#IPA is always fun though

[jochi-the-veristithaylen-baker]

Just wait until I bring out the ɪntənæʃənəl fənətɪk ælfəbɪt kibɔɹd, that I have as one of my several enabled virtual keyboards on my phone. Having many symbols available for communication is αλφα ωμέγα in my opinion.

Trick? Or... Treat?‽

What are those called again, interrobangs? Fun to know that two of my mutuals have atypical typing things

[hotshotsxyz]

“You know me better than anyone. You always have.” for the prompts if it sparks!

(buddie) (788 words) i still have so many of these prompts left lmao, hope you like this one!

“I’m fine,” Buck says, and to his genuine surprise, he really means it.

Eddie raises an eyebrow. Rude, but fair. “You’re fine,” he echoes, flat and disbelieving.

Buck shrugs. “Yeah, man, I don’t know what to tell you.”

Eddie blinks a few times. “Is this what denial looks like? I think this might be what denial looks like.”

“Denial is a river in Egypt,” Buck replies cheerfully.

Eddie snorts. “I don’t think that’s how that saying goes.”

“Maybe not,” Buck allows. “Still fine, though.”

“Uh-huh,” Eddie says.

“I am!” Buck protests. “I’ll prove it. Ask me what happened.”

Eddie heaves a sigh and stands. “I’m getting a beer. Do you want a beer?”

“I mean, yeah, but not if it's a pity beer,” Buck calls after him.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Eddie tosses over his shoulder.

He comes back with a bottle of Buck’s favorite sour, which is ridiculous because the only place that sells it is a full thirty minutes farther than the closest grocery store. It’s absolutely a pity beer.

“Eddie!” Buck exclaims.

He feigns innocence. “I already had it!”

Buck narrows his eyes and takes the bottle from Eddie. “I’m choosing to believe you, but only because I really don’t want one of your godawful IPAs.”

Eddie rolls his eyes and settles back on the couch beside him. “If that’s what it takes,” he says.

“You’re supposed to be nice to me,” Buck says accusingly.

“I am nice to you,” Eddie says. He leans his head against the back of the couch and rolls it lazily to the side to look at Buck directly. “I’ll be nicer if you can find an adjective other that ‘fine’ to describe your current state of being.”

Buck blows a soft breath out through his nose. “I’m good, Eds, I promise.”

“I just—you were more broken up about Natalia,” Eddie says softly. “Why are you so okay with this?”

And that—that is the sixty-four thousand dollar question, isn’t it? Because Buck is fine. He’s not emotionless, but nothing he’s feeling is particularly painful or consuming. Being with Tommy was good and fun and nice, but breaking up with him didn’t feel like some terrible ending. It felt like finishing a chapter in a book that you can’t put down and staying up late because you just can’t wait to start the next one. He’s never really felt like that before.

“Honestly? I don’t know. I just am. You know me better than anyone. You always have. Why don’t you tell me?”

Eddie huffs a soft laugh. “Contrary to the beliefs of our friends and coworkers, I can’t actually read your mind, Buck.”

“I don’t know,” Buck teases, “I think you probably could if you tried.”

“Sure,” Eddie says. “Think of a number between one and ten.”

Eleven, Buck thinks, just to be an asshole. He grins at Eddie, who stares at him in mock concentration.

Eddie narrows his eyes. “Stop cheating,” he says.

Buck bursts out laughing. “See? Knew you were a little bit psychic.”

“More like fluent in Buck,” Eddie snarks back.

He feels soft and loose, and it hits him that this is what he’d never quite had with Tommy. They were never as in sync as he is with Eddie. He’s never felt so comfortable, so known as he does when he’s here. It’s an impossibly high bar to hold a partner to, but—

Buck’s jaw drops.

Eddie’s expression shifts to vaguely concerned confusion. “What?”

“Nothing,” Buck says quickly.

Eddie fixes him with an unimpressed look.

“I just, uh—” Buck stalls, frantically searching for words that haven’t quite coalesced yet in his mind. “Um. I think I—”

Eddie sits up a little straighter. “Buck,” he says, soft and worried. “It’s just me.”

It’s just Eddie. Eddie who knows him. Eddie who sees him. Eddie who makes fun of him and trusts him and treasures the little pieces of him he’s handed over throughout the years. It’s just Eddie.

It’s Eddie, and all at once Buck is realizing that it’s never going to be anyone else.

“I, uh—” Buck tries again. “I have to—I forgot to feed my neighbor’s cat,” he lies, standing so quickly that he bumps the coffee table and nearly knocks over Eddie’s mostly full beer.

Eddie’s brow creases. “Okay,” he says quietly, and Buck doesn’t think for a second he believes him.

“I’m just gonna—I’ll see you tomorrow?” Buck asks desperately.

“Course,” Eddie says.

“Thanks for the—bye!” Buck squeaks.

He hightails it out the door and throws himself behind the wheel of his Jeep. Of course he isn’t upset about Tommy. How could he be?

He’s been in love with Eddie the whole fucking time.

[undead-supernova]

Brutal! / Masterlist / 18+

part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 4 / part 5 - tbc

Playlist

pairing: Eddie Munson x fem!reader

plot: it's all fun and games, all soft kisses and gentle words until the past is revealed and new perspectives are learned

contains: talks about past sexual trauma, eddie reliving trauma, confident!reader

note: this chapter is different than the others and it is on purpose. when we erase the stories and feelings of victims, we erase the possibility of recovery and healing. especially those of us who are forgotten amongst recognition.

please do not read this part if the subject of sexual assault is triggering for you

song inspo: Seven by Phinehas

wc: 4.1k

special thanks to @jo-harrington for helping to edit and @littlexdeaths for your lovely divider. i appreciate you both for being so encouraging and lovely friends

You didn’t want to admit that what happened at the party had upset you.

Well, not the part where Eddie made you cum. That had been heavenly—euphoric. It couldn’t even be considered a state of bliss. It was more like an inferno, the lascivious flames pulling you further and further into the blaze.

But there were his words in your head again, the ones hurled at you before he realized his mistake.

Are you using me?

If we even fuck, is that it?

Will the chase be over for you?  

The water rushed down your neck, the steam billowing throughout the tiny bathroom as you turned up the heat again. You had to let it scorch your skin, had to let the sting pull you back down to a state of normalcy.

There was a memory that you dared not touch from freshman year. One that still crept up every now and then, in half-asleep states and furious daylight. A growling beast, one with a four-letter name and a specified interest in IPAs as if he was the Christopher Goddamn Columbus of beer. 

You shut your eyes, convinced that his hands were pressing in on the grimy tile behind you, stretching the wall to tear the veil and grab you. Like that one scene in A Nightmare on Elm Street, he was always trying to split you in two.

Further and further he pushed, so close to gripping your throat. So close to suffocating you once more and pulling you back down to the shadows. 

Knock, knock.

You gasped, jumping back and almost slipping before steadying yourself.        

“Hey, Eddie’s here!” Aron called from behind the door.

  “Okay!” you shouted back.

You placed a hand on your chest to still your thrumming heart before you really processed her words. Letting out a scoff at your own absentmindedness, you shouted, “Be out in a minute!”

Maybe you always felt like you were being split in two, now more than ever. Having these emotions that you’d pushed down for the sake of survival. Changing yourself to fit the way you wanted others to see you. That mask, all gnarly and scary just to prove to yourself more than anyone that you were no longer the fool.

It made you wonder if you’d been putting this mask on for Eddie. But things would be better with him. 

They always were.

It started with midterm study time, you swear. You really tried, pulling up a three hour long video of Cozy Fall Oldies Muffled In Another Room Next to a Fireplace While it Rains to help keep both you and Eddie focused. Going back and forth, you took turns helping the other with flashcards. While you were honing in on 20th Century Lit, he was groaning through his Algebra I equations. 

Within twenty minutes, Eddie decided it would be more motivating if you gave him a kiss every time he got the equation right. 

Though you rolled your eyes, you indulged him. Whatever got him to study.

“What happens if I get an answer right?” you asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“That’s up to you,” he replied with a shrug, looking back down at his TI-84 calculator. But you noticed the hint of a smile at the corners of his lips as he quickly glanced back up at you. “We could always play Strip Study.”

“‘Strip Study’, huh?” you teased.

“Yeah, it’s a good game. Very helpful in trying times.”

