one thing Lina wants her decoy to do, and that's keeping the fans and paparazzi busy until she's back from her honey moon later this week. The wedding is tomorrow, so if you take this job, you'll need to head right over. You'll living as Lina until she comes back. You don't even have to do any acting in plays, just run around to the places Lina would otherwise be. Do whatever you gotta do to keep the public eye on you and off of the real Lina.”

Arcadia's extra big green eyes went wide, ”All those crowds...following me?”

Staff: “Yeah, but you won't be in any of them. You'll be performing for them.”

Tilting her head, Arcadia finished off her slushie, and pushed her empty glass across the bar. She thought hard over the job offer. On the one hand, there would be all those people around her all the time for a whole week. On the other hand, thinking of it as performing, put it all in a different light. Plus, she would not looking or sounding lie a five year old for a whole week sealed the deal. Maybe this stupid affliction would have worn off by the time she finished the job. ”Deal.”

Staff: “You won't regret it. Go to the Magnolia Opera House and tell one of the workers, 'Mel sent me.' They should let you back stage to where Lina and her body guard wizard will be waiting.”

Word Count: 805/3500

Day One:

Meeting Lina Reese and her wizard bodyguard at the Magnolia Opera House went way smother than she could have hoped.  After giving the key phrase, Arcadia had been lead to a a dressing room backstage. The pleasantries had been kept short as she was given a list of the events she would need to attend as Lina's stand in over the next week, and a few notes that would help her pass more easily for Lina. When she was ready, Lina's bodyguard wizard cast his morphing disguise spell. It was a more thorough magical disguise than her one of her own shadow puppets would be, and would easily last until dispelled. Arcadia then snuck out with the lists and notes she had been given, and made her way invisibly to Lina's house.

Now the next morning, Arcadia stirred awake in Lina's bed. It was way bigger and more comfy than the one she had back in her room at Fairy Hills. She almost forgot she was on a job, and not a fancy hotel. That's why grumped and turned over when the sun peeped in through the curtains.  Feeling herself laying on more than nature had gifted her so far, she remembered exactly where she really was.  Arcadia rolled on out of bed, groggily making her way over to Lina's vanity mirror. She tapped on the lighting lacrimas that lined the mirror, and  spend a couple minutes getting to know and getting used to seeing a face looking back other than her own. A face she was not expending any of her own magic power to sustain.

Arcadia hoped she was this pretty when she was older. With a yawn, the young slayer grabbed a brush and went about brushing out her now shorter in comparison jet black hair. She had to admit, she loved Lina's violet eyes, briefly wishing her own were violet.  Coughing, she did a little voice warm up to test out how her disguised voice sounded. It was so weird when she first talked back to Lina with Lina's own voice. ”Me, me, me, me, me, meeeeee!” She giggled to hear someone else voice when she spoke. ”That's gonna take some getting used to.

Putting down the brush, Arcadia got up and went to look through Lina's closet for something to wear. That was when one of Lina's assistants knocked and let herself in. The woman introduced herself, “Good. You're up. I see you've discovered Ms. Reese's closet. I'm Ms. Reese's personal assistant, Kath Woodell. I can assure you, you needn't concern yourself with that closet. At least until tonight, and I'm sure you may be too tired to do anything but go straight to bed. Your first day is a full one, and Ms. Reese must appear at her most stylish at today. It may only be to read to a few school children, but she must put her best face forward for her public at all times. You're attire is waiting for you down stairs in Ms. Reese's personal spa. First a little breakfast.”

Arcadia grabbed the frilly looking pink robe from a wall hook by the closet and closed the closet door.  She smiled to Kath as she tied the robe closed around herself, ”Ah, Lina mentioned you. It's good to meet you. I'm Arcad-”

Kath interrupted as she used an iLacrima in a basic black case to text some of Lina's other servants to bring in breakfast. “Yes. I know. Ms. Fairchilde. Ms. Reese informed me all the final details by telepathic link spell last night. And as of this morning, you are not Ms. Fairchilde, you are Ms. Reese. Please remember that.  I am the only one here at the house who knows, so please when these other servants bring in your breakfast, know  you mustn't let your identity slip. As far as they are know you are Ms. Reese, and from now on that is how I shall address you.”

