The Will to Live of the New Being [Erchanhardt, Himiko]

Her hesitation was rather apparent, but Erchanhardt was nothing if not firm. That was not to say that he wished to pressure her, of course, and he understood that he had likely not been nearly clear enough on the matter for his own good.

"Nothing would make me happier than for you to call this place your home, to take any of the rooms here as your own. I know that your have your duties to attend to, and I would never dream of asking you to abandon them. I wish only for you to think of this as somewhere that you are always welcome."

It was rather difficult to convey these sorts of things, and Erchanhardt knew that he was sufficiently out of practice as to make it even more difficult to communicate with her. The last time he had spoken about this had been with Adelheid, and frankly, that had been nothing short of a catastrophe. It was one he did not wish to repeat.

"Well, I do want to say yes... and it'd be really nice to move in but I think I should ask Murasaki first but I'll definitely visit more and spend more time here."

She was a bit more focused on the whole moving in moreso than his clarification that she would be able to call this place home. Himiko took a little bit to get things, yanno?

"But you're also welcome to sleep in my yurt up in Soul Society if you want, it's pretty big though maybe you and I would make it feel really small since you're just soooo big and I guess I'm kind of tall too but you'd really like it too. So you can always stay there as well if you want."

It was a sincere effort to try and reciprocate the colossal proposal that he had given her.

Erchanhardt naturally understood the reciprocal effort on Himiko's part, and he did not think it especially necessary to press the issue any further. After all, this relationship was not simply his to direct however he thought appropriate. If she gave him such an invitation, it would have been rather rude to decline, wouldn't it?

"That sounds quite lovely, I think. Perhaps the next time I find myself with a bit of free time to travel, I will make my way there. It would be a good change of pace if you were the one showing me around, hm?"

He offered her a smile, certainly not disappointed by how the conversation had gone. He was far past the point of worrying over his expectations or plans, and simply welcomed whatever shifts were brought into play.

"Oh yes! I know all the great teahouses and everything."

She took a moment to remember that he probably wouldn't be interested in her knowing all the "hot" outlets for accessories and clothes. Well, she was sure that she could figure something out. Maybe she take Ada on a test run first and get her opinion on the matter. It wasn't like that was cheating or anything, it was being thoughtful!

"So ummm.."

On one hand she wanted to try and get back to his topic and the situation as it was rather than the hypothetical futures but Himiko also remembered leaving that by assuming he wanted to get married and the fact that she had pulled the rug out from him with saying yes on top of it. That was super duper awkward!

"That sounds wonderful."

While Himiko was clearly feeling a bit out of sorts, Erchanhardt maintained perfect composure throughout the whole conversation. After all, he wanted to keep things nice and stable, and after a brief moment of hesitation, he wrapped his free arm around her waist, pulling her a good bit closer to himself as he looked down into her eyes.

"The night is still young, of course. I do hope you enjoy everything I've prepared. I would hate to think that this conversation has already tainted it."

Of course, he was still collected, confident, unshakeable as he held his woman in his arms like this. The temptation to kiss her ran through Erchanhardt's mind so many times that he was unsure of how many times he should even ask forgiveness for. But, even that concern was somewhat pushed away by the simple acknowledgement of her beauty.