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 Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 10:06 pm
It had been a busy day at work, especially for a Thursday. Andrea only worked a few hours for three nights a week, at least, since he had dance practice to occupy him other nights. Nora had not been in that day, though, which had been disappointing, until the unusual amount of activity had demonstrated that he would not have had time to talk with her anyway.
Still, though, his mother was out of town and his father had to work late that night at the office, so the sophomore had gotten food at TGI Thaidays for his brother and sister. He was dressed still in his dark clothes for work, but wore his backpack and carried a plastic bag of delicious Asian food looped over one arm. Thankfully, the time change meant it was still a little bit light out, but the streetlights were mostly on now, and the sun had disappeared behind the buildings. Still a change from having to come home in utter darkness.
The smell of food from the bag was tantalizing; usually Andrea was mostly immune to the scent of cooking at the place where he worked. Not that the food was bad, but having to smell it all the time would have driven him nuts otherwise. But he was quite hungry now, and had a half-hour bus ride with rush-hour commuters to look forward to before he could really dig in and eat. Still, though, justifying it as a form of relaxing while he walked to the bus stop, Andrea picked one of the fortune cookies out of the bag, opened the wrapper, and cracked it in half. He popped one half of the cookie into his mouth, and examined the fortune:Quote: ☺ You have the equipment for success. Use it wisely! ☺
Putting a hand to his mouth to avoid spraying cookie bits everywhere, he tried to stop giggling - but then half-inhaled one crumb by mistake.
Stopping for a moment, the black-haired boy coughed, not quite choking, but trying to avoid doing so while his reflex made him keep hacking in a failed attempt to get rid of the lingering tickle in the back of his throat from the stray crumb.
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 10:12 pm
Blanche had been wandering the streets again in the peculiar time between sunset and full dark, too restless to go home yet too light to be roaming the town in her preferred form as Black Lady. So it was mundanely, in spring colors and looking like a wilted little flower, she headed for the bus stop to head closer to Destiny Tower - her choice haunt lately. Teleporting further across town used more energy, and meant less in her reserves just in case something interesting did cross her path. Though it rarely did.
This thought had barely completed when she saw a young man looking to be choking and heaving over the pavement. Instinct had her rushing over in a blow of cotton and linen to pound him on the back with one coral-nailed hand until the hacking stopped and the pigtailed woman stepped back to bend and regard his face with concern. "Are you ok?" the heavily accented English was, as always, ridiculously formal, but the interest in his well-being echoed in her face. "Can breathe?" She really hoped so, because it was one thing to kill people as Black Lady, but Blanche Williams shouldn't ever be seen near a dead body. Ever.
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 10:55 pm
Andrea set the bag of food down as gently as he could, though he suspected that the sauce for his sister's sweet-and-sour chicken would find a way to leak anyway. He jumped a bit, too, as someone touched him, and he straightened, wiping his fiercely watering eyes.
"Fine," he managed to gasp out, then coughed into his elbow for another few seconds before clearing his throat. At least he had not actually been choking, but it was difficult to quiet that little tickle of irritation even though the bit of cookie was gone. The boy swallowed shakily though and wiped his eyes again, then smiled when he did not immediately begin hacking again.
"Okay, I'm better now," he assured the stranger, getting a good look at her now. "Sorry if I worried you, ma'am." Man, he was thankful that she cared enough to seem to be ready to give him the Heimlich if he had needed it, but the red now lighting up Andrea's cheeks betrayed that he felt like an utter retard for troubling some stranger by choking on a cookie. Putting him on a stage in a leotard was one thing, but this?
Glancing between pink-haired lady and his shoes, Andrea took the opportunity to bend down and pick up his bag of food again, hoping that she would move on or that he would at least stop blushing.
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 11:15 pm
Looking up at the sigh for the bus, Blanche sighed inwardly. She hadn't gone home to see Ray for dinner because she'd wanted to be alone, and now she was going to have to sit awkwardly with this poor boy she had almost beat into the pavement. Being alive was so exhausting sometimes, you just wanted to end it all. Sitting lightly on the cool bench provided for transit passengers, the prim lady tried to engage the boy with a smile.
"You will not die. Very good?" The smile brightened a little encouragingly and she hoped the light teasing got across. At heart, she was a playful sort of girl and it just didn't come across so well when you had almost no grip on the language of common use. Now, she could've told a real ripper in Japanese! Sigh, yet again another reminder about how things were changing, changing so fast. And the food in his lap was making her stomach rumble. Sigh.
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Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 2:17 pm
Andrea settled down on the bench and set the bag of food down beside his feet and dumped his backpack on an empty spot beside him, clearing his throat a few times as he did so to try to suppress the lingering urge to keep coughing. His embarrassment faded slowly with the rush of almost choking, and he managed a smile at the pink-haired lady beside him after a moment.
"Yep, survived half my cookie," he replied with a light laugh. Then he recalled that he still had the other half and, shrugging a little, he offered her the other half. "Would you like the rest? It tastes good, I promise. You just have to be careful." A smile tugged at one corner of his mouth.
