#pseudonymity

[raffaellopalandri]

The Crypto-Subject and the first Aesthetics of Withdrawal – Part 3

To arrive at the terminus of the visible is not to arrive at a blankness, nor at an absence in the strict phenomenological sense, but rather to encounter the emergence of another ontology in which the conditions for appearance have been altered or perhaps dismantled altogether. This is not a simple turning away from the light, nor a Nietzschean descent into the chthonic, but something more…

[samreich]

pseudonyms

[foldingfittedsheets]

I saw Tyler eating a sub sandwich the size of his head and I joked it looked too big for his little mouth.

He looked contemplatively at his sandwich. He said, “I like my sandwiches warm. So I put this in the microwave.”

He looked up at my horrified face and added, “Mark saw me do it and said I should open a sub place called, ‘Wet and Warm Subs.’”

I fell over laughing and said that name was just as good as a sex club.

[kingdomvel]

I swear I've seen your face before

Steddie | 2.5k | Famous Rockstar Eddie Munson | Even more famous singer Steve Harrington | Mistaken identity | Music Awards

ao3

Just the night before the first major awards Corroded Coffin have ever been invited to, Eddie gets a drink and meets someone.

Eddie is not afraid. He is not. He is not afraid, or nervous, or scared, or anything like that. He is pretty chill, the chilliest of guys actually. That’s why he is currently looking for an open bar -or pub, or whatever they call them here- that is not too crowded at almost midnight, because he is so chill he doesn’t care about how he is going to look tomorrow when Corroded Coffin makes their first appearance at a major award show at the International Music Awards, in London, of all places.

The other guys are asleep at the hotel, they had been dicking around the whole flight here yesterday, too excited to be across the Atlantic, and hadn’t slept well that night from the jetlag (even when they are not really known for keeping a normal sleeping schedule). Today, after a few interviews and a good dinner, they had all hit the sheets and fallen asleep immediately. All except from Eddie.

He doesn’t have to get very far from his hotel before he sees it. An inconspicuous little thing, dimly lit, music high, and enough people in it that he won’t stand out, but not packed enough for it to be uncomfortable.

He finds a seat at the back corner of the bar and orders a beer. His eyes roam the place as he takes in the groups of friends, bigger or smaller, the few loners like him.

The music is not bad. It would have been asking too much to find a metal bar, but it’s good enough.

He is halfway through his beer when someone slides onto the seat next to him. Eddie looks at the guy with his side eye. He is handsome, roughly his age. He is wearing a shirt, but the first few buttons are undone, so it looks sexy, his chest hair peaking out.

“Hey,” the boy says when the waitress gets to him. “Can I get one of those?” he gestures to Eddie’s beer. “A pint? Beer. Big.” He does a weird thing with his hands.

The waitress shakes her head, an amused smile in her face. Eddie is sure that she would be annoyed by the ‘stupid yankee’ if the guy wasn’t so cute.

“You not from around here, mate?” Eddie asks, casual, with a fake British accent.

The guy turns to Eddie for a second. “Yeah, no. I’m American.”

“You do sound like you are from the colonies.”

Pretty boy turns to Eddie again, this time with a frown. “Are you making fun of me?”

Eddie laughs just as the waitress returns with the pint and the car reader. Eddie’s seat companion moves to take his wallet out, but Eddie is faster. His phone was already on top of the bar, so it’s barely two moves and the beer is paid for.

“Why did you do that?” the guy asks when the waitress leaves.

“Just a friendly gesture from a compatriot,” Eddie says, fake accent now dropped, and gives a two finger salute.

“You are American.” It is a accompanied by a sigh and a look of understanding.

Eddie brings his glass up with a smile, “cheers.”

The boy mirrors his move and they click their glasses.

“Name’s Eddie,” he introduces himself after they have sipped their drinks.

“Steve.”

“Tell me, Steve,” Eddie says, leaning towards him. Maybe too close, but Steve doesn’t shy away. Eddie likes him. “What is a boy like you doing in a place like this across the globe.”

Steve doesn’t answer immediately, his eyes roam Eddie’s face and body, taking him in. Eddie bites back a smile. He knows when someone is finding him attractive.

“I arrived today and couldn’t sleep.”

“Ugh!” Eddie groans, leaning with his back against the bar and looking at the ceiling. “Tell me about it.” He looks back at Steve. “Jetlag, man.”

“Jetlag, man,” Steve repeats sympathetically. He offers his drink for another cheers, and Eddie accepts it.

“But what brings you to this beautiful country?” Eddie asks.

“Got a… work event tomorrow.”

Steve looks like he would work on something corporate. Eddie is not going to ask him about that, no matter how pretty he is.

“Me too,” he chooses to say.

“Yeah? What do you work in?”

Eddie takes a sip to avoid answering, flags the waitress to get a new beer. He is enjoying Steve’s company. He likes that he is treating him like he is just some other dude, which he is. He is not that famous, but it is always appreciated these days.

Eddie shrugs. “Just stuff.”

Steve scoffs, “just like me, stuff.”

