contains: system written by non-system, hair/appearance arguments, my mimic conlang, a suggestive bit (implied/referenced sex between Shipful’s parents)
translations of conlang words at the bottom
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Shipwreck growls, taking over eir body. Places the shears down so ey can speak. “Shut up, both of you.”
“BUT EY JUST—”
“Our hair was in my face—”
“Shut up! It’s over. It happened, and we can’t change it.” Ey slam eir hands on the table, loudly, but Light and Bait just keep trying to argue about it. It’s just hair, it’ll grow back, but Light doesn’t see it that way and Bait just cut it to their shoulders.
Nobody listens to reason in eir head, no. It’s just whoever yells the loudest.
Bait and Light are both fighting to win. Not find a solution. It’s annoying.
Eir webbed feet plap-plap on the floor as ey make eir way to Moon. Not away from Bait and Light’s argument, because their souls can’t just go away and leave em alone. Talks with eir hands until thon understands ey need eir soul-siblings to shut up about their hair.
“I can’t do that.” Thons voice is soft, like the one Light borrowed.
Moonlight.
Still, thon brings em to the pantry and picks out a piece of salt-cured whale meat. Walks, thons bigger flippers lifting higher off the ground, to the stove to cook it the way ey like.
Bait complains, and ey shove it away from their body. Ey deserve this. It’s giving em a headache, they’re both giving em a headache, and ey deserve this. Ey want to eat Bait, sometimes, but Moon told them that could combine them, and ey don’t want to start hating eir favourite food. (Ey don’t want to kill eir soul-sibling.)
“You could tie your hair back when it grows, or have a cycle,” thon says, placing the plate in front of em.
Ey grumble. Ey are the deciding vote. There’s only three of them, and two are never going to listen.
Shipbait tips xyr head forward, lifting the shears to their hair.
Shipwreck wrenches control from xem, throwing them port-side. Off the den and into the ocean.
“Wreck!”
“No,” ne growls. Nir body-voice is working, today. “Light waited too long for this, and I don’t want to hear thon complain. Go sulk somewhere I can’t hear you, or we’re eating whale for lunch as often as possible until it grows back.”
Side is new enough, but its opinion on their hair is exactly in the middle, which gives nem a new voice of reason. It also likes whale, which means xe’ll be more outvoted if xe tries to argue.
Shiplight threatens to throw every sharp object overboard. Loudly. Loud enough to get wanuxalu Lifetaker to squeeze their shoulder and take them below deck. To cir sleep-nest.
“I’m sorry, kiwa,” thon says, wrapped up in blankets, when ce comes back with a mug of broth and a bowl of clams. “Bait tried to cut our hair, and it’s not even xyr turn—”
“Do you want me to get Moon?” Thon’s cir spouse (well, some of thon is, but thon is friends with cir even when thon isn’t cir spouse) and Shiplight loves thon, but advice isn’t what thon needs.
Thon flicks a hand no.
Not their right one, but the left, which Side bit off from the wrist—so thon has to do the gesture from the elbow instead.
Sips at the warm broth. It has honey in it: the land-people trade for whale meat and salt, and honey keeps for a long time.
It’s only used for special occasions and comforting pups, and Shipful is years past their fifteenth season.
“I can’t keep you away from cutting tools, but I can talk to Shipbait about listening to xyr other souls.”
“My alu’ianu is stubborn, kiwa. Barely listens to our alu’ekia.”
Ce tucks thon into a hug. “True, you should see how i’alu Moondweller gets whenever thon wakes up while au’ālu Moonlight is—” Lifetaker laughs. “Thon once got up, naked, to finish the dress thon promised to make me.
“Didn’t let me give thon any clothes, just finished the embroidered details and made me try it on. I couldn’t stop laughing.”
“Kiwa,” thon complains, only partially joking. No pup wants to hear what their kiwa’ase are doing, even if they’re well past old enough to know what happens when they’re alone.
Ce works on shucking the clams for thon to eat. Thon can do it, but it’s easier to be helped. Thon doesn’t need to shuck them without a hand, when thon has a kiwa to do it instead.
“What I’m saying, i’itse—” thons ear does not twitch up at the nickname— “is you can be stubborn. Just as stubborn as Shipbait, if not more. You can’t let xem forget that.
“It’s your alu’ekia, your alu’ewanuxa, just as much as it’s xyrs. No matter who came first, no matter how many you are, your voice holds power, just like in any other ewanuxa, pup.”
Thon puts thons eating hand in thons mouth, to clean it. Grumbles.
“It’s not an ewanuxa, it’s an ianu’ekia. Moon has a whole ewanuxa in thons body, we’re only four.”
wanuxalu (wah-new-ha-loo): matriarch/leader, can refer to any matriarch in the pack [ewanuxa (pack, family) + a’alu (soul)]
kiwa (ki-wah): neutral word for parent, parent not involved in the pup’s creation
alu’ianu (ah-loo-ia-an-new): soul-sibling(s)/little soul-family, a word for headmates/alters [a’alu (soul) + i’anu (sibling)]
alu’ekia (a-loo-eh-key-ah): system of four, Shipful’s system [a’alu (soul) + kia’i (four)]
Moon nearly touching foreheads with Lifetaker as thon drifts over xem, locs and white dress following thons arc. Xe’s a bit surprised to see thon, since thon doesn’t often go swimming. Thons skin is dark: still lightest near thons face and darkest at thons feet, but Moon’s lightest skintone is a deep green (pine green), and the darkest colour is a shade of blue I struggled with. Also I gave thon three moon phase tattoos down thons arm.
