As she mixed and mingled with the wolves that had come to their wedding reception, she tried to make a point of at least saying hello to each of her family and thank them for coming to the wedding. She knew that it was a bit more of a trip now that they had made the move up north so she wanted to make sure the effort didn’t go unnoticed. However, as she finished her first lap around the great hall, she noticed that one of her brothers was noticeably absent. She wondered if perhaps he had moved to another portion of the castle, but she was a bit too caught up in the duties of hosting to investigate.

At some point she looked up from where she was sitting with Artorias and spotted her littermate sitting off to the side, his expression noticeably off—at least to her that knew him well. He was smiling, but it was obviously in an attempt to hide something. It was a far cry from how he had looked when she saw him at the beginning of the party when she saw him with the Ashen princess. Slipping away from Artorias, she walked over to Kotori, giving him a little smile. “You alright?” she asked quietly, keeping her voice down under the bustle of the crowd.

"Briar Fatalis"

Kotori had no real interest in being at this party anymore.  It was filled with a mix of wolves he did and didn’t know and the majority of them were cheerful.  On the other hand, he was bitter and wished to either be alone to wait for the hurt to end or be with someone that he could vent his wrath on.  However, for the sake of Briar on her big day he had come back into the reception and put on his best smile.  There were enough wolves here, enough family and friends, she might not even notice if he’d left early but, she might.  

Kotori had helped himself to some meat though he had little appetite, using it as a way of not looking out of place while not talking with anyone.  Fake smiles were granted to anyone that had a word for him.  ‘Go away’ always at the tip of his mind.  Thankfully not many had a real interest in trying to strike up a conversation with Kotori so long as he didn’t bring attention to himself.  

Kotori’s wandering gaze suddenly spotted Briar heading his way.  He cared for Briar and was happy for her but what a bitter thing.  He imagined she’d had her dream accomplished for a while now, assuming this had been her dream, and today they just celebrated and made it official.  Meanwhile, he lost what she had just officially gained.  

At her question Kotori removed the fake smile for a small fake scowl, “I was smiling.”  As little as they’d seen each other as of late she had still been able to tell it was fake.  Was he that horrible at faking it or could she just read past a good disguise? “Briar,” her name said softer then, “I don’t want to dampen your big day.  I just…” Kotori let the sentence hang searching for a good option choice, “waited too long to tell someone I had planned for more than a friendship.”

Kotori shrugged his shoulders, “Not like we spent that much time together overall.”  Ikigai and he had really been caught up in their own lives.  It was almost silly that someone he’d spent so little time with could still have meant more to him than just a friend.  It would have been perfect though.  Kotori shook his head.  He really didn’t need to be a downer right now.  Room full of others and he felt alone though maybe a little less so in how she had noticed him despite everything else.


"Kotori Fatalis"

Briar gave her brother a pointed look of disbelief when he insisted that he had in fact been smiling, showing she didn't believe that for a second. They hadn't gotten to spend much time together since they were younger, but out of all of their litter mates he was the one she was closest to and she could tell when something wasn't quite right with him. It also helped that she was just naturally observant and perceptive too. Her expression softened as he went on, saying how he didn't want to dampen her day, but that he had missed his chance to tell someone he wanted to be more than friends. She remembered the Ashen princess that had gone off with him at the beginning of the reception and she was able to put two and two together easily enough. She frowned a little, giving him a sympathetic look as she reached out to put her paw on hs shoulder for comfort.

"You're not dampening anything," she insisted, saying, "I'm really sorry that happened, Ko." She didn't know much about their relationship or how long they had known each other or anything like that, but that wasn't really the point. Disappointment was still disappointment and heart break was still heart break. It still hurt regardless and Ikigai had clearly meant something to him. She glanced over at the table where all of the food and casks of wine and mead were laid out for everyone to enjoy. By now it was starting to get a little picked over, but there was still plenty to pick from and she was pretty sure there were still more bottles and casks waiting to be opened just in case. "Hey, you want to have a drink with me? Maybe we can scope out another lady for you while you're here, huh?" she offered, trying to give him an encouraging smile as she nodded toward the table.

"Briar Carpathius"