Holy Templar Sanctum (Aincrad)

[Apollymi]

There was some strange things happening in that tent right now. Angelica was still staring at Charles and Charles was still staring at Angelica. Both seemed to be a bit flustered but neither had moved properly out of the way nor had they tried to fix this situation. But there were at least words being shared between them. Angelica considered that good given that Charles was standing with his pants half up.

Ah, but his words were ones she wasn't sure how to address initially. He claimed she didn't need to apologize, he wasn't seeking privacy. He thought maybe he should apologize or perhaps explain and said it wasn't what it looked like. But what did it look like? "I don't think you need to apologize either. I am not off put, I am just confused. I might not truly understand modesty, but I don't know what I think this looks like. I guess to me, it just seems like I walked in on you changing, which is only something that concerns me because you wanted privacy for it earlier," she explained of herself. "I don't have a problem with your nudity or anything like that which is probably for the better, considering..." she stated seeming to only see positives in any situation. "But you seem to be more worked up about this than I expected in general so... yeah, that's pretty much it." Her words finished but she was still staring. His manhood was out but she didn't feel odd about it. There was nothing wrong with him physically so she didn't understand his modesty and she had no ill feelings about him so she didn't find his nudity offensive. Maybe this could be less awkward. "So should I just finish coming in... I mean I don't really want to back out..." she explained of herself. If he wasn't being private and there was more to explain perhaps they should just talk together and have it not be so weird.

[Bloodedge]

Ah, Angelica didn't feel very weird at all about the current predicament. That made one of them. Charlemagne felt stranger than ever before, though it wasn't entirely due to the awkwardness. Something about being exposed while looking at Angelica was calling out to him. Was this the work of devils in his soul? Maybe he was a heretic, as some members of Aincrad assumed after he cleared the Labyrinth. Whatever the issue was, that stiffness wasn't going away even as the blood rushed to his face.

Even so, he allegedly had no reason to apologize either. Angelica didn't understand his modesty, nor did she really understand why he was hiding in the tent with his junk out overall. One of those things was all but a lost cause for her. The other, however, he could somewhat explain. It could even be considered the same as his earlier unspoken answer. "It's not so much modesty as it is uh... trying not to sin. And now I've flashed the Holy Princess. God above, I'm going to Hell─" he concluded. Charlemagne still wasn't putting that thing away. What was even the point now? The sin was there; Angelica could literally see it. One might wonder why she didn't understand why this was so very wrong. A more worldly individual would instead wonder why Charlemagne did think it wrong, but Charlemagne was well-traveled... not worldly. He was long-since trapped in the teachings of Aincrad through the Templar Order, and this turn of events was surely damning for him... right? More importantly, what could being in such a sinner's presence do to Angelica? She was probably too holy, too pure to be affected by proxy. With that being his assumption, at least the sin was only his to bear. "Well... you're already here. Might as well finish the date before I'm chauffeured off to the lake of fire."

[Apollymi]

Finally an answer. According to Charles this wasn't a matter of privacy, he'd simply been trying not to sin. According to him, he'd flashed the Holy Princess and doing so was somehow about to send him straight to hell. She wasn't truly indoctrinated and didn't really know all the nuances but she was pretty sure being walked in on naked wasn't exactly a sin. "Chuck, you're going to need to calm down," she said presently. Ah she was invited in properly and as such she came in fully apparently to finish this date before Charles thought he'd be carted off to hell. "I am the Holy Princess yes, but if seeing you like this is a sin on you, then me being naked in front of you earlier is a sin on me, and I don't think that is how it's meant to work," she explained seeming to find some pretty wide holes in his logic.

"I am pretty sure for something to qualify as sinful it has to have either a bad intention and negative effect. Nudity isn't negative and it doesn't cause me any problems," she explained of herself. "And I think it would be more negative to think of this badly long term... it can't be a sin for two married people to be naked," she finished up. She didn't want him to feel bad about being walked in on. "So don't go claiming you're sinning over something like this... I don't think it's a sin at all," she finished up reassuringly. Of course she figured it might not be taken that way but Charles might have been holding himself to inhuman standards.

