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It is Edwin. Irwin is the woma python in the Tropics building at work. His name is similar enough it keeps sneaking in where Edwin's belongs. Thanks for pointing that out.

I hope to flesh out an entire "spin-off" with this Nursery class, although it will depend on my free time, and the in-universe time as juxtaposed with my other characters.

—doctorlit, apparently 'winning at life too hard

I used to have a link to a LotR essay about Faramir's characterization in the movies. It proposed that his characterization was essentially the same, that it was the differences in the way Frodo behaved that altered Faramir's movie actions.

I have lost my link and can't find it with Google, but I hoped it would sound familiar to someone here.

Might not be as big a thing as turning 21, but still something to celebrate. Happy birthday!

I believe I was reading the Mary Sue hunter article on Tv Tropes. Followed a few links, here I am.

Irwin's a really interesting character, and it's nice to see more of a snapshot into Nursery life, especially how it is for nonhumanoid people. One minor point, though; you seem to veer between calling your robot frendo Irwin and Edwin throughout the fic. Which is it? One assumes Edwin from the title, but I could be wrong. =]

LOL: Li Ooen Lub (wild, genuine elegance)

This in Tau'sia relates to the natural state of joyfulness that life in the Empire instills within its citizens. It is mostly genuine, though can be sarcastic.

WTF: Walaho Tsan'druu'sha Fu'lasso (The puzzle whose solution produces a sandstorm of a thousand riotous colours)

Or, to put it more simply, "What you have just said/done/demonstrated has completely blown my mind into lots and lots of little pieces and I don't understand anything any more." Again, this is emblematic of Tau'sia's wonderful depths of sarcasm.

Because Thuum.org is a thing. ^_^

LOL: Lot Ofan Lok (great gift [of] sky)

The sky, for the Dovah, naturally signifying freedom and joy and rightness in the world.

ROFL: Riik Osos Frin Laan (gale [of] unnumbered fervent questions)

Or, loosely, "Haha, what? Seriously? I can't even!"

Osos is glossed as "uncertain or unspecified; unspecified number of," so I took a teensy liberty there, but the Dragon Language is pretty forgiving about things like that.

WTF: Wuld Tey Folaas (whirlwind tale [of] misjudgement)

Or, "Your argument is a comedy of errors."

Aaaand that is all I have time for! For the record, the Dragon Language does have the preposition "of," but IIRC it's not strictly necessary unless you want to be very clear or very formal.

~Neshomeh

LOL: Lam Orchall 'Ladha [echoing voice of superior laughter]

This phrase invokes the haughty laugh of, say, Feanor, preferably right before his comeuppance. It's a twofold acronym: it both describes the laugh, but also describes something worth laughing at (Sindarin speakers being quite happy to see Noldorin pride come before Noldorin fall).

Oh, and...

#AwesomeInAdunaic

LOL: Lôkhî Ob Lômi [crooked before nightfall]

This is a Numenorean idiom. It describes the practice of getting a little tipsy (or 'crooked') before night comes, which was viewed as preferable to getting blind drunk after it got dark. So it means 'drunk, but in a good, friendly way'. (Look, there's only two L- words in Adunaic, I'm struggling here.)

#OwfulInOrcish

LOL: Lug, Olog, Lug [tower, troll, tower]

Or, as the old story goes, "Bagronk the Uruk was caught between an enemy tower and an angry troll. So what does old Bagronk do? He fights the troll! He kills it! But what does he find? There's another tower right behind him! Har har har!"

(This story, and others like it, is extremely popular among the smaller breeds of Orc. It is distinctly less popular among the larger Uruks, who have a tendency to tear off the heads of those they hear telling it.)

And Agent Râmwê would never forgive me if I didn't include:

#ProperInPrimitiveQuendian

LOL: Lindâ Oijâ Lauka [sweet, endless warmth]

The only true description of laughter, as he would say, if he was willing to speak any language other than Primitive Quendian, which he isn't.

hS

LOL: Lámar Oia Lalalo, 'peals of endless laughter' [lit. 'echoes of everlasting laughing']

ROFL: Raina Olya, Fólima Lalala, 'big smile, muffled laugh' [lit 'smiling much, secretive laughing', and yes, that is a string of four adjectives]

WTF: Walda Tevin Felu, 'mad, bad witchcraft' [lit 'wild, hated bad magic']

(Making those roughly hit the meaning of the original is surprisingly hard work!)

