Laken had a rough guess as to how many were left, given the collective stories, and what he was smelling. However, he also knew that he could be very wrong in this. For all he knew, they'd taken in enough new people to not only replace the fallen ones but exceed them. Laken very much hoped not. Despite being comfortable in his own skin, Laken did not wish this on anyone. Not to mention the bigger threat of this expounding quickly until the only ones who were left were loyalist, wolves, and corpses. He looked over at Charlie, and really looked at the other man. Yeah, he was probably being a little bit creepy as Laken worked through his through process. Probably the first time he let his actual self come through rather than the chipper persona he had most of the time while he was out. He was weighing Charlie's words, thinking them through. If he really was talking about change up front, well, this just got a shit ton more interesting. Far beyond just with the wolves. "Change may start at the bottom, but in the end it's the top that will actually show change is happening." he mused cryptically.
"Nothing. Nothing is new about that." Laken shook his head and spoke a little bit under his breath. "There's no easy fix with this." he thought out loud. "It's a long process that is going to require a lot of painstaking effort, well worth effort mind you, and consistency to gain trust and to show that this is not the previous situation." he sighed a bit knowing that there was nothing they could do right now. "After that, it's education and normalizing it as much as possible." which, clearly, always went well with the general public. However, Laken had gotten what he wanted out of Charlie. He was confirmed as an ally, at least to him. Of course, he'd have to take it to the rest of them now. And he wasn't about to share any of the secrets what so ever. But in a crisis, Charlie just might come in handy.
"Honestly? I think so? But given everything it's almost hard to remember if I did or not. It might have started out as family obligation but it's defiantly real now." which is what he hoped actually mattered. "So Eurpmants then? Still big and scary but a hell of a lot easier to dodge?" he smirked a little as he teased the other man a little bit.