#They remind him daily for a week after Steve proposes that they are in fact 'FiAnCeeS'

[artiststarme]

Based on this post by @anzelsilver. Thanks for letting me write this prompt and I hope I did it justice!

~*~*~*~

Eddie had no idea what was happening. Don’t get him wrong, the last several months have been great following his horrific encounter with the Upside Down, nearly dying, and then having to clear his name from a series of murders he didn’t commit. But other than his absolute shitshow of a Spring Break, ‘86 truly was his year. He had graduated and become friends with an entire group of outcasts ranging from D&D nerds, a band kid, and a jock. He had never imagined that he would become friends with Steve “the Hair'' Harrington but here he was. But that’s what led to his inordinate confusion. 

Being friends with Steve Harrington was confusing and unlike any other friendship he’d had before. They’d gone from hating each other from afar before their experience with Vecna to hanging out everyday afterwards. Steve would show up to the new Munson trailer with carry-out food from the diner and a blinding smile on his face. At movie nights, Steve would sit closely to Eddie with an arm around his shoulder and would hide his face in his neck at scary parts. He kept suggesting new plans or restaurants to try and would discretely hold Eddie’s hands out of view of everyone else. And when he got particularly excited about something, Steve would even kiss the corner of Eddie’s mouth! 

Now, Eddie had never been friends with a jock before. So he assumes that Steve’s touchiness is due to trauma bonding and jock culture and he doesn’t question it. He continues to hang out with Steve without limitation but all of the touching and everything with a straight guy is confusing for Eddie. Then, a nice guy approaches him at the Hideout after a set and Eddie really has no reason not to agree to go on a date. The fleeting touches from Steve and all around “good guy-ness” has been leaving Eddie feeling unfulfilled and frankly pathetic. He vowed not to crush on another straight guy after what happened last time yet here he was. So, what better way to get over his unrequited crush on Steve than to go out with another guy?

It’s at another Party movie night at Steve’s house that Eddie tells the group. “Look guys, I’m sorry but I’m going to have to postpone Hellfire this week.”

There was a moment of calmness before the kids erupted. 

“Postpone? POSTPONE?!” Mike screams, being the indignant little shit that he is. 

“Eddie, you can’t postpone! You didn’t even postpone for Lucas when he had his basketball game!” Dustin tries, aiming a well-aimed punch at Eddie’s guilt for that particular past decision. Lesson learned, Henderson. 

“Yeah, you said you never postponed! What’s so important that you’re going to postpone the best part of the campaign?” Lucas asked, offended at the mere idea. 

“Well my little sheep, if you must know, I have been courted by a fine bard to be taken on a date. It’s non negotiable, Hellfire will be postponed to next Friday,” Eddie said theatrically. He was laser focused on the reactions of the kids and thus missed the questioning glance Robin threw to a rapidly paling Steve. 

“There’s no way. Steve said he’d sit in on the session on Friday. You’re not going on a date. You almost got us there,” Dustin chuckled. 

“What does that have to do with anything, Henderson? I am going on the date! Tony asked me after my set and I didn’t have any reason to say no! And because you can’t have a campaign without the DM, Hellfire is postponed. End of discussion!”

The room went absolutely silent, enough to hear a pin drop. Eddie didn’t know what he said wrong, everyone here already knew he was gay so they wouldn’t have an issue with that. But as he looked around and saw everyone staring- no glaring, at him, he knew he fucked something up. He whipped around to stare at Steve when he heard him mutter, “oh… fuck, I’m so stupid.”

Eddie’s eyes widened when he saw Steve roughly wipe at his eyes in an attempt to obscure the falling tears. “What the- Stevie?”

Steve just made his way to the back door leading to the patio and muttered, “I hope you have a good date, Eddie.”

Robin shook her head in disbelief. “What the hell, Eddie? I trusted you with him.” 

She looks worriedly in the direction Steve ran but looks back at Eddie with murderous intent in her eyes. She seems torn between wanting to stay and tear Eddie a new one or run after her platonic soulmate. 