[Bloodedge]

He needed to calm down, did he? He may as well, since the heavens were not a place he'd be visiting whenever this life ended. On the other hand, Angelica had some decent logic in her rebuttal. If he was sinning now, she was sinning earlier. Well, Charlemagne would count that sin on himself as well, since he was watching. "I'm gonna chalk that earlier one up as blasphemy on my part," he countered.

Everything sinful had bad intentions associated, Angelica insisted. She was obviously missing the point of an erection, Charlemagne thought. "This thing is bad intentions!" he said, freely gesturing at his own groin before pulling the hairs on either side of his head. Quite the rant was coming in the following moments. "It's all devil stuff! See the Holy Princess naked once time, keep looking on purpose, spend the rest of the day turning everything into a dirty thought and... and... and liking it! And! The marriage thing doesn't apply! We're not married, and not married people shouldn't do married people stuff! Sex is married people stuff, and it's the only thing that's been in my stupid head all day! I need to confess! Do we do confessions here? Bloody hell, I can't even get religion straight. Are you the one people confess to if we have it? Because saying 'forgive me mommy, for I have sinned,' is just gonna be another thing I have to confess for when it's done!"

[Apollymi]

According to Charles, the earlier moment was a case of blasphemy. Angelica disagreed but there was more at work then she could know. Soon enough after she'd tried to dissuade him of feeling any unnecessary guilt, the lad went on a tirade. One which left Angelica staring at him with wide eyes. The words he put together gave her strange feelings, he by his own words thought thinking about sex with her was some sort of sin, and he'd been feeling and thinking about it all day and even liking it as an idea. His words seemed to hitch on the idea that they weren't yet married and as such sex was something which should have been off the table completely apparently including his thoughts. He wanted to know if there was confession, and as far as she knew, the answer to that question was no. People often consulted priests or higher ups for advice, but not just to confess to any 'sins' they committed. She wondered what sort of religion would even bother asking people about what they thought they did wrong, instead of simply offering them methods to do right. All that aside it seemed that even confession was something which would end in his going to hell because of the way he'd begin the phrase of his confession.

Angelica couldn't help but stare at the lad for several seconds seeming to see him as a bit broken in a moment like this. He seemed to have been dealing with a lot all day and she could somewhat understand. She felt better knowing that she wasn't the only one suffering from their attraction and weirdly sexualized moments. But in thinking about it, she felt like anyone would tell them it was normal to feel this way. "Charles, take a very deep breath look at me and hear me out, okay?" she asked seeming to be on the verge of some great breakthroughs, her right hand reaching out to his cheek in a comforting manner as she searched for eye contact. "You're always helping me out so I am going to help you think about this," she said. "Is Bradamante going to Hell?" she asked in a straightforward way. "Because by your logic marriage as a thing determines the goodness and confines of sex and love. So by your logic someone like Bradamante would be going to Hell for not being married and we both know she's too good a person for that. I don't believe she would be cursed to hell for loving a man she is most definitely involved with. Given this I don't think you are either... maybe you're just interpreting these rules for sin too harshly. Because if your body and mind didn't react at all, how would you even commit to and consummate the marriage in the first place?" she asked. All of these things were logical to her. And Charles had obviously taken his thoughts on sin and marriage way farther than they could have ever been intended. "I don't think confessions are a thing, I don't know why you'd tell someone else and not just God what you thought you were doing wrong, but I don't think this is wrong. But if I was taking your confession, I'd tell you to take it easier on yourself. We're going to be married, us being attracted to each other cannot be bad. If it was so there are married couples who are going to Hell simply for loving each other and I don't think God should do something like that..."

[Bloodedge]

While Charlemagne was busy spiraling into insanity, Angelica grasped his attention in a very, very interesting way. Charles, she called him. That was an oddity worth taking note of in its own right. His name was originally just Charles, so many people still called him that... but not Angelica. To her, he was Charlie unless she happened to be upset in some way, in which case he immediately became Chuck. Hearing that particular name pass her lips was possibly the oddest thing he could ever imagine. "Who?" he asked instinctively. Whatever the case, she successfully grabbed his attention.