But I'll also offer up Rohan, Our Favourite Land (weirdos) and Wilwarin's The Fairest (for particular fans of the constellation Cassiopeia).

(And, finally... it's Lay of Leithian...)

hS

“Themes,” Anne grumbled. “Why does anything even need to have a theme? Why can’t a story just be a story?” She tapped her pencil against her blank paper.

“Because a story just being a story is good for nothing,” said Wilma, a haughty lilt in her voice. “At least with a theme, we can apply something to real life and get use out of it.”

Anne sneered across the desk. “You are brainwashed, girl.”

Wilma raised her head and gave a glare. “I’m realistic. Artsy stuff doesn’t do any good. We should all be more like Irwin.” She lowered her head and went back to writing.

Anne gave a quick look at Irwin. Then she did a double-take.

Irwin was the only non-organic classmate in Anne’s class. It had showed up in the Nursery not long after Mollie and Ollie had been dropped off, and got added to the class along with them. The robot was tiny, barely over a foot tall, and its body was basically two half spheres with a gap between. Out of the gap sprouted a glassy orb on a wire, with another wire sticking out the top of that, which led to a very tiny but detailed satellite dish. Another wire stuck out of the gap on Edwin’s “back” end, which connected to a thin metal halo which encircled its entire body. Everything was a dulled and tarnished grey, except in all the spots where ugly rust had grown over the metal. The halo and the satellite dish tottered back and forth whenever Irwin moved.

Right now, however, the satellite dish was jittering back and forth at an alarming speed, in concert with a pencil scribbling furiously on the paper in front of Irwin. (Irwin was sitting on top of the desk; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been able to see.) Irwin had filled nearly an entire page with writing in the time it had taken Wilma to do one paragraph.

The pencil continued to move, without being touched by Irwin.

“Okay,” Anne said, “I had no idea you could do that, Irwin.”

The satellite drooped to the side. The pencil stopped moving and fell over.

Anne stared. “Uh. I’m sorry? I didn’t mean to, like, scare you, or anything.”

Irwin remained still.

“Just, it’s cool. That you can do that, I mean.”

Irwin remained still.

“And it’s . . . okay? That you can do that, I mean. You don’t have to hide it from us.”

“And she was willing,” said Irwin. Its voice came tinny and surrounded with static, like a radio that was only barely tuned to the station it was trying to play.

Anne stared for a moment, then looked at Wilma, who had stopped working to listen. Despite their earlier disagreement, the girls now shared a look of confusion. “That’s . . . good,” Anne finally said. “Good to hear.”

Irwin remained still. Eventually, the girls both went back to focusing on their own papers. Neither looked up when the sound of Irwin’s pencil on paper began once more.

* * *

Fox sat with his back against the wall. Across the room, Marty and Edwin were playing Sorry!, Marty as the yellow player, and Edwin as the red.

Fox watched as Edwin’s satellite swiveled, and a card drew itself and flipped over. The swiveling continued as one of the red pieces moved the correct number of spaces. Then the swiveling stopped again.

Marty gave Fox a meaningful look. They had both heard about Edwin doing homework the day before from the girls.

Fox said, “So I guess the big question is, what is that thing coming out the top of your head?”

Edwin’s voice crackled out, “A tin can, she thought—B&M beans or Campbell’s soup.”

Fox blinked. Marty, drawing the next card, said, “Uh. Okay.”

While Marty moved one of his pieces, Fox said, “But how does it—how do you work? How are you doing that?” He pointed at the card Edwin was now drawing from the deck.

The crackling radio noise came again. “Nor can we tell you so you’ll understand. That’s all over your face.”

Fox blinked.

Marty leaned in close to Edwin. “It’s all right to tell us, okay? We’re your friends, now. We’re just curious about what you can do.”

Edwin replied, “Stand, be brave, be true, stand for your brother, your friends.”


Marty raised both eyebrows in surprise, drawing back just a tad. He then turned to Fox and shrugged. “My turn,” he said, and drew a card.

* * *

“Thank you for coming here with me,” said Nostrum.

Irwin rolled along behind him, leaving a pair of furrows in the snow between the centaur’s hoof prints.

Nostrum stopped at the crest of a hill, looking up at the artificial sky. “My people place great importance in the stars. There are many things that can be read from the way the stars arc across the sky from year to year, night to night, hour to hour. These stars are artificial, of course.”

