BUFFY: So then my mom goes off on me about how I'm supposed to watch out for Dawn and make sure that she's shielded from something that might upset her.

RILEY: Like dead shopkeepers.

BUFFY: She didn't see him! A foot, maybe. A dead foot, which is bad, okay, but hello, I see dead stuff *all* the time, and you don't see Mom shielding me.

RILEY: So you want your mother to give you space to be a slayer, and shield you from it at the same time.

BUFFY: Thank you, logic boy. Did I mention this is a rant? Sense really has no place in it.

RILEY: I'm getting that. (sighs) What's the deal, Buffy? You seem really-

Buffy stops him by putting out a hand. She stops walking and looks intently to her right.

BUFFY: Oh, trash can. From a distance it looked kinda-

RILEY: Tense.

BUFFY: Nooo, I-I was gonna say brown, squat, shadowy...

RILEY: Uh-uh. Back to what I was saying before we were rudely attacked by nothing. You seem really tense.

BUFFY: (shrugs) Yeah, there's a new vampire gang in town.

RILEY: I mean domestically tense. You're on Dawn's case a lot.

BUFFY: I guess. It's just... (sighs) I don't know, it ... I know it's always been this way. She's the baby. But for some reason lately, it's just really getting to me. She's *always* around.

RILEY: Well, yeah. You're like her idol, Buffy.

BUFFY: Her idol? I don't think so, unless you like to spill things on your idol's new leather pants, and-

RILEY: You know what I mean. You have super powers ... and college ... a studly yet sensitive boyfriend...

BUFFY: And a pesky life-or-death job that I can't quit or even take a break from.

RILEY: She doesn't get the sacrifices. She's a kid.

BUFFY: And that's what bugs. *She* gets to be a kid, and she acts like it's the biggest burden in the world. Sometimes *I* would like to just curl up in Mom's lap and not worry about the fate of the world. I'd like to be the one who's protected, who's waited on-

• Buffy & Dawn
• Buffy & Riley
• Slayerhood

written by: David Fury; transcribed by Joan the English Chick (pisces@englishchick.com). Full transcript at:
http://www.studiesinwords.de/80realme.html