“And what are the rules to this so-called Strip Study?”

“Well…” he trailed, setting the calculator down before shifting closer to you on your twin-sized bed. Counterintuitive to the point of your study date, Eddie pushed aside your textbook and came to hover over you. You refused to move, challenging him with your faux expression of disappointment. It was impressive, seeing him this forward. Above all else, however, you were quite amused.

“If you answer correctly,” he started, slowly pushing you down into the mattress. “then you’ll just have to take off a piece of clothing.”

You snorted, shaking your head at him. He mocked you, shaking his head right back, tickling you with his curls. “And that’s supposed to be for my enjoyment?” you pondered.

Eddie leaned down, taking the opportunity to leave a kiss on your neck. You could’ve sworn you heard him take a deep breath, like he was desperately inhaling your scent. There was a part of you that wished to do the same.

“Fine,” he conceded. “I’ll take off a piece of clothing. How does that sound?”

“Hm,” you hummed as your fingers traced his collarbone before you pushed him back. He shivered as you crawled on top of him, his dominance cracking in an instant. Without thought, you grabbed his wrist before bringing it up to your mouth. You closed your eyes momentarily to breathe in his cologne, his being. You made sure to meet his eyes as you lightly bit down on his skin.

He was opening his mouth to fill the silence, but you quickly leaned down, gently ghosting your lips against his before whispering, “Not a chance.”

Immediately you sat up and scooted away, grabbing your textbook before he could retaliate. 

He laid there for a moment, a heavy sigh leaving his lips before sitting back up and giving you a look. Was it annoyance? Disappointment? Who could say. 

“You really hate me, don’t you?”

Shrugging, you felt around for your TV remote before turning up the music. “I hate the thought of you failing your Algebra midterm because I gave you a free peep show.”

When you looked back at him, he finally wore a grin. “It would be a metal way to go.”

“Well, maybe if you pass your midterm I’ll let you have a look,” you challenged.

You were amazed when that is what got him to shut up and get back to work.

After a few hours of real studying, Eddie dramatically collapsed on top of you, burying his face into your sweatshirt. He planted a swift kiss over your belly before sighing.

“Okay. Nap time.” 

You couldn’t help but giggle. “I think you earned it.”

“I think that’s the longest I’ve ever studied.”

You peered down, watching his mahogany eyes soften, drooping ever so slightly. Without thought, you ran your middle finger across the stray hairs of his now too-long bangs to keep away from his eyes. You pocketed the thought to trim them for him.

“I’m proud of you,” you said quietly. And you meant it. 

Though his words had stung, he’d done nothing but apologize for them. You’d had several conversations with him owning up to his mistakes and asking you those questions he hadn’t thought to before. You told him about Sam, about Blake and John and Meghan and Maggie—all of which got a little too close for comfort. Those were the ones who’d actually given you their names, had made it a point to introduce themselves before their hands wandered. Before they called you a slut and walked away.

He’d listened the entire time, nodding while trying to hide his frustration. You knew he’d do anything to avenge you—he said as much before you’d shushed him with kisses. Kisses that promised that he was forgiven. That you were thankful for his efforts. That you were starting to fall desperately in love with him.

There was just one other instance you hadn’t divulged yet. 

“Yeah?” he asked.

But that could come later. Much later.

You nodded. “Yeah.” Eddie let out a soft hum. “Get some sleep.”

For now, you focused on the way Eddie’s eyelids shut and the gentle smile on his lips loosen. For now, you focused on someone who you couldn’t quite admit was the most important person in your life.

As Eddie fell into his half-asleep daze, he could vaguely picture a certain kind of monster. One who slips into dreams, coating the edges of the scene with a fuzzy filter. Not Freddy Krueger, per se. One with a better grip on how to lure men to their deaths. Maybe like a siren, with jagged teeth and turquoise eyes that brought sailors to their knees along rocky shorelines and brutal seas. 

But what happens to a man when he is less than interested in their attempt at temptation?

Eddie, as steady as his breathing was, began to descend into some dream that felt like a memory inside an alternate reality—could the two coexist? Because there his van was, parked on a beach. The air was thick with salt, digging into his forearms like thousands of tiny push pins scraping along the first few layers of skin. He had enough sense to wait in the back of the vehicle. Waiting for what, he could hardly remember. Waiting for who, well…

The moment the recollection stirred, there was a pounding on the back doors. 

“Munson, come on!”

When he looked out the window, he saw Charlotte Stevens. She was a regular, scoring weed here and there when she ended up fighting with her aunt and uncle. He only knew because her parents died in a car wreck only a month after her senior year—Eddie’s second—began. He let her yap off to him about her problems whenever she came by. Some of his “clients” were chatty, growing quiet over time when Eddie told them to go see a different therapist and slammed the door on them. 

But it was Charlotte.

She was lonely. Heartbroken. Sure, she was part of the popular crowd, but he knew better after his few interactions with Chrissy Cunningham. A lot of those girls did what they had to in order to survive. It didn’t make them a villain. He really thought Charlotte was the same way. He cut her some slack, watching the light in her eyes wither and die. Saw how the school year thinned out her dirty blonde hair, living off of half-eaten salads in the cafeteria. 

After all, he was heading off to college soon without his close friends. Who didn’t need a near-stranger to lean on?

“You’re late,” he said as soon as the door swung open. 

He wasn’t prepared for the sunlight pouring in, eyes catching on the sight of pavement and grass. Were they no longer at the beach? Where were they?

And why did it feel so…familiar? Like that day behind The Hideout. It was where she usually met him, feeling too paranoid to do it literally anywhere else. He could vaguely see the rutty door to the bar behind her. His refuge. His escape.

Charlotte huffed, her white tank top clinging to her body while sweat dripped down to her cut-off jean shorts. “As if you have anything else going on.”

“Do you want your weed or not?” he snapped. 

“Geez, what’s gotten into you?” she asked as she sat opposite him. Eddie made sure their knees didn’t touch. 

He wasn’t one to make connections with these people. The less he knew, the better. Even with someone he took pity on. Because, believe it or not, tragedy never truly made someone nicer. He’d seen enough damage done to the redhead that lived across from him. After her brother died, she changed everything. And she was definitely no longer interested in casual conversations without an insult or two thrown in.

Needless to say, he knew when to leave well enough alone.

“Do you care?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“Not really.”

Exactly.

“Okay, well, it’s fifty even,” he said absentmindedly, trying to locate his metal box. 

“Maybe I could pay a different way.”

Eddie’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked back up at her. Of course she’d try to cheat the system now. “Trust me, Stevens,” he said. “There’s nothing I need more than money right now.”

And when she put her hand over his, he realized just what she was proposing. 

“Are you sure about that?”

Eddie pulled his hand away. “Uh, yeah.”

“Come on, Eddie.”

Something evil twisted in his gut at the sound of her saying his name for the first time. 

“Hate to sound like a douche, but I’m not interested in you. So, yeah, nice try. I’ll take that fifty bucks. Now.”

She moved suddenly, quick to pounce as she threw her hands on either side of his head, caging him in. Like he hadn’t said a word. Like he was prey.

Charlotte was a siren; he was sure of it. Waiting for him to slip, to give in to some desire that was nothing but an unlikely daydream. Her breath fanned over his cheek, invading his nostrils with the scent of her spearmint. Those teeth, smacking gum as she promised that it would be worth his while. Pinning his hands to his sides as he suggested again that she just pay him and leave. But Charlotte couldn’t take no for an answer, straddling him instead.

“I’ve always wanted to see what the freak felt like.”

That’s when Eddie wondered: what if these sirens didn’t even have tails, had nothing to do with what lied undiscovered and unencumbered by the rules of mythology? What if that was what made them lethal?

“That’s fucking weird,” he replied through his teeth.

“You can’t tell me you’ve never wanted to fuck one of the popular girls. I saw you looking at Chrissy with googly eyes all year.”

He had. He didn’t feel ashamed of that. Back then, he didn’t feel ashamed of much at all. Especially when he was finally escaping this town. Who cared who he did and didn’t fawn over now that he was searching for new faces?

“And you think you’re Chrissy? That’s fucking hilarious, Stevens. Funniest goddamn thing I’ve ever heard,” he growled, fighting against her grasp again. Instead, she moved her hips against him, trying to get him hard. 

