Ouroboros Spine the rocks and roots of the deepest hollow

Kaname answered him concisely and perhaps surprisingly with some note of deference. That had been what he was looking for all along, that little acceptance that he was in fact in charge. That he had taken the responsibility of getting them through whatever came their way. It was self-empowering to some degree, but most it was a relief to Mordecai, who had long wondered if Kaname had conspired otherwise. Maybe it was poor taste to wonder such a thing about a wolf he had closely hunted with or otherwise spoken to. But the leftover tension from the weeks of turmoil within the Spine had lingered like an oily residue, and one that Mordecai had been working tediously at to clean.

Nodding his head, he offered his beta a genuine smile. “We've all certainly been through a lot, haven't we? I know I will need your support as much as the others.” And it was true, he felt it as such. For all their rocky beginnings, it seemed as though Kaname had become more calm. Whether he was less plagued or not plagued at all by the things that he heard, there was something profoundly different about him now. Hopefully by prompting him to be out there more, in a sense, the male duo would keep any budding issues and turmoil to a minimum.

“I think we should rally the others soon,” he went on to say after a pause, giving a wayward glance back towards the depths of the Spine. “What do you think?” Mordecai had been intending to do it on his own anyway, but thought that now, Kaname's opinion certainly pertained to it as well. But the time had come and had been waiting for some time now, and the urge to do so had burned just as long for Mordecai. It would bring them together and serve as some testament to those around them that they were certainly still there, still thriving, and undeterred in their efforts. But most of all, Mordecai hoped it would inspire them all for the better.