Background

Occams Razor. The path of least resistance. Shortest distance and the least struggle. Ever since Cedric was brought into this world by two perpetually exhausted parents who had spent their entire lives toiling for someone else he lived by these ideals. Allentown, Pennsylvania was not a particularly exciting place unless you counted a high crime rate as 'exciting'. His mother, Dina, worked part time at the school as a lunch lady and his father Mitchell was a traveling salesman that attempted to hawk ridiculous inventions such as toaster/hot dog maker hybrids to vacuum cleaners. Overworked, miserable parents didn't impart much upon their child except for the anticipation of what life must be all about; suffering. Left to his own devices and without much supervision school would have been a way for Cedric to cut his teeth on his skill set. It wasn't math, history, science or anything officially taught but observing and predicting human behavior. Cedric was never particularly gifted in mind or body and his only real desire seems to be doing as little as possible with his nose in a book and something to eat near by. The only thing he actively attempted to pursue was the digestion of media and literature which transported him to another far more interesting world... but even then he understood something other children his age didn't; being on top can be as dangerous as being on the bottom. All bonds break or falter. One day you're everyone's best friend and the next? No one will even look at you because of a rumor. He sharpened his social saw enough to exist somewhere between the oil and water. An entire persona crafted and tailored to be the smallest target possible saw him through. Upon his 18th birthday Cedric was ready to fulfill his destiny as a professional slacker. Everything was too much work for him but his father gave him a choice of eviction, college or a job which landed Cedric at a startup LLC. The company was a group of telemarketers and Cedric, for once, actually found himself in a position where he was successful. Cold calling elderly people and convincing them to put their mortgage in reverse or recently divorced, bitter people trying to take the equity out of their home before their partner does. The business was cut throat with the LLC and the bank it worked for having no qualms about the morality of refinancing homes into jacked up interest rates. Quickly Cedric realized that he was particularly good at... perhaps not lying outright but manipulating. Withholding information. Steering a conversation. Pulling on peoples emotions, sensibilities and their desires in order to convince them to do something that -he- wants.. Listening to an old lady who hadn't talked to their kids in years or allowing himself to be the victim of a nasty tangent to leverage that against the customer once they're calmer. Is this what it's like to have power? Even a little? That sensation of guilt started to ebb and replace its self with pride. Was this something he was good at? The prospect excited him. This feeling of pride would last for only until a few years later shortly after his 20th' birthday. The strange weather reports and focus on pollen. Sure there was a lot of the stuff and brushing it off his car every morning like it were snow was annoying but was it really that bad? It turned out to be the truth with his mother ending up in an early hospitalization given her perpetual smoking. What was supposed to be simple pneumonia turned out to be much worse. "Well... I gotta get to the airport." Spoken with such dispassion that Cedric almost forgot that they had signed off on the papers that would remove her from life support at the doctors recommendation. Little did Cedric know that this was also the last time he would see his father. When Cedric called the office in Kentucky where his father should be his colleagues had seen no sign of him. It was then that Cedric knew exactly what happened. With a hard swallow he hangs up the phone. Soon the curfews were in effect. Businesses closing down. The rumors of people going mad and becoming aggressive. Cedric held up in his child hood home for months without the courage to venture out and save himself. The pollen spread and there he remained, unable to procrastinate and put it off. There were still many more books to read. There was just something... missing, however. What was it? Ah, right. People. Cedric never realized what it was like to be totally on his own. Completely independent. Responsible for everything and anything in his life. This shocking realization of what his life became spurred him to seek out the last group of survivors making their exodus towards the south where the military was evacuating people. From then? It was just like High School all over again. He did what he did best and inflated his self worth, bragged about his fake resume and then ensured that he would always be too busy, ill or otherwise occupied to do any meaningful (especially skilled) work for whatever group he was at the time. Though he never cemented a permanent place any where he'd sometimes make it quite a long time before being found out for the lazy fraud he is or leaving before action can be taken against him. After hopping from group to group for almost a decade now Cedric had become so confident in his con that he used it on the wrong people. They knew what this pudgy, baggy eyed wastrel was the moment he wearily stepped into his camp... but Cedric was also desperate and on the last of his supplies. This small group of well armed folks shared a meal with him, gave him a place to sleep and even seemed amicable... but when Cedric awoke it was clear turn about. All of his possessions? Gone. Everything he had scraped together - which wasn't much - over the last ten years was all swiped. Right on the edge of Knox county Cedric had little choice but to seek out help, pull another con or succumb.