Tiny Dancer (Costin)

[Costin Dracula]

Very rude and she didn't like him. Oh, that bothered him terribly.

Not.

As usual, Costin couldn't seem to muster up the smallest shred of guilt at having wounded someone else. It was true that he had never done anyone any terrible physical damage, but if he'd been raised with more of a regard for right and wrong, he probably would have felt at least a small bit of remorse for making people doubt themselves. As it was, though, whatever slight sense of morality Tulio had tried to impart had easily been countered by Dracula's complete disregard for it.

But she struck a nerve there. Hadn't ever wanted for much in his life? Because he dressed the way he did? He dressed the way he did because it made him feel important (and because he didn't really have any popular sense of fashion).

"That's not true," he said, before he could stop himself...although he would have, if he'd thought of it in time. He didn't want to get into an argument with her over whose life had been more difficult. But he'd spoken, so he ought to follow through with it. "I have wanted a number of things in my life. What a person wants and does not want has nothing to do with the way they dress."

[Dusty Fae]

Dusty brought the heel of ‘er hand up to wipe away the tears that seemed ta linger there. She took a deep breath then turned back ta face the boy, lookin’ perplexed. “Well, were I’m from the nicer yah dress, the more money yer family has and the less troubles yah got. They can have whatever they want.”

She’d really been talkin’ ‘bout material things, like havin’ lotsa clothes and shoes or havin’ the money ta buy new books or notebooks for school. Or even just havin’ an extra penny ta buy a bit o’ candy from the general store. Dusty’d never really been able ta have any o’ that.

Then again Dusty’d wanted fer a lot more than just material things in her life. She’d always wanted ta not be known as the daughter of a Saloon girl, but that were inevitable. At times she’d wanted ta have a different kind o’ family. Or at least ta know who ‘er daddy were. She’d wanted fer a lot in ‘er life.

“What could you possibly want anyhow?” she asked. “The way I see it, you cain’t have wanted fer too much. Yah dress awful nice and yah talk like yer someone real important. You want friends? ‘Cause yah ain’t gonna get any with with way yah keep insultin’ people like their dirt.”

[Costin Dracula]

Costin considered her words for a moment, which was more than he'd been doing since he came in. Money had never been an issue for him, at all. That could have turned out rather disastrously, but as things went, he had never wanted things that would have rendered him "spoiled" by conventional definition. He wore inappropriately formal clothing, that was all, most of it terribly expensive. It wasn't something that made him happy, it was just something he did.

"Well..." He thought for a moment. "My family has money. But that's not the reason I dress nicely. I dress nicely because I want to. No one told me I had to."

That was quite enough of that. He wasn't going to go sharing his life with her, she was nothing to him. Just a silly girl doing a silly dance, and he didn't feel guilty in the slightest about hurting her feelings.

"I want things money cannot possibly begin to buy," he said, as if she were too stupid to understand them even if he tried to explain them to her. "And I certainly do not want friends. What would I do with friends?"

[Dusty Fae]

Costin probably had a point, if’n she were gonna be honest with ‘erself, but she didn’t much care ta know that ‘e had a point. Where she were from it were a sign o’ status ta dress nicer’n ever’body else. If’n you could dress nice, then you had lotsa nice things. She reckoned that someone could dress less nice if’n they’d want to, though she’d never understand why someone’d wanna do that.

But wantin’ things that money could buy, well Dusty understood that. She understood that perfectly. There were lotsa things she’d always wanted but yah couldn’t buy ‘em, not that she woulda had the money anyhow. But still, the point were that she understood.

But she were completely bewildered by not wantin’ friends. Nobody she’d ever met wanted ta just be alone. People liked ta be alone, sure, but not that much. “What would yah do with friends?” she asked, soundin’ just as bewildered as she felt. “Well yah talk to ‘em. ‘Bout anythin’ yah want. Friends make yah feel better when you’re feelin’ down. And they always got yer back, so ta speak. Yah trust each other. Ain’t yah ever had a friend?”

[Costin Dracula]

Costin looked her up and down again, not in a sexual way, but as if he could detect some sort of mental weakness or imperfection in her sanity by investigating her physical attributes. A friend? He didn't need a stupid friend. He didn't need anything that was going to tie him to this place any longer than he had to be here.

"No. I have not. I do not want a friend," he said, decisively. "If I wanted friends, do you imagine I'd be skulking about in dark classrooms mocking the first person who came around? Do you imagine you're something special, that I've decided to harass you because I think you're unique or worthy of attention? My...darlin' cowgirl..." (here he took on a highly exaggerated version of Dusty's own accent) "I treat everyone precisely this way. You are one amongst many, and if that upsets you, I do hope you have one of those little friends you so highly value to run off to and cry on."

[Dusty Fae]

Dusty really didn’t like Costin. He were mean and she hoped he met someone ever meaner’n he were so he could getta taste of ‘is own medicine. And it were serve ‘im right too if someone cut ‘im down ta size. Who did he think he were treatin’ people like that? Sure, Dusty weren’t anythin’ special, but that didn’t mean she wanted people ta treat ‘er bad.

“I have friends,” she told ‘im defensively. “I think yer a mean and horrible person. I bet you’d never have a friend ‘cause yer too mean fer people ta stick around long.” She propped ‘er hands on ‘er hips. “And you’re insufferable. I got half a mind ta tell my boyfriend that you made me cry.”

[Costin Dracula]

"I don't want a friend!" Costin repeated, raising his voice slightly, the first sign of heated agitation he'd really been willing to show. Did she not understand that she was talking to someone who really couldn't care less about his social standing in this pathetic place? "And I most certainly do not care what you tell your boyfriend. What is he going to do? Beat me?"

Costin took another step closer to her, walked around her, circling, much as he'd seen his father do on several occasions, as if he were hunting her. Which was just a little creepy, considering the fact that he was still human, but anyway, he leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"If you had any idea who I am...who raised me..." he said, lowering his voice to a whisper, "you would know how laughable that threat is. I have seen people die faster than you could even take a breath with which to scream in terror as the life is driven from your body in one quick twist. I am not afraid of your silly little boyfriend."

[Dusty Fae]

Dusty were a little taken back when 'e raised 'is voice at 'er like that. He'd been so calm and not at all emotional up 'til now. He musta been gettin real frustrated and that scared Dusty just a little bit. If'n he were real upset then he might get violent and violence were a little scary.

When she threatened ta tell Arkady on 'im, she thought that'd been a good threat. Maybe he'd leave 'er alone, but Costin weren't. "Well," she didn't know if'n Arkady would beat anyone up for her. That didn't really come up in conversation and it weren't real polite ta ask, but she could tell Costin she didn't know. "He just might," she ended up sayin', less than convincin'.

She really didn't like the way he were circlin' 'er like that. That were awful strange and she didn't like it one bit. She jumped a little when he whispered in 'er ear. She couldn't help it. He were talkin' 'bout death and Dusty knew a lot about death, but never anythin' like what he were talkin' 'bout. She ddin't understand half o' what he were sayin', but she understood what he meant. She spun away from him, her eyes wide. "You stop that. You just leave me alone. I got a knife in my boot and I ain't afraid ta use it. And I got a gun too. I know how ta shoot better'n anyone else back home." She didn't mention that her gun were in 'er room, but the fact that she had one would have to suffice. And maybe he would just stay away from 'er forever.