The Search for Chompface (Ben/Cecil)

Cecil had been going for his earphones when he got a sudden earful from the boy now asking for his help. He might have let out a yell, but mercifully, the shock took hold first.
Dark green eyes blink a couple of times at the person before Cecil, a bewildered expression on his face.
The verbal fumbling seemed familiar. Not as bad as he's accustomed to, but painfully familiar. But that was something that came to mind after the first words he thought of shot out of his mouth.
"...please, don't just do that to someone. Aghhh..." Cecil rubs at his ear. "Seriously...owwww."

He takes a breath, and resets his face back to neutral. "So...ah...you needed help with something?" He smiles awkwardly. Really, he could have just brushed him off, but the thought never occurred to him. He'd have trouble refusing him anyway even if it had.
It...wasn't like he was going to be doing much anyway.
"What's up, then?"

...that might have been remotely convincing if he'd started with the second part first. Instead, he destroyed any credibility his lie had up front.
That was bad. If it was obvious to him, it was really, really bad.
Forget it. Not worth bothering him about it if it he's that desperate for me to think it isn't his.

Holding back a flat, knowing look, Cecil just continues on. "The last thing anyone wants is a sad little sister...they tend to turn into angry ones, in my experience." He shakes his head. "Anyway...I still don't know what you're looking for...?"
Cecil starts paying more attention to the terrible, terrible liar before him, trying not to give the impression he knew too much, or would be able to. Last part wasn't hard admittedly, but still.
I wonder what it is anyway if he felt such a need to lie about it? How bad can it be?...probably not too bad, if he's claiming it belongs to his 'younger sister'. If he, well, even has one...
...I really hope I'm not about to hear stories about a made up sister. That...that'd just be sad.

"Oh, so you'll help me? Th..thank you." Ben replied curtly.

Did he really believe that?..No, most likely he knows something's up. Either way, he's probably either extremely oblivious or unnaturally kind He took a split second before continuing to eye this guy's posture, then made a slight corner-lipped smile. Or is it neither? Could it be he's merely curious?
Ben stepped a bit closer, tilted his neck down in a quick small nod, then looked back up at the boy while speaking in a semi-hushed tone. "Well, it's a toy, a soft one. It's a pretty old and rare one too. Collectible, you see." He spoke without any anxiety this time, and any signs of the frantic shakiness he first approached the boy with were gone. After all, whether or not this student believed him about a sister was now irrelevant. He had seemed to offer assistance and now he could speak more freely.

But still, let's see if it is curiosity..

Ben turned his face from side to side in one swift motion, as if to look for someone or something suspicious. He retained his semi-hushed tone as he continued, "I don't want to go into too much detail about it here. Just help me look for a soft toy with a hat and green tail."

He shot a glance over his shoulder, "I think it might be best to start somewhere toward the gym. Ready to get started?"

Cecil shuffles back a little as Ben comes in closer, distinctly uncomfortable with the stranger's proximity.
He listens with a wary look. Come on, not so close...a soft toy? Old, rare, a collectible...right...
When Ben's done talking he takes another step back and gathers himself, before allowing a little smile to show on his face. Guess that explains that...an old toy with sentimental value. I can understand that. He sighs. Geez, though...sucks that he has to worry about people thinking it's his. It's not something worth bothering people over.

Turning his attention outward, Cecil focuses on Ben again. "Yeah. Let's get moving."
Cecil leads the way. He hadn't had long enough to get amazingly familiar with the academy yet, but he'd had enough chance to learn where most of the things he needed to know about were. They don't end up taking the most efficient route, but before long, they're around the gym.
"Right...guess it's time we got looking, then. I'll get looking around here." He nods to Ben and goes off to start searching, popping in one earphone as he does.

Ben watched as the boy simply accepted the information and moved toward the gym area ahead of him. He brought a finger up toward his chin and absent mindedly stared at the floor as he followed close behind.

Uhuh...Well, I guess that's it then. I'm never gonna understand this guy at a glance. No curiosity at all in that blank expression. And what's more, not enough sympathy or concern in that voice. So his help was neither out of altruistic kindness or curiosity. Can't make heads or tails of him...So Cool!

Ben's eyes narrowed slightly as he watched his newly recruited partner begin the search, listening to something, he assumed music, through one earbud.

The only thing that really stood out was the speed at which he...Oh, does he just want to get this over with?

Squating toward the ground by some potted plants, Ben began to search fervently for his lost item.

