The conversation with Aquarius lingered in her mind for the rest of the day, it even stayed with her to the next one. Lucy lay in her bed long after she'd woken up just thinking about that talk.
In hindsight she could agree with the Zodiacs words and say that joining a guild was a risky move, however if Lord Heartfilia was really looking for her, she would have been found by now. It was obvious that Aquarius didn't agree with her, but that was fine; the spirit didn't agree with Lucy on a lot of things.
That said, Lucy couldn't dismiss Aquarius's words. Not only would it have been rude to do so, but she did have a point. While there wasn't much of a resemblance between her and Lord Heartfilia, anyone who'd met or seen a picture of Miss Layla would be able to infer right away that they were related.
Lucy had spent the past few months feeling safe with what she'd done to hide herself, however having brown hair was only going to dissuade anyone who was looking for a blonde Lucy. If someone were to look beyond the brown and at her actual face, there was nothing to stop them from putting two and two together and figuring out that she wasn't where she was supposed to be.
Besides the easily changed brown hair the only other difference between her and the two Lucy's of her generation was that her ears were pierced. Without the little dangly heart earrings she always wore, even that detail was easy to miss.
However, there wasn't much else she could do. Lucy didn't know any transformation magic or where she could learn any. She had tried, when she first left, covering her face with a scarf but that got in the way too much. The most she knew about makeup was limited to lipsticks and while Cancer was an expert at it, his skills were solely for enhancing appearances not disguising them. Lucy also wasn't anywhere near desperate or crazy enough to permanently scar her face or otherwise disfigure herself.
It was moot now, regardless. Even though she hadn't been a member for that long, changing her looks now would raise eyebrows and suspicions at the guild.
With a sigh, Lucy finally pushed the covers off her body and got up out of bed. Thinking about things she couldn't change wasn't going to get her anywhere. The best she could do was to keep a low profile and fade into the background, like she'd told Aquarius she'd do. Even if Fairy Tail wasn't known for being subtle, if she was less outrageous then the rest of them, it should work.
Lucy nodded to herself as she made the bed, a rough plan already forming in her mind. It shouldn't be too hard; all she had to do was take small cheap and easy jobs. It shouldn't be too hard, she wouldn't even have to take that many, just enough to pay her rent, for food and some emergency money.
Her budding friendship with Natsu might cause some difficulties considering just how attention grabbing the dragon slayer was, however it might work to her advantage. If everyone's eyes were on Natsu, she would easily go unnoticed. Although considering what she knew of him so far, it'd be best if they didn't go on missions together. He probably never intended to partner up with her again after the Everlue mission anyway.
In any case, the increased risk of Lord Heartfilia finding her just meant that she had to hurry up and find another Celestial spirit summoner. However, even after over half a year of searching, she wasn't quite sure where to start. Maybe Mirajane would have some idea.
With a sigh she changed out of her sleep clothes and into one of her last clean shirts. Maybe instead of going on a mission today she'd do laundry. Lucy looked at the pile where she'd dumped her dirty clothes from the past few days. It wasn't a large pile despite it consisting of nearly all the clothes she had. Cleaning them all wouldn't take too long. So she gathered them up for washing. As she went about doing that, Lucy couldn't help but notice that some of them had holes in them. Small holes, in hard to see places, but holes nonetheless.
Maybe she should get more? Where would she buy more? The only places in Magnolia that she knew besides her apartment were the guild hall, the cathedral and a cute little restaurant not far from her home that had great takeaway.
She paused while dumping the clothes into the small washer that was hidden in her bathroom. She had indented to do a quick job today, but maybe exploring the town would be better? Lucy nodded to herself. It made sense, besides, how embarrassing would it be to get lost in the town on the way to a mission?
Her mind made up, she went on with her laundry. It might take a while for her clothes to get clean, but she knew better than to let them sit around while they were wet. In the mean time she might as well do some writing. As soon as her clothes were dried she'd go and explore the town. Perhaps Plue would like to explore with her too?
Tomorrow for sure though she'd need to take a mission.