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Zar eyed his drawing as if someone else had done it. "That would appear to be the case. I am capable of superficially smiling." He demonstrated, forcing a smile that bared a lot of perfect white teeth. "But it does not come accompanied with emotional sensation." He relaxed back to his carefully blank intent expression.

"It is not a clear route from the present moment to that aim. There are a lot of things I desire, sometimes all the time. But they are not wise to pursue."

Zar was still baffled, it sounded complicated and a degree of imagination he wasn't sure he possessed. Besides, many of the thoughts that made him happy were entirely not appropriate to day to day and were not condusive to productivity. "I think my issue is my imagination is decidedly narrow. I deal in what is, what it current and sorting, organising and preparing that to go forward into the future efficientl-"

His ramble about the importance of organisation for a tidy future was cut off sharply as Calder dove towards him. He let out a sharp yelp of surprise, but was easily pinned down, despite his wild hair, huge horns and fancy suit, he was all skin and bones and despite flailing his hooves and tail, couldn't help but be tickled.

His laugh was genuine and incredulous, far younger sounding than almost everything else he said, and he wriggled especially determinedly when Calder got his sides, apparently his most ticklish spot. "Jack ...hahahah ajaa..jack hahah what are you doing!? Hahah goodhahhness." He was sure now without a doubt this kelpie guy was some kind of magician. He had never been forced to surrender control this way, the whole experience was..new to say the least, and he absolutely could not stop laughing. Even flailing his tail, trying to get it around Calder's waist to pry him off was almost impossible while in fits of giggles, but he made the attempt regardless.

Zar was left absolutely breathless and dazed, not quite sure what had just hit him, trying to reorient himself in the situation. Normally he was icy cool and in control, dictating the conversation and neatly laying out terms. Calder effortlessly ignored all these attempts to be an assertive and confident individual.

"I ...I am I suppose." he said helplessly, wondering how he'd even gotten into this situation in the first place. "I wasn't really aware."

And then Calder had hold of his tail. And was touching his tail. His incredibly sensitive, incredibly prehensile tail. Goosebumps spread across his skin and he shivered as the touch was resonated like a finger of ice along his spine. He froze in his tracks like a cat seized by the scruff of it's neck. He blushed, which for him meant the ink blot like markings under his eyes flushed black, and he hurriedly cleared his throat, but it was too late to detract attention as his tail tried to slither around Calder's wrist affectionately.

"It...it's...Itsss alssooo verrrry sensssitive." he hissed with a frantic edge of apology.

Zar felt like he might die from an overload of embarassment, confusion and various other emotions that simply wouldn't hold still long enough for him to pin them down and label them with names. He completely forgot to breathe as Calder seemed to remain entirely oblivious to his distress.

"Itsss. It isss. More of a burden than anything else." he stammered. It was almost entirely muscle yet was surprisingly gentle as it threw coils around the kelpie's arm. The more it did the more Zar was sure his death was imminent. "It can do .." he turned to try and unloop it manually from Calder, eyes narrowed to panicked slits. "..it can do everything my hands can and more besides. It just has a mind of it's own sometimes."

Finally prying the tail free, Zar held it rather too tightly in his claws, drawing small pinpricks of inky blood. "I'm very sorry about that." he stammered, somewhere on the brink of a freak out. His clarity and self control were in tatters. "It is normally. Not so grabby." He was just glad it had only grabbed the kelpie's arm, it was embarassing enough.

Trying very hard to think about anything other than the snarling instincts awake in him, he nodded, doing his best to sound indifferent and calm again. "I would like a tail like yours instead. A swishable tail would be superior, it might not divulge so much about one's ..it might not prove such a burden as mine. It took me some time to train it out of this nonsense. I am not sure why it has started it again."

He looked grim. "What was that..thing you did a moment ago? With the laughter? Was it magic?"

"For me it isn't such a fantastic thing. It tends to give away more about how I am feeling than I might wish to divulge, when I am feeling angry or when I am trying to trip someone up it flicks. Sometimes I will catch it, most of the time I do not. A tufty tail might not give away so much. Or tangle around chairs while you are sitting." He was rambling a little worse than usual in an effort to pedal his thoughts back onto solid ground with a deluge of words.

He shook his head, no. "They didn't show interest in that sort of thing. Father did not touch any one that I ever saw, even my mother. He just worked all the time. As did she, we were a business family, but certainly not a tickle family at any point."

Zar blinked and raised a brow at Calder. He was on the most uncertain footing he'd ever been on before, not sure what to do or how to react and finding it difficult to be rational with very un-businesslike instincts holding large portions of his brain hostage. "I..I do not feel people very often, there is little logical reason to do so."

He gave Calder a worried look. "Will there be a charge? I do not actually have any..monetary..funds at the moment."

No strings. That was certainly a term he found difficult to understand. Everything he knew and was accustomed to came with strings, even relationships had proven subject to clauses of affection and attentiveness he'd been unaware of at the outset. All the world had small print, and he wasn't always able to read it. When he was in his domain of paperwork and red tape he radiated icy confidence and conviction, but right now he was a rather lost and confused demon with nothing but confusion and uncertainty. Nuru had liked hugs. But he'd always been aversive to them and didn't see their function. With the loneliness in the wake of Nuru's disappearance and various red blooded and living instincts back in the picture, he was starting to see a point in them.

He didn't know how to return the hug, holding his claws off of Calder awkwardly, timid to touch him in case it landed him in some kind of lawsuit, well aware that he didn't know many ways to touch other people that didn't immediately head in the direction of a lawsuit setup. At the very least despite how bony and frail he was, everything about the Incubus was born to be pleasant, from his scent to the deceptive softness of his skin. "I never saw their function. Prior to this of course. Is there a customary means to return said hug?"

Letting go of his tail though meant it tried to curl around Calder's own tail, much to his chagrin.