Gawain had butterflies in his stomach.

It was silly, to tell the truth. He had been dating Evelyn for... months?... and yet this was their first official date, like... ever. One that was not accidental, not labeled as training, and did not involve somebody else getting married. There was a lot riding on it, and the young knight found himself having jitters that he did not plan on having at all.

It started out normal enough - guy shows at girl's door, girl makes him wait, guy compliments girl who looks exceptionally gorgeous tonight, girl blushes, guy presents flower that he might or might not have stolen from someone's hothouse, guy escorts girl to car, and drives them into the city. Gawain didn't tell Eve where they were going, and since the sun had gone down early, it was hard to keep up with the road.

Hard for someone without echoes, anyway.

Which is why he told her to put on a blindfold. He realized that was not going to do much - he had seen her fight blind - but at least it gave him a fighting chance. He also played music in the car to drown out some noises.

The ride was not long; once they parked, he helped her out of the car and walked her carefully across the parking lot and into a reflecting shop window. It was getting fairly late at night; but not close enough to midnight to present an immediate problem.

Pulling Evelyn by the hand out of another reflecting surface, he stopped to allow her to get her bearings.

"We're here."

Evelyn couldn't remember ever feeling this nervous. Most of the time, when she DID feel nervous, it certainly wasn't a positive thing. Facing down bad guys, surviving the danger room or tryouts: she remembered those nervous emotions. This? This was full on butterflies that made her feel happy at the same time.

Getting asked on a date was a first for Evelyn. Sure, they had several 'almost' dates, but this was really the first intentional one. She had pieces of nice evenings, but most of them also had the scattered not so nice memories. Getting in a fight with her parents, getting attacked by books, dodging swords and solving mysteries were fun, but not necessarily romantic. Evelyn was still a dreamer at heart, and even with the echoes trying to ruin things like suspense and mystery, she liked not knowing how things were going to go sometimes.

She got dressed in one of her warmer outfits. black leggings, jacket and a white scarf and skirt. Since she didn't know where they were going, layers seemed like a good option. Gawain complimented her, she blushed. It felt good to feel appreciated. She didn't mind all the little date courtesys either. The opening of the door, the driving, it just felt nice somehow.

The blind fold was cute, but not completely effective. The echoes still tried to sort out where they were by the shift in the car, but she listened to the music and tuned them out. This time, she didn't want to know. She just wanted to enjoy the evening, and be surprised for once.

Once out of the car, through a reflective surface, they stopped, and she tried to make sense of her surroundings. It sounded fairly quiet, but the echoes picked up movement. The scent was somewhat floral, in a way. Or forestry... Most of New York smelt like cars and fumes so that was definitely different.

"Ok...you win...I'm stumped." She said, unable to register where he had taken her.

>>"Ok...you win...I'm stumped."

Gawain grinned and led her down a path by the hand. The blindfold was still on, but he suspected that the echoes were already running the recognition program on the possibilities. That made him smile to himself. Even the echoes were not all-knowing.

The Butterfly House was already closed to the public, most of its lighting turned off. The nightwatchmen, however, owed the X-men a favor, and Gawain was not above calling it in. The result was, hopefully, totally worth it.

In the middle of the garden there was a pavilion with benches lining the edges and a picnic table in the middle, ready for dinner for two. This was where Gawain took Evelyn, walking her up the steps carefully. No open flame was allowed in the butterfly house, but they did light a string of lanterns in colorful shades all over the garden and above the pavilion, which provided nice mood lighting. Sleepy butterflies fluttered around and lighted on the syrup bowls.

"All right, here we are" Gawain announced and stepped behind Evelyn to take the blindfold off.

Walking with a blindfold on was much more difficult when Evelyn had never been somewhere before. It was easy to navigate by memory, but much harder to rely on echos alone. It forced her to put faith in Gawain though, which was probably a good thing. It took her out of her element which made the suspense better.

Up a few steps, and then they stopped. Evelyn waited nervously as Gawain removed the blindfold. She wasn't sure what she expected, but she let out a slight gasp at what she saw. "It's..." Her mind spun for the right words, but she couldn't quite form them. The lights, the butterflies, the picnic! She beamed and hugged Gawain in happiness, and instead of trying to word her delight, kissed him as well. Maybe he'd get the point.

Just maybe.

"Umpfh" was what Gawain said as he was hugged and kissed, but he was not one to complain. Wrapping an arm around her waist he kissed Evelyn back and smiled against her lips.

"Welcome to the Butterfly Gardens" he said when they finally came up for air, and turned her around to help her coat off. He was going all the way with the gentleman act tonight.

"I was hoping you'd like it." he added as he offered a seat at the picnic table "Sam offered to help but you know that turned out last time. So, this is all real, no illusions."

Evelyn wondered if it was a bad thing the promise Sam was not involved in this date gave her such a sense of reassurance. Sure, Sam meant well, but things tended to blow up when he was around. She took a seat the table, and wiggled somewhat excitedly as she looked around. She felt like she was years younger suddenly, the excitement somewhat unusual to her. With the echoes, things just stopped surprising her. Art was the only thing she usually held this much rapture over, but Gawain had done something special here... it was like this evening was a work of artwork. She could already see different pictures coming into place. Sketches of sleeping butterflies, paintings of the lantern lights.

Yet for once, she wasn't sure she could ever do the moment justice.

"How on earth did you manage this?" She whispered somewhat breathlessly. She glanced back down at Gawain, face still flushed with happiness. She felt like a school girl... It was silly, but it felt like this made up for the dates she never got to go on.

>>"How on earth did you manage this?"

