Fairy Tail Productions: Wildlife Documentary (Job - Garnet, Mura)

Arcadia stretched on out in her chair, and finished off her orange-mango slushie mix. She had been looking over her latest production notes for Pamphlets Flying in the Air, adding changes here and there. A stray thought entered her mind, while looking over her on her iLac. She could expand the projects she was working on. To make a case of making Fairy Tail Productions an official part of the guild, it'd be good to get not just one production done, but a small variety to demonstrate the market.

The pale blonde slayer rubbed her chin in thought, ”Might be fun to follow animals around and s how peoples how they live. Would need more than one camera though.” She quickly scrolled back through a few of her latest messages with a few friends, mostly some kids she met once in the East Forest. The Magnolia Seis, they called themselves now, alas, they were all busy for the next couple weeks.

Arcadia didn't really want to wait, she wanted to get straight to recording whatever animals she could find around Magnolia. She brought up the newest addition to her contacts, and the only guildmate she knew to have a phone, Garnet. Having him provide an extra camera would make it more of a Fairy Tail production. She glanced around the guild hall, maybe one of her other guildmates would make a more interesting and attention grabbing subject to record than animals.

While mulling that over to started a new message to Garnet:

Hey! Arcadia here. I've been trying to start a media production arm to our guild, and was thinking it might be fun to make a movie with our iLacs. Wanna help me? If animals don't strike your fancy to record, we could always document the day in the life of one of her other guild mates. That might get more views too.”

Job Details
Free Form Job (D-Rank)

WC: 314
Arcadia's Total WC: 314/1000

”Heaven’s Wheel of Swords…”
”Dragonskin…”
”Metallic Jab…”
”Wrathborn…”
”Crescent Strike…”
”Eternal Dimension Beam…”
”Zeroshiki Bladerunner…”
”Spinning Dragon Rush…”
”… Nah, I think one-worded names would suit better… what about Avalanche?”
“Fiend?”
“Ryakketsu…”
“… More words. What about Dimension Smash?”
“*cackle* I mean… Duality?”
“Duality what?”
“Duality… nah, Dual Inception…”
“Dragon Crown…”
“Unlimited Blade Works…”
“Dragon Fist…”
“… I like the way you think.”

And for the longest time, those two ghosts were just having a bout on who could come up with the best name for their moves and signature executions. Meanwhile, Mura was doing something much more important - fulfilling his duty as the Ace, the Onii-chan, the Listening Ear of Fairy Tail of today, resonating the duties of his predecessors from ancient times of glory and dramas… sleeping on his front on a nearby bench like he didn’t care.

He’d been through enough until now… he wanted this sleep, and he made sure to get it.

“Zzz…”

WC: 159

Arcadia smiled to Garnet as the Inking entered the main guild hall. She waved to him and got up to meet him, her iLac kept firmly in hand.   It would be many things today, translator, production camera, portable office to hold her production notes. ”So you wanna film one of our guildmates, huh?  Hmm I wonder..”

She noted the two ghosts naming their attacks and the sound of Mura sleeping She smiled brightly, ”Mura would be perfect! And... and we can interview his friends Kyuken and Zirconis for it too. I hope that fancy iLac of yours has a good camera. We're probably going to need both of ours iLacs to get all the shots we need. Hmm  I wonder if we should ask him if it's alright if we filmed a day in his life.. or would it be more authentic guerrilla style? Hey we can ask his ghost friends if it'd be alright. Dun need to wake Mura if we dun havta. It wouldn't be very nice.”

She lead the way over to Mura, Kyuken and Zirconis. The little slayer waved to the two ghosts, lowering her voice, ”Hey guys, this is Garnet, he's helping me with a new Fairy Tail documentary for the lacrima-net.  Garnet, this is Zirconis and Kyuken. Two of Mura's ghost friends. And uh oh yeah so guys..if we wanted to do a day in life of Mura, do you think it'd be better to ask him or do it  in disguise for a more authentic look? And would you mind doing interviews?”

WC: 259

Arcadia Total WC: 573

”’Ello there, Arcadia, Garnet!” Kyuken greeted them, whilst Zirconis simply put up a smile. The two Fairy Tail Wizards had arrived with some intention in their expressions, so Kyuken readied to hear their request. It was likely something childish in his opinion… did they want a piggyback ride from Mura? Perhaps some lollipops? A good book? Kyuken knew a good amount of high-quality books… that weren’t for children. Oh well.

