Ouroboros Spine i will breathe you in the smoke

For @Ptarmigan because we're awesome and need like 300239502395 threads together, right? I'm having too much fun playing out this grumpier side of Mordecai anyway. :P Don't feel obligated to match length, I'm ramblesaurus in circles.

For a change of pace, he had decided to scale one of the smaller ridges of the Spine. The temperatures had dipped to more brisk conditions, and the dampness of the earth in light of the rain had brought a chill to the terrain that he had been waiting for. The seasons were in change now, and Mordecai only hoped that it would not plummet straight into the depths of winter in the course of a few days. Along the higher ledges of the rocky trails, the trees gave way to a brief panorama. From there he could spy out the fringes of the lake privy to them, but not much more in the grand scheme of things. It wasn't like the mountain, where the vista carried out over to the plains. Beyond their territory lied more and more forests, with little break that he could find.

Still, it was a part of the territory that he had not explored. Where others within the Spine had set to work scouring every edge, every crevice available, he had taken it slowly. In turn, he savored the view that was there, lingering very much like the sentinel he had been at their borders. But even their borders were quiet in recent times, which the established wolf debated being a good or a bad thing. Perhaps they were far enough removed that it would be easy for them to care for themselves, but being too removed bothered him as well. Perhaps it called back to something Sitri had told him, about how silence often played prologue to much worse things.

Reclining on his haunches, Mordecai let the autumn gusts toussle his coat about. The cooler weather was refreshing, a distraction from the summer that had most definitely been uncomfortable. And not because of the weather. But in lieu of the wind in his ears along that sloping, rocky terrain, he also noted the silence that had come to settle over the Spine as well. Even as comfortable as he seemed, he found himself very uncomfortable all at once.

audioslave — man or animal

The burn in her lungs and legs was welcome as Ptarmigan scoured the mountainside, looking for something to take her mind off the recent turmoil.

It was proving difficult for the Endore to rally this pack to her side. Though it should have been obvious, she failed to see how these supposed wild wolves could not be inspired by her conquering the pack. It was natural to follow the fittest, and had she not proven herself to be through her successes?

Of course, she didn't account for feelings, despite having many herself. She drowned them out in exercise, hence climbing the mountains. Though they were stout and numerous around the valley and seemed to rise out of the land like lone sentinels among thousands of trees, they were still taxing, and by the time she reached the top, she was breathing hard.

That breath caught in her throat when she noticed Mordecai not far away, seemingly savouring the view. She looked out over the basin herself, following his gaze, but only found the lake to be splendid. The rest was monotonous pine forest. It was ancient and no doubt mysterious, but she lacked an appreciation for old things that many others had.

She approached him slowly, her tail rigidly raised, for she was still unsure where they stood with one another. Once in earshot, she decided to begin with a question, seemingly out of the blue. It had been on her mind for some time, though, and the only others with the answer, she either could not find or could not trust. “Should I be concerned about Cara and Kaname? Although I have allowed them to keep their Beta status, they do not advise or consult me, and seem aloof.” They all seemed aloof, she realized. Maybe it was part of their "badass" act.

Though he heard the approach, he was slow to acknowledge that someone had joined him. As he turned his head to look upon Ptarmigan, and turned his ears back with apprehension. He too was uncertain of where they stood with one another, but then again he couldn't have said any of the leadership was bound to be happy with him. From the rally to the mere fact that he had spoken with Ptarmigan more than once seemed to have garnered attention. But he didn't have time to think on it, and was subsequently taken from his thoughts by her query.

Though he kept from seeming like he dismissed it, he panned his gaze back out over the basin for a moment. “If I were in your position, I suppose I would be,” he said after that pause. His gaze returned curiosity to her dark visage. While he knew and had cohabited with the beta pair for quite some time, he still didn't really know them. Any of their activities together had gone from meetings, to hunts, to just passing by one another. But there was also a certain respect for one another in there as well. He supposed that was why neither of them had yet to call him out and ask him where he stood.