The magically disguised slayer suddenly felt some real pressure. She may look and sound like Lina, but would she really be able to fool people who worked for her every day? Arcadia would be finding out real fast, because the bedroom doors opened and two of the kitchen staff wheeled a cart with Lina's usual breakfast choices on various trays. Mostly an array of fresh fruit, choice of juice and water and freshly baked muffins.

Arcadia took a muffin and a couple fruit, quietly using the knife provided to slice the muffin up and the fruit to size. She looked up awkwardly realize the kitchen staff was still there. Kath was looking on with one raised eyebrow, it seemed this was her first test...and it felt like she was failing hard. She placed the slices of fruit on the two halves of muffin, and stuffed her mouth with a helpless look to Kath.

Kath shook her head, and nodded to the two kitchen staff, “Ms. Reese was up late last night. She won't be needing anything else this morning. If we need anything different than the scheduled menu, I'll let you know.”

The two kitchen staff members smiled and bowed before leaving the room. After the door closed, Arcadia let out breath she didn't even know she was holding, and decided to dig into the breakfast banquet laid out before her. She pulled the cart over to bedside, and had a seat. While Arcadia dug into the fruit, berries and another muffin, Kath took a call on her iLacrima. Lina's assistant headed to the far side of the room to take it.

Arcadia had had her fill by the time Kath came back, “Looks like you luck out, Ms. Reese. The charity  reading has been postponed until tomorrow. That was the event organizers saying how sorry they were, but circumstances have forced them into a last minute venue change. And after that little fiasco with the kitchen staff, I went ahead and rescheduled your other scheduled appearance. If you freeze up like that in public, some one going to see through the fancy spell or give  you some bad press.  So leave the breakfast cart and follow me. After we get you washed up and dressed, you're going to spend the day practicing in front of the house staff.”

Word Count: 1051
Total Word Count: 1856/3500

Arcadia's stay as stand-in for local Magnolia theatre star, Lina Reese, was cut short because of a medical emergency Lina's new husband had. They were forced to return to Magnolia after only one day on their honeymoon. She had maintained a working relationship with Lina's personal assistant, Kath. So despite the fact Lina and her husband had taken a more public honeymoon a few weeks later, Arcadia was not surprised when she got a call from Kath saying they still wanted to take a more private getaway.

It was with a happy heart she accepted the called back to be Lina's body double again. It would be a good way to keep up good relations with the Magnolia Theatre Company and Magnolia Opera House. They had been godsends. Her ever widening web of friends and acquaintances was proving every bit as powerful as any slayer spell she could master.

She wasted no time heading over to the opera house where Lina's bodyguard and Kath were waiting, and the bodyguard worked his unique body morphing magic. It felt weird to be so... mature all over. And to sound completely different too, that was the weirdest. Her own disguise magic was only an illusion, this spell of the bodyguard's changed her physically. Lina and her husband had already lef ton their vacation a few hours before, disguised by the same spell.

Arcadia left the opera house with Kath, in a more typical celebrity disguise of big sunhat and sunglasses. Together they made their way back to Lina's house. She greeted each of Lina's house staff, this time knowing their names, and how to behave like Lina. She had only really lived a day and half in Lina's shoes, and quite the steep learning curve in all things Lina. Arcadia was glad those lessons had stuck with her, so this second go around as Lina's body double should be plenty easier.

She was also happy that her schedule as Lina for the week was far less demanding with one only real public appearance. The young slayer could just hang around, keeping up Lina's less glamorous daily routine for most of the week.

The first three days were something of Arcadia's own vacation. No public appearances, servants seeing to her every need. She kinda wished she made enough Jewel to afford her own. She probably could if she wanted, but a house and servants would probably take near all the Jewel she could earn through jobs. Breakfast in bed, sleeping late as she wanted, all the movie lacrimas she could want to catch up on, massages every morning to go with rather easy workouts. Easy being relative, as it was a piece of cake compared to the training she was used to to keep in shape with her slayer magic.

