Training Day

[bratty_dawn]

Who: Dawn and Buffy
Where: Training Room of the Mansion
When: Mid-morning
What: Buffy and Dawn hanging, working on some training techniques
Status: Complete :)

Comments

[bratty_dawn]

"Plenty that you can learn from actual experience rather than books," Dawn agreed. Well, Buffy had learned most of her stuff from experience rather than books. Buffy wasn't a book person. Nothing bad about that, really. Just kind of her style. Dawn just happened to be more of a book person, herself. Of course, Dawn had 'grown up' around this sort of stuff, sneaking books because Buffy wouldn't let her read them and such. Books kicked ass, in Dawn's personal opinion.

"I can deal with geekiness. I've got a bit of it, myself," Dawn admitted with a laugh. She actually got along with Andrew OK as well. Sure, he could be pushy as all get out, but he really wasn't that bad once you got used to him. He just took adjusting. Maybe she could get him to do another DnD game. Sounded like fun, when she had heard about it afterward. "I've hung out with her a bit, so I think we'll be OK."

"So glad you're willing to do some training," Dawn admitted with a sigh of relief. "Not only will it let you get to know the other girls, but it will help me avoid some Giles-size bruises like he used to get." He used to get completely covered in bruises because of Buffy. She totally remembered that from way back when.

[theslayer_buffy]

"Good," she said, "I doubt she'll give you any trouble, too." She knew Saskia would probably be just as nervous having Dawn as her watcher as Dawn was to finally be in charge of a slayer. But, oddly enough, Buffy figured that would actually be a good match-up.

She laughed lightly, "Yeah, I'm sure Giles can tell you some stories. But, I'm sure if your slayer accidentally wacked you with a large pole, she'd apologize instead of be all giddy about it." She was totally guilty of being smug and overly-happy whenever she bested Giles. Or proved him wrong with her skills, at least.

She perched on the pommel horse as she looked at her sister, "Is there anything else you need help with?" She had to admit that Buffy didn't know much of what was happening in Dawn's life anymore. "Or anything else going on with you? I feel like I have no idea what anyone is doing anymore."

[bratty_dawn]

"I'm not sure Saskia knows how to give much trouble," Dawn joked. Of course, it was kind of one of the things that she liked about Saskia was the fact that the girl was just so darn nice and non-trouble causing. Dawn had been in and caused enough trouble for a lifetime, and technically she was only about three or four years old. Of course, that was almost a sheer technicality at this point. No one mentioned it, anymore.

She laughed when Buffy told her about being giddy about whacking Giles with a pole. "Yeah, well, at least he let you play with the crossbow after that, right?" She remembered all about that. She was pretty sure he HAD given her the crossbow after that.

"Not much is going on in the life of Dawn, actually," she admitted to her sister. "Not really much to squeeze in between some school, some training, and some studying for being a Watcher. At least it's a good way to keep out of too much trouble." Being busy was a way to keep out of trouble. Maybe it was why she had grown to like being busy.

[theslayer_buffy]

"Even better," Buffy said, nodding with some satisfaction. She had never made it easy for Giles , but she didn't want her sister to have a hard time as a first time watcher. Of course, she'd been watcher junior for so long that it seemed ridiculous she didn't already have a slayer of her own.

She grinned, "Damn straight he did. And it's a good thing, too." She distantly recalled that Angel had used one of the bows of her crossbow to stake his sire, Darla. And that had been the first time she took the crossbow out in combat. Her aim was a million times better now, obviously.

"Keeping out of trouble is good," she agreed, "But, you gotta get away from the books every now and then and have some fun." This was such contradictory advice to what she used to tell her sister, but she was older and more mature. She knew Dawn could handle herself. "How else are you going to meet some boy and have a tragic love affair? Because everyone's gotta have at least one of those. I mean, look at me, mine is still going after eight or more years," she rolled her eyes slightly at herself.