"It's my secret mutation" Gawain grinned as he took a seat, then shook his head "... making up cheesy lines, apparently. No, the people who work here owed a favor to the X-men from a Halloween thing that went wrong. So, here we are, and not even trespassing. Totally legit."

Leaning over he picked up a picnic basket from the benches, and produced two glasses and a bottle of wine (he lied, Sam did help pick the wine). He also had picnic food - fruit, cheese, crackers, and even sandwiches - in neat little boxes that he lined up on the table.

"And I thought you'd like the butterflies."

Being somewhere legally was probably newer to them then it should have been. It was nice not to have to worry about getting chased out or something though. She smiled and looked around more, watching a few butterflies sleepily shift on their perches. She could hear the movement from the basket and looked back as Gawain pulled out the wine. She peaked at the label. While she still didn't drink much, she recognized it and noted it was a good choice from what she heard.

"It's great. It's....different, but I like it. I probably spend too much time around paintings, but seeing something just as beautiful but alive is almost more mesmerizing..." Sure, butterflies weren't timeless, but maybe that was what made them so appealing now. The colors and the patterns weren't something you could just bottle forever. The essence could stay, but the moment had to be enjoyed. And she was enjoying it.

"You're raising my standards on dates now you know..." She teased. "Going to be hard to top this."

>>"It's great. It's....different, but I like it. I probably spend too much time around paintings, but seeing something just as beautiful but alive is almost more mesmerizing..."

One of them was circling Evelyn's head, but Gawain didn't tell her; it was too pretty a picture to disturb it by drawing her attention. He poured some wine as official-like as he could manage, and opened the food boxes. Butterflies started congregating towards the fruit.

>>"You're raising my standards on dates now you know... Going to be hard to top this."

"You forget that I can walk into movies" Gawain grinned, offering her a glass "But I appreciate the compliment. Cheers, Eve. Welcome to our first official date."

>>"You forget that I can walk into movies"

"I think I would realize how impressive that is if I watched more of them. Keeps the surprise at least though." She watched the butterflies and smiled in response to Gawain's toast. It was definitely going to be something she was glad to remember. But the night was only starting.

The echoes were apparently not so great at monitoring butterflies. Their light movement was almost undetectable, and she didn't notice the butterfly around her head until she took her glass and was about to take a sip. She stopped at the little creature flapped it's wings, both surprised and excited to see it so close. The colors....She could see every scale, every detail. She was almost afraid to move it was so close now. She glanced up at Gawain, then back down again, her breathe finally convincing it to flutter away. Finally taking a sip, the wine was definitely as good as was rumored.

>>"I think I would realize how impressive that is if I watched more of them. Keeps the surprise at least though."

"I'll make a note of that then" Gawain smirked and watched Evelyn as she finally noticed the butterfly. The awe in her face alone was worth putting on the entire date. Gawain sipped his own wine, looking at her with the same intensity she looked at the tiny creature until it fluttered away.

"They are a bit lazy this time of the year, but who isn't" he chuckled, looking at another one what was lighting on the grapes on the table.

"So, since this is a first date and all that" he added with a smirk "What would you like to know about me, Ms. Summers?"

Evelyn followed Gawain's gaze to the small butterfly on the table, watching it for a moment then considering his question.

"Hmm I guess we could start somewhere basic. Tell me some of your favorites: food, color, movie. Watching, not walking, mind you." She added, smirking slightly. She snagged one of the grapes as the butterfly lazily moved to another perch. She was a little amused by the formalities, but relieved for the opportunity. They really never did get a chance to go through a lot of the typical 'getting to know you' rituals. Most of what she knew was implied or solved, and just asking questions felt nicer. She liked a mystery, but it felt more open when someone told you things themselves. Even if it was just small things like favorite colors.

>>"Hmm I guess we could start somewhere basic. Tell me some of your favorites: food, color, movie. Watching, not walking, mind you."

"Hm." Gawain considered the question while he picked up a grape too,now that the butterfly was perching somewhere else, and chewed it with a sip of wine. He felt very fancy for a moment.

"Color, I think it would he red." he decided "Food... don't tell this to Miss T, but I'm a sucker for Chinese food." he grinned and ate another grape. The admission took off some of the fanciness, but still.

"Movie... that's a hard one. Um..." he bought some more time with a sip from his glass "... Excalibur, probably, as cheesy as it sounds. You grow up with my name..." he chuckled "So, how about you?"

Evelyn carefully noted each answer. She wouldn't have guess Chinese food, but the movie seemed like the logical choice. She considered her own answer with a sip of wine.

"Hmmm, color. I really like red, but I guess my favorite color would be teal. Not a color I really wear, but definitely something I love looking at. Food... I really like Italian, so probably would have to say that. Movie...I haven't watched many, but I did borrow one of the newer Sherlock Holmes movies, and that's at the top of my limited movie watching preferences at the moment." She shrugged.

"Your turn to think of something to ask." She said, watching another butterfly drift down and perch back on the table. This one has bright yellow wings, and she was somewhat envious of the contrast of black and yellow in it's patterns.

>>"Hmmm, color. I really like red, but I guess my favorite color would be teal. Not a color I really wear, but definitely something I love looking at. Food... I really like Italian, so probably would have to say that. Movie...I haven't watched many, but I did borrow one of the newer Sherlock Holmes movies, and that's at the top of my limited movie watching preferences at the moment."

"I'll remember that next time" Gawain smiled, making a mental note. Italian food, he could do that for a date. He flashed at cartoons of cute puppies eating spaghetti, and then shook his head and sipped wine to wash it away.

>>"Your turn to think of something to ask."

"Um... all right." he sat back and watched the butterflies flutter by "If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you like to go?"

This was kind of fun, in a normal date way. Normal was rare for them anyway.