[lone]

Originally Posted by Deranged Llama

Sorry fo r any typos . I'm on mobile, and was in a little bit of a rush.
Toren watched the she-cat warily through watchful eyes. She didn't seem like she would harm him, but one could never be to sure. Maybe she was trying to take him for a fool. His face deepened in a frown, creases marking his black and white face. She sounds pretty honest. Always, Toren would try to see the better in people. Anyways, the young tom was petty sure she was in no state to fight him if it came to that. Even if the other were in his prime state. Toren wasn't that bad a fighter when it came down to it. He always seemed to dig deep, finding that one thing that drove him on every day. Right now, that things was , well, he wasn't so sure.

Toren never meant to leave his family the way he did. His mother, often fueled by anger and rage, had been upset by him one to many times. As she regretted the instinct that left her son with scar on his cheek, she couldn't make him stay. Toren did want to explore and get out of his birthplace, but not so by the anger of his mother. His siblings were the ones that kept him grounded, and without their passionate, protective support, the young tom felt alone and unwanted in the darkest of nights. For him, the greatest distraction was discovery and being focused on survival. He was determined not to let himself slip into depression because of one simple anger outburst.

Shaking himself mentally from his thoughts with a quick realization of where he was, Toren took a deep breath. Wo-who are you? The question ran through his mind, and the cat took a few moments to mull it over. Well, it couldn't do any harm to tell her my name. After all, she told him hers. "Toren." He replied shortly. He didn't feel like giving an explanation for his unusual name. Anyways, if she thought hid name was weird, he was pretty sure it was just about as weird as hers. Tori... He spoke the word inside his head, getting the feel of it. It wasn't a bad name. Infact, it was rather pretty.

The scruffy black and white tom cat flicked his tail. Why was she backing against he tree like that? Oh, right, he hadn't flattened his fur from it's hostile approach. Hurriedly smoothing his flank, Toren blinked, backing away. Maybe if he gave her space, she wouldn't freak. Plopping down on his haunches, the cat wrapped his tail neatly around his paws and watched her. Oops, that could come off as creepy. Pasting a grin on his face, he tried asking a question. Maybe he thought that he was diffusing the tension, but he may have actually made the situation more awkward. "What brings you to these woods?"

Toren? It sounded like a masculine version of her own name, or maybe hers was a feminine version of that - either way, their names were similar and it surprised Tori. She honestly hadn't been expecting that. "I - I like... your, um, your name..." She mewed with a self-concious note entering her voice. Toren didn't act like the type of cat who got a lot of compliments. And besides, maybe he would stop looking so hostile and act more friendly, and at least give Tori some peace of mind. Comfort didn't seem to be his type of thing either, but a girl could always hope, couldn't she? She was still pressed against the tree, like she thought it might be her saving grace - perhaps one of her friends from the Dusk Syndicate would magically appear if she wished them here hard enough, and protect her from any hostile attacks.
And then they would leave, and Tori would be alone again - in blissful silence and solitude. That sounded amazing, however, her fantasy was impossible. Her friend would probably stay there even if one of them did come, to make sure she was alright and all, and even if they did leave, she was in a spot where more travelers were likely to pass through. Probably not the mess territory Tori could have picked, to be honest. A glint of appreciation passed through her own features as Toren moved away, the hostility disappearing, but he did continue to watch her.
Smile or no smile, the silver Bengal did her best to keep from feeling like she was being judged by the tom and focus on the conversation at hand. Perhaps she desperately needed a conversation, it had been so long since she had talked - like really gotten to talk - to another feline. She thought about the tom's question for a minute, trying to piece the words together in her mind so they'd be easier to say. Except she knew they wouldn't come out perfectly, in the neat way they were set together. They would come out jumbled and messy and rough, and the illusion of the cat now having it more together would fade away. It always did. Perhaps when she was comfortable with the other tom, she would be able to keep that illusion up.
Doubtful; it would take a while before she was comfortable enough, anyways. "I, um... I was from the - the Dusk Syndicate, and I - uh - it kind of, well, fell apart... so - so I, I left and, and went as far as I could... far away as I could... ended up here." She shifted her weight again, but she had come off of the tree, and her own fur had flattened down in a more friendly manner as well. Tori even attempted a smile, mirroring the one that Toren had on his own face, but found it to be harder then she thought and ended up stopping after a minute. "What, uh... what about - about you?" She asked, stumbling over the words blindly, but managing to do okay in the end.