Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail
Takachi is ready for a fight. Not because she likes to fight, but because she'd like to get a picture of cool wizards fighting.
Takachi Lias, recently 12 and relatively new to being a freelance photographer. Currently unsuccessful, she prefers to focus on the future instead of her lacking social skills.
As of a year ago she lives with her grandparents. A nice couple in Hargeon who are surprisingly okay with this endeavor.
Right now Takachi's trying to get past the crowd blocking the train station. If there really are dark wizards inside, she'll have to be at the front to get a good shot.
It's risky but that's what makes it a good idea. The riskier the action, the greater the reward. That's what her grandpa told her, as a retired treasure hunter, he probably knows what he's talking about. That gives her more courage when the red headed knight, standing on top of the station, starts talking.
"Attention this station has been taken over by dark wizards." Is a good sign she reminds herself. If she can get a picture of a known dark wizard, she'd get tons of money. 20,000 jewels would be enough for her to get her grandma a birthday gift, and a candy bar.
Thinking of the money helps Takachi when the crowd starts running in the opposite direction, quite violently she might add. She dodges multiple times to avoid getting trampled in the panic. At this point she's still aware of the danger so she ducks into a nearby alley to avoid future detection from dark wizards.
A murder assasin she reminds herself, grey eyes covered by spiky sholder length hair. Sandy hair aside, Takachi peeks out of the alley with her camera at the ready. She spends several minutes sitting in the alley. In the back of her mind she figures she should be less excited and more anxious when the wizard comes into view.
A scary scythe, lots of tattoos, and flying(which is awesome) further confirm her suspicions when he finally came into sight. She had of course noted the redhead as a possible criminal, but this guy was far more suspicious.
'Come on' she thinks as she waits for the villian to turn around. When the guy turns around she takes a picture as soon as she possibly can. Before falling back into the alley.
She holds her breath waiting to see if the dangerous criminal noticed her. Her lungs are starting to burn when he finally takes off into the air, with him finally gone she releases the breath she was holding. "That was close" she mutters, before getting up and running out of the alley. Continuing down the abandoned street in excitement, having successfully gotten a dark wizard's picture.
XXX
It takes her longer than she expected to get back to Hargeon, but she knows it would have been odd if there were no delays.
Though that doesn't bother her when she races through the streets of her hometown. Looking for the utterly unpopular Weekly Wizard's headquarters. Sure, it was a repurposed bakery, but Takachi took a level of pride in the fact that the photos she took were sized down and placed in the back of the paper.
She felt sorry for all the kids that stayed in school and ended up with well paying jobs. Honestly, who would choose that over an exciting part time job, with zero health benefits? Takachi was enthralled with the life of a part time photographer. Similar thoughts occupied her mind when she raced inside the newspaper building.
"Uh, Mr. Barns?" She asked the greying Clerk, owner, and lead publisher who happened to occupy the spacious desk in the unspacious enclosure.
"Yes?" He answered.
"So I got these, um pictures." she started " And I think they're pretty good. There's this, uh, dark wizard. In the pictures"
"Oh, can I see?" Mr. Yamaguchi said, gesturing for the camera.
"Oh, right" Takachi muttered, handing over her camera. Mr. Yamaguchi's face made no move to be anything other than blank, as he scrolled through the camera's film. Until he finally commented.
"I'll give you 25,000 jewels for your pictures." He says, Takachi mentally, and not mentally, cheered. She'd be able to buy a soda with the extra money, maybe even set it aside for another train ticket.
"Deal!" She says "I mean, that'd be, uh alright." Which sounded way cooler to her.
She waited in anticipation while Mr. Yamaguchi rifled through his wallet for the four 500 jewel notes and five 100 jewel notes that he owed her. "Here." He says, handing over the money.
"...Thank you" She finally says, As he hands over the money. A moment later, after transfering the photos onto his storage lacrima, he hands back the camera. After getting the money and her camera she runs out of the establishment intent on finding her grandma a good birthday present.
XXX
She heads closer to the docks, knowing a few shops down there. The sun's about to set but she's not worried. The docks in this area are commercial and aren't accompanied by the crime many docks face. Aside from the illegal smugglers that visited a week ago, they were apprehended of course .
Hargeon doesn't have much crime, sure you get the occasional pirate and smuggler but it's not that bad.
More importantly was the question of what she should get her grandma. A knickknack to remind her of her glory days as a treasure hunter? 'Nah, her and grandpa have more than enough souvenirs.' Then how about a snowglobe? 'That's a good idea, but what sort of snowglobe should I get her?'
Takachi was thinking hard by the time she entered "Cheap Trinkets for Cheapskates". It was one of her favorite shops for gift buying. Not because she didn't care enough to spend good money on gifts, but because it had gifts of great quality. She, on an unrelated note, believed that if you could get something cheaper for similar quality, you should. It was one of her grandpa's many sayings.
The store was filled to the brim with all the random trinkets anyone would ever need. Jenna, an unhealthily pale blond managed the store, which she co-founded along with her older brother. She was one of the few people capable of correctly navigating the store.
Which is why Takachi knew she needed to ask the manager where the snowglobes were, but she also knew that would be awkward. Not for any specific reason, just that it would be. So Takachi nervously browsed the aisles searching for an impossible goal, all while keeping an eye peeled on the increasingly orange sky.
'Focus' She reminded herself. There are six aisles in the store and to two walls, each containing trinkets, the other two walls contain the check out line and shop windows. 'I've been through two aisles. While I don't remember the exacts, I do know the general items. Come on, Focus!'
'There were lots of figurines and bracelets in aisle one, what does that tell me?' She thinks in a moment of total concentration.'Lucky charms, this aisle was themed.'
Aisle two had action figures, magazines, and disposable cameras 'Okay, what do those have in common?' Action figures are of popular characters and people, magazines popularize those characters, and disposable cameras take pictures.
'That must be a media themed aisle. So what would snowglobes be grouped with?' Snow globes, they're in touristy shops a lot right? So what would they sort those with? 'Greeting cards, probably' That's it!
Takachi runs to one of the walls which, among other things, was covered in greeting cards. Scanning the wall until she spotted the holy grail. Technically it was a snowglobe, but in that moment it was the answer to all worldly problems. Takachi swiped the snowglobe in a heartbeat before dashing to the checkout line. The sky was turning from dark red to purple.
"Um could I buy this?" Takachi asked. At least she was right about it being awkward.
"Sure" The manager said, ringing up the snowglobe. "That'll be 14,000 jewels." She finished with a smile.
Takachi fished the required money out of her pocket. She then placed the money next to the register.
"Here you go," the manager said, handing over the snow globe. Which Takachi grabbed as soon as humanly possible, while avoiding being impolite. Then Takachi sprinted out of the store. The eye-catching sort of thing Takachi would have avoided if she wasn't in such a hurry.
The sky was almost entirely purple by the time Takachi made it home. She wasted no time hurrying up the steps and into the house. Later, after wrapping the present she realised there was a near identical one on the mantle. Thankfully her grandma had bad vision.