Arcadia guessed these three days were nothing like Lina's life when the Magnolia Theatre Company had a play in production, but the company was in hiatus with only the scantest janitorial staff keeping their offices and the opera house in order. It was the fourth day that would prove that this job just might be cursed. This time the misfortune hit Arcadia as she headed to a charity auction. The idea of being Lina's body double was to draw the attention of Lina's fans wile Lina and her husband got a nice quiet vacation.

It turned out to be quite the successful ruse. Too successful for Arcadia's sake as one obsessed Lina fan managed to rush past security and tag the magically disguised dragon slayer with a poisoned ring. The fan would have been toast, if had wanted to fight, but he was tackled by security before Arcadia could lay a fist on him.

Unfortunately for Arcadia, that short lapse in security was all the crazed fan needed, because the poison from his ring proved to be unique and potent If there was an antidote, it was lost to time. All the healers could do after Arcadia fell to the ground unconscious was let the poison run its course and hope she was strong enough to pull through. Nothing they tried seemed to work, so they had no other choice.

The poison may have a strange and unknown interaction with the disguise magic holding her in Lina's form, because the next thing Arcadia remember was not waking up in a doctor's bed, but what had to be a completely alien nightmare world altogether.

What it was, Arcadia could not tell, her body was not her own, not even Lina's. Nor was her voice her own or Lina's. She didn't even feel like she was in control of her own body. It was like she was watching her own life as a movie lacrima. Yet this wasn't her life. Not her world. She was a girl, a young girl, about 11 years old, and when she heard the name Candy, it somehow felt quite naturally like her name she'd answered to all her life, though in the back of her mind she still knew it wasn't. She was... was looking for somebody. Somebody important. Anthony...but how did she know that? This world she found herself in was not a happy one either. The same kind of strange memory that told her name was Candy, told her this world was dead, and filled with nothing but misery.

Soon, she and the people she had found herself with came to a fallen tree. A tree that ended up killing Anthony. It looked like the tree had fallen in some powerful storm landed on the poor man. Yet the man was still moving. She knew he was dead though, no one could survive what the tree had done to him. Some sick magic had to be at work.

Yet these thoughts began to fade, and accept Earthland as some strange misty dream. A dream Candy couldn't afford to think about right now. She had to help Anthony one last time. Candy had spotted the zombie that had once been the gentle man, leaned up against another tree barely five feet away. He and Candy had been separated by less than two or three blocks, but in the fury of the storm it may as well have been a million miles.

Hoping to find at least one of Candy's friends alive, the Iversons took their yellow VW bus around in a search area a few blocks wider. Yeah that was these strangers name. A family called the Iversons. They weren't strangers, they were a rare breed of kind people helping her find her lost friends. Considering how close they found Anthony to where they found Candy, it didn't make sense to look in a much bigger area than that. Beyond that Aron could have moved off in any direction, if he hadn't fallen to a similar fate as Anthony. Huh.. Aron.. how could forget? Him? What was that other place called again? Eh just a silly dream anyway.

Candy was saddened when they didn't find one sign of Aron as they returned Anthony's tree about two hours later. She stayed at Helena Iverson's side, with Jon Iverson taking point and the twins hanging together not far from Helena. Helena kept Candy back. The whole Iverson family kept a safe distance, while assessing the threat zombie Anthony presented.

The mockery lurched to its side, starting to crawl from its tree. It's heavily maimed leg would not let it walk again, even in death. Jon looked down on the man, a rare sympathy in his eyes. Candy had already affirmed this was one of the two men acting as her current guardians, but he looked to the young girl to be extra sure.

Jon: “If this is really him. I'm... I really am sorry, Candy. This is no way for anyone to go. We'll make sure he gets a proper burial.”

Jon grabbed up a heavy broken branch from the very tree that had broken Anthony's leg, and brought swift peace to the prone zombie.. He called Hope Iverson, one of the twins, over to help him, and the two went to work digging a shallow grave.

