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“Hard to argue with that,” Collins agreed, “I am indeed one fluffy Temeo.” He didn’t mind. Though he had never had it brought to his attention before, it wasn’t like being fluffy was a –bad- thing. No need to be self conscious about it. Of course, one would be hard pressed to find something Collins was self conscious about.

He liked himself the way he was.

Laughing at her comment, he gave the likeness of a shrug of his shoulders, watching her with a smile. “Nah. Let’s just call us both normal so neither one of us has to worry, alright? Anyway, how are you liking it here in the shop? Meet any of the other Temeo yet?”

"Ah," replied the blood red male thoughtfully, "I only know the Temeo I live with, really. I've never really been into the shop before today, though I've been around for a while. I guess I never really wanted to risk the place being really crowded... I just don't do well in large groups of Temeo." He sighed, tails beating against the ground as he thought about it.

It was true, he really did suck in groups. Mostly because he was always too nervous to talk. When he finally forced something out, it was usually completely inappropriate. Couldn't be helped.

"Maybe it's for the best. I hear some strange things about the Temeo around here."

Collins laughed, agreeing with a nod. “I’m the same. Not on purpose. I just get so awkward I say the wrong thing. It’s not my fault. Well… sometimes it is.” He was glad he wasn’t quite as awkward talking to Willow. At least, he hadn’t said anything that might potentially make her go for his throat.

That was much better than normal for him.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Collins replied thoughtfully, “I suppose just random rumors and such. Like at one time I heard that two young brother Temeo were in love with one another. But I think that resolved itself. Some other Temeo ran away, I believe, but I don’t know the whole story behind that either. I’m really not sure what goes on here half the time. It’s all so dramatic I do my best to stay clear.” He smiled and sighed, watching her again.

“So tell me about your family,” he said lightly, “what are they like? Do you enjoy being with them?”

Collins nodded. "I thought the same thing," he hummed, "I'm just going to chalk it up to being young and confused, possibly a little stupid That is, if the rumors were true at all."

He frowned, not sure why she hadn't responded to his question. Maybe she didn't like talking about her family and he was stepping on toes now. Wouldn't really surprise him.

"Yeah," he agreed, "though my family is getting so large now I can't really avoid a crowd."

"Perhaps you're right," Collins replied, "I just hear all these things from my friend Maureen. She just loves to gossip. I wouldn't be surprised if she just made the whole thing up to freak me out." He sighed. She was certainly one to tease someone just because she could. And she was also the kind of person to figure out the perfect way to get to someone too.

For Collins: strange things freaked him out. Anything he considered unnatural.

"Oh, no!" he assured her quickly with a smile, tails swishing about, "nothing to be sorry about. I thought I had been the one to upset you, actually. I asked you about your family and when you didn't answer I thought it was because I had brought up something you didn't want to talk about."

Smiling, Collins thought about what would happen if he tried to give Maureen a scare. He wasn't great with pranks, and even with help he wasn't sure he'd be able to pull anything off that would faze her. The female was like a wall- really hard to knock down. She didn't startle easy, which he had to admit was why he got along so well with her. They were like brother and sister, really. She was just the young, more playful sister who liked to pull pranks every now and again.

"Haha, well, we'll have to see how that goes," he mused thoughtfully after a moment, "she'd probably end up getting the both of us before we managed to get anything off on her."

As she apologize, Collins shrugged his shoulders, trying to let her know that it was nothing to be upset about. Now that he understood, he felt silly for ever having thought differently.

"If you call that a drawback you must be more perfect than I thought," he said absently, smiling, "it's nothing to be sorry about. I do stuff like that all the time." And he listened as she started to speak of her family, smiling the whole time. He was in a better mood now that he knew he hadn't made her upset.

"Sounds like a nice family," he said once she was done, "you're the youngest? How cute," he teased lightly.

"Missing parts of conversations and such, Collins chuckled, "sometimes I do that too. Along with many other things. Sometimes I tune out completely if someone's talking I don't like, or interrupt with something completely inappropriate. Stuff like that, you know? I wouldn't call any of it a draw back, though." He smiled, feeling a little awkward.

He hadn't meant to call her perfect. He had just been thinking about it and let it slip out.

Sometimes his mouth proved faster than his inhibitions.

"Well, let's see. Roscoe is the oldest, followed by Maureen and then Avast. Mimi and I are the same age, then came Darcy. Kari was next after that, followed by her daughter Buster and we're still waiting on Art to come out of his bottle," he took a breath, "so, I suppose I'm... fourth oldest? Or fifth. I guess you can think of me as a middle child."

He chuckled. "Man, saying it out loud makes me realize just how many people live in that house."