He was relieved when Jishin had not prodded further in to asking him about his history; his story. Further relief seemed to come around when their meal had been prepared and set in front of them. Without hesitation, almost as if he hadn't eaten in days, Rui targeted his ikura first, as it was placed the closest towards him. As he was eating, or rather gobbling down the iruka, Rui already planned the order of what he would eat first. The taste was something Rui never tasted in a long time, perhaps ever, as he never had time to enjoy the delicacies provided by bistros. A small childish grin was shown on his face as he continued eating, enjoying the moment - food - for what it was.

He was too indulged in eating that he went unaware of Shukutsu's gaze. What brought him out his trance of focusing solely on his food was Jishin's next question. He honestly expected the answer to be blatantly obvious to her, thus replying shortly with a nonchalant manner, "Honestly, it's the same as when I was younger. Though it could be better." The last bit was said in a low tone, for only those who stressed to hear it, would. His nomadic state of living also involved staying in villages for a short period of time, where the glares would continue to follow. It appeared as if the Abe were known throughout passing knowledge, thus resulting in how Rui was perceived often.

She had managed to devour 3/4ths of the shrimp plate and had transferred over to the yellowtail as Rui spoke about how nothing had really changed for him, shrugging her shoulders she speculated that people were the same all over, "Man fears what it doesn't understand, they demonize people for little to no reason." somehow she managed her statement all the while shoving fish into her mouth, the young lass had terrible table manners. Shukutsu by this point had removed himself from the conversation, returning to his table and cigarette not wanting to interrupt the conversation that was going on between his two customers. Jishin was familiar enough as to refill her beverage if needed, meaning he had little reason to return to the two other than to produce the bill.

"An odd question, but have you found anyone to take solace in? -- I mean, being that with you're without family..." So she assumed anyway; the kid seemed nice enough to warrant further inspection into his life, perhaps he needed a 'buddy'? If so she would be aiming to fill the position.

Slowing down his eating as he came to realize that no more ikura was on his plate, he diverted his hunger towards the suzuki that was in front of him. He knew the general direction of where the conversation was going, so when she brought up if he needed a buddy, there wasn't any surprise on his face. After chewing his food and swallowing it, he cleared his throat, wishing for normal water instead of the coconut water that was given to him; still untouched. "I seemed to have managed so far, though having a friend would be nice. Better that than spending everyday doing nothing at all." He clearly wanted to make a friend, but he didn't want to come off as desperate.

Evidently he wasn't the biggest fan of coconut-water, Rui had yet to even attempt to take a sip of the beverage, and it sounded as though he was dying of thirst. Quickly she stood, making her way behind the bar before crouching finding a miniature refrigerator, evidently Shukutsu disliked the taste too as it was packed with bottled water, along with several other undescript beverages. She decided it best to go with the bottled water, standing she placed the plastic bottle upon the bar. Hopefully Rui would find it more to his liking.

Hurriedly she returned to her seat and her food, getting back to the Amberjack. "I have a fairly small circle of friends, and I'm always looking for new members, and considering you don't seem to be asinine..." she trailed off assuming that he would get where she was going with the statement, despite her seemingly crass nature she was up for making friends every now and again.

Mumbling a small, "Thank you," when Jishin gave him the bottled water, Rui was quick to uncap it and take a sip of the normal content inside; water. As he put the bottle of water down, Jishin had retaken her seat, followed by returning to eat, and then left him with an open ended statement. He wasn't opposed to the idea, in fact he rather liked the idea. "I'd.... like that." Feeling the need to add in a slight jest, for no real reason, Rui quickly followed up by saying, "So, is this how you make all your friends? Inviting random strangers out to eat?" There was a light chuckle that came out of Rui as he finished his joke.

"Good deal." She replied as Rui declared he liked the idea of the two becoming friends, even adding in a bit of a joke, asking her if she gained her friends through inviting them to luncheon. She shrugged her shoulders replying jokingly, "A tried and true method." it had certainly worked for this occasion, hadn't it? "Breaking bread with someone's never a bad idea, it'll get you more friends than you would expect.", at that point she had finished the yellowtail, pushing the plate from her way she proceeded to the octopus, her metabolism was absolutely extraordinary.

