"I’m just gonna step out for a minute,“ the teenager called back to the redheaded would-be-slayer hovering in the doorway between the entryway and the living room, where the other potentials had gathered. Vi hesitated for a brief moment, a look of concern painting her features, but in the end she went to join the rest of the group to learn fighting techniques or harbinger hunting patterns or whatever survival tip was the flavor of the night. The former key had stopped attending about a week prior, sick of the looks the other girls shot her whenever she made a suggestion, as if they were wondering what she was even doing there, as if she didn’t already have more experience than most of them combined just from growing up with Buffy. Not that said older sister even noticed and not that Dawn blamed her because, yeah, she had a lot on her plate, but that also didn’t mean the younger Summers had to sit there and take it.
Closing the door softly behind her, Dawn leaned back against it and took a deep breath, waiting for the fresh air to clear her head only to be accosted by the acrid scent of cigarette smoke, something she was all too familiar with after spending her afternoons perched on Spike’s couch. Wrinkling her nose, she turned towards the source expecting to see platinum blonde locks and unsure how she felt about it, only to find long, dark tresses and, oh, she knew how she felt about that; uncomfortable.
"Oh. I didn’t know anyone else would be out there. I can go if you want.” Just saying the words makes her shoulders slump, weariness weighing down on her. She was tired of being sent running in her own home, her safe haven. At least, it had been.