Birds of a Feather

Being in a guild, without a doubt, is a lot of work. There are jobs to take care of, places to clean, magic to train, and a bevy of rules to follow. It was because of that immense amount of work that a day like this where Illya could simply have a day off was something of a blessing. She could spend her time outside, taking in Magnolia's warm sea breezes and the friendly atmosphere of some other festival. As per usual, she was asked to join in a concert that night, but Illya was unsure if she would. It would be the first festival since she joined Fairy Tail, and a part of her wanted to simply rest and relax for once. After all, with the recent completion of a few jobs, she actually had extra money for once to purchase something. She browsed amongst the stalls, looking for something to buy. She was thinking that her current attire, while cute, could use an upgrade, so she went about searching for any stalls that would sell clothes. While it should not have come as a surprise, Illya was nonetheless disappointed by the lack of cute clothes the various shops had to offer. Any festival-unique stall only sold Fairy Tail-related merchandise. Of course, she would all the same mull over the purchase before taking a disappointed look towards her thin wallet and shrugging off most purchases. Even with her desire to save funds for a new instrument, she could not help buying some of the goods the stalls had for sale.

"Arcadia has her own chibi keychains?!" Illya squealed upon seeing an entire stall filled with similar keychains. Mura, Arcadia, Ghost, and a bunch of unfamiliar faces had some. She was shocked to even see one of herself. "Although, mine doesn't exactly look too great..." she mumbled quietly.

"It's nothing personal, Miss Pegasus!" the stall's owner apologized. "It's just that you're new to the guild and the manufacturers haven't exactly gotten a good model of you yet. Out of apologies, take one of the others for free. I heard you talking about the Arcadia one! Real popular, that Arcadia."

Illya smiled, gratefully accepting the offer. She hooked the keychain around her headphones, singing quietly to herself. It was certainly exciting to finally be a part of a festival without having to worry about a performance at night and while knowing some of the people the merchandise showed in person. Only time could tell how much better this day could get.

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WC: 420

There definitely was something to say on the topic of being in a guild. For someone whom was genuinely happy by this, it may not have felt like such a chore. However, there was one new member whom felt she worked harder than others to get to the same place. Be it that she chose this out of fear or just using it as a lie for some advanced method of satisfaction in her hard work was beyond her. Even sticking to more menial tasks as not to be required or find it a necessary act to use her magic was something she was looking for at first. She couldn’t face those fears. Not without someone who would be able to help her. Being that she wasn’t up to using her magic, she was unsure of how strong they truly were, but the fear that they would turn on her was too much to make her want to be as productive as she had hoped to be.

But today was about escaping those thoughts. Getting herself into a better mental mood was something she sought to help get through the day. And what better of an idea than a mini shopping spree!?~ So many stalls about the place seeking to sell any number of things from clothes, to accessories, to some form of memorabilia. It wasn’t a hard choice to come by here and pick a few cute things up for herself. A couple of t-shirts with her guilds logo on them, a nice couple wristbands, new sunglasses with a leopard print to which she wore at the moment. They fit so well and looks so cute that not wearing them would be a crime!

As she continue to window shop a little, the crowd ahead was seeming to get a little uneasy. Before she knew it, the red head was shoved out of the way and bumping into several others. She stumbled but managed to catch herself on the stall where a fellow guild member had happened to be standing. Her guild mark would be bored easily on the top of her left hand in its bright pink color. ”Ugh, such a rude ass.” She commented, huffing only to see several people tackling the runner. Whispers quickly spread through he crowd about this thief whom had been running only to be tackled by the guild mages nearby, which was quickly waved off. “Are you ok, miss?” The stall man had asked, making Cersei turned around some, facing Illya and the merchant. ”Yeah, I’m good. Thanks for asking.” She would pause and look toward the fellow red haired girl, smiling and fixing her sunglasses some. ”I didn’t bump into you, did I? I’m surprised that jack hole didn’t push me hard enough to fly over the stall counter.” Her hands at her hips, she rolled her eyes a little over the whole thing.

483 words

Her fellow guildmate had bumped into her, Illya only roughly seeing the commotion that caused this. "Yeah, just a little bit, but it's all fine. You're part of Fairy Tail, right?" Illya put a finger to her chin, trying to remember her name. "Cersei, right? Cersei LaRoux! Yeah, I remember you! I haven't really talked to you much, but I guess I'm just good with names. Oh, speaking of, my name's Illya Pegasus!"

Illya smiled, assuring her fellow guildmate that there was no issue. "It's always so nice to see festivals like this in Magnolia. Bit of a shame that the guild doesn't get involved as often as my boss said that Fairy Tail used to, but it's all good. I'm just so used to being involved in these festivals anyways." She turned around to the stall, ensuring that the figurines were still intact. "Doesn't look like they have a figurine of you, though. I'm guessing that you'll get your figures in the same time my proper ones come in."

