Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ The Gifted Moon Academy ❯ Cecil! ( Chapter 14 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

After a good night of sleep, Rinsi woke up feeling refreshed, and feeling a lot better. She still didn't want to be seen by anyone just yet, but her mood was a lot better. It was a lot more like the Rinsi that had come to the school, and less like the Rinsi that had hurt people with her blessing spell.
After a quick shower, she changed into something comfortable - a pair of tan shorts and a snug black shirt that accentuated her feminine features. She wasn't planning on leaving her room until tonight anyway, so she might as well get comfortable.
Rinsi grabbed her violin and the bow and began to play her favorite lullaby. It was soft and slow, but not at all sad sounding. Instead, it was happy and uplifting. Without even knowing it, her body began to glow as she played, and a feeling of friendship and protection flowed through her every fiber. Something told her this was a spell, and not at all a harmful one, no matter what the race, species, or element of the person's body. Still, she was a bit afraid of hurting people. She would have to sneak outside and get clear away from everyone, or wait until dark to do so.
It was late in the afternoon, and Rinsi was overcome with hunger. She hadn't eaten in - what - 36 hours? She knew she couldn't keep up this pattern. She was too energetic and as it was she was really fidgety. Finally deciding that she needed food badly, she decided to brave the halls of the school, and gosh darn the people that would glare at her in hatred. Right now, she was too hungry and fidgety to care. She had to get out and run. She had to do something productive with her time. Most of all, she had to get some food in her before she passed out from hunger.
She had left her staff in her room on purpose, so that she would not be identified as easily. Or, if she was identified, at least they wouldn't accuse her of abusing her power, or whatever. This also meant she couldn't cast any spells, and this was fine by her. Beyond the safety of her room and the darkness that shielded her at night, she was not inclined to cast any more spells and make more people hate her. So instead, she left her staff on her bed, which sat next to her night stand that still had her note pad on it, open to her notes that she had absent-mindedly left there for anyone who saw it to read. Instead, she opted for walking on her own, though still a bit cautiously down the halls towards the cafeteria.
As Rinsi walked down the hallway, she knew she was approaching Ki'iro's dorm. She was still afraid that he hated her, and with good reason. However, she also hoped he would forgive her, now that she had fixed everything. Still, she tiptoed by his room, hoping he wouldn't see or hear her, or at least that if he did, he wouldn't say such mean things again. Tried as she might to be quiet, her stomach betrayed her with a loud growl. She froze in her tracks for a moment, wondering if anyone was around to hear that.
After practically inhaling a bowl of noodles and a nice, thick sandwich - very much grateful that Ki'iro hadn't seen her and yelled at her more - Rinsi carefully made her way off of school grounds and out into a nearby forest without being seen. Or at least, she thought she was unseen. She had strapped on her hiking boots and grabbed her violin, simply itching to find out what her one and only violin spell would do. That, and she was still extremely fidgety from sitting around in her room and doing nothing. So, she decided she would get far away from the school, and perform her only violin spell to see what it was and what it could do, without the possibility of accidentally getting someone else involved.
As she trounced around in the leaves, sticks, mud and various plant forms that somehow left her feeling a bit peaceful, she came to a glistening lake in the middle of the woods. It glistened bright silver in the light of the sun, and the water rippled as a slight breeze passed, brushing a little of her hair that hadn't been tied back into her face. She smiled a bit and pushed the unruly lock out of her face and behind her ear. Mooney was by the water, watching it intently.
"Mooney, if you catch yourself a fish I will personally cook it for you." Rinsi said, doubting that her tame cat could catch a fish on its own.
Rinsi pulled out her violin and began to play her favorite lullaby, the one that had caused her to glow before. Once again that feeling of friendship and protection washed over her more and more with each note that she played. As she neared the end of the song, those same ethereal wings seemed to bloom from her back like a spring flower caught on high speed camera. Two words echoed in her mind. They were not pleading, or begging. They were not the words of a lover. Instead, these two words sounded excited, almost hyper. It was surprising to her, and at the same time contagious. As she played the final note, she couldn't help but utter these words in the same excited, almost hyper tone.
"Celestial Winds!"
