OOC: Sorry this took me so super long! I double-promise I'll be quicker in the future!
Huxley watched in silence as Rufus threateningly peeled the orange with the dagger, listening to his thoughts on the other ranking Soot Wolves. But his gaze shifted up to Rufus himself when the Soot Wolf leader said that he valued, above all else, 'frank honesty.' Huxley's eyebrows raised, just slightly, as if to ask, Really?
Huxley waved a hand dismissively at the offer of the orange. "No thanks," he answered. His gaze stayed intensely on Rufus, measuring him up. The fact that it was Huxley who should be more worried about Rufus sizing him up didn't seem to trouble the new, or was it interim?, Red Jackal.
"What's gone been going on while you were away, that's a rather broad question," Huxley observed. "I would say 'what's been going on' in the Blood Wolves started rather before you went away. Discontent has been bubbling in the ranks for awhile. And not just from the loud-mouth types who complain at the drop of a hat," he added pointedly. "We try to weed those types out, but you always end up with a few bad apples. But this runs deeper than that. I thought it might be curbed by Akello becoming Red Jackal, but events - ah - seemed to have caused things to go differently."
Huxley paused there, looking over Rufus again. Frank honesty, he said?
"Well, 'what's been going on' is rather a broad question, and begs a rather broad answer. So I'll try to get more to the point. You asked me who I think is responsible. Of course, that's also a whole list of people, several of whom are dead now anyway. But if you want my honest opinion, boss- er, Rufus," Huxley started pointedly; time to roll his dice and see what came out of it, "I'd say a lot of the responsibility lies with you." He let that land for a moment, before continuing in the same casual, conversational tone he'd been using thus far. "It's a bit of a different job, being a Blood Wolf. Sure, you get paid same as everyone else, but your personal stakes are rather higher. Morale is critical, and tricky.
"There's been a feeling for awhile amongst 'the ranks,' lets say, that you've always shown a bit of favoritism towards the Shadow Wolves. That sort of thing resonantes, you know, true or not. But the growing list of rather, ah, personal seeming jobs has left a bad taste in more than a few mouths. It's one thing to risk your life for the Guild, another for your boss's paramour, or pet project." Huxley held his hands up to say he didn't necessarily think that was the case (though of course it was hard to keep anything very secret around the Den), and said, "With little reason to go on, you can't blame people for drawing their own conclusions."
He put his hands back down and folded them in his lap. "There was some feeling that the way you dealt with Akello wasn't really appropriate for someone who was Red Jackal. And felt that it reflected on the position of the Blood Wolves in general. That Torak nutter didn't help. Well, I'm sure you can understand how it would make the average Blood feel." Maybe. "I should let you know, though perhaps you do already," he added with a meaningful look, "that there are quite a few who think you arranged Akello's death yourself. Needless to say, all very bad for morale. It makes an atmosphere easy for a dissident to capitalize on."
Huxley paused a moment before continuing, "And whoever that is, I think, is probably who you mean by 'responsible.' But to that end, I can only hazard guesses," Huxley said with a shrug. "There certainly were more agitated Bloods, and agitating, more to the point. But they were, ah, purged by Akello. Made an example of. The loudest of them, anyway. I would guess that there was someone behind it, putting them up to it. Just a gut feeling."
He gave a half-smile, and said, "I know there are rumors going around that it's Jack who's been causing all this trouble. 'Perfectly poised' as Beta or some such. I suppose I should point my finger at him, since he promoted me, so I don't look like I'm part of his cadre if it were true. But I honestly have a hard time believing it. He's always struck me as rather a lazy yes-man; more interested in his own comfort than personal power. So I have a hard time believing he'd do anything quite so ballsy."