014: There's No Place Like Home [Location: the Hilltop Cafe]

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Despite breaking the speed limit in an attempt to make up for lost time, DG had arrived at the cafe fifteen minutes after the start of her shift. It hadn't been her fault. For once, she hadn't been sketching or procrastinating and had a legitimate excuse for her lateness. It hadn't been her fault that her lecturer had decided to ignore the bell and carry on talking, after all.

Unfortunately, the Extra in charge wasn't the sort of man to listen to excuses. He was the sort of man to lecture an already frustrated DG while she pulled on her apron and made empty promises about being more careful in the future.

By the time she made her way out of the kitchen and into the cafe, she was in a foul mood. The lecture had had the opposite effect to the one he'd intended. It had reminded her why she hated this job and why she'd escape from it - from the Hilltop Cafe, from the irritating college students she had to work with, from the police officers that were probably rubbing their hands together at the thought of giving her another ticket - one day.

She forced herself to smile - a sickly sweet sort of smile - at the nearest customer, holding out her coffee pot.

"Want a refill?"

This wasn't her. This wasn't her life. The sooner people realised that, the better.

[ visual ] [ location:summers castle ] i'm empty and aching and tumbling and breaking

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( and i said goodbye to you | cut to save your flists )

It takes her a little bit to get the crying under control, and once she does Dawn raises her head to look at the empty room, the still un-broken tablet shining mockingly bright in the sunlight coming through the windows.

The castle is hers. It still sounds weird. Not right. But it is, and she rises slowly to grab the tablet, moving like each breath hurts. The castle's hers, and Buffy's gone. There's... things. Things she should do.

It would probably be better to keep this on voice, but Dawn barely has the presence of mind of give the heads up at all so visual it will stay.

"So. For anyone who didn't know," she clears her throat, voice scratchy. "Sorry. Buffy Summers went-- went home. And I guess the castle is mine, now." Letting her hair swing down in front of her face for a moment, she sighs. "I just... thought I should say. Or something."

She inhales, about to say something else; then it hits her again that Buffy's gone; not a continent away, not reachable by email or cell but gone, and Dawn feels like part of her got ripped away too. She's echoing and hollow, aching inside. Shaking her head, she switches off the tablet abruptly.

[ ooc | slightly forward dated to just after the glitch ends; i know i'm still technically on hiatus but with me being gone for so long, i wanted to get this up because i couldn't not have dawn react to the loss of buffy. tablet or action for castle denizens/dawn's friends. ♥ ]