karoliena smiles when ada actually does answer her question. not because she got ada to cross the line that they all agreed wouldnt be crossed,but because it helped. it helped hammer things out between the two women. karoliena didnt care about details or any of that. erich had his private life and she had hers. but she knew erich wouldnt press for a reason as to why ada left, and "because she had to." was reason enough for karoliena. she had known erich since he as about 19. she knew he wasnt an easy person to get along with on a daily basis. much less carry a life one with. "i completely understand. his fun isnt for everyone. or at the very least,not fun for anyone but himself. " karoliena says with a small smile. ada had said all the right things to assure her of the relationship between ada and erich. karoliena sighs and looks out at her tourbus. it needed washed and this irritated her briefly. everything ada said was exactly what karoliena wanted to hear. much like when erica finally decided she was more than the person she was with, karoliena was pleased with the woman ada had grown into. "then my concerns are dashed. it seems the fires he still fed for you were justified." karoliena says to ada,very pleased with the direction ada had taken in her life. karoliena's own life was mystery outside of certain people,but she appreciated a good story of maturing. she listens as ada speaks about needing people on her side. karoliena wasnt sure if ada knew just how many people had her back. " you have gretchen and by extension erica. erich,obviously. and,well..me." karoliena tells ada with a hint of happiness. only cassie saw the emotional karoliena. emotion was a sign of weakness and would be exploited. ada and karoliena shared more in common than they knew. while karoliena wasnt physically abused,she had her share of mental abuse.

karoliena saw the genuine smile on ada's face and it made her happy. "to quote a famous red head: i am not bad,i am just drawn that way." karoliena laughs musically. lord only knows what erich had told this woman. while karoliena fully understood she could be severe,she didnt see herself as unreasonable or evil. she also wasnt sure how much ada had known in regards to where erica had been as of late. it wasnt karolien's place,so that was between ada and erica." you know,i have cupcakes in the bus. they arent the best as i made them in a convection oven,they they will do the trick." karoliena warmly offers to ada. she really didnt want to argue with the women,she just wanted to make sure she wasnt using erich for a good time. " so how is marlena? she looks like a wonderful little ball of joy in the picture you posted."

Karoliena wanted to dislike Ada for the trouble she and Erich brought into her life. But the woman said she had changed and matured,so Karoliena would give her a chance. The test would come after the tour when Ada and Erich weren't together all the time. "Bitte sehr. "Karoliena responds and waits while Ada snubs the cigarette out. She does start to quietly laugh after a second. " i guess Erich and erica really are a lot alike. They both have a thing for the germans. Now these cupcakes won't look pretty. They're just for Erich and i . He hates icing and I've been far too lazy to make them pretty just for me." Karoliena offers as excuse for the upcoming plain cupcakes. She usually preferred making an impact than being nice. But Ada looked like she could use a Cupcake and the two women had a lot in common in regards to their lives. Ada seemed much more comfortable talking about Marlena than herself. It made Karoliena happy that Marlena brought such joy to Ada. Maybe she really had changed. Karoliena had always sort of seen Ada as selfish and being any level of decent parent required selflessness. Karoliena was pretty sure she and Ada weren't friendly enough for her to make a joke about only erich being dramatic. " i don't think you give yourself enough credit. Erich says all those things to describe you. Especially the entertaining part." Karoliena tells her before laughing. " i love how she was just completely cool with finding out who her dad was. Don't you just adore kids?" Karoliena asks warmly. Having kids had changed Karoliena. More than most people would ever know.

"Well,don't tell any one these are just normal cupcakes. I have a reputation to uphold." Karoliena laughs lightly as they make their way over to the tour bus. She found it quaint that erich and and Ada traveled separately. She could tell what was up the moment she saw them. But they tried to keep up appearances they weren't a couple to the general public. Ada's American phrase made Karoliena smile. American phrases were indeed silly. Cassie was a wealth of them." Maybe it just wasn't that important to her? Cassie's twins never seem to be concerned with that subject. Eris hasn't asked. But Jody? She's old enough to where it's an issue. But nobody has seen him in years. Probably for the best." Karoliena quips with a hint of hostility. Karoliena had no love for jason Smith. But soon,Karoliena is pleasant again when speaking on how the children are. " oh it's a mess. Jody is too old to play with The twins. Gia and Cole are too old to play with eris. So There is a lot of screaming and crying. But every week there is about a 2 hour window where it all works smoothly." Karoliena smiles. She enjoys the chaos as her upbringing was unsurprisingly very repressed and cold.
When Karoliena gets to the bus door,she does wonder if Ada had already been inside. She and erich had to be going somewhere. Karoliena opens the door and steps aside for Ada to enter first. The bus is surprisingly clean inside. Mostly due to Karoliena making sure everyone picks up after themselves. She isnt living with anyone's mess who didn't come our of her or Cassie. Once inside as well,Karoliena retrieves a small amd brightly coloured tray with six cupcakes on it. They are vanilla ones,chocolate ones,and two strawberry ones. They have teal wrappers with chocolate frosting. She offers Ada a napkin as well. While it would be fun to wafch Ada try to get crumbs anywhere,Karoliena wasn't that cruel.

