WHAT: Scorpia takes Perfuma out for a picnic. Is it a date? (Yes) WHERE: A public, magical garden in the city WHEN: Mid-Marchish? WARNINGS: Nope STATUS: Complete
Scorpia was nervous. Not in the way that made her want to hide, or say, bring all the rest of the princesses on their picnic, though there’d been one panicked moment the night before where she’d considered bursting into Glimmer and Mermista’s rooms and begging them to come along, and maybe calling Catra and Adora too. She’d managed to suppress the urge though.
But nervous in the way where she was talking a little too much, and just a little clumsier than she normally was. At least she was only banging into benches with her knees instead of with the picnic basket. She’d spent all morning on Darla making the picnic basket, and it was filled with a variety of sandwiches, cut into flower shapes, and colourful spring rolls (though, Catra had had to do the actual rolling for her), filled with vegetables and some filled with fruit for dessert, and she and Catra had even baked some cupcakes, topped with pink frosting. She had a large thermos filled with warm tea, a special blend she’d made at Looking Glass Teas which reminded her of Perfuma.
Even the cooler temperature wasn’t too much of a deterrent. Scorpia was wearing her winter jacket, a light red with pink faux fur around the neck, though it wasn’t really necessary in the magical garden that she and Glimmer had scoped out. The garden itself bloomed all throughout winter, kept warm year-round even though the whole thing was outside. It was perfect. At least, Scorpia hoped it was perfect.
“I’m sorry!” Scorpia said to the garbage can she’d just managed to walk into, though she only took her attention from Perfuma long enough to give the garbage can an apologetic pat as she walked around it. “The garden’s right up here! I think you’ll like it. Me and Glimmer found it earlier, and it’s beautiful. And warm. And there’s this nice little section right in the middle with some nice little stone benches and a fountain where we can have our picnic!”
Wearing her favorite heavy shawl, Perfuma was actually rather glad Scorpia had told her it was going to be warm. She'd realized that she'd underdressed for the weather within minutes of heading out. However, she was confident that with proper meditation and concentration, she'd be fine until they got there. AND she'd been marveling at the idea of this park as they walked, torn between both appreciating it and wondering if there were other people with her unique abilities. It didn't upset her that there might be people who could help plants bloom and grow, of course (not at all!), but she was curious about how they kept the environment suitable for maintaining a lovely garden. Maybe it was something she could learn? The possibilities!
She had been wincing slightly every time Scorpia bumped into something, but it was entirely out of sympathy for her friend's poor shins or hips. In fact, she thought it was very sweet that Scorpia always made an attempt to stop and apologize for anything she bumped into, living creature or not. It was in line with her huge heart, of course.
"I'm looking forward to it!" chirped Perfuma, smiling brightly over at Scorpia. The warmth that'd been mentioned, at the very least. Everything that had been described so far had sounded perfect for a picnic and to be honest, colder weather wasn't Perfuma's favorite because it was usually a time for dormancy for plant life and she was really more of a Spring and Summer girl. Having something like this would make things SO much easier for her and improve her mood considerably.
It wasn’t much further ahead, and Scorpia reached automatically for Perfuma’s hand, cheeks colouring a little as her claws closed over her hand. “It’s right here,” she said, pulling Perfuma gently around the corner and turning to watch her face as the garden came into view, a little pocket hidden in the city, brightly coloured flowers of pink and purple and orange, stems verdant, sharply contrasted with the greyness of the winter streets. It was a little pocket of spring in the middle of winter.
Perfuma subconsciously curled her fingers around Scorpia's grip as well, completely distracted by the sight that came into view. Her face completely lit up, eyes going wide and mouth going into a little 'o' shape as she took in the colors and all the flowers. She'd been expecting something but nothing quite like this. Oh, Scorpia knew just how to improve Perfuma's mood after everything they'd been dealing with recently. She was wonderful.
Leaning into Scorpia, Perfuma sighed happily. "It's so beautiful, Scorpia!"
“Oh, well, Glimmer did most of the finding,” Scorpia said, with a bit of a nervous laugh. Perfuma was so close, and it was really nice, but she couldn’t take all the credit. She let Perfuma soak up the sight for another second before she made them start walking again. “She’s really good at that sort of thing. I don’t know how she does it. She only just got here and she’s already way better at the whole internet thing.”
