[Noble blood— Shinjiro can handle Astralin being taller than even he is, and he's not even going to consider putting his foot in his mouth over the pointy ears, but noble blood?! Has he been shepherding a prince or something around this whole time? Honestly, is nothing easy...

Or: Shinji makes another face (tm), looking down at the menu to pretend he isn't. He orders some kind of crab cake, since this whole day has been fish and flour and left him with seafood on the brain, and then an 'Uh, water?' to drink.

It's been a little while since he sat down to eat with someone, huh... If he looks like he's still sitting there as stiffly as possible, well, he is, but it's because he definitely has at least one broken rib he's been ignoring all day and not because he's having a bad time. You know, socially. The rib is having a bad time.

Never mind that now, though.]

Yeah? Listening to those guys from before yapping at you is hungry work, huh?

[See, there's even humor! He's doing great. Now, circling back to being a prince or something...]

Your "peers'" taste buds are probably only tasting the money. No offense.

["sometimes.....ingredients that are expensive....are a waste." - shinji's wisdom]