One of Tess' hands slides up to rub against her own shoulder absently, in a halfway-nervous habit. "Well, my ma..." She grins. "She's kinda like you, actually. Cares 'bout just 'bout everybody she meets. Got a big heart... she kinda don't really get sometimes why people act like they do," she adds, expression a little sheepish at saying that after having made the comparison and hoping no offense from it, "but, heck, she never got it through her head why I wanted t'be a grasshopper, and that didn't keep her from helpin' me with it."