Niko's eyebrows shot up. "Kaelas?" he asked, glancing at Belle.

"Giant kitty. Think saber-toothed cat size. But he's okay. More intelligent than your average monster, at any rate." Belle shrugged, supremely unconcerned. Except that she wanted to see Niko's reaction to said big kitty.

"He's intelligent enough to string together coherent sentences," Andy clarified. "And, you know, he can turn invisible and use what amounts to magic. He's cool." Waving a hand towards her group, she gestured for her bishi. Kaelas padded forward and stopped next to her, between her and Niko, and looked at Niko critically. "This is Kaelas."

Niko looked at the cat and basically every warning flag he had went off. But he didn't move, just watching Kaelas as critically as the cat watched him. The cat was making judgements, he could tell, but that didn't bother him.

What did bother him was the threat rating the cat got on his personal scale. He did not like that.

Andy saw what was going on and rolled her eyes, scratching Kaelas behind the ears.

"Relax," she said to Niko as Kaelas started purring a bit. "He's mostly harmless." Kaelas snorted, and Andy huffed. "Fine, he's harmless most of the time. Same difference. He's just a big kitty."

With claws and teeth, Kaelas reminded, although he didn't bother to keep it private, so everyone could hear.

Belle hid her snort, biting her lower lip. Yeah, Niko was in for an interesting time.

"Have fun," she said brightly, grinning at them. "See you in a while."

Niko sighed quietly but moved over to Andy, deciding he might as well get this over with.

With a bit of a huff, Kaelas settled in next to Andy for a while. On a private thread, he asked her what they were looking for, and she explained as best as she could. Had been able to roll his eyes properly, Andy was sure he would have, but he agreed to help out. Besides, it gave him the perfect excuse to play escort and keep an eye on the new male.

Niko waited for Andy to lead the way. He wasn't going to go pick a spot. He might not fully cooperate, since he wanted Cal to stay free, but he'd have to see how things went.

Andy glanced around, squinting into the darkness. After a moment of trying to see something -- anything -- she sighed and nudged Kaelas to walk a little in front of her.

"Reason number one for having a giant snow-cat on my side," she commented, "he can see in the dark." She grinned. "Reason number two, cammouflage doesn't mean anything to a cat whose entire hunting method revolves around being invisible."

Occasionally, Kaelas would nudge her to one side or another to avoid some natural hazard, but otherwise Andy picked the general direction. She knew better than to get too far from camp, and there was only so far that she figured one brother would want to get from the other. It wasn't long, though, that it seemed like Kaelas had picked up some kind of scent and was following it. That made Andy grin as she followed the cat.

She stopped walking when Kaelas wrapped himself in a sight shield and (she assumed) disappeared into the trees. A few seconds later, there was a yelp followed by a "What the hell?!"

Niko sighed. Yeah, that sounded like his brother, alright. He waited patiently, figuring he could beat Cal later.

He'd have to make sure it was his Cal first, thought. It wasn't unheard of for a single Cal or Niko to wander around on their own. It wasn't common, but it wasn't unheard of.

Andy grinned a bit.

"I wasn't sure that would actually work," she commented as she headed towards the sound. "Note to self, keep that method in mind." She paused when she found the source of the noise, and covered her mouth with her fingers. "Kaelas... you realize you're almost a thousand pounds, right?"

He whines like meat, the Arcerian replied. He was pinning the Cal to the ground with two of his massive paws. He is unharmed.

"Good, we want to keep him that way," Andy replied.

"Where the hell did a giant cat come from?!" the Cal demanded. "Get it the hell off of me."

Niko walked over and looked at Cal for a few moments. Yup. His Cal.

"Move," he requested. He didn't ask, but he didn't demand, either. He waited until Kaelas had gotten up to offer Cal a hand up. "As quiet as ever, little brother."

"I wasn't expecting a goddamn mammoth to jump on me," Cal grumbled as he accepted the hand up. He eyed the trainer warily. "This the one that got you?"

"No, her friend." Niko eyed him briefly before releasing him. They'd talk more later when they could find somewhere more private.

Cal took a slight step back, preparing himself to run. He wasn't all that keen on being caught, but he also didn't like the fact that his brother was caught.

Andy made the decision herself, pulling out an empty bishiball and throwing it at him. He barely managed a curse before he was pulled in. Going over, Andy picked up the ball and let him back out.

"The hell was that for?" he demanded. Andy just gave him a Look and clearly said 'did you really just ask that question?'

"I have three dragons, alongside the giant hunting cat," she said. "Warning you now." Cal blinked. He wasn't expecting that one.

Niko stayed next to Cal once he was released again. He almost felt better now that he knew his brother was here too. But at the same time he didn't much like the situation.

But they could always make the best of this.

Andy stretched a little and scratched behind Kaelas' ears.

"And now I'm thinking it's time to go back to camp," she said. "It's late, and I'm all for getting some sleep."

Cal just shrugged in a 'whatever' kind of way. He had no real say anymore, right?

Niko stayed next to Cal, walking back with him. To him, it didn't matter if they were owned by different people. He wasn't leaving Cal by himself. Especially not now.

Besides, he figured he'd observe for a few moments before making a real decision about this life. After all, they hadn't met many bishis who had been released, or bishis who were already owned.

"So what do you think?" Cal asked in a low voice as he walked next to his brother. "You've got a few hours on me." He glanced over at the trainer (whose name he didn't care to learn yet) and then back at his brother.

"They have other bishis," Niko said quietly. "None of them seem disgruntled. It could be simply to reassure us, but we shall see in the next few days." He glanced at Cal before looking towards camp again. If all else failed, they could come up with some way to get themselves loose or make the girls mad enough to release them.

"What about this dragons bullshit?" Cal asked. "Mammoth-cat here is bad enough." He gestured to the giant white cat, and glared back when he got a warning growl for his troubles.

"I haven't seen them yet," Niko said after a moment. "That cat is the largest, although there's another large cat in the group, and a dog a little more than half that size."

And he was sure there was more that the girls just hadn't mentioned yet.

Great. Wonderful. What the hell was wrong with these people that they needed giant man-eating creatures around them?

"Guess we'll find out, then," Cal said flatly.

"Indeed." Niko smirked faintly. "I'm sure you're looking forward to this." He really couldn't help the bit of teasing, although he wasn't anxious to figure out just how big the dragons were.

"Shut up, Cyrano."

Andy was glad to get back to camp. It was late, she was tired, and it was past time for her to have settled in for the night.

"Make yourself comfortable," she said to her new bishi. "We believe in sleep, here, and coffee in the morning." She glanced at Niko. "And Belle keeps a stash of tea."

Niko nodded and found a place in the middle to settle down with Cal. He figured that way they could both keep an eye on everything. That way they'd learn more about the girls and the other bishis. He thought that was a good plan.

Belle looked over at the others and grinned briefly when she saw Cal, but she didn't try to interrupt them, just yawning briefly before she got up.

"I'm heading to bed. No, Thomas, you can't come with."

Thomas just pouted.