Private Finished Thanks, But No Thanks

"You're killing me here, beautiful. A cup of coffee won't hurt you, give me an hour of your time."
This person was quite persistent. Normally the people who tried to woo Cosette weren't quite this persistent, it usually took one or two polite refusals for them to leave her be. But the person in front of Cosette, more or less in a position that held Cosette against a wall, had been at it for almost 10 minutes. She didn't feel scared, not really. Cosette could tell this person wasn't bad and they hadn't touched her or done anything threatening. They were just very, very persistent.

"I really should not, I have a schedule and-"
"Then fit me in that schedule, baby. I'll be free anytime, if it's for you."
Cosette started, again, to explain but like before she was interrupted. Even Cosette's patience was starting to run a bit thin. She took a small breath, but kept a polite smile on her face.
"Please understand, I do not have time."
Cosette said, again, and moved sideways a bit in order to slip away. But then the person put their hand on the wall next to Cosette's head and for the first time a small spike of fear ran through Cosette. Now she was actually trapped.

"You're real sweet, beautiful. Surely someone as sweet as you can get a cup of coffee with me."
Cosette didn't answer now, her head was bit lowered and she muttered half-hearted objections. Cosette didn't like this side of herself, the side that immediately gave up and became timid when someone pushed or threatened her. Cosette squeezed the hem of her sweater, and started to consider saying yes. If she said yes this person would back away and let her have her space again.
Cosette didn't want to say yes, but if that would save her...

Suddenly, before Cosette could agree to the person's invites, a hand settled on their shoulder. Cosette's eyes widened slightly, when the person's face pulled into a grimace and they were spun around to look upon a woman with glowing eyes. Cosette looked at the smile on her face, it made the woman look quite frightening.
"I'd leave unless you wanna convince me to go on a date with you too."
Those words were enough to make the person back down, they yanked themselves away from the woman and quickly walked away, rubbing their shoulder and arm. Cosette looked after them with a small frown of concern, had the woman's grip been that strong? Hopefully they weren't too badly hurt...

Cosette's eyes snapped back to the woman when she spoke to her. The woman's eyes weren't glowing anymore and her smile was different as well. It was a smile that Cosette easily returned. Cosette brought her hands in front of her and smiled gratefully, bowing her head slightly.
"I'm alright. Thank you very much for helping me, I was, um, struggling slightly."
Cosette thanked with her French accented voice, she sounded bit embarrassed about it. Cosette was usually more tactful and efficient about refusing offers like those but this person had been persistent and Cosette hadn't had to shake off someone like that in a long time. In over a year. And she was happy about that and hoped it would continue to be like that.
But...someone had to save her, again. Cosette didn't really enjoy having to be saved, and felt sorry for being a hindrance, but she was thankful nevertheless.
"I'm horribly sorry that you had to trouble yourself."

Cosette didn't know why the woman suddenly looked differently at her. Had she done something wrong? Cosette's expression morphed from grateful into a mix of confused and worried, as she waited for an answer. But the answer she received was...surprising. Cosette blinked in confusion, when the woman said something about...a lesson? And to not apologize?
"Um..."
Cosette began hesitantly, but the woman extended her hand and continued talking about lessons. Automatically Cosette extended her hand as well and shook the woman's, Levina's, hand.

"Pleasure to meet you, I'm Cosette Cygne. Um, I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about? What are these lessons?"
Cosette questioned, and tilted her head just slightly. Whatever these lessons were Cosette didn't really want to follow them. Apologizing when it was valid was important, and so was humility and respecting others. Cosette knew she wasn't better than almost everyone. Every person was important in their own way, after all.

Levina certainly was...eccentric. That was the best descriptor Cosette came up with. Not the most eccentric person Cosette had met, her old work had pulled in many kinds of people. But Levina was up there. She was quite self-confident, which Cosette admired, but her offer made Cosette feel troubled. She had just been freed from a situation where she had to reject someone, and now she was in an exact same situation.

"That is very kind of you, I do agree I very well might need to gain some confidence like you have."
Cosette agreed, because Levina on some level had a point.
"But I couldn't possibly bother you like that, and I'm not certain these lessons are suited for me. I believe apologizing has value, and couldn't possibly put myself above others."
Cosette tried to be as polite in her refusal as possible, the last thing she wanted to do was insult Levina. But why was she offering her these lessons anyway? Was it some kind of advertisement for a course of some kind?

Cosette appreciated the space Levina gave her, but this was quite troubling. Cosette bit her lip lightly, how should she go about this? And why was Levina offering her these lessons in the first place? Cosette was very confused and she really wanted to get going, she didn't have somewhere to be but she had been hoping to call Aranea at a reasonable time.

"Um, as I said before you're being quite kind, but I don't understand why you're offering me this."
Cosette said, and there was a bit of doubt and distrust in her voice and body language. Cosette wasn't a fool, she was pretty sure there was some sort of selfish motive behind Levina's offer. Very few people did anything out of pure selflessness, that Cosette knew for certain.