Bernie gives the punching bag a firm kick, her backpack and jacket on one of the nearby haybales, and dodges to the side as the thing swings back toward her, punching it soundly as it passes. It looks like she might have been practising for a while; she's somewhat sweaty, and breathing hard. She doesn't look angry, just determined. And possibly slightly frustrated.

Alicia opens up the door of the barn and leans against the frame slightly as she watches her. "Nice night hot stuff, why you beating on that bag for?" Wetting her lips, she strides inside, closing it behind her.

"Practice!" Bernie replies somewhat breathlessly, giving the bag another kick. Looks like she's been watching Yi; it's a rather martial-artsy, flat-footed kick that seems to have quite a lot of her weight behind it. She braces the foot back on the floor and catches the bag as it returns, both arms wrapping partially around it. "Oof. An' kina burnin' off excess energy an' all. Hey. 'sup?"

Alicia grins and stretches her arms up and stiffles a long, quiet yawn. "So.... Bernie... whats up in yer life? Ya still a virgin?" Teasing, she slips around the other side of the bag, watching her curiously, looking for a reaction. "You an Matt still all hot an heavy?"

Well, a reaction, she gets. Bernie blushes rather intensely over all visible skin -- perhaps less than she would've a couple months ago, but still perfectly obvious -- and pushes the bag at her friend, with an incredulous little laugh. "Blunt much?" she asks, and shakes her head a little. "'course I'm still a virgin. Sheesh." But no direct reply to the latter question, yet.

"Yah?" She says, catching the bag. "So, I take it you two are doing everything else eh? Ya guys do a lupus 69 yet?" The Galliard's eyes twinkle a bit as she hugs the back, staring at her friend with an evil glint.

"No!" the Ragabash exclaims emphatically, eyes widening behind her glasses at the mere idea. "No way, not even =close=... I mean, I don't even know ho*... I mean, no!" The blush intensifies, and she half tries to hide behind the bag.

Alicia smirks and steps away from the bag, walking past you. "Yah, right, don't play innocent with me. As if you never saw him naked an stroked his willy off or something." She slips onto a haybale, then stretches out across it. "You know, its been awhile for me, I'm starting to forget what sex is like."

Bernie's voice comes from behind the bag. "...I haven't, though!" she protests, sounding a bit chagrined, "...an' I'm not playin'." She pauses a moment, and switches the subject over to Alicia. Slightly less embarrassing. "So I guess Tom isn' visitin' a whole lot then?"

"He visits, did today, but we aren't going at it like two rabbits." She says, staring up at the ceiling. "I'm holding out until after my rite, so when I move in with me..." She trails off teasingly. "I'd have the chance to really give him what he deserves."

Bernie emerges from her hiding place, the blush having settled down to a medium pink, and wanders over to the haybales, arms crossed over her abdomen. She hops up onto a fairsized stack of them, moving to find a comfortable seat. "...oh," she eventually says, unable to think of a better comment. "He lives in th' city, yeah? So you'll be close by an' stuff?"

"Close by for what?" The girl asks as she tucks her hands under her head. Her gaze doesn't leave the ceiling, she continues to stare up into the dark rafters of the second floor. "Close by you and Matt in yer' decadence?"

"=Th'= Dec'dence," Bernie corrects, "...an' yeah. So I don't hafta walk twenny-four miles ev'rytime I wanna see ya. I mean, not that th' exercise is a bad thing or anythin', an' th' walk gives me plennya time t' think 'bout things, but gotta admit, 's kina inconvenient."

Alicia nods her head and rolls to her side, staring over at the Gnawer Ragabash. "Well, then I guess we will be close by enough you don't have to jog too far where ya pass out. You could always take the bus."

Bernie grins, the blush gradually dying further down. "I've never passed out doin' it, 's just it takes like two anna half hours, in this form. Quicker in lupus but then I gotta carry my bag in my teeth an' all. Which's kina hard on th' jaw." She stretches a little, and pulls her legs up indian-style. "So 'snew anyhow?"

Alicia shrugs absently. "Nothing is new, actually...I was actually heading off to bed when I thought I heard noises in here." She glances over to the girl with a smile. "Its late, and I gotta be up early to meet Adam." She covers her mouth with a yawn.

[..so Alicia runs away, and Bernie goes to see if Sophia's around yet...]

[Nicholson Hall]

There's a knocking at the door. In rhythm. 'We Will Rock You' rhythm, to be precise.

Sophia gets up from the floor and walks over to the door. Peeking through and seeing a familiar face, she opens the door. "You will not /believe/ what just happened to me," she says to Bernie. "Nice to see you again, by the way. Come on in!"

"Hey," the Gnawer replies, in a cheerful greeting, and steps inside. She looks a tad flushed, as if she'd run over here, or someone had recently embarrassed her. "Yeah? What jus' happened t' ya? An' niceta see you, too. I came by earlier, but no one answered th' door."

Sophia nods, closing the door. "Yeah... we were here, but... but not really here. Me and Lucca were playing a video game and got sucked into it and there was a guy with onions and he threw them, and and and... I learned to dance. That is... we crossed over accidentally into the TV."

Bernie blinks, pausing. "...so, yeah, usually I wouldn't believe that, but given past events, what th' hell. Funky. Why? She's a theurge, right?" There's a pause, as she glances around at her surroundings, "...nice place. Anyone around?"

Sophia shakes her head uncertainly. "She's... I don't exactly know her auspice. But no, there's no one down here besides me and Samantha. Everyone else is upstairs asleep or else is off I don't know where. Why? Were you looking for someone? "

Bernie grins. "Yeah," she replies, "you." With that, she walks over to the couch area, and flops down on the sofa, slipping off her backpack and setting it down. "Warned ya yesterday I was gonna, di'n' I?"

