Trials in Accounting (Costin)

[Dusty Fae]

Costin might be right. Of course he would be just so satisfied if she agreed with him on this. And he was so unpleasant sometimes. It would be much more fun to tease him about it really. "Hmmm," she hummed as if she were thinking about it real hard. Then she shook her hand threw her arms up. "I just don't agree!" she agreed. "I still think that I'm right and you're wrong." She wanted to giggle a little, but then it would give her up as teasing Costin. It wouldn't be any fun if he knew she was only teasing.

Dusty shook her head again. Costin was just wrong, even if he didn't know it. No one could live alone for very long no matter how hard they tried. And Costin tried awful hard not to have friends, but she knew that he still strove for meaningful contact with other people. Maybe that was part of why he was so mean all the time. It was his poor attempt at creating meaningful human contact. "Costin, that's just sad. No one wants that. Not even you, no matter much you say so."

[Costin Dracula]

She was correct about one thing; Costin did indeed love being right. He didn't think he was unique in that, no one really liked to be told they were wrong. But...this kind of disagreement...this he could not stomach. She had no proof. He had countered her every point, she had no remaining support for her argument, and yet, she was just...refusing to agree with him, refusing to admit that he was right. He was taken aback.

"Surely you can't be that..." What was even a good word for that? Stubborn? No, Costin had a feeling Dusty probably liked being called stubborn. "Self-assured," he finished, reaching over to take his bottle of wine back. "You can't just refuse to give up your viewpoint even when you have no remaining supporting information. It isn't a big thing, I won't be smug about it. Sometimes you just learn new things, is all."

He took a long sip of the wine and set the bottle back down, licking his lips. "And someone wants it, because I do, I don't have any problem with being alone, and there are plenty of other vampires to...interact with...if I so choose."

[Dusty Fae]

That was not what Costin was supposed to say. He was supposed to get huffy or unpleasant again so she could tease him. That response has been very civil. That was rather unlike him. And it spoiled her fun. She rolled her eyes. "You ain't any fun at all."

Dusty frowned and shook her head. He thought he was telling her the truth, that much was obvious. But Dusty had been a lonely child growing up. She knew how that could take a toll on you. "That ain't true. You're still human and humans have always needed other humans. I think you've just repressed your loneliness 'cause it's easier. Telling yourself that you chose to be alone is a lot easier than admitting that you're lonely and wish it weren't that way."

[Costin Dracula]

She rolled her eyes at him, and Costin took another sip of wine to cover up another amused smile. "What would have been a more fun response to that?" he wondered aloud, reaching back into his bag and pulling the bread out again, breaking off a piece from the end of it this time. "Sure you don't want any?" he offered, waving the loaf towards her.

She was much more right about him than she probably knew - certainly more than he was willing to admit. There had to be a reason he almost constantly found himself around people, despite his insistence that he wanted to be alone at all times. If you wanted to be alone, Costin, why did you sit down next to the irritating cowgirl? If you wanted to be alone, why are you still here having this conversation?

"I don't need any other humans," he insisted. "I sat down here because you looked like you needed to be distracted, and...it seemed like...a good idea at the time. Certainly not because I needed your company."

[Dusty Fae]

Dusty huffed at Costin. Clearly he had no idea how these things worked. "You were supposed to get all huffy and offended at me because you're the vampire expert and I'm little miss nobody. And then I was supposed to laugh at you because it's kinda funny when you get all huffy like that. And then you were supposed to get even more offended when I laugh at you."

She shook her head at the bread. "No, thank you. Bread is better with butter anyhow and I'm sure you didn't buy any butter with your wine and your bread."

She wrapped her arms around her legs, squeezing them into her chest. She gave Costin a rather smug looking smile. That was a weak answer, especially for Costin. "Sure," she agreed. "I believe you." She very much didn't.

[Costin Dracula]

"The problem with that," Costin said, reaching over to poke her shoulder, "is that I've never been particularly good at doing what I'm supposed to. I've been told that I'm an unbearable disappointment, on occasion." Somehow he managed to say that as if it were some kind of accomplishment, something to be proud of, instead of the devastating indignity it was. "But since you asked so nicely..." He paused, took a deep breath, then put on his best scowl. "What do you know about vampires, little miss nobody? Nothing at all, that's what. You've insulted my intelligence and I won't stand for it."

He dropped the scowl and picked the bottle of wine back up, sipping it slowly. "How was that? More what you were looking for?"

It was a moment in which Costin didn't entirely hate his existence, and one in which he didn't entirely regret being social, but she had to ruin it by going right back to her insistence that he needed people. He sighed, exasperated, and picked at the label on the wine bottle. "You just don't give up, do you?"

[Dusty Fae]

Dusty feel that they were establishing something here that felt an awful lot like friendship. Or at least as close as Costin seemed capable of friendship. Which was more than fine with Dusty. It still counted. And she knew it counted because Costin was poking her and teasing her back. She giggled as he scowled at her and repeated what she'd said to him. She nodded, delighted to find that Costin could joke. "That was quite satisfactory. Thank you."

Dusty had to think about that for a minute and then she shrugged. "You give up out west and the West gives up on you," she replied with a shrug. "I'd like to think of it as perseverance."

[Costin Dracula]

Costin had been to a few planets on which there were deserts; he had been dragged through those deserts by night, and he could not think of a single place he would rather avoid. "I hope the West isn't counting on me for anything," he said, pushing the wine towards her again. "Else the West is going to be severely disappointed, as are most people who count on me for things." He made a face, then tore off another small piece of bread and stuck it into his mouth.