As soon as she said these words, a little pale blue creature appeared out of no where. It did a few front flips upwards from where it appeared, and just floated there. It opened it's curled up form to reveal a small animal looking thing, with feathery ears and a feathery tail. It almost resembled Carbuncle from one of the Final Fantasy video games. It was absolutely adorable! Rinsi could barely restrain herself from running up to it and wrapping it in a big hug and cooing over it.
However restrained she was, though, it didn't matter. The little creature squealed in glee and made a bee line for her chest, nuzzling its furry little head between her breasts.
"Mistress Naomi!" it squealed in an almost childlike voice, "Why did it take you so long to summon Cecil? Cecil missed Mistress Naomi!"
"First of all," Rinsi said, embarrassed as hell and just as tweaked as she carefully pulled the creature away from her chest, her face as red as a tomato, "I don't appreciate being molested like that. Second, my name is not Naomi."
"Oh?" said the creature, it's face full of curiosity, "if you're not Mistress Naomi, then who are you?"
"I'm Rinsi." she replied curtly.
"But," the creature said as it floated around her, sniffing her in various places, some of which she was not comfortable with it sniffing, "You smell just like Mistress Naomi."
"Naomi was my mother's name."
"WHAT?! Why didn't Mistress call on Cecil earlier?"
"Naomi...she and Charles...my mom and dad....they died when I was young." Rinsi said, now looking sad at the thought.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the creature cried as it floated circles around Rinsi, eventually landing on her shoulder and crying on it, "Mommy and daddy are dead?! It can't be! Cecil is sad now!"
"Why are you here, Cecil?"
"Mistress Rinsi summoned Cecil with Celestial Winds. Cecil has served the Starlight family for centuries."
"But you're just a baby."
"Cecil's race lasts very very long. Not like Naomi's race or Charles' race."
"So if my parents are dead, does that make you my summons now?"
"Not yet. Cecil can only be Mistress Rinsi's summons on one condition."
"What is that?"
"Mistress Rinsi must have a partner!" Cecil said cheerfully.
Rinsi blushed at the thought of this. The last boyfriend she had ran away in fear when she started glowing while dancing, and she wasn't sure if anyone here could accept her now that she had hurt so many. She cast her eyes on the ground and sighed softly.
"I'm....alone...." she said quietly, "I...cannot be accepted anywhere. Not even in a school filled with gifted people like me. Why must I have a partner for you to be my summons?"
When Rinsi looked back up, Cecil's eyes looked like they were full of tears that were threatening to break through the flood gates. Its cute little paws were covering it's cute little mouth, which she could tell was quivering.
"Cecil needs a mommy AND a daddy. Cecil cannot have just a mommy or just a daddy. Cecil needs both."
"But why?"
"Cecil needs to connect to Mistress Rinsi's mind and soul, but Cecil cannot do this when Rinsi is all alone. Rinsi will open up on her own when she has a partner."
"What kind of summons are you, anyway?"
"Cecil is a healer!"
"Yeah, so am I. What good does that make you?" Rinsi said, immediately regretting her words. "I'm sorry..."
"It's okay! Cecil is used to it. Each new master Cecil gets says the same thing. Rinsi can heal physical wounds, right? And with a spell she can restore energy. But Cecil can do more than that. Cecil heals body, heart, mind, and soul. Whereas Rinsi heals the body only, even with spells, Cecil heals everything. Cecil was chosen to be the Starlight family summons because of this, because the Starlights have a special power that can make everyone happy. But that power can also kill their soul, meaning no afterlife or anything. Cecil is here to keep that from happening, when Rinsi's world is finally ready to accept peace, so that when a Starlight performs the spell successfully, Cecil can keep them from dying completely."
"Wait...successfully complete the spell? You mean, it's never been successful, even when it's small?"
"That's right!" Cecil said cheerfully.
"So it wasn't just me."
"Hey, how does Rinsi not know Cecil? Someone should have told Rinsi."
"I was raised by my mother's sister and brother-in-law, my aunt and uncle. They didn't want me knowing about my powers, so they never told me. I only found out recently that the dances they taught me were spells."
After a long discussion with 'Cecil', Rinsi decided it was time to head back. For once she had a spell that wasn't huge, and she was glad for that, even if it was a little annoying. Still, she had to admit the little guy (or girl, whichever it happened to be) was absolutely adorable. She decided to head back to the cafeteria, not for her own appetite, but to feed Mooney and see if she could find Cecil something to eat. She was so wrapped in thought about her new summons, or rather, not summons, that she hadn't noticed Ki'iro sitting nearby. Instead, she looked around the cafeteria, wondering what a creature like Cecil could eat.