But it wasn’t working. Eddie was far from aroused. If anything, he felt like he was going to puke. Maybe if he conjured enough willpower, he’d be able to spew all over Charlotte and get her to leave him the fuck alone forever.

“No,” she whispered. “I’m better.” 

Just as her hands reached for his belt, there was a pounding against the van. It was so violent, so powerful that the car began to shake. Eddie could’ve sworn they were going to flip before the rumbling stopped and the back doors ripped off their hinges. 

Standing there, in a thin black dress littered with glitter and stars, was you. The ends of your nails were sharpened into charcoal claws, one hand wrapped around a bejeweled whip. A shiny crown sat atop your head, gleaming in the scorching sun.

He caught your stare, piercing him with the fierce fury that clouded your eyes. But you immediately looked at Charlotte, frozen on top of him.

“It’s not what it looks—” he choked, trying to catch his breath. But it was failing him. He was failing. 

But there you were, cracking the whip before shooting it forward, snaking around Charlotte’s throat and dragging her down to the bed of the van. Her forehead smacked against the metal box Eddie had been searching for. 

You let her cough, let her head bleed before curling your fingers into claws. 

“You better wake up, Eddie,” you said as you stalked forward. 

He watched in horror as you jumped on top of Charlotte, shoving your nails into her wrists to keep her right where you wanted her.

“Wake up,” you repeated.

Eddie jumped out of the van, barely catching a glimpse of you ripping into her throat before the light consumed him.

“Wake up!”

Eddie gasped for air, his eyes flying open to see your face above him, eyes alight with concern. 

“Woah, hey,” you whispered, hands coming to pull him back down into your grasp. He immediately relaxed, falling into your arms once more as you began stroking his hair. “Eddie, hey.”

“Fuck,” he said, trying to fight the tears welling in his eyes. “Fuck.”

His vision clouded, the blurry images of his dream flashing each time he blinked. He couldn’t shake what was really there, what really happened.

Because that wasn’t how it ended. 

There was no one to save him back then. No Gareth or Grant or Jeff. 

No you.

Dragging his hands down his face, Eddie wondered when the distorted voices would dissipate. They came in all crackled, like Charlotte’s voice over the intercom during homeroom. It echoed in his head every other night, locking him in his cage of beige cinder block. 

“Hey, you’re okay. It’s just me.”

But here you both were, in your prison cell. And instead of beige cinder blocks, it was decorated. Prints of famous paintings littered your walls, covering up most of the beige with genuine color and vibrancy. It was a museum of your own curation.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

And if it was decorated, then it wasn’t really a cell, was it? No, it was a home.

“Bad dream?”

And he liked the thought of home.

“The worst.”

With you.

“Wanna go on a walk? Sometimes it helps me to just, like, walk around campus.”

He’d give anything to have that forever.

“Sure,” he said. “Why not?”

Campus always felt different after negative experiences. College seemed to darken with something untoward. You started to notice the way your unhappiness contrasted those who walked along the same path with their friends. A pearl of laughter from a stranger on the phone with their mother. The brushing hands of a honeymooned couple. The sight of cackling men throwing a football on a grassy patch.

It could hide that girl hiding her head in the brick to suppress her sobs. The guy running across your path, breathlessly saying Sorry, excuse me as he races to his next class. A certain boy next to you who hadn’t spoken once since you left.

The sun had poked through the clouds, illuminating campus with vibrancy. But when you looked over at Eddie, he kept his head low, fiddling with his fingertips. 

He was more solemn than usual, seemingly deflated after the dream he’d had. All you wanted was to grab his hand, keep him from picking his nails or his skin. Remind him that it was just a dream. 

Instead, you kept walking. Kept whatever distance he was setting, letting him take the lead. You caught him sneaking a glance at you every once in a while, always returning his somber gaze with a smile.

He never smiled back.

You wound in and out of pavement and grass, looping around the library and the food hall before turning around and heading back. And as you rounded the last corner back to your dorm, Eddie finally spoke.

“How did you…get to be so confident?” Eddie asked.

His question caught you off guard, causing you to stop. 

Not only that, but his question caught on a spiral of barbed wire like cloth. The wire that you’d used to cage your insides from anyone and any thing unwanted. It tugged at something you’d been dreading to bring up with him. Especially after the other night. 

And just like that, you had to shred what was left of his poking.

“You know men,” you started with a fake smile, letting the mask consume you. “Can’t keep their hands to themselves. No means yes and all that. Nothing for you to worry about.”

You waved your hand around, turning away to keep walking but Eddie caught it, pulling you back to face him. 

“Hey, you don’t have to brush that off, you know. You didn’t deserve that.”

His eyes poured compassion into yours, breeding a kind of fear that you’d never experienced before. This exposure to your innermost hurt without even a scalpel. It caused you to wonder if it was even fear. The wire now scraped along your ribs, each stroke against the bone growing gnarlier than the last. 

And it was in that torture that you snapped. 

“Oh, I know,” you said with a strained chuckle. “You don’t have to act like you know anything about it, though.”

You could tell your harsh tone surprised him, his eyes widening with each word you threw out. But it didn’t stop him from his expression changing, eyebrows narrowing. Something fell over his features, a darkness you hadn’t encountered before. There was decay behind his stare, his gentle nature starting to crack.

“You don’t have to act like you’re the only one who’s gone through something like that.”

A huff left your nose as you jerked your hand away. “Yeah, one in six. I’m well acquainted with my gender’s statistics.”

“At least you have a number,” Eddie fired back before looking at his feet. “At least…at least you don’t drive yourself crazy going back and forth from one in six to one in thirty-three.”

And then it clicked.

Are you using me?

Like, if we even fuck, is that it?

Will the chase be over for you?

“Eddie?” you asked, like the question you wanted to ask had already been spoken. “You’ve…you’ve…”

“Um. Yeah. Some girls aren’t as willing to ask permission as you are.”

And it was in that moment that you both realized how trauma had different effects on different people. Still mirrors, only with different colors reflecting off of your shattered edges. Yours came out all fiery red, all flames and guns blazing. His was something more somber, a devastating blue that desperately hid in the background.

“When…”

“Last summer.”

“Did you tell anyone?”

His furrowed eyebrows softened, eyes turned glassy as he asked, “Did you?”

You were at a loss of words. How could you even begin to think of what to say when all you could picture was the worst. Eddie, suffocating at the hands of a girl. Unable to escape, unable to run. Just like you had.

But Eddie never donned a mask. He’d never truly hidden himself away, not really when you were the one begging him to come out of his shell. And he was always out there, still taking chances on himself. Even when he slipped up, he still found ways to try again.

Could you say the same for yourself?

 “Eddie,” you started, closing your eyes to make it easier. “you are so much more than what happened to you. And because no one gives a shit to say this to men, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that you went through something like that. Especially when all of your friends were gone. When I got r—” You stopped yourself, unable to even utter the word. “When that happened to me, I ran into Aron for the first time and she helped clean me up and… Well, I guess what I’m trying to say is you should’ve had someone be there for you. And I wish that person had been me.”

Eddie whispered your name, shaking his head as the tears spilled over. It was a broken kind of sound, like he was pleading for help. Pleading for reassurance, pleading to forget.

“Come here,” you whispered, feeling choked up yourself.

That’s when he fell into you, tightly winding his arms around your waist and burying his head into your neck. You felt the sudden release of tears and snot, the release of something buried down inside him coming to the surface.

 You didn’t know what to do, didn’t know what to say. But you went back to that September night, feeling Aron’s arms cage you in as if she could hide you from the monsters that walked amongst you. So you gave that to Eddie. Your hand came up to press his head further in, obstructing any light from either side of you. An obsidian of solitude for him, your fingers weaving into his hair. Scratching down his scalp until you felt him shiver, felt his locked up posture fall into something resembling ease.

“You’re okay,” you cooed. “I’m here now. I promise.”

Another strained cry erupted from him, louder this time. You tried to suppress your own tears, but there was no use. You could still be strong for him and share his sorrow.

“Do you want to tell me about it?” you asked.

He leaned back a fraction, puffy eyes meeting yours. You watched him hiccup, trying desperately to take a deep breath. Moving with him, you exaggerated your breath to help him move with you. His stare continued to pierce through you, indecision falling over his features before something seemed to click. 