“Go Robin, I’ve got this handled,” Nancy says like that’s not the scariest sentence he’s ever heard. She says it in a voice that makes Eddie want to run home and hide under his covers. With one more scathing glare to Eddie in parting, Robin takes off after Steve. 

Eddie was left standing confused in the middle of the Harrington living room, staring at where Steve once stood. The rest of the Party immediately started berating him once the sliding door closed behind Steve and Robin. 

“What are you doing, Eddie?” Lucas, ever the diplomat, asked in bewilderment. 

“You’re a coward, what the fuck is the matter with you?” Max spit at him, her eyes glaring into his very soul. 

“Eddie, you just really hurt Steve. Why would you do that?” Will asked, his eyes open wide in shock. 

“You’re literally the scum of the earth, Eddie. What in the literal hell gives you the right?” Dustin said, really going for his throat. 

“Eddie,” Nancy starts and immediately the rest of the room falls silent. “I cannot believe that you would do something like this. After everything we’ve done for you, everything Steve has done for you, you’re going to mess it all up for what? A date with some stranger? I thought you were better than that but I guess you were right. You really are just a coward that runs away from anything important. I hope you’re happy with yourself, Munson.”

Eddie’s heart dropped at her words. He thought they were all cool with him and Robin being gay but maybe they weren’t. But going after all of his insecurities so viscerally? It made him wonder if they had ever been his friends at all. 

“I thought you guys would be happy for me. I don’t know what I did but I’m really sorry. I didn’t know that you would react like this.” He whispered, his arms coming up to hug himself self-soothingly. 

Whether it was the tears in his eyes or the sincerity of his words, Nancy’s intimidating posture becomes contemplative. Then, realization hits her. “Eddie, you do know that you and Steve are dating… right? And you just stomped all over his feelings in front of all of his friends?”

Eddie feels ice pour through his veins. That would explain the cuddling on the couch during movies, the sleepovers in the same bed, and the chaste kisses on the edge of his lips. Oh fuck. They were dating. And he just fucked it all up by agreeing to go out on a date with another guy… some, some schmuck!

Oh no, Eddie’s eyes widened even further. Steve thinks he just broke up with him and left his own house! Oh no! 

“Jesus H. Christ! Why didn’t anyone fucking tell me that we were dating? You expect me to just know these things? Fuck! I have to go after him, right? Goddamn it, you all fucking suck. No one thought to fucking tell me the cuddling and goddamn kisses were him wooing me? Fucking shit!” Eddie screamed at the group before turning and sprinting after Steve, his apparent boyfriend. What the literal fuck was he supposed to do about that?

He caught up to them quickly, Steve and Robin were sitting on the edge of the pool with their feet in the water. They both turned around at the sound of the sliding door slamming open against the jam. Eddie burst through panting and keeling over. Jesus Christ, he had to cut down on the smoking. Poor Steve had tear tracks running down his cheeks and Robin had a wet stain on the shoulder of her shirt. She glared at him menacingly from her perch. 

“Steve, I’m sorry! I didn’t know we were dating, I’m so sorry.” Eddie pled through his pants.

Steve’s eyebrows crinkled in confusion. “How the hell did you not know we were dating? I literally just took you to Indy on a date last weekend and was holding your hand. We’ve kissed!”

Eddie let out a manic laugh. “I know! I know we’ve kissed and I know it sounds stupid. I thought it was you being really touchy with your friends or like jock behavior or something. Steve, I swear to you, I had no idea that we were dating.”

Robin’s eyes were squinted and she asked incredulously, “how many guys are you kissing that you think kissing people on the lips is ‘jock behavior’? Do you know how stupid that sounds?”

“Yes, I know how stupid that sounds! And guess what, I’m stupid! You think you can be a senior in high school for three fucking years without being stupid?! No! But I swear, I didn’t know.”

Steve shook his head, “no, you’re not stupid. This is my fault. I know you wouldn’t want to date me and I misunderstood-”

“Steve, of course I want to date you! You’re perfect and I love you, why wouldn’t I want to be your boyfriend? I’m just really fucking dumb and didn’t realize. I am so sorry.”