"Cecil, can you eat human food?" she asked as she grabbed a plate of fish for Mooney, as well as a saucer and a carton of milk.
"Yep yep! Cecil loves the food humans call 'hot dogs'. Cecil doesn't know why they are called that though. They look nothing like dogs!"
Rinsi couldn't help but laugh at Cecil's child like curiosity and logic. She even wondered the same thing.
"All right, hot dogs it is. Cecil, you are just too cute."
"Yay! Mistress Rinsi has praised Cecil! Cecil is happy!"
"By the way," Rinsi said as she pulled out another plate with some hot dogs on it, "what gender are you? Are you a boy or a girl?"
"Cecil is Cecil." came the enthusiastic reply.
Rinsi sighed to herself and sat at a nearby table. Mooney jumped up onto the seat next to hers, where she promptly set down the plate of fish. At the same time, Cecil landed on the plate of hot dogs and began to gobble them down like they were going out of fashion.
Ki'iro – who had been sitting nearby - couldn't help but smile to himself when the little floating creature yelled out of joy. He just continued slurping his noodles, and gestured for Rinsi to come and sit by him. Not looking very appealing, he felt a bit self-conscious since he had just gotten himself out of bed.
"How are you?" He called to her. "Who's your friend?" He asked.
Ki'iro didn't feel a need to stay mad at Rinsi. She didn't know what kind of an affect her spell would have on everybody. It wasn't her fault.
His bowl was half empty, or I suppose one could say it was half full. Ki'iro could just eat and not stop. But, being a vegan, Ki'iro felt quite limited to what types of food he could eat. "I wish they had vegan pizza here," he said to himself softly. "It's just not right, killing those poor things..." Even though Ki'iro was rather cold at times, he always had an extremely sensitive side towards animals.
Hearing someone call out her name, Rinsi saw Ki'iro waving her over. She approached him carefully, not sure if he was still mad or not, but at the same time tried to be her usual self.
"Oh?" she said curiously as she sat with him at his table, "I didn't know you had a soft spot for animals. You'd like Mooney then. He's really friendly. Oh, this is Cecil. Apparently he's the family summons, and served my mother and father. Cecil, this is Ki'iro."
"Ohhh," said Cecil as he began circling Ki'iro and sniffing him at the same time, "Ki'iro controls shadows! Neato! Is Ki'iro Cecil's daddy?"
Rinsi turned bright red, and covered her face with her hand, trying not to show it. This little guy knew nothing of tact or shame, did he? Not only that, but Rinsi honestly doubted Ki'iro would even want her for a friend after what she had done, and after what he had said to her about it.
Slurping another big forkful of noodles, Ki'iro smiled with his mouth closed, since it was full of noodles. Chewing and swallowing, he looked up at the little floating thing. Apparently it was named Cecil.
"Well hi there Cecil," he said softly. "Star," he said, turning his attention back to her, "I'm not mad at you for what happened, you know. I just decided that it's pointless to get so worked up over something. And well, I prefer to think of you how I did that night we met at the dance. You were something. Some good dancer," he said quietly.
"Daddy? No, no, I don't think so little Cecil," he said to the little thing. "We're just friends," he said, gesturing towards Rinsi. "Star, that's really a cool thing that he's your family summon. We don't exactly have something like that. We had a dog once..." he laughed softly.
Rinsi couldn't help but blush more and rub the back of her head sheepishly. She was glad he wasn't mad at her any more about the incident, and felt really relieved. Especially when he complimented her like that.
"Thank you." she said happily, smiling like her normal self once more. "I didn't even know we had a family summons until just now. He's a little troublesome, but so cute! What was the dog's name? What breed?"
Ki'iro laughed softly at her questions.
"I have no idea," he said softly, chuckling nervously. He slurped up another mouthful of noodles and smiled at her again.
"It really is cute, you know," he said with his mouth full. "How are you little Cecil?" He asked sweetly.
Rinsi couldn't help but giggle a bit. She wasn't sure why, though, aside from Ki'iro talking with his mouth full and stating the obvious.
