What Rings True [Beatrix/Cecil]

This was definitely a strange feeling for Cecil. Had you told him just a couple of days ago he'd be heading out with someone he didn't really know to help them out, and potentially make a friend in the process, he would have given whoever told him a look that said 'Really?' and asked them just what on earth they happened to be smoking.
...or rather, he would if it were any of his family telling him. He'd have just politely waved off the possibility with anyone else in an awkward attempt to just brush the whole thing off without causing too much of a problem.

Still, here he was. Beatrix had gotten in touch, and after offering to help her out in the first place, he kinda had to follow through.
Not that he particularly wanted to bail on this in the first place, strangely enough. Sure, this was not a situation he really felt too comfortable with, but it was for once a social situation he was willing to throw himself into.
Didn't feel right refusing them the help.

At their arranged meeting spot in the Backlight, Cecil sat on a bench, music streaming through his headphones as he zoned out to world around him til the arrival of the girl he was there to meet. Eyes closed, his focus was simply on the music, though he would take a look around every couple of minutes.
You ought remove those and stand watch.
And what? Stress myself out waiting in the cacophony that this place can be? No.
Your attention should be on your erstwhile companion, not yourself.
Drop it, Ankou. I can't do anything if I drive myself mad first.

Beatrix dressed just as nicely for the occasion as she would for school, her hair down as it went down her back around halfway, it swept to the side in the front. Frankly she was deeply concerned with how she would act around Cecil, knowing his behavior would grate oh her eventually.

Regardless, she wore a smile and worked her way through the crowd, tapping Cecil's shoulder as she put her hands into her pockets, waiting on Cecil's direction, her face pleasant but ultimately neutral in expression when around him.

"Sorry to drag you out this far." She said plainly if not somewhat passive aggressively, already feeling the awkward tension setting in from the way he seemed to carry himself.

Cecil jumps from the tap on the shoulder, rapidly pulling off his headphones and rising to face Beatrix. "Oh, ah hey! It's...it's no problem." Any underlying message to Beatrix's words flies over Cecil's head as he concerns himself with the moment he was in the midst of. "So, ah...let's get going, shall we?" He pauses a moment to wait for a reply, before making a gesture for Beatrix to follow as he gets moving...after a certain amount of awkward silence, should she not say anything.

As the walked towards their destination, Cecil would find himself struggling. He could feel the awkwardness that hung in the air, but he didn't know how to start. And yet, he felt a familiar internal presence driving him to fill the silence.
No words. Just a pressure that demanded he speak.
His mind rushes through for just about anything he could say before it latches onto something. "So...you're not from around here, right?" His voice as just as curious as it is tense. "Where were you from before here? How was it there?"

She perks up a bit as she waits for him, to see if he would even say anything as she tried to keep herself composed, her not smiling as she felt nothing but a strange discomfort, like she felt like she had to be nice yet wasn't feeling even close to doing such. She genuinely liked the person under Cecil's awkwardness, but that very awkwardness made it hard for her to talk to him really. "Yes, that would be great."

Her tone was soft but still holding an almost toxic subtle undertone, her staying cool still, wanting to be fair as she gave him a chance still to redeem himself, her hating how she could be at times but could do little to really stop it. "Nope, I was from Cali, Santa Monica. It's not as great as people say. Never really liked the coastline that much." She lied blatantly at the last part to hide the way it was in her eyes, sighing somewhat as she walks along, her fully knowing someone like Cecil would hate her if he knew this.

It was odd, she hated how vapid others were yet she wasn't any better. She had no idea how to change it, so she simply focused on other things. She'd rather keep up this facade she had to not face the loneliness.

A subtle undertone to someone's voice was a subtle undertone that Cecil was going to miss nine times out of ten, and this was not that one time. It all flew completely overhead, and the words were taken at face value. "I see. Guess people would tend to idolise places they don't actually live in." He shrugs. "Grass is greener, and whatnot. It looks great, but only because you're not actually there."
Cecil smiles....somewhat sadly? "I've been in Endymion for a while, but I wasn't always here. Don't really remember that well, but me and my family only came here after the Divide. Stuff happened."

His head tilts away, his gaze focusing more on Beatrix. "Doesn't really matter in the end. Here is where I live now, and here and now is where all the things in my life are going on." He shakes his head and looks back forward. "No point getting hung up over what used to be."

Her eye twitched as she noticed him seeming to be missing all of her cues. How could someone be this socially dumb? Like did he not care or could he just not tell? Either way it made her somewhat uncomfortable, like she wanted to be around the guy but how could someone be this awkward and socially inept?

Her face straightened as she forced a tiny smile, her wanting to enjoy this but finding no feasible way to do so right now. She picked up on his sad smile, her feeling it would be best if she was somewhat honest here. "I know what you mean, I thought life was great back then, well before it wasn't. In fact, I wish I could just go back sometimes, it's pretty lonely here, like all the buildings are just a movie set."

Cecil lets out a brief, dark laugh. "I guess it was. Good as it could be, really, with what was coming up." He smiles wryly. "Things can be a lot more hollow than you'd like to believe. If you can't find anything meaningful, just got to make something like that yourself, I guess."

Before long, they were coming up on Celldom Scene, with it's sleekly designed interior and its questionably designed logo.
Cecil still wondered just who would actually pay for that to represent their business. They tried to use phones for some of the letters, and it just did not work.
At all.
"Well...this is the place. Deals are better than their choice in design. Come on." He heads in.

