บท 1853: 84
Black Rose Blooms SilverCyberQueen_Jolyne
Chapter 84
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"Oh! Jaune and Pyrrha messaged us from Argus!" Ruby stated rather redundantly, waving her scroll a little whilst she sat in Penny's lap, the two of them cuddling utterly adorably together in one of the many booths dotting Vale's second best ice cream shop (well, in Ruby's opinion at least. The best was still Neo's, which had been closed for a while now because her not-yet-sister-in-law was still a Beacon student). She leaned back, showing a photo of Jaune and Pyrrha together- the boyfriend and girlfriend pair having taken a mirror selfie to show off their new combat outfits. "They look so good! And they've got matching accent work now! Oh, and Nora and Ren sent a photo too with their own looks!"
"Ooh, they are very fashionable," Penny cooed, tapping her finger against Ruby's scroll and transferring the photo data to her own internal memory and giggling at the next couple of photos- all of which involved the various adventures their friends had gotten into during the last couple weeks of break- it was sad that the month was almost over, but what a wonderful month it had been! She and Ruby had gone on so many little adventures both in Vale and on Patch: they'd picked ripe strawberries, gone on a wagon tour, frolicked in the woods, destroyed grimm nests together, helped Mr. Taiyang continue upkeep and repairs around the house, gone to a local music festival in the residential area of Vale, gone flying over the sea on Ruby's back, fought a Sea Feilong together, had a sushi dinner (which Blake greatly appreciated), went to many movies together, done their summer homework, played videogames (of which Penny quickly learned how to play resource management simulations very well) together, went swimming together after Penny had received a package in the mail that her father had sent at the beginning of the month and applied a new buoyancy and waterproofing upgrade to herself, and now, about a week before they were to head back to the dorms on campus, they were on an ice cream date together!
And it was wonderful! Penny's sense of taste was rather muted due to the fidelity of sensors being unable to fully replicate how the human body processed the sensations both physically and emotionally, but just being there and relishing in how Ruby responded to each and every bite of her oversized chocolate filled treat was enough for her.
"Mhmm!" Ruby giggled, chomping down on another spoonful of triple fudge dark chocolate chunk ice cream with extra chocolate sauce and chocolate sprinkles on top (Penny would have worried for her health if Ruby had not proven herself capable of drinking drain cleaner to improve the potency of her grimm toxins) and leaning back against Penny with a happy little sigh and a wiggle of delight. "Mmm~ coming out here for a date was a great idea! How's yours?"
"It's very good! Though, my sense of taste is rather muted in comparison to a human's, so I may not be getting the full experience. It is, however, triggering my dopamine simulators very effectively!" Penny answered, biting gently at her own wafer cone of mint chocolate chip and relishing in the interesting feelings and textures- the melty ice cream that felt almost solid as it entered her mouth, the crunchy chocolate chips, the coolness and refreshing mint flavor, the sensation of cold tingling through her mouth. "Mmm! Though, I must say, every date with you is extremely enjoyable, wishing star!"
"They really are, firefly," Ruby cooed, almost purring as she shifted in Penny's lap, changing her position so she could plant a vaguely sticky, sweet kiss against Penny's cheek and nuzzle against her girlfriend of several months. "I don't think I've ever had someone I just… clicked with so well before you, and… you light up my life, Penny. Genuinely. You… ever since we met, everything's just felt so much brighter and nicer, and living with you in the dorms and at home has been amazing . I… I truly do love you so, so much that it's really hard for me to express it. It's like a pressure in my nonexistent heart and it makes me want to hold onto you and cuddle and kiss and never let go!"
"Oh Ruby, I want to do the same! I love you too!" Penny smiled brightly, voice thick with emotion as she set her cone down onto the table and hugged Ruby close, squeezing as hard as she dared as the two of them laughed and bumped heads, nuzzling eagerly together as their Auras flared in unison and filled their little part of the world with the scent of roses and spring as they just luxuriated in the feeling of each other's souls and the emotions present. "I love you so much that I never want to let go sometimes… If I could hold you in my arms forever, I would be so happy!"
"I think they forgot we were here," Cinder deadpanned from a booth over, palming her face and grumbling as Penny and Ruby descended into giggling and blushing at each other with so much love in the air that their Auras started to react and make rose petals drift around them like a scene straight out of a shoujo manga. "Gods that is sickeningly cute. Weiss dear, could you make sure their ice cream doesn't melt?"
