Sarah could still remember a time when there had seemed to be more hours in the day to do everything that needed to be done in her life, a time when there had still been group date nights and girls' nights and random gatherings in the Hyperion for movies or games. A time when there had been normal time to stop and just be, not time achieved only by passing from this world to her own, where she could manipulate time as she saw fit.
But that had been before the Hyperion had gone from almost max capacity to very few within, people now pulling double or more patrol duty to fill in the gaps, and those who hadn't patrolled full time or at all now stepping up as well. She had been one of those who'd moved to full plus duty, when the numbers had started to drop early on, and that full time patrolling plus full time teaching plus running All Things Internal at the Hyperion and A.I. plus volunteering at the LAWC plus still expecting to have the old amount of time with family and friends and watching instead as the 'recreation' fell by the wayside – well, it tended to run a person a little ragged, especially when parts of said person's support system pushed the same burdened limits and thus were not always there for the moments when things just weren't right in a big way in Sarah's world.
But despite that, life went on, because that was what life did.
However, if it weren't for the fact that she could simply pass into her own realm to sleep at length and return to the Hyperion with only a few minutes passing, something else would likely have had to give in Sarah's routine before Sarah herself simply gave out. As it was, people who were allies now becoming possible threats and needing to be looked after because those closest to them weren't stepping up to the plate for whatever reason was a strain on resources and Sarah's well of patience and optimism.
But she'd meant every word she'd said recently, not just that A.I. would do all they had to to protect any innocent from any threat, but that she, and this team, didn't turn their backs on allies, no matter how much said allies were being bastards of intolerable degrees.
Upon reaching where Anya was, with the intent to get to the bottom of what Ruby was doing to make Sam Winchester even more unpalatable to the world than usual, she propped herself against the wall and let out a frustrated little breath.
"Hey," she said in greeting, then crossed her arms over her chest. "I've been thinking – I could just turn her into a goblin and be done with it. We'd be spared all the hours putting this together and she'd stop being a catalyst for Sam to win Asshole of the Year. She wouldn't be able to jump out of that dead girl's body because she'd be forever trapped, and she'd have all the intelligence of a particularly stupid goblin, as they have to be intelligent humans to even be somewhat smart goblins, but she'd still be alive and well taken care of."
It was something said mostly in jest, an act of venting to take the edge of her feelings, but the part that wasn't jest was a part that had not come to the idea without a heavy amount of reservations. It was an act Sarah had sworn she would never do, fearing that more of her humanity would slip away, but it was still an act that did not take any lives and that had to be considered. Once they knew what Ruby was doing, they would need to act quickly, which had lead to Sarah already considering the possible courses of action. Mutilated soul or not – as, to Sarah, it was what the demons of the Winchester's world were, mutilated souls, not the lack of one entirely – she couldn't bring herself to support anything that would effectively kill Ruby (and especially not send her back to Hell) unless it was the absolute last possible resort.
[ooc: Starting a new thread because I didn't want to interrupt Anya & Buffy interaction, so feel free to acknowledge Sarah whenever, with whomever!]