And with his first successful steady breath, he finally spoke.             

“Please.”

If you are a victim of sexual assault, I hope you know that you can love again and that it will get better with time. I'm rooting for you. You don't have to be afraid. And you do not have to shut yourself off from letting love in.

I know I keep popping in and out to post things so thank you for continuing to read if you're still here. I've spent months wanting to post this chapter, but there was a lot of shit going on in my personal life — but I had to return to give y’all this.

[aerda-blog-dot-com]

Conlang!

Iruga is a fictional language of Aerda spoken by the Irugatites which one of my characters, Eoin (AY-oh-ihn), speaks. (He's my profile pic :D) It is written with an abjad with a small exception of two "vowel letters" like Hebrew and is widely considered a "dead" language used mostly by Irugatite scholars and religious folk. On Aerda, it's spoken mainly by the Irugatite elites to convey high social class, though some folk songs are still passed down in some families. It is also used in certain fields of study such as medicine, dracology, and theology.

Eoin's father was originally from a more well-to-do family and spent years researching dragons. He learned the language and taught it to his son through religious texts. During his time in charter school, Eoin refined his knowledge and was recognized as having high proficiency by the Venerable Order for the Teaching and Study of Iruga* (VotTSI). (a simple play on words: vottsi means "council, assembly, group of people") From this Eoin developed an affinity for theology and loves studying ancient texts.

Anyway, without further ado, I give you the Iruga abjad (with IPA symbols):

and some sample words...

fishit - maiden, young woman

gelresh - war

kwit - what, which

This has been really fun to work on and develop! As always, I'm open to questions and suggestions :)

[catt-nuevenor]

It seems that there are a lot of different opinions on the changes to Myrk Mire, but of the asks you have answered it seems the change that people are the most talking about is the changes to the RO's. Let me just say that I REALLY like the decision to have the non-romanced RO's to enter into relationships with each other. To me it seems like a very natural thing to happen, and I personally think it would make the story more immersive if that makes sense. It makes it clear that these characters have their own feelings and interests outside of being a romance option for the MC.

I am also excited for the new characters! I liked the idea of MC being a lone wanderer in the world, just them and their kid, but having them be part of a group gives the opportunity for more varied character dynamics/interactions.

(The one concern I have is the fact that I, as a Peyton-romancer, have to get used to the name Plehtin. It's not bad, just different, and I've gotten so attached to Peyton that it will probably take a while to come to terms with the new name 😞)

As a closing statement, I would like to say that when I saw that there would be changes to the story, I got very worried very quickly. I really like Myrk Mire and it is, to this day, one of my favorite IFs. I often come back and re-read even though there hasn't been any updates in a while (I hope this doesn't sound accusatory, I know you've been working on other stuff and I'm a very patient person). But reading through the posts you made and all the asks you have answered, I have gotten only reassurances that you are putting a lot of work into a story you enjoy telling. I am looking forward to reading it. :)

P.S. Thanks for not taking down the (now) old demo, I will probably definitely re-read a couple times between now and when the new demo gets released.

Another long ask that completely flips my ideas about character limits on these things.

I appreciate the feedback on the changes, and your thoughts on the MCs travelling companions. It will be a lot of fun for me to plot out scenes with the whole gang, Aldmirham residents included. They're going to be quite the crew to get to grips with, but hopefully they'll come to be as cosy and familiar as the old group (Celda and Cwylla not so much on the cosy front).

Yeah, changing character's names always runs the risk of snagging the reader's attention, especially when it's as much a change as Plehtin's. If it's any help, the pronunciation of the two names is actually quite similar.

Let me break out the old IPA a moment here...

Plɛ-tɪn

Modern British English equivalence (ish):

Pl-ay-h (as in hay) - tin

The old demo will stay up as long as I can keep it up, and if for any reason I am forced to take it down, I'll give folks as much warning as I can.

We're so close to submitting a fixed narrative story to literary agents now, weeks close. And I've had my first full read through feedback! It was very positive, and I'm reliably informed it's a good story for theory crafters, lots to 'sink your teeth into'.

I can't wait for the day I get to share it with you folks!

[kiragecko]

IPA and More Keyboard

When I first got into linguistics, I decided I needed a keyboard that could support IPA¹. But I was studying Sanskrit, and switching to a completely different keyboard every time I wanted to add a dot below a character (the common Sanskrit transcription convention) was really annoying! Also, I hate the IPA character for a palatal nasal (ɲ), so I wanted to be able to use 'ñ' instead. And ... a thousand other tiny things, all requiring different keyboard layouts. Why wasn't there a keyboard that just let me type EVERYTHING?

Eventually, I designed my own. And that was fun enough that I expanded it. Over the last 15 years, I've been adding characters and streamlining it's use.

The current iteration is a monster. For an idea of what it can do:

this keyboard can type over 50 diacritics (accent marks)

it can rotate and flip any character that has a rotated/flipped Unicode counterpart, as well as replace them with smallcaps, superscript, and subscript versions

it can type most medieval ligatures and characters (though my research hasn't always been good enough to provide the most natural ways to do so)

it covers the whole IPA, of course, as well as historical symbols, extIPA, and uppercase forms when available

it can type any modern or historical click character available in Unicode (still waiting for Doke orthography support >:( )

it allows you to type Greek and Cyrillic characters (though it prioritizes IPA variants and isn't really streamlined for writing the language)

it allows you to transliterate Sanskrit, Ancient Egyptian, Chinese dialects, etc. that use discipline-specific characters/diacritics

it lets you add bars, tildes, slashes and curls to any character that has a matching Unicode counterpart

it can type most proofing and punctuation marks, modifier characters, as well as

alchemical, astrological, and gender/orientation symbols

and much more

For more detailed documentation on what this keyboard supports, and how to use it, here's the guide (PDF or Word Doc).

Here's the keyboard: IPAKeyboard dot kmp

Because it's designed to work for a LOT of characters, this keyboard is rarely going to be the simplest way to type a specific one. There are definitely IPA-only keyboards that will be more efficient for typing just IPA. And this keyboard isn't a font. There will be characters that don't show up - I've yet to find one that supports the entire range of characters this keyboard allows. Doulos SIL is my suggested font, especially if you use a lot of diacritics, but you might want to look around to find the one that supports you best.

But it's a powerful tool if you want to be able to switch between multiple transliteration and transcription systems in the same document, explore characters to use for non-human sounds, discuss the history of transcribing language, or quickly type special characters without opening 'insert symbols' dialogue boxes.

-

This is a Keyman keyboard. You'll need to install Keyman before being able to use it. Keyman is a free program with some amazing keyboards, and a lot of supports for people designing them for underserved languages. I've been really happy with it for almost 20 years, now.

-

For ideas about what else I could add, or suggestions for better key combos for specific characters, please contact me here, or at kiragecko at gmail dot com.

Things I'd love ideas for:

medieval ligatures (need to match them to logical character strings (words), but these are frequently NOT what unicode suggests)

mathematical, geometric, and/or scientific symbols (huge numbers of symbols, need a logical way of organizing them without too many key strokes)

Teuthonista symbols (very little English documentation, so I don't know what all of them MEAN)

-

¹ The International Phonetic Alphabet, one of the main ways linguists indicate sounds.

[docholligay]

Doc Holligay Memorial Even Though She’s Not Dead (Yet) Bad Ideas Fun Run/Walk/Drunkenly Crawl Virtual 5k! (Awards and Draw)

First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone who participated! It is very very fun for me to see all of you do this hilariously stupid 5k, that I think sums me up very nearly in total. It meant a lot to me, especially this year when I couldn't make some of the things I really wanted to see happen, happen.

ON TO THE AWARDS. So when I decided to do this, this year, I wanted to offer some extra draws for the liveblog and also either a running tank or tote bag with the 5k logo on it! If you've won an award I'll be contacting you shortly to ask which you'd prefer, and you were automatically given an extra entry in the draw!

ON TO THE AWARDS:

The timeiest awards

Fastest time, to the biggest motherfucker in the bunch: Mr Geeky! Who basically whupped ass in this department, with a fully go fuck yourself time of 24:19. I placed third , just so we're all aware of my rank here for years to come.

The DFL award, to those who dared to publicly be the worst of class: @amhrancas with an overall time of 1:25:00!

