Welcome to Gaia! ::

Her question made him stop in his tracks. It was benign enough, but he wasn't sure how to answer her per say. The purpose of the code was-
"I guess it's a bit like archive that you only have permission to get access to half of. It's not so much to do with that the information is there and obtainable, only that it's missing. Just like any relic I suspect the damage it's endured over time has weakened it and made parts of the information it provides questionable. Personally, the portion here on my wonder is a bit too self fulfilling." As he spoke he completely glossed over how easily Stella wormed her way to his side. It was only when he paused did the proximity register and he began to stammer once again.

"Y-y-your'e not bad. I mean. You are because the negaverse is bad but not bad bad I mean I like you. Er. Not in that way. Not that you're not pretty! I just well. Um." He made small strangled sound, lightly pulling her to move on.
As they entered the Antechamber, small flickering lights came on, and the grandiose scale of Paris's wonder was on display. Bones, relatively human made the walls and pillars. Carved into the very stone, each area was as gothic and grotesque as it was immaculate. Vaulted ceiling, each bone was positioned in a manner that spoke of a loving reverence as well as utilitarian methodology. Each had a place and that place had been made for it and it for them.

"They'd come from all over, seeking a final resting place. Most of the time they were loved by someone living. For those without, we surrounded them so they too would not be alone."

Paris felt a deep sadness well up in him as he looked towards the far end of the hall.
"My place is that way. Behind the Altar. The Temple itself is more for the living than the dead so it is important we present it as welcoming to our guests." His voice took a slightly more somber tone as his eyes glossed over.

"You may make an offering or prayer if you like."

The somber tone continued for a while, his posture a little more older somehow, an air of melancholy and forlorn sorrow in his eyes and expression. This was Paris at his wonder, his element. His place of power. His, and no other.

"That is for you to decide. Prayer is personal. It can be filled with the vibrancy of joy and vigor of celebration. It can be silence of thought, or, the timid gift of hope for a better life to come. Prayers are offerings of our souls and minds. An offering of heart."

He blinked, looking both at her and through her.

"I like you better when you pretend less. It is okay to be honest. Sometimes it hurts but, it is much better."

Another blink, his eyes returned to their natural blue, and he seemed momentarily confused at her.
".... Um." Red flushed down his neck as he suddenly walked very briskly into the temple.
"Youdeservebetterthansomeonelikemeisall."

"Uh-Um." Had he'd offended her somehow? He rather hoped not, she was being nice, and he liked her in a way, but to what extent he was uncertain.
Paris was not one for being able to articulate his feelings very well. Not in any circumstances.
"Just- I like you?" He was red, flushed and unsure if he'd said it in a way that she thought he meant. Oh no, she was nice but older and better than him and smarter than him and- "-When you're honest it's nice. Harder sometimes, but much nicer."

But then she was in front of him. Soft and pressed to his mouth and he felt something in his stop and start and she smelled nice and her mouth wasn't saying anything and he wasn't either and-

He pushed back at her suddenly, wanting to feel something and not sure what it was he wanted to feel but he felt like it was something to chase and-

He stopped, pulling back and realizing what he'd just done. They had just done.
"Oh." It was a soft realization as the flush was lost in the moment.
"I- what were we talking about again?" He was leaning a bit too far to his right, looking ready to fall over in a daze.

"O- Oh. Okay." He said, dreamily. Paris wasn't sure where that kiss had come from but it was nice and he liked it, certainly. sure, he was a bit emotionally confused but then he usually was anyway. Nothing new there. Sitting down on a nearby bench, (this one blessedly made of marble and stone- not skulls. He noted that the further from the center, the more things were made of bone).

Once he was sitting down he slouched, a certain oomf gone from him. 'Wind in my sails' he mused, thinking to how now the situation was becoming a bit easier to think on. Stella had questions about Knights and wonders.

"I- I should answer your questions. Thats why we really came here not to- to-" Paris motioned to her.

As if that explained everything.
"Canoodle."

Paris had about as much experience in the realm of love, passion, and attraction as a rock did. Not a whole lot outside of being thrown at someone with the intention to get them off the intended target of said attraction. Between stuttering, awkwardly acting around others, and his penchant for violent outbursts when he emotionally collapsed, his love life did not exist.

So Stella's bumping of knees and suggestion that they could canoodle and also talk about his wonder had him at an entire loss for words.

The hand holding is what was like a stab directly to his young, terriblely confused heart and mind.
She was pretty and older and a captain and nice and kept touching him so sweetly and and and-

"Oh-oh-oh." He was stuttering, trying to look anywhere but her face, as if that way she'd not see he was red and looking very much like he might pass out at any given moment from the attention she was giving him.

"Okay."

His voice was barely above a whisper and he just faced her, eyes still diverted.
"I- I -I guess... if you really wanted to. I mean, we could. The code can't stop us. I mean, it's not like there are rules but there are sort of but the wonder doesn't have preists anymore so no one is here to follow them so I mean.."
He looked at her for a second.

The sound he made was close to as if he'd been struck.
"We can canoodle if you want."

Paris was not experienced in any sense of the word. But, at his wonder he felt just a little more comfortable, a little more at home. And with a kiss, he felt a little more comfortable with the idea that perhaps he was wrong about Chaos.
That maybe, he was wrong to blindly follow the rules of being a knight.