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Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 10:42 am
Why did always boil down to food? Blanche was always summarily unable to refuse any sort of food offered to her at any time, with exceptions of eel, squid, and any sort of fungi. Mushrooms were not her friend, and once she'd even been offered natto. Never again did she want to consider that unpleasantness! Not ever. Taking the cookie lightly with a smile, she popped it into her mouth and cautiously chewed and swallowed before beaming even wider.
"Thank you! I guess I have good eating skill?" As the poor guy coughed politely into his hand, she wished vainly that she had a drink to offer. If he wasn't going to die, she definitely didn't want him to be in discomfort any longer than necessary. Thinking of things necessary, she remembered her manners yet again and lightly rapped her fist against her forehead. "Pardon me, I forget." Holding out a hand, she bowed lightly over it as her companion took it for a light shake. "I am Blanche Williams, pleased to meet you. Are you going home too?" The bag seemed rather large for a single person, but growing up with Usagi you learned rapidly that sometimes a single person could demolish an entire family's meal. That was one refreshing thing about Ray, even if money was no longer an object, he didn't try to eat them out of house and home. No, that was her job these days.
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Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 7:13 pm
Andrea put a fist to his mouth again and cleared his throat, then gave the lady beside him on the bench a reassuring smile. He chuckled a little as she finished the cookie.
"I'm Andrea," he told her, shaking her hand in greeting, and nodding to her as well. "Andrea Gyfford. Pleased to meet you, too, Miss Williams." Twisting his fingers into the knotted handles of the plastic bag of food, he noticed her eyeing the stack of plastic tubs within it after a moment and added, "Oh, yeah, I'm going home. Picked up take-out for dinner for everyone, I just figured I would eat my cookie first, since I'm a bit hungry now."
The tickle in his windpipe was finally quieting down, and he smiled a bit more easily. "How about you? Heading home for tonight?" Hopefully she would not mind the question; small talk was about all there was to do while waiting for the bus.
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 10:51 pm
Shaking her head, a finger pointed to the tower that was being lit up several colors by the sunset in the distance. "Dinner down there with a friend." Almost as if it was a voice in the conversation itself, stimulated by the cookie, Blanche's stomach rumbled and caused her to laugh softly with embarrassment. "I hope it does not take very long!" It was an easy explanation, to say that there was someone waiting than the lonely truth that she was simply wandering about town. Food hadn't even been on her mind, which for an Usagi was almost impossible to believe.
Eying the bag again, the smile bloomed a bit more. "Big bag, big family?" Large families were the best. The Tsukino family hadn't been very large, just the four of them plus her, but it was the extended 'family' which had been the large one. Often when it came time to pay the bill at those dinners, everyone had looked expectantly around the table before Mamoru had sighed and with the air of a man going to his death, picked up the check. He'd acted this way every single time, as if he didn't expect it. That had always baffled his child, but it was amusing nonetheless. "Big families are the very best."
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Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 12:54 pm
As the lady's stomach chimed in, Andrea could not help but smile, as well. Then, as if in response, his own innards grumbled at being given only half a cookie and not more food, and he put a hand to his middle, laughing a little as well.
"Yeah, the bus should be here in a few more minutes, as long as it's on schedule," he told her. At the question about the size of his family, the sophomore grinned again. "Ah, not too many of us. I'm just feeding me and my brother and my sister tonight." He thought of his own extended family, as well; his own Gyfford side plus the Soranzos who still lived in Italy did not make quite as large a clan as stereotypes would have expected, but as the eldest child in his family, Andrea felt like he had quite enough younger siblings.
"Me and my brother tend to eat a lot, is all," Andrea added with a chuckle, returning his attention to the lady beside him on the bench.
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Posted: Tue May 04, 2010 2:52 am
This was a topic that Blanche could warm to and she did, almost visibly so. Ankles crossed and she sat back on the bench a bit, supporting her weight on her hands so that heeled feet swung back and forth almost childishly. It was always odd, to see such mannerisms in a woman's body, but she was foreign. Usually, it got her away with just about anything. "My...cousin? Usagi-chan, she eats a lot, very fast. I am like her very much, we made poor Ikuko-obaasan very much out of food a lot." Wide smiles and laughter as she talked about her family in Japan, the family that she missed more than anything.
"I do not do that a lot now. Not very much money, you know?" Which was blithely untrue. With the supernatural Bonnie and Clyde stint she and her Wiseman had pulled as soon as they'd come to Destiny City, Blanche had more money than some of the Crystal girls put together. Millions were tucked away into a bank account somewhere, under the name Tsukino Usagi, never again to see the light of day. It simply wasn't something you told someone on the street, however! "It is nice, that you have them, yes? Not uhm...bad kids?" The word for siblings wasn't yet in her vocabulary, and the pink-haired young woman bit the inside of her lip in embarrassment. The barrier was sometimes so frustrating!
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Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 8:51 pm
Maybe Andrea was used to seeing girls in his classes swinging their feet like that, and his tired mind did not think it strange that the lady beside him on the bench was doing anything strange. Her language was a bit strange, though, but he nodded anyway; probably just her family nicknames. She looked Asian, too, but he could not tell where exactly she was from. He could tell the difference between Spanish, Italian, French, and Portuguese easily enough nine times out of ten, but Asian languages were all Greek to him. So to speak.