She walked alongside him, her pace matching his, her letting her actual thoughts slip through at this point. "I guess so, I've always done that. Although, I've seen hollow, and this isn't it. It's at least somewhat genuine. Also, if you're so hollow why not just put on a pretty face and hide your awkwardness, that'd get you lots of friends." She paused as she looked him in the eye, her face soft and polite as usual, her facade starting to tear along the edges

"Not sure why you wouldn't have more friends, though. People like you always seem to find some in short order..." She repeated what he told her on their initial meeting, hoping to get through his head that he didn't have to be such a massive train-wreck of a person in as much of a polite was as possible. She wanted to do it as a helpful gesture, so he could improve in the meantime. "Isn't that what you told me? Now why couldn't that apply to you? You have redeeming qualities, so you should try showing them, no matter how fake you have to be." She said in genuine frustration, not understanding his course of actions and lack of social awareness.

She remained quiet on the way to the shop, entering the store with him as she sighed to herself "I'm sorry I was so harsh, I just want to help you is all."

Cecil gives a Beatrix a curious look, smiling wryly...before laughing and laughing and laughing, long and dark and bitter. He didn't know where it came from, he didn't know where it all bubbled up from, but it was just so funny. He hated the idea so much, but he couldn't help but laugh.
Eventually, he calms down...just a bit. "I never said I was hollow. But as for the rest of that...I can't hide it, Beatrix! This goes waaaaay deeper than you have any idea." He taps his head. "Right from the start, my brain's been like this, and it's not something I can or would change. But...more than that." He gives Beatrix a look more resolute than any before, eyes of dark green staring her down. "That's not who I am. And to be honest? That means more to me then getting some attention. You put on a false face, present them with something different to what's there, and you get friends as fake as the face you're showing them. If they wouldn't accept who you are, they weren't really real friends in the first place."
This, he was firm on. He was far from anyone to talk about making friends...but this is what that meant to him. He wasn't going to jump at the first puddle he could find when he needed an oasis.

"I know you mean well...but that's not something I can do. For so many reasons." He strolls around the store, looking things over, before something comes to mind. "Oh, yeah...what kind of plan are you looking for? How much have you got to work with?"

Beatrix thought on what Cecil said. She knew what he meant. She wasn't going to hide much at this point aside from things she didn't often let people know if at all, which was the majority of information that she had on herself, even more so now. But there was still some she was comfortable telling him. "I understand, I just have never been good with people bad at talking." She looked at Cecil honestly, her eyes looking into his as she was being stared down

"...I'm sorry I lied to you but I had to. You really wouldn't like the 'real' me. I mean I know most of those people are usually just...I don't know what kind of person I am, ok?" She sighed, being burned out at this point, it obvious in her voice.

"A-anyways, I have usually enough to work with to get unlimited on everything. I mean I feel like it'd be inefficient otherwise." Beatrix explained plainly, her face neutral as she let go of the overly cheery tone in exchange for something a little more earnest.

For a moment, Cecil is confused by what he's hearing, and there's a question in his eyes from what Beatrix said. Then it twigs in his mind, and that wry smile is back again. "I'm surprised you can tell me I wouldn't like who you are when you don't even know who that is." He chuckles to himself. "What you think doesn't decided who I do and don't like. Let me figure that one out myself, alright?"

"Now..." He gets looking through. "Unlimited everything is great and all, but there's no point paying for anything you aren't going to use...ah, there's the one." He beckons Beatrix over, gesturing for her to look. "This work? It's priced alright, and while it's not unlimited everything, caps are high enough that you won't really have to worry about going over...at least, right now."

She was quite used to not thinking much about her self in any serious measure, her not having any idea where she'd even start there. "Yeah, I'll trust your judgement, don't worry." She giggled softly back, her feeling a bit better now. Although questions still nagged at her mind, she set them aside for now.

Her head tilted as she listened to Cecil, her never considering such things before but the idea lining up pretty well to her, her own spending habits seeming somewhat strange to her now that she actually thought about it though she couldn't have said why. "You're really not wrong..I can do that, not like I'll run out of it anytime if I keep to my usual habits."

"All I'm asking for."He grins.

Cecil nods. "Alright then. I'm going to assume you don't need me to go out there and get this all sorted?" He pauses for a moment, in thought, then smiles and shakes his head. "Not that I really have all the information for that anyway...be silly for me to even try to."
"I'll just leave this to you, alright? It's simple enough. Just...don't bother with anything else they try to push, odds are you won't need it and it's probably a rip anyway."

"I'll be fine from here.." She replied in a cheerful manner, this time more honest somehow, her finishing her statement now "A-Also, I'd like to talk sometime again, so I'll call you sometime, or if I need to talk. I-I'd like help finding myself if you don't mind of course." She nodded as she knew better that pushy usually meant a bad deal on both ends, her only getting what she came for.

Cecil's smile holds strong. "Got it."

Beatrix's admission is met with a somewhat dumbfounded look. Like this was completely new to him, like he had no idea how to handle this. Then, the brief moment of stupor passes, dumbfoundedness placed for poorly-restrained glee. "Of course! Of course. I mean I'm not sure I'm the person to help you with that last one, but- no, doesn't matter, this is good..." He realises he's started babbling and isn't about to stop any time soon.
Desperately looking for an excuse to get out so he doesn't fuck this up just by being here, he checks his phone and finds a text. "Crap...I ah, think I need to get home now...so, ah um seeyoulaterbye!"

He walks briskly out of the store, jamming his headphones on and cranking them the hell up to shut out his thoughts and the outside world, and starts making his way back home, both hopeful and nervous.
So...they...they said they wanted to talk with me again...
...or were they just saying that...?
He realises what the hell it must have looked like when he left...or more accurately, thought back and just assumed he'd made a fool of himself automatically, and facepalms.
Even if they weren't, I might have changed their mind...