"Yeah, he sure is cute." Rinsi said.
"YAY! Cecil is happy! Ki'iro and Rinsi think Cecil is cute! What is cute?"
Rinsi burst out in laughter at this. She knew it was rude, but she couldn't help it. He was such a curious little fellow, in spite of serving her family for centuries. She had thought Cecil had known the answer to this question already.
"Cute means adorable, worthy of affection, attractive in a dainty way, or precious."
"YAY! Cecil is precious!"
"You are one cheerful little bugger, aren't you?"
"YUP!"
Ki'iro couldn't help but laugh at Cecil and her curiosity. Finishing up his food, Ki'iro excused himself from the table and walked over to the dishwasher. He put his dishes away neatly, and then headed back over to Rinsi. Standing up, he bowed softly to Cecil and Rinsi.
"Goodbye m'lady," he said with a cocky smirk on his face. With that, he bid her adieu and walked out of the cafeteria.
Rinsi was curious as to what was going on and decided to follow Ki'iro. After watching the scene unfold before her, and a little guess work on her part, she figured Ichio was back, but had a serious case of retrograde amnesia. She had left silently on her own, completely unnoticed, and had gone back to her dorm to think...and do a little research.
Among the books she had brought with her, most of them were medical journals of some sort. Right now she was flipping through one of them, reading it intently as she sat on her bed with one leg resting atop the other.
"Mistress Rinsi," Cecil said curiously, "what are you doing?"
"I'm researching something."
"Like what?"
"Well a friend of mine has a bad case of retrograde amnesia, and I'm trying to see what I can do to help. Can you help at all?"
"Cecil doesn't think so. Cecil read over your shoulder and that book says that the memories are there, but inaccessible for a while. It's not an injury or real illness, so Cecil can't fix it. Cecil is sorry."
"It's okay, Cecil." Rinsi said, smiling at the adorable little thing, "cheer up."
"Okay!"
Rinsi had had enough studying for a while, which was extremely odd for her. Right now, she was concerned about Ichio and Nakya. She knew they were close, and for Ichio not to remember anything must be killing Nakya on the inside. So, instead she opted for looking for her friends. She decided that checking Ichio's dorm would be closer, and a good place to start. As she approached the dorm room door, she could hear voices. She listened for a moment, and when she was satisfied that it was Ichio and Nakya talking, even though she couldn't hear the words themselves clearly enough, she knocked on the door.
"Ah, Ichio! You're finally awake." she said through the door. "How are you?"
Ichio blinked at the girl, a frown on his face.
"I take it you know me? Can I help you?" He asked, leaning heavily on the door.
Yumi's voice rang in his head once more, as he forced himself to relax.
You can't be serious. That's Rinsi! Her thoughts drifted out again as he thought out the rest of his plan, then came back louder. You will not do that to her. I will not let you touch one hair on her head! Not until you come to your senses. This is not the past. This is different. You have to remember what you felt for her!
Rinsi stared at Ichio for a moment, trying to play dumb. She knew he had a serious case of retrograde amnesia, and thus would not remember her, but she didn't want them to know that just yet.
"You...don't remember me? I'm Rinsi Starlight, Nakya's room mate. Is something wrong, Ichio?" she said, trying to look concerned.
"Oh, hello Nakya!" she said as she smiled and waved cheerfully at her room mate.
Listening to Rinsi and Ichio talk, Nakya felt despair well up inside her. Waving to Rinsi silently, she laid down on Ichio's bed and closed her eyes.
This has to be a bad dream. Please let it be a bad dream… she thought as tears rolled down her face.
Connecting her thoughts to Rinsi's, she said 'Rin.. He doesn't remember me.. He promised me he'd come back.. But.. he doesn't know me, or anything. I feel sick...' The last of her words broke off as the pain overwhelmed her.
"Umm.. Okay." Ichio said, his mask returning to one of blank disinterest. "Well, I don't know if you can consider it as something wrong, but I suppose that's the best explanation."
Ichio listened to Yumi rant, rubbing Rinsi's arrival in his face. You can't do anything now. You just have to lie down and face the facts. Your plan failed. He smiled lightly, thinking at her, That's what you think.
"Care to talk about it?" Rinsi said, playing dumb. "Oh, Cecil, maybe you'd like to talk to Nakya. I think she could use a little cheering up."
