"Your way of moving is easy to recognize! I would love an autograph."

"You've got a keen eye." She rifles through her purse. The only photos she has on her are the latest set of Ralph's. Perhaps... not the best to give a fan so enthusiastic he follows her show across the map? Maybe one of them will be relatively innocuous.

"I haven't seen you at the circus lately. Been busy?"

Phew, this one should work. Totally innocuous, fully clothed and everything. She can ask Ralph to print another copy later.

"Yeah, I've actually got another gig lately. Not sure if I'm going to be going back to my old line of work, actually. We'll see how the new thing pans out. Who should I make the autograph out to?"

"Nephren Ka."

"Huh. How do you spell that?"

He spells it. "It's Egyptian."

"It's nice."

"What's your new gig?"

Zoe writes on the photo "To Nephren Ka, thanks for being such a devoted fan. Zoe Aletheia."

"Oh, um. Not sure I'm at liberty to say, just yet. It's a bit of a sensitive matter."

"Well, I would not at all want to pry. It would be terrible of me to fish into what you're doing when working outside your normal area of expertise."

"I appreciate it." The last thing she needs is some stalker fan getting caught up in some cult nonsense. "Here's hoping I'm not out of my depth."

"I am sure you and your coworkers will thrive in the deep. --If you have any, of course. Wouldn't want to make assumptions."

Zoe is not quite sure what to make of that last, but whatever, it was kind of a weird metaphor. She smiles as charmingly as she can at the reminder that her number of coworkers is lately significantly diminished. "I have some, yes. It's hard to work solo."

"I am glad my assumptions were not unwarranted, then." He smiles. "You have something around your mouth, I'm afraid. Looks like honey? Might want to wipe that up."

Zoe tentatively brings a hand to her face. She doesn't think she's been eating anything recently?

And yet there is honey.

"I do not want to keep you too long, Miss Aletheia. But may I offer you a word of advice for your travels?"

Zoe's fingers come away sticky. That's... weird. Is she still having memory issues? She grabs a handkerchief from her bag and daubs her face.

"Oh?"

"Watch out for liars. They do not at all have your best interest at heart. And even when you think you've found them out things may not at all be what they seem."

"...thanks. I'll keep that in mind." She tries to think if she's had any run in with liars, recently.

Her teammates don't lie to her. Did any of the cult people lie?

"Hope I can see you do acrobatics soon! I would be very interested in a shooting act."

He waves and then disappears into the crowd.

Which is definitely a metaphor for Zoe not being able to keep track of him in the crowd, and not a literal disappearance, because people don't do that.

Zoe stands for a moment, confused. She's never done a shooting act. They're not really the sort of thing aerialists do, typically. If he's so interested in her acrobatics, how does he imagine shooting would be incorporated? What?

Anyway. Who knows when she'll be performing again, so it's not like it would matter even if she did take fan requests.

She shakes her head and continues down the waterfront, once more alone with her thoughts.