Was Bradamante going to Hell? It was always possible, though he personally doubted she would. Much to Angelica's point, he didn't imagine being unwed and sexually active in conjunction would be damning for someone of Bradamante's quality. Could he claim the same purity, though? "Well... Ruggiero might have himself a reservation," he said absently. "Though I guess maybe I misinterpreted a line somewhere. Honestly, some of it does become blurred based on uh..." He paused there, unsure how to explain his previous world experiences. "A very similar religion I knew before Aincrad. I wonder if I should ask Father An for the specifics," he said as if he were having a conversation with anyone other than the beacon of holiness herself.

Luckily, confessions were probably nonexistent in this world. Those were always a stupid and unrealistic idea in the first place, and if he had to confess to Angelica, he'd probably just die and accept Hell on the spot. Angelica's voice was tantamount to that of God's own will however, so her council was worth adhering to. A few deep breaths, and Charlemagne managed to calm himself for the sake of rationalizing things. "Alright. I get what you're saying, though I'm pretty sure the stuff I keep thinking about isn't holy at all. This conversation isn't helping me not think dirty stuff either─"

[Apollymi]

Apparently Charles didn't recognize his own name when spoken by Angelica. She found herself chuckling just a little at the reaction but she knew she didn't often say his name in such a way to him. Why would she? They were friends, he was Charlie or Chuck, mostly dependent completely upon how fast she needed to spit his name out, which was directly correlated to her current level of anger, but that did not matter. "You, I called you by your actual name because I need you to hear me, yeah?" she said before she started her own explanation of the situation.

Moving on, apparently Ruggiero might be the one going to hell. "That kind of implies that only men are going to Hell and I think that isn't a good way to think about things," she said finding the male thought about that to be a bit more defeatist than she expected given men seemed so content to run off and die for no real payoff for themselves. Regardless he seemed to agree that maybe he was overreacting just a bit. "Definitely misinterpreting something but I think if you want an interpretation, you'd be better off asking Archbishop Turpin. I feel the need to remind you in a moment like this that Father is the one one who explained mana-transfer to me and you already have a problem with how I understand it. It might be a generational thing..." she said offering that advice freely, that last phrase being one she borrowed from another person. All the while her hand remained against the side of his face. If she was being honest, after touching him she didn't really want to stop the action at all, so why bother?

Whatever the case Charles seemed to understand what she was saying. Here and now he claimed he didn't think his thoughts were holy and that he wasn't being helped into not thinking dirty things. "Well, I am not sure why it should be considered dirty in the first place. I also don't really see it as an unholy act, since the end result is the ability to make and do new things," she said seeming to have a different understanding of sex all together than normal people. Of course, that was likely the fault of her father, but human understandings of sex weren't necessarily wrong either, there had to be some sort of middle ground to be found eventually.

[Bloodedge]

Of course, Charlemagne's name was used in proper form with purpose. There obviously had to be something to it, though he knew Angelica could have grabbed his attention just as easily by calling him Chuck. Her doing that always made him assume he'd done something wrong, or at least consider the chance he'd done so. Using that method also would have been less weird, but that didn't matter much.

As for men being the only ones going to Hell, Angelica wasn't too far from a realistic conclusion. "Well if the way guys talk around each other is any indicator... I'd be willing to believe that to some extent," he mused. There was a great deal of filth in conversations among males, so it went without saying what was on their minds. Charlemagne could at least confirm what sort of thoughts were on his mind today. Actually, Archbishop Turpin was probably the most stand-up guy in the world, as far as Charlemagne was concerned. "I guess he'd be a good one to talk to. I don't want even more confusion between mana transfers and sex. I could end up like you if I got sucked into that kind of lecture!" he joked. Jokes aside, there was something exceedingly strange in older individuals if Angelica's thoughts on mana transfer were any indicator.

