Observation and a chat

As Ignazio entered the Guild in the morning and looked around, he noticed a few things.

Firstly, with a few exceptions, all the men were on one side of the guild, and the women on the other. Obviously the exceptions being Natsu, Gray, and Happy, who were on the girls side with Lucy; and the last exceptions being Alzack and Elfmann, who were hanging out with Bisca and Mira. He HAD gotten both in for a session, but getting Al to ignore Bisca would be a challenge. And getting Elfmann to ignore his sister probably more so.

Almost exactly as planned. The men were moving away, becoming less interested. He would just need a little extra time and work. He didn't plan on completely isolating them - that would be stupid. But he wanted to make the guys completely indifferent to what the girls did. That way nobody would question things going strangely.

But just as he thought about it, the strangeness amped up.

The doors opened as Levy entered. Rather than her usual orange dress, she was wearing something much more interesting.

She was dressed in a blue vest with nothing else under it. A simple, buttoned up vest. It gave an almost unrestricted view of her chest; and what little cleavage she had. Her arms were completely uncovered, and a little bit of her hips were visible.

Speaking of, around her hips was a black skirt - and a fairly short one at that. Not too short that her panties were visible, but short enough that about 95% of her legs could be seen.

And, interestingly, her hair was down for the first time since Ignazio had come back.

"WOW LEVY YOU LOOK GREAT!"Jet and Droy both boomed as they rushed over to her

"Thanks guys" she chirped, walking right past them as if they weren't even there.

"Yep. That girl is totally oblivious" Ignazio laughed to himself as she walked past him.

"Looking good, Lev"

Levy turned to face him.

"Aw. Thanks--" she began, before realizing who had complimented her. Her face went red, as she began to panic a bit.

"I-Iggy!" She exclaimed, flailing her arms "T-thanks but it's... It's not like I wore this for any particular reason or anything!"

She began to nervously laugh.

"B-but um... D-do you like it?"

"You look great." He said with a smile.

"Good. In um... In that case I could..." She stammered a bit "I could maybe... Wear it again. Or... Something like it. I-if you wanted-- I mean if you think it would look good!"

"Lev. You can wear whatever you want."

Her gaze immediately turned to disappointment. That wasn't the answer she wanted.

"But... I would like if you kept wearing things like this."

Levy's expression changed again, this time to one of almost euphoric bliss. Her legs buckled.

"Wait.. is my approval... Making her horny..?" He thought. He would need to check into this later

"G-good! I will then! N-not that I'm doing it for you! I mean... Rrgh! I need a drink!" She boomed as she rushed off towards her team and flopped down in her seat.

Ignazio shook his head playfully, then took stock of the rest of the guild.

Sitting at the bar, as usual, was Cana. But Erza was next to her. Still not in her armor, thankfully. Even so, Ignazio wanted to touch base and see how her programming was going.

"Hey ladies" he greeted. They both looked back at him, and Cana's eyes went from excited to downcast

"Ah. Hello Ignazio. I was just inquiring about what brands of--" Erza began, stopping herself and clearing her throat "I mean, I was asking Cana what beer she recommends."

That was a good sign. Erza was trying to modify her speech to be less up tight.

"But since you're here... Cana, have you considered-- I mean, have you thought about going to a session?"

Cana sighed.

"Erza. I'm not going. That's that."

Erza gave Ignazio a look.

"Maybe you can talk her into it" she sighed as she walked away, and Ignazio took her place beside Cana.

"Man. I was hoping to see you in my office. We haven't really had an opportunity to chat since I came back."

Cana didn't answer. She just took a long chug of her beer, staring down into the contents.

"Cana... Is something wrong?"

Her eyebrows began to twitch, as a single tear fell from her cheeks.

"No. Nothing" she grunted, wiping it away.

Ignazio knew she didn't want to talk. So he stood up. But before he could walk away...

"How..?" Cana squeaked. He looked back.

"How can you just walk back in after all this time and act like nothing happened?"

He was a bit miffed by this. Was she upset that he came back?

He sat back down.

"Cana... Are you mad at me?"

Cana gripped her flaggon

"No. I just don't get how YOU aren't mad at ME." She huffed "If I hadn't been just.. standing there like an idiot, completely terrified, you wouldn't have..."

"Oh... I get it." He began "You think it's somehow your fault I got hurt?"

"It was." She replied, taking another drink.

"Cana. You realize I could have chosen not to jump in the way, right? I didn't even need to. Remember what happened right after?"

Cana tensed up. She remembered. The demon began punching itself in the face after crushing him.

"As it crushed me, I used my telepathy on it. It thought something was in its head. It was big and strong, but not very smart. I could have just done that instead of jumping in the way, and I didn't. I could have declined the contract all together, and I didn't. The only one to blame for what happened to me is me."

He actually believed that. For everything else he thought. How self sacrifice was dumb, and blamed Makarov for putting that idea in his head, he still chose to do something dumb and almost die.

"I still could have moved. Then you wouldn't have needed to even make that choice."

He could tell this genuinely bothered her... But... It wouldn't have before. He knew that. Before he got hurt nobody cared about him. If it had happened on a solo job, he was doubtful Cana would do more than raise one drink in his honor, if that. But this... Did seem to hurt her.

"Cana. Even if you had moved you wouldn't have gotten out of the way in time. Besides, it wasn't just you. Levy, Mira, Elfmann... They were all there too. I'd have still needed to jump in"

He actually doubted how true that was. Levy was adorable, but back in the day, and even still a bit now, he did have a sort of crush on Cana. He wondered if that was what spurred him to action.

"Either way. I'm back now. And... I missed you. All of you. And I've put it behind me."

Cana gripped her flaggon even harder. It was made of wood, but he was certain she was about to break it.

But then... She quickly abandoned it, throwing herself at him, wrapping him in a hug.

"It's not good enough..." She sighed "You say you've forgiven me and forgotten about it. But I need to make it up to you."

He was tense. Especially in between his legs. Cana barely wore clothes as it was. He had a practically naked woman right up against him.

He reached around, joining the hug.

"Cana..." He began. She pulled away.

"Don't. I've made up my mind"

He looked at her, then stood up, placing his hand on her shoulder.

"it's been nice seeing you again. Really"

He walked away. And as he did, Cana slumped over, staring into the bottom of her flaggon.

Ignazio made his way to his desk, sitting down and sighing deeply. That was a rather stressful start to the day. But, he had the whole day ahead of him. And no sooner did he sit down than the door to his office opened.

"Is this a bad time?"

He looked up, seeing Erza there.

"Not at all. What's up?"

Erza sat down, looking a bit flustered.

"'What's up'... Yes. I was thinking... Might we be able to do another session?"

"Oh? Not feeling adequately relaxed?"

Erza scrunched her brow

"No. I have been wearing this instead of my armor. And at night..." She paused a moment "I've abandoned my pajamas. I'm even trying to modify my --- change the way I talk to sound less intimidating. But it is difficult... Sorry. 'its hard'" she sighed. "And I would like your help."

He nodded.

"Okay. Well, do you want to start now?"

"Yes" she confirmed, very pointedly. "I just need to follow the watch, correct?"

He grinned

"Not quite, my Slumbering Soldier"

Erza almost immediately flopped down into the chair, her eyes closing, her breathing deepening.

"Perfect"