"Perhaps you've done a great job at raising a little person." Karoliena replies warmly. She knew Ada had her issues. She had been subtly checking to see if any fresh wounds were visible on Ada. Sha hadn't seen any,so hopefully that was over. Also the rumors that Ada had lost custody of Marlena were thankfully false. From every thing Karoliena could see,Ada got her shit together...at least enough. From Erich's words,Marlena seemed very pleased in life. Ada had done a good job.

Karoliena smiles devilishly when Ada compliments her cupcake. She couldn't resist having a teensy bit of fun at their interaction. " it's like you can barely taste the arsenic." She comments calmly after Ada takes a bite. She finds Ada talking while eating the cupcake to be quite a compliment. She was rather proud of her baking but really enjoyed compliments by someone she wasn't related to. " why thank you,ada. I'll have lots throughout the tour. Baking is my Zen." Karoliena laughs before taking a bite 9f her own cupcake,a strawberry one. She quickly dabs her nose with a napkin when the frosting touches it. " it is difficult .I have a blooper reel a mile long. When a 5 year old won't eat a Cupcake, you know you've fucked up." Karoliena laughs and studies Ada for a moment. Karoliena liked selene a lot. They had things in common. But a large portion of Karoliena's life,selene would have no interest in. Baking,children,things like that. Ada,however,did. " if you want,we could bake together sometime. It could be fun." Karoliena offered with a little shrug.

karoliena gives ada a wry smile and shrugs. "i was going to go with cyanide,but arsenic is just so classic. you know?" karoliena holds up her tray of cupcakes again to ada to offer another cupcake. karoliena already sat a second one,a chocolate one,aside for herself. karoliena gives a little nod when ada refuses her offer to help with baking. karoliena was surprisingly sensitive and took this very personally. but,she would never let the exterior show this. "well,i do like this bus." she smiles while looking around at their surroundings. she found it hard to believe they ever used to tour in an old hearse. she did love the space the bus offered...and the safety of having an actual bus driver instead of her or erich driving. neither were bastions of sobriety.

"well,i do appreciate it. at least someone appreciates these things cost money and dont just magically appear." she answers sweetly. she really enjoyed working with erich. she must,atomic war bride has been together since they were both teenagers. but the man never put thought into the work and expense that went into making a tour happen. being married to the manager did give karoliena a very intimate view of how the sausage was made,so to speak. karoliena finishes her own cupcake and unwraps the second one. this morning she pictured perhaps throwing a cupcake at ada,not eating one with her. but here they were. karoliena took her role as parent seriously and thought maybe a good role model wouldnt throw pastries at some woman for something that happened a long time ago. "it is fine. savannah is a sweetheart,though erich says she has a wild streak in her. havent spent a lot time with her." karoliena says pleasantly. she also wasnt a good small talker and usually only said something if she deemed it useful." there really isnt a better band to tour with then,huh?" she replies when their touring history was brought up. ada was correct,there was a time when if it wasnt atomic war bride touring with ada,it was the harlots. thinking of the harlots did strike a memory in karoliena. it seemed everyone's ex's were coming back. "ada,may i ask a question? i think you might know. dont worry,it isnt anything on the forbidden list." karoliena pipes up,her tone was obvious when she was making pointless small talk.

