[embedded video - Conquest; Seeking]

[duchy]

[Lithuania appears on the screen, looking pleased that it's on--he's had to do this a few times to get it to work right, though the other attempts were all deleted before they ever had the chance to hit the forum. Honestly, he's been trying to post this for hours, but PDAs are a bit more confusing than he thought. Still, he's smiling.]

Hi! I'm Lithuania, one of the Players this round, so if you need someone to vow to, you can come to me if you want! I'll give you permission to do whatever you want. If you have a sword, that would be nice--um, I can work with any kind of sword, I think, as long as it's not especially large. But I can use other weapons, too. Even if you don't have a good weapon, you don't have to be a Discard, I'll let you do what you want and won't use you in a fight.

Um, I'm in room 1-A, or you can find me around the school or town.

[He waves, and the clip ends.]

Comments

[duchy]

...I can learn on my own.

[That is entirely his pride talking there.]

[independencesong]

And how will you know if you're right or not?

[duchy]

[Considering this seriously! ...Well he does most everything seriously.]

When the things they say make sense.

[independencesong]

And what if your head is simply making them make sense for you? And that's not what's going on at all?

[duchy]

...It can't be that hard.

[independencesong]

Not if I help you, no.

[duchy]

[SERIOUS CONSIDERATION he is weighing the hit his pride would take against how much he wants to be able to read.

And in the end he does want to read. Everyone else here seems like they can. Not being able to is more embarrassing than asking for help.]

...Alright.

[independencesong]

Excellent. We'll start whenever you want. Written languages aren't hard, really. [She's had to learn piles of them to cope with living in everyone's house, and then to try to impress the rest of the world.]

[duchy]

[Somewhat shyly:] Can we start now?

[independencesong]

Of course we can. Would you like to meet me in the computer lab?

[duchy]

Okay.

[Smiling again! He'll be at the computer lab pretty quickly, as running everywhere is a good way to go places.]

[independencesong]

[She's quite happily playing around on a computer when he shows, but she's alert enough (paranoia hightens the senses!) that she's quickly aware of his arrival and pulling a nearby chair closer for him.]

Hello, Leedu.

[duchy]

Hi.

[Climbing onto the chair.]

How do you teach reading?

[independencesong]

You start with the alphabet and what letter combinations make what sounds, and then you start to give meaning to everything.

[duchy]

Okay. So we're starting with the alphabet?

[He hopes the alphabet doesn't take too long.]

[independencesong]

I think it's the best place to start. It's the base of written language, after all.

[duchy]

Okay!

[Lithuania sits cross-legged on his chair, looking up at Estonia with rapt attention. He is ready to learn! For now.]

[independencesong]

[She smiles, then types the first few letters out on her screen, both capital and lower case, as if to use it as a instructional board.]

And here we are, starting with A... [Teaching, go!]

[duchy]

Okay, so that's A.

[...What do you do with it now.]

[independencesong]

When you see it, it tends to make 'ah' sounds... Except for when it doesn't, which I suppose is frequent enough. You'll catch on eventually, but I suppose we'll just get through these first.

The next ones, here, are B, C, D, and E.

[duchy]

["Except when it doesn't" doesn't seem like a good rule, really, but Lithuania follows along to the next few letters.]

Do they make sounds except when they don't, too?

[independencesong]

Pretty much. Some of them are more straight-forward, though. B almost always makes 'buh' sounds, and D likes 'duh' sounds. C can be soft like in 'choose' or hard, like 'clack,' depending on what goes with it.

E is a miserable little thing that can never be predicted and is best to just be ignored, sometimes.

[duchy]

You can just ignore parts of the alphabet?

[Maybe this will be easier than he thought.]

[independencesong]

Not really, just this one. It's generally just a bother, except for in important places, like my name.

[Sparkle sparkle.]

[duchy]

[...You definitely sparkled that time.]

How am I supposed to know when it's important?