Torin wasn’t exactly going out his way to avoid Rory so much as he was simply skirting his brother. They hadn’t really spoken since the meeting, Torin had needed time to think; to absorb all of what had happened. He wasn’t angry at his brother, no he was angry at himself. He was sure that there must have been something he could have done… anything! So no he wasn’t angry at Rory but he wasn’t exactly comfortable with seeing him either. He knew that couldn’t last long though, if he was to take his duties as Iliff seriously he would need to observe both his brother and Frostbite. More than that he still wanted to have a relationship with his brother. Since Faite’s disappearance he had felt the distance between him and his siblings growing deeper, so he would simply have to bite the bullet and approach his brother. The sun high in the sky Torin padded through the packlands, he knew it was unlikely to find his brother hanging around his den right now so instead he was attempting to pick up Rory’s scent along the border line, maybe he’d recently done a patrol… "Silent Treatment" & Deep thoughts

Image by Risketch

I'll show you how a heart can never fail

A lot mulled over in his mind as he walked slowly along the border. The meeting had left a lot for him to think about. He was still hoping that Torin wasn't angry at him and that thought ripped its way anxiously through his brain. He didn't regret putting Frostbite as his second, Faite surely would have approved, but he still didn't want Torin to feel as though he was being disregarded. It was quite the opposite really. Out of all of them Torin was the next logical choice to take over Lirim if it hadn't been him. Kairi seemed to have her own interests and she tended to be rather wayward and unfocused. She deserved to be a kid for as long as she could. Jaidah - well he wasn't sure what to think about Jaidah, but he definitely couldn't see her taking an interest in such a role. There was always Breasal, but Torin still seemed like the best choice. Mostly Rory was just trying to figure out how to explain to his brother that he was still trying to give him a chance?

It was beginning to look as though he'd get the opportunity sooner than later. He was headed along the border when he caught the scent of Torin. He glanced up and spotted his lighter colored sibling and gave the other wolf a tentative tail wag in greeting. "Hey Torin." He said rather awkwardly.

"Speech"

Despite himself his tail wavered slightly behind him as he approached his brother, a more restrained version of his brother’s already reserved tail wag. He nodded in greeting as he approached. It seemed Rory wasn’t particularly sure how to approach this either and that knowledge helped to quell a bit of Torin’s anxiety… a bit. He stopped before his sibling, finding himself not totally able to meet his brother’s mismatched gaze. "Patrolling?" He asked awkwardly. Really? Small Talk? Because your famously so good at that! He admonished himself in his head. Good gods, this was going to be horribly awkward wasn’t it? "Silent Treatment" & Deep thoughts

Image by Risketch

I'll show you how a heart can never fail

Well this wasn't awkward at all. Torin's own posture stated that he wasn't entirely comfortable either and Rory's mismatched gaze took note of the reserved tail wag. Who knew responsibilities could make things so tense? It wasn't exactly how he'd expected his relationship with his siblings to go, even with Torin (considering they'd never been as close as he and Kairi were), but he supposed it was just the way things went. They were adults now and things were bound to get frustrating.

Now he just needed to figure out how to fix it.

"I, uh, yeah. It's all I can seem to do lately is patrol." He answered in a muffled tone. "I actually wanted to talk to you about what happened at the meeting..." He began, though he paused for a slight second as he tried to think of how to word the thoughts tumbling around in his head. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't mad at me for picking Frostbite to be Kaliq. It's not that I thought you were inadequate for the job, I just figured the pack needed someone a little older while we both got some experience under our belts."

"Speech"