The stunning mediocrity award, to that boring person who placed in the exact middle: @vassekocho with a time of 41:21! Congrats on being the most okayest competitor!

The drinkiest awards:

Fastest beer drank: Me. It was always going to be me. I actually do not know why I thought it would be otherwise. Y'all cannot TOUCH my binge drinking skills, you adapted to the darkness, I was born to it.

Worst choice of beer for drinking fast: @elleskinner with a fucking IPA, what in the actual fuck is wrong with you.

The Doc Heritage Award, To the person who picked the combo most similar to mine (as decided by me*): @skylineofspace!

The randomiest awards:

Biggest pussy/had the roughest time: @seolh! For throwing up twice while drinking her beer! WE APPLAUD YOU FOR BEING HONEST.

Funniest writeup: A tough call but it ended up going to @keyofjetwolf for literally making me laugh out loud about Tori Amos

Ugliest race photo: None of you really looked like you suffered (Except I did see one of one of you that was truly incredible but you did not submit it) but I give this award to @automatuck9!

*Technically, Mike should win this, as he drank the exact same thing but I arranged it all and we compete on another level that requires we do the exact same thing, so I didn't count it.

OKAY NOW THE DRAW BELOW. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT IN LIKE...THE NEXT 12 HOURS.

@seolh you threw up twice but also won twice. TELL ME YOUR BIDDING

[saiph0]

hi hi! what first inspired you to start conlaning? what are some tips you would give to beginners? this is not a call for help what LOL wdym /j/j/j

LOL hi!! thanks for the ask :)

oh boy this'll be a long one, sorry in advance,,,

If anyone has any other tips please feel free to add on!

So I think what inspired me to start conlanging was the dream I had several years ago that started the world of Amatɔqa. In the dream the citizens of the hidden city spoke their own language, though I couldn't recall what was a part of it, so at first I only made up a few words and phrases that are now obsolete.

Another thing that really inspired me to actually get serious about conlanging was the sounds of different natural languages that I found super fun to hear/say.

For example: the "x" sound in the Mandarin word "xièxie"; The sound of Russian; the throaty "kh" or "ch" sound (equivalent of [x] in ipa) of Arabic and Scottish Gaelic; and the list goes on!

As for tips for beginners, man that's a bit of a tough one! It'll depend on what the best-feeling approach would be for you! I'll give some ideas I have though:

The international phonetic alphabet has been my best friend!

If your first language is English, especially American English, you can start out small with this wikipedia article on the ipa sounds we have in English. It was really helpful for me because of how overwhelming the full ipa chart looked to me in the beginning

There's this youtube channel: Glossika Phonics that has a lot of videos on examples of the different sounds in the ipa. It's not always perfect but very helpful for tongue and mouth positioning!

There are some sites that have ipa readers in which you can test out different sounds.

There are also sites with interactive ipa charts that have sound clips of each

Other Tips!

If you like having book resources, I definitely recommend "The Art of Language Invention" by the one and only David J. Peterson. It has so much info on breaking down languages; sounds; grammar; writing systems; and all of that good stuff!

If you really wanna jump into using that conlang and constructing sentences, focus on grammar! I tend to focus on tenses and word order in the beginning because that's the hardest part. Once I figure out grammar, I can make more vocab and just jump into creating sentences!

Experiment experiment experiment! Mess around with putting different sounds you like together and try to figure out which combinations you want to exclude from the language; make random symbols, look at r/neography on reddit for really cool stuff; you can always change stuff later

Definitely look at other natural languages for inspo! What sounds good? What similarities/differences do they have with your first language?

---

Oh god I think i could ramble on forever but I hope this was at least a somewhat helpful start! I'm super open to chatting further if you have anymore questions or just want to share what you've made so far :)

[rharyx]

So, Yhwach's name in Japanese is pronounced "ユーハバッハ/yuuhabahha." This is seemingly due to the "wach" part of it being pronounced the German way, and Japanese employing betacism (using Bs for Vs) on top of rendering the "ch" fricative at the end with a breathy "hha."

So in English, you'd get "yuuhavahhk" (the hhk at the end being how I'm trying to represent the guttural ch noise, which the IPA transcribes as /x/).

But I've recently seen some people posit that Yhwach's name, when spoken in English, is actually supposed to maintain the B-sound that is found in the Japanese pronunciation "yuuhabahha" because Kubo consistently always uses "ヴ/V" kana when there should be a V sound in a character's name. Such as...

Loly Aivirrne (アイヴァーン/aivaan)

Ggio-Vega (ヴェガ/vega)

Invaders Must Die (インヴェイダーズ/inveidaazu)

Even Haschwalth (ハッシュヴァルト/hasshuvaruto) and Wandenreich (ヴァンデンライヒ/vandenraihi) use V kana, while Yhwach doesn't.

...and since Yhwach doesn't have a ヴ/V kana, but does have the バ/B kana, it's an indication that it intentionally should be pronounced with the B regardless of what language you're speaking.

Which I thought was an interesting observation, though not an airtight one, as he still does use B kana to represent V noises in many resurreccion names.

Volcánica (ボルカニカ/borukanika)

Cierva (シエルバ/shieruba)

Veruga (ベルーガ/beruuga).

(Though, interestingly, in Spanish the letters B and V are pronounced nearly identically anyway, so Kubo probably didn't feel it necessary to make a distinction here since they're all Spanish terms?)

But it did leave me wondering why Yhwach does have a B kana in his name despite other names and terms immediately related to him using V.

And the only reasons I could come up with are:

It's to indicate that his name is much older than others, to the point that more modern conventions hadn't been brought about when he named himself. (I don't think this is that likely since YHWH's name itself is rendered with a ヴ/V kana, and that name predates even Yhwach's.)

Kubo just thought having a バ between the ハs looked more aesthetically pleasing.

The shapes of the kana ユ, ハ, and バ themselves give off a sort of Hebrew silhouette as well, while ヴ kinda doesn't, and since Yhwach's name is derived from YHWH (יהוה‎), that is probably intentional.

Now a quick search on Wikipedia tells me that the letter that represents the V sound in modern Hebrew (ב)* used to represent the B sound in ancient Hebrew -- and continued to do so for a time if geminated or following a consonant (which the "V" in Yh'v'ach technically does).

*=I also think it's funny how ב looks like ユ.

With that in mind, I suppose one could say that Kubo was possibly trying to do some fun linguistics thing where he applies German phonology to a Hebraic-inspired name, but utilizes ancient Hebrew pronunciation in recognition of Yhwach's age. So the end result is you get a German word -- "wach" -- that's pronounced "bach" due to how betacism used to be employed in Hebrew.

Which is fun in a super roundabout way.

All this is to say, I still think Yhwach's name should be pronounced "yuuhavahhk" outside of Japanese (besides the places where the language conflates Vs and Bs anyway, I guess), but this was a fun topic to delve into.

Though whether it should be a V or a B sound, I think we can all agree that the English dub keeping the "hha" at the end is objectively stupid, since it's obviously supposed to be the /x/ fricative. Even the Japanese actors sound like they understand they're supposed to be approximating a "ch" sound there.

[elvensorceress]

Sandcastles, lovely ☺️

Fleur my darling! 💕💕 Thank you!

Sandcastles is what I also call, Unimaginable. aka the superangst I started for @911onabc (It's a house built with the knowledge that it's temporary and will be washed away, but I liked the reference to It's Quiet Uptown from Hamilton as well so those are the names!)

The story is set 20 something years in the future. Buck and Eddie haven't seen or talked to each other in 18 years. It starts with Chris dying after a long chronic painful illness (I know I know 😭 this is worst case scenario here) and Eddie having nothing to live for anymore.

It's meant to be a play on the concept of Eddie putting Buck in his will as Chris' legal guardian in the event of him dying so that Buck and Chris still have each other and can take care of each other even without him. So, before he dies, Chris contacts Buck (has been in contact with Buck the whole time) and tells him that Eddie isn't doing well and he's scared of what will happen to his dad when he dies. He asks Buck to save Eddie because Chris knows that even after all this time, Buck is the only one who has any chance of giving Eddie something to live for.

It's all v sad and angsty and tears, but it's meant to be a story about healing and coming back together and them realizing they are still a family and always have been.

Here's a little flashback snippet to just before Eddie takes Chris and moves back to Texas.