Robin was watching the two of them talk like a tennis match. She had no idea what was happening but holy shit, it felt like she was in a sitcom. Steve stood from his position at the pool and took a step towards Eddie. “You would date me?”

Eddie nodded vigorously, “of fucking course, Steve! The only reason I agreed to go on a date with Tony in the first place is because I wanted to get over you. All of the touching and flirting had me out of my mind because I thought I couldn’t have you, man. I was going crazy.”

Steve moved closer so they were nose to nose and glanced down at his lips. “Don’t call me ‘man’.” 

Eddie licked his lips and watched Steve’s eyes track the movement. “What’re you going to do about it, big boy?”

Steve’s lips surged forward to meet his own, fully this time in a way the chaste kisses in the past hadn’t before. Eddie felt butterflies in his stomach and electricity down to his toes. He was flying on cloud nine and he had never felt such happiness, such contentment and-

“Eh em, excuse me. Hey, be respectful of the lesbian eyes over here! I don’t need to see any of this. Eddie, stop with the tongue!” Robin shrieked, breaking his haze of Steve Harrington-induced bliss. 

Steve pulled back enough to murmur against his lips, “Eddie, would you go on a date with me?”

Eddie smirked and with his eyes still closed, he whispered, “I thought you’d never ask, Stevie.”

#and they lived happily ever after #the kids always bring this up whenever something big happens in their relationship #They remind him daily for a week after Steve proposes that they are in fact 'FiAnCeeS' #Eddie can never live this down #prompt from anzelsilver #stranger things #fanfic #steddie #steddie fic #steve harrington #eddie munson #robin buckley #nancy wheeler #dustin henderson #mike wheeler #lucas sinclair #max mayfield #will byers

[halas1]

Assaf Talmudi - Experimental Israel

The Negator

In its third session, Experimental Israel was called out of its cosy studio in Jesse Cohen and asked to make a one-off trip to the studio of our guest this week, Assaf Talmudi. 

After our first contact and having explained the premise of our project, Talmudi took some time to mull things over and got back to me with a proposal: He suggested we record the interview in his own studio, through the particular setup he had devised for this dedicated performance. The setup included two microphones positioned inside the ear-space of a dummy-head set on a bamboo spoke, or a binaural recording if you will. The same microphones then go into Talmudi’s computer and are subjected to a lengthy process I shall soon describe.

Talmudi presents us with the most specific radiophonic performance we have had to date, and even thanked me before we parted for having had the opportunity to undertake such a task that would seldom find its way into his daily work. Slowly throughout the interview the reasoning for this becomes exceedingly clear: Talmudi, born 1976, is a true musical jack-of-all-trades. Within the Israeli popular music scene he expertly plays keyboard instruments as a session musician, as well as having produced more than a few albums receiving wide and justified critical acclaim. However, my first encounter with Talmudi was as a composition and sonology student at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where I was acquainted first hand with his prowess in the field of experimental composition and computer programming. I reminded Talmudi of this period and together we spoke of one of his older installation pieces, The Way Sounds Make Up Their Minds. This installation piece, as its title suggests, deals mainly with an algorithm that listens to the output of a MIDI-controlled piano and makes decisions regarding its reaction. The same reaction is in the form of MIDI commands given to the piano – the piano plays and the computer reacts. In itself, this presents us with a pretty dull loop, but this is only the technical process. The real aesthetics are inserted when Talmudi himself starts obstructing the piano strings in any way possible, and thus creates a three-fold process: First, he changes the soundscape for his listeners; secondly, he changes it for the “listening”, or should I say “deciding” computer; however finally, he presents us with a performance that is simply stimulating to watch. This is an exciting piece, no doubt, and it resonates well with those who seek the fragility and indeed the risk identified with experimental art.

However, Talmudi, who seems to be able to freely discuss almost any topic with a knowing conviction, prefers to veer away from this type of musical activity, or as he aptly puts it: would rather start his day with a song. Talmudi identifies the same fragility I was referring to in the last paragraph as an ideology. An experimental composer must always, by default, be a negator. The task at hand is to question everything and anything. There is nothing in the personal or collective past that can be used as guidance, as the idea at the core of any experimental venture, says Talmudi, must be its risk of total failure.

