[ visual | castle summers ] you're going to catch a cold from the ice inside your soul

[tothelibrary]

[ the tablet clicks on to reveal dawn; she's sitting in her room at the castle, hair wet and pulled back in a tight ponytail, looking fragile and practically swimming in a sweatshirt that only a few people left in taxon will recognize as xander's. ]Hi-- um. I should have probably planned what I was going to say before I turned this on. It might

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[slayersidekick]

[ willow knows this position so, so well and she really feels for dawn right now. it's taken her months to work around getting over hers, so she knows dawn will take time, too. ]

We're just glad you're okay, too, Dawnie.

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[tothelibrary]

Somehow I think the people I bit might be less zen.

[ not that she's wallowing in guilt or anything. ]

[visual--->locked] SOB MY HTML TODAY

[slayersidekick]

[ two months later, willow's STILL got the guilt thing going on. she raises her eyebrows. ]

Dawn. Magic's a part of me. That part of me got out of control in February. People forgave me for hurting and threatening them. They'll forgive you, too.

[visual--->locked] S'ALL GOOD BOO /theater tags >.>

[tothelibrary]

I could have killed them, Willow. I wanted to. How do I--

[ she sighs. ] How do I fix that?

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[verylittlesugar]

The transmission is open for a long time before Mattie finally speaks.]

I want to understand what happened.

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[tothelibrary]

[ dawn lets her own silence lapse before speaking up. ]

They're called glitches. They make you into things, things you're not. I-- [ i was hurt during one once. but this isn't about dawn, and she shrugs helplessly. ] I wish I could take it back.

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[verylittlesugar]

I know that. I want to understand why you did the things you did, while you were a vampire.

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[tothelibrary]

[ 'because i was evil' is on the tip of dawn's tongue, but it seems too flippant. ]

I-- she was hungry, and... you seemed like you would be easy to eat. And she was still kind of annoyed you called her a prostitute.

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[aregulargirl]

How are you doing?

[ 'not well' is the obvious answer, and max feels like an idiot asking it, especially since she doesn't know dawn terribly well. but she likes her enough to want to make sure she'll be okay. ]

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[tothelibrary]

On a scale of zero to I want to die, I'm hovering somewhere around 'become a hermit and self-flagellate for fifty years'.

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[aregulargirl]

Well, that's better than 'I want to die', at least.

[ her voice is gentle, lightly joking. ]

Things'll be okay. That wasn't you.

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[tothelibrary]

Suicide is a little melodramatic.

[ she sighs, quietly. ]

Not my personality, fine. But it was my face and my body, and just because I couldn't stop it doesn't mean they can't hate me anyway.

never mind the pain or the aggravation, she found there's a better way for you and me to be;

[adeadringer]

[ about an hour after dawn's broadcast is posted, elena is in the doorway of her room, knocking lightly at the frame. she's been staying with jenna at her old house, which is in taxon now, but the moment she saw the transmission, she wanted to make sure that dawn would be all right. ]

never mind the pain or the aggravation, she found there's a better way for you and me to be;

[tothelibrary]

[ by this point, dawn is curled up on top of her blanket, just staring blankly at the wall. when elena knocks she sits up, slowly. ]

Hey, Elena.

never mind the pain or the aggravation, she found there's a better way for you and me to be;

[adeadringer]

Hey.

[ she hangs in the doorway for a bit, shifting something from one hand to the other behind her back. ]

Mind if I come in?

never mind the pain or the aggravation, she found there's a better way for you and me to be;

[tothelibrary]

Nope. As long as you don't mind attempted murderers.

[ the joke falls so very, completely flat. ]

[Visual]

[prophecy_boy]

[The girl on the video feed is unfamiliar to him, but Connor can't help feeling sympathetic. She's upset, clearly desperate to be forgiven. He knows how that feels, except he's not been brave enough to ask for it yet.]

Hey... you don't have to be so nervous. If they care about you... they'll forgive you.

[Because according to Angel, that's what being friends, or being family, was about.]

[Visual]

[tothelibrary]

Some things aren't-- [ wait. dawn knows that voice. it's one of the few that could get her to set aside moping and smile genuinely. ] Oh my god, Connor? Why didn't you tell me you were back? I missed you.

[Visual]

[prophecy_boy]

[Uh. He's not sure how to handle that. She... knows him? Well, Angel and Faith had both mentioned that he'd been here before. He rubbed at the back of his neck, bashful.]

I'm sorry... I've never met you before.

[Visual]

[tothelibrary]

What do you-- oh. [ she pauses for a second. ] Oh.

[ that one is sadder; connor is connor, and she's glad to see him regardless. still, not being remembered is a sore point and beyond that, she'll miss the ease they built up. ] Don't apologize, it's not you. Let me try that again, without the creepy stalker vibe?

[ deep breath, and a smile again. ] Hi, I'm Dawn. Welcome to Taxon.