The Empress & The Line

[JewellRavenlock]

“Come on, Rath!” Jewell encouraged him from the top of the stairs. “I just know this one can fit.” Unlike the other, larger pine tree which had been abandoned near the bar downstairs after shedding its needles everywhere.

“One more step and--ee!” she ducked, lifting her arms up over her head to protect herself as he managed to get the much smaller tree up into the loft just fine, swinging it around and almost taking off the petite Faerie’s pretty head. She peered up, brushing pine needles from her hair. “No no! Don’t set it down here! Can you put it over there, please dear?” Only The Empress would call a half-ogre dear and offer him such a pretty smile while bossing him around.

She wasn’t thankless and unappreciative though. In return for his help, Rath was well rewarded with a whole tray of bacon. Jewell just didn’t have it in her to bring him some sort of small, live animal to eat, and he had apparently enjoyed eating all the bacon bits from the mashed potato bar at the party she had thrown.

Even with her forethought, he managed to polish off all the bacon and then the popcorn strings that the Christmas for Dummies book had assured her were an “absolute must!” for decorating a tree. Jewell sighed as she held up the empty strings, bereft of each popped kernel. “Oh well. I thought that was a stupid decoration anyway regardless of what the book said. I hope it at least tasted good?”

After that incident, The Empress shooed Rath back downstairs to prevent the disappearance of any more of the decorations she had purchased. Then she commenced with the rest of her work. Between trips to local shops and vendors for forgotten and last minute items, Jerry and visitors to The Line were treated to bits of sweet singing that filtered downstairs as she spun about, working her magic.

Despite having little understanding or love of the Christmas holiday and being a rather far cry from a domestic goddess, Jewell wholeheartedly adored the beautiful in life and had a knack for creating it. There were shiny glass balls for the tree and a sprinkling of silver faerie dust. A trip to Rena’s shop yielded candles of different shapes and sizes, which found their home on different surfaces as well as the floor. Rather than the traditional colored bulbs, which Jewell proclaimed to be “extremely gaudy” to the highly offended store clerk, the twinkling little magic lights she hung on the wall cast a soft, romantic glow.

The final touch was a bit of silver mistletoe over the top of the stairs.

Jewell stood back, arms crossed and lips scrunched over to the side as she observed her masterpiece. There were bits of tinsel in her hair; a trail of pine needles on the floor, leading to the tree; and silver faerie dust just about everywhere. Still, she proclaimed her first attempt at ever celebrating the Yule holiday, “Not too bad.”

[JewellRavenlock]

In an attempt to be a good temporary roommate, Jewell left a note for Kal on his pillow written in blue ink:

Going to Faerie. Will put away the decorations if I come back.
♥ Jewell

[JewellRavenlock]

When most of the Yule decorations were packed away (and possibly destroyed maliciously) and the dead tree was sent to its final resting place (“Do we bury it in the cemetery?”), Jewell’s continued occupation of the loft above The Line manifested itself in much subtler ways.

The Faerie respected Kal too much to make her presence obtrusive. Still, it was hard to ignore the feminine touch impressed upon the rather spartan studio. It wasn’t just the small collection of high heels scattered on the floor here and there; the dresses hanging in the closet; or even the hairpins and odd bits of jewelery spread across every available surface.

The bathroom had been invaded by a myriad of products in various girly scents with names like “spring rain”, “summer rose”, and “juniper breeze”.

The candles that had appeared with the Yule decorations had escaped the purge. However, they were rarely lit due to someone’s dislike of matches.

A glass vase found its home on the large, mahogany table. Even with the winter weather, it always had fresh flowers in it.

A few tiny pots containing houseplants made an appearance in the kitchen. Despite Jewell’s negligence of most living things (including her poor cat, Cupcake, who had been left in the care of the House of Summer girls), the plants seemed to flourish under her touch.

A knit throw blanket in soft shades of blue took up residence on one of the leather couches. It was perfect for cuddling under to read a good book.

In fact, several books were not far away; a small collection was growing on the coffee table with subjects ranging from ancient history of extinct cultures to complicated magic work to classic romance novels. They were joined by various fashion magazines.

On Kal’s desk were several pens wrapped in blue fabric and topped with matching feathers and silver glitter. In an attempt to make them less offensive, a metal cup embossed with crossed daggers on the front had been utilized as a holder for all writing implements.

Fortunately, the shady elf was safe from a hostile takeover of uncomfortable decorative pillows, the color pink, and useless knick-knacks (except for a jar of seaglass because, “See how pretty it is when the light hits it?”). He was also safe from baked goods and home-cooked meals per his request, but only after the Great Christmas Cookie Disaster of 2015.

Overall, Jewell told herself she wasn’t being a nuisance, even though she kept stealing his shirts, left blue strands of hair on the bathroom counter, and the faint scent of her perfume lingered everywhere she went.

[JewellRavenlock]

Jewell struggled to get through the door behind the bar with her arms full of a rather large cardboard box that had ‘free’ scribbled in blue ink on the side. “Jerry!”

“I.. wait...” his objections were cut short and he was forced to put down the tankard of beer he had in his hand as the blue haired Faerie thrust the box upon him.