[bratty_dawn]

Dawn had been studying for this all her life, huh? Well, maybe not literally, but for as long as she had really been around, she had always been immersed in this life. She was born to be a watcher. One time she thought that she had been a potential slayer, but that was something that didn't quite run in the family, it seemed.

"He may have been worried about what would happen to him if you didn't get to use the crossbow after that," Dawn pointed out to him. She might have let Buffy play with the crossbow after that as well. She hoped Saskia didn't get that way. Of course, Saskia didn't seem the type, but, when she got a good look at the weapons around them, she might get picky about it and decide she wanted something bad. Dawn would probably just let her have it, though, instead of trying to make her wait and use the giant stick thing first.

"Are you sure you're my sister and not a replicant or something?" Buffy telling her to go out and have a tragic love affair or something? "Yeah, I'd have to find a boy for that to happen, remember? This life doesn't lend itself to going out on dates much, remember?"

[theslayer_buffy]

Buffy laughed at Dawn's sheer confusion at her contradictory sisterly advice. "I'm definitely your sister. And no, obviously I don't want you to go around and get drunk and do drugs and boink a bunch of boys," she said, "But, I mean, having the boyfriend thing is a good experience."

She stood up straight and folded her arms, reverting back to her commanding sister demeanor, "But, as long as the boy is not evil or a vampire or any kind of demon because that is so totally bad news. Then again, regular boys can be just as bad, maybe worse. And obviously, sex is totally forbidden. I mean, come on, the first time I had sex? My boyfriend turned evil and started killing people. And the second time? Well, he was just a stereotypical boy, so he turned evil in the normal boy way by not calling and going after his next conquest right away," she paused, "I'm over-sharing, aren't I?"

She shook her head, "Either way, I just want you to have some kind of normal life. I know you're little watcher junior and that's all fabulous and good, but you're still young. You shouldn't be cooped up with books and slayers and vampires all day," Buffy told her, a little earnestly, "When I was your age, I would have given anything to have some kind of normal life. And you're not a slayer, so you're free to be a teenager."

[bratty_dawn]

Dawn actually giggled when Buffy said 'boink.' Such a weird word for sex, honestly. Not like she'd ever, you know, experienced it or anything, but it was still a weird word for something that was so intimate. "I'm sure having a boyfriend *is* a good experience if you can get out and meet a normal one, you know," she said.

"No, I don't want a boy that's evil or a vampire or anything like that. I'd like to meet and date a nice, normal guy for sure, but who has the time? Or the ability to go and meet normal people." And then her sister got way with the over-sharing. "Wow...someone still holds a tiny bit of a grudge, don't they?" Dawn asked with a grin. "Well, you can assume that he's at least caught something nasty and pus filled now, at least?" Trying to look on the bright side, OK?

"I'm working on the whole 'trying to be normal' now," Dawn said. "I'm thinking that I'm going to be able to conquer the whole 'being a Watcher with a Slayer' thing, so now I need to work on the 'having a little bit of a normal life' thing. Which is harder than it sounds."

"Maybe a part time job? I don't know, Giles held down both the high school library and the Magic Box, maybe I can at least work in a bookstore? Good way to meet people." Hey, it was a start, anyway.

[theslayer_buffy]

"True," she agreed, "It is hard to manage the crazy life schedule, complete with a boy, schedule. But, somehow you find a way. With me, it was usually easy since I sort of combined the two. But, I so don't recommend it. It just leads to badness and well, more badness."

Buffy laughed lightly at Dawn's teasing, "Hey, Parker was an ass, he totally deserves the grudge holding and I suggested to Willow long ago that if I brought him to a cave that vampires just happened to inhabit, it wouldn't really be like I killed him. I could just, you know, not save him," she said innocently. "I'm sure he has some disease by now. Or maybe he impregnated half the freshmen class, I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, I already got all vindicated from dating Scott Hope in high school with him telling everyone I was a big lesbian since he's gay now. So, there's gotta be something big and karmic that hit Parker."

