January - February Test drive

[indigo_events]

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JOHTO | KANTO | SEVII ISLANDS

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Comments

video

[stardiving]

[He almost never uses video, but it's not every day that he sees Aymeric's face on the screen and he is not going to simply ignore it.

After so long with so few of them, everyone showing up now? It's almost unbelievable. Certainly inconvenient, since they've all started traveling, but the others can take care of themselves and it's a very close thing that he doesn't gather his things to leave right then.]

Hells, Aymeric, you couldn't have shown up two weeks ago? Actually, never mind, the trip was awful enough without subjecting you to it as well.

[ourstosee]

[Of all the faces Aymeric might have expected, Estinien manages to be both the most and least surprising. He'd heard tales of the former Azure Dragoon on the wind, after all, some of which came furthest flung reaches of their shared star. It wasn't so outlandish that he might find himself beyond it.

Still, there's no hiding the hint of relief he feels, a burden he didn't know he'd been carrying lifted from his shoulders. He was far from incapable, but there was something to be said about knowing he would not have to go it alone. Especially when it was someone who had always been, if not at his side, watching from the distance.]

I suppose it should be expected, that my dear, traveling friend would find his way to heretofore unknown places. [He shakes his head, amusement clear.] Allow me to extend my sincerest apologies for keeping you waiting.

[stardiving]

[He looks a bit embarrassed by the address, glancing away from the screen. A downside to never having his face covered anymore--he's terribly easy to read, not that Aymeric ever had any problem to begin with.]

Yes, well. Leave it to you to finally escape all your damnable responsibilities by escaping to another world entirely.

[He knows you're doing what's best for Ishgard, but he also knows that you'd sometimes rather not have them, even if you're too damn noble to say no and let everyone fight over their own problems for once.]

[ourstosee]

[Now why would you go and mention his duties, Estinien. It's clear by the way his gaze darts away that Aymeric hadn't quite considered the state of Ishgard. He could hardly be blamed for it, considering he'd had his own health and safety to fuss over. Yet now that he has a free moment to consider it, the guilt at having not done so earlier hits particularly hard.]

Ishgard is undoubtedly in chaos without my presence.

[He can't even comment on the expression Estinien wears. Truly a lost opportunity.]

[stardiving]

[Estinien shakes his head.]

They'll not even notice you gone. Truly. Whenever this world is done with us, it puts us straight back where we were with none the wiser, so you can stop letting your guilt eat you alive.

[ourstosee]

[Aymeric lifts his brows. It sounds too good to be true, as far as he's concerned. But where Estinien might dodge a question regarding his own personal well-being, he's never been one to shy away from brutal honest otherwise.]

That is no small comfort to me, my friend. I appreciate you informing me of such.

[Ishgard was, after all, still in a very vulnerable state. The last thing it needed was to be shaken up by the absence of Her leader.]

You have been here... two weeks then? Is that how I am meant to understand it?

[stardiving]

This time around. Before it was a year and a half.

[And despite his tendency to vanish off the face of Eorzea he knows you would have picked up on not having heard anything of him for that long, which should further lend weight to what he's said.]

We can also be drawn here from different times.

[ourstosee]

Different times. [Just when he thought his headache was starting to recede.]

I suppose you can imagine what my next question shall be. From whence have you come?

[From the nature of their conversation, he can make a few assumptions. Well past the end of the Dragonsong War, at least. If nothing else, it should mean that the man has been at... relative peace. Aymeric can take comfort in that much.]

[stardiving]

[The incessant repetitive music will make sure you have one constantly anyway.]

Well past the close of the war. Ishgard has taken her place in the Eorzean Alliance and has begun to rebuild. Ala Mhigo and Doma have been freed, the Scions are returned from the First...

It's been some time after that, even. What do you last recall, and we can go from there.

[He's certainly far more at peace than he has been in years. He's even spoken with Alberic again!]

[ourstosee]

Are you familiar with the Telophoroi? The towers they constructed?

[He shakes his head, eyes closing. It takes some doing, piecing together his own position compared to that of Estinien's. It's clear that it isn't a terribly long amount of time separating them. The Scions' return from the first was at least a relatively recent one.]

We had only just cleared their forces from Carteneau. I returned both yourself and your newfound allies to your Revenant's Toll, and set back for the front lines.