A light breeze brushed past, causing both the girls' hair to sway. Illya took a look at Cersei and could already see some physical similarities. "I have to say, you look absolutely wonderful!~ I could admittedly use some tips in looking a bit better." She chuckled lightly. "I'm not exactly the best with money when I have it. It's painful having to hold back on buying everything here, so I've just settled with this little Arcadia keychain for now." An idea popped into her head. "I know! Once your keychain comes in, I'll be sure to buy it! Maybe I should get ones for everyone in the guild...but Ghost is a bit weird, but I'm sure he's well-meaning, being in Fairy Tail and all." She brushed off her rambling, smiling once more. "How's about we do some shopping together? I'm not exactly sure how much I can afford, but I'll definitely browse at least."

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WC: 324
TWC: 744

Someone was a pretty quick study for sure. Happy to hear that she was known by someone she’d never met put a smile on her face and bolstered her slightly shotty self esteem. What was already beginning to recuperate was becoming a little more better sitting thing now that she had the fact that someone had noticed that she was even a member outside of maybe Arcadia and then the higher ups. Maybe there was just something she didn’t look into that she got herself into forgetting existed and that was more of an archive of some sort of members. Either way, she smiled and nodded, and stood herself up off of the stand. ”Yeah, I’m Cersei. If you prefer, you can just call me Cherry or something. Whatever easier for you, Illya.” She have an easy going smile. She knew people could have trouble pronouncing the name properly, so the nickname of her favorite fruit was always a nice surprise.

As the moments passed, it occurred to Cersei just how much of a Chatty Cathy that Illya was. It wasn’t something that she wasn’t used to. But the fact that she didn’t sound like some spoiled rich girl was a lovely change of pace. Though it was hypocritical of her to say that when sometimes she could be the same, but in the long run, she had paid as best of attention as she could considering Magnolia was still a bit of a foreign shopping concept to her. She was used to the upscale area of Clover, so a smaller, more middle classed type of place like Magnolia was a whole new, but fun world. The red haired teen simply nodded her head while she spoke, letting Illya just continue on until she was fun.

As a breeze passed by the two, she had been a little surprised by the sudden compliment that she had gotten. Fixing the sunglasses on her face, she continued to stare on through them while they partially hid the slightly pink cheeks of a surprised summoner. ”Thank you, Illya. You look really cute yourself.” She returned the compliment, adjusting her view to the keychains before she had looked back at the other newbie mage. ”Yeah, I’m not worried if I get one or not. Not at least until I prove myself. Maybe then I’ll be more inclined to be like, on par with Arcadia.” She know the ice mage that she met was high up on the guilds radar, so it was no wonder she was as popular as she was.

The mention of someone named ghost made the prude in her laugh. This one a little more audible than most. ”Is that what he introduced himself as? Seems pretty silly to me someone would want to go by something as dumb as that. I personally never met him, but like, I’d have told it to his face. But I digress.” She did a bit of a flick of her hair as she had finished, only to pause at the mere mention of going shopping. Her eyes lit up like a child on Christmas morning and she smiled brightly before looking directly at Illya. ”I’d love to! In fact, lemme treat you to some stuff! No strings attached, I promise!” Hopefully she didn’t come off as wanting to be the type to buy the girls friendship or favors. This was simply Cersei being friendly to someone who chose to speak to her first. Besides, she was fueling a shopoholic, so this worked out well for her.

592 words
1075 total words

Cersei's offer to pay for Illya's shopping certainly was surprising. "Are you sure you want to pay for me, Cherry? I might get a bit expensive with my purchases." Nonetheless, Illya shrugged. "Though I suppose my bills usually go up when I'm buying instruments and not necessarily with clothes. Might not be able to tell, but I kinda get a bit preoccupied when it comes to buying things other than clothes, even though I like to look good and-" She stopped herself when she realized she was talking a lot. "Ah, sorry, I kinda like talking a lot when I get preoccupied. Just one of the things that happens. Used to being a in service jobs. You kinda get used to conversations." She gave an impish smile towards Cherry. "Working in service also means that I notice little details about people pretty well, especially in concerns to Magnolia, and I can tell you aren't from here. Just kinda the way you walk and talk and carry yourself, you know? But I suppose that's neither here nor there. We're in the same guild now, right? That's all that matters." She gave a smile. "Have you been around Magnolia for long? It's a wonderful town, I can assure you!" She had a sudden pride about her in regards to Magnolia. "Magnolia! Town of Festivals! Home of the legendary guild Fairy Tail! Not a town greater in all of Fiore!"

She gave another smile, letting her boasting stick in the air for a moment. "To be honest, I am a bit biased. I've lived here my whole life. Didn't even leave town until I started working with Fairy Tail. Well, at least not by myself. I'd go with my crew for concerts and whatnot, but they're all really boring. My manager especially. Such a pain, always bossing me around and all that!" She once again realized she was ranting about herself again. "Sorry! Again, I do that at times, just kinda ramble on about other things. But I'm sure you'll absolutely love Magnolia! The food here is great and the festivals are all super lovely! I was looking for clothes over here, seeing if there were any festival unique things, but looks like not much. Maybe we can find something around here, but unsure. It's all good, though! I'd be glad to look around more with you, though I'll at least pitch in a bit for some of my stuff. I'd feel bad letting you pay for all of it yourself.

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WC: 418
TWC: 1162