For instance, Angelica didn't understand why his thoughts counted as dirty. Well, a mana transfer wasn't at all like intercourse. It was at base, but there were so many nuances not observed. "Trust me, it's dirty. That's the difference to a mana transfer. It's not about the mana exchange at all; it's about... well... feeling? Two people just make themselves feel good for no reason other than to just do it. If I remember, the exclusivity clause was something about mana pollution though. I don't fully get that part; I guess it was an anti-demon thing?" While Charlemagne wondered this, he came to realize there was a hand upon his face. When did that get there? It was yet another thing tugging away at his soul for reasons he couldn't understand. He found himself staring at that hand, wondering why Angelica found that form of contact necessary. Maybe he should have been wondering instead about the strange occurrences in his own Saint Graph, both triggered and amplified by every moment of contact with Angelica.

[Apollymi]

According to Charles, there was a a difference between the way men spoke to women directly and the way they spoke of them in the quiet of places. Of course, Angelica figured people were more comfortable around their friends and that made sense to her, she'd heard about some women being much more direct than others, but she hadn't exactly run into such a person herself. Still, she remembered the advice she'd been handed down and the explanation of it, "I don't know that many people but what I have heard indirectly about things women say to other women leads me to believe the difference isn't always as big as you think," she said leaving that alone.

Ah, but there was more to be said by Charles in a moment like this, including a joke about how he didn't want to be further confused. "Yep, just looking out for you~" she mused seemingly able to see the humor in her own misunderstanding as caused by chats with her father. And that statement was accompanied by a gentle tap on Charles face. Of course, on the matters they were actually talking about a key difference was explained. According to Charles what was dirty was that people engaged in sex purely for the feeling of it. Mana transfers were done for empowering things and as but the mana-transfer that happened from sex was an afterthought because it was more about the feeling. He also had something to say about exclusivity being about pollution so it was likely to do with demonic influence. "Again I don't see a problem with doing something to make yourself feel good, nor would it be bad to think about so long as you aren't hurting anyone," she said seeming to give the latter half of his statement a bit more thought. "Well that is probably the simplest explanation to give people who can't sense mana on their own," she said. "It's a bit like oooh adding things to tea. If you add honey it will be sweet. If you add sugar, it will be even sweeter but if you keep adding in other things there eventually won't be much of the original thing left and it will be completely different and probably inedible," she said her understanding of mana was rather simple but she could tell that from sensing other people.

[Bloodedge]

According to Angelica, there may not have been such a large difference between guy talk and girl talk. There was reason to believe that. On the other hand, Charlemagne had reason to believe that gap couldn't be bridged as easily as one thought. There were a few exceptional cases on either side, at least. It wasn't as if he intended to dive deep into the differences of private conversation. Doing something like that would require hiding in a room of only women, and that would likely have some terrible results for entirely different reasons.

Upon claiming he wished to refrain from becoming like Angelica, Charlemagne received a tap to the face. The tiniest jolt traveled through him on a spiritual level in that moment, though the contact itself could barely be registered. What was that sensation though? Was he entering some mythical second puberty? Whatever it was, he noted the occasional pulse of his manhood synchronizing with his heartbeat. Little did he know, this happened due to his heartbeat harmonizing with surges of his Spiritual Core. How strange. All of that occurred while Angelica spoke positively about things he understood to be sinful. Not harming others was the main thing one wanted to avoid, and that was the only stipulation Angelica put on the rightness of something. Ah, but there was more of an explanation to come from her.

Pollution of mana was a true danger. It was compared to blending tea with additional flavors, which diluted the tea to an unrecognizable state if one added too much variety. Charlemagne could think of many analogies which fit the same purpose, so indeed, it became something easily understandable. "Huh. That makes a lot of sense. I feel like I should consider it weird that you're basically telling me to keep thinking dirty thoughts, but... it makes sense," he surmised. For all intents and purposes, the Holy Princess' beliefs were meant to be taken as the wisdom of God. That much was once implied indirectly by Father An himself, so perhaps it wasn't a free ticket to Hell if he kept mentally replacing the objects she'd been interacting with all day with himself, applying the nudity he'd seen only once now to every instance. Though... that justification may have been a little extreme, it could only maybe be sinful for the length of an engagement, right?