Steve beats him to pay this time. They flirt about it. They continue talking about this and that. They laugh. Everyone always tells Eddie that he is a good storyteller, that he makes anything he says interesting, but Steve is the same. Not in the same way as him, no, but he is also expressive and charismatic. It helps that Eddie’s eyes get lost in his peaking chest, the way his shirtsleeves are pulled to his elbows.

“You know, your face looks familiar,” Steve says, almost an hour into their talking.

“Oh yeah? Seen it in your dreams before?”

“Shut up,” Steve says with a laugh. “I’m serious.”

Eddie shrugs, “you look familiar too.” And he does. There’s something about his jaw… but there’s more people in the world with that jaw.

“It’s one of those faces, I look just like the guy next door. Very common.” Steve tries to brush it off.

If Eddie is objective, he is. He does look like just some guy. A handsome guy, a very attractive guy, but still. Eddie is not objective, so, “there is nothing common about you, big boy,” he says, leaning into Steve’s space again.

Steve stops, blinks a couple of times, Eddie smirks.

This is his opportunity.

A guy clears his throat from beside them. He stands behind them, because Steve and Eddie’s stools have moved to be almost against each other (if Eddie used the Challengers move to get Steve closer when he got up to use the toilet, the other boy didn’t say anything about it).

“Hey, I saw you from across the bar,” they guy says. He says it with a smile, but Eddie sees his nervousness in the way he is looking between the two of them. Eddie lifts his eyebrows. “Thought I recognised you.” Eddie looks at his leather jacket, his band t-shirt. He may not be wearing anything Corroded Coffin, but he knows a fan when he sees one. “I love your music, man.”

“Thank you,” Eddie answers at the same time as Steve. He turns towards the other boy with a frown, Steve looking at him in the same way. Maybe he got confused because the guy is looking between the two of them.

“Steve here can take a picture if you want,” Eddie offers.

“I don’t really want to-“ Steve starts saying.

“Will you really take a picture of us?” the boy asks, turning to him with a big smile in his face.

“Of… you?” Steve has a confused look in his eyes. Eddie would feel bad about not telling him who he is if he didn’t look so adorable.

“Yeah, please? I’m a great fan of you, Eddie. This is nuts, finding you here.”

“Thanks, man,” Eddie says with a smile, he claps the guy on his back and turns towards Steve, who is looking between the two of them with an unreadable look in his eyes. Something between surprised, amused and confused. “Steve, picture?”

“Yeah, of course,” Steve snaps out of it and takes the offered phone. “I’ll take the picture, because he is a big fan of you and I’m just here, talking to you.”

“Yeah?” Now Eddie is the one confused, but he will ask Steve what is wrong later.

Now he stands up to be level with the guy and leans on him with a smile. Steve lowers the phone.

“Come on, you can do better than that.”

Eddie lets out a huff of amusement, but he is right. He can do better than that. He makes the devil horns and sticks out his tongue as Steve takes picture after picture, directing them like he is some kind of professional photographer. Maybe he is not in some corporate thing.

“Thanks, man,” the boy says when Steve hands him his phone back. He turns towards Eddie. “And thank you. My friends are NOT going to believe this, they are going to be so pissed off for not staying longer.” Eddie laughs, slaps him on the chest. “Good luck tomorrow.”

Eddie finally takes his arm away from the boy’s shoulder, “thank you.”

“And sorry for interrupting you.” His eyes fly to Steve, who just shrugs him off with a wave of his hand. “It’s not every day you see Eddie Munson in London, is it? Sorry, I’m leaving now, thanks again!”

True to his word, he leaves. When Eddie sits down again, Steve has his elbow on the bar and his head on his hand, looking at him.

“So?”

“A fan.”

Steve snorts, “Really? Hadn’t caught that. But why? Are you like a youtuber or something?”

“What? No!” Eddie is almost offended. “Who even is a youtuber nowadays, no. I have a band.”

Steve looks at him, from head to toe. “A rockstar then.”

“Something like that. The work thing from tomorrow? It’s the IMAs.”

Steve doesn’t say anything, he just blinks.

“International Music Awards? They started making them a couple years ago to have some awards that really celebrated people from different- doesn’t matter. They make them in a different country each year, last year was Tokyo, this year is London, that’s why I’m here, I’m nominated. Well, my band is nominated for a couple of awards. It’s the first time we are nominated for something like this.”

“That’s- wait, band?”

“Yeah, Corroded Coffin? You may have heard of us.”

Steve snaps his fingers and points at him with a triumphant look in his eyes, “Corroded Coffin! I knew I’d seen your face before. One of my friends is like a super fan of you.”

“Oh yeah?” Eddie tries not to let the pride at listening to those words get to him.

“Yeah, he even joked about me bumping into you. He told me to take a picture with you if I did.”

“Really? And how were you planning on doing that if you didn’t know my face?”

Steve pauses, like he is debating if he should say something. In the end, he just shrugs. “Dunno, the context? Maybe I expected an entourage of groupies or something.”

Eddie laughs. “No groupies for me.” An idea forms in his head. He grabs his phone and toys with it. “You know, we can take that picture your friend asked for.”

