[He's aware enough from their brief encounter that Trip is not exactly the most socially graceful child. He's easily made nervous and is prone to vacillating between stilted sentences and meandering towards his point, but it seems a little out of place here and now. Dio hasn't said or done anything in particular that could be understood to be a challenge or test. Nothing that would inspire such nerves, in any case.]

I understood what you meant.

[That's all he writes, but then he shifts it to a private form of communication and changes it to a video feed. Dio is seated in his conservatory. A few plants that are not quite so dependent upon hours upon hours of direct sunlight are in view. Also visible is a small plate of slices and pieces of meat and a cup of a dark liquid. (It happens to be wine.) Dio picks up a piece of the meat.]

Though perhaps we should remove some of the ambiguity in the meaning of our words, hm? [Dio holds the meat up by his shoulder. Apep squawks before appearing in frame, landing on the back of the couch behind Dio's head to greedily snatch the meat out of his hand. Dio watches her as she gobbles the meat down, rubbing her chin once she's managed to devour the piece.] It has been a while since we last spoke. I apologize for that. Unfortunately there were other matters that required my more immediate attention.

[He smiles.]

Ah, but you're a clever boy, capable of handling things on your own anyway, aren't you?