OOC: Feel free to ignore this, Jinx & Spice, or not as you like. I just want to flesh some things out and this seemed like the best place to do it. Hope it's okay!
The Hair of the Dog was a favorite haunt of off-duty Blood Wolves, due to both their collegial relationship with the owner, Jinx, and because it was a bit less conspicuous than the Den's bar. Bruin needed her day off and, entering the bar, paused for a moment to look over the bar before heading for a table in the corner where two other Bloods already sat. She pulled an extra chair up to the table and flopped down into it, uninvited.
"You two been through the training room today?" she asked by way of a greeting.
The other two Bloods, Niklas and Jax, looked up at her. Jax took a long drink of his beer before answering, "Certainly not. I try to avoid it on my days off. Prefer to spend them here." Niklas just watched Bruin, waiting to hear her news.
"Vahn and Timber," Bruin stated, waiting for the look of recognition on both men's faces. Vahn and Timber were two of the louder voices about the Bloods' status in the Guild and more recently, how to change it. Bruin drew her finger across her neck and made a corresponding sound to indicate their fate. "Both of 'em. Left piled on top of each other in the center of the bloody training room."
Surprise registered on both Niklas' and Jax's faces, but not too much surprise. "Well," Jax said after a moment, "you got to hand it to her. When she wants to make a point, she certainly makes it."
Bruin snatched Jax's beer, taking a drink herself. "And Tass has been missing since last night." Tass was another one of the Bloods who had been causing some trouble, or at least suggesting it. "But no sign of her since."
"Hm." Niklas leaned back, looking thoughtful and a little troubled. "Hopefully that will settle things, then. At least for awhile. I can't say I'll miss their harping. Maybe they could get way with it when Carraway was Red Jackal, but it was only a matter of time with Akello."
Jax folded his arms, looking at Niklas. For the moment he'd let Bruin keep his beer. "Maybe. They aren't the only ones rumbling. And I'm not saying that I agree with them - or at least not all of their nonsense - but we do take on bigger risks than the rest of the Wolves. If something goes wrong for a thief, he loses some loot. Something goes wrong for us, we lose our lives."
"And that's what pays for your beer, and everything else," Niklas countered.
Bruin drank some more of Jax's beer, watching the point-counter-point between the two men before giving Jax a serious look. "You better hope neither Vahn nor Timbre thought you had any sympathies with 'em, Jax. What I heard is they did a good deal of chatting before it was over." This led to momentary silence. Nobody had any doubts what 'chatting' meant.
"Nah, 'course that's not what I meant," Jax said, backpedaling a little. "They were idiots, that's for sure. And I think Vahn just had eyes on the Red Jackal position himself for himself. But just look at our lot versus, say, those Shadows. Red Wolf's always keeping them right by his side. And they have that kid running them." Niklas shot Jax a look that said he ought to be careful. "Well, they do. And meanwhile Zahi gets the task of babysitting that maniac Torak. And I heard Rufus told her afterwards that she couldn't touch a darling hair on his head. After he killed and tortured Wolves. That's her job! That's our job. It's just insulting, for all of us. And neither of you can tell me it isn't."
Bruin hid her face in another long drink of beer. She couldn't in good faith counter this.
Niklas frowned and shook his head at Jax's boldness. "I suspect Rufus knows his business," he said, though his tone was a little terse. He didn't entirely disagree with Jax on this one. He'd been tasked himself, after all, with 'orienting' Torak and had been one of the Bloods to first detain him. "And you'd do well to remember who your boss is, Jax," he added pointedly. "You might answer to Akello, but we all work for Rufus."
In attempt to quench the tension beginning to mount, Bruin changed the topic slightly. "Weird about Tass, though, right?" she interjected. "I mean, why keep her and dump Vahn and Timbre? I might have expected Carraway to keep her around for... er... prolonged 'discussion,' but it ain't really Zahi's style, is it? I mean, she was one of us for ages before getting promoted. I don't think she'd just hang on to someone to torture 'em for ages."
"Well, she's got a job to do," Niklas said flatly after a long pause. But his tone was disquieted. They did, all, find this strange.
"Huh," Jax grunted, finally snatching his beer back from Bruin. He frowned down into the empty stein. "Doubt it's the last we'll hear of it all."