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Too good to be true, that's what this place is.

Or that's what Faith decides on her third pass through its halls. Through the lavish reception area, past that long as hell dining room table, and then the stocked buffet table -- Faith had stuck to the walls and the shadows, playing recon for almost an hour.

"Swear to god I'm not making a twins joke..." She mutters to herself as she steps out in full view, choosing to invite whatever trouble might come her way. Sure, maybe she'll sample some of the food just sitting out for the taking. Peek into some rooms, maybe try to find the head. She'll wind up at the bar, though, asking if the tender accepts euros. Long day like this one means she's definitely going to need a drink.

Or ten. Then she can figure out if this is a vacation on a platter or some kind of wacko fever dream she's got to fight her way out of.

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Well, color her impressed. Faith's not as averse to research as she'd like people to believe. Add in the fact that she has no idea who she's really talking to, and Dawn's going to get a version of Faith she generally wouldn't ever let a Sunnydaler see: she smiles wide, nodding.

"Woah, no way. Even the crazy pictures and the special characters and stuff?" She will go head and make herself comfortable, too. She needs a break after what she'd been through her first few hours here.

"Totally with every weird symbol and tri-horned head." Dawn nods. She had her usefulness. Not as useful as most. But she tried to stay relevant in her sister's world, as much as she could anyway. And the database had been a pet project of hers initially started by Giles and Jenny Calendar. But continually added to by Dawn and Xander. It was their way of helping while not being in the way anymore.

She smiles a bit when Faith joins her. "And let me tell you, some of those images I could do without cause... ew. Right?"

She shrugs, never having been squicked by that stuff. Sure, some of her indifference was a crafted front, but when it came to the dirty side of her job, Faith tended to dig in.

"I dunno, I always dug that stuff. Nastier the better."

Her nose wrinkles a bit, but she's still smiling so it sort of softens the effect. "You would say that." But honestly, she's always thought Faith was pretty cool, ever since she had helped out with the hellmouth in Sunnydale. Before then, she hadn't been too fond of her for obvious reasons. But since then, well Faith was cool and she had her respect. Not that Faith knew that or cared at all, really. But it was what it was.

"You know, Buffy's here too." She offers, by way of letting Faith know that she knew some people here beside Buffy's little sister.

Yeah, she'd spent some serious time making terrible life choices. She might not be too indifferent to know Dawn's opinion of her, though, if she knew Dawn at all. Which, the absence of that knowledge has Faith cocking her head to the side trying to connect the dots between Dawn's first comment and the second.

"Right, yeah. Buffy. Sorry, I'm kinda crap with names." There were too many new slayers for Faith to keep up with, even making the efforts she did. "What was your name, again? If you're not part of my troop or whatever, I get a little mixed up with all of you guys."

"What, did you hit your head on the way in?" Dawn asks quickly. Because that's the only thing she can come up with as to why Faith wouldn't know her name. Sure, she was always Buffy's little sister more than anything important to the Slayerettes. But she was pretty sure that Faith knew her name at least as inconsequential as she might be in the grand scheme of Faith's life.

"I'm Dawn. Buffy's sister?" Yeah, she's a little bit offended. She can't help it. She feels invisible a lot of the time since her sister casts such a big shadow. So she sounds positively petulant in spite of the fact that she's not a kid to excuse the petulance anymore. "Not a Slayer."

"Dawn." That gives her some pause, and Faith takes a little while longer than might be comfortable to watch Dawn and assess what's happening.

Buffy had asked for her help with a Dawn, and she hadn't thought much of it. Too much had been piled on her plate at the time, too many secrets. She didn't have time to just drop everything and come running when Queen B requested. She'd justified it by the sheer number of slayers Buffy must have at her beck and call. Sure, a lot of them were pissed but Faith knew for a fact there were also factions that were loyal to her. You just had to dig around and find them.

"OK, well, Buffy doesn't have a sister. Is this some kinda New Council slang or something?"

'Buffy doesn't have a sister.'

All the color seemed to drain out of Dawn's already pale face. She'd heard those words before, and even something close to them from Buffy's mouth herself before she had accepted what had been dropped into her lap and forced on her. But it had been a long while since she had heard them, admittedly. And something about hearing them now and here where it was strange and not her home, well, all of the color left her face and the expression drained from her features.

She could feel her throat closing tight, heat blotching her skin and the tears filling her eyes. She began to pack up her things, shoving her journal and pens in her bag as quickly as she possibly could. "Yeah, well..." Her voice is tight as she stands up and tries to think of a witty come back. She fails and is all anger all of a sudden as she yells at Faith. "Shut up!" Then she turns to make the hastiest exit of all the the hasty exits, literally running to get to her room before anyone, especially Faith, can see her cry.

Well, what can Faith do but watch helplessly as her words cut into Dawn with some serious force?

She'd said she wasn't a slayer -- if Faith had been in her shoes, there simply would've been punching and anger, but for someone who doesn't have that choice she had to guess running away was the best coping mechanism.

It leaves Faith seriously contemplating her own sanity, and contemplating the reality of this hotel. She wants to wish that Angel or Giles were here, but she had to face it: they weren't much saner than she felt right now, anyway.

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