Rissie delved into her bag, undoing the complex knots that she'd used to seal it so that not a single finger could reach in. Wouldn't have wanted thieves stealing her supplies, after all! When the thing was finally open, she pulled out something wrapped in a handkerchief, and opening it, handed it over to her new friend. "Here you go, tuna, sea salt, and kelp!" It was one of the few sandwiches that she could stand, though not her favorite. As polite and friendly as she wanted to be, no one was going to take those from her. "What do you mean, looking forward to it?" Rissie glanced around at the crowds and musicians and dancers below them, and then back at the woman. "Is... isn't it started already?" What more could there be to a carnival than this? There were all the things that her siblings talked about right here, even what she suspected was the shooting gallery and what looked like some game stalls down the road. Rissie sat for a few moments, watching the person eat with a bit of confusion. They... had agreed to share food, right? Or did this person think that Rissie was just in the habit of giving out sandwiches to random strangers? Not that that was the worst assumption that someone could make about her, but she really had expected to get an apple in return, regardless of whether-or-not she would eat it right now. She glanced at the apples that the woman had put aside to take the sandwich, and decided that she'd just wait. Maybe the person hadn't forgotten and was just testing her patience! In that case, she could be as patient as could be. Rissie had never had the "stranger danger" talk with her grandparents before. Not that they were negligent in their duties, but there had just never been a reason for it; after all, the only people who she would ever see would have already been screened by them, so there really weren't any strangers to deal with, or much danger. And so Rissie didn't really have the proper qualms with simply answering this woman's questions truthfully. "Yep, I've never been out before, this is my first time!" She let her excitement shine through, still surprised and overflowing from her little rebellious adventure. "My name's Rissie." She sat there a few moments, imagining circuses and whole bands and signature food... it all seemed magical. She'd seen the fireworks every year, already; thankfully they were fired high enough that she could see them over the roofs of the intervening houses. But she'd never seen a circus, or heard a band, or seen the Clock Tower open up. This was surely going to be an amazing few days. "So... what's your name?" Ah yes, there was someone else there, and it was only polite for Rissie to ask for her name, since she'd asked for Rissie's. Aha, she had remembered the apple! Patience won the day again. Rissie accepted it, wrapped it in the previously-sandwich-containing handkerchief, and placed it in her bag, busying herself with all the knots that would mean that the apple would still be there next time she looked. It was a decent trade, on her part. Fruit was one of those things that she enjoyed, but one couldn't really horde fruit for days without someone noticing. Sneaking extra sandwiches was okay, because no one ever counted the slices of bread left, or the amount of salt or kelp or tuna. They just weren't very countable things. Apples... apples were countable. And kind of a delicacy, what with seasons and all. So yes, go apples! And patience! Rissie idly wondered how much better this whole running-away-from-home thing was going to go, because so far it had certainly been a pretty sweet deal. Sure, she hadn't dealt with her grandparents' disapproval yet (and she was pretty sure that it was highly likely that there would be plenty of that to go around when she did come back), but this was definitely worth it. "Mary." Thankfully, one of Rissie's siblings had a friend named Mary, so she'd already gotten all of the awkward questions about why someone would be named after getting married out of the way, so she didn't have to do that this time. Had been bad enough trying to get her grandparents to explain it to them. It was an okay name, even if Rissie still didn't really get why anyone would have ever thought to name their child after marriage. "Yeah, I live around here. And... well, I don't know." She scratched at her chin pensively. "I guess my father would probably let me do whatever I wanted? And I think my mother probably couldn't care less, too." The woman was studying her, and all of a sudden a thought crossed Rissie's mind that made her happy expression falter for a moment. Wait... why did this person want to know about her parents? Why did she want to know where she lived? Was this a kidnapper? That had to be what this was, it all made sense that way. The apple was probably poisoned (good thing Rissie hadn't eaten any of it!), and now this person was trying to suss out whether or not anyone would come after her if she were to be stolen away. What then was the best course of action? Should she Inferno this person right here and jump down off the balcony and run off into the crowd? But maybe there were others working for her, maybe... Oh wait, that was silly thinking on Rissie's part! This wasn't a kidnapper, it was a hero! She still had that fairy, after all. Relief washed over Rissie's face and she smiled again, though she still found the questions maybe a bit personal? But it was okay, that meant that they were friends, right? Friends knew all of their friends' secrets, that's what she'd heard, at least. So Rissie had found her first friend, this Mary person, and she was gonna be a good friend and do this secret-giving thing the right way, just like she was supposed to. "Weeeeell..." her smile turned sheepish. "My guardians... might? know that I'm out?" They really shouldn't yet, the