"Ugh , I'm going to rot my teeth at some point watching these two. It was bad enough at Beacon and it was bad enough earlier, but now that their Auras are literally in sync it's even worse than before. How are they already in sync, I thought that kind of thing was a myth," Weiss grumbled, using a glyph to cool down the area around the two so that their ice cream wouldn't melt, shielding her eyes from the brightness and grimacing as she sat with her girlfriend's older sister, the two of them having come before anyone else to save some seats. "Thank gods Yang isn't around to see this, I don't need her squealing in my ear about it and sobbing about how her baby sister is growing up."
"She does do that," Cinder deadpanned, palming her face and looking away as she tried very very hard to not do exactly what Yang normally did when Ruby and Penny were being disgustingly cute together- she might have been far more serious and collected, but by the gods did Ruby and Penny make it hard to not squeal with joy whenever they did adorable couple things together. "Gods, Ruby please, just eat your ice cream before it melts! I know you two are busy being disgustingly cute together but you don't need to fill the booth with rose petals!"
"You're going to get kicked out," Weiss chimed in, still keeping her head turned towards the door instead of watching Ruby and Penny canoodle, wrinkling her nose at the overwhelming scent of roses that completely drowned out everything else. Oh well. At least it smelled nice, if nothing else. "Especially if those rose petals keep falling."
"Awwww, don't be like that Weiss!" Ruby huffed, finally pulling her attention away from Penny for a moment and giggling somewhat drunkenly, her words slurring from being rather kiss drunk after Penny peppered her entire face with them- Penny was in a similar state honestly, woozy and swaying slightly with a swirly look in her eyes, not blushing at all due to her lack of capability, but definitely feeling like she could. "We're just… having fun! Penny's cute! N' I like kissin' her!"
"And you're also filling the booth with rose petals," Weiss sighed, sliding out of her seat and standing up so she could walk over to the other booth and poke Ruby in the forehead. "Can you at least do this outside instead of in a booth? At least then you're not going to fill the entire store with floral debris. Penny, please take Ruby outside… and maybe to a more secluded area so you two can kiss in private?"
"There is that one public garden Ruby really likes going to," Cinder pointed out, taking a bite out of her fudge pop and waving Penny to pick up Ruby and get them out of the ice cream shop before they actually got kicked out. "Penny, it's dragonfruit season in the Vale Gardens, why don't you take her there? It's only about five minutes away by foot. Enjoy your date without the rest of us butting in, why don'tcha?"
"The rose petals would blend in too, if you head to the actual rose section," Weiss murmured, idly reinforcing the ice glyph she'd placed onto Ruby and Penny's ice cream to keep it colder for longer.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea!" Penny answered, immediately standing up and shifting out of the booth with Ruby in her arms, carrying her bridal style while Ruby recovered from her slightly addled state and grabbed their ice cream. "Ruby, would you like to go to the gardens?"
"Mhmm!" Ruby nodded, grinning as she held onto her bowl of chocolate ice cream and Penny's mint chocolate chip cone and nuzzled into Penny's shoulder- staring up at her amazing girlfriend with shining eyes full of adoration and love. "Oh! If we're going to the Vale Gardens there's this lil secret area that no one ever goes to and it's always got the best lil fruits to sample! We can't take too many, but it's got dragonfruit and apples and wild strawberries and stuff and it's so pretty with all of the flowers in there too and-"
Any further rambling was cut off as the doors to the shop closed behind Penny, the two of them taking off to continue their date elsewhere.
"Oh thank the gods," Weiss sighed, sitting back down with a heavy sigh. "Now they'll flood a different area with rose petals."
"Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, the others are almost here- shall we go meet them?" Cinder asked, raising her eyebrow at Weiss and motioning to the doors.
Weiss shrugged. "Sure. Might as well see what they bought at the farmers' market."
Two hours later, Yang checked her scroll and doubled over laughing at the text that Ruby sent her.
<Ruby Rose -> Yang Xiao Long>
<Yang they kicked us out of the gardens cuz i made too many rose petals in the gift shop come pick us up!!!!!><R>
Notes:
ngl a bunch of people have asked for a visit to summer's grave but like...
I wrote this all five and a half weeks in advance.
There's really nowhere to fit a visit anymore unless I completely rewrite one of the chapters.
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