diplomatiste | inbox.

Inbox

333 – 0280

Voice — Text

"Hello? Oh, right — well, you've reached Alphinaud Leveilleur. Please state your business and I shall return your call at the earliest convenience."

Contacts

Aria <3 | 140 - 1907

Cassian (Driving Instructor) | 737 – 9012 

Dear Sister | 333 – 0281

Estinien | 474 – 4273 

Exarch G'raha Tia | 867 – 5309

Gustave | 897 – 0895 

Logan (From the Accident) | 326 – 5587

Lucina | 750 — 3201 

zArbert | 273 — 2378 

Code Source

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only | Expand All

From:

exarched

Indulge me this moment of curiosity, if you can. Was it acrylics that you are familiar with?

From:

diplomatiste

Ah!

Oils, actually. Though I do have memories of a brief time with acrylics.

[ this is already the most pretentious conversation ever ]

From:

exarched

Oils then! Good to know, thank you.

[ He is absolutely out there shopping around. ]

I admit my knowledge of paints is severely lacking. But I assume they will be appropriately labeled?

From:

diplomatiste

I should think so ...

[ Alphinaud can only surmise what G'raha is up to right now, and quite frankly, he isn't sure he's so deserving of such generosity. ]

G'raha, might I inquire as to where you are right now? And what you may be doing?

From:

exarched

[ Can he be sneaky when he's decidedly being unsneaky to begin with? ]

I'm between my odd-jobs for the day so I thought I might spend some time shopping for the week.

From:

diplomatiste

[ He's onto you, buddy. ]

Ah, I see.

Have you decided to take up painting?

From:

exarched

Mayhap with the right teacher I might consider it.

[ You're not dodging this gift, buddy. ]

From:

diplomatiste

I should be more than glad to offer tutelage to the level that I can.

[ If G'raha is using all the supplies, then it doesn't really count as a gift, right? ]

From:

From:

baddragoon

Do you work this eve?

From:

diplomatiste

I do not.

My next shift has been scheduled for tomorrow morning.

[ eyes emoji ]

From:

baddragoon

Good. Open your window.

From:

diplomatiste

?

[ He may not have the full use or understanding of ASCII emojis, but he can at least send a questioning punctuation before he does as instructed.

Estinien coming through the window of their motel room is not a surprise, nor an uncommon occurrence.

He just wonders the reason this time. ]

From:

baddragoon

[ Estinien pokes his head in through the window, and then seeing that Alisaie is not around: ]

I would have thought you'd be more excited by the prospect of an adventure, 'Little Lord Alphinaud'.

From:

diplomatiste

Adventure?

[ He'd been seated at the single multi-functional table in the main area of their shared motel room, reading and responding to such phone texts. At Estinien's voice, and particularly the mention of 'adventure', his spine straightens and he looks up and towards the dragoon's direction.

He even misses Estinien's use of the nickname, he's so focused.

It's not that it's boring here, but ... well. Who in their right mind would say no to adventure? ]

Ah. Well, you hadn't mentioned anything of the sort in our brief correspondence.

[ He's already getting up from his seat to find his jacket and to pull on his shoes. ]

What are you proposing?

From:

baddragoon

[ He'd said adventure, but honestly what he plans on is dining tonight on sushi and spending some time with Alphinaud and he's not above employing underhanded means in order to achieve both. ]

Come with me and find out.

From:

diplomatiste

[ 'Underhanded means' ... as if he couldn't simply say 'dinner?' because Alphinaud would react in the exact same manner that he is to the call of an adventure.

It's the chance to spend some time with Estinien. Of course he'd agree to it.

Especially as it had been some time now since he's seen the dragoon since he and the other Scions were whisked away to the First. What else has he missed since then? ]

Should we take my car? Or will your vehicle suffice?

(no subject)

From:

baddragoon - Date: 2025-09-09 03:01 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From:

diplomatiste - Date: 2025-09-15 03:03 am (UTC) - Expand

From:

baddragoon

[ For all Panorama is larger than perhaps any of the city-states he's been in, there's something about that still feels quite small. It's partly why he spends so much time outside of it. Restless feet Aymeric called it, but it was only ever fond, despite the fact that Estinien left just when his whole world had crumbled to his feet around him. But without the vengeance to chain him, to blind him to the world around him, to tell him who he was and what his purpose was... Well. Restless feet.

The other part of it is that despite G'raha's suppositions, the tail seems very much like it is here to stay, and Estinien does not know how to have that conversation with Alphinaud. Doesn't know if he can stand to have him worry about him, to look into Alphinaud's face and let him believe for a single moment that he has failed in keeping his promise. Let him think that this is his problem to solve.

But in travelling he must keep his bike fueled and himself well stocked and to that end he frequently finds himself back in Panorama. He'd thought to grab a quick meal while he was here but... Evidently, it was not quick enough. ]

Alphinaud.

