Night's Omen

Prompt List

• Normal
• Curse
• Christmas
• Night
• Magic
• Halloween
• Family
• Sword
• Betrayal
• Fight

Nica had gotten up early, letting her husband sleep in like the lump he was. To be fair, it was early, mostly because she knew there was no way he was going along with anything until it was already in full swing. It was kind of funny; he and her father had never gotten along, but if he knew how alike they were, he might have changed some of his behaviours. At any rate, she was downstairs, and then outside, next door in her silk robe, talking with another brunette in a fuzzy robe. They laughed over cups of tea, and made plans for the day - plans their husbands didn't know about yet - until the distinct cries of a toddler pulled the other woman from Nica's company. She said her goodbyes and darted back home, coming in to smell the very specific scent of her shampoo from upstairs.

"No, the 3-in-1 is fine," she said to herself, imitating Bob, "you don't need to get me something fancy. My ass." She shook her head. She knew he'd been using her shampoo, she knew it! Now she'd just finally caught him in the act. Unfortunately, unless she actually ran up there and flung the door open, she'd never have enough proof, and right now, she didn't have time to get caught up in a shower with him. It was regretful.

By the time he came downstairs, she had breakfast going, and texts were flying on her phone between the neighbors who had been in on this little plan - a barbecue. She was learning names quickly in her group chat - Skye, Shane, Mike, and Chase. She was sure there were others coming, but they weren't in the chat. She'd meet them later. More importantly, Bob would.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" he asked, dropping down at the counter and scanning the stocks on his phone. He made a noise of approval, and then glanced up, taking the coffee she held out to him with a nod of thanks.

"Can't I just be in a good mood?" she asked innocently.

He set his coffee down. "Nica," he began, "I've known you for a long time. A very long time. And I've never seen you happy to set an alarm for anything prior to noon. So spill it."

She pursed her lips. "Welllllll," she said, turning so he couldn't see her face. She finished with the eggs she'd prepared, sliding them onto the plates, and dropped the pan in the sink "to soak". She turned back around.

"Nica," he said, his voice raising in warning.

"So I was thinking."

"Here it comes."

"Well, we're new here, and we don't really know anyone, and the couples next door to either side of us seem so nice...."

"We're having a barbecue aren't we," he said flatly.

"Yes!" She dropped his plate in front of him. "And I have a list of things I need you to pick up, so hurry up and eat."

---

"Stormy, sweetie, that's not - that's not a toy," Andi warned, pointing with the hand that didn't hold a margarita in it. She gestured to her husband with the glass. "Mike, can you?" she asked, waving wildly at the 'can you' part.

"I can't believe she can even pick that up," Skye mused, watching Mike try to bargain for his daughter to let go of a decorative ball that was actually pretty fucking heavy. She gasped as the girl flung it at her father, only for her older brother to come in for a save and gently catch it before Mike got smeared.

"That Witch blood," Andi said, laughing as she shrugged. "They're at that awkward stage where they're both really strong, but too stupid to know their limits." She made a face and tipped her drink back. "Honey?" she asked, shaking the glass at Mike.

While Mike ran interference between his two kids and his wife, their third child had taken to following Bob around. He was currently at the grill, while Jonathan, Nick and Shane stood around in a circle, and each of them criticized his cooking. Apparently it was some masculine rite of passage, but Bob was here for it.

"Yeah, but how long is too long for a burger?" Shane asked.

"It just needs to be warm," Nick offered, sipping his beer. He scanned the backyard until he saw Skye, and smiled to her when he made eye contact.

"Okay, LaCroix, some of us don't want food poisoning," Jonathan snorted.

Bob opened his mouth to say something, and felt a tug at his side. He glanced down.

"Can you pick me up?" the small child asked.

"Who lost a kid?" he called.

"Oh, that's just Dreama. Man, she really likes you," Shane said, arching an eyebrow at the girl.  At Bob's blank expression, he went on. "Yeah, she's uh, Mike and Miranda's youngest. Our kids play all the time."

"Stormy! Quit trying to drown your brother!" Andi screamed.

"Nice bunch," Shane concluded.

"If I pick you up, can you cook for me? I'll show you how," Bob said, crouching down. He held the spatula out to the blonde, who nodded, looking far too serious for her age. "Okay, let's go," he said. He scooped her up, and began instructing her over the grill. Of course, full supervision - Bob wasn't an idiot. "You want to make your mommy a burger? No?! Okay, you wanna make your daddy one? Okay, okay, here, this is how you flip it..."

---

"So, Andi, I heard you guys got taken over by Garden Security?" Chase said, sitting down in a lawn chair next to the blonde. "It's a firm downtown - where Jonathan works," she explained, giving Nicola some exposition. "They had a competing agency, but I guess as of a few days ago, they were bought out."