Candy meanwhile had Helena and Joy Iverson, the other twin, helping her hunt down something to use a gravestone. She settled on a ruined wooden swing they found in a yard not far off. Helena helped with carving, but Candy did most of it herself with her butterfly knife.

Helena: “That's very nice, Candy. Now that we've got his name done, do you know how old he was or when he was born? Did he have any kids of his own or was he married before?”

Candy stared blankly at the would be wooden grave marker. She shook her head, [font color="#c45bd7"]”No. He didn't have any kids, and I don't think he was ever married. I don't really know how old he was though.”[/font]

Helena: “Is there anything you want to say about him or to him then?”

Breathing deeply, she thought for a moment. [font color="#c45bd7"]”He was a very, very nice man. There aren't many of those now.”[/font]

Helena: “That's very true, sweetie. That aren't many nice people left anywhere. When you're done carving that in, why don't you add your name and age below the quote. That way everyone will know he really was a gentle soul. Kids like you sometimes see the real person inside before grown ups do.”

When Candy was finished, Joy and Helena both helped clean up her lettering so it was more legible. They helped her carry it over to the open grave. Candy knelt down and hugged Anthony, tears in her eyes. Yet she still couldn't sob. [font color="#c45bd7"]”Bye, Mister Anthony. Thankyou for being so kind to me. I think you liked to help people. You kind of reminded me of my Uncle Danny that way. I'll miss you and Mister Aron. But we didn't find him, so maybe we'll still find him down in Miami. These nice people are the Iversons. Ms. Helena, Mister Jon, Hope and Joy. They're going to help me find my Uncle Danny now, so you don't have to worry. You just rest now.”[/font]

With that, she rose and dried her eyes. Six foot, seven inches of former college star quarterback, Jon was probably one of the few people in the world who could make lifting Anthony's broken heavy frame look easy. Jon hefted Anthony up over one broad shoulder, and laid him out in the shallow grave. Helena folded his arms over his chest, and the twins began covering him in fresh dirt. In the end, two or three feet earth lay packed over Anthony's grave with the wooden marker being set firmly in place.

Tears streamed down Candy's young face as she stared down over the makeshift grave marker. The tears blurred her vision, and she rubbed her eyes to clear them away. Her vision only got more blurry, and she grew feint. She tried to shake it off, but she passed right out.

This time, she did awaken in a doctor's bed, cold compress to her forehead. The poison had down a real number on her, not sure so sure which was real, Candy or Arcadia? It didn't help matters that the doctor standing over her called her by yet third name, ”Miss Lina? Can hear me? Ah yes good you're awake. Thought we were going to lose you there for awhile. You've been out since yesterday.”

Kath was standing just off to the doctor's side, and she quickly spoke up once she saw the very confused girl in bed had finally woken up. “Oh. She's awake? She's awake! Good.. good. Thank you for everything doctor. I think it's best for Ms. Reese's privacy if we take her home and allow her private physicians to finish with the rest of her recovery.”

The doctor looked skeptical and frowned, ”Normally I'd say no, but maybe in Miss Lina's case we can make an exception. The hospital does not have the security budget to provide the peace and quiet she needs to rest. We just don't have the Jewel to keep that much security around, and her fans are a special breed. I'll go take care of the paper work.”

She had survived the worst of the poison, and so had her magical disguise as Lina. For her sake and the real Lina's they left Arcadia disguised while she recovered at Lina's home. She spent the rest of the week piecing together what was real, and what was poison-induced fever dream.

By the time the real Lina was scheduled to return, they had caught the culprit. Her mind still muddled a little, she thanked both Kath and Lina. Before she could finish thanking them, Lina hugged her body double and thanked her for risking her life, and apologized. If see had known about the attacker, she'd never had asked anyone to take on the job.

Little Arcadia was extra glad to be herself again, and just as glad to have her pale blonde head hit her own pillow the first night back at Fairy Hills. She was sure a heavy dose of real home would help her straighten out the lingering mess the poison had left in her mind.

WC: 2206
Total WC: 4062/3500