Fairy Tail: Dawn of Change by Melissa Nichols (books to read for self improvement txt) 📕

Happy, a few other guild members came over to greet the newcomers. She had to stop herself from rushing to Gray, the urge to run up to him and declare her admiration was so strong. Somehow she stopped herself and instead smiled at him.
Natsu did the introductions, since he and Happy were the only wizards the two groups had in common.
"Guys," He began, addressing his fellow members of Fairy Tail. "This is Lucy and Roxanne. Lucy, Roxanne, this is Gray,"
The black-haired, bare-chested wizard stepped forward to shake their hands. "Welcome to Fairy Tail." Roxanne could almost feel her heart beating in her chest, beating so quickly that she thought it'd stop from exhaustion.
 
"Thank you!" The girls replied, Roxanne said a bit breathily.
"Elfman, Mira's brother," Natsu introduced the big, muscle-y mage.
"Nice to meet ya!" Despite his size his smile was kind, and his huge hand was gentle when he bent down to shake Roxanne's.
"And Macao and Wakaba." Natsu finished the introductions with two of the oldest wizards in the guild, though they didn't look like it yet.
"Hi, ladies." Wakaba greeted them, and Macao pushed his half-flirting friend aside. "Welcome!"
Roxanne giggled. "Nice to meet you!"

Thirty minutes later, the girls left the guild hall and made their way to the port side of the city, where the markets were located. Well, it seemed to be more like one huge marketplace with restaurants and storefronts tossed in, but it was an adventure in and of itself. The anime hadn't shown much of the city so it was fun for Roxanne to build up a more accurate mental map of the city. However, she still clung close to Lucy because there was quite an enormous crowd and the street wasn't very wide so everyone was crammed together. It would be so easy to lose a companion in the crowd.
The first place they stopped at was a clothing store for kids, where Lucy bought Roxanne two jeans and five shirts, and an outfit for training. Lucy also realized at pretty much the last second that Roxanne needed pajamas, and pretty soon there were two sets of warm, fuzzy pajamas, a nightgown, a bathrobe and slippers on the counter. Roxanne's head spun with how much she was being gifted with, and the jewel that it was costing Lucy. She thanked Lucy profusely, but she just waved it away, saying she wanted to help Roxanne get everything she needed to be comfortable.
The second store was a book and magic store, where Lucy bought several reams of plain paper, a stack of envelopes, several quills and an inkbottle for herself. For Roxanne, she bought a journal, one book - the kind little kids use in school to learn the local language - and another ream of paper, two quills and an ink bottle. The journal was simple enough, but what Roxanne treasured was its presence. With it, she could write down every thought that crossed her mind, every fear or hope or dream. She could also keep track of the date and where in the timeline she found herself. It was a place, the only place, where she could forget that she was pretending to be someone she wasn't, where she could be an average girl from a privileged family who was sucked away and dropped into a fictional world that apparently wasn't so fictional. It was a place where she could strip away her exterior and truly be herself. It was her coping mechanism.
 
Lucy sensed that when she saw Roxanne looking at the journal she now held in her hands. She watched the girl for a bit, watched her stare longingly at the book, and gently, silently, took it and placed it in her basket. Roxanne understood immediately and Lucy could almost swear the sun was right there in the girl's face because her smile was so bright.
The third place they stopped was where they bought the bulk of their items. Both needed various toiletries and personal hygiene items. Lucy needed makeup and she also bought them a fair amount of sweets in case they got what Lucy called 'the munchies' late at night. Lucy also bought a blanket and a pillow from a home goods store and the duo made their way back to the guildhall to settle in for the night. They ate a hearty dinner, which thankfully agreed with Roxanne much more than the lunch from earlier, and they socialized until the sun had left the sky. Then they climbed the stairs, making their way to Roxanne's apartment.
Roxanne had deliberately chosen an apartment on the top floor because she wanted the exercise that will come from climbing all of those stairs twice a day, and because of its location with no nearby apartments being rented out so she could come and go as she please and be as loud as she wanted while practicing.

