Uploaded this a while back but apparently the connection timed out so this whole time i thought i updated when really, i failed to (thanks Australian Internet).
He'd set up the 'date' for a Saturday morning approaching high-noon and the rendezvous point at the water-fountain in the Middle of uptown Vale's square.
Different from his usual casual wear, Jaune sported a semi-casual black denim-jacket with a white checkered-shirt that clung to his form as if for dear life. As per his insistence and much to Coco's annoyance, he'd opted to wear his usual black suit pants more for the sake of comfort and modesty than anything. The alternative had been a pair of scandalous short-shorts which Coco insisted were all the rage.
Like the gentleman his mother raised him to be, he'd arrived thirty minutes early and patiently waited in place for Penny to arrive any time within the next five or so minutes.
11:00 on the dot, Penny arrived just as his wrist-scroll struck the hour.
"~Hello Friend! Jaune. ~ Are you as excited for our outing as I am." Friend she called him. He hadn't specified the exact nature of the outing, as such Penny thought it simply a jaunt amongst friends and not a date. That was of course no issue, he'd planned to take it slowly and see if he can change that.
"Of course, and let me start us off by saying that you look stunning," he said to her to which she hiccupped and looked away with light blush peppering her face.
And stunning she looked.
Penny had gone the minimalist route like the knight with her clothing. Like all her ensemble, she wore an old-fashioned, lime coloured sundress of modest length, held to her being by thin straps. She'd styled her hair to fall straight down to her shoulders instead of the usual bob, with a sword-shaped hairpin holding it back from covering her sight.
Simple but none-the-less, eye-fetchingly beautiful.
"Thank you Jaune. You too look exceptional, as always," she replied in kind, to which the knight sputtered to himself with a heavy blush on his face as he too looked away.
"…Anyway. I had lunch reserved for us Downtown at a friend's place, hope you don't mind taking the scenic route," he said as he motioned for her to seat in a rickshaw.
"Not at all," she said as she sat herself to the left side of the rickety vehicle so to see the landmarks proper as per Jaune's insistence.
Along the way they'd passed various street performances of death defying feats and the likes along with the usual minstrel who would serenade Penny much to her delight and Jaune's envy.
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"Do you ever tire of the colour blue?" Penny asked.
The odd philosophical questions aside, his date with Penny had gone swimmingly well. He'd taken her to Velvet's Trattoria in Downtown Vale and treated her to a traditional Mistrali fish-dish which Penny savoured so much it was all she could talk about.
So much so, that for the rest of the date she would, occasionally, digress from the current conversation topic and start explaining the overwhelming sensation that flooded her 'sensors', as she put it.
"It's why I seat by the docks every day and watch the sky change colour from blue to orange and then I leave when it all turns black," she elaborated.
Penny was odd, Jaune had found out during his time with her. One moment she says she' following the flight-path of a butterfly like a child on a sugar-high (or Nora on a normal day) and the next she's making mathematical wordplay and quoting obscure poetry.
"For me It's a pastime I picked up from my time in the Wilds. So long as you know where the sun is, you're never lost," Jaune said as he handed to her a three-scoop ice-cream-cone with various flavours of her choosing.
"A fine tactic indeed," she hummed to herself, cutely licking the ice-cream scoop-by-scoop in small servings, closing her eyes in elation after each dab as her expression brightened while savoring the dessert.
A generous bit of the confection had made its way to her cheek and dribbled its way down to her neck and almost onto her bare shoulder but was stopped short by Jaune who had his one hand cupping Penny's unspoiled cheek and ran the thumb of his free hand up the trail collecting the sweet nectar off her silken skin before dabbing it on his tongue and licking it off.
"You had a little…strawberry I think…on the side," he said in a deep voice that had somehow carried through the small market square, which was for some reason silent even though it was packed.
Penny was, for the first time in her continuance, nonplussed. Had she a beating heart of flesh it would have surely skipped a few beats instead she just stared into empty space, dazed. All of a sudden the symmetrical patterns of the brick-layed pavement became the most interesting thing to look at as she tried to avoid eye contact with the knight least he see her features flustered, it was un-ladylike per Ciel's advice.
The affectionate display, however unintentional on their part(Jaune's mostly), lured more than a few stares their way, mostly from couples out on dates and the occasional envious lone house-wife. Jaune didn't seem to mind the attention he was drawing in, rather he was unaware of how risqué the nature of his action was as he simply continued to inhale the remainder of his cone.
A warm hand holding hers snapped her back to reality and rebooted her thought-process, figuratively of-course. Her composure regained and all systems nominal, she focused her attention back to her surroundings and the outing.
