It makes sense, now, falling well into the same pattern with which Buffy has always been familiar. Her interaction with Caliban has been limited at best — she once told him he looked like a drowned rat and he snarked back with an explanation of perspiration as a biological function — but they hardly got off on the right foot, and maybe that's why. As with Faith, she never could connect with those too similar to herself. Having her home invaded by potential slayers had really begun to get to Buffy, one of the very few positive points of finding herself pulled to the island. (Though still far outweighed by the negative.)

"Well, you know what they say: You can't take the motor-mouthed cheerleader out of the girl," she jokes. Maybe that's where the line went wrong, really, having called a girl so stubbornly committed to living out the life that she wanted. To hear the Watcher's Council tell it, friends and family are the two greatest weaknesses a Slayer can possess. In Buffy's own opinion, they are her greatest strengths. "You know, Ish, you're pretty good at this whole listening and cheering up thing."