midnightstar | Happy Holidays Charlie Brown! .. oh wait wrong canon

Christmas and Thanksgiving were going to be difficult holidays for Regina and the kids. They had, for the most part, mended from the deaths of their friends, but this would also be the first Christmas slash Thanksgiving without them. So for that afternoon, she decided to let Natsu distract the kids and the dog for the time being. More than likely they were bundled up and jumping in piles of leaves outside, or begging Natsu for more demonstrations. As for herself, she went to help distract Regine with preparing food. Happily, Regina only took Lucy's bright smile for her natural demeanor and not for any other reasons.

On the other hand, Lucy hadn't been able to stop smiling since the night she and Natsu were.. er.. very intimate together. Assuming she didn't drift off into a dreamy spacey mode when she thought no one was looking. And if she actually saw him, forget it - it took everything she had not to grab him and hold him close. Heck, before that night she had difficulty keeping her eyes off him - it was more so now. SO it was probably for the best that she had something like cooking and entertaining Regine to occupy her attention.

If Regine noticed the way Lucy's conversation chatter kept turning to the topic of Natsu unconsciously, she didn't mention it, though she did seem amused for some reason. Currently the ladies were discussing options for the dinner - the kids wanted to start eating spicier food to - obviously - be more like Natsu after all.

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He doesn't relent even when Herb starts barking though by that point his mouth is realy close to Lucy's ear even as she finally gives him the spell word of power. Starlight huh? "What you are hmm~ I see it fits." He whispered only for Lucy's to hear before finally relenting with a very proud smirk at pulling off his ambush perfectly.

"Starlight!" he cries out to break free Nev and Justyne to come by his side and enjoy in the spoils of their captive~

Lucy was blushing fiercely from how close his mouth was to her ear, tucking her head down briefly. That's dirty pool. She cleared her throat, chuckling when she heard Nev and Justyne whoop with joy at being able to get up and move again.

"YAAAY!!!" And they crowd around the captive, doing their very best to look wicked. Justyne glanced between her brother and Natsu, "What do we do with her now?" Did she mention how much she liked how their games deviated from the way they were supposed to be?

"Let's.. boil her in oil!" Nev crowed.

"WHAT?" Wow, Lucy, that actually sounded convincing.

"NO no, I have a better idea," Justyne said abruptly. "We should tie her up so she won't get away."

"Justyne, not you too~!" Woe IS. Oh Lucy is playing up the dramatic captured princess and how the heck did the genre of hide and seek get changed around this much?

They really weren't cut out for the wicked look but now the hunter had become the hunter. Since she couldn't seal the deal, she was to be their prisoner~

"Hohoh boiling her won't do. We should enjoy our prize as much as possible~" Natsu cackled like an evil overlord. He was surprisingly adept at that.

"General Justyne has the right idea. General Nev go fetch some rope!" He's completely immersed in his role.

"Eh? Eh? EH -- I.. I mean!" Stay in role Lucy! "No! Release me at once! You will regret this I swear!" She squirms again, feebly, her hand pressed against her mouth to stifle the urge to laugh. "Help! Somebody~!"

Neveren and Justyne, thoroughly pleased at their roles from prisoner to General, immediately saluted Natsu. "Yes sir --" Neveren paused, whispering to Justyne. "What's higher than General?"

Justyne paused. "... Iunno. King? That's the highest of all right?"

Nev scratched his head. He wasn't sure it was right, but! "Okay! I'm going to get the rope!" And off he dashed!

Lucy risked a glance at Natsu who was just -eating this up- and turned her attention to Justyne, wondering how committed she was to this side. "You know, if you get Natsu to let me go, we can go shopping later...o/~"

"Regret it? And just who will make me regret it? You had your chance~" Okay no she didn't unless she'd caught Natsu first. Though the odds of that happening were nill to begin with.

Natsu nodded to Neveren and gave another tickling jab to Lucy when she tried to earn Justyne's help. "Ohooo quite the brave one trying to bribe one of my generals right in front of me like that~ Maybe I'll make you my queen instead~" He knew EXACTLY what he was doing.

Herb thinks you're all a bunch of silly people. At the tickling jab, Lucy squirmed again, bursting out giggling, "Hyee!~!" She squirmed again, though Justyne only folded her arms and shook her head.

"Shame on you, I won't betray King Natsu~!" She turned to her brother as he ran up with a thin rope, his grin wide and excited to see what was going to happen next.

Lucy flushed a dark pink at Natsu's comment, shooting him another look. "T.. that's cheating," she whispered under her breath to him. Still flustered, she turned her head away, "I.. I'll never be yours! Not in a million years..!!"

Herb would be correct. There's no one sillier in this world or any other than these four right now. Natsu chuckles and nods to Justyne with a proud proud smile. "As I would expect from my generals~" Oh speaking of generals there's Nev.

