"Aw man! I can't wait to soak in the tub!" A familiar blonde said, stretching out her arms as the group walked towards Magnolia. The dark-haired wizard next to her nodded his head in agreement.
"It was a rather rough job, despite being a low-level one. I mean, who would have thought there would be a horde of ogre just chilling in that man's basement?"
"Gray...clothes."
"REALLY!?" He ran back to collect the discarded materials. Lucy giggled as she looked over at Natsu, who was having an in-depth conversation with Happy about the size of the fish they had at the diner on the way. She smiled to herself. This was truly a great group. Despite the whole almost destroying the town, they managed to bring home a sizable bonus because of the unexpected additional work. She was perfectly content with that.
"Do you really think it's necessary to walk all the way back to Magnolia when we could have just rode the train?" The red-haired mage asked, coming to walk beside Lucy. She towed her large cart filled with even more goods than usual today. Lucy smiled at Erza and nodded.
"We're not that far, and last time Natsu puked on my new skirt. Besides, it's a BEAUTIFUL day and I could use the exercise." She emphasized the last part by grinning and clutching her slender arm, showing off her lack of muscle.
"Hey Lucy if you exercised more I bet you'd be as strong as Elfman!" Happy floated over her, grinning. Lucy shuddered to imagine herself with Elfman's muscles, screaming stuff about being manly.
"Shut it, cat."
Once they reached Magnolia, the group decided to head to the guild hall to tell Mirajane and everyone the heroic story of Natsu getting incapacitated by an ogre swinging him around with a rope, and Lucy decided to head home to shower, promising to meet up with them after a little Lucy-time.
As she walked the familiar road to her apartment, Lucy was daydreaming about all of the fun things she and her friends have done the last few weeks. She didn't notice as she rounded a corner, she bumped into a stranger. As she turned to apologize for not noticing her, she blinked, the woman kept walking, and there was an intense magical power coming from her.
Lucy paused, watching the retreating form before turning back towards her apartment. 'What was with that girl? I got an odd feeling from her.' She shrugged it off, secretly hoping in the back of her mind that it wasn't a foreshadowing to another great battle. Surely not, right?
As she lay in the tub, the steam rising around her, Lucy moaned and stretched out. "This is what I'm talking about!" She cooed. Plue popped his head out of the water and smiled, shaking as always. "PLUUUE~"
"Awe you like it too, huh, Plue? Sometimes it's so nice to relax after a long day." She smiled down at the little celestial spirit and patted his head.
"Still, I can't shake that creepy feeling that lady gave me..." She muttered, more to herself than to Plue. The spirit cocked his head and gave a gentle 'plue-pluuuuue'.
"You're right, I should probably head to the guild just to make sure everything is okay." She nodded, pulling the plug from her bath.
"Alright Plue." She smiled and closed the little creature's gate before getting dressed at strapping her cosmic whip to her hip. She did a once-over in the mirror before heading towards the guild.
"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME, YOU WALKING SPARKLER?"
"YOU HEARD ME, YOU OVERSIZED POPSICLE!"
"Good to see everything is normal around here." Lucy sighed, sitting at the bar where Mira gave a giggle and handed her a strawberry smoothie. The boys continued fighting in the background, and could be heard crashing about recklessly.
"Never a dull moment, right?" Mira smiled leaning against the counter. "By the way, did you hear? We got a new recruit!" Lucy almost choked on her sip. Meanwhile in the background the boys were now cowering under a table, while a particularly terrifying Erza stood glowering over them.
"Really? Who?" Lucy asked, looking around but not seeing any unfamiliar faces. Mira winked. "She's in the master's quarters right now getting her insignia." The boys were now crying and begging forgiveness of the fire-haired demon, as she dragged them outside. Happy flew behind her, reading them their last rites.
"I don't know her personally, but she said she was sent to us by one of our allies. It seems she was looking for a guild to join, and after being told about us she wanted to join."
"That's great. I'm always excited when we get new members. Speaking of newbies, where's Wendy?" Lucy said, noticing a familiar blue-haired sky maiden was no where to be found.
"She took a job with Levy, Jet, and Droy. They wanted to help her gain some experience too." Mira smiled, wiping off a glass. "Poor Gajeel looks lost without Levy around to pick on."
