New Life, New Time...Same Crap

[Dawn Summers]

She couldn't believe it...she was finally at college. Dawn had been fighting for this moment since she graduated from high school but Buffy was so against her moving to a new town, let alone a city like Los Angeles without her or the Scooby Gang. She had to finally put her foor down and tell her sister that she was eighteen now: a full-fledged adult...and could do whatever she wanted with or without her big sister's approval.

After that fight, Buffy had finally given in and let Dawn go...with the exception that Dawn check in every weekend and give Buffy the lowdown on what was going on...if she didn't...well, all in all, Buffy had threatened to come to the UCLA campus and personally see why Dawn hadn't contacted her.

She had already been to the campus for a month now and she loved it. Her sister had pulled some strings and instead of living on campus in the dorms, she had managed to get a one bedroom apartment that was spacious. She had a bedroom that could actually fit two beds, a living room, a bathroom and a kitchen. She just couldn't believe that she was finally living on her own and not sharing the apartment with a bunch of girls like back in Sunnydale.

That night, she had finished her homework and studying and had decided to go out and party that night. Grabbing her purse, she looked around and grinned a little seeing the stake that her sister had given her as a 'going away present'. Picking it up, she grinned again "Well Mr. Pointy...you ready for a night on the town?"

Putting the stake in her purse, she checked her makeup and hair then made her way out of the apartment. Locking the door, she looked up and down the hallway before starting down the stairs. Making her way outside to the sidewalk, she sighed as she felt the wind go through her hair.

Making her way down the sidewalk and thinking about hitting one of the nightspots, she saw a woman crossing the road then stopped as she saw a guy following her at a distance. Raising an eyebrow she shook her head "No...nothing strange about that...right..."

Deciding to investigate, she followed them at a distance then arched an eyebrow as she heard a scream "And here I thought it was going to be a quiet night..." Running down the street, she looked down an alleyway and saw the guy starting to bite on the girls neck "Damn...and I thought you guys were only in Sunnydale."

Distracting the vampire, she saw the woman looking at her startled. Shaking her head at the woman, Dawn reached into her purse, tugging out the stake "Uh...now would be a good time to run."

Seeing the woman take off, she watched as the vampire took off after her. Narrowing her eyes, Dawn sighed "I didn't mean you!!" Taking off after the vampire, she grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into a wall.

As the vampire looked at her, she heard call her "Slayer." Arching an eyebrow, she shook her head and drove the stake into his chest "Wrong...but close...Slayer's Sister..." Watching him turn to dust, she sighed and rolled her eyes "Damn it...I was hoping to party tonight...but not this kind of partying..."

[yolanda7j]

(so this is kind of "alternate universe" crossover? If so I'm gonna play Old School Gunn, cuz I think it'll fit better in this thread. If that doesn't work I'll change it )

Gunn stayed crouched in the shadows, three members of his gang also crouched behind him. Hiding in an unused open room, of the building next to the alley, they all had stakes, crossbows, and other weapons, ready to give any vamp a surprise wake up call. They heard a scream and one of the members of his crew, Darius, tapped him on the shoulder.

"Let's go," he whispered harshly.

Gunn looked over his shoulder. "Naw, man. What, you tryin to get us killed? That thing is gonna kill the girl and us if we go now. Shut the hell up and follow my lead."

And that was the end of that conversation. They saw the vampire enter the alley with the girl and Gunn was preparing to make an ambush.

"One..." He whispered. "Two..." And...

Before he could even say three another girl started attacking the vampire. Gunn held his arm out to stop his crew from running out there like something crazy. "Hold it, hold it, hold it!" He whispered. They all watched as this girl, couldn't have been more than 18, take out this vampire. Gunn had a big grin on his face, seeing this happen. Seriously, this white chick was clearly not from around here, and she totally just whooped that vamp's ass.

His crew was straight trippin', barely holding in gasps and whispers of "awww shit!"s and "daaamn"s. Gunn turned to them. "Aiight, you guys go back to the crib, I'mma check out and see who this girl is. I'm thinkin we're done for the night."

Once his crew dispersed, he emerged from his hiding spot. He stood tall, wearing a dark hoodie, dark denim jeans and a durag. "Damn girl, you got some skills. You be hanging around alleys and killin vamps like this on a regular basis, or are you just lost?"

[Dawn Summers]

Blinking and hearing someone come up behind her, Dawn bit her lip and quickly hid the stake in her purse. Turning and seeing Gunn, she furrowed her eyebrows "What are you talking about?"

Seeing that even if she did try to lie her way out this, it was too late...he had clearly seen everything. Quickly calculating a lie so as to not lead to who she really was, she shrugged "I go to school at UCLA...and as for dusting the vamp...I...I grew up knowing how to do it..."

There...she hadn't lied...exactly. She had learned while watching Buffy slay vampires in Sunnydale when she was younger, much to the older slayer's chagrin.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she struck a slightly haughty look, looking much like her older sister "Why? Got a problem with it?" Seeing the look on his face, she rolled her eyes, turning her back to him and started to walk away "Look...if this is going to lead to some kind of 'turf war', fine, you can have the alleys...I was just going out to party tonight...I thought I left all this when I left Sunnydale..."

Cutting off there, she closed her eyes with her back still to him, wanting to slap herself in the forehead as she thought to herself Damn it Dawn...great...

