om_main | Cecil and Nico, Backdated to August 13

Nico was just trying to do recon on dead bodies in the woods. Instead, he gets to be confused by Cecil.

It was good, Cecil reflected to himself, that he was starting to become more comfortable with his new surroundings. (Though he had not quite convinced himself to chance the library yet. Some things had to be built up slowly.) He was no longer baffled at being surrounded by green rather than miles and miles of sand. In fact, one might even say that he was coming to enjoy it a bit. Well, he had always wanted to travel.

The lack of classes, or any sort of structure at all, seemingly, gave him more than enough time to truly investigate. The deepest bits of forest still earned an askance look every so often, but he was slowly edging closer each time he went out. There was just so much more to see every time he looked.

Like a boy, for instance. He had definitely not been there the day before. "Hello," Cecil said conversationally, if a bit cautiously.

Nico looked up from where he was looking in the forest. Man, recon was never gonna get done at this rate. He looked at the new boy curiously, taking note of his eyes in particular. Interesting. "Hey," he called back just as cautiously.

"Are you lost?" Cecil asked with some curiosity, drifting a bit closer his way.

"Nope, just looking," Nico told him, crossing his arms across his chest as he did so. "You?"

"I am also looking," Cecil said cheerfully as he came to a stop just in front of him, "but I do not know if we are looking for the same things."

Nico chuckled. The idea that this boy just also happened to be looking for the dead bodies from old battle was a little ridiculous. "Doubtful," Nico replied with a small smile.

Cecil nodded agreeably, as if that made perfect sense. "No two people truly see the same thing, even if they are observing something similar. It only stands to reason."

A bit taken aback by the philosophical turn of the conversation, Nico stared at the boy blankly for a moment. "Yeah, uh...that's...I'm Nico by the way."

"Oh!" Cecil brightened instantly. "Felix mentioned you. I am Cecil."

"Cool...you friends with Felix?" Nico asked, still feeling a little off kilter from this guy.

"I would like to think so," he said easily. "Felix is quite easy to talk to."

"Seriously. You meet Caius yet? Those two together pretty much carry an entire conversation," Nico replied, being much more talkative than he normally was. Something about Cecil was throwing him off his game.

"I have," Cecil said, though it made him pause just slightly. He had nothing against Caius, but the memory of him shrouded and hooded was a lasting one. "They are both very kind."

"Yep," Nico responded and then, at a loss as to what to say, added, "So, what'd they say about me?"

"Only that I should meet you. Presumably so that we could talk." Cecil paused, head tipping to the side slowly. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Nah, it's fine," Nico told him. That was definitely not the worst thing ever said about him.

"Oh good," Cecil said with a flash of a smile. "I've found Felix's advice on things very helpful. I'm glad that's continuing."

"So what's your thing?" Nico asked, intrigued by this boy and what he could possibly do.

"My thing?" Cecil echoed curiously. "I have many things. Which one did you mean?"

"Like, your power or whatever," Nico responded. This guy was like a walking riddle book.

"Ah. I see things," Cecil said simply. "Everything, to be exact, that is happening at this very moment."

"That's...huh," Nico muttered, confused by the exact meaning of what Cecil said but choosing to go with it. At this school, you never know.

Cecil just nodded agreeably, either not noticing or not caring that the other boy didn't seem to be following. "And yourself?"

"I raise the dead," Nico told him bluntly, with a hint of pride in his voice. After his trip with Illyana, he felt more reassured about his powers.

"Oh." He digested that for a moment. "Raise them to where?"

"To...above ground," Nico responded, but his voice tilted at the end making it seem like almost a question.

"That would make sense," Cecil said with a bit of odd seriousness. "And then what do you do with them?"

"Uh, whatever I wanted, I guess," Nico answered in confusion. Was this guy for real? "They make pretty good minions."

Cecil gave a thoughtful nod. "I suppose it would cut down on how many breaks they needed
. Difficult to get tired when you're dead."

"They don't get tired, but I sure do when I'm powering them," Nico replied.

"Then whatever you need them for must be worth it."

Nico shrugged. "Sometimes I guess."

It earned another nod, this one with an almost curious look. "And what do you do the rest of the time?"

"What do you mean?" Nico asked in confusion.

"Well if having the dead around is only sometimes worth the effort," Cecil said with a small, vague gesture, "then logically it must not be worth it the rest of the time."

"It's not that they're only worth it sometimes...it's that I only need them sometimes," Nico responded eventually.

"I see," Cecil said, very seriously indeed, apparently committing the concept to memory. If it seemed odd to him to need the dead at all, he gave no sign of it. "One should always get what they need, even if it requires a sacrifice. Maybe especially then."

Man, this guy was a bona fide walking philosophy book. Unsure how to respond to it, Nico mumbled something along the lines of, "Oh well that's...yeah?"

Cecil just smiled as if that were the expected response. "Are you looking for dead to raise now?"

"No," Nico said, which was at least a half truth. He wasn't looking for dead to raise now...he was looking for possible dead to raise later.

What a fascinating young man. Cecil practically beamed at him. "I suppose I should leave you to it, then."