Lucianna wiped down the counter, eyes looking around her tavern, taking in the slight mess that was left behind by the Pirates, shaking her head at the few mess and puddles of rum that were in the area. It's nearly two hours before sunset and the pirates had drunk all of her stock of rum, which made them leave and head back to their ship to rest (read drank their own stuck) and handle the hangover of drinking a Dragonian rum by morning.
Though the bar maiden is still sure that they will be back tomorrow, especially the Captain and the Vice-Captain for they still haven't found the person they were waiting for, which made her wonder who exactly it was, that they have to see each other at her town when they are plenty of towns, islands, in the world.
She sighed in defeat, shaking her head, and decided it was not her problem, though she definitely need to tell her father about the pirates. Lucianna folded the towels and then headed towards the door of her tavern, once at the door she flipped the 'OPEN' sign to 'CLOSE' before going and waiting by the door, eyes on the way to the sea. A bright smile appeared on her face a few minutes later, eyeing three figures from the distance.
"Mama!" Two voices rang out at the same and this made her giggle in delight before waving at the boys, and when they a bit closer, the twins ran into her legs, their Grandfather walking calmly behind them, carrying something over his shoulder. Lucianna giggled and the moment she had the children in her arms, she immediately lifted them up and spins around, enjoying the sound of her shrieking children, only stopping when she and the children started to get dizzy.
Laxus was already standing in front of them by then and when she lowered the kids down, he gently helped her, eyeing her breathing pattern than at the children, who were bright smiles on their faces, and back again. The young woman panted slightly, ignoring her father's stare before straightening up and smiling as if nothing was wrong when the two boys turned to look at her.
"Did you have fun with your Grandfather?" She asked and immediately received nods of excitement.
"We did, we did~" Ashish declared and then began to rummage around the bag that he was carrying around. While Asher raised the picnic basket that he was carrying and showed their mother the seashell inside them.
"We went to some tidepools and then went fishing!" The boy stated. "We caught pretty fishes too and want to give them to you mama but Grandpa said no."
"So we got this for you instead!" Ashish then pulled out a pink pearl that has the size of his palm and a glittering red conch shell. Luci blink-eyed the children before smiling softly and then kneeled down to their height and kissed each of their foreheads.
"Thank you…" She muttered and the kids blushed ever slightly.
"Alright, why don't you wash the sea shells and your mom's gift?" Laxus said and this made them perk up before running away.
"Okay!" Lucianna giggled as they ran before standing up and looking at her father.
"Did anything bad happen? I heard a ruckus earlier but then it calmed down." Laxus stated, heading inside the tavern with his adopted daughter following behind him.
"Well… for whatever reason, Pirates are docked here." Her answer made the Dragon freeze and snapped his head toward her.
"What?!" He growled, but when he saw how Luci shakes her head ever slightly, followed by glancing to the side, he paused and did a short meditation before relaxing, realizing that the boys could hear them, which is something he and his daughter wanted to avoid. Since the twins are still kids, they obviously are curious if there's something new, and if they heard that pirates are in the area, then they would not hesitate to try and get to know them.
"I'll tell you more when the children are asleep," Lucianna said before going further into their tavern and then to the kitchen where they can hear the children playing. Laxus pursed his lips and glances over his shoulder before shaking his head and following after his daughter.
"We'll be having Shark Meat tonight!!" Laxus's voice sounded, there was silence, and then.
"That's a shark?!?!"
"We fished it, mama!!"
"...Papa!!"
*Bam!* "Ouch!"
~A few hours later~
Lucianna slowly closed the twins' door before moving away from it and heading down the stairs. Once she arrived on the first floor, she could see her father waiting at a table, drinking. Laxus, who sense her stare, looked up and watched as Lucianna headed towards his table and sat down at the chair in front of him. The demon tilted his head slightly to the side, ears perked up, as Luci prepared her tea and nodded in satisfaction when he didn't hear any noise coming from the twin's room.
"Looks like they are truly asleep." He remarked and this made Luci smile.
"I'm not shocked, with the activities that you did earlier today, anyone would be knocked out." She stated and sipped her tea, sighing in slight relief before looking seriously at her Father.
"Now… what do you mean by pirates?" He immediately asked and was then told what happen when they were away. By the end of it, Laxus was frowning in confusion and slight concern, holding his chin with his thumb and pointer finger. "I see…"
"..." Lucianna watched her father, who then sighed and removes his fingers from their spot and looked at him.
"What do you think?"
"...I actually have no idea what to think about Ashkenair," Luci said, looking at her tea. "We heard rumors about them being good pirates, but… it could be just a lie."
"I would agree with you but…" The Dragon leaned back on his chair and cross his arms above his chest. "The King wouldn't let them pass, let alone stay, in his islands if they were tainted."
"...But the King knew you're here, he could probably allow them here thinking that you would take care of them." The midnight-haired woman said and this made her father to pause and sigh in defeat, slapping a hand to his face.
"Knowing that damn geezer, he would probably do that." Luci sweat dropped and smiled nervously as Laxus continued to mutter bad things about the King, it took a couple of seconds but when he was done, determination shine through his eyes.
"Papa?" Lucianna asked, tilting her head slightly to the side.
"We're going to let the pirates stay here, but I will increase the magic in the tavern, especially if I'm not around."
"What about the boys?" She asked rather worriedly.
"Don't worry about them. I will watch them and make sure that they won't go near the uninvited guest."
"...How do you plan to do that?" Luci asked, looking in the direction of the boys' room. "They're not naive and dumb to not notice that you are somehow purposely keeping them away from me, especially Ashish."
"... I know but I just hoped that the pirates will be gone soon."
"That'll be a bit hard, considering that they also don't know when or who that person is." Hearing that statement made Laxus sigh in defeat.
"I know… it's a bit annoying with them being unpredictable." It was silent after that statement before Luci sighed and grab hold of her father's hand.
"Don't stress too much about it, we'll figure something out, Papa." She assured him, smiling gently. Laxus glanced at her hand before bowing slightly in defeat, it wasn't just the boys that he was worried about, he was also worried about his daughter, but she was the only one who can run the bar, so he had no choice but to trust her to actually use the lessons he taught her when she was a kid and won't hesitate in asking for help. It was only when he nodded, did Luci remove her hand and drink her tea nearly empty before pausing, realizing something that there was something she wanted to ask her father about.
"What is it?" Laxus, who was about to empty out his mug and notice her paused, asked.
"Papa… have you heard about the song that can lead you will lead to the land of the Phoenixes and heal all types of sickness?"
"What?"