Dan and Lucy finally arrived to join the other first class passengers for a leisurely lunch. They sat next to Jude, diagonally across from Captain Dreyar, Precht, and Laxus,and Mirajane, and horizontally from Erza and Jellal.
"Everyone I would like you to meet my daughter Lucy and my future son in-law Dan Straight." Jude introduced.
"A pleasure to meet you both." Makarov greeted politely. "Welcome aboard the Titanic."
"Yes." Precht said. "She is the largest moving object ever made by the hand of man in all history and our master shipbuilder, Mr. Fernandes here, designed her from the keel plates up."
He gestured toward Jellal who gave them a modest smile.
"Well, I may have knocked her together." The shipbuilder chuckled humbly. "But the idea was Mr. Gaeblog's. He envisioned a steamer so grand in scale, and so luxurious in its appointments, that its supremacy would never be challenged. And here she is willed into solid reality."
"Pardon my asking dear." Erza said. "But I've always wondered why ships are always referred to as a she? I don't suppose it's because men think half the women around should have big sterns and be weighed in tonnage?"
Everyone laughed at her joke.
"Just another example of the men settin' the rules their way." She chuckled before taking a sip of her drink.
Shortly afterward, a waiter arrived to take Dan and Lucy's order. Lucy started to read the menu in order to decide what she wanted, but Dan just took the menu for her and ordered for them both.
"We'll both have the lamb. Rare, with a little mint sauce." He said.
"Dan I'm not sure if I want that." Lucy protested.
"Why not? You like lamb, don't you?"
"Yes but I thought about maybe trying something new or maybe I'm just not in the mood for lamb."
"It's just lunch Lucy. Don't get so upset."
Lucy rolled her eyes and reached for the glass of wine that had been poured for her. Dan stopped her arm.
"Careful. Don't drink so much." He said. "The last thing we need is you get tipsy."
Erza observed Dan and Lucy's dynamic, she was surprised that the blond could remain so calm and collected. If anyone had done that to Erza, she would have told them to jump overboard.
"So, you gonna cut her meat for her too there, Dan?" She smirked.
Dan responded by giving her a glare but made it quick as to not offend her husband.
"Hey, who came up with the name Titanic anyway?" Erza asked. "You, Precht?"
"Yes, actually." The Star Line manager confirmed. "I wanted to convey sheer size. And size means stability, luxury, and safety-"
"Mr. Gaeblog." Lucy interrupted. "Do you know of Dr. Freud? His ideas about the male preoccupation with size might be of particular interest to you."
Jellal and Laxus both almost choked on their bread rolls as they suppressed their laughter. But Jude was absolutely mortified.
"My God, Lucy." He scolded. "What has gotten into you?"
"Excuse me." She said before rising from her chair and leaving.
"I do apologize." Jude said to everyone at the table.
"No need, I like her." Erza said.
"Me too." Mirajane agreed.
"There's certainly a lot more to her than what we see." Makarov said observantly. "And I find it to be very nice."
"Looks like you've got yourself a real pistol Dan." Erza said to him. "You sure you can handle her?"
"Well I may have to start minding what she reads from now on." Dan said hiding how tense he was behind a false sense of being unconcerned.
When Gray had finally settled into his room, the first thing he did was open a very special suitcase. The contents of the bag were all journals,each one leather covered ones and with a bronze buckle, and all but one contained pages full of written details. He chose to pull out the one and only journal that had completely blank pages, unlatched the buckle, produced a sharp pencil, and proceeded to write down everything that had happened today so far.
Like Lucy and Jellal, Gray had been born into a life of wealth and class, but he was raised much differently than they had been. For starters, Gray's father had not always been rich, he started out very poor and had to work and study hard in order to become the successful surgeon that he was. This background made him very empathetic to those who did not have money. As a doctor and a former victim of poverty, Silver Fullbuster believed that the life of every human being was worth something and that no person was better than anyone else.
When he became a father, Silver was determined to teach that belief to his child. He was also determined to be the very best father he could be because, as I mentioned earlier, Gray's mother had tragically died in childbirth and that left the boy one less person to love and care for him. Silver would spend his entire life trying to make up for that. Though a doctor's work is never truly done, he still made time for Gray. Time to teach him, to play with him, to bond with him, to be as a father should.
But on the days Silver had to see to his responsibilities as a medical man, Gray was looked after by a nanny his father hired. She was called Ur Milkovich, a very firm, proper yet spirited and loving woman who's goal was to make sure he would grow up to be a gentleman. Now some days her methods would annoy him terribly and on several occasions he'd even try to hide from her. Other times he adored her because she would teach him clever games, take him out walking into the park or perhaps to fly a kite, but his most favorite had to have been when she would tell him stories before bed.
Ur always told the most fascinating and entertaining stories. Some were true, some were made up, but he loved them all just the same. Soon he too became a storyteller and when he was older, she taught him how to write his own stories. That was what inspired his dream to go into journalism. He realized that he wanted to travel to other places, write stories about it, and then make them known in America. Both Silver and Ur supported him but warned him that journalism was not a career guaranteed success. Gray understood that but he still made the attempt after he finished college.