He hears her whispered comment and can't help but smirk even more. "We'll see about that. Tie her hands and bring her inside~"

Justyne glanced at Herb, pointing at the puppy, "What should we do about her ...familiar, King?"

Herb would rather like a snack, as just a suggestion.

Neveren, all too amused by the matter, quickly hopped over to bind her wrists. He's not so good with tying though, so he actually just wraps it around her wrists a few times - Lucy helpfully grips the rope behind her when Justyne trotted over to tie it loosely, both children stifling laughter.

Neveren took hold of Lucy's left arm, with Justyne taking her right. "You're our prisoner so you have to do with King Natsu says." Justyne told Lucy, prodding her to go inside. Which she did, naturally, being a surprisingly cooperative prisoner. At least as far as letting the kides 'tie her up' and prodding her inside. It was too amusing not to.

"Hmph! A princess of the stars will never bow down to your evil Dragon King~!" Y'know, when Regina comes back at some point in this, she's not going to say a word - she's just going to stand in the doorway watchingio the shenanigans and be amused.

"Hmmm I suggest tossing him a few bones. That should keep him appeased and out of our way~" Natsu declared and walked in after their willing prisoner. "This dragon king that's so powerful he can even eat your precious stars~" Whether that is an inuendo at something or not is entirely up to Lucy's wild imagination.

"I know exactly how to make you see things my way. General Nev. remove her boots~"

Herb's ears pricked forward at the word 'bones'. He knows that word! And when Justyne turned to go towards the kitchen, he leapt to his feet, tail wagging a mile a minute to follow her.

"Herb you traitor! You sold me out for bones!"

Neveren, grinning widely because dang King Natsu is cool, he can even eat -stars- nudged Lucy to sit down on a chair. "You should surrender Miss Princess, before our King is REALLY bad to you!"

Hey, giving her one chance to avoid her unavoidable fate was pretty nice. Lucy glanced at Natsu, then Neveren, and back at Natsu, defiantly. That blush though, gets a little bit darker - he wouldn't dare make innuendo around the kids, right? .. Right? Course not ... it.. uh.. didn't stop her imagination from jumping there at first though. "Do your worst!"

Welp, he tried. Nev grabs one boot and yanks it off, tumbling over backwards in the process when Lucy gave him a tiny nudge with the toe of her boot. HA! She has defeated one of your generals! .. only not.

"Hahaha your servant knows how to pick the winning side~" Natsu cackled and watched their prisoner get seated. The blush is a bit of a puzzle but he doesn't let it phase him any. Nev is certainly getting into the role even more so than before.

To be honest the King had no intention of actually being bad to the princess. All of that resisting only made him more eager to see how far that could go. And the first step was getting her boots off.

"After the boots you can remove her socks. Then go fetch an ice cube from our ice golem" Also known as the freezer but hey roleplaying~.

Neveren was more careful about pulling off Lucy's boots and socks, not wanting to get tumbled over again. "Justyne! I mean, General Justyne! Wake up the ice golem!" He called over, getting to his feet with a grin.

Lucy squeaked. Ice? Noooo, no, tickling she could handle but ICE was UNFAIR. She immediately tucked her feet under the chair, "N.. No way! I.. I won't let you have your way!" She bit her lower lip to keep from laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.

Justyne approached, handing over the ice cube to her younger brother solemnly, "But you're our prisoner, so you have to do what we say." She nodded sagely. "If you want to escape you have to um.." ... ... She glanced at Natsu, Oh! "Ask for our king's forgiveness to start!" And wasn't there something else about him making her his queen? She's gonna make sure, glancing at Natsu, "Right?"

"Hoho is ice that big of a threat to you? Well maybe you'd rather I used something hotter instead." Natsu said and actually licked his lips to give her an inkling of what that hot thing would be. Regardless that alternative was for her ears alone meaning that Nev was still calling for Ice.

"Hmmm Forgiveness eh. I suppose it's not too late for that if the princess means it~"

He's relishing being in power like this like you wouldn't believe.

[ She practically choked at that statement, even though Nev couldn't hear it. Fidgeting in her seat because she would love to strangle him for teasing. Her gaze flicked towards his lips briefly, and then away as she cleared her throat. Oh he was just eating this up. Managing to look back, she flashed a smirk at him briefly over Nev's head. ]

I'll get you for this later. [ She whispered to him. SOMEHOW. But jeez, who knew he'd get THIS into his role? It was kind of funny. And kind of evil at the same time, the things he whispered. ]

Apologize..!? To him!? [ On the other hand, ice. Justyne dropped to a kneel by her brother, grabbing one of Lucy's bare feet and giggling when the princess squealed. ]

One last chance, Princess Lucy~!

