Valentine's Day was not something Evelyn could remember celebrating. Without a boyfriend, there were no dates. Without any girl friends, there was no one to anti-Valentine's Day with, even. Her parents weren't even the sort to give random chocolates or gifts 'just because'. Valentine's Day, in Evelyn's world, didn't exist.

Until this year.

It seemed simple enough at first. Get some chocolate or some cute card, have a romantic evening, that was the rule of thumb. But Evelyn found herself somewhat disappointed at the idea of being so, well, predictable. She wanted to celebrate with Mirror, and that meant abandoning the things she thought of as being 'typical' for this holiday.

It started with scheming, and ended with a Museum that was closed for everyone, but two mutants.

That took some maneuvering, bribery, and the calling in of a few favors. Getting Mirror there required Jensen's help, and she could only imagine what the mirror-walker was thinking when they found themselves dropped off at an empty museum, the lights faintly glowing into the nighttime. On the door was a note, written in elegant calligraphy.

The game is afoot.
Proceed to the front desk.

Okay, that part wasn't terribly creative, but it was necessary.

Gawain hooked a finger into the collar of his shirt in a half-hearted attempt to loosen his bow tie. The existence of which was in itself a minor miracle. Courtesy of Sam and his mirrored closet doors.
He had Valentine's Plans in the making, but Evelyn beat him to it. Gawain had to admit he was curious. Eve had not taken the initiative in romantic matters very often, mostly due to the inexperience she claimed. Talking about which, she had been taking some very brave and often surprising steps forward lately.
Case in point: Organizing a date.
Jensen opened the car door for Gawain and wished him a good night with the hint of a smirk and a definite glare. Gawain jogged up the stairs to the front door and smirked to himself at the note.
Hide and seek indeed.
Pushing the door open and closing it behind him he wondered how she pulled this off. For once, he was sneaking into an official building after hours, and it wasn't even his idea.
He proceeded to the front desk.

At the front desk was an easel, with a small canvas propped up against it. From far away, the picture that was painted on it might have been a photo, but up close all the brush strokes stood out, and the carefully applied blobs of color. Almost every detail was accurate, down to the last shine on the dogs nose. One things was wrong, however. The eyes were painted grey.

On the counter was a collection of paint bottles, varying in colors. Green, gold, silver, brown, blue. There was no note here, at least, not that Gawain would be able to see. Under the label of the brown bottle, however, was the next clue, carefully taped and hidden so it didn't stand out.

Once upon a time, a mummy met a knight.
Find the gallery of their encounter to receive your next clue.

After several hours trying to make the dumb clues rhyme, Evelyn eventually gave up and just made something that vaguely made sense. Vaguely was mostly due to the fact a mutant with a perfect memory was trying to write them. She had joked about looking like a mummy the night Gawain rescued her from the museum during the riots. Whether he remembered that...

From the security office, Evelyn watched the progress. It seemed to be going okay so far. He was in the doors at least.

Gawain was disappointed at first, not seeing Evelyn at the front desk, but the sight of the painting quickly distracted him. It looked like a picture that should be hanging on the wall of a rich aristocratic British family. Angua looked positively dashing.

He looked at the bottles, wondering for a moment what they were for. Looking back at the picture a second time, he felt like something was off. It still took a young knight a few minutes to figure out the eye color thing... the rest took care of itself.

Once upon a time, a mummy met a knight.
Find the gallery of their encounter to receive your next clue.

"Whu...?"

Gawain blinked. He vaguely remembered mummies, and definitely remembered knights, but he didn't quite remember those two being in the same wing of the museum. He took a few hesitant steps and realized that he had never been in this space without someone's guidance. Damn it looked large when empty.

In a rush of sudden inspiration, he grabbed a museum map from the front desk and opened it up, trying to devise a plan. He was sure Evelyn was waiting for him somewhere, and he had every intention finding her well before midnight. Looking up, then at the message again, he wrecked his brain to come up with a solution...

... then, for lack of a better idea, decided to check out both galleries and see which one won. With that thought in mind, he turned and marched off towards the gallery of the knights. He still remembered stepping out of an armor and scaring Eve half to death. The memory made him smile.

Gawain seemed a little confused at first by the clue, and Evelyn momentarily wondered if she had made them too hard. It didn't seem that complicated at first, but maybe the scavenger hunt would have been fairer if someone else helped with it. Hindsight always came a little late.

He made it to the gallery though, and one of the knights was holding a piece of paper in it. The next clue was perhaps even more difficult. Something about a gallery with a silver chandelier and a fireplace. Evelyn was already rethinking her strategy and moving out of the control office to where the lighting banks were. Gradually dimming some of the light in wings that weren't involved in the hunt, she hoped it could at least narrow things down.

Maybe. She decided to avoid reflections for the moment in case Gawain tried to cheat.

Finding the piece of paper in the knight's hand was relatively easy, and Gawain smirked to himself as he picked it off, careful not to tip over anything that cost more than his yearly allowance at the Mansion. Maybe finding these clues was not as complicated as he had thought.

Until he read the note, anyway.

The fireplace and chandelier did not make sense to him. It had to be in a part of the museum he had not seen before. Unfolding the map once again he took another look at the map, trying to puzzle out where he had to go.

He looked up when the light flickered. One hallway seemed to dim. That was probably not a coincidence; Gawain instinctively looked around and up, picking out security cameras. So, Eve was here somewhere, watching him. He flashed a grin at a camera.

Now he had another choice to make: Should he follow the clue, or cut right through the knot and go find Eve? If she was dimming lights and watching him, she had to be in the security office, or maybe somewhere in the hallway nearby. It would not be hard to find her, especially with so many reflective surfaces.

