“So long as it would keep me warm I’m sure I’ll love it. If you want I can help you pick out knitting or crocheting books, get you set up and you can try with a bit of yarn and then do the scarf so I won’t have a ruined surprise.”
Joyce was actually touched that her daughter was considering making her a scarf. The one she had been wearing was starting to get in its years. Fraying and not keeping the cold out as much. If this was something Dawn really wanted to do and not one of the forgotten half projects, it might just be one of the best Christmas presents that would be hard to top in later years.
“That’d be great!"
Her face lit up at her mom’s suggestion. Sure, that wouldn’t be quite as cool as making it herself from scratch, but this way Dawn would at least know what she was doing– and probably make something that would look a h e l l of a lot better, too.
She was about to react with a typically sardonic retort, when her trademark ‘smug villain’ routine was interrupted by a fit of coughing and gasping for breath.
Upon partial recovery, she stared at The Key in silence.
“And what exactly might you be looking at..?”
As the silence stretched out, Dawn felt her fear slowly dissipate, replaced with– amusement? Not that this situation wasn’t still scary, but something about seeing a powerful vampire choking for air was kind of hilarious.
Wait– for air? But didn’t vampires not have to breathe?
Joyce chuckled at that idea. “And I appreciated every moment of the macaroni gooey art project.” Her gaze went to the coat rack for a moment. “I could use a new scarf….”
“I could try to make one! I can’t promise it’ll be very good, though– since I’m not really sure how to make it…"
Dawn had never bothered with knitting or anything else of the sort before, so this could turn out to be quite the challenge. Hopefully, Buffy or one of her friends would know at least a little more about it than she did– because if that was what her mom wanted, then Dawn would be damned if she didn’t at least try to make it for her.
“Not a clue…” Tara answered, continuing to smile as she saw Dawn’s expression brighten slightly. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?”
“I guess so!” Dawn replied enthusiastically. Trying out new things with Tara was always fun, but it was especially exciting when there was bound to be mikshake-y goodness involved. “Are you ready to go?”
high schoolers could be fiercely ill - behaved, and that was not something that was hidden from caroline as she watched them interact with dawn. she only had to deal with catty frenemies when she was in high school. sometimes she was ashamed to admit it, but it had been caroline that had started off as the ill - behaved & somewhat of a bully person. it had all been in a matter to get them before they could get h e r. she knew now that it hadn’t been the best choice, but it was too late to worry about her early years in high school. it hadn’t been to late to intervene now for dawn, so caroline put a plug in it before the girls could get too catty.
❝ hey —— what was that about? ❞
❝ Hey, Care.❞
The words were low and ground out slowly, matching Dawn’s all-around pathetic mood. Dealing with a c e r t a i n few of her classmates was bad enough on an average day, but of course they had to decide to be particularly catty on one of the worst days of her week. She knew that she should just ignore them– - they can’t get to you unless you let them, as she was always told– - but unfortunately, being the bigger person was oftentimes much easier said than done.
Much, much easier.
❝ It’s nothing– - just some girls being stupid. You know, the usual in high school.❞
“Are you sure? Because I think that is a very good idea… no? Well… you could always make something for me like you used to.” She really didn’t know what she wanted for Christmas, she was focusing on the girls and their presents more.
"As long as you don’t ask for macaroni art like the kind I made when I was five, we’ve got a deal.“
Now, if only she could figure out just what to make for her mom…
“It sounds like we have a plan then…” Tara replied, smiling as she saw the enthusiasm behind Dawn’s nod. “…they might. I t-think I heard them mention getting n-new flavors last time we went…”
“Oh, really?” Dawn seemed to brighten even further at the confirmation of new flavors– - if that was even possible at this point. “Any idea what’s new?” she asked, as she stood to grab the house key before they left.
