Her head bowed. She hadn't been laughing before, but now, Lenna had to laugh. This woman was kind of insane.

"Tangible benefits. Right." Because money was the most important thing in the world for a person, always. She was starting to get a feel for how this woman operated. With a mentality like that... she almost wanted to start venturing guesses again, about what this woman was. Instead, she kept on topic. "Do you consider good-looking to be tangible?"

Apparently considering money important was funny. That was slightly irksome but not enough to wipe Cosmina's smile away. At the very least Lenna no longer seemed like she would have happily killed everyone in the bar for some peace and quiet. Lenna asked whether good looks were tangible. That was an odd way to phrase the question but she could adapt to it.

"Nice but not necessary. A bonus if you would."

As long as the man had money his looks didn't matter. He would eventually die and the money revert to her. If necessary Cosmina could speed up that eventuality. Really, it only made sense. Money could get you anything if the right amount was used.

"A bonus. So. Does that make a good personality also a bonus? Or is that unimportant, where the full package is concerned. And speaking of packages, which says more about a guy? If he's willing to throw big bills around, but doesn't throw as many, or, if he tosses around small bills all over the place, and always has cash to spare?"

Now, she was just testing the waters. Weird woman was weird. She had a follow-up question, but... she had to wait and see how the lady answered this one, first.

Lenna had to wonder how important money was to the gal. What would she do as a means towards monetary gain...?

"What traits would you consider to make up a good personality? Not that it matters."

Mina took a drink and pondered Lenna's second question.

"Both say plenty about a person. Both are useful. And both can be unceremoniously dumped if the amount of money on their person is merely a ruse to feign wealth."

That, Mina assumed, was the gist of Lenna's question. Though Mina did wonder why Lenna was suddenly so curious about such simple matters. Of course she was probably just one of the many people who just didn't understand simple common sense. Why did almost no one else understand the importance of money? Mina supposed that was a question without an answer. Just like why people expected to have their disposable coffee cups warn them that their coffee is hot when they would have complained if it wasn't.

>>"What traits would you consider to make up a good personality? Not that it matters."

Touché.

"Varies."

Cosmina gave her answer. Both spoke volumes, both were useful, and both were dismissible, dumped, in her exact words, like a body, if the person were only faking wealth.

Faking wealth. Funny. Having that money to toss around struck Lenna as a testament to having money. But then, she'd never been one to fret over riches. Maybe men pretended to be rich, buying nice things, but only to look nice. Like a businessman in a nice suit, dirt poor, but dressing the part of someone above his means.

"Faking wealth... yeah. I can understand not liking liars." Lenna mulled that thought over distractedly with her drink. Her eyes focused on the contents. The alcohol sloshed gently around as the glass tilted in her fingers. "So, money's important to you, then. Better than personality and looks. Heh." A biting smile slipped darkly onto her lips. "What about style, skill? If personality means nothing, do those have any value at all? Or is money still your number one? Is fame your number two?"

Style and skill? Feh, style only mattered when it was used as an expression of wealth. Skill was a different matter altogether.

"How are style and skill related to personality at all? Style doesn't matter. It varies from person to person. Only useful if it's an expression of a person's wealth."

Mina paused in her answer giving to wonder when this had become a Q&A session for her rather than Lenna. Though the questions she asked were interesting enough.

"Skill on the other hand, well it depends on the sort of skill the man has doesn't it? Money is still the most important of course. Fame doesn't matter."

Mina drained the last of her drink and flagged down the bartender for a refill.

>>"How are style and skill related to personality at all? Style doesn't matter. It varies from person to person. Only useful if it's an expression of a person's wealth."

Heh. Again, funny. On that, they yet again had to disagree. What did that make, two? Three times?

Lenna polished off her drink about the same time Cosmina did. She needed it. Maybe not a refill, however. Aww, hell. She flagged the bartender over, too. He was making good business tonight.

"Sounds like you'd kill for money," Lenna said blandly. "Not me, though. Everything else is more important to me. Money, any idiot can make. But style and skill... tch. No contest." She took a swig. Bitter. Quick. Maybe too quick. The rush went to her head. She chuckled to herself. Suddenly, she felt like spilling. Musta been the booze. "You asked me earlier why I turned the guy down. I said he was a jerk. Probably true. Probably definitely. But." The drink glass clacked down on the counter for emphasis. Lenna turned towards money-lady. "Point is, I have someone better on my mind. And I'm drowning in pathetic, because I'm not sure how to deal with it. He just might be too nice." That, as she'd just so elegantly put it, was the answer to another of Cosmina's questions. Question two. Or was it three? The first had been a two-fer, hadn't it? She couldn't even recall.

Cosmina uttered another laugh at Lenna's suggestion that she would kill for money. It was entirely true and she'd done so more times than she cared to count at that particular moment but that was beside the point. Lenna didn't need to know that. Hence the laugh.

"Oh please, I have some scruples. Hurting people is just wrong!"

