[Carnival: Hannah & Zoe]
Hannah stood and watched. She watched and she watched, and she watched Zoe's reaction to the performers, and she watched the performers, and then she swiveled her gaze and did it again. She'd wanted to learn how to fly, because that was what the trapeze artists reminded her of: Flight. They looked light and graceful, and as if the rules of gravity didn't apply to them even a little bit at all.
Zoe nodded, and her voice was like air, and Hannah's smile was wide and bright. "I'm glad you like it," she said, and she meant it; the show was beautiful, and a lot of people didn't appreciate the beauty, but Zoe did, and Hannah smiled. "They're like magic, I think. Watching them, it's a little bit like watching magic." Hannah didn't care that they were programmed to do what they did; they felt like people to her, and she knew they had their own thoughts, and she was glad no one here knew what they were.
She knew what it was to feel less-than.
"I'm going to go back outside, before someone catches me not doing what I'm supposed to be doing. But stay, okay? Stay and watch and watch and watch, and let me know after what you thought." And she couldn't remember if she'd given the girl her name. She thought she had, but, she repeated it anyway, because Hannah really, really didn't care if she looked a little stupid. "Hannah. I don't remember if I said that, but I'm Hannah. I'm on the forums." Because not everyone in town was, but maybe this girl was, and Hannah reached out and squeezed her fingers. "It was really, really nice meeting you."