They stepped across the threshold of the garden, and it was like stepping through a curtain of warmth. On one side, the air was cool enough that her breath escaped in small, white clouds. On this side, the sun was warm and soft, not hot enough to be unpleasant, but instead the warmth of a perfect summer afternoon.
"You're always so quick to give credit to other people," remarked Perfuma, smiling and poking Scorpia with a free finger. "You know I love that about you, but it's okay to give yourself some, too!"
As the temperature changed to warmth, Perfuma let the shawl fall to her elbows as she took into the sights even more, then closing her eyes to enjoy the smells. It was a little paradise, very literally. Oh how she wished whatever enchantment created this place could just be placed in her room. That would be amazing. But she was more than happy to just know it existed and she was even happier to share it with Scorpia. That she'd spent the time finding a place like this and schedule a picnic? It meant a lot.
“Oh, well, I made the picnic,” Scorpia said, pleased. “Well, not on my own. Catra helped with that, she really…” She shut her mouth. She was trying to follow Perfuma’s instruction about giving herself more credit, and she had made most of the food herself, she just needed a little help with the things that were more delicate, and with the baking.
She took a deep breath as they came to the fountain, bubbling contentedly away, surrounded by all the pretty flowers. “Well, this is it. What do you think?” she asked, giving Perfuma a shy, but pleased look. She’d been pretty proud of the find, and she was sure that there was no way Perfuma could dislike it.
"I think," answered Perfuma, pausing deliberately and turning to face Scorpia with a huge smile on her face. "It's perfect! The flowers, the warmth, the green, the fountain, oh, it's wonderful. This was such a good idea, I really needed this." And she did. With friends having their personalities changed or disappearing into some dangerous other dimension, Perfuma's zen had been unbalanced for weeks! A nice picnic to balance things out would do wonders for her.
"I'm so glad you invited me," she added, smiling happily at Scorpia again.
“I’m glad you came,” Scorpia said, clasping both of Perfuma’s hands again. She gazed at her for a moment, a confession the tip of her tongue. But no, she had planned this, and she wasn’t going to screw it up by telling Perfuma her feelings before they ate their picnic. “I’m sorry, again, for being so mean to you. I want to say I’ll never do it again but I didn’t want to be mean to you the first time, either, and I don’t know if Vallo will make me again. But I hope you know that I never want to be mean to you ever.”
"I know you don't," confessed Perfuma. "I'm not upset with you. It was- I was just still new to Vallo and didn't know it could do that, so I wasn't ready. We figured it out, though, and you're better now, so it's okay." The unspoken anxiety told Perfuma that maybe it was really something she felt but was able to keep hidden, like when people drank too much nectar and said things they'd been thinking but couldn't get the courage to say. She tried really hard to dismiss those thoughts!
Instead of letting her mind go into that rabbit hole, she just tightened her grip on Scorpia and smiled as brightly as she could. "You're wonderful and I know that. Okay? Please don't feel like you owe my anything."
“You’re wonderful too,” Scorpia said. “And… Maybe I don’t owe you anything. But I still want to do things. For you. Nice things, I mean.” Scorpia blushed a little, and turned away. “Anyway!” She tugged her toward the benches. “Just wait until you see what I’ve got packed away in here! I hope you’ll like it!”
"I'm glad. Everyone should want to do nice things for each other," commented Perfuma as she let herself be led to the benches. She liked that Scorpia seemed to have a whole plan, it meant she didn't need to try and come up with anything herself, which was really a blessing.
Scorpia sat on a bench and from the picnic basket, she produced a small, checkered sheet to lay between them, and then began pulling out the heart-shaped sandwiches and the colourful, fruit filled spring rolls, and the cupcakes. “I have a thermos of tea in here too! I can pour you a cup!”
Watching Scorpia lay everything out, Perfuma actually clasped her hands to her chest in excitement as she saw all of the cute little sandwiches and treats. Honestly, she'd expected things to be a lot more subdued, maybe even an attempt at a salad, but she was very pleasantly surprised by the thoughtfulness and creativity that went into it all.
At the announcement of tea, she turned toward Scorpia again and nodded. "I would love some, thank you!"
“I thought of you when I found it at Looking Glass,” Scorpia said, and busied herself with unscrewing the top. Sweet, rose scented steam rose up from the mouth of the thermos. “It’s called Lovey,” Scorpia said, pouring Perfuma a cup. “It’s a green tea with roses, and when I saw it I thought ‘I bet Perfuma would really like this.’”
