Kaz, who's evidently been off starting a serious relationship with the kitchen, wanders back toward the rec room, munching on a carrot stick.

John scowls lightly. "What's Signe been doing around my cubs?" he rumbles. "I know her." He leaves out the 'liking' reply, though, and just folds his arms. "Cool, eh? Hmm." Definitely holding reservations on /that/ book.

Sophia latches on to the fact that John has reservations about Signe, but can't figure out why. "She has the most beautiful laugh I think I've ever heard. You can tell it comes right from her soul. People who don't laugh much? They're like that. Well, like you, Boss. Maybe that's why I like her so much. She reminds me of you."

Kaz pauses, eyebrow raised, but says absolutely nothing.

Thump-thumpthump-thumpthump, comes a mid-level knocking on the door. Well. Not quite knocking; something's a little odd with it. It's a bit duller, if that makes sense, and... very low. Not in tone, in placement. Not knocking level. Thump-thump, comes another round, completing the utterly familiar rhythm.

John looks intensely irritated by the knocking and the compliment, and doesn't hide it. "Just... ah, forget it. Don't think you can change my opinions by buttering me up with compliments or affection." he grumbles weakly, and moves to the door to open it on instinct. Low knocking? Hmm. Unless we're under attack by mutant wyrmy midgets with machineguns... The Ahroun should be pretty safe.

Kaz's other eyebrow raises. "That's probably..." She trails off, and finishes her carrot.

Groaning and muttering to herself, Dizzy stands up and heads for the stairs, "I'm going to bed everyone. Good night."

Sophia doesn't bother prodding John for information - it can wait. Instead, she devides her attention between leaning toward the mouth of the rec room to catch a peek at the new arrival and blowing a goodnight kiss to her roommate with an impish wink. "I'll be up late, probably, so you know. I'll stay down here so I don't wake you."

Dizzy misses who it is at the door as she ascends the stairs.

As John opens the door, it swings wider to reveal... everyone's favourite Gnawer Ragabash! Well. Potentially =someone's= favourite Gnawer Ragabash, at least. Either it's not the best of days, or the moon phase is making itself known a little. Bernie's posture's not quite as good as usual, a tad on the impertinently slouchy side, and she's got a super-sized order of McDonald's fries in one hand. The other hand holds one fry tied on the end of a length of string, one end pointing right through the doorway. Hands full... it's fair to guess the source of the sound was her knocking with her boots. "Hey," she greets the Walker, with a smile a little thinner than normal, "y'look healthier." A slight lean inward, in the direction the fry points, and she spots Kaz. "Kickass!" she exclaims, breaking into her usual grin briefly, "it worked."

Kaz points a new carrotstick at Bernie, gleefully. "Aw/right/. I /thought/ it might be you..."

John watches Dizzy leave, and then looks down to Bernie, and nods. Still visibly stifling irritation. "Yeah. I'm better." he mutters, then jerks his head towards the lobby. "Well, in or out? Don't stand there. You're making the place untidy." No hostility to the gruff words, though.

Kaz says, with faint exasperation, "This is the third time today someone's asked you if you're better. What the fuck /happened/?"

Sophia grins wide and her eyes scrunch up when she sees who it is, but the silly look fades when she sees the mood.

"Don' think I could do that without more ammo," Bernie replies, making a show of surveying the admittedly neat area as she steps inside. She gives the string a little tweak, popping the fry up into her hand, and seems to consider a moment before managing to wrap it one-handed in a napkin before slipping it into her jacket pocket. And now that the hand's free... she starts in on the eating fries. Heading toward Kaz, she pulls up the nearest patch of wall for leaning on. Despite the edge to her mood, Sophia gets a quick flash of the grin as well.

John shrugs, closing the door, and wrinkles his nose at Kaz. "Unusual thing happened to my cubs. Attacked by a gang. Normally not a problem. They were out where they shouldn't be, and I went to find them, but... something else found them first. Glass elementals. Glass /banes/. Here. In the Realm." The tone of voice showing just how plainly unusual he considers the event. "I died. Pulled myself back. The Child of Gaia, Guards-the-Flame, gave me back my sight." He shrugs dismissively. "No big deal."

Kaz sidles a little closer to Bernie. The Ragabash's moon it may be, but Kaz evidently needs a packmate's presence, after last night. Even if there's no touch involved. At John's words, though, she loses any edge she had, and looks at Bernie. "'No big deal', he says. 'I died,' he says. 'Glass banes in the realm,' he says." The exasperation is building, but it remains only in her eyes as she looks back to him and asks, mildly, "This wasn't news the /first/ time I asked?"

Sophia winces involuntarily at the mention of John's fall, which she saw but could not fix. Her own silence hurts her ears, but still she lets the matter rest, heavy in the air. She leans forward, clenching and rubbing her eyes, sickened.

Bernie looks momentarily sheepish at her Alpha. "I, uh. Prolly oughta have mentioned that yesterday. Slipped my mind." She offers over the box of fries, apologetically. "Sophia came an' got me after an' I helped with 'lish's hands, 'cause they were seriously fucked up." She trails off, and pushes the usual recalcitrant curl back behind her ear.

