Poker Face
Lucy raised her head from the table where she'd been resting it to keep it from spinning off of her shoulders. Looking around her apartment she saw bodies in different stages of undress draped over the furniture in a similar fashion to the various items of clothing also strewn around the room. "How did this happen?" she asked herself knowing full well the answer.
"Royal Flush!" Cana crowed to the room. "I win again."
There was a general groan heard from all over the room. She had been winning for most of the evening which meant they had all been losing. They wouldn't even have been doing this if Juvia hadn't said what she did in Cana's hearing.
"Gray-sama is so smart and clever," Juvia gushed as they celebrated his winning of the Annual Fiore Poker Tournament. "Juvia has never played poker before, but it must be very difficult."
"You've never played poker?" Cana asked in mock horror as she threw an arm around Juvia's shoulder. "We must fix that immediately." She gave a wicked smile and then announced, "Listen up everybody! Juvia here has never played poker and we're going to fix that for her. It's just a friendly game, no high stakes ok? And everybody will participate, or else"
Juvia's cheeks began to burn with embarrassment. "C-C-Cana, Juvia doesn't want to make a fuss!"
"Nonsense, sweetie," Cana replied, "This is important and you should be fussed over once in awhile." She gave her a quick hug and then moved to the table to start clearing it off.
"So what are we playin'?" Natsu asked as he sat at the table, "Hold 'Em? Seven card stud? Hi-Lo?"
"Nothing as boring and normal as that," Cana answered. "Since this is in honor of Gray's win at the tournament," she gestured to the ice mage to her right, "we're playing…" she looked around the table with a wolfish grin, "...strip poker!"
Lucy choked on the drink she was sipping. Natsu started laughing. Erza merely nodded her head. Juvia's face turned bright red, but she quickly sat at the table. Gray just gave a shrug, "Okay by me," he said.
"So, what are the rules for this game?" Natsu asked with a grin.
"To make it easier for Juvia to understand," Cana said looking at Juvia, "I'll put it this way. You want either five cards in a row or four of a kind, that's four cards that are the same number. The higher the cards the better. Is that clear?"
"Yes Cana-san," Juvia said.
"The person with the best hand wins, obviously," Cana continued, "so everyone toasts their winning with a shot," she put a glass in front of each player then started filling each one with an amber liquid, "And the winner gets to chose one item of clothing and one loser that has to remove it."
"What's in the glass?" Lucy asked suspiciously.
"Ice Cube whiskey," Cana answered. "I thought it would be appropriate for the situation."
"Let's get started," Natsu said with a grin. "After all Gray is already ahead of everyone."
They all turned to Gray who was sitting in nothing but his boxers.
"Get dressed Gray," Erza commanded, "so that we can start the game."
Cana dealt the first hand. "Here, let me help you this first time Juves," Cana said to Juvia. "You have two cards that are high and in a row and this one is close to them too, so you're going to want to discard these two and ask for two more from the dealer." Cana gave her two more cards then went around the table. "Now we see what everyone has!"
"Four of a kind," Gray said with a smirk. "Look at those lovely nines," he added.
"That's got me beat," said Natsu throwing his cards down onto the table.
"I've got three of a kind. Does that count for something?" Lucy asked laying her hand face up on the table.
"Not really," Cana said with a grin, "Since Gray's got your cards beat. Erza, what did you get?"
"A straight," was the reply. "Diamonds, with eight being the highest card."
"Oooh, a valiant try," Cana commented. "So, Juves, what did you get?"
"Well, there are five cards in a row," she said without showing her cards.
"And what's the highest card?" Cana asked.
Natsu snorted. "As if you didn't know!"
Cana shrugged. "Come on girl, people are dying to know who the first winner is."
"A-a-ace?" the nervous water mage said.
"What?" Gray said in amazement.
"Yup," Cana said with a smile. "You've got a royal flush. You win Juvia!" Cana grabbed her glass and the others followed suit.
"Juvia!" they cheered as they raised their glasses and then drank.
"Oh, brrrr!" Lucy said through chattering teeth. "I see why it's called Ice Cube now."
"Less talk," Cana commanded. "You're the winner Juves. Who are you going to command to remove a piece of clothing?"
"As if we don't know the 'who'," Lucy said in an aside to Natsu who snickered.
Juvia blushed a deep red. "Juvia says that Gray-sama will remove…" She paused for a moment then seemed to lose her nerve, "his left sock" she finished quietly.
Natsu laughed outright at this while Gray shrugged and removed the stated article.
"Ok, that was a start," Cana said, "but now we're really going to start playing."
Gray won the next hand and Natsu lost his scarf. Erza won the third round and Lucy was forced to give up her skirt. By the fourth round everyone was feeling the effects of the whisky. Cana won and said that Gray was to remove his trousers and put them on Natsu's head like a clown cap. There was a lot of goodnatured stripping after that with everyone having to remove clothing and finding new ways of displaying the removed article. Everyone seemed to be getting inebriated except Cana, and soon she started winning every hand.
With Cana's latest declaration Lucy had the sudden thought that having a card mage as dealer for strip poker was a bad idea. A really bad idea.