"Okay!" said the furry little creature that had been floating around her.
"Let's talk in the hallway, shall we?" Rinsi said.
Ichi smelled something funny brewing, but figured it couldn't be anything worse than his own plan. If things got messy, he'd just knock this Rinsi chick out, and take what he wanted.
"I don't think that's a bad idea." he said, smiling. "After you."
He motioned outside, following her out and shutting the door again behind them.
"I'm not sure what there is to talk about, really." He said, inspecting the edge of a tattered sleeve.
"Well, I was just wondering something. Do you know who you are? Or who that girl in your room is? Or what you mean to her?" Rinsi said, trying to be as cautious as possible. "If you don't remember me, then do you remember anything else?"
"Who I am? Well, I know that my name is Ichio. I know that the girl in my room is named Nakya. I also know that I must not mean much to her if when I finally resurfaced, or whatever happened, she went off for a bit with some guy who seems to be very close to her."
Ichio leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms.
"I remember waking up in darkness, and being cold. Before that, I remember pain, horrible pain. I remember bits and pieces of my past, a semester of elementary, a year or so on the streets. Not a whole lot more. Why do you want to know?" Ichio's face was again blank, he didn't like where this was going.
"I just want to know how much you remember." Rinsi said cheerfully. "You mean alot more to Nakya than you think. The other guy she went to is just...a friend really. Hm, whatever happened to you somehow caused you to get a serious case of retrograde amnesia. I want to help you, but I'm not sure how. I think your memories will return on their own eventually, so you'll need to be patient, both with yourself and everyone else, just as everyone else will need to be patient with you. Do you remember Yumi at least?"
Nakya heard Rinsi and Ichio leave. Opening her eyes, she saw a strange creature in the room. Still crying softly, she buried her face in the pillow. [b]"I messed everything up, I know I did.." [/b] Nakya grew angry and began grabbing whatever she could and throwing it against the wall. Lamps, cups, pillows, suitcases, everything.
"OOOooooooooh," said Cecil as he floated around Nakya, both examining her closely and sniffing her, "you shouldn't throw things. You're interesting though! What's your name?"
"Nakya." she said, continuing to throw things, angry tears rolling down her cheeks.
Suddenly, she froze. Reaching into her dress pocket, she found Ichio's note to her.
"Rinsi! Rinsi! Would this help?"she called out from the room, almost frantic. She needed to get Ichio back, she just had to.
"Nakya shouldn't do that." Cecil said cheerfully, "Nakya is making trouble. If Nakya doesn't stop, Cecil will have to stop her, so please stop throwing things, Nakya. Oh, is that a letter?! Can Cecil see?! Cecil wants to seeeeeeeeee!!!!"
Ichio listened as Rinsi explained.
"Amnesia, huh?" He said quietly, a smile playing on his lips. "Yumi…that woman playing with my head, you mean? No, she doesn't seem familiar. And neither does her fashion sense." he added. Hearing Nakya's voice coming from the room he'd left, Ichio turned and opened the door. "What is this?"
"Yumi isn't just a woman in your head." Rinsi explained, following Ichio into his room to find Nakya throwing things.
"Nakya! That's enough!" she scolded her room mate.
"Ooooooh! Nakya's in trouble now!" Cecil cooed, "Mistress Rinsi is going to scold you!"
Rinsi sighed to herself and dropped her shoulders. Nakya had really made a mess, and it was only complicating things.
"Sorry about that, Ichio. It seems she's rather upset now. I'll talk to her later about it."
Blushing at the mess she had made, Nakya apologized.
"I'm sorry, I'll clean it up I promise. But look Rinsi!"
She shoved the note Ichio had written her when she had mentioned leaving the school - the one asking her not to go.
"Would that help him remember?" she asked, glancing at Ichio. Looking up, she saw Ki'iro at the door. "Hi Ki'iro." she said softly, remembering how rash she had acted earlier.
Ki'iro quickly walked over to Nakya and wrapped his arm around her lower waist. Glaring at Ichio for a moment, he then turned his attention to Rinsi.
"Hello, Rinsi, what's going on here?" He asked. He figured it would be better to ask her instead of Nakya. She already seemed stressed.
Rinsi stepped up to Nakya and took a look at the note. She didn't know what Ichio's handwriting looked like so she wasn't sure of the authenticity of it, but she smiled anyway.