"Did you?" Sophia asks. She looks up at her eyebrow, trying to remember. "What about?" Sophia sits on the sofa and crosses her legs beneath her. Samantha curls up on the floor next to her.

Bernie looks around again, despite the cub's assurance that no one else is about, before answering quietly, almost conspiratorily: "Th' Park. Kaz says, you care 'bout it, wanna see it fixed an' all. Yeah?"

Sophia nods and smiles wistfully. "I can almost remember what it could look like. It could be such a good place for people to be, to just sit, you know? And the fountain, especially. It's so sad."

Bernie nods, studying the girl thoughtfully, and silently, for several seconds. Eventually, she says, "...yeah. 's sad. 's how I felt, too. So I made it my project. Been workin' on it for months. But I don't talk 'bout it, 'cause it's a secret, a'ight? So I'm tellin' you, an' invitin' you t' help, an' trustin' you not t' say ANYTHIN' 'bout it to ANYONE, a'ight? 's important." She regards the cub solemnly. "Deal?"

Sophia frowns, not unhappy, but like she's trying very hard to understand. "Ok, it's a secret. But why? And from whom? And what can I do to help? I don't have very much money."

Bernie grins a little, and shrugs. "I don't have any. Well, no, I got twenny-three dollars an' fifty-seven cents, but..." She sighs, and curls up a bit in the corner of the sofa. "'s a secret 'cause =I= wanna do it. I mean, I want it done, but I don' =just= want it done. I wanna do it. An' also, I wanna see people surprised when it's done. You done any research on it? I have. I know th' entire recorded history of th' Park, an' some that isn't. Fixin' an' protectin' th' place is onea th' big goals an' aimsa my pack, too. From whom is everyone but me, Matt, Kaz, 'lish kina, an' now you. Far as whatcha can do t' help.... dunno yet, right now. But I'll tell ya. Right now we're lookin' for money; Kaz's mostly doin' that. Unfortunately it's non-trivial, rebuildin' th' fountain how it useta be, marble an' all? That's like a quarter mil. Jus' th' marble's more'n fifty thou, an' that's b'fore y'find someone t' carve it. An' carvin' marble's tricky work. We're thinkin' we're gonna go with concrete, instead. Not quite so classy, maybe, but it c'n look real good too." She's quite clearly passionate about this. "...we gotta redo th' plumbin', it's totally fucked, an' then we gotta make th' fountain an' put it there. I'm also tryin' t' fix th' fence in th' meantime. Y'wouldn't b'lieve how much plywood costs. An' th' city won't go near it. Prolly too much rage in th' place. 's why things've never been fixed." A slight sigh. "Oh! But somethin' you could do? Y'know how th' place us'ly doesn't have a lotta litter? Well, tha's me. I go pick all th' trash up ev'ry couple days. So y'want, you could gimme a hand with that, for now."

Sophia nods. "It won't be too hard to keep it from John. Or... at least... it won't be hard to keep from him that I've talked to you about it. And there's no danger of him trying to step in or anything. He thinks it's silly how obsessed I am with it. But it might be kinda difficult to completely hide the fact that I'm doing stuff.... since he's like my boss, sorta. I'd be glad to start by picking up trash. Samantha might be willing to do some of that, too, at least if I offer her hamburgers in exchange."

"Samantha?" Bernie queries, "...an' r'mind me t' take you there some night soon, 'kay? In th' next couple weeks? So I 'n show you th' other side. You should see it." She pauses a moment before adding, "...an' try not t' talk 'bout it a whole lot? Most people've been ignorin' it for years, an' I really kina wanna keep it that way much as I can 'til we're done or we need 'em, y'know?"

Sophia looks from Bernie to Samantha and back to Bernie. "I'm so sorry! You haven't been introduced? This is Samantha. And... what's your other name, Bernie?

Bernie grins at the dog, and waves. "Hey, S'mantha. Niceta meetcha. An'..." She blinks. "...I don' 'ficially have a deedname chosen yet, act'ly. But my cubname was Reads-In-Darkness, an' that'll still do, 'f y'want."

Samantha wags at Bernie. -I'm Red.-

Sophia smiles. "She insists that her name is Red, and mine is... well, it's Spot. I don't have any a deedname, so it's kinda stuck with me."

Bernie giggles. "Hi, Red," she amends her greeting to the canine. "I'm waitin' for someone t' give me a good one, since I Rited an' all. Elan called me Wears-Th'-Rat, but I dunno, it jus' doesn't feel right." A quick grin, "Matt called me Fears-Not-Th'-Wyrm, but he was jokin', an' I'd feel all arrogant callin' myself that anyhow. So, I guess I'm stickin' with Reads 'til somethin' I like shows up." She shrugs, "...which r'minds me, I prolly oughta head back t' town. 's a hella long walk, an' all. So I'll drop by an' find ya an' stuff, yeah? You c'n us'ly find me either out here, or at th' Park or th' Church or th' Ri or th' Dec'dence, 'kay?" She hefts her backpack, sliding it onto her shoulder.

Sophia nods. "I'll see you around, then. And don't worry; my lips are sealed."

Bernie grins again, and pushes up from the couch as she returns the nod. "Cool beans," she replies. "Later. I'll see m'self out." Which she does, closing the door behind her. A moment later, anyone near the door (or with canine hearing) just might hear a soft alto voice growing fainter as she heads away, singing to the tune of a certain Go-Gos song, o/~ Alex The Seal... o/~