Finishing the rest of her drink she felt it as good a time as any to continue with small talk with her new friend "Exactly how old are you?", she asked rather bluntly, at first she had thought him to be eleven or twelve, but the way he spoke and his level of intellect suggested otherwise. Her revised guess was around sixteen, perhaps seventeen.

Well, after making his first friend in Kumogakure no Sato, Rui faltered a bit when she asked how old he was. Sure he looked rather young for his age, but surely it wasn't that glaringly obvious. It probably had something to do with his height. His face turned a bit sour, though Rui quickly tried to mend that as he didn't want to break his first chance at friendship, thus his expression turned back to his normal one. "Fifteen." He hadn't meant for his tone to come off as harsh as it did, but there was only so much control he had of his voice. Clearing his throat and quickly taking a quick sip of water, Rui thought he might as well ask the same of Jishin. "And how old would you be?"

Oh -- Had she hit a nerve? It seemed Rui had been rather aggravated as was asked his age, she couldn't help but briefly snicker at his tonality finding it hilarious that the question had peeved him. "If it's any consolation, you seem to be much more mature than your peers." She surmised that he must get asked the question quite a bit, and with most teenagers wanted to seem older than he physically appeared. "Only two years older than yourself." Indicating that she was but the age of seventeen, still considered to be a minor by most. "Most are too obsessed with human anatomy to have a genuinely nice chat." it did seem that the only thing most adolescents were interested was breasts (not that anyone could really blame them, breasts are awesome...), it was rather refreshing to find one who could hold a conversation.

Shukutsu stood from his seat with ticket in hand, silently moving to the bar and placing it to Jishin's side, though he seemed to have little interest in collecting her money, "Whenever you're ready." taking the ticket in her hand, she nodded simply. Eyeing over the bill the chef had given her a hefty discount as he usually did, the bill came out to be twenty Ryo with an eighty percent discount. Nothing she couldn't handle. Her vision returned to Rui, as the bill was of little concern " So, have any great plans you wish to accomplish in your lifetime?", she had a few herself, most were near impossible considering the fact that murdering people was essential to her sanity.

Her comment pertraining to the male populace, possibly even females, being too interested in breasts got Rui to raise an eyebrow. Sure, he was a healthy growing male teenager, though he has his own preferences. Jishin, easily felt like a friend to him, possibly even family due to the vague similarities between the two of them. Besides, he still looked far too childish for anyone to take him seriously.

As far as he knew of his goals, there was only one thing he considered a goal, possibly even one he would never accomplish, which was finding out who was behind the murder of his parents. "Well, there is one thing, though it won't be for a while before I can get to achieving it. Even then, it may be too late for me to find them." This was the first time he spoke of it openly, though their was no details which he disclosed; it showed how comfortable he felt around the older female.

To find them? It seemed the young Rui was seeking someone, who that was she did not rightly know, but she did know that it would have been ill-advised to press on the matter, "Well, I suppose I wish you luck in your endeavors." as she spoke Jishin dug into her pockets pulling out payment for the meal, along with a healthy tip, placing it upon the counter. It seemed that her free time had elapsed, her suspicions confirmed as she checked a clock which was situated in the side of the room, situated above the table which Shukutsu sat at.

Pressing her hands upon the counter she quickly stood, a sense of urgency echoed throughout her movement, "Nice meeting you, but it seems I must be going, things to attend to. I'm sure I'll catch you some time or another." plucking a single slice of the Tako before turning and making her leave.

[Exit]

With Jishin's exit and Rui being left alone at his stool, he pondered over the events that occurred during the day so far. Pulling out some Ryo within the confines of his pocket, Rui left it atop of the counter, to go along with the tip Jishin had left for the chef. There was nothing else he had planned for the day, thus leading himself to promptly turn and head out of the bistro, deciding that it was best to head back home for now.

[exit thread]