By a hill in the woods

"This one is not a person. It is a doll," Cecily smiled at Alex, not at all perturbed by the fact she had stated. As for as Doll Girl was concerned, being owned was fine. She even liked it. It filled a purpose in her life.

She followed him on his heels, not concerned with which way he led her. Doll Girl liked this man. She couldn't name a reason why that was; she just did, and she was content with that knowledge.

She kept looking at him and smiling, the innocence of a child written all over her face.

Doll Girl wondered what qualified as a will? She felt interested in things, so she had interests. She could feel -- somewhat. She recalled a time when she felt much more than she did now. That was all she knew that she had felt more, but she couldn't remember what it was like to feel said more.

"How does one find out if they have a soul?" Cecily asked Alexander, curious by his knowledge on the subject. "This one does find things interesting, and it does things without being told, sometimes, but it likes to do what its Keepers tell it to."

Doll Girl watched Alex's hands, wishing he would have let her reach out and inspect them or touch them. He had not liked her close to him before.

Cecily's smile grew. "This one cannot drink tea, but it is glad Alexander made it some. It likes Alexander. He makes entertaining hand motions and laughs funny."

After having said what was on her mind, Doll Girl took the time to think about what he had said. Some of it certainly went over her head, but that was due to the emotionally straining essence of the conversation. She wondered if maybe it should have bothered her more that she referred to herself in a 'demeaning' way, but she really didn't mind.

"This one wants to spend more time with Alexander; he makes good points.It thinks he cares a lot." She paused, trying to recall something she had once been told by Lilith. "It was once told 'things like to be used, and people love to use, but all things like to be useful.'"

Cecily caught up to him to walk in stride with him. She squinted and reached out as if to touch his hand though she didn't. He didn't like that, she recalled, and Doll Girl aimed to please. She tried to mimic his smirking, but couldn't put that cocky edge that differentiated a smirk from a smile behind the gesture.

"This one will visit then, and it will try not to touch Alexander's hands, even if it really wants to."

Cecily hadn't expected him to give his hand so freely to her, but she didn't complain. She immediately went about touching it reminiscent to how a monkey might. She played with his fingers, inspected his knuckles, his palm. She was utterly enthralled, but was that a surprise?

"Alexander has lovely hands," Doll Girl said. "They are not scarred at all." She couldn't say with any certainty that they were soft, for she didn't feel those things so well, but she thought them nice anyway.

When she was done playing with his hand, she offered her dainty one to him in turn. That was just polite, after all. Like the rest of her, Cecily's hand was smooth and felt like firm porcelain. She had no body heat of her own to speak for, so was as cool as the forest around them.