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"Oh!" she said when someone grabbed her shoulder, asking her to slow down. Gnash looked to see an orangeblood (or maybe it was yellow? she wasn't very good at distinguishing the fine details) with round horns and a pleasant... and nice looking, smile. And a very piercing gaze. She felt like he was looking right through her... she covered her cheeks with her pink hands and looked at the cart he pointed at.

A... hoofbeast drawn cart? And he wanted her to go with him? She felt a little nervous. Was it some kind of lowblood trap? Or a mean joke he wanted to play? Her lusus always warned her about going with the lowbloods, that they would hate her and her fins and want to see her get hurt. That they conspired against her kind. She looked back at his smile. So pleasant and nice, and friendly looking.

Well, Angel wasn't here right now. And she could always... kill him, the voice of her lusus finished in her head. She wouldn't, but... it would be fun to go on the cart! A better method of traveling then the one her lusus always proposed. She smiled widely. "If your friend didn't show up and you want to ride, I can ride with you and be your friend all right!" She said happily, lowering her prosthetic limbs. After all, wasn't it her job as a seadweller to help the lowbloods? "My name is Natash Boelli, but you can call me Gnash! What's your name?"

Gnash grabbed the lowblood's hand and let herself be pulled into the cart, taking a seat beside Cerpin, and adjusting her skirt. Or Cerce, she supposed. "Yeah! My lusus gave it to me as a nickname probably because of reasons like sounding strong, like you said. Even so... I think your name is nice too even if it wasn't a nickname made to sound strong. Cerce, you said?" She liked it.

The seadweller looked out at the festival lights, pink and green like the moons above. It was so pretty out here, with all the different lights. "The festival is so much fun! And so much good food, with the veggies and mooncakes and things! I've never been to this festival before though, since the plains are so far from the ocean where I live and because this is kind of a lowblood thing, but I am glad I was able to come this time and play and eat and see the things lowbloods get to do." Angel only wanted her to go to highblood parties, and especially parties for seadwellers, but they weren't usually nearly as fun as games and food with the lower castes! She was about to continue when she saw Cerce rooting through his pockets and pull out a large beetle, glimmering impressively in the moonlight.

"Woah!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening. She leaned forward to look at it better, bracing her hands against the cart. What a beetle! So big and shiny. She might have seen that kind a few times in her own beetle hunting adventures but never seen one that big! "It's so pretty! Where did you get one like that? Is it from the desert?" She lowered her voice, mouth agape. Maybe he collected buggies too, besides for money reasons. Although a lowblood probably only cared about the money reasons... still, she knew he said he could pay but didn't expect this!

Gnash smiled widely. She'd never met another troll who actually collected the beetles, like, for fun. "Me too! Not the living in Chittentown because I already said I live in the ocean, but I collect beetles too for fun." She wished she could show him, she had a whole block in her hive where she kept some of them pinned, all glittering and shiny. One of the few hobbies that her lusus found tolerable. Her feet kicked excitedly, it was so neat to meet a troll like this, who was charming and nice to her, and had a similar interest. Especially a lowblood...

But it came as a complete shock to Natash that he was a highblood, as she nodded to his question. It was different being a seadweller, and other trolls just couldn't understand. She blushed a little at the revelation though, since she never was really all that smart and probably... wouldn't have noticed he even said something a little weird if Cerpin hadn't removed his false horns and explained himself. But, she wasn't scared... she was relieved. He wasn't a lowblood, so Angel couldn't be mad at her! This was the kind of friend she wanted her to have, and that means she wouldn't be mean to him either.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, "You look really different now! Um but not in a bad way because I think your real horns are really nice too. You're purple then and not yellow, since you said violet glasses?" she asked, reaching her pink hand to touch his horns, only pulling back after she'd already touched them and realized what she was doing. She was amazed by the whole thing. Gnash would never have thought to dress up differently and talk to people like another color, so they wouldn't be afraid of her! He was so smart! But then again, Angel would sooner rip off her arms again than allow her to gallivant the seaside looking like anything other than royalty. Maybe even grab a new limb, for good measure? That wasn't really a pleasant thought.

"Why?" This was something she thought about a lot, when she was alone and out of the glowing watch of her lusus, who constantly whispered to her these awful thoughts that repeated like clockwork in her head. "Well, you know how it is right? Doesn't your lusus tell you how awful the lowbloods are and says mean things all the time? I don't want to be like that though, all mean and dangerous and awful. It doesn't make sense if I'm supposed to lead them all the lowbloods can't be dead and scared of me and being around trolls like me." Natash fidgeted in the seat of the wagon, suddenly hyper-aware of the brush of hay against her legs and feet, agitating her.

She turned and looked toward the fairgrounds, looking in the far distance with all the pink and green lights. Cerpin's lusus looked a lot nicer than hers."Angel is sitting somewhere over there back at the fairgrounds... she got tired of trying to chase me around the Jubilee and said she'd take me home once I was done being stupid with the games and lowblood stuff. She's really big and not that fast on land and also she doesn't know I'm on the hay ride right now either!" Gnash said excitedly. It was so rare to really get away from her lusus, even in buildings she tended to hang outside of it and peer inside, reminding her she could see her charge just fine.

Gnash turned back to the lo-no, wait, he was a highblood. His eyes were so bright and piercing. She wondered what he was thinking about. She was quiet for a bit, and adjusted her hair bow. While she was free to talk... "I think you're pretty interesting too though, and also pretty nice but maybe it was just because we're both highbloods..."Oh whoops, she almost forgot that he knew she was a highblood when he approached her. She probably sounded a bit stupid, and felt heat rising to her face again in embarrassment. She looked up at the moons. "But I think maybe you're kind of like me, and you like lowbloods too and don't think they're disposable and that's why you wanted to talk to me."