[ Meanwhile Regina has by now, returned from shopping and is just..standing outside out of range of the shenanigans, and looking on, thoroughly, THOROUGHLY amused. Even if she can't really hear most of the conversation from where she was standing. But neither the two Generals nor the Princess have noticed her anyway. ]

Oh he heard her threat and just smiled even broader. He'd love to see her try and maybe even succeed depending on her ideas to get back at him. Natsu waited with his arms crossed over his chest. His generals came back soon enough with the cube from the ice golem.

"It's all up to you, princess~" Natsu all but purred , noticing out of the corner of his eye that Regina was back. Well if she wanted to step in and save Lucy she was certainly welcome to. Since she's about the only one still her ally. Then again she's looking so amused that she might not be an ally at all.

Regina would not be much help as amused as she was. Lucy eyed Nev as he inched that ice cube closer to her poor unprotected foot. "No! Never! I.." Eep! "Don't do it -- don't-- EEK! That's COLD! AAhaha! Stop! Stopstopstopstop Okay I give!" Evil Evil people. "I.. I'll apologize~!"

She doesn't even know what she's apologizing for, but oh thank god Nev took the ice cube away. Justyne was no help either, bursting into a fit of giggles at the mini freakout Lucy had. Imagine if they used a spider though - that would have been worse. Thankfully no one was horrible enough to do that.

"I'm sorry y... your Majesty." She managed to get out, stifling a laugh. "Please forgive me..!"

Those reactions were priceless to say the least and Natsu couldn't help but chuckle even more until she finally relented. A spider would be a bit much though even by his pranking standards.

"Hmmmm I'm not convinced. A tribute is needed." He said looking away with a huff before he gave his next order. "Untie her General Neveren."

Lucy let out a sigh of relief when the ice was taken away, shivering slightly. "A tribute?" She cast him a puzzled look, glancing over her shoulder briefly as Neveren pulled the ropes off of her wrists. "What -kind- of tribute?" She asked suspiciously, folding her arms and trying not to smile at the adorable image of him huffing and looking away.

He only looked at her out of the corner of one eye and huffed again only he was clearly pointing out to his exposed cheek facing her way.

"You should decide. As proof of it being your honesty and not just cause I ordered you."

Lucy hid a grin. "... v.. very well." She stepped towards him - "Since I get to choose.." She leaned up to him, deciding to get a little revenge for his teasing. She had every intention of kissing his cheek of course - but before that, she leans up a little more, breathing a soft breath of air against his ear with an even softer purr.

Of course, from the kids perspective it just looked like she leaned up to him for a second, then leaned down again and gave his cheek a quick peck. Leaning away again, she grinned, "Will that do..?"

His whole body shuddered when she breathed into his ear before she finally did as expected and pecked his cheek. He shot her a brief glance knowing full well how smug she was likely about finally getting a bit of payback.

"Y-Yeah that'll do. Anyway. Now that that's taken care of we should head to our feast." Natsu said and drew attention to Regina.

Oh she was definitely smug from that grin on her face, knowing how he reacted to that gesture. She gave him a cute wink when he glanced at her, before her attention shifted to Regina, who just laughed at the group.

"I see you've been having fun," she greeted, holding up the bag she picked up at the market. "But before we start in on our feast -" she eyed Justyne and Neveren, "You two need to clean yourself up - you look like you were jumping in leaves!" Which is exactly what they did so ...

She passed the bag to Lucy, "Here, put these away please? I'll get the children cleaned up. Even Generals need good hygiene." She added with a grin, ushering Justyne and Neveren out of the room. Lucy shifted her grip on the bag, cast a look at Natsu. "By your leave, your Majesty?" She grinned.

"Yeah we had a blast~" Natsu answered Regina managing to overcome that moment of daze from Lucy's wink and grin combo she'd just hit him with. He had one hell of a time though and as soon as Regina left to wash up the kids, he turned back to Lucy.

"Onward to the kitchen!" He said and suddenly leaned in to whisper in her ear. "My queen~"

She was still chuckling at that brief dazed effect from just a smile and wink. Well maybe now he had an idea of how it felt when he smile at her. So far though, he still hadn't clued in on what made her weakest for him, between those smiles and such. At least she hoped he hadn't.

Turning to walk into the kitchen, she stiffened in surprise, shivering a little at the feel of that whisper. Nevermind being called 'my queen' to his 'king' just made her delightfully happy. She cleared her throat, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. "O-Onward.." Cough. Into the kitchen she went! Setting the bag on the counter, she started putting some of the things away, like another carton of milk and a few rolls of bread.

Honestly she was lucky he hadn't caught on yet. But he knew plenty well what she could do to affect him in return. Was tempted to wrap one arm around Lucy's neck but she had already started taking things out of the bag and onto the table.

"Here let me help." They could drop the act somewhat if not completely now. Fun didn't outstay its welcome after all.