“I can't say I know where their motives lie for certain. I'm not exactly in the loop they share. I know Cara considered leaving, but I convinced her to stay. I don't spend that much time with Kaname.” And as he thought of it, he didn't spend a lot of time with any of them any more. Cara and Kaname were attached at the hip, Sitri had kept his distance just as Mordecai had. Everyone else… well, they had either deserted the pack or he couldn't account for them. “But I'd still be wary all the same. I don't exactly get the impression they're all that fond of me either.” He flashed a brief smile, finding some bizarre humor in it all.

He answered truthfully, although he didn't have any reason to. Ptarmigan listened carefully, perhaps for the first time showing a sliver of her true self. He wouldn't recognize it, and she scarcely recognized it herself, so laden with hatred had she been these last few weeks. If it wasn't hatred for the wolves of the Spine that treated her like some sort of malign beast, then it was their hatred for her weighing on her mind.

“Maybe they need to be knocked down a peg,” she quietly mused, stiffening in anticipation of an unfavourable response. Ptarmigan could throw them from their leadership at any moment by asserting dominance over them and assisting the rest of the Spine pack in doing the same. By Mordecai's admission, Cara had considered leaving the valley. What sort of Beta did that make her?

And Kaname had been unhelpful, and since their first and only encounter, she had seen no sign of him. She had entertained the notion that he had walked off a cliff, but knew that wasn't true. His scent still was within their lands, yet it was always accompanied by that of the Beta female. What they might have been up to was anyone's guess.

“Do they deserve to lead?” she asked, more straightforward than before. Kaname was old enough to leave lead, but Ptarmigan had her doubts about Cara. Not only was she a yearling, but she gave off a distinct aura of entitlement that painted a poor picture of her, not that she had said anything arrogant yet. “If they aren't fond of those who follow them, and they aren't fond of she who leads them, maybe they would be content... Elsewhere.”

While he heard her musing, he seemed to pay little mind to it. He wasn't sure if knocking them down a peg was really the right thing to do, but then again he wasn't entirely sure what he would have done in her position. He knew that he would have probably gone about things in a much different way, that much was for sure. Despite their familiar connection, she was much more hotter under the collar than he had ever found himself. Her tension only added to the uncomfortable feelings that he had himself, but he wouldn't act on it. No, for as much as he wanted out of the politics of it all he found himself sitting squarely in the middle of a smoldering feud.

But did either Beta seem fit to lead? Mordecai too, had his doubts, but they were based from his prior interactions. Lecter had deemed them fit and he had supported Lecter's decision. He had come through on his end of the bargain. But in light of their turmoil, he couldn't have said that he had seen much of either party, from Ptarmigan to Cara do much about the state of their declining pack. After that lengthy deliberation, he answered her. “I would say yes, but perhaps not where they are.” The two supported each other, were always together… it wasn't hard for him to glean that they probably had ulterior motives as well. They certainly weren't about to bow for Ptarmigan, either way. Especially since Cara had really only given up the title and not the proverbial crown she saw fit to sit atop her head.

“Why did you not found a pack of your own, Ptarmigan? Our lineage comes from natural leaders, but… you seem to have your problems with leading.” His eyes roamed over her, but he did not fear any rebuke she had stored for him. It would come if it were supposed to, but he hoped her anger would not get the better of his observations. “Not that I'm saying neither you or they would make terrible leaders. But to be honest, what we need right now is unity, or the bitterness I find in you, and them, will tear this pack apart even more.” Jinx certainly had her harshness about her too and had made decisions that hadn't always been agreed with. But she had a certain amount of compassion that had kept them together, and Mordecai had rarely seen the flash of teeth in the way that he did now.

