Treating those two to lunch was the worst idea she'd ever had. Lucy had known that the two of them were hungry, their stomachs had made that abundantly clear; she just hadn't thought they were hungry enough to order everything on the menu. Thankfully That wasn't an option and the more expensive sea foods like lobster weren't on the lunch menu.

Her wallet was crying out even louder now at the loss of nearly half her remaining funds. Even though the waiter had taken one look at her and said everything was half off.

It was, admittedly, morbidly fascinating to watch all that food disappear down the throats of the two sitting across from her. The desperate way they scarfed down the food in front of them made her worried. The two of them had looked healthy, but now she had to wonder when the last time they ate was. Then again, if they had been starving, they wouldn't waste food by eating so sloppily. Half the food they touched ended up on the table, seats or floor. Though as messy as he was, somehow Natsu was able to avoid dribbling it onto his red coat. Thankfully his beautiful white uniquely patterned scarf was spared as well. Lucy herself wasn't so lucky.

They didn't even pause when they tried to talk to her. Whatever the rosette said, it sounded like a compliment. She could understand Happy a bit better, mostly because it was obvious he was agreeing with Natsu.

"You can slow down, you know, the food isn't going anywhere." It was the most polite thing she could think of. "And you are sort of…splashing it all over the place." She hoped the restaurant wouldn't charge her more because of the mess.

Natsu didn't pause or slow down his frantic eating pace, but he did become a little less messy. At least by the end of the meal she probably wouldn't be covered in sauces.

Because just watching someone eat like their life depended on it was sort of creepy and because she couldn't bring herself to eat the parfait she'd gotten, Lucy decided to just keep talking. "That Salamander guy was a real creep, using that Charm spell like that even though they've been banned for several years." She should really tell a guard about him, but she hadn't seen any at all and she didn't know where to find one. "Charm simply attracts other people's hearts to the caster, but with the power he was putting behind the spell, it was a bit more than that. Though thanks to you guys jumping in and distracting him, Charm wore off on me."

"I zee." Natsu said around a mouth full of meat. Considering that it looked like his entire focus was on ripping a piece off the bone, Lucy figured he was just being polite and not listening at all to her.

Lucy was fine with that. He probably didn't care and to be honest if their positions were switched, Lucy probably wouldn't either. After all, when lunch was over they probably wouldn't see each other again. Besides, her life was too short to be irritated by something like that.

"I heard Salamander was part of a guild too. I don't remember which, but I can't believe they'd actually let someone like that join! Then again, he probably worked hard at it; he wouldn't be as popular if he hadn't, most wouldn't consider a part time mage to be very interesting. After all, mages aren't considered to be good enough to work full time as a mage unless they're part of a guild.

"Though there are so many guilds all over the world, there are only a few ones that everyone knows about; the most popular ones. I heard they're pretty hard to get into. Especially the one I've admired the most… But I'm not a very strong mage, all things considered. So even if I did know how to get in, it probably wouldn't matter." She waved her hand in front of her face in a dismissive manner before resting her chin on her hands. "Still, everything I've ever heard about that guild makes me thing that it'd be a great place to be…If I joined, I bet I could have a great deal of fun there too."

"I see…" Natsu sounded a little lost. Both he and Happy had nearly cleared their plates throughout her whole speech.

"You talk a lot."

She couldn't help but blush at Happy's comment though she did her best to laugh it off. "Sorry about that." Yes, she did talk a bit too much, but to be fair, she hadn't had a real conversation with anyone in several months. "By the way, why did you so desperately want to meet with Salamander?"

"Oh! We're looking for someone!" Happy chirped.

Natsu nodded, "Igneel." He grabbed a loaf of bread and bit into it. "I heard that Salamander was coming to this town, so we came, but it was the wrong person."

"This Salamander didn't even look like a salamander." Happy agreed.

"I totally believed it would be Igneel too."

"How could a human look like a salamander?"

Natsu took another bite. "Hrm? He's not human. Igneel's a real dragon."

"Heh!?" He said it was such a straight and sincere face that Lucy couldn't help but believe him. However, there was something so off with his logic that she couldn't help but cry out. "There's no way a dragon would be in this town! Everyone would know about it!" Their honestly shocked faces at that didn't help at all. "Don't tell me you just thought of that!"

They were too stunned to reply.

With a sigh she set down enough Jewel to pay for their meal, plus some extra in case they wanted to order more. "I guess I'd better get going…But go ahead and take your time." With that she got up and left the booth they'd been in.

Apparently that had been the wrong thing to say because they both burst into tears and got up after her.

"He-hey, what-"

"Thank you for the meal!" They both shouted, kneeling on the floor and bowing deeply. "Thank you!" That was the most overblown reaction she'd ever seen. Unless they really had been starving before. She hoped that wasn't the case. If it was, they probably wouldn't appreciate gorging themselves later.

"Don't!" She waved her arms in a placating gesture. Everyone in the restaurant was looking at them. It was far more attention than she'd ever wanted or needed. "Don't worry. You helped me too. So we're even now, right?" Please get off the floor. Would it be wrong to ask him that out loud?

Natsu's head was still bowed. "I don't feel like I've helped you at all…"

"Aye, I don't feel right either…"

"Oh! I know." Thankfully Natsu got up, if only to dig into his travel bag. "I'll give you this." He held out a card with a swirly and audacious signature that apparently belonged to Salamander.

"I don't want it!" Honestly, she knew he hadn't listened, but she did spend several minutes griping about how much of a creep that guy was. Still, she supposed it bore repeating. "The guy was a creep."

"Really? But you let us eat a lot of food! We need to give you something."

"Hm, well…" Considering his pink hair and blue cat, Natsu was probably a mage, so it couldn't hurt to ask. "You could answer something for me."

"What is it?"

"Do either of you know a Celestial Spirt mage?" Unconsciously her fingers brushed against the Keys at her waist.

Happy frowned with a confused look shared by his human companion. "What's a Celestial Spirit mage?" Well, there's that question answered.

"It's a mage who uses Keys to…Ah, You know what, never mind." She gave a smile to show that she was fine with their answer, even if it wasn't the one she'd hoped for. "That's all I'm really interested in right now." That and a cheap passage to Minstrel. "It was nice meeting you two."

With that said, she quickly left the restaurant before they could insist more on trying to repay her. It was probably a good thing they were going their separate ways; Natsu and Happy were really weird and far too eye catching for her own good. Even if that brief exchange was the most fun she'd had this week, as sad as that was.

She shook her head to get rid of that thought. There was no time for fun! She had a mission, and that had to come first. She could have fun when it was over. Lucy had spent more time than she'd anticipated not looking into her traveling options. She didn't want to say she was avoiding going to the docks to look up travel arrangements, however the thought of leaving Fiore still made her stomach twist with nerves.

It was starting to get ridiculous, to be honest. She hadn't felt nearly so conflicted and scared about leaving the Heartfilia manor. Why was this so different? She ran her fingers through her hair, mentally reminding herself again that she needed to dye it.

With a huff she made her way to a nearby park. Maybe she should summon Grandpa Crux and ask him about it. Because she was stalling again and it really wasn't like her. Even if he didn't have an answer, and he probably wouldn't, it'd still be nice to summon and talk with him. Talking or perhaps just thinking out loud might help.

With that in mind, she went to a secluded part of the park and decided to start by summoning Cancer.