Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was lunchtime again at Meadowview, the student collective flowed around the campus doing whatever it was that highschoolers did in that magical hour of free time. It was a sea of that particular hideous deep coral and cream combination, interspersed here and there with flashy hair colors. Blanche was like an exotic fish in this sea of bodies, moving through the crowd and clutching her purse and present against her pale gold blouse. It was disconcerting to realize that most of these kids that Ray and his carpool friend Perry worked with were older than her, but looked at her with that strange half-curiosity reserved for random adult visitors.

It was pizza day so, of course, it had been impossible to sit and talk to Ray while he ate. Still, Blanche had happily dropped upon his temporary desk a very ostentatious and incredibly bright orange bento covered in smiling fish. It seemed as if every time she came, there was yet another embarrassing and almost childish box to place upon the English teacher's desk. In reality, there was. One of her favorite things to do was spend her wealth of misbegotten funds on the Japanese lunchboxes, and a collection was slowly starting to take up a plastic container in the corner of Ray Gordon's living room. Today, in inclusion to her own pink Usagi box, there was one that was pale spring green and covered in tiny cats with fish skeletons all over of it. She was venturing, for the first time, into the biology department.

Rabbit odango points slid into view in the place where she'd been told Perry Westerman had lunch, and a red-eyed, convivial smile poked into view not long later. "Perry? Are you here? I brought you a thing. It is Blanche!" It seemed very polite to announce herself, just in case he could forget the girl with bright pink hair in her incredibly unique hairstyle. Blanche hoped dearly he hadn't forgotten.

Had Blanche Williams been anything other than a fourteen year old girl, the endless round of nicknames from Ray Gordon and his compatriots might have been irritating. Luckily for everyone involved, she was quite used to the treatment and enjoyed adding them to her collection. Cupcake was the tastiest of the ones used so far, though she was rather partial to Ray's jitterbug. Maybe one day she would pick a favorite, though it didn't seem likely.

"It is not a holiday, I did not go out of town." Oh language confusion, where 'going away on holiday' meant that you were going on vacation. Blanche had been absolutely shocked to find out that in America, there was no Golden Week. It had been every school child's favorite time of year when it happened, but then, they had the summers off here. Unhurried but eager, pigtails lightly moving behind her, the young woman plopped into the nearest chair. "But I did bring this!" The wrapped bento were placed almost exactly where Perry's feet had been not a few moments earlier, with a wide smile. "It is Thursday, but Ray is busy, he gets his first. I bring you yours, I have mine." She seemed rather pleased with herself for remembering, and that he remembered her.

They'd spoken several times, especially in the evenings when Ray came home and Blanche was waiting for him. Sometimes the pair had discussed lesson plans, or BillJo, whomever that was, and she quietly sat nearby reading. Unlike her mother, it was a pursuit that pleased her mightily. It was a bit shameful, reading books more suited for children, but there was no other way to learn. "Is this okay? I do not eat with Ray, but maybe it is okay with you?" Her smile widened a bit, eager and hopeful, fingers knitting in her lap just a tad nervously. It wasn't easy, making friends!

One lightly manicured hand came up to rub across the young woman's forehead and she sighed with a slight embarrassed smile. "Aiyaa, so many things that are not the same! I am sorry Perry, I will remember next time." Watching him unwrap the bento lifted her spirits however, he looked at it a bit like a Christmas present and was unsure about what was inside. She'd asked though, and hopefully had gotten everything right when it came to this teacher's particular tastes.

At the mention of a drink, her smile brightened even more and she reached into the large designer handbag at her side, large and pristine white. Blanche had an incredibly large taste for pastels and bright colors, and felt that white was the perfect color to match them all. There was an inordinate amount of white in her growing wardrobe, and she was rapidly considering renting an apartment just to have somewhere to store her growing collection of possessions. From within its bleak depths came a large and tightly-capped bottle of sweet tea, advertised as 'Straight from the Southlands'.

"I did bring my own too! I got it very big, just in case I needed to share. Would you like some tea? It is very sweet, which is why I like it! At home I would have to add much sugar to my tea before I could drink it." Her nose scrunched, and with deft hands, she had her bento untied and was unstacking it. "Do..do you need help?" She was trying to not giggle, and be polite, but it was just cute to see someone unfamiliar with her culture for a change!