"I think I'll wait on that," Thomas said with a brief grin. "But I'll keep the offer in mind."

Kali nodded and automatically dropped a hand as Mouse came over for some attention.

Thomas grinned. "Well, someone has a new fan," he teased. And it worked for both of them.

"Hush," Kali said. "We were never allowed pets as a child, one of our mothers is allergic." She grinned a bit, though. "I'm making up for lost time."

"Well, between those two, you'll won't have much trouble doing that," Thomas said dryly. "They're both attention hogs when they want to be."

"I noticed," Kali said, grinning. "I think our jeans are still covered in cat hair." She paused for a moment. "Oh, Tam didn't think to warn you... We talk over each other, sometimes. And we mix our plurals and singulars a lot."

"Yeah, I kind of just guessed," Thomas said with a brief grin. "It's okay, I'll get used to it."

Kali grinned and opened her mouth to say something, and something else came out instead.

"Everyone twitches, the first time," Bahiti's voice commented. Kali put a hand over her mouth and blushed slightly.

"Sorry," she said, in her own voice this time. "But that's what I mean when I say we talk over one another."

This time, Thomas did no more than blink. "Well," he said cheerfully, "that was interesting."

"Yeah, that happens sometimes," Kali said. "It's a terrible habit."

Thomas snickered. "Yeah, I can see how that would get annoying," he agreed.

"Imagine sharing a body with two other brothers," Kali said, grinning. "Although, thinking about it now, if you shared with two other brothers, the world may just spontaneously combust from the sheer concentration of pretty."

Thomas laughed at that. "I would imagine so," he agreed with a grin. "Too much pretty in one spot." He winked at her, though it was friendly rather than flirty.

"It would cause a singularity, I'm sure," Kali said, grinning. "Just an all-consuming black hole of attractiveness."

"Something like that," Thomas agreed easily. "I am constantly surprised family gatherings don't cause more problems than they do."

Harry groaned. "Kali, stop encouraging him, he's hard enough to live with as it is."

Kali just smiled innocently (a look she pulled off surprisingly well, considering) and went back to giving Mouse attention.

Harry just let out a long-suffering sigh and shook his head, going over to drop on the couch. Mouse was quite happy to just sit next to Kali, though.

After a while, Kali switched places with Bahiti again. Bahi got up, brushed the animal hair from her clothes, and went over to Thomas.

"So, you're his brother," she said. "Tell me about him from your perspective."

Thomas looked at her before he chuckled. "He's crazy," he said, shaking his head ruefully. "Crazy and brave and stubborn and too smart for his own good, and too nosy for his own good." He smiled faintly. "He's a good man."

Bahiti grinned a bit.

"The best kind, then," she said.

Thomas chuckled. "If you say so," he agreed easily. "Although I should warn you, if you do anything to hurt my brother, I'll make sure you regret it."

"Wow, shovel speech this early," Bahiti commented. "That's a first."

"He's my brother," Thomas said with a shrug. "And he's still kind of getting over the last woman he was with. So I figured I'd warn you early."

"I can respect that," Bahiti said, nodding. "I would say the same to anyone who showed interest in my sisters."

"Good, we have an understanding, then." Thomas relaxed a bit. "So, how did you meet him? He's left out some rather key details here."