othellovonryan

And can read. [Wylan glances away to the muddy Wylan again, who coughs thick and heavy once or twice before expelling what seems to be the little bit of mud in his lungs. The hole seems to be just that, a hole, now. The mud has dried over like a scab, covering a much deeper wound. Wylan leads the imaginary Jesper over to toward the muddy Wylan and squats down beside him. He reaches his hand holding Jesper's out to the muddy Wylan.] He needs him more than me right now.

You're a chemist, but you can't read? [Surprised.]

....I have flashcards if you want. I've been helping someone else learn to read with them. And I helped teach my brothers when we were kids

[Donnie slaps his back to help him get that mud out, rubbing his back to help him calm down after.]

[He hums and moves out of the way.]

How is your jealousy feeling now? Was it just the mud or do I need to make sure a Jesper and Wylan are being affectionate?

I use other markings and memorize their placement in a rack. I used a distillery mostly.

[The imaginary Jesper kneels down by the muddy Wylan to also rub soothing circles on his back.]

I want to be back with my Jesper, but I can't hug him. Another taboo, easier to dodge.

[There's a touch of jealousy at watching the two interact, though, as Jesper wraps an arm around muddy Wylan and does just the thing Wylan can't. Oh that stings.]

More how that worked out education wise. Reading is usually basics and then chemistry comes later on. Was it an apprenticeship? What year are you from?

Huh. So don't be jealous, and don't hug people. A challenging combo of taboos. At least if you're not used to finding work arounds for hugs.

[Anymore mud appearing.]

I can't always touch people, but my family is....aggressively physically affectionate, so I found my own work arounds to express affection without needing to do the same. Its actually part of why I made this. [He taps the shell on his back that had the arms come out.] There are ways to show that affection, it just takes practice and understanding.

Chemistry and math are equations and formulas, they make sense. Letters look like insect legs that twitch and change shape on the page.

[There are a couple final spurts, but when Wylan turns away from the imaginary Wylan and Jesper, it comes to a still.] I never experienced much of either until recently, but not I can't seem to escape either. The jealousy is the most prevelent.

Ooooh.

You're dyslexic.

I mean...affection isn't a bad thing to not escape from. That is just setting up boundaries.

Also I'm pretty sure your jealousy is tied to some deeper issues. Work on those, and it should help lessen the jealousy overall.

[Sucking up more of the mud.]

[And going to alter the cannister.]

[And then incinerate the mud.]

I'm what? [Diz-lex-ik?] What is that?

[But oh it is satisfying to watch the mud go up in flames. He can ignore his mirror self laying on the floor for the flames that lick up and down the incinerator.]

Will it be at least handled for the day?

Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words, AKA decoding. Also called a reading disability, dyslexia is a result of individual differences in areas of the brain that process language.

In short, there is wiring in your brain that makes it hard to understand how symbols relate to spoken words.

Perhaps. We'll test.

[He's going to kiss the top of not!Jesper's head.]

Any jealousy?

Oh. [So he has dislexia. He's never heard of it, but now it has a name, this affliction that's caused him so much grief in his life.] I'm not stupid?

[He watches as Donnie... kisses the top of the imaginary Jesper's head and where he would have either vomited in a vase or otherwise reacted, Wylan is still, peaceful even.] No, there's nothing.

[It does make Wylan want to go kiss this Jesper or his own Jesper or any Jesper that might exist anywhere, but other than that, nothing.] I just want to go find my Jesper and kiss him.

No. [Immediate and firm.] Its actually a fairly common disorder. There are a number of communication based disorders that are hard to work around if you're not aware there is a pattern to it.

Sometimes I go nonverbal when stressed out. [And stress happens enough in this place that, if Wylan is visiting him every morning, he's going to encounter. And better to establish its a thing if he can't read and he won't be able to explain it then.] I'm one of the smartest, if not the smartest, people on my world and sometimes people talking to me is just gibberish and I can't make words come out. It has nothing to do with intelligence, its just something is wired weird in the brain that makes it harder than normal.

