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Cee hesitated to call what she was doing "walking the leaf" because it sounded silly, but then, life had been turned on its ear and many things seemed a little silly after her encounter with the Walkers. She was still shaken by the whole thing, not to mention the sudden disconnect from Jenner...but taking her new baby leaf out for walks, now that they knew what it was, seemed to calm her nerves somewhat.

The dead woman idylled through Barton West Field, wandering down the path in the general direction of the gazebo. It was a nice day, and while it had been going crazy before, the little green leaf tucked in one of Cee's buttonholes seemed quiescent now. As she walked, Cee murmured to it, telling it about the day's conditions, the people they passed... After all, talking worked with infants, didn't it?

Assuming that Cee was crazy was probably not too far off the mark, though to be fair, talking to the leaf wasn't her at her craziest. She was in the middle of a narrative about the gazebo when Isilya zipped out underfoot, making the dead woman draw up short. "Oh, hello there," she said, no longer talking to her, err, leaf. "Where did you come from?" She hunkered down to be on a level with the creature, reddened eyes curious.

The leaf at her collar twitched as if waving.

((Okay. xd I have to ask, since I've checked everything I could think of--what is Isilya? Just so I know what Cee's talking at.))

"Oh, it's all right!" Cee hurried to explain, smiling up at the girl. "I've got troublemakers of my own at home; honestly, they've done a lot worse than running off to talk to strangers!" Albedo, for example, was notorious about being the stranger most mothers warned their children about.

Getting up from her crouch, Cee looked down and dusted her knees off, then looked up again and offered Elena a hand in greeting. "I'm Cee, by the way, and this," she indicated the leaf, "--err, well, this is the leaf. We're calling her Kaimana for now. Uh, me and the kids that is--I know this will sound crazy, but apparently she's going to turn into a kid one of these days." The zombie gave a nervous sort of laugh. "--oh, and sorry if my hands are cold, uh--dead, and all. I don't eat brains, though!"

The leaf gave another little wiggle as it was introduced, before doubling up and appearing to pull itself out of the buttonhole it had been stuck in.

((Ahhh, thankee! She's so pretty, too. 3nodding ))

Having freed itself--herself?--of the buttonhole, the leaf gave another gleeful squiggle before squirming off of Cee's shirt and fluttering toward Elena. As the dead woman was leaning over to give Isilya the requested petting, she didn't immediately notice her "child" running away. "Oh! It's...well, uhm. Sort of a long story and a little embarassing, since I really wouldn't be dead if I weren't being stupid last Halloween. Uh, I'm--well, a zombie basically--aww, who's a cute little ki-rin?" The last was directed at Isilya, before Cee straightened up to look at Elena again. "And--oh, not again!"

She took a hurried step forward, reaching out to try and catch her wayward leaf. The leaf, on the other hand, steadfastly refused to be caught, slipping between Cee's fingers and forcing the woman to juggle it. "Oh--all the time, she was really--erm--hey! Don't do that, come back here!" Squirting between its guardian's fingers once more, the leaf gave another noble lunge toward Elena, only to get captured between Cee's two hands. "--gotcha!"

The leaf managed to poke a tip out from between two of Cee's fingers, wiggling in a decidedly sassy manner. "Don't you take that tone with me, young lady," the zombie told it, struggling to keep a straight face.

Once more, the leaf began working her way toward freedom, though in much smaller spurts now that Cee was watching. For her part, the zombie eyed her handsful of disobedient vegetation for several seconds, before looking up at Elena and offering a relieved smile.

"It's a little crazy, I admit. I think I like it a little better than having my kids pop out of books or gems or--well." She smiled a little sheepishly. "Totems. Not that I don't love them still the same, but the leaf is living--oh! I did. I, uhm." Now her expression was a little guilty, her eyes straying away from Elena's face. "It's sort of a long story, but Albedo--one of my other children... He's got a feel for these things."

As if the mention of the insane Mozou had been some sort of sign, a dark, winged shadow flickered low across the path, before swooping up to perch unannounced on Cee's shoulder. "But trusting him with these things? You should not be," Chang-E croaked, rustling a wing and eyeing Elena thoughtfully. "New friends?"

"Oh! Yes--well, I guess." Cee glanced sidelong at the Nightmare, before smiling at Elena and her companions once more. "Elena, this is Chang-E--Chang-E, Elena and Isilya, I think it was." As she gestured to each of the named people in turn, her leaf took the opportunity to leap from her hands once more, making a determined--er--flutter for Elena.

"Oh!" Cee clapped a hand to her forehead, the very picture of embarassment. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean--it's just that...oh, it's a long story." She stammered to a stop, rubbing at her face with her free hand. Chang-E snorted at his dreamer's behavior, ducking across her shoulders to avoid getting a faceful of forearm.

"A grandchild, my dreamer has, who came from a book," the Nightmare explained--then paused to watch the curtsy with undisguised, if mild, amusement. "To meet you as well, it is good."

The leaf's daring escape got a more open look of amusement, one that turned into a low, grating chuckle as Cee slapped her other hand to her face. "Oh, I give up!" she declared. "I guess this means she likes you!"

Indeed, it did seem like the leaf had taken a liking to Elena, as it pointedly made itself easier to catch for the Tale. And appeared to do the plantlike version of a victory dance at its achievement.

((No worries. xd Obviously I am only getting to this several weeks later, so we can suck together!))

"Oh," the dead woman said, a little muzzily. "Maybe you've met him then?" For some reason, this mention of her "grandchild" caused her to look startlingly guilty, then shuffle and glance away. Elena's comment to the leaf made her look back, though, and smile herself.

"I know, I'm such a spaz. Somebody calmer must be a relief." The leaf gave an almost-shrug at this comment, before wiggling cheerily at Elena. Oh, she smiled! That seemed to make it, if anything, happier.

Chang-E cleared his throat after a moment, a startlingly loud sound from such a small creature. "To interrupt, I hate, but a message for my Dreamer, I have." He raised a claw, displaying the rolled-up note clutched in his talons. "Back home, we will, probably, go."

Cee blinked, reaching up to retrieve the note from her Nightmare--he relinquished it willingly--and unfurled it to read. Chang-E snorted and bit her on the ear in response. "Ow! What--"

"Attention to your company, you should pay, Dreamer."