I now stood in front of the job board with Lucy. Nab stood beside us as well, brooding over the board like always. He never seemed to actually go on a job.

"Finding a magic bracelet… Breaking the spell on a cursed cane… Reading someone's love horoscope… Hunting a Volcano Demon?!" Lucy read. "Wizard jobs sure come in lots of forms…"

"Lots of people pay to have all kinds of things done, be it big or small, difficult or easy." I said distractedly.

Finding a magic bracelet seemed too easy, but it had a good reward. And with Cana and Loke's magic it would be really easy to find it. But it seemed a bit boring. The reward was 250,000 jewels.

The cursed cane was 70,000 jewel but I didn't think we would be able too, I wasn't any good with curses. It sounded like a better job for someone who specializes in curse or rune magic.

The horoscope reading was 3,000 jewel, way too easy and way too low of a reward. But it was local so that meant no traveling. Still I would only get 1,000 jewel, because it would split three ways. 1,000 was barely enough for a tacky souvenir, much less rent or a meal. It would be a waste of time.

A Hunt for a Volcano demon. As I read it, it seemed we would be finding and defeating this demon. That'd be simple enough, especially with my water magic. Besides it was on a nearby island so we would go by boat, which wouldn't cause me motion sickness. I strangely could handle boats. The reward was 200,000, divided between three people meant I would have 60,000 jewel towards my rent.

Hmm what to choose… Maybe I should ask Cana and Loke… Or I could check the S-Class board, but I wasn't sure it would be good to bring them on that kind of difficult job. Plus I didn't want to risk running into Laxus after that 'talk' I had with Cana this morning.

Mirajane walked over to us, "Just let me know if you find one you're interested in. The Master's at a conference right now, you see."

"A conference?" Lucy asked her as we both looked at her.

Mira smiled at us and explained, "All the guild masters in the region get together every so often and report about things." She put up a finger to her chin and said thoughtfully, "It's not the same as the council, but…"

I remember now. I hadn't seen the Master leave for a conference since I was a kid. I remember because Laxus and I used to take him to the train station.

Mirajane paused and turned to Reedus, who sat at the bar. "Reedus, could I borrow a Light Pen?" She asked him.

"Oui." He answered. Reedus was French, and he was the most artistic person I knew. I should ask him to do a portrait of me and Cana, for my house. Maybe when Uncle Gildarts comes back, I can have him in the portrait too. He handed her the light pen.

A light pen is a magical item, a pen that can write in the air. Mirajane began to write, while I began to explain.

"The council is at the very top of the magical world. It consists of ten members and has connections with the government." I told Lucy. "It's purpose is to uphold all the rules in the magical world. Wizards who commit crimes can also be tried here. Personally I dislike the magic council with a passion, but that's just me."

Her chart showed how it went from the government, to the magic council ERA, to the guild master leagues, to the guilds.

Mirajane smiled, now that she was done drawing up the chart, she continued, "A lot of people don't like the magic council, Mona, but they are above us anyway. They aren't so bad. Just below that are the different guild master leagues. They pass on the decisions the council makes and help all the different guilds communicate. Basically, they hold us all together. It's a really tough job."

"I don't know how Master handles it all." I admitted, crossing my arms with a sigh.

Thoughtfully, Lucy spoke up, "I had no idea the guilds were interconnected like that…"

"Yes, it's important that guilds cooperate." Mirajane said to her. "If a guild doesn't focus on cooperation…"

Suddenly a spark of flame appeared and showed Natsu standing behind Lucy, all creepy looking with his finger tip lit up, grinning almost evilly as he finished Mirajane's sentence, "The guys in black will come!"

Lucy almost jumped, letting out a frightful squeal. Once she relaxed she had her teeth gritted together, an angry glare on her face as she looked at Natsu.

Natsu burst out laughing, "You're such a scaredy cat!"

"Don't scare me like that!" Lucy exclaimed, looking pretty mad.

"There really are guys in black, though." Mirajane said, holding up a finger. She wrote down Dark Guilds and circled it.

"Well I wouldn't call them guys in black, Mira. Although they definitely are just as dark." I said. I turned to Lucy to explain. "We call them dark guilds. They're guilds that don't belong to any league. They're malicious people and are known to be involved in crime, which is why they aren't good enough to be in leagues. I don't even consider them real guilds. They don't care about their guild mates, they only do things that benefit them, and most often that is crime. I've fought with a few dark guild members before. They might be criminals, but they aren't weak, so you shouldn't underestimate them."

"Really?" Lucy asked curiously.

With his arms raised up, resting his hands behind his head, Natsu lightheartedly spoke up, "Just choose a job, will you?"

Still a bit mad, Lucy turned to him with a grudging look. "And what gives you the right to say that to me?"

Smiling at her, he replied, "Well, we are a team after all."

Happy came over and told her, "We picked the job last time. This time it's your turn."

Lucy crossed her arms, "Yeah, right! You know our 'team' is disbanded! You didn't care about me! You just needed someone with blonde hair!"

I remembered, I had heard Mirajane talking with Lucy about it earlier when I came into the guild. Something about how they didn't take the reward because they hadn't done what was originally asked of them and the clients couldn't afford it. Lucy seemed pretty upset.

