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latest status update 3/6/2018

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

darkov

[at Archie's direction, he looks back down, staring for a few seconds.

same letter, different shapes.

he...wait. he already knew that part. he frowns. but why?]

Um.

[...oh. right--] Be...because the letter at the front is always different. It's special.

[right? he thinks so. that seems right; he glances back at Archie to confirm.]

From:

h2no

[archie beams at the reply.]

Yep! That's right! It's called a capital letter. They're at the start of sentences and for names of people or places.

From:

darkov

[wait...he.

he got it right? first try? no hints?

wow. huh.

a little pink, Martin nods, looking back down.]

My...er, one of my cousins...he taught me that. He's really smart. He reads.

From:

h2no

And you don't, but you remembered. See, I knew you'd be good at this.

[he grins again, then looks back to the book.]

Are there any letters that you don't recognise, so far?

From:

darkov

These...

[a good chunk of the latter half of the alphabet gets pointed at, save for R, S, and T. then a few others he only recognizes in the lower case -- F and P and H and J...actually all of J. what is a J. he doesn't know any J-things or J-people.

and come to think, in regard to people's names...]

Archie? Uh, why is...why do you have that [little e] at the end? It doesn't make a sound.

From:

h2no

[jorts, marty]

It's short for my full name. Archie, I mean. [he snorts.] It makes the end of the name have a longer sound than just a hard ih. Put the e on the and it comes out soft, like eey.

[he puts a finger on the edge of the book, flicking the pages lightly.]

D'you wanna go until you find a letter you don't know?

From:

darkov

[Marty gives him a squint. it's a "i don't really believe you but i have no evidence to prove otherwise so i'm trying to accept it" squint.]

...If...if something needs to sound longer... [bear with him here, this is not a fully formed thought; this is fresh out of the think-oven.] Why not just...draw the letters longer? So that it looks the way it sounds?

From:

h2no

[he rubs his beard for a moment, thinking how to explain it. ~~english~~ language sure is stupid...]

It's how the letters sound together, and how they change the sound of each other when said together.

From:

darkov

[he makes what is actually...a faintly annoyed sound. just a little grunt through his nose.

his hand goes through the motion of setting the pencil down, but not quite: he stops just shy of letting it go. he can't just stop if he's still on the line for this; Archie came all this way in the dead of night to try and help him puzzle it out. even if it is futile...

still, even though he's dutiful, it doesn't mean he's able to mask his dislike of studying at all.]

It doesn't make sense.

From:

h2no

[archie cocks his head as he watches this.]

We can have a break, if you want. [he won't stop the lesson entirely, but figures giving marty an out so he doesn't get overwhelmed might help.] But you don't have to worry about how words sound-- let's just focus on getting all the letters first, yeah? That's how everyone starts.

From:

darkov

If you say so, sir...

[he's pretty sure he's too stupid to get this, but maybe it's not his place to say. maybe it's better Archie just find out for himself how useless it is to try; that's the same logic Martin's been using to excuse himself for still being around, after all.

he sighs, gloomy, and sets the pencil down at last, sitting back and frowning at the paper and book.]

What if I don't figure it out, though?

From:

h2no

Your cousin did it, [he says with a shrug.] so you can't say Darkovs ain't able to read. There's no time limit for this, either, so we can take it as you please.

We just started, anyhow! Ain't no-one ever managed to learn how to read and write inside ten minutes. I didn't. Some of the smartest people I've ever known took ages to learn properly when they were young, an' even then everyone's still learnin'. I wouldn't have been able to tell you what an alligator was a couple months ago, y'know?

[he puts his mug on the table and clasps his hands gently together.]

So here's the thing about learnin'. You've already proven to me multiple times in the last couple minutes that you're fully capable of understanding this, but we ain't gonna get very far if you don't believe in yourself. [he raises a finger to point it at marty for emphasis.] There's this thing called a self fulfilling prophecy; if you believe you can't do something, then you'll never be able to do it. So maybe... instead of this, the first thing we gotta do is make sure you believe in your own ability to learn, huh?

From:

darkov

[Archie's new gesture gets new posture out of Martin: he sits up, blinking, gawking at him as he speaks. and he startles, too, when a finger is thrust in his direction; belatedly, he lifts his own, pointing at himself. me?

blink blink.

...wait. what?]

Huh? [his hand retracts, his mouth tugging with a dubious frown.] Oh, uh...I mean...Al-alright? I guess? I mean...I don't know--