John nods in confirmation to Bernie, and looks at Kaz. "The banes were killed, and the cubs learnt that even a big, tough Ahroun like me can be killed. They'll be more careful, from now on. Alicia was healed by Daisy, but I still owe her my sight, and she has my respect. Her hands were barely hands, but she still used them to heal me. She may be a Child of Gaia... but she's shown more bravery than any Get I've seen here." He eyes Sophia. "You remember that."

Kaz says, still quietly, "Check." There's a pause, and she adds, "Glad you're not off dead somewhere. Be missin' you." She slides down the wall into a seat, and adds, looking up at Bernie, "Only time I saw you yesterday, we were kinda in a hurry, y'know?"

Sophia rests chin on palm and elbow on knee to cover the infuriating tremble in her legs. Eyes unfocused and staring at the wall opposite, she tries very hard to appear bored when she says, "Bravery is important." She doesn't have to look at John to know he was talking to her.

"True," the Ragabash grants her Alpha, not seeming inclined to talk much more on that subject, just now. A hand goes through her curls again. Probably getting salt and fry-oil all through her hair. Oh well, showers fix that. "Anyway yeah. I hear 'lish did good. Killed onea 'em all by herself, or some such, too."

Kaz certainly doesn't seem overly eager to talk about it, herself. Instead, she tilts her head, mostly to look at John and Sophia better. "Yeah? Alicia, whappin' stuff. Whaddya know. Who all else was involved? I like t'know this kinda shit."

John smiles a secretive smile at the comment from Bernie. "She's the Galliard. She'd remember better than me." It's said almost warmly, with amusement. "But she did do well for her first fight against the Wyrm. Definitely an achievement." Looking once more to Sophia, the Ahroun adds, "If /you/ fight a creature like that, I hope you use claws, rather than fists. I don't care to repeat the experience of trying to bandage strips of flesh into something resembling hand-shapes. Cindy was there, and dispatched what she could, very effectively."

Sophia looks down at her hands, inspecting her fingernails. Note to self: Claws. "Ok, Boss. I'll remember. I'd have... " Her stomach churns, and she cuts herself short.

Kaz nods, as she listens. "Cindy, huh? She back for good, y'think?"

Bernie glances around for a comfortable place to sit, and apparently decides moving is too much work, slipping down the wall to sit on the floor and polish off her fries.

The Ahroun leans on the wall by the door, folding his arms, now. "Maybe. Said she was. We'll see. She's one of our more elusive members, and we'll have to see. I might try tying her down with orders, or let her roam. I've yet to decide."

Kaz shrugs. "Seems t'me, lettin' her roam ain't helped none yet, has it? So. Change y'pattern." There's hardly a pause, before she asks Sophia, "You'd've what?"

Sophia hunches her shoulders up around her neck, her weight still on her knees. She tries to keep the subject on Cindy by saying, "I hope she stays long enough for me to tell her the rest of the Litany, at least. I've only done three laws so far, cuz that's how many times she's been around."

Kaz gives Sophia a long look. "Avoidin' answerin'll just get me askin' you another time, y'know."

There's a light knocking on the door from outside.

John turns quietly to the door, standing next to it, and opens it. Conservation of movement, but all with the same natural, easy grace.

Breathe in, breathe out. Sophia pauses, remembering something Alicia once said. "It's nothing, Kaz. Just me, being silly. I know I'm not old enough to fight yet. I can't even understand orders, how could I fight?"

Alicia glances upwards as John answers the door, a light smile brushing across her face. "Hey." She says happily, peering at the Ahroun. She looks a lot better after being taken care of by Daisy and Elan.

John gives a small, warm, almost-smile to the girl at the door - inclining his head respectfully - and gestures for her to get in, before closing it behind her.

Kaz says, sympathetically, "Yeah, instinct warrin' with rationality. Sucks. An' it gets worse before it gets better." She hauls herself to her feet. "And with that cheery cliche, I gotta flee. Patrols an' shit." She pauses to add, "And hello, Alicia. Sometime, I gotta havea conversatoin with you where we ain't kidnappin' someone or I ain't leavin'."

Alicia steps in past John and glances over to Kaz. "Oh? Good stuff or bad stuff?" She asks softly, stiffling a soft yawn with her hand.

Kaz waves a hand. "I jus' mean shootin' the shit, that's all. Nothin' dramatic or nothin'. Bern, you gonna come with, or head over Decadencewards, later?"

Alicia nods her head to Kaz and offers a smile to the other Galliard. "Ahh... Well, anytime, maybe in a few days? I need to get some stuff straightened out with Joey, then talk to my brother, ya'know... 'bout stuff, and well.. Yah, I should be free."

Bernie waves a hand to the Gaian, giving her an oddly wry half-smile, and stands, nodding to Kaz. "Yeah, t' both. Patrol sounds good. We should check that place from b'fore th' revel an' make sure it's still clean, yeah?" She glances about for a trash can to put her fry-box in.

Kaz says, "Gotcha," at Alicia, and grunts at Bernie. "Yes. Some action'd do my heart good." That said, she gives the assembled multitudes a vague nod and lets herself out.

Alicia reaches over and snags Bernie for a quick hug before waving good night to her, a slight smile touching her lips.

Bernie gives Alicia a squeeze in return before tossing off a light, almost insolently careless two-fingered salute to the other occupants of the room, and following her packmate out. "G'night. Catch y'all soon 'nough, I'm sure."