The city was dark. Summer blackout but at least it was night and it had cooled down to a nice 85 degrees. Which wasn’t 120 degrees and therefore it was practically winter in Los Angeles. Chris was at a friend’s house and Eddie was lonely and Buck was upset and being with each other always made everything better. 

They’d each had a few beers. He wasn’t drunk but he was fuzzy and hazy and the bitter, hoppy IPA Buck had in his fridge before the power went out was nice on Eddie’s tongue. They were on the balcony for the breeze and the strange ambiance of being downtown in a city with no light. 

“I did it. What she said. I guess— I guess I’m doing it.” Buck dug out a little box from his pocket and stared at it for a long time, turning it over and over in his hands. Maybe because he was tipsy but maybe not. He set the box in between them on the table with empty glass bottles. “She said unless I commit and propose and everything, we’re going to stay broken up.”

Not even raging wildfires and temperatures exceeding the associated 1472 degrees could make Eddie warm after that. 

He clenched his jaw and itched to take that box and throw it off the balcony into the night of no power, no light, no relief. Where it would never return. 

He picked it up and opened it though. Morbid curiosity. Maybe a desire to glimpse what Buck would buy someone he wanted to marry. In theory. 

It was small. Simple. Plain. Nothing unique because Amy wasn’t unique and Buck hadn’t thought about it. He hadn’t put thought into it. 

“Why—” Eddie started but that wasn’t enough. It would never be. He shut the box with the ugly, boring, thoughtless ring and didn’t give it back, didn’t set it between them. He set it behind him and turned toward Buck like everything around them was burning. “Don’t do it. You can’t do this. Don’t marry her. You shouldn’t.”

Buck didn’t look at him. He sighed heavily and shrugged. “Look. I know it’s not— whatever. Nothing ever is. I don’t want to be alone anymore. I’m so tired of it. I’m sick of dating. It used to be fun. I used to love meeting people and getting to know them. Now it is one of the worst things I can imagine doing. So. Why not? She wants to marry me. We don’t have a bad relationship. It’s good enough. It’s good. It’s been more than a year now. I want to be married. I want a family before I’m too old to enjoy having little kids.”

Eddie clenched his teeth and it hurt and his heart was pounding, pounding, screaming. It took everything he had not to grip Buck and shake him and yell that he does have a family. He does have a child. He could have a marriage, a partnership that was way more than, I guess I’m doing it, it’s good enough.

“And this will make you happy? This will give you the family you want? The love and marriage you want?”

“I’m— I’m happy. I-I’m fine. I’m good. She— it’s not bad. It’s— No one gets big romantic soulmate love stories. Those are fiction. It doesn’t happen in real life. Love isn’t like that. It’s just trying again, working on it, committing to each other, accepting that this is what it’s like.”

Eddie rubbed his face and temples and forehead with both hands, and wondered if he screamed, would all of California be able to hear it. “Buck,” he said once he’d stopped himself from pulling out his own hair and finding the stupid ring so he could go back to his original idea of throwing it into the void. “You’re just settling. Again. That’s all you do. You let people treat you like shit, you let them give you the bare minimum just because you don’t want to be alone. And now you’re saying you’re giving up. You’re tired and it’s better than nothing and love isn’t like that, so you’re going to settle? Forever?” 

When Buck finally looked at him, there was nothing but lost, defeated, hopelessness in his eyes. The darkness around them made him look gray. No sky blue, no color, no vibrancy. “It’s fine. It’s not bad. I know you loved Shannon and say that was magical and she was magical, and I’ve loved people, too. But it’s not magic. It’s not anything. It’s better than nothing. But— I don’t know. I don’t feel anything. Maybe I haven’t since I died. But maybe it was before that. I wasn’t made to be loved. I wasn’t made to have that.”

Eddie breathed in, breathed out, and he tried for slowly, but it could never be slowly. He’s too angry. There’s too much fire. 

Buck wasn’t made to be loved. Buck doesn’t feel anything. Buck died and Eddie’s heart stopped, too. It’s never been anything but lost. 

Until Buck found him and stuck with him and saved him and stood with him and took care of him, supported him in ways no one ever had. Buck taught him there was something better than magic, better than fantasy.

He couldn’t take the idea of Buck being unloved. He can’t. He never could. 

And it’s wrong. Because Buck is loved. He’s so very loved. 

Eddie left his chair and all sensibleness and restraint, and climbed onto Buck’s lap. He tangled his hands in Buck’s hair and Buck’s hands immediately clutched at Eddie’s body. But not like he would stop him. Not like he wanted to keep Eddie at a distance. And Eddie crushed their mouths together. 

It was everything. Everything. Maybe it should have been softer and he probably should have at least asked first. But Buck whimper-moaned and gripped him tightly, and furiously kissed him back. And Eddie’s heart was alive. Alive and bleeding all over because he needed to prove. He needed to show Buck it wasn’t true. Love is massive and magnificent and so much more than settling for something that sort of mostly works. 

It can make your heart race and your blood sing and it makes you not even care about hot, humid summer air and useless air conditioners and a fridge of spoiling food because nothing else matters. This was the only thing that mattered. 

He took Buck upstairs and they tore off each other’s clothes, and Eddie tried to show him. He kissed him everywhere, even his scars and the places he knows Buck considers ugly or too broken. He touched him and covered him with all the love he’d ever held inside his own body. He let Buck wrap around him and surround him, and Eddie pressed inside him and nearly came apart because this was his Buck. Because he loved him so much, more than anything, more than he’d ever imagined might be possible. 

He tried to show Buck it was possible. 

He tried to show him what it was like to be loved. 

He tried. 

He just failed. 

He woke in the morning, in an empty bed. Buck wasn’t there. 

Neither was the stupid fucking ring.

[lalainefloranda]

A Journey of Being an English Major of a Third Year College

Being an English major is not just about grammar and how well you speak English; it is a transformative journey that opens up a world full of unique opportunities to delve into the world of literature, language, and critical thinking. People might think being an English major is easy, but it is actually not.

It is hard, but I assure you that it is fun. Being an English major is not my first choice, nor is teaching, but because of practicality, I chose this path. For the years that I have been enrolled in this program, I could say that I am enjoying it. From learning the branches of linguistics, especially the morphology tree, which I enjoyed, though it's hard from the start, and when we were transcribing using the IPA chart, Then we went to structures of English, which I think was one of the hardest experiences for me. I remember having a hard time analyzing what’s the direct and indirect object and such.

I also enjoyed the different mythology stories that were delivered by my classmates. And I also enjoyed when I discussed the story of the origin of the Philippine myth, which, until now, I still remember. Then we went to discuss different pieces of literature. American, English, Afro-Asian, and Contemporary, Popular, and Emerging literature. Since I like reading stories, I enjoy these classes. My favorite stories that were discussed in these classes are A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, The Girl Who Killed to Save by Herbert Dhlomo, and 1984 by George Orwell.

Despite this, it's not all sunshine and rainbows; there are times when it’s all gloomy and dark. There are lessons in English majors that no matter how we listen or study, we just don't get. There are also times when we are getting stressed because there are countless activities, reports, and deadlines to chase, and we don't know what to prioritize first. It seems like time is chasing us. There were times when we were exhausted and would break down in the middle of studying. Even in real life, life has its ups and downs.

For about three years now of being in this program, this has helped me to think critically, to always think outside the box, and to appreciate and embrace the beauty and power of language. It also elevates my competence when it comes to public speaking and writing.

Being an English major is really a wild adventure. At various points, we were overwhelmed with joy, then one second full of sad emotions. Being an English major is a multidimensional experience that goes beyond the study of grammar. It is about embracing the power of language, developing critical thinking skills, and cultivating a lifelong love for learning. Whether you choose to pursue a career in teaching, writing, tutoring or any other field, the skills and insights gained as an English major will continue to shape and enrich your life. Amidst all the challenges, there is a reward awaiting you. 

[siopaosoft]

Regarding The Uiīoao Language

There are no consonants in Uiīoao. In English, the language is known as Ueioaian. There are five vowels in Uiīoao. The vowels are as follows:

This language was devised based on a video on youtube involving a cat making various vowel sounds in a song while spinning, much like a record, see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHgyQGoeaB0.

