(no subject)

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve is at the bar, his sketchbook open to a page that looks something like this:

SteveR
SGR
SGRogers
SGR704
Mr.Orpheus


He sighs, crosses out another name, and taps his pencil against his nose as he thinks.

Comments

[electro_kinetic]

"What are you trying to write?" asks Noriko, who is strolling by (or rather pacing) with a pair of soft-nosed pliers in each hand, straightening lengths of spare wire.

"Screen handle?"

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Yeah," Steve says with another sigh. "I've been drawing this cartoon and I want to post it somewhere, but I don't want people to read it just because it's me so ...

"But I'm no good at names."

[electro_kinetic]

"I get you," Nori says. "You have to make it personal to you, but not too obvious to everyone else." Anonymity was weird that way; as far as the screen handles she had, they had to memorable enough to remember, but not give away that she was female, young, or non-American, lest people get the wrong idea and run with it.

"An easy way to pick one is to think of a talent you have, or think of your favorite color. Try permutations of smashing them together." It's worked before.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Blue...art?"

He looks fretful.

So not good with names. Thor's hammer has its own name. Steve's shield is called...Shield.

[electro_kinetic]

"Okay," she murmurs, rocking up to her toes and back down; no, she really never is still. Unless she's unconscious.

"Go with synonyms. What are shades of blue, or types of art? You sketch, from what I've seen around here, so you could try going with that. Or an attribute of yourself you particularly like. I went with my hair color, given I like it."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"I don't know," Steve says after a moment more of thought. "They all feel contrived.

"Maybe just Steve G. or something."

[electro_kinetic]

"Steve G certainly doesn't feel contrived," Noriko replies. "Does nobody use your middle name?"

[golden_lyre]

Someone glances over his shoulder and frowns a little before dropping into the seat next to him.

"Troubles, lovely?"

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Just trying to think of a username so I can post my comic anonymously," Steve says and kisses him briefly. "Hi."

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus smiles a bit, then, leaning into the kiss. "Hi."

He touches the bar lightly and orders himself a coffee. "What about Little Stevie Blue?"

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve slants a look at him. "Well, it's a name."

He's not sure how he feels about that odd interlude.

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus shakes his head and reaches for the notebook, pausing before he takes it to make sure Steve is okay with him looking closer. "Not one you like, hm?"

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

He pushes the book closer to Orpheus to show it's okay for him to look. "It doesn't feel like me. Feels like some other fella with a very different life."

He strokes Orpheus's back.

[fry_sandhu]

"Did you join a Roller Derby Team?" Fry asks, appearing behind him.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"No," Steve says as he puts his pencil down. "I'm trying to think of a username for an art website."

[fry_sandhu]

Pen-Cap

"Oh. Is your last name Orpheus?" Fry asks.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"My last name is Rogers," Steve says. "Orpheus is my boyfriend's name. He doesn't have a last name because he comes from a time before they were used."

[fry_sandhu]

"But if you're Mr Orpheus won't he then be Orpheus Orpheus?"

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"I'm not Mr. Orpheus," Steve explains. "That's kind of a joke."

Still open for tags?

[thewidewideworld]

An androgynous blonde youth sits not far away, writing in a book of his own. He catches Steve's frustrated look and offers him a soft smile. "Have the muses abandoned you?"

Yes, but expect slowtime until Thursday

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve smiles back. "Nothing so dramatic. I'm just trying to find a good pseudonym."

slowtime is love.

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric nods sagely. He well understands the need to use different names for different circumstances. "I used Oriens when I first came here and I am Aureus at court. Is there a word that has meaning for you? Perhaps in another tongue it will give you a name to use."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"My boyfriend's name," Steve says, "or the city I'm from, but both of those would reveal my identity."

[thewidewideworld]

"And this is some endeavour you fear to be caught out in, that you must protect your true name?"

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"It's not fear, exactly," Steve says. "At home I'm--well, a lot of people know who I am. And I want to publish a story where a lot of people can read it, but I don't want people to read it just because I wrote it. I want honest reactions.

"It's complicated."