☾ @roseofbaron : 4, 5, 10 (which I already know but still love hearing about anyway !!), 17, and 19 ☽ CHILDHOOD HEADCANONS : accepting
[ aaaa i’ll get to all of them except n.17 since i’ve replied to it already, here ! thank you, now I can indulge in more sweet smol Cecil thoughts ! ]
What is their earliest memory?
Because of the big impact the event served for his psyche and life, I am quite sure one of his earliest memory is the day he got to meet Kain, and Rosa. He was quite young, and his earliest years of life although grand and spent in wealth, surely could have never prepared him to the harshness of that one circumstance haha ! Most importantly, I imagine Cecil to have never been struck or hit by anyone or anything, by that age; firstly, due to his status - privileged while rooted in mere luck and the mercy of a kind monarch -- and secondly, because he happened to be the scrawny, frail-looking child. He is meek, though, and while I have no evidences, I’m prone to think he was the obedient child, rarely deserving to be punished -- at least before the martial life of his years as squire and soldier began.
Granted, Cecil wasn’t actually hit by Kain thanks to Rosa’s intervention, the fight stopping right before it could blow up into something bigger, despite their very, very young age. It was a children’s quarrel, but never before had Cecil have to deal with a situation like that - the threat, being called spoiled (did nobles consider him that ? where would have Kain known of things like that anyway, if not through rumors ? after all, they still didn’t know each other’s names, so they were too young even for attending school together too) and unable to fight, and grabbed by the collar of his shirt in order to trigger his reaction.
As years passed, details of that one event became blurred in his memory, as for example the true reason why the fight was about to start -- or the fact Cecil did talk back to Kain, so he too isn’t without faults. But the importance of it all, in the end, lies in the comfort of knowing it served as Cecil’s first meeting with the most important people in his life.
What is an entertaining story from your muse’s childhood?
On a particular hot summer day, he thought it would have been fine to lead his mount out of the city walls and by the nearby river to bathe and play with it. The bird, a rather active and stubborn golden-feathered chocobo was his very first, personal steed, a gift for his tenth nameday, and the perfect companion to practice riding; the steed was usually kept in the royal stables most of the time, was born in captivity and was young and temperamental too -- though he always behaved in his master’s presence, and let the boy ride him quite easily.
Cecil chose the river to bathe because children had been strictly forbidden from playing in the city’s channeled waterway -- although wells scattered around Baron did already provide citizens of the necessary edible, clean water already. The boy led the chocobo west of the town, before entering the woods, in a meadow where the nearby river did spiral in a gentle curve. The place wasn’t new to him, anyway; he had played there countless times with his friends, and kids his age knew and frequented the place for the same reason he was there. Fully-clothed, thinking the scorching summer sun would have taken care of it later on, he jumped in the cool running water to find relief, while his chocobo played around.
At some point, the child felt something grabbing at his left ankle from underwater. Stirring the depths were a couple of monsters; they were small, sand-colored and looked like a fish (one he had never seen before), all provided with an impressive jaw of tiny sharp teeth. Feeling threatened, the odd ‘fish’ had attacked the intruder. Realizing what was happening and starting to feel pain at the ankle, Cecil started squirming in a panicked frenzy, rushing out of the water as fast as he could while that particular fish wouldn’t let go of his foot. The chocobo, having noticed the ruckus and the threat too, was chirping and stomping around the river’s edge.
When Cecil got out of the water, with the creature still biting at his shoe and ankle, he gathered all his courage and violently started kicking the fish with his free, unharmed foot. At around the eight, or ninth kick, he sent the fish flying over his and the chocobo’s head, his shoes still in his jaws; scared beyond reason by that sight, the bird emitted a loud shriek and simply ran away from the spot, saddled and with his bridle still on, into the nearby woods.
It took Cecil a few minutes to process what had just happened and that he most likely needed medication. He returned to Baron by foot, on a bleeding ankle. The day he lost his chocobo, and one of his shoes, was a memory remembered with fondness in adulthood; the fish-monsters weren’t big enough to kill him, but the injury did leave the kid limping for a week or so... although the punishment he received for his reckless behavior and the loss of a royal steed lasted way more than that.
What was your muse’s favourite toy?
Ahh the bunny plushie 2 : electric boogaloo ! I’ve talked in great lengths about this headcanon of mine in a previous post here - but this only enables me to add cute facts and things to it, eheh. The rabbit never had a true name, but on occasions, it was simply given temporary silly names to add to the game Cecil, with Kain or/and Rosa, might have been playing with it for the sake of convenience. As it usually served as the little critter or damsel in distress to save from evil dragons and wizards - toys and scenarios Kain appreciated a lot too, the kids began identifying the plushie as a she-bunny to rescue from evils of all nature.
Having been a toy Cecil kept since he was a baby, it does look quite worn-out. During playtime, in order to try and hide its most damaged spots the best way they could, the little kids would use small pieces of fabric lent by chambermaids, or leather stolen from the hunters and royal tailors, as well as colorful ribbons to tie around its neck or ears. At the end of the day through, Cecil would usually remove all of them from his toy and leave it bare and clean, to have it in bed together with him as he fell asleep. He did sleep with it for quite some time, the old habit fading away as he grew up and finished his mandatory studies before the military academy.
Did your muse have any nicknames as a child? Did they give nicknames to others?
Cecil was too well-spoken and kind to think of or to give nicknames. Being raised by nobles, that’s quite expected: he knows the weight a name -- unimportant, or not -- can bear and was taught to use honorifics quite early on to refer to people. The only time he’d use ‘nicknames’ was, for example, to refer to someone without it being too easy to notice, maybe joking with Kain or something about someone in private.
I can imagine Cecil having nicknames, around town and noble houses. Perhaps something about his conditions -- he was a lucky foundling, given a family name like Harvey AND being adopted by the king. If there have been hostile-sounding nicknames in his regards when he was a baby, then he has no true knowledge of it. Thinking about it, the fact he was given that name too, just because his features did look like Cecilia’s, while having no proof whatsoever he was her son indeed, is something similar to a nickname, no ? Maybe in an ancient, medieval sort of way, because it implies more than what one would normally assume, in hindsight.
He always carried this sort of androgynous aura around him, and as a child, it was only more evident and easy to see. This might have made people mistake him for a girl, at times, and I can imagine it rising some other nicknames -- not to mention his odd appearance, which did, at some point, spark the rumor of him being part of the fae-folk, of “eidolonian” or cursed descent, even harbinger of calamity due to his pale and weird hues and complexion.
andulkaphoto
jbbartram-illu
yousharknotpass
annaxmalina
pixelskylines
vaporwave
kianamaiart
blakekathryn
gummygunk