"Yeah, my brother and my sister are alright," he admitted, knowing that he would not have revealed this if either of them were actually present. "Lucas, my brother, is starting to eat a lot, too. More than me sometimes. And I guess my sister eats pretty well, too, but she is so picky with her vegetables." He laughed a little. "But we all like TGI Thaidays." Andrea lifted the bag a little. "I work there, so I get discounts. Helps, with my brother turning into a bottomless pit."
Come to think of it, since she looked Asian, "Have you ever been to TGI Thaidays? It's like, two blocks up that way, and right around the corner." Andrea pointed up the street and then hooked his finger to indicate which direction she should turn to get there.
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Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 1:11 am
Blanche made a face at the idea of vegetables. No kid particularly liked them, and no matter how old she got, Blanche didn't see this changing. Certainly Ray didn't seem to have an affection for the greener things in life, if his diet was any indication. The closest he ever got were probably the refried beans in their burritos or the carrots and daikon she'd started putting into his bento. Hers, of course, had minimal versions of both.
"Thaidays? I have not heard of it. I will try, yes. Maybe you will be there then? That would be nice." Leaning around Andrea, she looked up the street in the direction he indicated and made a note of it in her mind. Maybe one day she might convince Ray to take her there, and it would be something like a date. Or an actual date. Eyes dipped to her hands for a moment where the dull gold of her fake wedding band mocked her and made her sigh just a bit. Everything was such a bother here, when it didn't have to be at all. Curious though, she turned big eyes onto Andrea.
"What is a bottom less pit? I have not heard this. I like to learn slang, it will make my friend smile when I use it." It was the way to her heart right now, a new phrase of English that she might use on her 'brother-in-law' to make him smile and call her sweetheart. The fact that she acted more like a pet than a human girl might have been a detrimental factor in him taking her seriously, but this simply never occurred to poor Blanche.
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Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 2:05 pm
"I'm there Tuesdays and Thursdays in the evening, if you like sort of a late dinner, I guess," he informed her with a smile. "Weekends sometimes, too, if they need my help. It's only a part-time job for me, though, because school keeps me plenty busy." Andrea considered a moment, then added, "I might be there more often over the summer, though, one school is over."
He nodded knowingly as she mentioned her desire to learn slang, confirming his suspicions that English was not her first language. Andrea had had to help his mother with some terms sometimes, too, though he also got the impression from his other friends' stories of their parents that there was a language gap naturally just between the generations.
"Bottomless pit is a figurative thing, like, my brother is like a hole that doesn't have a bottom?" He gestured to try to better convey his meaning. "Someone who eats a lot is a bottomless pit if it seems like you never fill them up no matter how much food you put into it. Like, no matter how much food my brother Lucas eats, it seems like he's always still hungry." Andrea laughed a little; this stuff always sounded so silly when you actually tried to explain it. But he was still willing to try for her. Smiling, he scanned her features for signs of understanding, and had his hands ready to keep explaining if he had failed to achieve it thus far.
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Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 12:00 am
This was a mental note added in next to the many as Blanche tried desperately to track the schedules of the many people she had come across. It was stuffed in there with the room number where Ray taught detention on Bento Days, the phone number for the girl Robin, and the fastest way to eat a deluxe banana split. More and more things had been crammed into her head, trivial knowledge that had almost no use but to keep at bay painful memories the girl didn't wish to relive.
Unfortunately, she was talking about one right now, and the understanding flashed into her face a second before her laugh echoed into the evening air. "Oh yes! Very much a bottom less pit! I am too some of the time, but not very much now because there is not as much when I share." It wouldn't do to look like a pig in front of Ray either. She was supposed to be a princess, after all!
Light regret showed in her face as Blanche remembered why she was on the bench, and considered the smell emanating from the bag at Andrea's feet. No doubt the bus would be here soon, but there wasn't really anything stopping her from teleporting back across town was there? "I will remember when you are there, it smells very good. My friend would like it very much, he likes things like that."
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Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 5:20 pm
"I think I used to eat like that," Andrea admitted with a chuckle. "But not as much anymore." He had to watch what he ate, really, with his dancing hobby. He was a pretty avid dancer, but he was not quite counting on making a life-long career of it, or was not sure if he wanted to, so he felt he had a bit more leeway (hence the regular buckets of Chinese food), but he at least attempted to be careful to some degree.
"I hope to see you come by then," he told her, smiling once more, though the expression faded slightly as he caught her looking a little regretful. The boy did not inquire about it, not wanting to pry, but he offered another faint grin of sympathy. "If nothing else, if you and your friend like the food, you can keep going back. You would be bound to run in me sooner or later."
Then, hoping it would not be seen as a rude gesture, he glanced at his watch. The time was flying, having someone to talk to, so the bus would be coming any minute. Still, he hoped to see the lady again sometime, even if Destiny City was a big place. Trading phone numbers would be the best way to keep in contact, but ... for some reason, since she was older than him, Andrea thought asking would seem creepy or weird. At least she knew about TGI Thaidays. Promoting the business he worked for seemed appropriate enough.
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