Ouroboros Spine Three demon seeds

As others filed in, Mordecai noticed with growing concern just how thin their ranks had become. Of them all, there was only one he didn't recognize, one who lingered at the outskirts of their gathering much in the way he had likened his time in the Spine as well. And while none of them had been outwardly vicious yet, he could feel the tension picking up one by one. Most of all, he felt it from Cara and Kaname. He did not blame them. Instead, he felt a certain weariness come about.

Ptarmigan did not tear them open as much as she could have. She did not snarl and sling spittle at them. Nothing that she said sparked anger in him, but it would certainly ruffle the feathers of those around him. Sitri was the first to speak in, defending himself. His speech was much better than it had been in the past. But he did not linger his gaze on the scarred wolf long. Instead he shifted it to the others in their group, realizing then that there were many more faces gone than he had expected. No Meldresi, no Rahzie. Vectra was absent, and maybe she was gone too. It bothered him, more than the fact that Ptarmigan was thrusting the very decision he had been grappling with for days. Stay or go.

“It's of no surprise to me that we lack the fortitude you seek.” She had laid them bare, so he felt he would do the same. “Look around you,” he stated, bringing his gaze to her dark face. “There were nearly twenty of us when Jinx died. We have what now… six? Seven here? Clearly we're more deserving than those who have already abandoned us.” There was not a drop of malice in his tone, but rather bafflement that of what they had become. He felt the grasp of disappointment, not just in himself, but rather in all of them. Had they let themselves be so consumed by grief that it drove them away? Was it out of anger? He shook his head. Too much time was wasted on the possibility of reason.

She expected their loyalty when it deserved to be earned. And Mordecai was very confident that he had more of the Spine's loyalty than she did. “Let the winter cull those who want to take a gamble in the wilderness. We should be using this time to pool our resources and use them.” It went without saying that those who did not contribute would not last, but that was simply the way of the beast. Nature would tear those asunder that did not meet the standard of survival, and he had yet to be apart of a pack that kept the useless at hand.