A documentary? That was a new one… uh…

“… What’s a documantar?” Kyuken asked out curiously. Even Zirconis had never heard the word before - they were both taken by surprise. Arcadia mentioned that she and Garnet were planning to do a day in Mura’s life, so… did they want to live his life for a day or? Maybe they meant biography? “… Oh, yeah, a day in Mura’s life… that sounds fun,” the samurai ghost replied with his mask of ‘I get it now’, “He’d obviously want you to make it more authentic… you should do a disguise. Mura isn’t the sharpest knife in the shelf, anyway.” “Yes, he’s too burdened with this rubbish loudmouth,” Zirconis commented, spawning a vein on Kyuken’s forehead. “Well, he’s also burdened by this irresponsible catfish!” he spoke back to the dragon ghost.

Lightning bolts were visible travelling between their eyes…

“*cough*… Anyway, Mura will begin his quest soon. You better find a good disguise; we’ll keep his distracted if things go south,” the dragon ghost added.

WC: 159 + 243 = 402

Arcadia's mind began racing for possible disguises that might work. She began to do a little thinking out loud. "Umm... oh! How about I make me and Garnet invisible, and then create illusions of two more ghosts. Yoi c an tell 'im we're long lost relatives. Noo... Mura's probably got magics that let him tell real ghosts just by looking at them. What about images of living long lost relatives... or better yet a story that doesn't require magical disguise. Like, we're making a documentary on the haunted places around Magnolia, and so we'll just be tagging along to get footage of Kyuken and Zirconis in action! And if the footage we get of ghosts happens to be more exciting than Mura's day, we can always go ahead and actually make that video instead. I say that 'cuz if I recorded a day in my life on a day I didn't have a job to go out on, it might be a pretty boring video."

She smiled glanced between Garnet and the two ghosts. "That sound alright? I hope so, 'cuz it sounds better than sneaking around invisible all day. We could do it, but it's not that easy, especially when you only got waiting to do."

WC: 207
Arcadia's Total WC: 780

”Zzz…”

It was a wonder that the shaman heard nothing. Just keep sleeping, Ace of Fairy Tail.

“Then it’s settled, then. Let’s go to the basement of Kardia Cathedral; there are usually crazy spirits seeking that place to try and group up and transform into Onryō. Watch out, though; normally, magic can’t contact with their bodies… but Mura’s can,” the samurai ghost explained as he soared closer to the sleeping shaman, “So… WAKE UP, ALREADY! WE GOT A REPORT OF PARANORMALIA IN KARDIA CATHEDRAL!!!” Mura’s whole body jolted up in the air by the screaming ghost, quickly jumping into action - grabbing his unsheathed katana Harusame and his red dagger Futsu-no-Mitama, he dismissed the two other Fairy Tail Wizards without worrying about them following him: “T-To the Cathedral, guys…!”

“W-What about Arcadia and Garnet?! Can’t they come with you!”

“Okay…!”

“Well, you heard him,” the samurai ghost informed them, clearly following the plan; Mura would put all his focus into his duties, and meanwhile, Arcadia and Garnet would pretend to document the very haunted place… but in reality, they would document the oblivious Mura.

WC: 184 + 402 = 586

Arcadia double checked her iLac's disk space, excited for one of her first active productions. This one was much more playing it by ear than planned out than her other projects so far. As she scampered to follow behind Mura, garnet and their two ghostly consultants , she hoped this would give it all a raw, real quality that would help gain the documentary views on the lacrima-net.

She giggled and grinned over to Garnet, tapping her camera on, and hitting record before getting out the guild hall doors. Arcadia hurried along to keep up, her little legs falling behind every time she started to walk. The little pale blonde slayer took her time to get a little B-roll of the sights they were passing on the way to Kardia Cathedral. She focused on a close ups of a street vendor stalls, people walking down the street. She did run ahead to get closes up of Mura heading through the streets of Magnolia, and to keep the appearance of shooting a documentary on haunted places, she got a few close ups of Zirconis and Kyuken too.

Little Arcadia also rushed ahead again, getting a nice a establishing shot of the imposing Kardia Cathedral. She then turned back to get a shot of Mura approaching the Cathedral, throwing out a question to him, ”How many ghosts do you think we'll find in there, Mura?”

