A soft smirk slowly worked its way across J'mon's features and flicked the door closed behind Gilmore with a warm rush of desert wind. This sort of adoration was perhaps not actively sought out, but it was welcomed all the same. What sort of person would set themselves up as the guardian of an entire continent, Emperor of one of the largest cities in the world, with this specifically chosen appearance if they did not at least anticipate reactions like this? It was a thrill. It fulfilled and validated some deeply wanting part of them.
"I believe future you was a little... harried," they teased. Would it be a welcome gift for them to tell Gilmore about their first meeting? It was always a coin-flip whether a person desired that information or not. "Different circumstances, certainly. We had just been through a rather trying battle. But you were terribly charming." It was hard to imagine this J'mon in the middle of a battlefield, but looks could be deceiving and they were very clearly not human. They didn't need to describe the exact details to put Gilmore's mind at rest a bit. And he was right. Very few Marquesans knew this form, much less the one that they had been in when they had met the first time. Devo'ssa had been seen around Ank'harel and the deserts and mountains just beyond the city, but to the best of their knowledge, no one had connected the two. Vox Machina and their closest allies were the only living people who knew.
And, perhaps, Gilmore would have the opportunity to learn about it again too.
As they allowed Gilmore to indulge his senses, J'mon softly drew almond-shaped nails along his jaw and through his beard, indulging themself a little as well. "The wonders of the world are many, my darling, and I hope that you are able to witness them all one day. I need someone to come back to me and tell me of all the beautiful things they have seen, after all." And they needed someone to go out into the world and find beautiful things to bring home to them, so they could add it to their treasure, but that was neither here nor there. "Who better to do this for me than one of the loveliest creatures I have ever known? Like attracts like. Beauty will come to you."
They drew away slowly, making certain that Gilmore knew it was not because of any offense he had made, and made their way over to the second bed, closer to the window. There was the soft clink of metal-on-metal as they moved, coming from either the myriad of brass bangles on their wrists or brief hint of chain that wrapped around their ankles and the tops of their bare feet. "Come sit with me," they said. "Drink. Tell me the last thing you recall and I will do my best to fill in the in-between for you. If it pleases you."