de_nile | ⚖️ Inbox - Steven Grant's Communicator

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...

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Marc tags from

reflectedlight
Steven tags from

de_nile

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From:

abrightboy

Malcolm walks up to Steven's door on Sunday afternoon with a boardgames tucked under his arm and a thermos of floral herbal tea in his other hand. He manages to knock without dropping the game.

From:

de_nile

???

Wait, is that someone at the door? Did he order anything? He can't have, he's in the underworld. Is it a fire drill, maybe?

There's the sound of literally six locks unlocking and the door cracks enough to show a sliver of big, startled eye.

"Oh! Malcolm?"

He opens it more.

"What's going on, is everything alright?"

From:

abrightboy

Malcolm pauses. It's a greater level of suspicion than he was expecting.

"Alright? Yeah. Everything's... fine." He shifts his arm to let the game - Ticket to Ride - slide down into his hand so he can hold it up. "I brought a boardgame. And tea." He holds up the thermos. "Will thinks we have pretty... similar personalities, so I thought maybe you'd like to play."

Edited Date: 2026-03-05 11:12 pm (UTC)

From:

de_nile

"What? Really? Even after I made such a fool of myself? Oh, that's so kind!"

Holy shit. Do not get emotional, the cool kids will think you have no friends. It doesn't matter if it's true, it's embarassing!

"I, I swear I've been thinking about what you've asked me earlier and working on having better answers. Can I hug you?"

From:

abrightboy

“You didn’t make a fool of yourself. You were just overwhelmed. Been there…” Wait. A hug? His hands are full, but… “Oh. Okay. Sure.”

From:

de_nile

Just a quick one! Steven jumps in and out of it - yay - then tosses open the door.

"Oh, my place is such a mess. Here, come in!"

It is a chaos of books in here. Bookshelves outnumber non-bookshelf furniture by a mile, and neither kind of thing is being used correctly. Steven has to move a pile of clean laundry to unearth a useable armchair and then scurries around doing things like throwing curtains open and putting pens back into cups which do precisely nothing to change the actual Book Infeststion Problem. Ta daaaa! A chair, for you! Don't trip, the floor is also book storage.

From:

abrightboy

Despite the fact that Malcolm’s cabin is almost fastidiously clean and tidy, he’s not at all fazed by the chaos. Instead, as he sits, he’s tilting his head to read the titles scattered on the floor.

“Cool book collection. Is it a replica of your collection back home?”

From:

de_nile

"Oh, yes, this is my apartment. Except that stack near the kitchen, that's Barge library books I'm reading still, and the one with the lamp on it, that's Barge library stuff, too. It's alright, I work there, they won't mind."

Steven unearths a second chair with a heave - it's a wooden one, tucked under the kitchen table but with a dead houseplant on it. Houseplant gets moved to the floor, Steven drags the chair over near Malcolm.

"I haven't had anyone in here yet! On the ship, I mean. Thank you for coming, sorry about the, er, state of the place. Oh, you can probably see my sleepwalking setup from here, not as good as what you've got but I did my best with what I had to work with."

Steven gestures behind him. It's a studio apartment, so the messy bed is visible under a narrow gable, with his makeshift ankle restraint. There's also a circle of sand around it on the floorboards, to catch footprints. None of this works, because Marc can just redo the restraints and step over the sand, but Steven's really earnestly trying.

From:

abrightboy

"Well, if you're interested in trying the headboard restraints, let me know and I'll bring over my spare set," Malcolm tells him.

He sets the game down and offers the thermos. "Tea?"

From:

de_nile

"Oh, I was hoping it was tea, or I'd have turned my kettle on already. Sure, thanks so much! What's this, a board game?"

He perches, still thrilled to have a guest, peers at the box.

From:

abrightboy

“Yes! It’s called ‘Ticket to Ride’. I don’t know if you’re familiar, but this is the Europe map version. Basically our objective is to take turns building trains between the capitals of Europe. You win if you put down the most completed trains, but you get bonus points for things like the longest uninterrupted series of cars, for example. Where it gets interesting is that you sometimes have a choice between building something exciting and building something that blocks what your opponent is trying to build,” Malcolm explains. “Have you seen any of the versions of this game before?”

From:

de_nile

"No ... I don't think so, only the normal ones like Cluedo, Monopoly, that sort of thing ... this looks much more fun than those."

Steven goes to wiggle the lid off of the box.

From:

abrightboy

“It so is!” Malcolm exclaims. “What’s better than trains and nineteenth century geography?” As the lid comes off, he gestures to the little bags of plastic train cars. “You can pick your colour first.”

From:

de_nile

Night sky black, no hesitation. He picks up the bag and examines the little trains. Aww, they're so small!

"Oh, certainly, lots of fun esoterica there. Oh, that's right, it'd be ... around the 1840s, right? If we're supposing we're the first railroads on the continent."

He picks out the rulebook - obviously, he's got to know the Lore of the game.

"Are we different countries, like in Risk? Or just different competing rail barons?"

From:

abrightboy

“More like competing rail barons. I’ll reach deep inside for my ancestral robber baron,” Malcolm jokes. He glances up from where he’s taking his blue plastic trains out of the bag. “Also known as Great Uncle Albert,” he adds. He starts lining up his train cars neatly on his side of the table.

From:

de_nile

"Oh, that's right, you come from a family with money, yeah? Forgot about that. Hence the, em, weapons collection."

That's interesting! Steven is speed-reading the rules. Cards. Stations. Lots of stuff going on here. Steven pulls out a pair of pound shop reading glasses that make him look like someone's sainted grandmother.

Edited (sigh lol) Date: 2026-03-10 03:25 am (UTC)

From:

abrightboy

Malcolm has no need or desire to rush him through reading the rules; that’s half the fun of learning a new game.

“Yeah, on my mother’s side. She’s a Milton. Very old money. Basically royalty in New York.”

From:

de_nile

Steven wants to ask something like how was she, after everything with her husband? but.

Actually. No. No he doesn't. He can't quite remember the story except in very broad sketched lines, but he does remember it was very bad and he shouldn't ask about it again.

It's not even Marc interference. Steven has put this wall up firmly on his own.

"Oh! Does she know you're married here? I think that would be hard to explain, what with the ship being in the underworld... but hopefully she's been happy for you?"

From:

abrightboy

“There was a flood where people from home took our places. So… not only did she find out I’m married, she actually met Will,” Malcolm explains.

From:

de_nile

Steven looks up, eyes twinkling with suppressed glee at how adorable that is.

Er. Hopefully. Gosh, hopefully Malcolm's out to her? That'd be a terrible mess if he wasn't, Steven doesn't ever assume.

"Oh, that could be either amazing or dreadful. Was it good?"

From:

abrightboy

“Well, if nothing else, I think she understood that I have a lot of options that aren’t going home after this. I’m not giving Will up. But… from what I hear, she liked him. I mean…” He shrugs. “Of course she did, to be honest. What’s not to like about Will?” No, really, he can’t think of one single thing.

From:

de_nile

"Oh, that's great! Very cute, I'm so glad you've got each other, really. It probably helps a lot in a place like this.

It says the person that's visited the most European countries goes first?"