Inside she'd continue getting some B-roll of the cathedral's interior, but she did begin to focus more on footage of Mura and hist ghostly consultants, focusing her iLac where any conversation might flow. Her ears tried to keep alert of any scary sounds as her imagination didn't find it too hard to believe they might find some actual ghosts in this place. Sure it was quite impressive and beautifully Gothic, but that's what made it feel like strange ghosts would gather here... just because it just the kind of settings so many ghost stories might have.

WC: 329
Arcadia's Total WC: 1109

Once Arcadia caught up to him, she asked him about the Cathedral and how many ghosts that he thought would encounter them there. He didn’t really know or care about the quantities, but he would simply answer: “Eh, about hundred-ish. We’re right next to a graveyard, after all.” This place would reek with ghosts, no doubt… that would do good for the documentary, right?

Anyway, Mura usually dashed right into such trivial issues with confidence. He kept a confined, smiling face and opened the gate to the giant hall inside the cathedral - the same hall where he met the strange ladies from the demon hunting clan case a few years ago. The inside of the cathedral was just as mesmerizing as the outside, and he hoped that Arcadia and Garnet would get some sweet recordings of the place. However, terrifying omens lurked near the staircase to the basement. As a blackened infection, dark-brown marks grew out from the entrance in the eyes of the shaman, and those marks reeked with magic. You see, ghosts and haunting spirits weren’t as random as the masses would assume; things usually had a pattern with causes, effects and solutions with several outcomes.

Mura didn’t expect to see an Onryō with the characteristics of a Midian here in the heart of Fiore. Like straight out of a horror movie, a girl donning a white kimono with bloody textures and a wrathful, demonic face crawled out from the staircase and stood up on her feet. Mura didn’t hesitate in unsheathing Harusame, his trusty katana, and as he awaited the Onryō to make her move, the spirit was blinded with angers from its past life that drove it to attack the human who was able to see her so easily. It was strange how magic affected one’s vision over those roaming the realm of the dead, and it differed from person to person. Mura assumed that Arcadia’s dragon-enhanced senses were much more adapted to see these things, but he didn’t know about Garnet. Other than his two companions, could other wizards see all types of ghosts?

He thought about that as Harusame was dashed forward in a spear-like formation, easily cutting through the ghost’s entire body and splitting it in two. Like fleeing smoke, it dissolved into a faint image of a girl running back down into the basement. “… Oh, yeah,” he realized, hoping to contribute to the documentary about the haunted place here, “Uh, we just encountered an Onryō, a malevolent spirit from Midi. Born from the dead people who hated too much in life for some reasons - perhaps wanting revenge on someone or straight-up mad. She was very angry, and they’re typically very hostile towards anybody, but I’m trying to fend her off so that she can lead me to the core of this issue…” He began approaching the staircase that led downwards.

“Let’s follow her.”

WC: 586 + 484 = 1070

It was hard for Arcadia not to jump in and help Mura with the Onryō. This was the sort of thing he dealt with all the time. She and Garnet were here primarily as documentarians, and secondarily as backup. Arcadia figured if it came down to providing that backup, then they will have stumbled into something bigger than any out than bargained for.

Arcadia aimed her iLac camera at the Onryō, uncertain if it would show up or not. She made sure to zoom in for a couple seconds. Zooming back out, she panned back to Mura. The barefoot slayer did her best not to lose any of the action. She ended up with a wider shot, because having the shot framed in too close on either Mura or the Onryō would have meant missing half the action. She bit her lip to keep from gasping at how the sword just clove the Onryō in two an drove it back.

When Mura started narrating, Arcadia zoomed back in on him, wishing more than once she had a better microphone than her iLac probably had. She could either ask Mura to redub some of that later in post or maybe for authenticity, she could just add subtitles. Arcadia also got a couple close-ups of Zirconis and Kyuken to edit in as reaction shots later, even if they're reactions would not be quite the same as their true expressions during Mura's actual narration.

After recording Mura going down the stairs, Arcadia got a shot looking down the stairs and one looking back the way the came. She was not sure she was going to use all of these, but she was doing her best to grab whatever shot seemed like it might be useful to throw in later to help the narrative flow of the documentary. If the rest of Mura's day was as interesting as recording him sleeping, this documentary on the haunted places of Magnolia might just turn out to be the project she makes instead. That action stuff she knew would get thousands of views or more on the lacrima-net. She recrodered her own journey down the stairs as a possible POV shot. She turned her iLac on Mura and his ghost companions before turning it to look for the Onryō.

WC: 382
Arcadia WC: 1491