[stardiving]

Ah. That.

[He nods, while knowing that they can come from different times, it's still a little strange to experience, especially when it comes to Aymeric.]

They've been defeated, and the Final Days stopped. I don't know what manner of trouble might rear its head next, but there's none on the horizon at least.

[ourstosee]

A strange thought, that.

[Aymeric can't remember the last time their lives weren't filled with some conflict or another. If not their efforts with the Horde, then their work with the alliance.]

We all deserve the respite, I believe. [He's quiet for a few moments.] Our allies -- friends, even -- are well?

[stardiving]

Aye. Lucia is leading the Alliance's efforts to help the people of Garlemald. The Levilleur twins have gone to help her. The other Scions have parted to do their own work. Peace is established with the tribes.

[He smiles softly--surely there's more work to do, but for once in his life true peace actually seems obtainable. Months ago he hadn't even thought he'd live to see the end of the Dragonsong War.]

So you can relax. So much as you can with this damnable plinking music in your ears constantly.

[ourstosee]

Relax. [The smile he wears turns just a hint wry. Compared to both himself and Estinien, few of their fellow countrymen could come close to being as unfamiliar with the idea of relaxation. Even if their respective worlds had only begun to shift within the last few months, neither of them had ever been the type to shy from duty. ]

And just how have you managed to do that, old friend?

[He's well aware that he's preaching to the choir. Yet even in this playful ribbing, he might have hoped to discern some sort of truth. Halone only knew that Aymeric had no idea where to begin.

The quip about the music is, of course, neglected for the time being. Thus far, Aymeric has been far too preoccupied to take note of it. Now that it's taken root in his mind, however, he does start to hear the strange melody playing. Surely it's nothing.]

[stardiving]

A year and a gods-damned half here is more relaxing than I've ever done in my life.

[Is it going to be that long again? Is it going to be ten years, like Cecil? He doesn't know!]

That aside, the satrap of Thavnair has been showing me his best hospitality. Probably softening me up for some onerous task or another.

Ah, that would be Vrtra, the youngest of the great wyrms. Make an excuse for some diplomatic visit or another when we return, he would be thrilled.

[ourstosee]

That is exactly why I am concerned. A year and a half spent at ease? I fear I may no longer know you.

[He can't recall the last time he was able to so easily laugh. Certainly, doubts linger at the back of his mind, but if everything was as Estinien said, he could afford to let his hair down, so to speak.]

Of course. I would be delighted to visit with the Satrap, especially given his apparent ties to our home. Never mind the chance at visiting with a dear friend for more than a passing moment.

[stardiving]

I've not changed that much.

[He does smile more than twice a calendar year now, though, so that might be a lie. He glances awkwardly away from the camera at the 'dear friend' part, so the social awkwardness hasn't changed at all, at least. He has his reasons for not going home, but Aymeric is certainly not one of them.]

I'll come back to travel with you. Tis easier for me to backtrack than you to travel faster.

[ourstosee]

[The awkwardness is noted with a half-smile. No, perhaps Estinien had not changed much at all. It's comforting to see a shred of his old friend there, despite all that had changed.]

Turning around to escort me is hardly necessary, Estinien.

[Yet he'll offer no additional argument to the idea. In truth, there's a warm excitement that spreads through him at the idea of traveling together. It reminds him of bygone days, before politics and heroics had set them on different paths. Certainly not better days, considering the weight both men had carried even then, but familiar nonetheless.]

[stardiving]

[So much easier to hide his expressions when he wore a helm with a visor that covered his face.]

And if I didn't wish to, I wouldn't. Beside, the supplies we're given wouldn't even last a Lalafell comfortably to the next town, I can bring more with me.

[ourstosee]

That much I cannot argue.

[It only made him wonder just how the woman that had woken him back in New Bark had seen him. A child, perhaps? Though even still, he doubts a child could suffice off of these supplies for very long.]

I shall stick to the northward route, then. So long as I remain on the well-traveled path, I suspect I should be easy enough to find. You shall only needs look for the fussing blue bird atop my head.

[stardiving]

[He actually grins at that, a bright flash of teeth and a soft 'heh' which is probably about as close to a full laugh as Aymeric's heard out of him in years.]

Well, someone ought to be fussing over you, it's not as if you'll do it.