Lowering his arms, a serious expression now, Natsu told her differently, "That's not the only reason we chose you, Lucy." Putting on a big grin he exclaimed, "It was because you're nice!"

Lucy pursed her lips, a slight dimple showing on her chin as she struggled with his compliment, obviously feeling a bit guilty over acting so mad.

We all turned our heads when Gray spoke, "Don't worry about picking a team; I'm sure you'll get enough offers soon enough." He sat over by Cana, who kept taking long sips of beer from her mug, waiting for me to pick a job.

Cana lowered her mug and said simply, "Gray. Clothes." She always reminded him, it was almost natural now to hear her say that.

Gray jumped up in horror, waving his arms with a yell as he realized all he wore was boxer shorts.

Natsu retorted, "You're annoying." He was speaking to Gray. Immediately Gray stopped yelling and narrowed his dark eyes.

Suddenly the ice boy and fire dragon slayer were standing very close, glaring heatedly at each other, pushing each other's foreheads in anger. The intensity between the two was enough to heat up the room and then cool it down drastically, over and over. It's natural that the two would be rivals, cold versus hot. I thought I would be a rival to Natsu because he's fire and I'm water, but actually we got along really well, kind of like yin and yang. I get along with Gray as well. In fact the only rival I have in the guild is Laxus, possibly his thunder god tribe as well, and maybe mystogan but I haven't met mystogan yet.

"Did you just call me annoying, fire freak?!" Gray challenged.

"You're super annoying, you pervert!" Natsu spat.

They were truly menacing as they threw insults back and forth.

"Feather face!" Gray retorted.

"Silky hair!" Natsu remarked back, though I wasn't sure that was really an insult. Gray does have very silky hair, it's true.

"You're stifling!" Gray told him.

"You stink!" Natsu informed him back.

With an almost happy smirk, Happy spoke, "Here they go again…" I think Happy personally enjoys to watch fights, the odd little cat.

I scowled and put my hand to my forehead, slumping down to sit beside Cana. "Why is our guild full of weirdos?"

"Because they're guys, they are a whole different species and full of weirdos." Cana said, giving a small hiccup after taking another sip of beer.

I turned my attention to Lucy, who now had the attention of Loke. Loke had his arm draped around her shoulder, his hand dangerously close to her breast, and had his 'charming sparkly beautiful' expression on.

"Lucy, won't you form a team of love with me?" Loke asked her in his, 'I love you forever and ever my dearest' kind of voice. "Tonight, just the two of us."

"Huh?" She asked in confusion. It was like that when you first meet Loke. First time I met him after coming back he had a broken nose, and still sometimes flirts with me, to which I remind him that I don't like players. Though he isn't too bad, he just isn't my type.

Letting go of her, he sensually pushed up his glasses. "You really are beautiful. Even with my sunglasses on, your beauty is dazzling. I'm sure I would go blind if I saw you with my naked eyes."

With a disbelieving, annoyed expression she retorted strongly, "Go blind. Fine by me."

Her celestial keys clanged lightly and I saw Loke spot them. He raised his arms in protection against himself and hoped back in shock. "Y-You're a celestial wizard?!" He looked like a ninja waited to be on the defensive side.

"Huh?" she asked, confused again now.

Happy appeared, a fish in his mouth, and mumbled, "Yeah, she has a cow, and crab and stuff."

Loke let out a yell, a hand on his head, "WHAT A CRUEL TWIST OF FATE!" Real tears sprang from his eyes as he ran from the room, "I'm sorry! We can never be together!"

I stood to go stand by Lucy as she asked, "What's his deal?"

"Don't worry about Loke. He flirts with everyone, but he has trouble with Celestial wizards. It's like he wards them off completely, like bad juju. Rumor has it he had trouble with a girl not long ago, a celestial wizard."

Gazing at the way Loke ran off, Lucy replied distractedly, "I'm not surprised, He's-"

Suddenly Natsu came flying through the air and crashed into Lucy, both tumbling into the floor.

"Jeez… Natsu's so clutzy, he needs to watch out where he lands." I murmured, smiling slightly.

Gray stood proudly nearby.

Lucy choked out from under Natsu, "Knock it off, you guys…"

Gray of course defended himself, "He picked a fight with me. I can't turn down his offer!"

Cana, still sitting and drinking, pauses mid sip to say, "I told you. Your clothes." He let out a sound of shock and began doing his odd hopping dance with realization of still being in underwear.

Natsu got off Lucy, his menacing attitude back. "You're the one who started it, Droopy eyes!"

Grey, back to being just as menacing, growled darkly, "When exactly did I start it, Slanty eyes?!"

They were back to standing close together, throwing insults back and forth.

"Talking underwear!" Natsu called him.

"Amoeba!" Gray remarked.

"Talk about petty…" Lucy said out loud, watching them.

I smiled, as Happy appeared again and told her, "They're always like this."

I glanced at Wakaba, Vijeeter, and Laki as they all laughed while watching the two fight. Even Lucy began to smile.

Suddenly the doors smashed open and Loke stood there yelling, "This is bad!"

Everyone went into a hushed silence.

And then he echoed those words.

"It's Erza… She's back!"