That's what those other journals had written in them. Stories of each trip he had taken to each country and now he wouldn't be finishing up with a journal about his journey home aboard the Titanic. He started the first few pages with his arrival on the ship, next would be a description of the ship and it's residents.
He quietly exited his suite and headed about to do a little exploring. He chose to start from the bottom, the deck of the third class. First thing he saw was Natsu standing on top of the ship's bow, towering over the sea, watching two dolphins appear, under the water, running fast just in front of the steel blade of the prow. It was the most incredible moment of his life. Feeling the wind blowing in his face and seeing that glorious sun on the horizon, he couldn't contain himself any longer.
"I'm the king of the world!" He shouted as loud as he could in a booming voice, holding his arms out wide which made him feel as if he was soaring above the ocean surface.
Gray smiled at the extreme enthusiasm that the lower class man displayed. A fresh and welcome change from the normally bored looks he had seen on his fellow first class passengers when they first beheld the ship.
"Don't get too excited." Gray said walking to the bow. "Otherwise you might go overboard."
Natsu turned to look at Gray and then climbed down from the bow. He took note of the suit the dark-haired man wore and recognized it to be an expensive one. This was how Natsu was able to deduce that he and Gray were from different classes.
"Aren't you on the wrong level?" Natsu asked him.
"I beg your pardon?" Gray asked.
"Shouldn't you be upstairs with the other first class passengers?"
"Later perhaps, but for now I wanted to explore the lower levels. Get a description of every aspect of this ship."
"Huh...So you like boats or something?"
"No but I'm keeping a record of my time on here and the more details you put in a story, the more interesting it is. I'd also like to meet some people around here and write a little about them and why they're here. Want to give me the first interview?"
"Why not? I've got nothing better to do."
So Natsu and Gray introduced each other and walked about the deck discussing their plans for when they reached New York.
"My father's inheritance has left me very well off but he was self-made man and I want to be the same." Gray explained. "I don't think I can accomplish much good just by living off of his money. So I'm going to give journalism a try and if it doesn't work out, I'll just go into the medical field like my old man did."
"Not bad." Natsu said. "I like that you actually want to get through life your way and on your strengths. Most of the rich guys I've met are just spoiled snobs who rely on Daddy's good name and money to feel important."
"What about you? How do you plan to live out your days in the states?"
"Well I know America is always looking for new factory workers before I reduce myself to that, I'm going to see how far my art gets me."
"You're an artist?"
"Sketch artist to be exact. I draw random things that I see, some of it's good, some of it's bad. It's all a matter of opinion."
They stopped to sit on a bench and were soon joined by Gajeel who was trying to scrape something off his boot that he had stepped in.
"That's typical!" He scoffed. "First class dogs come down here to take a shit!"
"That's so we know where we rank in the scheme of things." Natsu joked.
"Like we could forget." Gajeel joked in returned. Then he looked at Gray, being just skeptical and confused by his appearance here as Natsu was. "What's a jammy fella like you doing down here with us manky gutter rats? They run out of champagne and caviar upstairs?"
"No, I just wanted to look around and get to know the people." Gray said. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but judging by your words, you're Irish yes?"
"Aye." Gajeel confirmed.
"Ireland is one of the places I didn't have the privilege to visit. Mind telling me about it?"
"Not much to tell ya lad, it's just sheep, rum, poverty and people who have no appreciation for the musical arts. At least from my end that is, I'm a musician and no one in my neck of the woods thought that my music worth even a half penny. So I'm going to see what you Americans might think of it."
"Fascinating." Gray said writing down Gajeel's words. "Did you come alone?"
"No, I'm here with my sister and an old skank me Da married. One thing I'd love to do right now is toss that hag into the freezing abyss, but part of me is afraid that she'll turn out to be a witch and just float back up."
Natsu chuckled and then glanced across the well deck, which allowed him to see Lucy standing but the railing of the first class level. It was as if the mythical god known as Eros had fired one of his love arrows straight into Natsu's the chest the very moment saw her, for he was unable to take his eyes off the elegantly dressed lady. He watched her unpin her elaborate hat and take it off, looking annoyed at the frilly absurd thing, then tossing it over the rail and letting a few strands of her yellow hair flow in the sea breeze. Natsu could not help but be is riveted by her. She looked just like a figure in a romantic novel, sad and isolated.
Gray and Gajeel both saw the way Natsu was awing at her and they exchanged grins.
"Forget it, boyo." Gajeel teased. "You'd as like have angels fly out o' yer arse as get next to the likes o' her."
Now of course Natsu knew the man's words to be ture and yet he still could not look away from Lucy. Not even when Gray waved his hand in front of his face.
"You warned him too late. He's hooked." Gray said. "Hook, line, and sinker."
Lucy suddenly turned and looked right at Natsu. Though she had caught him staring, he still didn't look away. Lucy looked away does, but then looked back and for a moment their eyes met.
Then Dan came up behind her and took her by the arm. Lucy jerked her arm from him and they argued briefly before she stormed away with Dan going after her. Natsu just kept staring and staring until she was out of sight.