an abstract interwoven archive

No worries, works for me. Been holding off on starting any new posts/plots otherwise 'cause I didn't know how this thread was gonna go. <3

It did not surprise him that she ran a tight ship. He had hoped for that, but had never been curious enough to fully test the limits of whether or not such was the case. Mordecai may have been inclined once in a while to test his limits as to see how far to push, but he wasn't blindly stupid enough to simply strut right up to some pack and see what happened. It was why he had brought her back out there, for the ease of memory and hopefully, a lack of interruption. So far that had been the case, but they had scarcely been speaking for long. And no one had come following in her footsteps that he could see. He valued the privacy, and it spoke depths.

As for the terms? He could handle that. “Of course,” he said coolly, understanding. He hadn't really made any friends yet, not that Mordecai had ever been too keen on doing so. It had been a long time since he had stuck around anywhere long enough to make any permanent friendships. His loyalty had often been to those who had given him a home, if only to pay a debt for the loan they had given him. Mordecai knew this would very much be the same here, unless he stayed permanently. That was very much up in the air, but the urge to settle and rest had begun to nag him just as much as the lack of stable meals.

“I came from a place where an outsider was better viewed as enemy than friend. I wouldn't think to be bringing anyone around there unless I wanted them to have an unpleasant experience,” he told her, smirking faintly. “The same would apply here, as anywhere else. I've noticed that there's several packs here, so no doubt a natural tension on resources. Their politeness has either been a ploy to bolster their ranks, or to conserve their strength against something else.” He saw no issue in sharing the information with her, though he couldn't have really said he had much experience with any other pack than hers. But even her wolves exuded that towards him, ranging from curiosity to hostility, to simply neutrality regarding his status.