Turning around, she shook her head trying to brush it off like she hadn't said anything stupid like that "I mean...whatever, you can have the streets...just don't come crying to me when a vampire gets to you.." Narrowing her eyes at him, she shook her head "This isn't a game worth playing.."

Sighing and knowing that her bluffs were falling short, she shrugged then started to turn away from him "Then again, you clearly know your way around here...good luck to ya."

[yolanda7j]

Gunn stood with a stone face--almost looking slightly bored--crossing his arms over his chest, waiting for the girl to finish. At first it was kinda funny, but now this girl was getting on his nerves. Why? She clearly didn't know what side of town she waltzed into, with or without vampires. This was L.A., not some valley girl town. The last thing his crew needed was some rogue cheerleader on their turf.

She stammered out some information, that she grew up knowing how to do it. Yeah. Okay. She was going to a party and...Sunnydale. This chick was from Sunnydale? Yeah, she was definitely lost. After her little warning about vampires, Gunn debated about what to say to her. She apparently knew how to hold her own with a vamp so he couldn't argue with that. But he didn't want his crew accidentally getting her killed if she happened to be walking around.

She had turned to walk away but Gunn didn't move. He simply called out, "Hey. My name is Gunn."Gunn didn't like being played, and he made sure the girl knew that. His tone pretty much read 'cut the crap' even when just stating his name.

"Now that we've broken the ice why don't you tell me how you really learned how to kill vampires." He stepped forward towards her and said. "And you ain't gotta worry. I don't take to kindly to playing games myself. So what's your deal?"

[Dawn Summers]

Turning, Dawn sighed and shook her head "If you must know...my name is Dawn...Dawn Summers...as for what you want to know...well, can't we all have our own secrets?"

Looking at him and seeing the look on his face, she remembered how she was treated when she first got here...that she was nothing but a valley girl...a cheerleader...she didn't know the first thing about living with what they had to live with in Las Angeles.

Narrowing her eyes, she crossed her arms over her chest again "Ok...long story short...My older sister is the slayer...the Chosen One...if you deal in vamp dusting, I'm sure that you must have heard of those. Me? Well, don't want to get too much into my history...not that there's too much to explain...let's just say that I watched her dusting vamps back in Sunnydale since I was about 15 years old."

Crossing the alley to lean against the wall, she shrugged "She started training me and said that she didn't think I could make the cut...let's just say...for a brief time...like a couple days I had a crush on a guy...turns out he's a vamp...He tried to bite me...and I dusted him." Looking at him, she sighed "That's when Buffy started training me more."

Furrowing her eyebrows, she stood up straight "But, I really didn't come here to do that in LA. I wanted out of Sunnydale because of my sister constantly keeping me on watch...never letting me do anything...and I thought that my time dusting vamps was long over."

Looking back at him, she looked him in the eyes showing no fear and that everything she was saying was true "I came here to go to UCLA...not to be the slayer for your city...but if I have to do that every now and then...then so be it."

[yolanda7j]

Gunn listened to her life story, still not showing much emotion or any signal that he even cared about the boyfriend/vampire fiasco...and he didn't. But one thing rang a bell, the slayer. Angel briefed him about that whole thing, and Cordelia filled him in on the stuff Angel didn't want to talk about. Like how Angel and Buffy had this Romeo and Juliet thing going on, forbidden love, all that mess. And that's what brought him to L.A.

"Yeah, Buffy Summers. I know about her." Gunn said. "Angel told me. I'm assumin' you know him too." Now Gunn started to get interested. "So you're the slayer's sister. That shit is crazy. And you mean to tell me that you're the slayer's sister and expectin' not to be wrapped up in the killin' vampires department?" Gunn cracked a smile and laughed. "Sorry to break the bad news to ya but that mess ain't happenin."

He paused and then looked at her seriously. "So you know I gotta tell Angel you here, right?"

[Dawn Summers]

Blinking and looking down as they walked, Dawn sighed listening to Gunn. Her mind had drifted back to the time when Buffy was with Angel. She had known all about how bummed out her sister was when Angel left and she had tried to be there for Buffy. But Buffy was constantly on the move, slaying vamps, leaving her sister in Spike's and the Scoobies care. She couldn't help but feel some resentment at Angel for how he left her sister the way he did.

Coming back to the here and now, she looked at Gunn and furrowed her eyebrows as he said that what was going on was crazy. Getting a disgusted look on her face, Dawn scoffed quietly then sighed, muttering "I thought I left all the slaying to my sister in Sunnydale...that's why I came to Los Angeles...to start over..."

Hearing him say that he had to tell Angel that she was here, she rolled her eyes again "Great...so not wanting to hear that...especially after the way he..." Cutting off there, she shook her head and turned to him "Look, all I want to know is why do you have to tell him at all? Knowing him, he's still friends with Buffy on the downlow and if he knows I'm here, he's going to constantly hound me and make sure I'm 'safe' otherwise if he doesn't, Buffy's probably gonna make him into a coatrack."

Sighing and knowing that she sounded bitter, she looked down "Sorry...I didn't mean to sound harsh...I just...after all the time being 'protected' by Buffy's friends, Willow, Xander, Tara, and everyone back in Sunnydale, I just don't want that to happen here."