“With your phone?” Steve asks with an eyebrow raised.

“I can send it to you.”

Steve looks at him like he knows exactly what Eddie is trying to do, but he agrees. The waitress takes their picture for them when she sees them taking a selfie, Eddie licks Steve’s cheek in one of them, but the boy only protests half-heartedly. Eddie secures Steve’s number under the pretext of sending him the pictures. They continue talking, and it’s like nothing has changed for Steve. He doesn’t treat Eddie differently, if anything, he sounds even more relaxed now.

Eddie doesn’t think about how he should go back to the hotel and rest for tomorrow, too lost in Steve’s hazel eyes. They stay there, talking and drinking until the waitress informs them it’s the last round, and then until the music stops and they have to leave the bar.

They stand outside in the cold, knowing that they have to say goodbye but reluctant to it. Maybe Eddie can take Steve back to his hotel, but he doesn’t want to deal with the lecture that will surely come out of it when the room needs to be filled with stylists. He has Steve’s number, but that doesn’t really mean anything. He wants to see Steve again soon. He wants to see him tomorrow, stupid awards be damned.

Eddie gets an idea.

“Okay, what if,” he starts, his hands in front of him, his head tilted. Steve looks at him curiously. “You came with me tomorrow.”

“To the awards?” Steve asks, his eyebrows high in his forehead.

“Exactly.” Eddie points a finger at him. He starts moving as he talks to deliver his speech as best as he can. “Think about it. It’s our first international awards invite and I don’t wanna be boring! Just showing up with my band is boring! It’s what everyone does! No drama! But showing up with a random guy-“ Steve snorts. “-and walking the red carpet with him? No leaving you behind like people do with their families and friends so they don’t show up in the pictures. I’m talking about you taking the pictures with me (maybe get a little naughty in the red carpet), sitting at our table… The whole thing!” Eddie finishes with a grand gesture. Steve looks amused.

“And they are just going to let you bring me with you with no heads up?”

“We’ll figure a way.” Eddie gets closer to Steve, takes his hands in his. “Please, it will be so much fun! And when else would a normal guy like you have the opportunity of coming to something like this?”

Steve seems to think about it for a few seconds and bites back a smile, “okay, I’ll be your date.”

“Yes!” Eddie shouts, letting go of Steve to celebrate properly.

“You better make it fun, Munson!”

Eddie kisses Steve’s cheek, just a quick press of lips before he is walking away, pointing at him. “I will! I swear it will the best night of your life!”

****

Steve shakes his head as he looks at Eddie’s form walk away with a skip in his step. He will admit it, he is properly charmed. That’s not the only reason he agreed to the date, no. He knows he is going to have a lot of fun tomorrow, in ways Eddie can’t even imagine. He can’t wait to see his face.

He takes his phone out. It’s late (or early) for a phone call, so he just sends a text.

I need a seat change for the ceremony. Also, we are changing my whole look.

[roseverdict]

new character idea: dude who wakes up with amnesia for whatever reason and tries to go through their phone to figure out "ok who do i allegedly know well enough to get their help" except pre-amnesia!dude had all their contact names like this:

[moon-bell5]

“We may have let you sign in with any email for years and years and years, but now we’ve modernized! Sign in with Apple / Facebook / Google account! These are your only options :)”

What if I kill you with a rock

[caxemiira]

My personal fan theory is that Louis didn’t care about social media until after the other vampires started getting fussy about Daniel’s book at the end of S2, and now Louis has a very public platform where he does “ask the vampire” q&a’s and Lestat only joins social media after he hears about this and the only person he follows is Louis (duh)

[romanceyourdemons]

shen qingqiu and shang qinghua are paragons of internet safety. refusing to share their real names with people they met online even after getting transmigrated into another dimension

[kaleidoru]

i forgor to share this but i brought back some of my oldest ocs... (from L-R) Candle, her brother Firebug, and the weird overdramatic faerie thing they picked up along the way named Pseudonym / Nym

[fanboy-feminist]

And then immediately going “my dad died of a stroke in 2010” was just. The worst feeling I’ve felt all year.

[raffaellopalandri]

The Crypto-Subject and the Aesthetics of Withdrawal – Part 2

The middle movement of this inquiry enters the terrain where concealment becomes art, and refusal achieves its form not through negation but through an intricate dance of misdirection. Here, the field of struggle shifts decisively from questions of who or what the subject is, to how it appears, or rather, how it fails to appear coherently within systems of perception designed to exhaust its…

[pollyrepeat]

RADIOACTIVE, by Murderbot

Still processing that last Sanctuary Moon episode.

Also on AO3.

Spoilers for all of Sanctuary Moon. Includes canon-typical violence, flashing lights, spinning, and excessive transitions.

[nyancrimew]

can I add you on linkedin :3

i am not on linkedin, if you found someone claiming to be me on linkedin that either isn't me or i forgot i made one

[chalpurnia]

Lupin III - The woman called Fujiko Mine — Ep. 2

[random-autie-fangirl]

The holy quartet of video game narrators which are actually living beings (...and also kinda suck)