karoliena wanted to tell ada just to shoot the receipts over to cassie and it'd be taken care of. she knew that if erich wasnt here,the likelihood of ada appearing and going right back out on tour would be slim. but she didnt want ada to think she was either judging or,or assuming that ada burned through the money she had made during the first part of her career. but,ada was talented enough to make this be a success. she wasnt karoliena's taste,but she could recognize talent when it was there. "i think you'll like her. shes very...southern. " karoliena says with a smile. she found the southern accent charming. other than erich,savannah was the only person she really had spoken to that had it. karoliena smiles at the mention of the old days. they had their little group and it traveled like a herd of nomads across the world. there was a lot of good times there. karoliena even dated one of the acts of hate guys...she wasnt faithful to him,but she dated him. he just wasnt into her brand of love. "i do miss those days. it seemed so....perfect. i seem to remember something about creepy corn farmers." karoliena says longingly. she loved her life now,but she was tired of mainly touring with just the harlots. "funny you should mention...tea?" karoliena offers,getting up and walking to the small kitchen to heat up the kettle. she didnt want for ada to accept. she wanted tea anyway and it would be rude to not offer. ada could be a coffee drinker for all she knew. karoliena did not stock coffee. "well...and tell me if i am over stepping here." karoliena starts. the ball was in ada's court now and she had to respect that. "i know you two were friends,but did you keep in touch with nichole?" karoliena asks,leaning against the rangetop and facing ada. she wasnt wanting to gossip,she really wanted to know if she had to prepare erica for her own blast from the past. unlike ada,karoliena had zero need to be respectful to nichole.

"i've heard stories you are fond of them." karoliena says with a little laugh. karoliena would never pick up on ada's having any issue with people seeing her eat anything. she'd never even consider it. she had known from erich that ada was self conscious about her body. he had come to her several times when ada began dropping weight like crazy. this is why karoliena made no mention about how tiny ada was now. she wasnt exactly big before. but the woman was tiny now,like erica sized. even at her cruelest,karoliena wouldnt have brought this up. she had strange limits as she absolutely would have brought up self harm if ada had pissed her off earlier. karoliena gets down two cups and saucers. they were the kind of white china cups that peoples grandparents usually had. rather ugly and undoubtedly valuable. she pours the cups and places a teabag in each before picking up a bottle of honey to bring over to ada. she unfolds the small table and places it in front of them. "i hope honey is enough. when as much absinthe is drank as it is around here,sugarcubes are in short order." she explains before speaking about the old days. "if we could go back,eh? would those goofy people take our warnings that most would be parents in a few years? acts of hate would fuck off,never to be seen again. i like stability now,but i miss it,ada." karoliena was warming to the idea of speaking with ada on more than an erich based basis. there were precious few people who were there and could understand what it was like and how far a lot of them came. while they waited for the tea to steep,karoliena repeated,"Massachusetts." she sighs and crosses her legs. while she initially wasnt pleased with ericha for returning to ada,she could see why he would. she was charming and could be funny.she was adorable. nichole however...had none of those things in karolieans book. she was also far closer to erica than she previously had been. "is she well?" karoliena asks withg a tone that is hard to read on if she hopes she is well or not.

Karoliena gives a little nod when Ada refuses honey. Karoliena wasn't cultured enough to take her tea without sweetener or sometimes cream. She knew it seemed to greatly upset purists,so that was all the more reason she did. The honey container she had was a plastic pooh bear squeeze botttle. She couldn't be fancy all the time,could she? It was strange talking to Ada and hearing the longing for the freedom of the old days. It was something she had coped with herself. "Its unsolicited advice,but... You can still have it while on the road. Our kids are going to find out about our deeds one way or the other. " Karoliena offers with a shrug before squeezing honey into tea and stirring it silently. Other than their voices,it was rather quiet and she didn't want the clinking of her spoon to break that. " my children one day will know somewhat of what goes on behind the locked and heavy wooden door. That is going to be an awkward time. But it doesn't change how cassie and i are to them. As long as you aren't drinking like a fish and stealing other women's men at home? I'd say go for it." She says with a sly smile. They may not be at the level of friendship where a joke like that could be made,but deep down: Karoliena enjoyed mischief,especially from people she didn't expect it from. Now that she understood Ada's stance on the relationship with Erich,she felt it was a pleasant little conspiracy. Karoliena's eyes widen as ada speaks. She laughs very hard and clasps her hands in delight. "Oh my god. Someone put it into words! Nichols aside. Yes! If i didn't know Erich,half the things he does would be utterly terrifying. " she has a wide grin on her face. She was glad someone else saw it too. While they know erich as a harmless weirdo,coming in cold to him?! No thank you. Karoliena looks off briefly in thought about Ada's words. To her it sounded concerning. But then again,she didn't know the woman very well at all. " for the children's sake, I hope she is well enough." Karoliena says simply. " i did appreciate her work. That's all i appreciated about her." Karoliena says slightly cold. They had lots of good memories touring with vile hour. But she had lots of bad memories of Nicole herself. " i think she will return to a very lonely existence." Karoliena says evenly.