Lucy looked down the bar at the sulking giant, munching on some screws and bolts. "He does look sullen, doesn't he?" She leaned in, whispering to Mira. The silver-headed woman winked and leaned in as well.
"You'd think they were a couple!" She whispered back.
Gajeel slammed a hand on the counter. "I CAN HEAR YOU GOSSIPING WEASELS YOU KNOW." Mira and Lucy began to giggle uncontrollably. Mira slid another bowl of iron bits down to him.
"Well if you'd hurry up and make a REAL move we wouldn't HAVE to gossip, would we?" She chided. Gajeel muttered something about nosey broads, going back to munching on his metals.
Just then the door to Makarov's office opened, and the master stepped out, followed by none other than the girl Lucy had run into before.
"Everyone!" Makarov said, gaining the attention of the guild. Erza, Natsu, and Grey must have even heard it outside over their screams and their punishment, because they even entered the hall again, followed by Happy holding a score card which seemed to read 'Erza 60, Natsu and Grey 0'.
"Everyone I would like to introduce the newest member of Fairy Tail; Artemis. Please welcome her." Master said, smiling and raising a hand to the girl behind him, who stepped forward and smiled shyly.
"Pleased to meet everyone." She said in a light voice. The men in the guild all cheered, saying how adorable she was, while the girls clapped and smiled.
Artemis was tall, only slightly shorter than Erza, with very long brown hair pulled back at the very bottom in a ponytail. She had green eyes with star bursts of yellow in them and wore a tight pair of torn black leggings under brown shorts, thick brown hiking boots, and a green and brown tank top. She had a long bow strapped across her back and black leather wrist bracers. Her fairy tail insignia was prominent on her hip, like Cana, only it was in a deep sage green.
After all of the commotion died down, Lucy watched as Artemis walked over to the bar, ordering a long island from Mira. The bubbly girl retreated to get the drink. She took the opportunity to introduce herself. "Hi Artemis, my name is Lucy. It's nice to meet you!" She said, grinning. Artemis looked over at her, surprised, and smiled back.
"Pleasure is mine, Miss Lucy." Lucy momentarily wondered why she called her Miss, but dismissed it. "Have you been with the guild long?" She asked, looking around at the rowdy bunch. Lucy shook her head, smiling softly. "I still have a hard time believing it's been less than a year since I joined. Us newbies gotta stick together though. I can't wait for you to meet everyone!" Artemis looked out at everyone. Her eyes stopped on Erza.
"That's Erza Scarlet, isn't it? Tatianna?" She asked, eyes widening a fraction. Lucy looked out. "Yeah, but don't let her scare you, she's actually a really wonderful person. The boys with her are Natsu and Gray. GRAY CLOTHES!" Lucy suddenly shouted out, as the black haired boy had suddenly become nude.
Artemis blushed. "Does he do that often?" She giggled as Gray frantically searched for his pants. "You get used to it." Lucy said, sweat dropping. The taller woman smiled absently, her eyes getting dark, as if remembering something unfavourable. "You okay?" Lucy looked up at her.
The brunette looked down at the blonde. "I'm fine, sorry." She grinned, rubbing the back of her head. Her eyes trailed down to Lucy's hip, and widened as they landed on the keys attached to her belt. "Y-You're a celestial wizard?" She asked, suddenly pale. Lucy glanced at her keys and back up to Artemis, curious.
"Uh, yeah. I have 7 zodiac keys so far. Taurus, Aquarius, Sagittarius, Cancer, Virgo, Ares, Gemini, and Leo the lion, though we all know him as Loke..." She grinned at Artemis. "My spirits are great, though." She said, noticing the other girl had paled even further.
"I just remembered I need to do something...elsewhere." Artemis gushed before running off frantically. Lucy looked after her, baffled. "What was that about?" She mused aloud. Mira came back at that moment. "Did you scare her away already?" She said frowning. Lucy shrugged."
"She just saw my keys and freaked out...WHATDOYOUMEANALREADY!?" Mira giggled at the outburst. "That's weird. Maybe she's a celestial spirit like Loke." She giggled. Lucy sweat dropped again. "I am not going through that again." She shivered, envisioning Loke, Artemis, Taurus, and Virgo all creeping her out with their over-enthusiastic affections.
-
Natsu briefly wondered at the residual scent he caught as the new girl rushed past. He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but he knew that scent was incredibly familiar. He shrugged it off as Happy mentioned food, realising how hungry he was.