Challenge Accepted

[Mist Gul]

Mist always stood out in a crowd. His height, the long blond hair, golden eyes, his grace, his beauty, and mostly, the glimmering runes cut into his face and body inevitably drew attention. He had ways to conceal those things.

A humorous smile flickered at his lips as he walked lightly along through the marketplace. As he walked however, he seemed less and less the tall and slender elf man, and more and more... just another face in the crowd. A simple spell on his part mimicked glamour, and concealed who he really was.

Usually, he used that spell when walking through the worse parts of town, but this time, he was simply walking through Little Elfhame. He stopped here and there, absently inquiring about Jewell, though he'd already managed to get an address after a bit of snooping over the Empress's shoulder while she was absorbed in paperwork at the Arena.

Possibly he was leaving a bit of trail.

The Mill was an interesting building, he wandered through the downstairs curiously, pausing to purchase an ice cream cone and continuing to window shop. Though a few older and wiser eyes may have seen straight through the suggestion that he was nothing more than an average shopper, the illusion held.

It was important to keep that illusion, as he took the stairs upwards. He looked over the Kids of Summer offices, but passed by and continued upwards. For a moment, he was impressed. The penthouse seemed to be a large structure. Such a place, in his mind, would be lively with servants, staff, soldiers, and all manner of activity.

Because clearly, if Jewell had said she was Empress, then she must be Empress of RhyDin.

The difficult part came next. He remembered it being said that Jewell kept her home well warded. He didn't want to key any of those, nor to tamper with them. He stood quietly, assessing where those spells might lie, and then, carefully, set his own 'trap'.

A small box, with its enchantments carefully concealed within itself, was set onto the floor. About the size of a tissue package, covered in silvery paper, it waited, innocuous and boxlike. Mist snickered softly and slipped away.

On opening the door, or arriving back to her home, Jewell would be confronted by the box, mildly taking up space. As she neared, the box popped open to barf confetti and glitter in a multicolored cloud. A small stuffed unicorn remained in the box, holding a small note:

"Tag. You're IT."

[JewellRavenlock]

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Not that Jewell was really out to get revenge on Mist. This was all just a very friendly game of tag during which no one was likely to lose life or limb. Probably. Sort of. Maybe.

Anything was possible.

The funny thing was that Jewell didn’t really even need revenge. Aside from startling her and covering her in cloud of glitter and confetti, that had taken her days to get out of her hair, she hadn’t been inconvenienced at all. The brownie fae that cleaned her apartment had not been thrilled, but such was life! She had even received a stuffed unicorn out of the mess! So really, she should be thanking Mist. Not trying to torment him.

But where was the fun in that?

Said stuffed unicorn (his name was Albert) was riding on her shoulder as she orchestrated her move against the fair elf, entering the Southside Hospital like she owned the place. Since Mist had just handed over his business card the other night, everything was much easier. Not that Jewell really ever had problems finding out information anyway.

Or convincing people to help torment their co-worker.

It took a few words and pretty smiles with several different staff members before she had a whole team of people assisting to unload a rental truck that was parked out back, bringing the merchandise inside. Jewell didn’t actually do any of it. She just stood there, blithely overseeing the entire operation. The only thing she made sure to do was put a little note on Mist’s desk before the staff really got started. On it was her message to him written in her looping handwriting and sparkly blue ink: I believe you are it.

As one of the nurses helped bring in another handful of blue balloons from the truck, all filled with heart shaped confetti and pink glitter, she wondered absently if Mist would ever even see the note.

It certainly might take him a while to find it when his office was absolutely overflowing with helium balloons.

[Mist Gul]

Mist's co-workers always enjoyed teasing the elf. From the day when he first started work there, and the rumor that he was vegan to the Family Health Fairs where they encouraged the children to take vengeance on Mist for their immunization shots, they were always up for a prank. Particularly since Mist wasn't shy about pranking back.

None the less, he suspected nothing as the senior floor nurse, Becca, a strong, middle aged black human woman, walked him along towards his office, keeping his attention on the new triage procedures. Several nurses, interns, orderlies, and other staff milled about idly near the door to Mist's office, but that wasn't anything new, either. The nurse's station was only a few yards away, after all.

Mostly, he failed to notice Riha, a smiling fae nurse, following along after him, filming him with her camera.

"Okay, thanks, Becca..." Mist noted, reaching to open his door. He looked up just as he was stepping into a wall of blue balloons. He stopped short, and Becca promptly reached in, popping several of the balloons, which sent him stumbling further into the office in a shower of glitter and confetti. Heart shaped confetti!

"What...?!" he yelped, laughing, tangling in the balloon strings and balloons, turning to try and make it to his desk. Riha cackled gleefully.

"Oh. No no no. No! Do not..." Mist whirled to stare at the woman. With a sunny smile, Riha totally did: she uploaded the video 'Balloons vs Mist' right alongside the 'Mist Nae-Nae' video.

"I will have my revenge," Mist announced, leaning into the profusion of balloons.

"Wasn't us. Good luck with your bloons," Becca beamed, waving and going on her way.

It took hours to clear out the balloons, mainly because Mist was taking out bunches of them to take to the pediatric ward, bringing a lot of smiles to little faces, but he left three tied to his chair. He finally sat down, and found the card. His eyes narrowed as he read the message.

"I'm 'it'," he scoffed, amused, carefully putting the note into his wallet.

"Soon," he muttered, shoulders shaking with laughter.

[Mist Gul]

Mist hadn't every really celebrated, or much understood, Valentine's Day. The only one he really remembered was when he had driven off a riot and got shot for his pains. For him, it was a somewhere between grim and ridiculous day at the clinic, removing things from where they did not belong, pumping stomachs, and the like.

Between the fae and explanations of Lupercalia, however, Mist thought he had it figured out. More or less. Thus, he sent a stupidly large bouquet of flowers to Jewell: fragrant with roses and freesia, in a lovely blue ceramic vase.

A note was attached, of course, written in flowing hand:

"'The moons shine to light your eyes,
The sun is joyful to see your smile.
Your voice is music to butterflies,
Keep singing, you'll be chasing them a while.'

You're it.

This is a Valentine.

Yours,
Mist."

Upon reading the bit of doggerel, the bouquet shook out butterflies. Dozens of them. Fluttering crazily around, and each time Jewell spoke or squealed or laughed, they'd fly up from wherever they'd alighted.

The butterflies weren't real, they were colorful and fanciful little bits of silk and wire, animated with a small cantrip. Once Jewell caught them, the spell would be broken, and they would lay still. ...For about an hour, then they'd flutter all over once more. After the second capture, the animation spell ran out, and they were just pretty little toys.