"Well, it might. It's worth a try, don't you think?" she said cheerfully.
Hearing Ki'iro's voice behind her, she turned and smiled at the young man, which was her usual greeting for anyone.
"Oh, hi Ki'iro!" she said cheerfully, "Uh, Nakya's just a bit stressed out from Ichio apparently losing his memories. But it looks like she has something that might help him."
"Oh," he paused, "Well, let's hope it helps him get his memories back," he said.
Ki'iro forced a smile across his face as he let go of Nakya and stepped away from her.
"I think it's worth a try, definitely," he sighed heavily and looked down at the ground. Letting his hair fall in front of his face, he spoke again.
"You always seem to be stressed out over Ichio," he said to Nakya. His voice was monotone, his face unfazed.
Rinsi had noticed the sudden change in Ki'iro's behavior and couldn't help but wonder if he wasn't still hung up on her, in spite of the words he had whispered to her the night she had hurt everyone. She looked at him curiously for a moment, then smiled her usual smile and assisted Nakya to her feet.
"With something like this, patience is required on both sides." she said calmly, still smiling, and yet purposely being a little mysterious as to the true meaning in her words.
"Lost memories! Lost memories! I wonder where they went?" Cecil chanted as s/he bounced and floated around everyone in the room.
"Ki'iro needs a hug! Cecil to the rescue!"
Cecil then flew up to Ki'iro and practically flew into his chest with a fierce, but warm hug. Or as warm as his/her little body could manage.
Seeing the sudden change in Ki'iro, Nakya remained silent.
"I just.." Frowning, she looked down. "Give him the note Rinsi."
Ki'iro just stared at Nakya through his hair.
"Patience..." his voice trailed off.
I've been patient for so long. I've waited for her for so long, and she showed me that she-...And now she just...doesn't care, he thought.
"Hello Cecil," he said simply as he lifted his head and brushed the hair from his face. He hugged the little creature back softly.
"Well, I would," Rinsi said, giving a smile and a sly wink, "but you're closer."
Physically speaking, she supposed she was closer, but Rinsi wasn't talking about physically. Nakya was closer to him in person than anyone else, besides Yumi, of course. It would be best if she gave Ichio the note herself. Ki'iro would have to handle his own, especially since he was supposed to be getting over her.
Which brought to her mind her predicament with Cecil. How was she going to find a partner in a place where she didn't know anyone that well, in spite of all the friends she made? Especially since a place like this had more demons and dark magic users than anything else, and she had hurt them all. She pushed the thought aside for the moment, choosing to focus on what was at hand.
"Ki'iro hugged Cecil! Cecil is happy now! Ki'iro should be happy too!" Cecil said excitedly as s/he remained in Ki'iro's arms like a little teddy bear.
Ki'iro's hands clenched and formed fists. He didn't say anything at all; he just looked back down at the ground. He was losing her. After she had kissed him, he just figured they would be together. But apparently, he was wrong. His chest ached, his heart broken, again. Coming to this school was starting to seem like a bad idea.
"Rinsi, he doesn't know me at all anymore.." she softly said, frowning at Rinsi's words.
Throwing her note on the bed, she glanced up at Ichio, signifying he should take it. Looking at Ki'iro, she noticed how upset he seemed to be. Connecting her thoughts to his, she asked 'Are you okay?'
Ki'iro quickly shut his mind off from connection; he pushed a shadow wall around his thoughts.
"I should probably be going soon, I wanted to go train tonight," he said flatly, there was no hint of emotion in his voice. Ki'iro was done with being hurt. He didn't want to let anybody else in.
"I hope Ichio gets better..." he whispered, his voice trailing off towards the end of his sentence. It was barely audible to anybody in the room. He turned to walk from the room.
Rinsi just rolled her eyes and sighed. Nakya had completely missed the point. Whether or not Ichio remembered anything wasn't the subject. The subject was that she was the one closest to him, even if he didn't remember, and since it concerned them as a couple, it should have been her handing the letter to him personally. She'd be sure to discuss this later with her room mate as well.
Cecil felt Ki'iro's body tense up around him, and knew what that meant. There was no playing dumb about that.
"Why is Ki'iro sad?" Cecil asked innocently, "Did Cecil do something bad?"