She nodded, "Part-time job would be good. I recommend staying away from anything fast-food related. Just gets a little too hairy and creepy," she said. Not to mention the smell, which she somedays swore she could still pick up in her hair and older clothes. "Bookstore seems to definitely be your cup of tea. Plus, there's always that fancy discount you can get. Either that or a clothing store," she suggested. "Especially a really fancy clothing store so you can share you fabulous employee discount with your loving and caring sister," she smiled brightly at her.

[bratty_dawn]

"So not wanting to combine the two," Dawn said quickly. "I'd rather have to work harder at balancing the two than try to have a boyfriend that was somehow involved in all of this." It sounded kind of bad, but, after seeing how *not* well it had worked out for her sister time and time again, Dawn really had no interest in finding someone who worked in their field. OK, maybe another junior Watcher such as herself wouldn't be *too* bad of an idea, but she'd have to FIND a suitable one first.

"He probably either caught something gross or is the baby daddy of seven different girls," Dawn said with a giggle. OK, obviously she had been watching a lot of daytime talk shows to catch a phrase like that. She wouldn't be surprised to end up seeing Parker on one of those shows any day now.

"OK, no fast food. I'd rather be broke and bored," Dawn admitted. Seeing her sister work one of those jobs was bad enough. "Ooh, a clothing store would be awesome as well. Discounts are always nice." Either a bookstore or some sort of clothing store would be great, actually. She'd be happy at either.

[theslayer_buffy]

Buffy didn't blame her at all for wanting a normal boyfriend. She used to crave that so much, but found that trying to hide her identity was an even more exhausting job than being the slayer. Luckily for Dawn, she wasn't the slayer, so it was probably easier for her to try out the normal life thing. Plus, she so didn't want her sister dating vampires.

She laughed along with her sister, "God, I hope so. He totally deserved whatever he got. Of course, giving him a pretty serious concussion when I was all cave slayer was some nice closure. And Riley told me he punched him in the face once," she said, smiling slightly to herself, wishing she could have seen it.

"Well, you should totally start filling out applications to places, then," she said, "Plus, I bet a lot of kids are going back out-of-town for classes after their winter break, so there's probably a lot of openings."

(OOC: Sorry! This one kind of got buried in the inbox!)

[bratty_dawn]

Dawn had only gotten the description of what it had been like to see cave!Buffy, since it had happened at the college while Buffy was off mooning over Parker and drinking her sorrows away. The story had been pretty funny. Of course, the other cave people had caused some trouble and apparently started a fire, and Buffy, still feeling her Slayer instincts, had managed to rescue them. Showed that Buffy would save people no matter what was going on in her head, even drunk on cave woman beer.

"Riley punched him in the face? Goody two shoes Riley?" She had actually liked Riley, and wished that it had worked out between him and her sister, since he had kind of been a good stabilizing force, plus normal and not vampire-y. "Wow, score one for him then, huh?" That was neat to hear. She kind of wondered what he was up to lately, for that matter.

"I'll do that," Dawn said with a smile. "I'm sure I can find something around here that's not too scary or icky." She really didn't want to work fast food or anything like that. In all honesty, she'd rather be broke.

Re: (OOC: Sorry! This one kind of got buried in the inbox!)

[theslayer_buffy]

"So he told me," Buffy said, "But, his friends backed him up on that. Plus, Parker always looked kinda terrified whenever we spotted him when we were together. I guess since we both hit him in the head, he didn't want to be anywhere near us. It was definitely a nice form of closure for both of us," she mused.

Her thoughts turned momentarily to wondering where he was. What corner of the world was he and his (stupid, but way too nice to actually hate her) wife were demon hunting? But, she didn't want to dwell on that. Not when she had plenty of things to dwell on here.

She nodded to her sister, "Good. I hope you can find something normal for your normal teenage life's sake."

(OOC: No problem. I think this one is pretty much closed anyway!)