Welcome to Gaia! ::

The teal-haired lad was a typically patient young man, but one of thing that did wear on his nerves was the "waiting for tea to cool" thing. A minute passed, and he was already lifting his cup to his mouth so that he could blow over the liquid again, an ample amount of steam still rising from the cup.

As they sat there for a moment or two without any conversation, Howl searched his mind for some sort of topic that would be neutral enough to be discussed without causing another strange silence.

"Are you a regular at that particular pizza place? Or do you have another place you prefer?"

It was indeed a difficult thing to talk to someone who was trying to hide their identity, but at least he made an effort to go about it politely.

His cup was once more set down, partially since his tea was not cool enough for him to consume yet, but the other reason was to free up his hands. The moment she managed to catch on, Howl figured it was only proper to acknowledge her efforts. So with two free hands, he lightly clapped the fingers of his right hand across the palm of his left hand. It wasn't a loud sound, but a rather polite gesture to give the young lady a round of applause.

"Most excellent, Miss Van. You seem to be catching on rather quickly." He let out a small chuckle before allowing his hands to fold up at the edge of the table to rest.

Of course, this was not the end of the conversation, and he simply just continued forward, as if the girl had actually answered his question. "Unfortunately, I cannot handle eating pizza... or to be honest, most fast food. The most I can handle at nearly any restaurant is a salad. Grease tends to cause my stomach to tie itself in knots. Even moderate amounts do not agree with me. Salads usually do not have this problem, though at the same time, not all salads are created equal."

He tilted his head in such a fashion that a stray lock of hair fell into his line of vision, which with an elegant motion, was soon rectified. With a smile and a sigh, he mentioned "It would be nice to be able to eat out and not have to worry about such things at times."

"Oh my" he exclaimed at her sympathies. His eyes fell upon his cup of tea for a mere moment, and soon enough it was up in his hands again. He blew over the liquid one more time for good measure and soon enough took a delicate sip. How this young man always made everything look so elegant was probably a puzzle to Super Van.

When his lips parted from his cup, he jokingly replied "Well, I suppose that is my immortality then. To be remembered every time a super hero eats pizza as the lad who cannot eat greasy foods." To ensure there would be no spills on his watch, he set his cup down before allowing himself to laugh. It was a silly notion, and in all honesty, a rather gluttonous one as well. That extra slice of pizza every time she ate pizza in general was probably only going to lead to heart disease in the future.

Of course, the negative observations remained tucked in his mind, his momentary laughter being the only thing to mask it away. His laughter eventually managed to calm down, and at that point, he drew his cup back up to his lips, fingers once more making an effortless motion to lift it up so he could drink. Another sip, and he casually glanced to the girl's tea.

"Miss Van, it is probably safe to drink your tea now, though I apologize about burning your tongue earlier. It probably will not taste the way it was intended to because of that slight injury."

"Well, if I am not allowed to apologize, then I offer my sympathies, Miss Van." He was able to keep his cup quite steady in his hand. Perhaps it was the familiarity with tea cups, or perhaps it was due to the fact his sport required a steady hand. Nobody would know, but as he spoke, the tea remained absolutely still in his cup.

Before indulging in his own beverage further, he mentioned "I am glad it tastes okay. I know I personally cannot stand when I burn my tongue. It makes everything taste a bit fuzzy. Though I would imagine, it sounds rather silly to taste a texture rather than a flavor." His cup was lifted to his lips, and with a slight tilt, he drank up another sip. Nothing overly big, just something delicate, and almost pretty in a sense.

The cup was once more carefully pulled away, he replied to her compliment rather modestly. "I was raised in a household where you treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. I find it to be a rather splendid philosophy, even if the world does not work in such manners."

Once more it seemed this girl's enthusiasm was foiling any effort of hers to keep herself incognito. She was raised with a family that higher moral standings, which usually meant that the family was not crime oriented. Yet, the nod had managed to gain much more of his attention. He believed in conversations where you look the person in the eye respectfully, so his eyes had been focused on the girl's sunglasses for the most part.

The moment she nodded, he managed to catch a slight glimpse of a golden eye color behind the lenses.

Was he going to point out the fact he now knew her eye color?

Nope.

Was he going to give her a helpful suggestion?

"Miss Van, you might want to see about getting some sort of glasses straps so that you can keep those glasses as tight to your face as possible."

Yes he was. In an overly cool fashion, he took another sip from his cup.