professor should have still been asleep, or maybe just beginning to untie himself from the chair where she'd bound him. And her grandparents and and siblings had gone out to enjoy the festivities themselves (the main reason why she was saving magic power for another illusion at any moment. If they walked around the corner, Rissie would have to disappear quickly). So unless someone were to go back to the house to check on her for some reason, she'd still be good for another while. And even if the professor were to free himself and alert the guards, there really wasn't much that they could do. It would be impossible to find her grandparents in such a humongous throng of people to tell them that she was missing. Nope, her escapade probably wouldn't reach her guardians' attention until that night. The other question was odder, though. What did she mean what was Rissie? "I'm a Zora..." Rissie looked at her skeptically. How could she have never seen a Zora before? She said that she'd seen many races, was it even possible to not have met a Zora? Rissie glanced down into the crowd and could see a few dozen just from here! She returned her gaze to Mary with a questioning quirk of the brow. Grew up in the Great Bay? And yet... Rissie's brow furrowed deeper. She knew what the Great Bay was, she knew that it was where most Zora (or rather, all Zora were born there) came from. But if there weren't any Zora there like her... Rissie had always known that she looked weird; her siblings looked a lot more like her grandparents than she did. But her grandparents would not allow any questions on the subject, or any bullying, or any... well, any mention, really. It was just Rissie's thing. But she'd always assumed that she just looked that way because her mother must have looked that way. Rissie glanced out at the crowd and surveyed the Zora out there. Sure, some had slightly green scales, but none as green as hers. They all had arm fins and tails on their heads, but none of their fins had the same speckling of orange that hers did. In fact, none of the other Zora had any orange on them... or ear fins, or fins on the top of their heads. Their noses were pointy, hers was stubby. Why, it looked like all of the Zora here looked like her siblings. And none of them looked like her. She hadn't noticed, really, but now it was obvious. And no one looked like that in the Great Bay, either? What did that say about her, then? Was she a freak? Did she come from outer space? She suddenly recalled something that she hadn't thought was directed at her, but now she realized that it was. "By the Giants, that's grotesque." Was that what she was? So horrible to look at that others called upon the Giants for protection just upon seeing her? Her smile had faded away as soon as Mary had said that. After her moments of introspection, she could only say "Oh." Wait, no, she could say more. "I... I'm grotesque, aren't I?" She wanted her new friend to deny it, but at the same time realized that it must be true. And her mother must have been dead, too, or she didn't look like her mother at all, just like some terrible mutant, since Mary had never seen anyone who looked like her. As she'd expected, it didn't make Rissie feel any better to hear her say that. Of course Mary would deny it, she was her friend; friends didn't tell others that they looked out of something from a horror story. But "just different." Yeah, that was all, she was... different. But unlike Mary's reassurances, Rissie knew that different was a bad thing. Her younger brother (well, one of many of them) had come home week after week for two years, bruised or crying. It had taken him until her was seven to learn how to say 's' correctly, and he'd been teased and bullied mercilessly for it, because it was different. And now that she saw just how different she was, Rissie finally could make the connection between her odd looks and the reason that she'd always been kept locked away; namely that they were the reason. Maybe her grandparents didn't want her to have to deal with bullies, or maybe they didn't want to make anyone have to look at something so hideous. Were they ashamed of her, was she some family monster to keep hidden away? For a few seconds, she considered going back. There was still time to make it back before her grandparents would learn of her escape, and maybe before anyone had realized at all. Maybe this was as much of the carnival as she should see, and she should just go and lock herself away again to spare the world her horribleness. Surely that would make the world better, right, since that was what her grandparents were doing. Why, probably everyone who had seen her today had had their day ruined by her strangeness. But she also realized that no, the world really didn't revolve around her, and she wasn't that hideous. Maybe she insulted some people's sensibilities, but they weren't going to have a bad time at this carnival because of it; no one could have a bad time at such a wondrous event. Not even she could, and she steeled her will to see her plan through. She'd demand an explanation from her grandparents when she got back, but for now she was going to have a good time and not think about it. Though it would be rude to not answer Mary's new question. "No, I never met my mother. I'm sure she was..." Well Rissie had been about to say beautiful; after all, what daughter didn't want to imagine their mother as a queen, since that would make them a princess! But she just let the sentence trail off. Though in her mind she still saw her image of her mother: someone who looked like her, but older, and bluer, and with kind soft eyes; though she still saw this and thought it was beautiful, she realized that that too would be horrible and grotesque to these people. It was better just to keep her vision to herself.