((OOC: Sorry this was so long in coming...))<br/><br/>With a relieved sigh Marshall almost collapsed into the seat - he seemed to have honestly believed he was going to have to eat his lunch standing up or something.  He hesitated over Esther's offer of food - he seemed to be trying to decide whether it was rude to refuse or to accept.  Finally he awkwardly scraped the taters onto his own plate.<br/><br/>Strangely her barrage of questions seemed to calm the nervous boy down.  "I transferred from a school in northern California - a nowhere place you probably haven't heard of."  He hesitated.  "Er, well maybe<em>you</em>have, I guess.  Humboldt County.  Uh, I don't mean to presume, I just... heard things... I mean, anyway.  And I'm not really that smart.  I just have a good head for numbers.  And languages, but they're kind of like numbers if you think about it.  I'm good with computers, too, but, well, if you know anything about computers they are just math and language so it's not that... um.  I'm rambling."  Marshall blushed, apparently embarrassed.  He thought for a moment.  "I guess I don't really do much with my, er, smarts.  I fix my dad's computer whenever it breaks.  Um, and whenever I break it.  You know what they say about car mechanics and their own cars..."  Not stopping to find out if Esther did know what they say, he plowed on; the next part came out in a jumbled rush.  "I don't mind.  You, I mean.  I mean a girl.  Looking over my.  No, I'm an only single.  I mean only child.  I like that cartoon.  Did you know there's a Japanese adaptation of it?  I think I'm going to leave you alone forever now."<br/><br/>Esther had possibly never seen someone blush quite so completely.  Marshall awkwardly tried to stand up, nearly spilling his food.  He stopped halfway, as if suddenly remembering something.  Visibly composing himself, he quietly said, "I thanked you because you were the only one who didn't laugh at me.  In my book that's as good as standing up for me."  Blushing again, he went back to gathering his plate and getting ready to go... somewhere.<br/><br/>((OOC: Bonus roll.  On a successful Love of the Arts roll, Esther gains the following additional information:<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">Some of Marhsall's speech about his background sounds unusually composed - rehearsed, almost.  It could just be because he's answered the same questions many times before, but to Esther's ears he sounds more like he's reading lines from a play than describing himself.</div></div>