The Rialto basement is festooned with an odd assortment of wrapping paper, newspapers, string, and helium balloons floating at half mast. Kaz is currently nowhere to be seen.

Bernie comes down the stairs, pausing, startled, at the bottom as she takes in the decor. She wanders a bit further in, head cocked to listen for signs of life. "'lo? Avon callin'...."

There's a thud from one of the prop rooms, and then some gentle swearing. "Jesus," Kaz mutters, emerging and rubbing her head, "You'd think I'd learn not to fall asleep on the table... Yo, hey, whassup?"

Bernie looks around again, this time more for effect than actual observation. "I dunno. Looks kina like people're havin' parties, an' not invitin' me, from here," she muses, before breaking into a little grin. "I dunno, jus' figured I'd drop by on th' way home from work, act'ly. 'sup with you, oh Fosternly One?"

Kaz hasn't reached the point yet where comments like that don't make her smile, so a slow one suffuses her face as she tries to answer the question. "That? Nah, it din't reach party status. Kinda was a party-let." She has to think about what actually /is/ up. "Uh, mostly, I been playin' with toys, gettin' knives drawn on me by Walkers, an' gettin' my brain trashed because people /keep callin' me rhya." There's a short pause, while Kaz takes a look at Bernie. "And don't /you/ start," she adds, preemptively.

One part of that rather stands out among the others, pre-empting any 'rhya' teasing better than the warning ever could. "...gettin' knives drawn on you by Walkers?" Bernie queries, taken aback, "...what's =that= 'bout?"

Kaz blinks. Apparently, it's old news, to her. "Oh. Um." She sounds a little embarrassed. "John and I had a long and fucked up discussion about all sortsa shit, he said somethin' I kinda took as threatenin' Trouble territory, so I Mindspoke him, he went all wonky, pulled a knife on me, and I ended up wantin' to cuddle the asshole, he was so fucked up."

Bernie's eyes narrow briefly, but she shrugs, relaxing. "Well, I guess long's you're a'ight with things, they're a'ight. So what'd he say..." she pauses a beat as she heads toward a couch, the corners of her mouth quirking up as she flops down onto it and adds mischievously, "...Mama Kaz-rhya?"

Kaz says, contemplatively, "I dunno, really, if I'm all /that/ all right with it. But he ain't doin' nothin' /now/. An' he's a good ally, still. An' I wasn't turnin' my back on him t'begin with, really." There's a brief pause, and then she asks, in the tones of the long suffering, "You gonna do that /often/?"

"I dunno," Bernie replies musingly, melting back into the cushions with a negligent little gesture of her hand, "...all depends. We'll hafta see. Meanwhile, y'di'n' answer my question, an' don't think I di'n' notice. So. Now that you're officially leveled up, you gonna get 'round t' challengin' His Mysticalness Elan th' Invisible Elder, too? Jus' curious, 'course..."

Kaz flops onto a sofa. "You asked that before? I hadn't noticed..." She trails off, her grin not managing to stick with her. Soberly, she says, "I think I have to. I did all the shitwork in getting Malachi stuck with the Gaians. I been doin' all the shitwork with the sewers..." She trails off, and shrugs. "I just dunno when, really. Sometime soon, though."

Bernie shrugs a little. "I meant y'di'n' answer th' =other= question. Then I tossed in another jus' for flavour... but, good. 'cause, 'f you ask me, an' even if y' don't, since I'm not gonna pause long enough t' letcha, you're already tribal elder 'cept in name. 's not Elan people're lookin 'for for anya this shit, 'less it's specifically, y'know, theurgical."

The metis's grin returns, just slightly, at Bernie's spurt of words. "Yeah, well, I know. I kinda already talked t'th' Big Kahuna about that already, after Moot, an' before I finally finished this fucking goddam challenge. So, well, /she/ knows I'm thinkin' about it. An' you'n Max do..." She trails off, and then apparently replays what Bernie said in her head, as she asks, "Wait, which question didn't I answer?"

Bernie shakes her head. "Nah, =before=, I asked what John said. Y'know. Possibly threatenin' our territory, an' all." She runs a hand through her curls, looks suddenly surprised, and sits up enough to take her backpack off and drop it on the floor. Must've been pressing uncomfortably.

Kaz blinks, and then gets that 'I'm trying to remember' expression. "I was telling him he hadda fuckin' TELL me when he and his Walkers did shit that'd affect Trouble territory, no matter fuckin' what, an' he said, in a hypothetical sense, would he have to tell me if he was planning on taking it over, so I threatened his tuchus. See."

Bernie nods, slowly, eyes narrowing again. "Gotcha." A moment's silent thought, before she adds, "Hypothetical or not, makes me wanna keep an eye on him, y'know? I mean... my hypotheticals us'ly useta be hypothetical 'zactly as long as it took t' decide whether makin' 'em actual'd be more trouble than it was worth." She grins, suddenly. "Hope you told him 'yes', also?"

Kaz says, "Well, exactly. I don' trust no hypotheticals from no one. Ever." She grins, just slightly. "Does me threatenin' to burn his ass, /and/ fuck his brain over but good, me an' my crew, an' showin' him exactly /how/ I would burn his ass, in Mindspeak, good enough for you?"

Bernie grins, stretching a little. "Good 'nough. Less on the simple elegance, but prolly better on th' effectiveness... yeah. Full marks. ...so what else's new? Anythin' of int'rest?"

Kaz shrugs. "People threaten shit I love, I ain't gonna be subtle, not when I'm warnin' 'em. They actually /do/ shit, we can be subtle all we want." She stops to think. "Uh, I dunno." There's a sudden, brief grin. "Did I mention I'm Fostern?"

"Y'know, I think I =maybe= =miiiiiighta= heard somethin' 'bout that," Bernie remarks, grinning back. "An' congrats again, by th' way. Mama Kaz-rhya." She giggles. "I dunno, maybe I =will= keep sayin' that. Flows a'ight."

Kaz accuses, "Now you're just /trying/ to torture me, dammit."

Bernie gives the Galliard her best wide-eyed innocent look. "Moi?" she inquires in shocked disbelief, "Li'l ol' me? Would I do such a thing? I think you're just bein' auspice-ist. 's 'cause I'm a Ragabash, innit? Oh, OH, =I= see how it is..." She tops off the theatrics with a melodramatic lean back into the couch, the back of her wrist to her forehead, "....alas! Cruel, cruel world!"

Pack> Kaz says "Ok, there is no ending to this anytime soon, because Kaz is not leaving when Bernie's being this fun. Dammit. So can we just kinda agree they were all nice to each other for awhile?"

Pack> Bernie laughs. Sure, we can do that.