Tea In Little Italy [Ira x Saisei]

As much as Ira earnestly enjoyed traveling with Yugiri, he was aware that there was more he needed to do if he was going to grow as a person. He couldn't lean on her forever, and besides, he'd physically matured enough that he didn't need to rely on having an adult around all the time. On one hand, that was pretty nice, but on the other hand, he'd kind of gotten used to everyone just assuming he was a child.

Ah, hm, that'd include that Saisei kid, wouldn't it? Last time they'd met Ira hadn't even come up to Yugiri's shoulder, and now he had to look down just to chat with her. Well, that wasn't too big a deal, Ira didn't think he was completely unrecognizable or anything like that.

"Afternoon, sport."

Ira gave a wave of greeting as he took a seat at the table, taking the complimentary cookie and biting into it without much hesitation.

"You sure get around, eh? This is pretty out of the way."

"Heh, you're not wrong, I shot up a bit."

Ira was surprised to see Saisei present himself so politely, and in a way that bordered on formality. It seemed pretty different from what he would have expected, but hey, maybe South America really was that bad. He'd heard it was pretty rough down there, but it'd be almost depressing to think that this young buck had gotten whipped into shape by the wild.

"Yugiri's doing real well, probably better'n I've seen her in a while. Got herself a boyfriend, they travel together a good bit now. Not that I mind, gives me a reason to slip off on my own."

He grinned a touch at the thought, not especially bothered at the thought of his big sis going off on her own or anything. He was happy for her, honestly. Always seemed like she was a little caught up with herself.

"Uruguay? What the hell'd bring you down to that part of the world? South America's a mess and a half, at least other than that vacation spot down where Brazil used to be."

Ira still found that entire situation more than a touch baffling, admittedly, but he'd long since gotten used to the thought that Brazil simply didn't exist anymore. He'd known some good fishermen from around there, but it was what it was.

"Lapdog, huh? Not a title I'd normally go around wearing with pride myself. Surprised to hear you use it so cheerfully."

He looked through the menu, familiar enough with most world cuisines at least on some level that it wasn't too much of a difficulty to read through a menu and figure out what'd be there. Thankfully he had a pretty good trade understanding of pretty much all the languages by now, and menus weren't exactly high literature. What'd he even want?

"Hey, miss, I'll have a pasta alla norma and a caponata. A cup of coffee, too, thanks."

He actually hadn't had much coffee in a long time. Weird thought, but the Italians did it well.

It was admittedly nice to hear someone actually refer to him as a man, considering Ira didn't get too much of that in his day to day. People tended to be polite about it, at least, and Ehefra at least called him a guy. Though that was uh...a different matter.

"Way I see it, you're pretty forward, and a lotta girls don't necessarily like all that. 'Course, there's plenty of girls that'll be head over heels for that same sorta thing, so I wouldn't say it's enough to scare a girl off. If she's tellin' you that sort of thing, might mean she's interested."

Of course, Ira didn't say that with any firm commitment, it was more just an idle observation. He'd been around enough women to think that was the case, and even if it wasn't, it was hardly the end of the world to suggest something like that to him.

"'Course, she could also just actually mean that you're a weirdo. Women are weird like that."

"I definitely get that, there's plenty of girls who are just way too childish about all those sorts of situations. Don't pretend to understand it, even if I'm halfway to bein' one of 'em myself now."

Laughing at that little quip, Ira took a sip of his coffee and thought about the situation. Did he consider Yugiri a woman? That was a stupid question, he definitely did. Just because his opinion of her had changed over time didn't mean she wasn't still a lady.

"Don't let her hear you say that. I'm willing to bet she'd probably never let ya live it down."