Excellent. [He claps his hands.] Then I just need to incinerate the mud every morning and make sure mind Jesper and mind Wylan are together.

[Wylan chews on his lip, considering everything Donnie's telling him. He's not alone in feeling strange and stupid.]

That's how books look to me. They all look like gibberish. My father... he said he couldn't send me to a seminary because I would give myself away. He could not put me on a shelf because I would spoil like a fruit.

[But that is for another day. For now, his jealousy seems to be settled. Every morning, report to Donnie, incinerate the mud, reunify mind Jesper and mind Wylan.] Thank you Donnie.

It if the unfortunate thing that some people are just assholes about these differences and are unwilling to make perfectly reasonable accommodations for them. Lack of knowing the words is no excuse, my family didn't have the words for it when I was a child, they just knew 'Donnie is like that sometimes' and figured out what made those times easier.

So the failing was on him for not being able to figure things out, or hire people with enough intelligence to figure it out.

There are ways to make it easier to decode. A big part is taking your time.

Of course. I am here to help.

[Wylan softly smiles at Donnie. It's nice not to feel so different from others, that there's simply something wrong with his brain and not a moral failing on his part. Learning what all the insect legs mean would still require a great deal of further work from him when he's just trying to adapt to the temple.]

I'll see you tomorrow?

Of course.

Do you want me to put together what I remember about how to help those with your condition learn to read?

Is it common enough that there's information readily available?

It is on Earth, but I haven't checked this library's medical books to know if was well known here. I just know it because teaching my brothers was...

Difficult.

So I had some suspicions of why that might have been the case.

Oh. [Wylan considers.] Most of my tutors considered me unteachable. Your information may not help.

One, I did teach my brothers, it was just difficult, but also we're around the same ages. I'm just unnaturally smart.

Two, a truly great teacher isn't one easily controlled.

And what did we say about your dad's control issues?

[Wylan sucks in a breath before nodding.]

That he hired only tutors who would agree with him, not tutors who would help.

Correct. They would not be putting in the work for a student who had a difficulty they would not be prepared for. Especially if your world is not familiar with mental disorders as a concept. That sort of thing only came out in the last few decades.

Before they knew the science behind it, they'd usually call kids things like touched in the head, dumb, or changelings. If I was a human a century ago, people would think I was a changeling.

[When Donnie says the word dumb, the impact is visible on Wylan's face. He glances down and away.

The perfect submissive son and yet still not good enough. It takes him a moment to take a deep breath and remind himself that his father does not dictate his life any more.

When he speaks, it's low, quiet, still ashamed after all this work.] But I'm not dumb.

Exactly. Your brain is different, but it does not make you inherently dumb. The fact you can learn chemistry and formulas show you have a natural knack for retaining information and using critical thinking with it.

Its just you have a hard time understanding a certain kind of language. You wouldn't call someone dumb because they don't understand a different language.

I don't understand any languages. [He understands what Donnie is trying to say, but it falls a bit flat when Wylan can't read any sign in any language.]

We're talking. That's a language.

Written word is just another language. [He moves his hands in a deliberate set of signs.] This is also a language. Not all languages are verbal, but its all about understanding the configurations and some configurations are harder than others.

Like Westerners have a harder time with some Eastern languages because tone is really big in some of them and if you do not grow up with those languages, they have a hard time hearing the differences in those tones.

Because their brains are not trained for it.

[Oh, Wylan supposes that's right. He's speaking a language right now. Watching Donnie make those motions and shapes with his hands is actually very interesting and Wylan thinks he understands parts of it at first glance. Well, he supposes, if it's a concept-based language. If not, then he's got it all mixed up (again).]

Did you say... I speak 'sign'?

[He hopes he doesn't have this all wrong. If he does, this is deeply embarrassing.] With your hands, I mean.

Edited 2023-07-15 00:10 (UTC)

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