When you meet someone you meet their ascendant or rising sign. The rising sign is the sign that was on the eastern horizon at the time of birth. Your ascendant is the exact degree of that sign. Births that take place around dawn will have the same ascendant as sun sign. While the sun is "who you are" your rising sign is how others see you upon first meeting you, your persona or "the mask we wear". Our ascendant shows itself in our gestures, appearance and surface level of our personality.

Because most people do not have the same sun and ascendant, when we meet someone they may appear to be standoffish or shy but seem to loose that once we know them better. By the same token our ascendant can present a comedian or outgoing lighthearted person who seems much deeper than we expected upon getting to know them.