One
A scrawny boy darted through the busy London streets dragging a hesitant blue-haired girl behind him. They reached the end of Fournier Street and quickly rushed inside the old pub on the corner. The Ten Bells or 'Fairy Tail' as it was known by the locals was the embodiment of a warm, hearty English pub. So welcoming in fact that most of the regulars never left either booking a room or falling asleep in the chairs by the fire and hoping the barmaids were kind enough to let them stay the night.
"Is my dad 'ere?" the boy asked the white-haired beauty manning the bar. She smiled down at him as she shook her head and offered him a drink. After a few minutes she noticed the small, pale girl standing nervously at the bar.
"Oh my, little Romeo's found his Juliet I see!" she gushed. Romeo blushed deeply while glancing at the girl to his left.
"Mira-nee! It's not like that. They were sending 'er to the workhouse." With that the girl began to sniffle as silent tears rolled down her gaunt cheeks. She hadn't eaten in days so picked up a small pie that had fallen out of someone's bag and been accused of stealing by the bakers boy since they knew she hadn't bought anything. The police had decided to 'go easy on her' by sending her to the workhouse. If Romeo hadn't pulled her away in time then… Her solemn trail of thought was interrupted by a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"We'll look after you now. We'd never let one of our own get sent to that dreadful place. I'm Mirajane, nice to meet you."
"I'm W-Wendy" the young girl stuttered. Victorian London was not a place where you easily placed trust in strangers, especially in the East End. However something was different about these people. They were warm.
Just then a wild young man burst through the door pushing his messy, pink hair out of his eyes and shouting obscenities over his shoulder. He flashed Wendy and Romeo a toothy grin before going to sit as close to the fire as possible. A few seconds later a broody teen of about the same age as the rosy-haired boy entered and glowered at the former's back.
"I'm back." He muttered before reaching behind the bar and pouring self a drink and adding several lumps of ice to it from his pockets. Mirajane just smiled at the sulky, dark haired boy as he went to sit in the corner furthest away from the fire.
"That's Gray and that's Natsu," Romeo gestured to the two newcomers "Gray sells ice down on the Thames and Natsu works for the blacksmith Gajeel."
"Wiv not for!" Natsu shouted from the fireplace.
"Introduce yourself then hothead." Retorted Gray from the corner.
A steely glare from the barmaid shut them both up. After all Fairy Tail was a pub for the poor and their cheap prices didn't make enough profit to keep repairing the furniture after bar fights. Laki the carpenter would have happily made more tables and chairs if they needed them but Mira was not a fan of the strange and sometimes scary decorations that were carved into all of Laki's creations. Not to mention the wooden weapons or torture devices Laki insisted throwing in for free (which usually ended up as firewood).
As the evening went on the pub gradually filled with all sorts of working class people. Everyone seemed to know each other and rowdy, drunken banter filled the air.
Wendy learnt that the buxom brunette playing cards with Gray was a fortune-teller and not actually a prostitute (not since her father who was a hardened soldier had come back and scared away any man that so much glanced at her) but she would do anything for a free drink or two. Evergreen was actually prostitute and sat in a dark corner with a gang of muscly and scarred men with the bar owner's grandson as the boss. A man with long, green hair called Freed, the most respectable looking out of the bunch, was a lawyer and had defended the rest of the group numerous times. She was told that she didn't want to know what the other two men and Mirajane's brother got up to…
There was also a small schoolteacher engrossed in a book next to the heavily pierced man who was the blacksmith Natsu worked for. A bricky woman with flowing scarlet hair worked in the bakery and was talking to a woman named Juvia who sold produce down at the docks. Another of Mirajane's siblings worked in the kitchen and behind the bar, she had been Natsu's childhood sweetheart before she contracted cholera and had been bedridden for two years.
More introductions could wait; the poor, new girl was swaying and barely able to stay on her feet from both hunger and exhaustion. Mira ushered her out of the bar and round the back where she offered her a bed and a hot meal. Gesturing to a room up the stairs Mira left to attend the bar.
Curled up on Wendy's new bed was a small cat with slick, white fur.
"Carla! You knew I was going to be 'ere didn't you?" the young girl sniffled before falling into a deep sleep with the cat clutched to her chest.