Holy Templar Sanctum (Aincrad)

[Apollymi]

Fish. The grilled fish they were going to eat was going to taste like 'fish'. A scoff escaped Angelica at this statement, even she was aware that the thing they were eating would taste like what it was. It'd be really odd if they set out to eat fish and it tasted like something else. Still, she couldn't help but laugh it off in a moment like this, as she likely couldn't have done a better job herself of describing any random thing. "Thanks Chuck, that was inspiring..." she managed her own form of sarcasm.

All of this before she dove into the lake herself. Here and now she found herself half floating and waiting to be joined. Yes, her moods and fighting style were brash, but that didn't mean she couldn't have a bit of finesse in everything else she did. Oh and what a spectacle it would be when Charles did finally decide to join her. She watched him jump high, and perform several spins and flips high above the tree line. "Oooh?!" she seemed excited by the prospect and more excited yet to see the outcome. Where would he land? Would there be a big splash? The anticipation was killing her.

[Bloodedge]

That whole fish-in-the-mouth fiasco would soon be a thing of the past. Charlemagne had successfully executed a dive from the perfect height. He reached the perfect velocity. He managed the perfect transition from one move to another. Literally everything about his dive was perfect from start to climax. Finally, he could do something absolutely, unequivocally cool. Well... that would have been the case. It could have been the case. Perhaps one could say it should have been the case. Alas, it was not to be.

Why? Why was his maneuver going to be something uncool? Everything was in order except... the landing. From the looks of things, Charlemagne was slated to land directly atop Angelica. That wasn't good. The moment he realized where his descent would end, Charlemagne's eyes widened. "No no no no no no no!" he shouted to the universe. "Watch out!" he shouted additionally, this time to Angelica. His fall suddenly lost all descent, now involving a lot of unnecessary flailing as if Charlemagne thought he could flap his way in another direction. Sadly, he had no such ability. . .

[Apollymi]

There had been something rather epic in the making. His rise, his flips, his descent were all literal perfection. Of course, after a moment or two it became obvious that the one part that wouldn't go his way this day, was the landing. Charles wasn't going to stick a landing the way Angelica had into absolutely nothing but the cool waters of the lake. No, nothing so simple would happen and strangely he seemed to be flailing when he realized this.

Angelica for her part in watching his descent realized the lad would definitely not be making such a calm landing but instead of swimming away to let him flop into the water's surface, she floated with her arms spread wide. "I'll catch you~" she claimed as if this was a perfectly normal reaction to someone falling towards her. Of course, it looked at this point as if she was fully willing to accept the lad falling into her person. If he fell into her, which it seemed like he would a strange maneuver would be taking place. It would be almost like she was reaching out to embrace the impact and then she'd rather easily twist both of them around in a move right out of professional wrestling leaving both of them sinking for a moment or two but neither would be worse for wear. Well, except for the problem of the pair of them having a few extra moments of physical contact.

[Bloodedge]

Perhaps even worse than his uncool landing position, was the fact that Angelica extended her arms with the intention of catching him. That could have been fine, apart from the fact that he could see where he'd be landing in that situation. The way things were going, there was to be a chest-to-chest impact. "Wait, don─" There was no point in arguing against the coming impact, as it was upon them before Charlemagne could even finish speaking. Suddenly, he was... underwater?

Ah, yes. Charlemagne was beneath the water's surface. Any part of him that wasn't covered by water was apparently enshrouded by Angelica herself. There was a softness pressed against his fore... twice, at least. Not good. Charlemagne was relieved that impact hadn't been something terrible, but the aftermath was technically terrible for him... or so he thought. Yes, that was accurate. It was terrible because it was wonderful. Something was very wrong with this embrace. Whatever the issue was, he'd surely never forget it. Maybe that permanent memory was the issue? It was certainly possible in the mind of Charlemagne. In fact, he even failed to realize he was trying to breathe underwater. . .

[Apollymi]

Catching Charles in this way hadn't been bad for Angelica. She could move around beneath the water rather easily. Beyond that it was a maneuver she was fairly familiar with for some reason. What she wasn't familiar with was this lad's apparent distrust. Even so, she caught him, and twisted and they were both underwater. Their bodies pressed against each other and she got to feel something quite unique for her, a hard body pressed against her own which was rather pleasant. She might have relaxed into it a bit too much. Oh, and they needed to breathe, and while she'd managed not to take a breath apparently Charles hadn't properly braced for impact or something. She easily found herself surfacing and pulling him up as well.

"See, told you I'd catch you..." she said seeming to have abandoned any strange thoughts. Of course, she was still pretty close to him, but that was only to make sure he was alright. It'd be bad to let him cough himself into a watery grave or something right?

[Bloodedge]

If nothing else, he was officially caught. Safety was something Charlemagne could take solace in, though this wasn't how he envisioned safety at all. No, this was something else. This was the greatest danger his life had ever known. He'd gone to war with the Saxons, felled mythical beasts left and right, and Angelica's torso being in contact with him was the most intimidating thing yet. More than everything else thus far, this simple act of saving managed to nearly kill him.