The reasoning behind why the e is written as ī is because in the Bad Apple (a song from the game Touhou) version of this song (see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSp-Wj8tz-s), is because the IPA letter “ɛ” (“e” or “i” in English, or “i” in Filipino / Tagalog) is written as “i,” which is visually indistinguishable from the IPA letter “i,” which in English is “e” or sometimes “i,” more specifically “i” in Tagalog / Filipino.

So, you may ask: Why not write “ī” as “e?” The reasoning behind this is that the letter “e” is not present in the video, but the letter “i” is. To keep this language as faithful to the original video as possible without causing further confusion, the “i” is written as “ī.” To follow up, you may ask: Why create such a pointless language? My answer is: Why the fuck not?

Of course, the “ī” is taken from Hawaiʻian. I spell “Hawaiʻian” like this here because that is the proper spelling, the “ʻ” letter marking a glottal stop in Hawaiʻian. It is certainly true that ī is not pronounced the same way as in Hawaiʻian as in Ueioaian, but the letter looks cool and I need another i. I don’t want to use the ï because even though it looks cool, I wanted to use something less European because everyone is always raving about Europe and I wanted to do something different. This is the same reason I didn’t use “î” from Romanian, even though “î” looks even cooler than the letter I chose, “ī.”

The language is syllabic, much like Filipino / Tagalog, Toki Pona or Japanese, so every time there is a vowel, it becomes a separate syllable. Because every letter is a vowel in Uiīoao, every letter is a new syllable for maximum fun and amusement.

The sentence structure is either SVO or VSO depending on how you feel like speaking at the time. It doesn’t really matter because I honestly don’t give a shit.

Dictionary:

I haven’t come up with any words yet. Come back later..

[corvid-attano]

So im gonna liveblog pmd eos bc im playing it and fuck naming characters for me is always esoteric, so I think it'd be fun to talk it out.

I'm picking riolu for a partner, and i have a lucario oc already called Bishop, and I could just use them for this. but the vibes are off! and also bishop is a robot so it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense.

My logic here though is that Riolu is the 'mon you get as a Sassy quiz result, and Sassy answers are all about perfectionism. I want to lean into that a bit. looking through synonyms for perfectionism and pinnacles and all that, I found a word - Cynosure, a way of describing someone as the center of attention. This word, perfectly enough, stems from greek: from kuōn, kun- ‘dog’ + oura ‘tail’. Riolu's a dog, so it's actually really perfect.

Going back a bit in kuōn's lifespan, I find it's IPA pronunciation in Koine Greek - /ˈcy.on/

I think Cyon is a very nice looking word so. Cyon it is.

[meg-online]

show notes: fidlar

October 12, 2024

who: fidlar (+ sugar pit) where: brooklyn steel when: wednesday, october 9, 2024 7pm doors / show at 8 (fidlar on by 9:10)

venue: i hate a long walk from the L, but i love a free balcony. (this was actually the first time in a long time that i didn’t go to the balcony once during a brooklyn steel show. even though i didn’t use it, i appreciate that it’s there, so points for that.) another thing i like about brooklyn steel is that they also always have food. (similar to the balcony, i did not get food, but i appreciate that it’s there. they had soft pretzels.) also: why does each row of stalls in the bathroom at brooklyn steel have only ONE light? the stalls at the end are so dark it is terrifying to use them. 

merch: i didn’t really look at the sugar pit merch. the fidlar merch was all right. a lot of people in the crowd were wearing old fidlar merch and i actually preferred the old merch designs.

bev: voodoo ranger ipa. i think i paid $13? sheesh. 

opener: i’d never listened to sugar pit before. i guess it was a fun set. i don’t think i’ll listen again, but they brought a good vibe. the dude thanked every single member of the band at the end, and i thought that was sweet. 

merch spotted: i love to see what merch from other artists people wear to shows! i especially love when people wear tour merch from a recent show that i also attended. i saw: the menzingers, hot mulligan, green day (tour merch!), coheed and cambria, laura jane grace, metallica, smashing pumpkins, the new york giants (lol), and lots of fidlar, of course.

crowd diversity: 0/10 truly awful. just a sea of unshowered white people in baggy clothing and sk8-his. i’m guessing a lot of long island/new jersey. (obviously.) i think most people were probably late twenties, early thirties. 

setlist: solid. i think the only other songs i would have wanted to hear would be “bad habits” and “FSU.” the too songs that were on the setlist were ok (i think too as an album is just fine, not my favorite of fidlar’s, and “bad habits” is my favorite song from the album). but overall it was a fun selection and i loved the “dammit” cover when they came back out at the end of the show. 

notes: i started listening to fidlar a little over ten years ago. i found them through tumblr in 2014. their self-titled debut album was one of my favorite albums that summer. i was studying abroad in the netherlands that fall and at the end of the summer i made a study abroad playlist and the playlist was just “stoked and broke” on repeat. anyways! here we are, ten years later. 

the band sounded great live. they played with a ton of energy. it’s truly incredible how upbeat the performance was because some of their lyrics are really quite sad. the lighting was fun (lots of purples, very strobe-y, and i appreciated the venue’s strobe light warning posters) and the sound quality was great. i was close to a speaker during part of the show but i had my loops in so i was comfortable. it was fun that they had us do a wall of death for the second song. the circle pits were looking fast n furious. 

and of course: how could i not talk about the girls-only mosh pit? 

this was my first time being at a show that had a girls-only mosh pit. i would like to take a moment to extend my gratitude to the band. that was one of the best experiences i have ever had at a show. (my anticipation of the girls-only mosh pit was also the reason i stayed on the floor instead of going to the balcony like i have the past four or so times i’ve been at brooklyn steel.) 

jumping into the girls-only mosh pit was the safest i have ever felt in the crowd at a show. i have spent the past day thinking about how to describe the elation i felt. not to be dramatic, but it was truly exhilarating to be shoved without fearing being groped by some sweaty dude from like, massapequa or something. wow. freaking incredible. i don’t know if i’m ever going to have that experience again, but i’m going to think about it at every show i go to in the future. literally every future pit. i will think about the girls-only mosh pit. the only thing that i hated was that it ended too soon. i basically blacked out, as one does when entering the pit (or does that not happen to other people?), but i think the song was “5 to 9,” and that song is barely over a minute long. i had sixty seconds to get in and get out. the last note of the song had barely finished before men were pushing their way back to the center. already. it was over before i knew it. during the entire length of the show, only sixty seconds felt like they were for women.

and … i lost my shoe! or part of my shoe. i have modular vans and the module on my left shoe freaking came off in the pit. i was so stressed when i realized it and before the show i was like “wow it would be crazy if my module came off during the show” but i didn’t think it would actually happen. serves me right. i am so grateful i actually found it rather quickly. that would have really been a big bummer if i lost it.

all in all, a good night at the show.

[nickgerlich]

What's On Your Burger?

It’s summer, and it is grilling season. We pile up all the burgers on a huge tray, and carry them outside where we cook them over an open flame. Whether we eat outdoors or back in the house is not important. What’s important, though, is the array of condiments and garnishes we have on hand to fully dress those burgers. We make them uniquely ours.

Ketchup. Mustard. Mayo. Pickles. Onions. Lettuce. Tomato. Cheese. You can stack that burger pretty high if you put all of them between your buns.

But what if we could combine some of those condiments? Wouldn’t that be more convenient? You could reduce the number of plastic containers you have to store in the fridge or carry outside. It’s not like we’re already doing that when we combine them on the burger, right? It’s all going to the same place.

Which is probably the kind of thinking going on at Heinz lately, because now we have their new Pickle Ketchup. It may not be quite as magical as when peanut butter meets chocolate, but their ad campaign is trying to make us feel as if it were. “You Can Already Taste It” is evocative, to say the least, and since we already know the specific tastes of sweet tomato ketchup and puckerful pickles, we can do the math inside our heads.

Heinz is taking it to the streets as well, inviting people to sample the blend before they see it in stores. That’s always a good idea with new food products, even if it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to figure it out in advance.

I had to chuckle a bit when I saw this, though, because earlier this year I had stumbled upon a Pickle Mustard at Trader Joe’s, which was as delightful as I expected. I couldn’t find it on subsequent visits, though, which means they may have already killed it. Perhaps I should have bought a few jars.