"Are you back in your classes alright?" he asked, deciding that if she'd put up with him bothering her as long as she had just now, she probably deserved at least a little feigned interest in her actual life. "I know it's hard to come back after being away." Oh, gross, he was empathizing.

[Dusty Fae]

Dusty couldn't help but giggle helplessly at Costin. The West wouldn't want a thing to do with Costin anymore than Costin wanted a thing to do with it. He would stick out there like a sore thumb. He'd be called a greenhorn for sure. "The West wouldn't expect anything from you. Promise," she assured him, taking the wine. She took another sip. "I don't think you'd be severely disappointing. But maybe I don't know you very well." She shrugged.

Dusty nodded. It was nice of him to ask. "I missed a lot but I'm working hard to catch up. I spend a lot of time studying in my spare time. And I have a job which keeps me busy. But that's good because that'll keep me outta trouble." With her momma gone having time to dwell on it was not something she needed.

[Costin Dracula]

Costin looked over at her, a little surprised. "Trouble?" he repeated. "What kind of trouble could you possibly get into? Stepping on the wrong person's foot?" He put his bread back in the bag, deciding that he'd better not eat all of it before he had a chance to cook the pasta to go with it. "Where are you working?" Why do you care, Costin? It was at that moment that Costin realized he was far more invested in this conversation than he had any desire to be, and he stood up quickly.

"I have to go make my dinner," he said, abruptly. She was still holding his wine, though. "I'm making pasta, to go with the bread. There's enough for two people." It was anyone's guess whether that statement of fact constituted an invite; Costin wasn't even sure himself. If he invited her, she might say no, and then she might think she rejected his friendship or something, and Costin was not about to add "rejected by cowgirl" to his list of failures along with everything else.

[Dusty Fae]

Dusty laughed. Costin seemed genuinely confused. "All kinds of trouble," she told him. Then she shrugged. Shedding meant anything in particular. "Idle hands are the devil's playground." That about summer up how she felt.

She jerk a thing over her shoulder towards the town. "I work at the diner in town. Waiting tables."

Dusty blinked at the abrupt change in conversation and then her expression changed to one of confusion. She wasn't quite sure if that was supposed to be a question or a statement. "Is that an invitation?" She crinkled her nose. "Don't think I've ever had pasta before. That's Italian, ain't it?"

[Costin Dracula]

Genuinely confused was a pretty good descriptor for Costin's whole demeanor when he was around Dusty. Confused by her behavior, by the way she talked, by the way he seemed to want to...well, almost protect her from things that made her cry (mostly himself). And absolutely confused by the things she had somehow never experienced.

"You've never had pasta?!" he echoed, flabbergasted. "Little girl. This is no longer an invitation. I insist."

He held out a hand towards her, mostly for the bottle of wine, but not really specifying that as he stood there with his arm extended. "I'm deeply concerned. With any luck, I'm not going to be around here that much longer, and who will attend to this tragedy then? Come, come. Unless you've got to work now or something."

[Dusty Fae]

Dusty laughed at Costin's expression. He was so surprised. She wasn't sure why. Unless pasta was real popular here. "There ain't any Italians in Los Avalos," she told him with a smile, her eyes dancing with her amusement. Or, if there were Italians, they kept their pasta to themselves.

Dusty took Costin's outstretched hand, standing as she did. "I don't have to work," she chuckled. She wasn't even offended that he had called her a little girl and a tragedy. She grabbed her bag quickly. "You'll have to appoint someone else as my keeper when you go away," she teased. "I caint possibly be left on my own."

[Costin Dracula]

Costin wasn't sure how popular pasta was here in general, because he didn't tend to eat at the mess hall any more often than he absolutely had to. But it was certainly popular with him. He didn't eat it at home, there was too much garlic usually involved, but when he was here, it was one of the few things he genuinely enjoyed eating (when he wasn't brooding over how stupid it was that he had to eat anything at all).

She took his hand, which should not have surprised him as much as it did, given that he hadn't remotely said please give me back the wine and we'll go or anything of the sort. He helped her up (or at least, made a show of doing so, even if she didn't really need it), then let go of her hand as quickly as he could, surreptitiously wiping his hand on his coat afterwards.

"I'll see what I can do," he said, and then immediately wished he hadn't. Who was he going to find to bother her once he was off being a vampire? He didn't even have any friends, besides...well, maybe Gwyn would do it. Gwyn would probably keep Dusty on her toes. "You're going to love pasta," he assured her. "Even if you don't like the sauce I put on it, there are so many other sauces you could try. It's part of the human experience."

[Dusty Fae]

Dusty raised an eyebrow at Costin. He would see about finding her a guardian, huh? That was an interesting turn in their relationship. She hadn't thought that he might actually agree to find a guardian. She figured it'd be more up his alley to agree that she couldn't be left alone if only for the health and safety of other people. Maybe he liked her better'n she'd imagined. Maybe they were friends now.

Dusty grinned at the talk of pasta again. She slung her bag over her shoulder and quickly, before Costin could protest, she tucked her free hand into the crook of his elbow. "What kind of sauce is it?" she asked. "Is it your favorite kind? How many kinds are there?" She looked up at him and gave his arm a gentle squeeze. "I think I know more about the human experience than you do," she told him with sly look. "Considerin' I was raised by humans and all."