Blacktail Deer Plateau a drained bourbon bottle laying next to my head

WAT. IS IT YOUR BIRTHDAY. If it is, happy birthday!! You share a birthday with one of my friends! :D

It did not take long for the familiar sight of his friend to appear through the varied landscape. Mordecai fell the pull of a smile at the edge of his lips. It had been some time since he had last encountered Dante, but it would seem that his friend was doing well. That in itself was a very good sign of how the winter had treated the rising plateau of the flatlands. The notion that winter had been tame continued to carry a positive touch. If one pack had done well, there was little doubt in his mind that the others had fared similar.

And as he expected, Dante did pick up on the fact that he was a little more wild than he formerly had been. Perhaps back to the original traces of their initial encounter, when they had been nothing more than travelers converging on the same place. That meeting was so long ago now in Mordecai's mind, but still not entirely buried away. "I've been well," he answered genuinely. "And it's been a while. How are you doing?" The lack of directness was appreciated this time around, as his meeting with Caiaphas was still fresh on his mind.

But the matter of the Spine would have to come at a later date.