Gawain entertained the thought for a moment before he let it go. Eve apparently put quite the effort into this game. It would be kind of rude to ignore it. Turning back to the map, Gawain started walking again, hoping to find the right gallery...

Gawain, surprisingly, stuck to the game and continued through the museum. Evelyn tracked his progress, leaving what roughly resembled a path with the lights and mentally reviewing the next few clues. The goal was to eventually lead him to the restaurant on the second story, so the clues led to places on the first story only. If he started for any stairs, she would have to rethink her plans. That would just spoil things.

He didn't stray too much, and finally came into the room with the chandler hanging calmly in the middle of the exhibit. The next clue was propped up on an easel. It was another picture, this one of Gawain hanging upside down from a tree. A piece of paper was taped to the canvas.

Ever hero needs a weapon.

There were plenty of weapons in the museum, but the bow and arrow in question would be back in the armory exhibit. Noting Gawain's progress, she snuck her way towards the stairwell to check and make sure everything upstairs was in place. She had a feeling the next clue would be too obscure. It wasn't like Gawain would know where to find that particular painting by Renior. She probably should have thought that through... With luck, maybe Gawain would find his way to the end and skip the last two clues. At least he'd get to see the painting.

Every hero needs a weapon.

Gawain smirked at the painting then turned around until he spotted a security camera.

"Oh come on, seriously? I'm never gonna live that one down am I..."

The painting was once again pretty good, even if it was depicting and embarrassing moment of his life. The clue was pretty straightforward though, and it didn't take long for Gawain to find his way back to weaponry. At this point the weapons were pretty much the only thing he could find in the museum with confidence. What do you know.

Upstairs, Evelyn glanced around the dinner she had hijacked for this evening. Several of the tables had been moved, and a dinner for two was set in it's place. It was no butterfly garden, but at least the food would be good. So long as Gawain managed to find her in time, that was. Otherwise, it would just be a little colder. She momentarily wondered if she should have brought music or something, but that would have given things away.

Maybe she should have put music on...

Sneaking to the stairwell, she listened and let the echoes track where Gawain was. The movements towards the weapon section was hard to hear from here, but enough she knew Gawain was at least heading in the right direction. For now, she'd sit back and see if he could find the way to the end of the trail of clues.

The corridors were quiet, and the building empty. It must have taken a lot of favors for Evelyn to get inside, and keep security out (or possibly on other floors). Steps echoed where Gawain went, and dim lights gave him an eerie feeling.
At the stairwell next to the gallery cafeteria, everything was quiet.

"Gotcha."

There was really nothing fair about mirrorwalking up behind your girlfriend in an empty museum at night, and speaking into her ear. It was also not quite fair to disregard the clues, although he did make an honest effort before the trickster spirit won. But there he was, for better or worse, hoping that she had a backup plan...

When you grew up with echoes like Evelyn did, surprises were hard to come by. Any suspicious movement brought a clamor of warnings, and Evelyn was perhaps too comfortable relying on their guidance. There was nothing that could have prepared the echoes for being snuck up on by a mirror-walker, and the soundless almost invisible appearance behind her went unnoticed while Evelyn tried to make sure everything was in place.

Then Mirror spoke, and Evelyn let out a screech of surprise that rattled through the empty museum as she scrambled sideways, heart thundering in her chest. The echoes rattled in her head incoherently as her pulse spiked and tried to calm again.

".....cheater." Was all she managed to squeak before swatting at Gawain.

"Didn't see a sign that said 'no powers'" Gawain grinned, dodging the swat but staying on his toes in case she followed up. "Besides, I am stuck with your latest clue. Who's fault is that?" he chuckled, holding up the note, before he smiled at her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

He totally did.

Evelyn told the echoes to remember to add rules about no powers next time she set up a scavenger hunt. But the note was half-hearted considering how long she would have had to wait. She may or may not have been getting impatient, and the food was all ready; no use letting it get cold.

"You get away with it...this time." She decided kissing him on the cheek before waving towards the table. "End result is the same though... Happy Valentine's Day!" She said somewhat awkwardly. She was better at the planning part, not the actual executing aspect... Her social skills could still use some work.

"Hey it's not my fault you are so much smarter than I am" Gawain chuckled, taking the kiss before she guided him to the table. He did his best not to show it, but the sheer effort and planning Evelyn has put into this date made him feel... all warm and fuzzy? He was used to being the person coming up with the dates, and some of them even worked out if one put enough numbers into the statistics (and checked the DR programming). But this, this was Eve going out of her way so they could have a date in the freakin' MET.

"This looks lovely" he smiled, offering her a chair before he sat down. Because chivalry. "How did you pull it off? We are not breakin' and entering, are we? I'm not sure we're allowed to do that. You know, as X-men and all." he grinned. The grin pretty much said it all: if they did happen to be breaking and entering into the nation's most prestigious institution, he was totally fine with it.

Evelyn was relieved Mirror seemed to like what she did so far. His smile made the crazy planning worth it, and she chuckled slightly when he asked how she made everything happen. On cue, the echoes spun the memories through her mind, and she tuned them out as she answered.

"We're mostly allowed to be here." She smiled slightly and pushed her hair out of her face, then uncovered the food carefully. Luckily, everything was still warm even with the challenges Gawain had. "There may have been some bribery in the form of 'you owe me's cashed in. The guards know we're here. How far up the chain of command knows though....eh." She flashed a smile and the echoes relayed her boyfriend wasn't completely distressed with the idea of breaking and entering regardless.