That had sounded utterly absurd the moment she'd said it but it had needed to be said anyway. As it turned out the reason why Lenna had turned down the man from earlier wasn't that he was a jerk. No, in fact the poor woman was suffering from an attraction to someone else. It might not have been love, Mina had no way of knowing that, but it was enough to turn her stomach and make her down a significant portion of her drink the moment the bartender finished pouring.

"Love, ugh, so entirely useless and dangerous to boot. You'd be better off without him. Less likely to die."

"Who said anything about love?" Lenna replied suspiciously. "Don't go putting words into my mouth, now. It ain't love. It's just..." What was it again? "He impressed me, and... I don't impress easily." Was that all? She thought for a second. Lenna couldn't think of much more to add at the moment. Communicating feelings had never been her strong point. Oh god, were these feelings? Almost derisively, she laughed at another thing the woman had said. "And dying? ... Don't get me started on dumb mistakes."

She raised an eyebrow. Lenna was being awfully defensive about being in love with the guy. Perhaps she already knew it was stupid to love and just didn't want to admit it? Or maybe she just wasn't that bad off yet. In either case, Mina gave a shrug. Lenna followed up her protestations that she wasn't in love with a laugh and a comment about dumb mistakes.

"That's good. Love is a dumb mistake."

Another drink and Mina felt like explaining a little.

"Love makes you stupid and weak in most cases. When it doesn't you end up dying an early death anyway. Overall it's best avoided."

She stared at the rows of bottles along the wall behind the bar.

"So how did Mr. Nice Guy impress you?"

After all, it was about time Lenna answered a question instead of vice versa.

Dumb mistake. Stupid. Weak. Best avoided.

Lenna eyed Cosmina suspiciously, leaning back on her stool. A finger drummed on the counter in time with some unheard Western tune.

Did someone burn this woman? Was that why she cared only for money? Because some guy had let her down? Lenna'd been let down, too. It sucked. Was Michael any different?

Hell, who cared?

"He's strong, good-looking, and can handle himself. And he puts up with me." That's all there really was to it. Maybe she was a little down on herself suddenly, too.

Mina picked up her glass and let the alcohol within swirl about. Strong, good-looking, and could handle himself? Putting aside Lenna's comment against herself as Mina didn't really care what the other woman thought of herself. If she was weak enough to think she had some sort of fault that needed to be put up with then that was her problem. At any rate, who this guy was sounded like a real threat to anyone that didn't know better. Lenna seemed like she ought to know better but she'd fallen anyway. Pity that.

"Sounds dangerous."

It was a very good thing that Mina knew better than to fall in love. Lenna had said that she wasn't in love but it sounded like a case of the lady protesting to much. Mina had done the woman a favor in pointing out how dangerous and foolish it was. If she didn't listen it was Mina's fault. It wasn't as though Lenna was paying her to keep her safe or anything.

"I suppose you know what you're doing then. If you want to risk it then it's no problem to me."

Mina took another swallow of her drink. She was reminded of her toy briefly by this discussion. Mina didn't love him though. Her was merely interesting. If he didn't return soon then she might have to hunt him down. She was getting a little bored without a toy to play with.

Down on herself, and uncertain what the hell she was doing, suddenly. What was with all of that? It wasn't as if she had any faults. There was no shattering flaw, no Achilles Heel. She was pretty much perfect in every way... or so she summed up in her pretty little drunken head. And so was he. And dangerous?

"You make him sound like trouble." The woman had done everything in her power during this conversation to equate just that. Love equals trouble. Lenna, equals screwed. All of her talk was bull, though. Yeah, yeah. And she knew it. She wanted an out.

Cosmina thought Lenna knew what she was doing.

"What am I doing?" Lenna asked, examining the bottom of her empty drink. Her brow was furrowed. She made a sour face. "What do I know?"

Mina took another gulp of liquor just before Lenna's next comment.

"He is. Anyone that can ruffle a sensible woman into infatuation and possible love is trouble."

Mina thought that Lenna was a sensible woman, except for the doubting of the importance of money. Everyone had faults but in all other respects she seemed sensible enough.

"You sound like you don't want to like him. So I'm guessing you already knew that it was a mistake. Now you're stuck and it is making you decidedly dejected. At least it seems that way."

She flagged down another drink from the bartender. This one had inexplicably vanished. When it had done that the woman couldn't guess. However if she found that someone was stealing her drinks she'd have to hurt them.

She was... entirely wrong.

"It's not that. It's just... ugh." She slouched on the counter with a sigh. A small hand gesture called the bartender over. She ordered a shot of Scotch. It came, right on time. She knocked it back. The liquor didn't give her time to meditate on the reasons why she thought Michael was too nice. It was good.

"I guess it isn't that he's too nice... that's stupid..." She started to ramble. Her fingertip circled a dent in the counter-top slowly, round and round as she went. "It's just that every chance he gets..." She trailed off.

Michael was businesslike. He knew how to dance. He wasn't a lost cause. The only reason she was doubting herself now, if all things had to be considered, was...

"He's a gentleman," She mourned into her empty shot glass. "I'm not used to nice guys." She was having to do all the work. "It sucks."

Now that all her intense soul-searching had been done, Lenna felt she'd earned yet another shot. "More please."

"Another one, coming up." The bartender said.