don't know how to live

 Emile trailed behind the purple man, peering around the much bigger man as he was shown into the structure. Or at least he did when Pontifex wasn't busy brushing as close as he could without directly pressing down on him and each time their fur brushed it was like his brain stuttered the way his tongue did. He didn't know how to handle such direct and obvious interest. Well aside from rapid blinking and flushing. Emile was surprised there was still blood to pump through the rest of his body he was pretty sure all of it was in his face right now. So he settled for nodding as if he was actually taking in the words being spoken, which he wasn't... Too busy trying not to think about the perfumed scent that surrounded him and the warmth radiating off of Pontifex. "Sleeping area, which you are welcome to make use of if you do not have plans to return home immediately." Okay that one he did catch, and as he realized Pontifex was looking at him he tried a few times to give some kind of response but his tongue simply was not playing along. His mind was waaaaay too busy unpacking everything to even try to wrangle words together so instead he opened and closed his mouth a few times before he gave up on trying to actually respond instead he blushed somehow even deeper still and cast his gaze down, giving a little shrug. He didn't know what his plan was. This was so far outside his normal that he was kind of just making up as he went and any sort of implication of that nature had always seemed so out of the equation for him that he hadn't ever considered the possibility. But it wasn't a no.

Luckily they started to move on and Emile started trying to get his emotions under control so he wouldn't make himself into as big a fool when the time came to speak. Not that that was proving easy, something about the whole interaction or maybe about being here, about having chosen to be here, well it was like his whole body was a live wire. Every little touch, every little glance he caught... All of it made his heart hammer against his ribs so hard he was surprised no one else seemed to be able to hear it. Worst of all... He wanted more. The air felt the coldest it'd ever been in the moments when their tour meant there was a gap between them. Emile absolutely was not used to this at all. He'd spent most of his life avoiding others he had absolutely no clue how to handle actually wanting to be around someone.

Dutifully, more on auto pilot than anything else he did as he was bid and settled himself while tea was poured and he focused almost a little too hard on the drink, avoiding focusing on anything else. Except he'd been asked a question. Emile frowned. That was honestly a great question, he wished he knew. "Yyyyyyou had invit-invited me." He started plainly, obviously. "I ggggguess I was cur.....ious?" That was true, so far in the few times he'd run into the purple man he'd been forced to confront the reality that someone was interested in him. That simple truth shattered so much of who he thought he was, what he thought the world was like. It was in a way intoxicating, and terrifying and devastating all at once. Maybe he'd come because he hoped he might finally understand the feeling of being wanted, or maybe he'd come to prove to himself and Pontifex that he'd been right all along and the purple man didn't actually want to be around him and he could go back home with his world view intact. Emile wasn't sure which possibility was sadder.

"Speech"