Jaune and the Real Girl.

Chapter 1

"Salutations Jaune Arc!" The enthusiastic greeting echoed off the walls of the vehicle depo making a blonde boy blink at the ginger haired girl in front of him. Her smile was easily the brightest things in this industrial setting of grey metal and helmeted soldiers, she herself was easily the most colorful thing here with her copper hair, green dress and an evidently sunny disposition.

"Uh... hello Penny," Jaune answered looking at her grin happily, "how are you?" He asked a little dumbstruck at the sheer enthusiasm that emanated from her.

"I'm just swell, thank you." She moved walking beside him, "we're partners today so we'll be sharing escort duty today."

"Oh," Jaune said a little surprised as he walked towards one of the heavy trucks. He was called again for another escort mission transferring material out for Ironwood's Amity project. "I thought I'd be riding with Blake today." He wasn't exactly thrilled to be spending time with a Team RWBY's quietest member, they were both amicable to one another but shared almost nothing in common.

"Blake requested trading shifts so she could join Yang on a contract. I happily obliged." She explained falling into step with him a carefree smile on her cheeks.

Jaune supposed it was definitely an improvement from Blake spending a long cold drive with her nose in a book as he ran the battery in his scroll dry playing games. At least he assumed, her upbeat attitude seemed to suggest just as much but he couldn't remember sharing so many words with Penny before today.

Jaune opened up the back door to the truck stepping up into the back. He held his hand out for Penny to help her up but she ignored it climbing aboard with ease. He closed the double doors and took his usual seat between a couple of crates. "All aboard," Jaune called to the driver to move. The vehicle lurched forward and in no time the dark streets of Mantle gave way to the snowy tundra.

Jaune unzipped the backpack he'd laid at his feet. After a dozen or so of the long boring missions sitting in the back of the trucks with little to no action save for a few occasional Grimm attacks he'd learned to come prepared. He packed everything from a blanket to some snacks and a couple of comic books he'd already read.

"Are you cold?" Penny asked sitting directly across from him. Her hands rested in her lap and she sat perfectly upright compared to the blonde knight slouching back in his cramped little seat.

"Yeah," Jaune confirmed unfolding the blanket and draping it over his legs, "it's always freezing in the back of these trucks and using my aura to stay warm is just wasteful." His breath came out as smoke it was so cold. He almost asked her how she couldn't be cold when he noticed no warm mist emanating from her mouth and nostrils. He'd almost forgotten that she wasn't human, she was a machine.

"Well in that case I will assist you," she announced. Her hair bounced as she stood up with little warning and sat down right next to him.

"Uh," the blonde knight began not quite sure what was happening but stopping himself as he felt warmth emanating from the girl next to him. It was subtle at first but it very quickly grew in intensity, the numbing cold receded from around him. "How?" He started feeling warmth blooming against his body.

"My systems can generate quite a bit of heat, I'm designed to ventilate it through my artificial skin, currently I'm concentrating my cooling systems to my left towards you," she explained smiling at him again as he felt her unnatural heat emanate towards him.

It felt like he was sitting next to a space heater. He didn't say that to her, he wasn't sure what an android like her would find insulting but being compared to a home appliance definitely seemed to be likely. "Thank you Penny," he said sincerely grateful for the warmth.