On one magical night of the year, it's surprising just how many things can go wrong... and very right.
***
The fat snowflakes drifting down through the crisp air didn't seem to be even noticed by anyone, making no impact whatsoever on the bustling activity that filled the courtyard. The dusting of white that lay on the ground had been trampled underfoot long ago apart from a few places tucked away in corners and against walls, but the roofs of the sturdy wooden buildings around the yard were heavy with a pristine blanket of snow.
The shattering explosion from over the hill definitely
did
get people's attention, though, the sooty cloud boiling upward from the blast's source drawing almost every eye. Almost.
With a sigh, the one person who'd not immediately jerked toward the noise lowered the German language issue of Cosmopolitan she'd been flicking through and turned eyes the same icy blue shade of the sky toward the large, shaggy-haired hound laid on the planks beside her.
"Well, he seems to have managed
that
much, at least."
A huff of canine agreement was all the immediate response, but a few moments later the dog turned its head from the thinning smoke and looked up at the young-looking woman lounging in her comfortable chair. About the only concession she seemed to have made to the chill was her tight red sweater - the cut-off shorts certainly weren't - and the hound ran it's gaze along her long, shapely legs to the scruffy boots propped up on the veranda's railing. The look was quite a pointed one, and she let out a soft sigh before dropping her feet back to the decking with a thump.
"Fine," she said with a smile. "No need to nag, Vigi."
Rising to her feet, she dropped her magazine onto the low table beside her chair, raising her arms over her head in a sinuous stretching movement. A few seconds later, she relaxed, then scooped her long mane of silvery-white hair back from her shoulders. Ornate silver studs glinted in her delicately pointed ears, but only until she let her hair fall again to cover them.
"I still don't think this was a smart idea, you know. Okay, so Jack iced over Dad's favourite fishing pool, but I can't help thinking that this whole notion is perhaps a little... over the top?"
Another huff of agreement sounded from Vigi, and the dog lifted itself to its feet and gave a quick shake. A hand dropped to the top of his head, and he tilted it to give proper access for the scratch being offered. It wasn't much of a stretch on her part, since he came up to pretty much her waist, but he was careful not to put too much of his weight onto her legs when he leaned against them.
"Yeah, yeah... And none of that is anything Mom or I haven't said to him already."
A movement from behind them had the pair glancing that way, and both of them watched as an older woman, almost queenly in a flowing dress of deep green, steered her heavily pregnant belly out of the house and into the fresh air.
"Was that another problem in the warehouse, or has your father been playing again?"
"What do you think?"
"Now, now, Nikki. No need to suggest that your father has a habit of acting like an overgrown teenager."
Nikki arched an eyebrow at her mother, glancing down at the swollen belly. "You don't seem to complain about
some
of his more youthful behaviour."
"What we get up to, or not, in the privacy of our own bedroom is none of your concern, young lady."
The prim, almost scolding tone bounced off Nikki's cheeky grin with no visible effect whatsoever.
"It is when a certain someone is... vocal enough, shall we say, to keep me awake."
A faint flush coloured her mother's cheeks, but the woman refused to look away... at least until the pair of them shared a grin and started laughing. That only lasted a few moments, however, until the elder woman frowned, looking past her. Niki turned to see what had caught her eye, and her own brow furrowed as well when she saw the quartet of short figures staggering into the yard, one carrying each corner of what was quite obviously once been a door - recently enough, in fact, that the battered remains of the frame still bounced along underneath it from one twisted hinge.
Of far more importance to her, though, was the sight of the portly, white-bearded man laid on the door itself, holding one leg in clear discomfort and quite audibly cursing with great eloquence.
"Well," Nikki said softly, sighing as she took in the scorched and singed appearance of her father. "That looks uncomfortable."
"But not, I'm afraid, totally unexpected."
Her mother's dry observation was met with a definite sigh from Vigi, the hound showing quite plainly just how little
he
was shocked at the sight the three of them were taking in.
***
"So... did it all go according to plan, dear?"
Niki felt quite proud of the fact that she managed to keep a smirk off of her face as she watched her father scowl up at his wife from the armchair she'd had him dumped in. One leg stuck out, resting on a footstool and wrapped tightly to hold the splint in place, and it was pretty much obvious that he was a great deal less amused by the whole situation than the rest of his family was.
"No, it didn't. As you can quite plainly see."
"Oh, I just wanted to make sure that I hadn't missed some nuance of your cunning plan."
Sour muttering was the only answer she got, but that seemed to be more or less exactly what she'd expected. Nikki watched as her expression softened, a glass of brandy being held out to her father - who broke of his grumpy sulk to take and offer his wife a look of thanks. Light from the fireplace shimmered in the amber liquid as he held the glass in his hand, before finally letting out a long, low sigh.
"You were right, both of you. Which shouldn't surprise me in the slightest, should it?"
"Not really, no," Nikki answered, even though it hadn't really been a question. Her father looked over at her with a smile, and she returned it as she idly scratched between Vigi's ears.
"Should have known messing with that ramshackle still of Jack's wouldn't go smoothly."
"At least you're not a mortal," her mother observed. "Which, now I think about it, is probably the main reason you and Jack have managed to keep sniping at each other so long."
"Probably."
That agreement sounded cheerful enough, and given the history of pranks and counter-pranks the two of them had engaged in over the centuries, it was totally genuine too. There was no way the whole thing had carried on that long if the main perpetrators hadn't enjoyed every bit of it.
Not that things had gone to plan any more than one time in three, on either side... But that seemed to Nikki to have been part of the fun.
Unfortunately, there was just the tiniest problem with how it had gone wrong this time. The broken leg would heal quickly enough, probably within the week, but the timing... Oh, yes, the timing. Of all the days to have blown his fool ass up,
this