"Yeah, it's not so bad. Dude gave us a few days to get ready for the merger, but next week I'll be at a new office. I mean, I'm an admin type, so I go wherever and sit in front of a computer, nothing really changes for me except the client list," she shrugged.

"Wait, you're not a hunter?" Nicola asked, confused.

Miranda nearly choked on her drink. "God no," she said, coughing. She accepted a napkin that Chase handed to her. "Sweetie, I had a wild youth. I am done with that life. Even if I miss it a little." She sighed wistfully.

"I thought about quitting," Skye said. "A few times. Especially after Nico was born," she admitted.

"It's not even really about the kids," Andi said. "It's just - Mike would fucking fall apart without me," she said. "Listen, I know it looks like he does everything, but it's because he wants to. Trust me, the dynamic seems really one-sided, I know it does. We both had it pretty rough."

"It does seem kind of one-sided," Nica admitted.

Every woman sitting at the table laughed, and Nica blushed. "Sorry, I don't mean to be unfair."

"You're fine," Andi said. "But I promise, you won't find a better guy to babysit."

"Yeah, Nick's good with kids, but not like Mike is," Skye laughed. "I think Nick is only good with Nicole because she's his."

"We stopped with one. Tyler is a little terror. And lord, when he gets going with Stormy and River? I think about just leaving the planet," Arielle said, shaking her head.

"I think all this talk makes me glad to be in the child free club for right now," Nica said. Chase nodded in accord.

"Oh yeah. Jonathan and I both come from huge families. It's not a race," she said. "Besides, the way Andi's luck goes, she'll probably just end up pregnant again before the year is out," she said, giving her a Look.

"Ooooh no, don't you put that evil on me," Andi hissed. "I'll crush a bottle of tequila a night to make sure that doesn't happen."

Chase put her hand on Andi's shoulder. "Andi, honey, that's exactly how that happens."

~

The women at the table were positively cackling, and Jonathan looked over at them, and then back at the guys. "Do I want to know?" he asked.

Nick, who could hear their conversation, shook his head. "No man, you do not." He paused between bites of his burger. "Dreama, this is excellent. You're a great cook."

"Thank you," she said, positioned on Mike's lap, mustard and ketchup all over her face. She made a grab for his beer, and Mike moved it out of her reach.

"So now that we've mostly sectioned ourselves off by gender, weirdly, is this where we all go try to take something apart in the shed and thump our chests, or?" Shane asked.

Bob cleared his throat. "Well, now that you mention it, I've turned the shed into a woodshop. It's kind of a pet project of mine, since Nica has her hobbies, and - you guys aren't into that sort of thing, are you?" He realized they were all staring at him.

"I've been trying to get a he-shed for years," Nick admitted. "I had one, but Skye saw that she-shed commercial, and that was the beginning and the end of that. I don't even know what she does in there. She won't let me in."

"Yoga," Shane said. "Arielle kicks me out of the living room every day for two hours to do yoga."

"Maybe she hung a punching bag in it," Jonathan suggested.

"Alright man," Mike said. "Let's see this wood shop."

---

"And then Mike said that he's always wanted to learn how to do woordworking so now he and Jonathan are going to come by next week and I'm going to show them some of the beginner's projects I made back in the day - "

"Back in the day? Honey that was ages ago, that's hardly fair," Nica said, pausing from brushing her teeth.

Bob stuck his head around the corner and glared at her in the mirror. "I can still teach them," he said defensively. "And anyway, apparently they've been looking for something to do in their off time that isn't go to the range. I guess they're spending way too much on ammo." He laughed.

"Well, I'm glad you had a good time," she said after she rinsed her mouth. "And to think, you were so against this only a few hours ago." She turned as she heard a noise, and saw her husband had jumped into the bed. "Apparently you had a really good time."

"I did," he admitted. He held his arm out to her, and she turned out the bathroom light and came over to him, rolling into the bed and directly into his grasp. "You know what would make it even better?" he asked, leaning down and burying his face in her neck, giving her a dozen little kisses.

She giggled, trying to squirm away. "What? Let me guess, you want me to scratch your back?"

"Mm-hmm," he said into her hair.

"Alright, you big bear, roll over," she instructed. He did as he was told, and as she began to slowly run her nails across his back, she smiled. "I'm glad you had a good time. We have good neighbors. Most of them are guild hunters! This was a good find, honey. We can probably stay here for a while."

"Mm-hmm," he said, face in his pillow.

"Are you falling asleep?" she asked, poking him in the side.

He pretended to snore.

"Bob! You are so abnormal!"

He sat up suddenly, grabbing her before she could react, and yanked her down, pinning her with his upper body. "Nica, I'm the pinnacle of normal. And so are you. We even got a picket fence," he said, as though that somehow proved it. "Now, let's see how long it takes for us to mess it all up."