"She's trouble," he grunted, vetoing Morgaine's assessment of adorable quite easily. He and Nebi were always clashing, wrestling their way out of arguments, shouting their case at one another at top volume (which always woke the babies and upset Alec). It would be good to give her her own space but he'd miss her too; at least he understood her better than Arik, who barely spoke and seemed to have his mother's inverted personality. Tau was sure he knew what was going on but he internalised everything, where he and Nebi were externalisers, always ready to grab things, shake them out in the light and put them to bed only once they'd been torn to shreds and dealt with. It seemed like Casi would be the same when she grew, but he was aware he'd never know her as an adult.
He snorted at being told he was a good father, watching his two offspring pull (carefully, because that was how Arik always drove) out of the car park and head home for a change of clothes. Looking back at Morgaine, his expression was disbelieving. "I'm their parent, I don't know about good. They would have been better with a cougar mother but I did my best. I think it will be good for them to be on their own now. I think they're ready," he mused, reaching up with his free hand to play with Morgaine's dark, lustrous hair, watching what his fingers were doing as they smoothed and patted. "They might still fuck each other, I guess it's happened with siblings before, in the wild. Usually not littermates, though. It's best they'll be in their own territories, once we find them some places," he murmured.
His gaze shifted back to her eyes and he wondered if it was Nebi's lingering pheremones affecting him or just the subject matter, but he started thinking about leaning down to kiss Morgaine. Given that he wasn't much for thinking, though, it was fleeting and then he was leaning down to do it, grasping her head with the hand that had been playing with her hair and pressing his lips to hers. He was firm because there was nothing tentative about him and he was eager to taste her, so he pushed against her small frame and mashed his lips against her mouth, his tongue sly and determined to invade her mouth.