I continued, and queried: what of free or total improvisers? Total improvisation, says he, is a consequence of not leaning on any past experience. “Being in the moment”, or “the zone”, which he correctly claims we can all attest to have been in for periods of our musical lives, is the true experimental improvisation, as it allows us an immediate relationship with materials and events that is not filtered through our conscious mind. It is interesting to note the similarities here with our former guest on Experimental Israel, Ido Bukelman, bearing in mind that these two artists have reached this same conclusion from almost conflicting approaches.

True, Talmudi continues, there are many people who do this honestly, but the same sphere allows an opening for many charlatans, and he has no intention of being one of them. Finally, Talmudi is interested in music that allows for wide communication with people and a dynamic that requires less rigour. “I know this type of person that truly questions everything, and I don’t think I could be one of them”… “Take Steve Reich’s It’s Gonna Rain, for instance, and compare it with Out of Space by the Prodigy – the latter is not possible without the former, but unlike the prodigy who know exactly what the outcome of their effort would be, the excitement of Reich’s piece comes from the fact that you hear that his process might just collapse”.

Talmudi’s own improv session for us in the studio required him to input a musical stimulus that was provided by the many instruments at hand. This stimulus is later looped in what seemed a non-linear fashion, and awaits intervention. The intervention is presented in the form of a series of tones played by Talmudi on his accordion. The computer reacts to each tone as if it were a fundamental. It then cleverly tunes elements on the loop he had created beforehand to fit the closest overtone on the overtone series for that same fundamental. In effect, each time the fundamental changes, the array of looped sounds change as well in order to fit the new ratios. Talmudi mentioned that to him this sounds like a sort of blues, as we tend to get an array of overtones imitating the major seventh chord. In fact, he says, if you listen closely you can hear a delicate counterpoint created by the interchanging inner voices. The binaural recording, then, becomes clear – the collected sounds were created all around Talmudi in his studio, and indeed they continue to float around the computer, as well as around our head.

Truly improvising with this setup, which in itself is quite fragile, Talmudi presents us with an experimental effort in par with the best of them. In retrospect I wonder – does it matter whether the ideology is spot on, or whether it matters that I could hear some of Talmudi’s trademarks even in this short improvisation, when the outcome is so interesting and pleasing? Would this be any less of an experimental effort had the outcome been known and controllable? A question for future sessions perhaps…

[evilgrrl]

How President Trump has already hurt American democracy — in just 50 days

washingtonpost.com 1996-2017 The Washington Post

How President Trump has already hurt American democracy — in just 50 days By Brian Klaas March 10 Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) is a fellow in comparative politics at the London School of Economics and author of “The Despot’s Accomplice: How the West is Aiding and Abetting the Decline of Democracy.”

Today, March 10, is President Trump’s 50th day in office. Since his inauguration on Jan. 20, Trump has governed in a way that poses a unique threat to the integrity of American democracy.

Democracy is bigger than partisanship. Therefore, this is not a critique of Trump’s policy proposals. Rather, it’s a sober assessment of American democracy at a pivotal moment — and a call for Americans of all political stripes to press all politicians to agree, at minimum, on preserving the bedrock principles that make the United States a democracy.

The call is urgent. In just 50 days, Trump’s presidency has already threatened American democracy in six fundamental ways:

1. Trump has attacked the integrity of voting, the foundation of all democratic systems. Without any evidence, Trump has repeatedly claimed that millions of people voted illegally in 2016. This claim is not true. Every serious study that has assessed voter fraud, including studies conducted by Republican presidents, has concluded that the scale of the problem is negligible.

Nonetheless, on his sixth day in office, Trump called for a major investigation into voter fraud — now largely forgotten by many Americans. Unfortunately, his assertion has not been forgotten by a large swath of Trump’s base. Tens of millions likely now believe Trump’s claim — which will certainly prove an important “alternative fact” when, in the future, attempts are inevitably made to make it harder for certain Americans to vote.