The apartment was small compared to Roxanne's parent's mansion, but it suited Roxanne well. It was compact and designed for only one or two people. It came with a twin-sized bed with a brand new mattress - apparently she was this apartment's first occupant - and a kitchenette with fridge and freezer, a full-sized bathroom, a wardrobe for her clothes, a desk and a small living room with a sofa and lacrima. She also found a linen closest near the bathroom that was already stocked with a few complete sets of sheets and towels.
Looking in at the small space, Roxanne smiled. This was her place. Her apartment above the Fairy Tail guildhall, and she couldn't be happier. Smiling, she and Lucy agreed that Lucy could take the first bath while Roxanne put away her new clothes, set up the desk and started writing her first entry into her journal. She was careful to not leave out any memory or detail, and she wrote in her native language so that no one else could read it - the runic script here was completely different, and if she couldn't read it, then they couldn't read English. Not that she was worried about people deliberately invading her privacy, but she knew that Natsu and Gray, and even Erza and Happy didn't have much respect for personal space. So she wrote in a language they didn't understand to keep her secrets safe.
When Lucy got out of the bath, Roxanne unfolded the sofa into a bed and dressed it in the sheets, to mark where Lucy would be sleeping until she found her own apartment. Without a word, the two switched places, Lucy fixing up her bed and writing her first letter while Roxanne took her bath.
 
The bathroom was styled interestingly. There were two halves of the surprisingly large room. The first half was made up of a sink, storage areas for her toiletries and two laundry hampers. The other half held a shower area that stood independently, and a tub that was designed to stay full and heated; its main purpose was to soak in after washing away the grime and oil with the shower. She quickly decided that she liked this set up since she could decide if she wanted just the shower or a bath after a long, hard day. She smiled and got undressed as she made her way to the sink, opting to use both this time.
 
An hour later, she dressed in one of the new pajamas, her bathrobe was hanging on the pole by her head with the slippers right where her feet would be tomorrow morning. She slipped herself under the sheets and sighed in contentment.
She was asleep within five minutes.

Chapter Four

Roxanne enjoyed a night without nightmares and groaned when the alarm lacrima sounded at six o'clock the next morning. Lucy groaned as well and reached over to silence the noise while Roxanne sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Morning, Lucy."

 

"Morning, Roxanne." Lucy replied as she yawned. "Mind if I shower first?"

 

"S'fine," Rox mumbled, rubbing her eyes and stumbling out of bed. "I'm gonna get dressed. Meet you downstairs?"

 

"Yeah." Lucy sighed as she got up and made her way to the bathroom, while Roxanne stretched leisurely as she made her way to the wardrobe.

 

"My wardrobe, huh?" she whispered. "That's right. This is my wardrobe. In my Fairy Tail apartment. Above the Fairy Tail guild hall." She bit back a grin, reminding herself again that all of this was real. She reached for the blue training shorts and white tank top, changing quickly and making her way over to the bathroom.

 

She knocked, asking Lucy if she could come in so she could wash up. Lucy agreed and Rox heard a door slide closed soon after. She opened the main door and found the screen that separated the bath area from the toilet and sink areas closed, a screen that she hadn't realized was there. "That's cool," she murmured as she walked to the sink.

 

It didn't take long for Rox to brush her hair, but it took longer to plait it into a braid. Even though her hair was rather long, it was also thick, which made it hard for her to grip the sections between her fingers. And since she couldn't see the back of her head, she had no idea if the braid was straight or crooked. After several minutes of struggling by herself, she finally caved and asked Lucy for help. Luckily, Lucy seemed delighted to help with such a task, exclaiming that she'd never had the chance to play with someone else's hair before. Roxanne supposed it must be because Lucy was an only child and she'd never really had friends, so she had never gotten to do anyone else's hair before.

 

Roxanne smiled as she remembered all of that. She was actually surprised she remembered details like this. After watching the whole anime twice, she was sure that her memory would focus on the late-anime stuff, but it seemed that she remembered the early-anime details as well. Maybe that's because the early-anime details helped to develop the characters, while the details later in the anime were focused more on the plotline?

 

Once they were done, Roxanne left the bathroom. Her face was washed, her hair was brushed and braided into one massive braid and then the braid had been curled up so it wrapped around itself, and then secured with a hair tie. Her teeth were brushed and she had on clean training clothes so there was nothing left to do, and Roxanne went downstairs to face the day.

 

"Good morning, Mirajane," she greeted the older woman as she sat down on one of the barstools, swinging her legs idly.

 

"Good morning, Roxanne. Did you sleep well?" she replied brightly, matching Roxanne's cheery tone of voice easily. In this, the two were exactly matched. Both had a sunny disposition and greeted everyone with smiles.

 

"I did, thanks. Um, I won't have any money for a while, so could I start a tab and pay it off once I can take on jobs?"

 

"I've already started it for you. Makarov told me a bit of your situation. I hope you don't mind."

 

"No, that's fine. Thank you very much."

 

"Sure. Oh, and Master has already ordered your breakfast for you, so that will be ready in just a few minutes."

 

"Great!" Roxanne forced a smile, worried about what she'd be forced to