Waiting until the last sound of the stampeding footsteps had died away and it seemed to be safe to venture out into the castle corridor, Dawn Summers poked her head through the gap in the doorway of the utility closet she'd discretely ducked inside, and as she glanced around, the young woman sniggered to herself at the delicious memory of a whole gym full of Slayers running away at their fastest speed, with her own sister at the fore, all of them with their hands desperately clapped over their faces, trying not to breathe or vomit.

As Dawn nudged the closet door further open so that she could push out the rolling janitor's bucket filled to the brim with detergent while also lugging along a shovel and a mop, both ready for work, the Key chortled out loud, "Geez, you'd think, what with them going out every night with their swords and axes and knives and nail files, and using all that to slice demons into gooey chunks, that they'd really have stronger stomachs!"

Heading down the corridor to the gymnasium door, Dawn stopped at this entrance to take out a clothespin from her jeans pocket. Clipping it over her nose to block out the aroma from her impending clean-up job, the girl whose determined campaign to drive her sibling insane seemed to be proceeding nicely now pushed open the door, and Dawn examined her newest pet she'd sneaked into the castle a few minutes ago.

Their attention attracted from nibbling on a punching bag in a hopeful quest for further sustenance, two horned, gazelle-like heads then turned to curiously watch the human pushing her cleaning supplies into the training area. Shifting its equine body, the heads on both ends of this hoofed animal placidly blinked at their latest owner, ignoring the reek of the manure that coated nearly every inch of the gym floor and stank to high heaven. Sighing as she hefted her shovel, Dawn then brightened up a bit, as she nasally commented, "Still, this is all worth it, not just for seeing Buffy run like hell, but you finally found out exactly how a pushmi-pullyu does go in the woods!"


Crossover: That double-headed animal is from the Doctor Doolittle books. And yes, ever since I read them as a kid, I still wonder about this…