Ira snorted with disdain when Lecter took a protective stance over the duck, as if he assumed Ira actually gave two ratshitstails about the deceased feathered fiend. Of course, he wasn’t extremely open about his dislike for the birds, not that Lecter knew him well enough to know something as personal as that anyway. If things had been reversed Ira could not have said that he wouldn’t have been protective over his kill as well, but as it were things were not reversed. “I’m not going to steal your stupid duck,” Ira mumbled under his breath complete with a roll of his eyes in an teenager-esque manner. It seemed mutual - their inherent coldness towards one another - but in truth Ira didn’t care if the Shaman didn’t find him impressive. As far as the Princeling was concerned he had nothing to prove to him. Besides, the Shaman was old and wouldn’t be around for much longer probably. It wasn’t as if either of them was truly a competition for the other. In a way, Ira did love Jinx, though the finer details of that highly coveted truth were undefined.
At Lecter’s words the boy merely smirked. That was not at all how he had came to be in Jinx’s care, and for some reason the Shaman’s lack of knowledge (regardless of if it were intentional or not) pleased Ira. There was a small part of Ira that wondered if the fact that he did not get along with, or really make any attempts at getting along with Lecter would anger Jinx. He cared, of course, but as far as he saw it there was nothing that said either of them had to get along with one another. They were from distinctly different parts of Jinx’s life and that was fine with Ira. “Only because she wanted me,” The child allowed Lecter’s misgivings to the origins of how Ira came into Jinx’s life, despite how horribly wrong it was. A few days from his six month mark he was growing and quickly, having already grown to be as tall as Jinx - and somehow he was still growing.
“Her Gods wanted me too.” He added as a sneering afterthought, fully aware that Lecter and Jinx shared Gods. That part was not a lie for Jinx herself had spoken of them the night she had taken him under her wing.