Dawn was smiling when she walked in, that smile that told Buffy something was up and her little sister had no problem copping to it. That was happening more often after leaving Sunnydale. There was a fierce independent streak taking hold, which was only encouraged by defenses such as "You're not my mother" and "But we're in Europe!"

Buffy immediately asked, "What did you do?"

"Guess what I got?" Dawn said happily.

"Oh, god," Buffy said, wincing. She could think of a few things. "What? Pierced? Tattooed? Pregnant?"

Dawn rolled her eyes at her and proceeded to turn around, pulling the waistband of her jeans down just so to reveal a tattoo on the small of her back. "Isn't it cool?"

She should have been expecting it. It didn't stop her from gaping at the sight of Dawn's back. "Aren't there laws? You're sixteen!" Buffy cried. She realized with horror that she really was turning into her mother, but couldn't seem to stop herself.

Dawn shrugged, turning back around. "They didn't ask me any questions."

"Where did you get the money?"

"I knocked over a liquor store. This would have been a lot cheaper but I insisted they take everything I stole, they did such a good job."

Buffy glared. That girl was getting better at sarcasm, too, and it was all getting used against her. "What is it, anyway?" she asked.

Another shrug. "I'm not sure. It was cool-looking and tribal."

"Oh, that's a fad," Buffy told her. "It's a fad, and you branded yourself with it. It kind of screams 'I did what everyone else did in my teens. I'm a follower!'"

"Oh, please, I remember a few certain trendy haircuts that went awry," Dawn shot back.

"Hair grows out. That is ink injected into your skin. Do you know what they have to do to make those go away? Lasers, and scarring, Dawn. Scarring."

"Maybe I don't want it to go away," she said. "I like it. And that's what matters."

"Will you think that way when you're seventy?" countered Buffy.

"Seventy-year-olds get tattoos now. You're too young to be this old, Buffy," Dawn told her.

Buffy resented the hell out of that comment, but wasn't going to let Dawn see that. She opened her mouth to speak, but Dawn went on, "You should go back with me. Maybe you should get one."

And now Buffy was at a loss for words. "Why?"

"Because," Dawn answered simply.

"What do you mean 'go back with you', anyway?" Buffy wondered. "Don't tell me you want another one."

"Not right away, but there was this rose one I really liked. I'm not sure where I'd get it, though. They do piercing there, too. I think I'd look good with a bellybutton ring, what do you think? I don't know. I really like the tattoo. The guy who did it said he knows a lot of people that once they get one, they just keep going back for more."

Buffy felt a headache coming on. She wished she could tell her sister to go take it off, or remind her of that X-Files episode with Jodie Foster, but knew it wouldn't do any good. Dawn was going to do what she wanted to do, and as much as Buffy hated it, she couldn't figure out a way to stop her, short of wrapping one of those kid leash things around both their wrists at all times.

"Will it wash off with soap?" she asked weakly.