I get it, .well, one thing at least. I'm not the only one hiding something. No one is that gray....unless they're a robot...OH SHIT! Is he a robot!?

Ben pushed the ridiculous thought of the student's green eyes bulging out to shoot laser beams at him, and continued his sweep of the area. Failing to find anything, he moved swiftly toward a couple of benches and thoroughly searched underneath them. He stood up from his knees with a sigh and began to think of other areas he had been that day. Ben had pretty much lost hope of finding him here. He turned toward the student and gave a weak smile.

"Eh, it doesn't look like it's here. Unless of course you've had any luck..Well, if you haven't found him either, then I guess I'll start heading toward the science lab." Ben smiled and waved his hand casually, "Y.You don't have to look anymore if you don't want, but it'd be awesome if you could do me one last favor and help me find my way to the lab? To be honest, I've just been getting around by recognizing students I have class with and following behind them..."

Realizing how weird he had just sounded..
"Ah! I mean, not like stalking people or anything! They're going to the same place anyway, so I just kinda let them lead the way, ya know." Ben placed a hand on the back of his neck and glanced toward the floor.

Uh, I have to change the subject..Oh!

He brought his attention back to the student and spoke in a light apologetic tone,

"A.anyway, I just realized I didn't even introduce myself. That was rude, huh. I'm Ben. Thanks again for helping me out."[/color]

Cecil hums along with the track currently filtering into his ear as he searches. With his head relatively clear right now, it was mainly an effort to stave off the splitting headaches that came when it got too silent.
Nothing was turning up from his own search. He examined the fixtures and looked through the greenery, but it didn't appear the place had any secrets to hide from him - at least, none right now. If there was a stray pen or some loose change here, someone claimed it earlier.

As Ben calls over, Cecil stops looking, and pops out his earphone. He just listens attentively as the boy speaks, not making any move to interrupt. At the first lull in Ben's speech, he starts to say something, but the words rapidly die out as it turns out he wasn't done talking. This repeats with each halt in his speech, his attempts to cover for a statement that even register as anything of notice to Cecil in the first place only making himself seem more awkward.
...who's he had to deal with that he's so afraid of what I might be thinking? It's...honestly a little sad to think about.

As Ben says his final pause, there's a little pause as Cecil's uncertainty as to whether an attempt to speak would be interrupted again gets the better of him. When it's clear that he wasn't jumping in at the wrong moment again, he lets out a little sigh and speaks up. "Relax. I don't know why you're so worked up, but you really don't need to be." He shakes his head, a wry smile on his lips. "I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't want to, alright? Don't worry about it. It's not a big deal."
Signalling for Ben to follow, he starts making his way to the lab. As he walks along, a pensive look develops briefly on his face as he glances down to his side away from Ben, before he looks over to him with a relaxed smile. "My name's Cecil. And, ah...seriously. You don't need to act like that. It's a little uncomfortable being treated like I'd tear into you at the first opportunity."
If one were to be looking for it, there's a hint of sadness in his green eyes as he says that.

Cecil's words almost sounded insulting until Ben considered how erratic he had been acting. Not only was what he said accurate, but oddly calming. There was some kind of feeling in the way he said them. A genuine sort of friendliness.

So, you really are just kind...that's a bit boring. Nice, but boring.
Either way, I guess I can take your advice and relax now.

"Alright Cecil." Ben said lithely while strolling along and raising both arms behind his head. "I'll try and calm down. I can see you're a nice guy, so there's nothing I need to worry about, right?"

Ben continued his casual pace as they rounded the corner of another hallway. Still, if I don't find him soon..I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to keep my shit together.

Is he asking me, or himself?
Cecil quickly clears the thought from his head. Regardless of the peculiarities of that statement, this was no time to comment on it.

It's not long before the pair hit the science lab, and Cecil wastes no time in getting looking. The science lab wasn't the smallest of the rooms, and there were more than enough crevices for something to hide in.
Where could it be...? Time was starting to creep up on them. If this took too much longer, they might have to clear out, and he doubted Ben would have a particularly great time from here on if he had to leave without what he was looking for.
This would be less of an issue if this particular room wasn't turning out to be such a pain to search.

A science lab wasn't a great place to lose a soft toy. Even assuming nobody found the thing and decided to mess with it, there was the potential for all sorts to happen to it, intentionally or not. If it was here someone, he had just to hope that nothing had happened to it.
He hadn't found it yet, but he still had a fair amount left to search. Cecil pops up, and looks over to Ben. "Any luck?"