Nostrum folded his legs and kneeled down to get closer to Edwin’s level. “My people are not . . . scientific, as humans would say. We read the stars, but we don’t know why or how we are able to do so.” He looked down at the robot. “I do not understand your functioning, or what that machine on top of you is, or how it works.” He laid a hand on Edwin’s chassis. “But I like you. Don’t let the questions of the others bother you too much. Humans like to understand things as they are now. But I think you and I like to see things farther ahead, yes?”

Nostrum stood up. “Let’s head back to the Bunks. We must rest for our classes tomorrow.” He began to trot back to the doorway that led into the corridors.

He didn’t hear Edwin crackle from behind him, “Once you get into cosmological shit like this, you got to throw away the instruction manual.”

* * *

doctorlit's note: I will never be able to prove this, but I swear, I swear, I SWEAR I designed Edwin before BB-8 was released in The Force Awakens. I SWEAR YOU GUYS.

—doctorlit swears, you guys

It's nice to meet you! My gift to you is a bowl full of freshly homemade potato chips.

Out of curiosity, what about the PPC most appeals to you? What are some of your other hobbies/interests?

Tomash recently posted a funny Tweeter post on Discord where standard SMS acronyms become... Well, see for yourselves:

LOL: Lay Of Luthien

FFS: Fëanor Forges Silmarils

LMAO: Look, Melkor, Arda’s Over you

TTYS: Túrin Turambar it’s Your Sister

STFU: Shoot! The Fearsome Ungoliant!

IMO: Illúvatar’s Musical Originality

Funny, aren't they?

But here's the thing: what other acronyms could you translate in Silmarillion or LOTR terms, or in any canon catching your interest? For example, TTYS becoming... Tattletale Toys with Your Secrets (Worm). Or... TPK: Thorin, Problematic Khazad.

Anyways, why don't we see what you'll think about?

Have a cat. https://i.imgur.com/1luI97R.mp4

I meant to mention it sooner, but stuff happened and now I'm tired.

I bequeath unto you a Campbell pattern heavy laspistol. It looks a bit like a camera due to convergent evolution: both are created to direct light.

Someone else who knows Mass Effect! *High fives*

So it's all in one place, this is the plan:

- Iximaz stays entirely out of the PPC Discord.

- Nobody reports on what goes on in the PPC Discord to Iximaz.

- Nobody discusses Iximaz at all in the PPC Discord.

- If Iximaz decides they are comfortable returning to the PPC Discord at some point, they should state their intention clearly, on the Board, so that everyone may be aware that the situation has changed and why.

If you're a Discordian reading this, please help make sure everyone who needs to know it does, and that everyone sticks to it.

Thank you!

~Neshomeh

Which I shall invent on the spot, so as not to drive myself bonkers by sifting through all 117.

Q1: Problems with society can always best be solved by working within the system, rather than attempting to overthrow it.

[Strongly agree|Agree|Neutral|Disagree|Strongly disagree]

Q2: A person's personality is shaped by their upbringing, rather than being inborn.

[Strongly agree|Agree|Neutral|Disagree|Strongly disagree]

Q3: It is more important to improve my own nation's lot, rather than improving the world at the expense of my nation.

[Strongly agree|Agree|Neutral|Disagree|Strongly disagree]

Q4: Human needs take precedence over maintaining the environment.

[Strongly agree|Agree|Neutral|Disagree|Strongly disagree]

Q5: The ideal outcome of the justice system is for every prisoner to be effectively rehabilitated and released.

[Strongly agree|Agree|Neutral|Disagree|Strongly disagree]

Q6: When traditions and traditional values get in the way of improving society, they should be set aside.

[Strongly agree|Agree|Neutral|Disagree|Strongly disagree]

Q7: The economy will be healthiest if the government stops trying to regulate it, and just lets the market respond freely.

[Strongly agree|Agree|Neutral|Disagree|Strongly disagree]

Q8: The means of production should be owned collectively by the people.

[Strongly agree|Agree|Neutral|Disagree|Strongly disagree]

(Look... you try coming up with a capitalist-versus-communist question that isn't just 'Communism is good yes/no'!)

Obviously these will just get you 10/30/50/70/90% scores on each axis, but if you want to add your own qualifiers ('neutral, but tending slightly towards agree', or 'disagree so strongly I am offended you would even ask'), I can use those to tweak the scores a little.

And for bonus points, would you call yourself any of these: an Anarchist, strongly religious, Radical Feminist, politically pragmatic, vegan, a conspiracy theorist, or a monarchist?

Hi-ho, questions-- away!

hS