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Thomas knew his little brother wasn't going to want to see him. They hadn't gotten along when they were younger, and Daniel had no reason to think that was going to be any different now. But it was, whether or not he believed it. Taking a deep breath, he pulled into parking place and simply sat there for a moment, gripping the steering wheel in his hands.

His little brother had been living in shelters.

Their mother had hurt him. And all because Daniel was...

Well. There was no use thinking about it overmuch right now; they'd be talking about it soon enough. Turning the car off and taking the keys from the ignition, he shoved them in his pocket before climbing out and walking over to where he saw his brother sitting, being begged by a little white cat for some food.

"...Daniel?" He asked, voice soft in a way he knew was probably going to startle the younger boy. He was probably expecting more yelling or something similar - and Thomas couldn't blame him if he did. How many times had he yelled at him over the years? And how little had he actually been kind to him? Thomas knew the answer to that, and he didn't like it. He didn't like it at all.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Thomas saw that look of terror, and having it directed at him made him want to throw up. "Daniel," he said again, and swallowed in a grimace. "I wanted to - " Before he could finish his sentence, however, the cat looked up at him, and... spoke. That alone made the apology he had been planning fly right out of his head as he fell straight to the ground in shock. For a moment all he could do was sit there and stare, his entire reason for coming to meet with his brother forgotten.

What.

Had that cat really just -

What?

"Um," Thomas said, which seemed to be the limit of his vocabulary for the moment. He had come out here to talk - and to apologize - to his younger brother, not be accosted by something out of a fourteen-year-old girl's fantasy story! But.. whatever was going on, at least his brother had stopped looking quite so frightened.

(Though shouldn't he be frightened of a talking cat? What if it was possessed?!?)

Again he opened his mouth to speak, and again only an 'Um' escaped as he looked between the little white fluffball and... was that really his little brother? Wearing shorts? In the middle of December?!? Mama was going to have both of their heads for this!

Except...

Oh. Right, he was out here because she had...

Focus. Talking cat, brother... magically changing clothes.

"A... what?" (He had three words in his vocabulary now! HE WAS MAKING PROGRESS.)

"Soldier? He's too young to be a soldier," Thomas said, frowning even as he took the pen and stared at it. "I'm barely old enough to join the military..." Slowly, he blinked, then frowned and looked over at his brother, expression shifting to one wary and concerned. "... How long have you been doing this?" And who recruited children for a military effort? What had his little brother gotten into?

... For that matter, what was he getting himself into? Because he wasn't going to be able to back out now, not knowing that little Daniel was apparently caught up in some kind of military work when he wasn't even old enough to drive, and given how the cat had described his... rank or whatever, had been at this for a while. ('this' apparently being...fighting monsters? Demons? What was going on?!?)

"I - ... alright. Fine. What do I do?"

And how did he use this to make up for being an a** to his little brother, who was apparently a child soldier on top of dealing with their mother...?

"Years?" Thomas' eyes widened and he almost dropped the pen. "¡Dios mío!, you've been dealing with that for years and Mama being... Mama? No wonder you've gotten so quiet." He shook his head and sighed, getting to his feet and clutching the pen a little more tightly. "... Right. Let's... get this magic thing over with, and then we're going to talk."

Like he had originally come out here for in the first place. Though maybe now it could be a little... easier? Since there were less secrets, at least. He could hope, anyway.

He didn't believe the cat that they weren't a military, not really - maybe they weren't organized, but 'fighting monsters' didn't sound like running out in costumes to play games. His little brother had been fighting monsters. And he'd made him miserable. That stopped now.

Taking a deep breath, Thomas lifted the odd silvery pen, and spoke the words that had been on the tip of his tongue for the last few minutes.

The newly-powered Švejcar blinked, looking himself over and trying not to groan at the uniform he'd been shoved in. Really? Gray and white and black like... like some kind of a butler? He really hoped he hadn't just signed himself up to act as wait-staff somewhere... And then he caught the pout on his little brother's face, and had to snicker.

"Don't pout," he said, reaching out to tweak the younger boy's nose in a way that was almost affectionate. "Especially since if you're going to go out monster-hunt from now on, you're taking me with you." He'd let Daniel suffer too much on his own already - now was the time to step up and be the older brother he should have been.

Then he frowned and turned to the cat, raising an eyebrow at her. "How is he supposed to complete this training? Are you a teacher, or just a pen dispenser?"

Švejcar sighed and reached out, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder - but gently so, since he didn't want to frighten him. "That's... why I came out here. You never did try to find out why I got sent to Hillworth, did you?" He smiled at his brother, but there was a hesitation in it, an almost-shy expression that looked almost out-of-place on someone so given toward being broody.

"But - we can talk about that when we're not standing around in weird magical costumes, talking to a possessed cat." Now he leveled a glare at the feline in question. "Then do you know someone who might? Because if he needs to finish training to be strong enough to be safe, I need to know how."

He paused, then tugged at one of his sleeves as he added, "As for the costume, based on these two examples, it seems like they're all some kind of ridiculous..."