Of course, he couldn't be freed from Angelica by death's sweet embrace. As he emerged from the water and expelled what managed to enter his lungs via coughing, Charlemagne realized nothing about his position had truly changed. Death claiming him would have been such a kindness. Instead, he was left in the clutches of sin, and the face of sin itself seemed to harbor zero concern for the true issue at hand. "... Yep. I've been caught. Not dead. Should have been dead," he mumbled while staring into the false, yet open sky.

[Apollymi]

Coughing fit successful. Soon enough, Charles was able to communicate in complete if not short sentences. Truly, Angelica didn't understand completely this lad's withdrawals about the future she'd decided for them but at least she understood that 'sex' and 'mana transfers' weren't mutually exclusive. She could understand that by the amount of strange feelings she had surrounding Charles. That being said, with him being alive and all she let him go, though there was a marked bit of hesitation to that action. "You're being really dramatic again Charlie," she said seeming to find that bit humorous.

They could continue to concentrate on other things and not each other for a while yet. "Besides the worse that would have happened is you landing flat on the surface of the water," she said seeming to understand the basic physics of a belly flop and knowing that it would have hurt not only his body but also his ego. Their shared contact aside she was willing to float along on her back giving only an occasional stroke so she could maintain her current level of submersion. "So, is the sky outside different from the sky in here?" she found herself asking, mostly because he was staring upwards, partly just to get his mind moving away from whatever strange trauma he'd managed to give himself.

[Bloodedge]

He wasn't being dramatic. He doubted she even knew why death would have been a better option for him. Surely enough, she claimed the worst thing that could have happened... would have been him landing on the water's surface. Nonsense. The worst thing would have been being subjected to Angelica's temptation. Of course, that was the thing that actually happened. Thoughts of impropriety came flooding back with a vengeance as he breathed air once more. "Not the worst thing. Not the worst thing at all," he murmured.

Luckily, Angelica had a knack for broaching new topics at the perfect time. While he was drowning in that which couldn't be according to Father An's teachings, Angelica took advantage of his point of view. She spoke of the sky, wondering if it differed in the outside world. Now that he thought about it, Charlemagne focused more intently on the false sky above. "You know, I never thought about it until you asked. This sky does look the same, but there's no real comparison. The sky outside is so many things, you know? The sun warms you when it's cold. The breeze cools you when it's warm. It can be so much, and besides all that, it's... endless. Even though this looks the same, it doesn't have that feel like it goes on forever. This looks expansive, but think about something having no end at all. It's actually sad that you've never seen it."

[Apollymi]

Charles was correct in one way. Angelica wouldn't have understood why death was something to consider over the feelings they both currently possessed. It was awkward sure, but that was mostly because they seemed to be reacting to the situation much differently than two people who would have understood what was happening. Of course, she was also something other than human and though she didn't understand that as a full truth, she knew she didn't possess anything near shame for her actions nor her feelings. She only managed to harbor a bit of confusion and had a plan to have that taken care of at some point.

Moving on, she had a random question for Charles about the sky. She had only a few solid memories of her life before coming to Aincrad, this of course included what her mother looked like, the sound of her voice and the feeling of her mana. Everything else was lost to her for the most part. So her life within this little bubble of created life support was all she knew. This sky was the only one she knew and many other things she only understood within the confines of Aincrad. As such Charles words were rather enlightening. He claimed that this sky, looked like the sky outside, but that there was so much more to the other sky. It was endless and full of things and extra feelings. Angelica couldn't even put together enough of that to figure out what it might be like. "Endless, huh?" she asked. That was a strange thing to note. She was more acutely aware than most that the size of this sky was an illusion. She had similar thoughts whenever she was outside at night looking up at the stars. "I don't know why that would be sad, I've only really known the floor I live on," she explained seeming not to realize exactly how bleak her life was by comparison to those who could freely move about. "I was just curious, I like watching the stars, but I can see where the sky ends here... I wondered if there was something more to what outside was like. I mean if all the floors here are so different I assume outside can be really different too..." she explained of her thought process.

[Bloodedge]

Charlemagne delved fully into his own thought process regarding the sky beyond Aincrad. It wasn't something he gave much consideration to at all until Angelica broached the topic. She spoke of stargazing and her enjoyment of it, and addressed the difference between floors in Aincrad. As Angelica assumed, the outside sky was quite different... but not just different to individual floors found here. "The stars? I guess that's the sort of thing that makes it sad. You don't have reason to get it, but... there's no real comparison. The real sky is so different. Floor 22, Floor 99, Floor 57 ─ Take every floor's sky and put them together. Sometimes it's obscured by the weather, sometimes it's totally unfiltered and you can see every color on the spectrum. It can look like every sky on every floor from moment to moment, even multiple at the same time. And the stars? They have the feel of something you can reach out to while being so far away that no one could ever actually make it."

He'd gone on a bit of a tangent, but there was much to be said. There were endless features in the outside world, and the sky was only part of it. While he floated around in the water, Charlemagne began to consider something very new. "You know..." he started, still sorting through the thought. Angelica was confined not simply to Aincrad, but to the 99th floor for around a thousand years. He'd taken her to other floors multiple times, but... "What if you went outside? I don't think it would be too difficult to get you out of Aincrad. Getting you back in would be a bit problematic, but if it could be managed... do you want to see the outside one day?"