For a brief second, her ears lifted imperiously atop her crown as she considered the implications of his first statement... But they wilted down when the weight of confrontation became too much to bear. Upholding a stern facade was too much for the Endore, and the stress was beginning to wear on her, such that when Mordecai finished his thoughts, she was left to purse her lips for a moment.

“I saw an opportunity and took it,” she explained, but chose to leave it at that. It hardly made her a good individual. It had been done selfishly, although she had thought of Viggo and Andrus at the time, as well. Part of her had wanted to give them something, too, but she had failed to do that. She had given them nothing but headaches.

“You'll get nowhere telling me that,” she pointed out then, narrowing her eyes but keeping any hint of anger out of her tone. She wasn't naturally angry, just naturally foolish. “I let them keep their ranks so they could guide me, and not hold it against me. Instead, they belittle me every chance they get.” She frowned heavily, then said, “it's not my hatred tearing the pack apart, Mordecai. It's the little bitch herself, her arrogance, and her inability to get over herself.”

“Rightly so, and I'm not trying to get anywhere either.” He did not fault her for taking advantage of an opporunity. He had spent roughly half his life doing the same, because the life of a traveler was rarely an easy one. Jinx had offered him the opportunity to find his place and he felt he had earned it. Mordecai found he was content, but it wasn't to say that he didn't strive for more either. It was in his nature, but in a tempered part of it. The road had beat that into him in short time. He saw the reasoning behind Ptarmigan's decision to let them keep their ranks, but he wondered if she knew that it had just as much of a chance to backfire. As it had.

His gaze turned back out to the landscape before them, and he absently gave the ground a sweep with his tail. Mordecai was no stranger to the arrogance that thrived in Cara. But it was also the same arrogance that existed in both of them, if not outright arrogance then something definitely along those lines. It existed in him also, if only to the extent in his negligence to yield to either of them fully. “You and I are kindred spirits by blood, but even I am not sure what it is that you think you intend to do based on your actions. Have you ever considered making amends with them, approaching them with compassion rather than what you have done?” Though he had never witnessed it first hand, bar any joint meetings, Ptarmigan had been nothing short of caustic towards all of them.

“I am not keen to be spat upon by serpents,” she returned, turning her gaze out over the valley that she sought to name her own. It was picturesque, probably near-perfect in its orientation and distance from others... Yet it was tainted by Cara and Kaname. Those two had not spoken out against her, but already she invented schemes in her head that didn't exist, and imagined secret meetings that had never happened.

“I will try,,” she said resignedly, as though to appease him, although Ptarmigan certainly felt she owed Mordecai nothing, “but if they say even one disrespectful thing to me, I won't tolerate them any longer.” It wasn't beneath her to throw them out on their worthless behinds, as she would have liked to call them. But, for the sake of this pack and the tired souls who inhabited it, and for her own good (for she would be no further than she had been when she started if they all left), she would give them their last chance peaceably.

I don't know why, but I find it hilarious how much more like Chena Mordecai is than Leviathan. Leviathan would have decided they all needed face eating and probably tried to take the territory as his own. Or made his own pack. <__>

It surprised him that she listened, perhaps even considered what it was that he was trying to propose. While he doubted that either of them would instantly like one another, that they may hold grudges for quite some time, there were greater things to worry about at hand in his mind. It troubled him to watch that bickering over a rank, when things were easily simplified in his mind. It would not have surprised him if Cara were to eventually overturn Ptarmigan for the rank, but then again it would not have surprised him if Ptarmigan were to chase Cara from the territory. And perhaps all those who aligned with her.

He knew it wouldn't be an easy thing for Ptarmigan to try either, and so he assented to her statement with an agreeable nod. It was within her claim to chase out whoever she didn't want to, just as it was in theirs to fight her for the right to stay. But Mordecai opted for that invisible middle ground, the one that lingered in begrudging cooperation. “I can come along with you when you meet them, if you want,” he offered, his extension of the olive branch he had been debating giving. Even though he was liable to be gasoline to their proverbial fire for his own words past and future, he felt confident that he could attempt to smooth the ire. His attempt with Ptarmigan had, for the most part, gone well. She had yet to chase him or threaten him recently, at least.