Since they live on a ship powered by the wind, and can live off the ocean (they can’t get scurvy), packmates can come from any continent, so Ewanuxa Tsakitsuei’auxosaxo’ol is much more diverse than the Frostwood pack (Ewanuxa Kasetskauonat). Okay look I just wanted to draw more skintone variations and also locs. And I didn’t know what Moon looked like, so thon was the perfect character for this.
Anyway, Moon’s mewa is from the continent Hesund, and nir ship tends to stay in that area. Etola’axanu packs are more mobile than na’axanu ones, because they live on boats (which we all know are a mode of transportation)
Conlang Translations:
Mewa (meh-wah): parent who carried the prengancy, dam-parent. The extended/formal form is “memowarur”
Etola’axanu: mimrens/mimic sirens, water speaking people [etotat (water, droplet) + lalat (speak) + axanu (people)]
Na’axanu: mimzoms/mimic zombies, echo people [na’at (echo) + axanu (people)]
Shipful’s family sleeping on a beige background, digital art. This is right after the first haircut argument, so their hair is to their shoulders, and they’re sandwiched between Moon and Lifetaker. Wreckwarning is holding Moonseer, vir pup, and eir hand is holding virs. Knowledgekeeper is on nir own, and so is Findship, who has one eye open. Moonknower is between them and Lifetaker, and is visibly a hybrid: with a strange eye marking and more mimzom nostrils—between aer eyes and mouth instead of at eyebrow height.
Shipful has siblings who aren’t headmates, which is something I did not think of before I drew this. Moonseer (Moon + Wreckwarning) & Moonknower (Moon + Knowledgekeeper) aren’t the only two pups in the five-marriage, but I struggled to draw this collection of sleeping people, so let’s all pretend they’re awake, alright? (Shipful = Findship + Wreckwarning, but they asked Lifetaker for a collective name when they realized they were like Moon, so Shipwreck and Shipbait became Shipful)
Moonseer is cute way of saying prophet, I think, so it’s a pun. Technically Wreckwarning’s name is Wreckseer—the word shared with Moonseer means that—but I like the alliteration. Moon’s collective name is Ikatomuzen, literally “Moonpeace/balance,” but the point of it is meant to be simplicity, so I just say “Moon.”
Fun fact! The entire reason I drew this was to confirm that mimren pups have smaller flippers. And I forgot they sleep in hammocks. Because they live on a ship.
Moon’s Naming System, Shipful’s Naming System, and Axanu Lelata:
Moon’s name is ikatomu (moon) + zeno (balance, equilibrium). The word “zeno” (balance, peace) is related to “zose” (is, that, equals) through “zenotse” (fair, even, equality/equity)
Every name in thons alu’ewanuxa uses Ikatomuzen as its root: Ikatomuzenisemyen (Moonlight) and Ikatomuzenikinetoxalu (Moondweller), for example. Ikatomuzenoyenekoma’atsu (Moonknowers) and Ikatomuzenikenetsu (Moondrifters) are kxi’alu (parts, alters) aligned with Moonlight and Moondweller, because thon developed a system of primary and secondary names once thons headcount got too big.
Secondary names are collective names for kxi’alu’etsu who are aligned with older kxi’alu. They have nicknames, but not traditional names. A lot of them are based on mythological figures or characters from stories, so they do get called “alu nem nālam” (souls of stories).
Nem Rrutekoskrrakata, for example, is a spirit-god named Stormbite: a trickster who eats ships, but can be reasoned with. Its personal interpretation of its source is that it’s one of Death’s kxi’alu (death is plural because it comes in many forms).
Shipful is auetokurrasa (ship) + ikenaune (full, to fill a container). Etokurrasa’ikenaun.
Shipwreck is Etokurrasaksenak (break), Shipbait is Etokurrasazezunolewo (out-think/confuse prey), Shiplight is Etokurrasa’isemyen (know light)… you get the idea. Only the first part of their collective name is used as the root.
(next to many whales/dolphins pack) (Shipful’s pack)
conlang terms for plurality, cute family moments, sibling arguments, and my aversion to drawing boats. Mostly art about Shipful, maybe a couple little stories about them, their alu’ianu (soul-siblings: system/alters), and their packmates. More “snippets/slice of life” than “chronological storyline”
My conlang terms for plurality are free for anyone who wants to use them, and constructive criticism about how I handle my plural characters is welcome (I’m learning as I go)
DON’T BRING PLURAL DISCOURSE HERE. (You’re all just collections of people to me, as I’m just queer to someone who’s cis/het/allo. Be respectful or leave.)
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Art & Rambles (order of posting)
First Drawing of Lifetaker & Shipful (Shipbait)
Redraw & Haircut Argument Doodle (baby Shipful!!)
Bait/Hunting (would you risk being eaten?)
Forehead Touch!
Mimic Hair! (And the solution to Shipwreck’s headache)
