⚖️ Inbox - Steven Grant's Communicator

[de_nile]

This communicator belongs to Steven Grant! :)

If you need to contact someone that isn't Steven Grant, maybe you're looking for Marc Spector's dead drop...

Put date and format in the header, please!
Marc tags from reflectedlight
Steven tags from de_nile

Comments

Text, February 27, mid-afternoon

[musicdied]

Did you make it through your first flood in one piece?

text back ( <3 hi buddy!)

[de_nile]

[How about: blowing up your communicator with 11 texts in a row really really fast.]

Oh! Hello, what a nice surprise!

It went well!

I don't think it worked on me, so I didn't see anything awful, and no one tried to kill me. :)

I got to meet a few new people more or less by following the sound of crying, which isn't under the best circumstances, but it did make me feel like I was doing the warden job a little. Helping out.

Complete success on my end, if you ask me.

Which... you have.

You did ask me.

So, maybe that part is redundant, but it's still a bit novel for people to come and check on me.

You know, I'm beginning to think the people I worked with at the museum were rude and didn't like me?

How did it go for you?

Oh, someone said we're from the same world. I didn't know that when we first talked, but I've met B now, and his husband, and their dogs. :)

[musicdied]

[Oh, that's a - okay, that's a few replies.

Nope. Still coming.

That's... That is a veritable textsplosion. Oh boy.]

It seemed to mostly be things we regret, so you must be doing something right. I'm glad it wasn't a rough one for you.

I came through it all right.

It might not be exactly the same world. We have a lot of diverging timelines. Steve, B, Bob and I are all from slightly different realities.

You like dogs?

[de_nile]

I noticed that. I tried refocusing people on things they were proud of or a time when they remembered being happier, but I'm not sure it did anything. :(

I am a big fan of animals in general, really! Dogs are a fan of people back, which is always very validating. I like my fish, but I'm honestly not sure he even understands that I do like him.

Bob is also from home! I know Bob! A little worried about Bob, honestly, he ought to be somewhere with a staff that's been properly accredited, he's really been failed badly by the social safety net. Now I'm a bit embarassed that it's our Earth's fault, actually...

[musicdied]

It might have been a distraction, but it wouldn't have stopped the effects of the flood. The ones like that are usually meant to force specific behaviors, and hurt us worse the less we play along.

Bob's been failed pretty badly by the Barge, too. This place is kinder to the people who make their problems everyone's problem than the people who keep to themselves.

We do movie nights sometimes. You should join us for one.

Have you met the alien foxes in the kennel yet?

[de_nile]

[holy shit hes getting invited to a social event where more than one person might be there]

Yes! I'd love to! Just tell me whenever the next one is, I'll be there with bells on. Come hang out with Bob, see if he'd like me to, I dunno, help however I can?

I've been to the kennel, but I don't know if I've seen the foxes? Only cats and dogs and fish and snakes. I would LOVE to meet a fox I could pet without it biting me.

[musicdied]

Start with being his friend, maybe. Most people could use more of those, in this place.

And the foxes are not very bitey. They might zap you if they're startled, or get too wound up playing. They really are aliens.

Actually, it might be easier to show you.

[She switches briefly to video to show the kennel, and a creature that looks a little like a cat with a vulpine head, fur marbled turquoise and gold, with feathery antennae curving up from its forehead. It's a little like an ambulatory stuffed toy, chasing after a feather lure.]

SPAM

[de_nile]

[And we switch to action, because instead of a response, Steven skids into sight of the door frame, curls absolutely everywhere, at a speed that suggests he sprinted to get here.]

Oh. My. Days.

Re: SPAM

[musicdied]

[Yelena blinks up at him, then flashes a quick, crooked little smile.]

I think you just broke the sound barrier.

[The little alien creature she's been entertaining takes advantage of her momentary distraction to seize the feather lure between both forepaws, stretching the string attaching it to its handle. Another of the foxlike creatures, this one striped in red and cream, wakes with a start on its perch atop a shelf, fur ruffling with a crackle of static.]

SPAM

[de_nile]

[He's a little out of breath. It's psychosomatic. His body is in really good shape, but Steven assumes it isn't, because HE certainly never exercises it.]

Hello. Are these ... are they Pokémon?

[He does NOT know any Pokémon, actually. Not much of a video game fan. It's just what he imagines a Pokémon is, generally?

Also, low key who cares what they are, they're wonderful and he is enraptured.

He cautiously approaches the red one, offers a closed hand to sniff.]

Re: SPAM

[musicdied]

I don't think so. We actually don't know what they are called. We just call them foxes. Or foxlings.

[The little red creature eyes him for a few seconds, then stretches out her neck to sniff at his knuckles and wrist.]

Be careful if you have anything electronic. They absolutely will drain the battery for a snack. They don't seem to bother the communicators, but other things are fair game.

spam

[de_nile]

They're wonderful. I love it here. Oh! Can we give them rechargeable batteries as treats, then?

[He is so happy to have found a thing that will make the foxling like him? Animals are so easy, everybody knows what they want.