I always loved that about Levi, I loved how him and Tantamount hated each other and I can't even remember why. >_>

She didn't respond for a long while after his offer. She was weighing her options, using her head for once. She had in her the capacity to be like Nightingale and Shingle, a good leader with a level head, but so often her mother's nature overrode her. Quail had been just as immature and self-important as she was. Ptarmigan would never truly realize that about herself, nor that it had been the trait in her mother she had despised the most.

“Would you?” she said at last, turning a softer gaze back on him. For all their initial strife, she knew Mordecai wasn't a bad wolf. Perhaps in time he would come to see that she wasn't a bad wolf, either. Morally skewed, yes, and not always on the straightest path in life, but with good enough intentions for herself and where she was headed. Perhaps, in time, he would come to agree that Cara was too young for the title she thought was owed her.

Or maybe he wouldn't, but at least the Alpha could make herself believe that he had.

IIRC, they got into a couple of spats with one another that got physical. And then Chena pursued him for ages, against her brother's wishes lmao. Years later, we get Mordecai et al! I don't think Tantamount and Leviathan ever came to make amends but I do remember him trying to look after his kids after he and his mate died, albeit distantly.

Her deliberations brought him no concern. Instead he relished in the change of pace from her, hoping to have restored some sort of semblance of control to their otherwise chaotic flow. The silence gave him time to mentally preparing as well, whatever the answer would have been. He took in the vista once more, detaching from the present momentarily until some sort of confirmation of her decision had eased him to be aware. Her words pulled his gaze back to her, and he curiously withheld the expression he found there.

“Of course,” he said, this time followed up by a good natured wave of his tail across the dusty ground. “When you've decided that you're ready, you know how to reach me.” Though he had no way of knowing what the future would hold, he would be ready for it all the same. It would that meeting perhaps most of all that would tell him whether or not things would really improve in time or not. And just maybe, perhaps it would bring many things that had been boiling beneath the surface of them all to a resolute head.

Ah yeah, I do remember Chena pursuing Levi and Arsenio and Tantamount being like NO. Hahaha good times. I'll prob. make a new thread for the four after the pack rally gets a few more replies and we have a better idea what Cara will do.

His well meaning wave was met with a small smile. Wherever it led them, it would lead somewhere. She wouldn't come out of the impending meeting without having come to some solution, whether it be the removal of the two from their ranks or a begrudging truce. She was no longer willing to allow them, particularly the yearling, to run her life with their mere presence.

“Thank you,” she quietly said, folding back her ears in a brief sign of thanks. They rose again moments later as she returned to her assertive stance, though she only remained at his side a few minutes longer. She sensed from his distraction, or what she perceived as distraction, that he wasn't looking for much company right now, and felt it would be better to leave him until he was needed.

She gave him one last long look, then parted from him quietly, just as she had come.

Sounds good chief!

The wheels were in motion and he found that he had no doubts as he watched Ptarmigan go. She was a rather interesting creature, and beneath that angry layer that served as her front it seemed that there really was a level of decency that he had not seen. Mordecai reasoned that this was what Viggo had seen, and perhaps that was why he had traveled with her. Whatever the reasons, perceived or not, Mordecai hoped to discover that there was more of it, and hoped that for her sake that side got a chance to flourish within the Spine. Just for the same reason that he knew Cara, for all her arrogance, was fiercely loyal.

Settling back onto his haunches, the tawny Ostrega let his gaze settle back over the span of the Spine. His eyes traces the familiar shapes of the peaks in the distance, but eventually began to sink towards a close. The warmth of the sun felt nice for a change; it kept the pressing thoughts of winter off and the chill that had come down the slopes in waves. He stayed there for quite some time afterward, uninterrupted, before he decided to go and give the borders a good patrol.