"Thanks!" Dawn yelled back from inside the bathroom.

A few minutes later, Dawn returned, clean and dry axe in hand. She also had water spots on her shirt from where she'd tried to get a few random blood splatters out.

She took a seat at the counter, placing her weapon on the counter next to her, within easy reach. Dawn took a slow spin on the stool, glancing around, casually taking in the changes. Not at all searching for gremlins who had decided to follow her into the diner.

"Thanks," she said, taking the plate and cradling her coffee carefully. "Yup. How could you tell?"

Dawn eyed him more closely. Even here, it paid to notice who paid attention. Maybe especially here.

"I don't know that it technically counts as battle. I mean, world's not ending..."

"How long have you been here?" She asked, taking a bite of food.

Actually pretty good, and it wasn't like a lot of places would make it for her, especially in Scotland.

Again she considered him. "There's kind of levels, here, y'know? Like, this is kinda not a big deal, and you get used to the blood and the fighting, but then there's bigger, badder stuff that happens. Possessions, angels that send you back in time...stuff like that. No so much with the dangers of world endage here, at least when I was here. But that was a few years ago, y'know?"

"Wasn't trying to," she shrugged. "Just warning you. This place needs people who can fight, to protect the ones who can't. So...you needed to know, just in case you didn't."

"...wait. Abducted by aliens? Ohmigod, are you okay?"

Dawn forgot that sometimes, people didn't like to talk about traumatic events.

"Like computer hacked, or hacked it with something else?" Another bite, another sip of coffee. "Yep. Feels like a hundred years ago, but I did. Haven't been back a lot since."

Kind of the understatement, Dawn.

"Cool! One of my sister's best friends is an amazing hacker," Dawn grinned back at him. "Sounds like a good team. Back home, I'm kinda the brains while I'm in training. My boyfriend was a carpenter, but now he's kind of in charge of keeping all the slayers organized."

"Vampires," she said, "Although we've kinda branched out into demons and general world saveage."

"Usually fighting." Except for Buffy, who had always had her own way of doing things. "One or two don't eat people."

"I haven't met her, I don't think," Dawn decided. "And with us, there's kind of a before and after. Not having a soul anymore makes a big difference."

Dawn studied everything she could find about souls. She had a somewhat vested interest in the subject.