[ He doesn't need to turn around to know. It's like a little tug at the back of his mind telling him that Alphinaud is here, a little pull. He doesn't need to turn around to know but he does anyway, taking him in. It's been a while, after all. ]

From:

diplomatiste

[ It has been a while.

In fact, it's been long enough that the draw of Estinien's presence suddenly feels more tangible than it has in weeks, like a physical pull that tugs at something in his chest. He doesn't think anything of it.

Head perking up, Alphinaud blinks and gives his surroundings a quick glance — finally meeting Estinien's eyes with his when the latter seems to do the same. ]

Estinien!

[ He makes a move to partially get up from his seat, a hand raised to wave the dragoon over in a plea to join him (there are a whole grouping of small sampling plates of varying states of completion, and a pitcher half-full with water next to a glass) — just before he notices the swish of something rather tail-like from behind him. The excited expression on his face dims slightly, shifting into something a little more like concern. ]

Did — did something happen?

From:

baddragoon

[ The tail flicks agitatedly behind him. For a moment Estinien considers leaving, and it's that more than anything that prompts him forward. He has never been one to run, and besides, does he think to spend the rest of his days avoiding Alphinaud? ]

Aye.

[ He seats himself across from Alphinaud, ensures his tail is wrapped around his leg. A server arrives almost immediately and so he glances quickly at the menu orders himself a couple of plates that look good. ]

It grew in some time back, though the cause remains a mystery. [ He pauses for a second, and then says quickly, as though making a confession: ] It is the very image of Nidhogg's tail.

From:

diplomatiste

It ... it is.

[ One last glance towards the tail before Alphinaud straightens and nods, regaining his composure to one of perfect politeness. He won't bring anymore attention to it, though he does still have a few questions. Of course.

Though a tail in and of itself is no cause to be concerned — so many of their friends and comrades are tail-having species — Elezen are not naturally born with them.

And for the tail to look so much like a dragon's ... ]

By the Twelve. It doesn't hurt, does it?

From:

baddragoon

[ Estinien huffs a quiet laugh to himself. Of course that is the first question that Alphinaud asks. No thought to the possible threat. To his control, or to whether Estinien is safe to be around or not. No talk of contingencies, on how to stop him if the worst should come to pass. Just a question as to whether or not he is in pain. Once again, Estinien proves himself a fool. ]

No— [ no longer, at least ] —it is much like my other limbs now. If only a tad more unruly.

[ He still has yet to discover how to moderate its reactions. Estinien doesn't consider himself particularly emotive but his tail seems to believe that every stray thought is a reason to react. On the bright side, he can almost consider it a weapon in its own right. It has certainly reduced many a rock or tree to nothing but debris. ]

There are other concerns, but the tail itself is not one of them.

[ He hesitates, but he can feel something peaking out from behind Alphinaud's mask of calm. ]

And I... apologise for my absence. I did not wish to worry you unduly, however I fear I may have caused some other harm instead.

From:

diplomatiste

[ Now, Alphinaud quickly shakes his head in hopes that his immediate protest will convince his friend enough that he truly needs no apology.

And no other harm, as far as his own person is concerned, has come to him either. Even were that tail to have a life of its own, he trusts Estinien wholeheartedly to feel no worry near it or him. ]

You've nothing to apologize for, I assure you. I only wish you had thought to tell me sooner.

[ He sits back now, thoughtful. ]

That this world is capable of changing one's physicality may well be worrying, however. Especially without due cause. But should anything change meanwhile, any sudden pain, any shift in emotions, please — you must tell me so I can help you.

From:

baddragoon

[ A mild chastisement all things considered, more focused on saving him that anything else. Of course.

That he requires saving yet again, that his folly continues to haunt them still... Estinien gives his head a little shake as though he can shake this useless melancholy away. What good does it do him to keep treading this path he knows leads only to a dead end? It certainly doesn't serve him anything. Reflexively, he checks, as always, on the little shard of Nidhogg that remains. Does it grow, he wonders? Wane? As ever there is no change, and as ever that fact fails to fill him with any measure of comfort.

(And which one does he hope for, he wonders?)

(Simple. Whichever one will give Nidhogg peace.) ]

It was after I entered a diffusion zone. Not wholly without cause, but I agree, concerning nonetheless. If aught changes, you will be among the first to hear of it, I promise.

From:

diplomatiste

Very well. Then we shall put that particular aspect of the topic to rest, before I begin to sound like my mother.

[ Alphinaud chuckles, slightly ducking his head in apology.

Not that Ameliance has ever discouraged taking risks and skirting on the very edges of danger for a just cause, but she does — and has — worried over her children. What mother would not?

However, if Alphinaud were to really admit the truth, perhaps there is more likeness in him to his father in this case. He was often found worrying and fussing, but unlike Alphinaud, he had done so in a way that drew out his sternness, and forbidding personality.

He wonders how they are, despite their ... complicated divergence of paths.

Anyway. ]

Have there been any diffusion zones worth noting in the meantime?