“My savior!” Jewell gushed. Relieved of her burden, she slumped against the bar and ran her hand back through her hair, but the numerous bandaids (newly purchased at the Arena gift shop) which covered her fingers snagged a few strands, causing her to scowl as she pulled them loose, “Ow.”

He tried to look over the box at her. “What am I supposed to do with it?”

“Will you be an absolute doll and just leave it outside for me at some point? It’s much too heavy for me, but I know you’re so very strong!” In typical Empress fashion, she added a gentle touch to his arm into the bargain and peered around the box to offer a sweet smile as well.

“Depends. What’s in it?” Perhaps he had been warned that the petite Faerie was up to no good in the loft. It probably would not be a good thing if he helped her throw away some of Kal’s stuff.

“Candles.” Jewell replied darkly, opening the top of the box and going on tip-toes to glare inside. “Stupid candles that aren’t spell-lit. You actually have to use matches for them! I mean, who does that?” Not Jewell. At least not after the first forty-five minutes of trying.

There went all her plans for a romantic, candlelit dinner to apologize to Kal after he tripped over her high-heels last night. And also for laughing about it. He really didn’t seem to appreciate the irony of a thief stumbling over a pair of high heels in the dark like she had.

It really wasn’t a very good plan anyway since she had no intention of actually making the dinner, which Metropolitan magazine told her was an essential part of the process. She sighed as she settled back flat on her feet, dreams utterly crushed, and let the box fall closed. “It’s such a shame too. I really think Kal liked having them around.”

[JewellRavenlock]

“You cooked breakfast so I clean the dishes,” she insisted with a hip-bump to nudge him aside. It wasn’t too effective since he was much taller, especially when she was barefoot. There was also that rather concerned look on his face to deal with. “Come on. I promise I won’t break anything and you can just sit over there, enjoy your drink, and watch me.”

That seemed to do the trick. It probably didn’t hurt that she was wearing one of his shirts, with just enough buttons done to keep it on, and little else.

Jewell tucked her hair back behind her ears, finished the screwdriver she was drinking, pulled the right sleeve of the shirt back onto her shoulder only to have it immediately slide back down, and grabbed the sponge.

[JewellRavenlock]

There was a bar of soap on the bathroom sink. On the brown paper it was wrapped in, there was a note scrawled in blue ink.

I think this is the one you like. I saw that yours was getting low.
J

[JewellRavenlock]

Jewell made a game of hiding notes in Kal’s cloak or on his desk.

The cloak was easy enough in theory although she was not as slick as the shady elf. She did her best to plant the bits of paper when he wasn’t wearing his cloak or when she embraced him.

The desk was trickier because she did not want the notes to get mixed in with paperwork and accidentally end up in the wrong hands. Although, a part of her was extremely diverted when imagining the messages finding their way to Mr. Fox or Rayvinn. After all, the notes were rarely a sweet wish for a nice day. More often, they were thoughts penned with the impish desire to make the half-elf blush, if such a thing was possible.

She was certainly giving it her best try.

[JewellRavenlock]

A courier delivered a fairly rare and old bottle of scotch to The Line one afternoon with a message attached:
Someone came in and traded this for something today at Beyond. Drink later?
J

[JewellRavenlock]

On days when Kal was not traveling for his other job (high class “escort”, she was sure of it!), Jewell made a point of popping back into The Line around noon with lunch.

She set the bag of food down on Kal’s desk before perching on the edge. “I asked them for extra noodles in yours because I know you like them.”

[JewellRavenlock]

And for those mornings when he was home, her routine suddenly included an inordinate amount of time moving about the loft in just a towel post-shower.

[JewellRavenlock]

Her scent, unmistakably feminine but incredibly light with just a touch of citrus, lingered on his sheets and the shirts she shamelessly borrowed.

[JewellRavenlock]

“Handsome,” she murmured sleepily against his chest. “I know you said we should go to the beach cause of all the snow, but we could just stay here too.” She shifted to press a line of kisses along his throat. His skin was cold under her lips, but it was a familiar chill that drew her closer to him rather than driving her away.

“I can keep you warm.”

[JewellRavenlock]

Late nights at The Line, whether spent working or just restocking the bar, had a fairly regular addition.

While completely unhelpful with any actual work, Jewell was a far cry from poor company. In fact, she used all the people pleasing skills she had ever learned as the daughter of a noble family, as a courtier in Faerie, and as a social Empress on the streets of RhyDin to be as amiable and enchanting as a temporary roommate with a ridiculous collection of high heels could be.

At least Jerry thought she was charming.

[JewellRavenlock]

Simply asking for help zipping up one of her dresses seemed to take a lot longer than when she asked the same of Ishmerai.

[JewellRavenlock]

Jewell loved music.

Her singing was shy at first, starting as a bit of humming while she got dressed in the morning and did her hair. Then, quiet little snatches of song slipped out while she was in the shower. Eventually, she got bolder and was singing as she washed dishes or cleaned up the loft (tasks she was able to handle without setting anything on fire).

Her voice, naturally high and sweet, had been refined through years of lessons and practice at court, and she applied it to a strange variety of music: sweet love ballads, raunchy drinking songs, rousing sea chanteys, and mournful elvish lays.

Kal was sworn to secrecy over this particular habit of hers and the fact that she also liked to add in dancing at times. At least that’s what she called the occasional hip swivel and twirling steps.