Steven lets her sniff before reaching carefully to pet. No startling!]

Aw, you're smiling!

[This is also delightful, actually. Yelena seemed very serious and/or resigned in their last conversation.]

Re: spam

[musicdied]

That does happen sometimes.

[Frequently, there's something soft and fluffy involved.]

But you cannot tell anyone, or it will ruin my reputation.

[The foxling follows his hand for a moment, before deciding that yes, okay, petting is acceptable.]

We've never actually tried rechargeable batteries. There are a few charging plates set up for them. They do eat, though - food, not just electricity. There are--

[The little turquoise fox loses her grip on the feather lure, and it rebounds back. Yelena's hand snaps up to intercept it before she gets a face full of feathers.]

There are treats on the shelf, in the green canister.

spam

[de_nile]

I promise.

[Very solemn, but he's got a goofy smile on. His vision locks {TARGET ACQUIRED} on the treats canister, but he doesn't move yet, going to get the foxling used to him, first.]

Where did they... come from? Do they belong to someone?

Re: spam

[musicdied]

Did you know there’s an Earth where Woodstock attracted a bunch of aliens?

[A brief pause.]

Actually, that might describe our Earth, too.

Anyway, we found them there after the festival, abandoned in the woods. No one who was still there knew where they came from, and we couldn’t just leave them on a strange planet to fend for themselves.

spam

[de_nile]

The ship went to Woodstock?

[Big, round eyes.]

Wait - wait - the ship can make port in Earth's past?

[oh please can we do the Middle Kingdom holy shit please please please. steven will do ANYTHING, we are talking murder*, we are talking sexual favors**, we are talking large sums of money stolen from international banks***. PLEASE




* just kidding
** maybe yeah
*** he'll at least try, he can promise that, but succeeding is another thing]

Re: spam

[musicdied]

The ship went to Woodstock.

[She grins a little at that wide-eyed expression.]

It can visit the past or the future, from our perspective, the same way it can take people from the 21st Century and the 15th Century, and have us be here at the same time.

spam

[de_nile]

If we did Egypt already [Steven says, solemnly, not pausing in petting the foxling] and I missed it, do not tell me about that, I'll be inconsolable. They'll need to sedate me.

Re: spam

[musicdied]

The infirmary is right next door, and I think Vincent has been hoping for an excuse to shoot someone with a tranquilizer.

[She’s only mostly joking.]

But I can honestly say that as far as I know, we have not made port in Egypt. Modern or historical. At least not in the past decade or so.

spam

[de_nile]

There are two Vincents, right? Aerith's friend with the big cape on and another one? Or is it just him, and he's had a really odd life with several different jobs?

[It'd be super weird if the same guy had totally opposite qualities at the same time.]

Re: spam

[musicdied]

[The weirdest. Good thing that definitely doesn’t happen.]

There are two Vincents. Valentine is the one who looks like he should be a vampire and works in the infirmary. He’s a useful person to know. Smith works in the chapel.

I think they both are friends with Aerith, but so’s half the Barge.

spam

[de_nile]

Well, she is very friendly. The one with the cape is definitely the vampire one, he's a bit intimidating but I understand he means well.

[Steven is trying to coax the foxling down to the floor. C'mere, buddy!]

I've been thinking about asking the Enclosure to do Ancient Egypt but... it almost feels too easy? Like, something that's going to be that important to me shouldn't be so... casual? I dunno. I could probably come here, learn more than enough to write papers for the rest of my life, pick up an item I could sell for a billion dollars, and go home without having done a single thing to help the ship.

[He could. He could do that.]

Suppose that's why Steve Rogers says the Admiral mostly takes desperate people. People that are just lonely might go home.

Re: spam

[musicdied]

The Enclosure could create the structures, and the environment, but not the people. Its attempts is very bad at people, unless what you’re looking for is programmable opponents. Or programmable partners for dance lessons, apparently.

[The foxling scooches to the edge of the shelf and peers down, in the slightly gravity-defying way some climbing animals have, where they’re half a millimetre from tumbling from a perch.]

And that definitely is part of why the Admiral recruits the desperate. We have had a few people leave before they earned their deals, but it’s rare for people who come here as wardens. At least, it’s rare for people to admit it.

spam

[de_nile]

Oh, be careful, [Steven says, to the foxling, as if it has any concept of what that means.]

The architecture would be gorgeous, though ... and. Well. I suppose there's no guarantee of accuracy. How would I know what it is and isn't making up?

[There it is. There's the catch. He's a little sad now. No people, and he can't even be sure it's correct...]

Can wardens vanish the way inmates can?

Re: spam

[musicdied]

[The little creature's hindquarters bunch, and it springs down from the shelf to land on the floor and bump against Steven's ankles. Careful: apparently not in its vocabulary.]

They can, but the stakes are a different. Most wardens are alive when they agree to come here. Not all - there have been a half dozen wardens who have vanished back to their deaths without getting a deal, while I have been here - but most.