"Since I have you for the rest of the day, I had a surprise prepared for you Penny, but that won't be for another few hours. Is there anything else you want to do while we wait?"
"I'm not that familiar with Vale I'm afraid. If you had something in mind I'm sure it'll be enjoyable if you're there with me," she said displaying a level of emotion far outside her parameters and database of expression.
"There's a flower garden nearby. I got thrown out last time because I had the gang with me," Jaune said to her as he took her hand in his, motioning for her to come along.
"Just don't try to eat all the flowers and they might let us stay," he said in jest referring to an incident involving Nora that had him thrown out the last time he visited. The context of which was lost to Penny but regardless, she appropriated an amused response, if only to appease him.
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The flower garden was a couple hectares' worth of land, situated a good five-minutes' walk away from the Vale Metropolis area. Each square meter filled with various flower arrangements, fanciful shrubbery and topiary garnishing the patch of land. While getting a haircut earlier that day, he'd been informed of the exhibit while reading the back of a women's magazine catalogue to pass time.
"Are you enjoying yourself so far Penny," he asked of her just as he was paying the entry fee and receiving a neatly crafted reed-basket for flower-picking, the-date-special the burly gate-keep had told him in a whisper.
"Very much so," Penny replied in her usual chipper manner while pumping her fists upwards to further express her excitement. "I've never seen so many flowers in one place before, I'm sure this will be an exciting experience."
"Well you're going to love this then," he said as he handed the basket to her, "you get to pick however many flowers you want and take them home with you in the basket."
"Sensational," she replied, her expression was positively electrifying such that Jaune couldn't help but stare longingly at her cheery smile.
With a bounce in her step she took his hand in hers, gripping it with such strength that no man or woman had any right to possess, leading him in a beeline for the most colourful display in sight.
"If you wouldn't mind…I would like to try and collect every one of each. I have calculated the most optimal route that would allow us to do so before closing time," she politely asked of him while looking to-and-fro, shifting her gaze at every odd coloured flower with wide-eyed wonder.
Jaune knew that underneath her sometimes childish mannerisms and apparent ignorance of the world, Penny was incredibly intelligent such that she'd left him dumbfounded on more occasions than he'd like to admit. A trait he found charming and added to Penny's repertoire of things he liked about her.
"Let's not waste time then," he replied and watched her expression grow even brighter as she pulled him along to an exhibit of yellow frill-petaled flowers.
A mad dash later, they both arrived at the first choice exhibit. Penny took a crouch and adjusted her sundress so to not touch the dirt in a ladylike manner. Her now straight hair fell to cover her eyes to which she pushed the bangs and tucked them behind her ear, a gesture that got Jaune staring longingly and heart dancing.
"The sign said these are Golden-Calliopsis'. I decided to start here with a flower that I thought fit you best as thanks for accompanying me," she said, breaking the knight from his reverie. Jaune took a crouch next to her, using a pair of plastic scissors that came with the basket he carefully cut a single flower by the base of the stem at a sharp angle and gently placed it inside the basket.
"Hold still," he said to her softly while cutting another one by the stem, this time making it a little shorter. He pulled her in towards himself, close enough to feel her breath as well as make out every one of her beauty marks(freckles). Cupping her features by the chin, he pushed her orange locks aside to vacate the top of her left ear and fitted the flower atop with the free hand.
"Where to next," he asked of Penny who was once again flustered and had yet to recover from their moment earlier.
"The ~hic~ lilacs," she hiccupped in between, a somewhat nervous tic he'd noticed in Penny whenever she lied (something she rarely did) or when flustered or nervous.
"Time's a 'wastin," he said as he motioned for her hand in his, in turn she scooted closer to him so to link arms. There was no calculation or model-reference behind the gesture, she had simply followed her 'heart' and did what came next.
Words: 1770
A/N: If you ever visit Canberra in Australia, make sure to come during Floriade with your SO, perfect place to hold weddings and first dates (hella expensive but alright if you don't mind getting someone else to pay $10 for candied flowers). Its a 10+ day event with flower exhibits and music as well as flower themed foods, sunflower seed derivatives mostly.
A couple years back they had an edible flora display by the waterfront which had a date special (a carry basket to collect flowers and make a bouquet, you could either keep it or submit it for the competition they held for best display).
Brings back memories of yesteryear, when i was dragged to buy ridiculously expensive dresses en-mass only to end up wearing a hand-me-down instead and getting formal (prom for Americans) pictures taken by the waterfront.