It must be human nature to want to mix taste sensations, because we see it everywhere, starting with soft drinks and all the countless varietals of colas with different flavorings. Many of these product introductions are short-term gimmicks intended to juice sales for a bit, while some of them become shelf mainstays in their own right. It’s the difference between a novelty and a core product.

Those flavor mashups are also a big deal in beer. The flavor of the month this summer is peach. Look for the newest Voodoo Ranger IPA variant that is infused with it, not much different from all the other juicy IPAs, from mango to pineapple, grapefruit, and others I have seen on shelves and in breweries.

It would have been fun to be a fly on the wall in the Heinz test kitchen. I’m sure it’s not as easy as just putting ketchup and pickles in the same jar, because there are interactions that could occur during storage that might not occur in the few minutes between building that burger and devouring it.

I am reminded of a scene in Breaking Bad Season 5 Episode 2 named “Madrigal.” In that episode we see food scientists discussing new condiment possibilities, one of which was Franch, a combination of French Dressing and Ranch Dressing. You can do this at home, as I am certain many Breaking Bad fans did. Spoiler Alert: It’s pretty good.

But there are questions, of course, when it comes to novel line extensions like this. Might this new product siphon off sales of both Heinz Ketchup and pickles? You no longer need to buy two items. This is more than just 1-for-1 cannibalization. Now it’s 1-for-2. Furthermore, will this prove to be only a one-time novelty, or will it have staying power?

It is no mistake that Americans love their ketchup. We put it on everything. In fact, we love the color red on our food, whether it is ketchup, barbecue sauce, or sweet-and-sour sauce at Asian restaurants. Oh, and here’s a pro tip if you are traveling to Asia: Don’t ask for sweet-and-sour sauce, because you won’t find it. The food is plenty good without it.

Another distinction is that American food tends to be pretty bland, including condiments. While some inroads have been made by various makers of Sriracha, as well as other Asian flavors, Cajun, and the like, we tend to play it safe as a culture. The new pickle ketchup fits right in.

The marketer in me is amused, because I’ve seen tactics like this play out for many years. The shopper in me, though, will probably buy a jar, if only to give it a test drive. It does sound good, and I bet you’re imagining it on your tongue as well right now. I’ll see you at the store.

Dr “Take My Money, Please” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[kingjamesroystonpub]

Is Wine Healthier Than Beer?

The amount of alcohol you drink will tell you which is better: Wine or Beer.

Sometimes drinking a little wine or beer is good for you, but the benefits wear off faster the more you drink. There is no greater significance than the amount of booze you consume. It's even better not to drink at all.

Don't believe the talk about either Is Wine Healthier Than Beer  even if you like one more than the other. Let's look at the facts.

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Beer vs. Wine Calories:

There are different amounts of calories in each kind of beer or wine. Let's start by having wine.

Most of the time, a wine with more alcohol by volume (ABV) has more calories. But those changes aren't significant. It takes about 120 to 125 calories to drink a 5-ounce glass of red wine. About 120 calories are in that much white wine.

As long as you don't drink too much, a normal glass of prosecco has only 98 calories. Without booze, Surely's sparkling rosé is an option. Each 8-ounce serving has only 20 calories.

Beer has a lot of different calorie numbers. Low-carb beers have at least 95 calories per bottle. For example, 12 ounces of light beer might only have 145 calories.

Any craft beer or heavy beer like an IPA could have at least 200 calories in a pint. You don't really have a beer belly or be fat because of beer. The calories are to blame.

Drinking beer doesn't give you many health benefits when we talk about calories. These calories don't do any good. Never let what you read about beer vs. wine change the fact that healthy foods are always better.

Regular drinkers usually don't gain much weight over time, but heavy drinkers are more likely to become overweight. It can also be hard to stick to your healthy eating and exercise plans after a few drinks, no matter what kind of alcohol you drink. We all think abou is Wine Healthier Than Beer, but ir all depends on each individual choice.

Is wine really better for you?

A lot of the buzz about how good wine is for you is due to the antioxidants that are found in red wine. Let's go back in time and look at how beer and wine are made.

In what ways do wine and beer differ? The things that go into making wine and beer are what make them different. Grapes are crushed to make wine. Malted barley is one type of grain that is used to make most beers. The alcohol level comes from the fermentation processes that both go through.   

One of the main reasons people say wine is the best alcohol is because it contains resveratrol, which is found in the skins of red grapes. Studies have shown that resveratrol can lower your chance of heart disease and make you live longer.

To some extent, that's true, but it's also been blown out of proportion.

For those of you who like wine, the French contradiction is probably very familiar to you. Even though French people eat a lot of fatty fats, the number of deaths from heart disease is pretty low. Among other things, they eat a lot of cheese and butter over there.

Scientists started to look into whether wine was the key to their long lives. The idea was that the polyphenols in red wine, in particular, made up for those other indulgences and helped with general health.

It was clear what would happen.

People began drinking more red wine without changing what they ate or how much they worked out. Researchers began to look at other factors that were much more important to heart health over time.

It was discovered that societies that drink more red wine also walk more, eat more fresh fruits and veggies, and eat less trans fats. It's also not fun to hear that they snack less.

A lot less is known about resveratrol itself, according to new studies. You can try as hard as you want, but the amount of wine in that glass will not turn your red wine into magical food. To get more antioxidants, you should eat a handful of grapes instead.

You can still drink wine.

Which is better: wine or beer? For people who are already trying to drink less booze, beer is not better than wine. Both have some minor health benefits, but it is always better to drink less or not at all. 

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Pros of Wine:

Some modest wine drinkers can get some good things out of wine, especially red wine:

Wine always has about the same number of calories.

Quality wines usually only have a little sugar unless you're looking for sweet dessert wines. The amount of sugar in a dry bottle of wine is only 5 g.

Since wine has fewer carbs than beer, it's a good choice for people on keto or similar diets.

More research has shown that red wine is better for your heart than beer. It could be because red wine has more polyphenols, flavonoids, or tannins than other drinking drinks.

Red wine with meals may lower the chance of getting type 2 diabetes.

Wine may be better for your stomach, but if you already have stomach problems, drinking any alcohol is bad for you.

Pros of Beer:

The health benefits of beer depend a lot on the type you drink. You can drink light beers, but they don't have as many health perks. Beer is better than wine in the following ways: 

While wine doesn't have these vitamins and minerals, most beers do. For example, most beers have niacin, vitamin B6, and folate.

Every single serving of regular beer has about 1.5 grams of protein.

Dark beers, like stouts and porters, have more fibre than lighter beers.

One study found that drinking beer in moderation may be suitable for your blood vessel health and HDL cholesterol.

Beer may be suitable for your bones, especially as you get older because it has silicon in it. (The same study said that raisins and high-bran grains were great food sources!)

Most of the time, beer is cheaper than wine, especially if you want a better wine.

Put:

The amount of alcohol you drink is more important than the type of booze you drink. According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), women should only have one drink a day, and men should have two drinks a day.

By the way, these are regular drinks. That's the same amount of beer as 5 ounces of wine. If you don't want a bad hangover the following day, you should drink less of a more potent drink.

How many alcoholic drinks are in wine vs. beer? Beer and wine generally have different amounts of alcohol. About 12% is the ABV of most beers. Regular beer has an ABV of about 5%, but heavier craft beers or kinds that have been aged in barrels can get close to wine's ABV.

If you still need to drink, the small amount of health benefits that wine and beer have shouldn't be a reason to start.

Consuming any alcohol in large amounts can make it hard to sleep, increase your chance of several types of cancer, and make you more likely to develop heart disease and become dependent on alcohol. Drinking too much can hurt your mental health, make your blood pressure go up, and even make your skin look bad.

The good news is that you can get rid of all of those scary side effects by drinking less. Also, it's easier than ever to give up alcohol and replace it with healthy habits and alcohol-free drinks, such as sober bars or de-alcoholized beers and wines.

Enjoy Wine Risk-Free:

We believe that the decisions you make every day about your health should be in balance. We're also all about tasty alternatives to drinking alcohol, so if you're sober and interested in non-alcoholic wine, read on.

Drink wine and enjoy its benefits without getting drunk. Do you love red wine? Try our bubbly red that doesn't have alcohol in it. It's just as crisp and bright as your favourite white wines, but it doesn't have any alcohol in it. We at King James Royston Pub serve some of the best wines and beers that go along with the finest burgers in town.