2. After attacking the integrity of his own election, Trump has also undermined the credibility of his own office. Democracy will not function if Americans cannot be sure that the president’s claims are at least grounded in evidence-based reality. And yet, in just 50 days, Trump has made at least 194 false or misleading claims — an average of about four daily. (March 1 was the only day without one, so far.)

Recently, Trump’s early morning tweet-storm alleging that former president Barack Obama personally ordered a wiretap of Trump Tower has not been backed up by a shred of evidence. Key Republican senators and representatives have expressed their bafflement at the accusation. Yet there have been no consequences for the president baselessly accusing his predecessor of criminal action. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) went so far as to chide reporters for asking questions about the wiretap claim, saying, “I think a lot of the things he says, I think you guys sometimes take literally.” How can democracy function when people can’t take the president literally?

3. Trump’s administration has repeatedly flouted ethics guidelines without consequence. When Trump failed to discipline Kellyanne Conway for brazenly giving a “commercial” for Ivanka Trump’s jewelry and clothing line, the Office of Government Ethics had to send an extraordinary letter reminding Trump that ethics rules apply to the executive branch. Trump has also failed to meaningfully separate himself from his business interests. Most recently, Trump received 38 lucrative trademarks from China, not just a likely violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause but also a benefit that will call into question whether Trump’s foreign policy will pursue what is best for the American people or what is best for his profits. That conflict of interest is precisely why democracies set ethics guidelines — and why it threatens democracy to violate them.

4. Trump has attacked the independent judiciary. When U.S. District Judge James Robart defied Trump’s travel ban, Trump called him a “so-called judge” and insinuated that he would lay blame for a terrorist attack squarely at the feet of the judiciary. Presidents routinely object to individual court decisions, but it threatens democracy to go one step further and demonize any judge that dares cross the president. After all, the judiciary is charged with upholding the law and the Constitution — not blindly affirming the president’s worldview.

5. Crucially, Trump has accelerated a long-term trend, prodding tens of millions of Americans to further lose faith in basic institutions of American government. Any experts in federal agencies are now the “deep state.” Trump’s team has begun suggesting that the nonpartisan, independent Congressional Budget Office — a trusted authority for Democrats and Republicans since 1974 — is simply a group of hacks. There is virtually no authority trusted by both Democrats and Republicans anymore. Instead, the opposing sides are all too inclined to view government as captured by evil partisans rather than disagreeing patriots. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) made this view explicit, recently calling for a “purge” of leftists from government in an astonishingly totalitarian tweet. Public trust is part of the lifeblood of democracy, and it is draining faster than ever.

6. Finally, Trump has attacked a cornerstone of every democracy: the free press. He has called legitimate media organizations “fake news” no fewer than 22 times on Twitter in the first 50 days — and many more times in speeches. Worse, Trump called the press the “enemy of the American People,” language that echoes Mao and Stalin rather than Ronald Reagan or John F. Kennedy.

Trump only views the press as a legitimate player in American democracy insofar as it is willing to affirm his narrative. To Trump, negative polls are fake. Unfortunately, his attacks are working. A recent Quinnipiac poll showed that 81 percent of Republicans agree that the media is “the enemy of the American people.” Eighty-six percent of Republicans trust Trump to tell the truth rather than the media (up from 78 percent just two weeks earlier). Throughout history, the blurring of the line between fact and fiction has been a critical precursor to the breakdown of democracy and the creeping advance of authoritarianism.

Whether these six attacks are a deliberate long-term strategy to erode American democracy, or simply a political ploy to poison the electorate’s view against any anyone that is willing to defy the president, remains to be seen. Certainly, Trump is not fully to blame; he is capitalizing on long-term divisions and a long-term erosion of American institutions. But he has accelerated those trends.

The Constitution and checks and balances are not magical guardians. Documents don’t save democracy — people do. American democratic institutions are only as strong as those who fight for them in times of duress. This is one of those times, and this is just the beginning. It will be a long fight. To win it, Democrats and Republicans must set aside policy divides and unite in the defense of democracy.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2017/03/10/how-president-trump-has-already-hurt-american-democracy-in-just-50-days/?utm_term=.2828d1a96a94