Ceceiling [Afternoon - Frog x Cecil]

It was all going so well for Cecil. So very, very well.
Admittedly, there was that whole 'psyche-terrorist, free the city, also there are these other guys that will murder you thing to deal with too, but leeeet's ignore that for now.
The reason things were good was because Mr. Skeltal had SHUT. THE HELL. UP.
His entire school day, being pestered to socialise, despite the fact that THAT was like banging his head on a wall, and was doomed to go up in flames.
It...it was a special kind of hell.
And as Cecil spotted Frog, he felt a sudden sense of imminent doom. Should Frog have been looking at Cecil in the moment that their routes started to coincide, he would have seen a look of desperate pleading in his eyes.
...please? No?
It felt like his very soul was being stared into...though it was probably more accurate to say it was being stared out of.
He wasn't getting out of this.

Cecil swallows. "...hey."

Dear god, that was not the response he'd expected. Those were the kind of sickly sweet saccharine tones that even he could pick up on...though that may have more been disbelief that...Frog...
Seriously, what kind of asshole parent calls their kid that?
That Frog would have any wish to associate with him again. He only spoke up because of Ankou, so what on earth was going on in his head that he responded like that after what happened the first time they met?

Cecil shakes his head, and just focuses on getting through this. "I could say yes, but that would be a filthy lie." He shrugs, smiling as if it was nothing, rather than yet another symptom of his usual problems. "You? How're you doing?"

Cecil scoffs at the mention of just what was socially needed. "Wasn't going to be fooling anyone anyway..." Seriously, their closing interaction was, in part, him telling him that he didn't get what he'd wanted to done and he needed to go. Wouldn't that have been a reversal if he'd just said otherwise?

At the mention of recent happenings causing problems, Cecil groan, his voice taking a dry tone. "You wouldn't be the only one. Things have been different, and it's causing me no end of frustration." He thinks as pointedly as he can at Ankou, scowling for a moment. Damn him. "It's...proving tricky to get used to."

Cecil scratched at the back of his head. "It's...kind of the same for me, actually...weird." Given, apart from that, it was probably nothing alike, but it was a strange kind of coincidence. "Not the first time for anything like that, though. Things change, or they don't. Just have to keep living."

For a moment, Cecil seems surprised. And then, his lips twist upwards in a wry smile. "Not many people that'd actually say that." It sounds like he's supressing a laugh. "Appreciate it though. Much better than a set of sickly sweet tones that don't sound right to either of us." He chuckles to himself, shaking his head with a grin on his face. "I'm still surprised you actually did that. Wasn't expecting much of a response at all, honestly."

"That's...an interesting way of thinking about things. Not exactly wrong, though." He shrugs, gesturing out with one hand. "I see what you mean though. In some ways, it's easier to say what you like when you don't really know someone..." He pauses. "Though not all the time. We'd have a lot more people mouthing off otherwise."
"Easy to feel that way, yeah. Harder to say it. Not so sure I could just come out with something like that."

Cecil raises an eyebrow. "I wouldn't have expected killing a conversation would be something you'd get too hung up over. Or, at least...not at this point." He rubs his head a little, before running his fingers through his hair. "Not that I could blame you. Social stuff can be a pain to deal with."

Cecil makes an expression of mock offence. "Life support!" He gasps melodramatically. "How dare you! I will have you know that...pffft." He grins, shaking his head. "Nope, can't keep that up, let alone when it's so accurate to most of my conversations. Well - if you can call them that."
"Got to be honest..." The burst of mirth faded away as the relaxed smile of Cecil's usual facade settled into place. "It's nice having someone to talk to, let alone someone I don't have to try and dance around the sensitivities of. That's...that's always fun." He shrugs, smirking. "Not that you care, do you? I'm just rambling again."

There's a little tweak to Cecil's lips at Frog's reply. "I wouldn't know. I mean, yeah, that sounds about right, but you really have to talk with a person that much in the first place for them to offer." He glances, away down into the corner of his eye. "They have their reasons, really. An expectation to make the offer, maybe, or maybe they just believe they'll handle it better than they actually can. They think what they like, but there's all these preconceptions and stuff whirling around their head, and sometimes even they don't know til something calls them up." He closes his eyes and shakes his head, sighing. "Be nice if we didn't have to deal with that, but it's what makes people."

Cecil shrugs, and opens his eyes, smiling wistfully. "Hope you mean what you're saying, at least. I'd rather not you pretend to care more than you do." He...wasn't sure how well he could deal with that.