"It certainly smells lovely," answered Perfuma, lifting her nose slightly to take in the smell from where she was sitting. It was faint, but she'd always had a nose for floral scents. "And the best gifts are the ones you pick because they remind you of the person you're giving it to."
Accepting her cup, Perfuma took a moment to smell the contents with a smile on her face. Up close, it smelled even more lovely. She even decided to give it a taste without any sugar or cream, just to see how it stood on its own. She let it sit in her mouth for a moment to enjoy the taste and then swallowed it down. It was a very good blend of tea, one of the best she'd ever had, really. She pressed her lips together with a bright and happy smile at Scorpia. "I think it may be the most wonderful tea I've ever had."
“I think you’re the most wonderful woman I’ve ever met,” Scorpia said, and blushed a little. She scratched her cheek with a claw, glanced down at the spread of food, and then took a breath. “The truth is that I think you’re great, Perfuma. I think you’re kind, and beautiful, and smart, and you were really the first person to give me a chance when I went to the Princess Alliance, and I think that that’s amazing. I like you as a friend, but I also like you as more then a friend, and I was wondering,” she looked up at Perfuma, “if maybe you’d like to go on a date with me? Someday? Maybe.”
Perfuma's smile was frozen on her face as she listened to what Scorpia had to say. She could try and say that she always thought the best of everyone and would've wanted to give anyone a chance if they were trying to change, but isn't that kind of what Scorpia was saying? But she was also saying that Perfuma was -smart- and -beautiful- and no one had ever said those words to her before. So instead of trying to deflect the compliments, Perfuma simply set her cup down and reached over to rest a hand on Scorpia's and nodded. "If another date is half as good as this one, I'd love to."
“Oh. Is this a date?” Scorpia asked, blushing, and trying to smooth down her hair with the pincer that Perfuma wasn’t holding. She hadn’t been sure, she hadn’t called it a date, and she hadn’t wanted to assume. She wondered if she looked alright, for a date. She had decided to wear a cute, floral tank-top under her winter jacket, but maybe she should have put more effort into her make-up. “Not to imply that I don’t want it to be a date! Because I do! Want it to be. I just, you know, wasn’t sure, because I hadn’t said I wanted it to be a date when I asked you out.”
"I assumed it was, but you get to decide," answered Perfuma, continuing to smile but raising her eyebrows. It was decidedly adorable the way Scorpia rambled when she was nervous, which granted may have been most of the time but that just added to her sincerity. One thing Perfuma knew she could always count on from Scorpia was the truth, even if sometimes it was hard for her to get around to telling it. Again, decidedly adorable. "So, if you want it to be, it is!"
“Then it is,” Scorpia agreed, blushing. She wondered if she should ask if Perfuma wanted to kiss her, blushed harder at the idea, and instead picked up one of the fruit-filled spring rolls, the brightly coloured fruits showing through the translucent wrapper. “Here! You should try one of these! They’re really good.”
"I was looking forward to them as soon as you pulled them out of the basket," confessed Perfuma, leaning forward so that Scorpia could feed it to her. It was a reflex, she realized almost immediately that she should've just reached out for it and almost started to pull back again. BUT Scorpia said it was a date and that's what you did on dates, right? Perfuma had already watched several shows on Netflix and it was either sweet moments like this or drinking wine and yelling at each other. She definitely preferred the sweet moments.
Scorpia only hesitated for a heartbeat before she brought the roll up to Perfuma’s lips, blushing furiously. She was careful, very careful, to not move too fast and cram the whole thing in Perfuma’s mouth. That would have been embarrassing.
Perfuma herself managed to take a bigger bite than she intended, then tried not to laugh as she chewed - okay, a chipmunk appearance and giggle still managed to occur, but she was beside herself with just sheer joy at the moment. With some effort, she managed to chew and swallow the bite and beamed at Scorpia. "So good! You made these?"
“Mostly. Me and Catra,” Scorpia said. She really couldn’t take all the credit for it, even if she wanted to. “I did the fillings, but Catra had to roll them, because of… you know,” she open and shut the claws on her free pincer a couple of times to demonstrate. No, wrapping spring rolls was definitely not something she was particularly adept at.
“I made the sandwiches though!” she added, picking up a sandwich in her free hand and holding it up so that Perfuma could take a bite of it, too.
Scorpia had never been on a first date before, not really, but she was pretty sure that she could have been on a hundred of them and this still would have been the best of all of them. As far as Scorpia was concerned, this was going to be the perfect afternoon.