Babble On (Mythklok Interstitial)
Jul. 5th, 2011 02:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tikificTitle: Babble On (Mythklok Interstitial)
Author: tikistitch
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Language acquisition
Warnings: Slash, AU, OCs
Notes: This was sort of for Tam, as I sometimes feel I neglect Toki. Also, yeah, I know, cliffhanger. I got most of the next chapter written, so I’m gonna try and get it posted this week. Trying to close out a job, so it’s been a little busy here.
Children tend to acquire language in a predictable pattern. They first form words, and then, having a sufficient vocabulary, will string words along in small sentences. If you cared to ask him, and had sufficient time to kill in withstanding the undoubtedly erudite answer, Ganesh could probably point you to a number of scholarly papers on the subject, all of which he had read and committed to memory upon the acquisition of a small test subject of his very own.
Elias, the test subject in question, who was an unusual being in many ways, seemed to have miraculously leapfrogged over this stage and gone straight from repeating simple words to essaying entire passages, amazing multiword pronouncements that seemed well beyond his years.
The trouble was, at least to Charles, that the pronouncements tended to sound something like, "Dada, sassafras quotidian elixir geothermal dada!" Charles could not quote scholarly theories of language development; however, he rather detested mysteries. In addition, to be honest, he was a bit of a hypochondriac by proxy, always inflating his beloved son’s most banal burps and twitches into terrible childhood maladies as yet undocumented by idiot scientists.
And so, Charles found this state of affairs troubling.
As a matter of redress, he first turned to Ganesh, whom he found annoyingly sanguine on the matter. In fact, Ganesh’s first utterance, “I’m certain everything will sort itself in time,” hardly inspired confidence in his parental earnestness.
“I just wanna know what the kid is saying! What if it’s important?”
“He probably wishes to express his preference for his Lelefun toy over that angel thing,” Ganesh joked. But, seeing his partner’s relatively murderous expression, he decided it might be a good idea to at least feign concern.
"All right, let us try an alternative!” Ganesh proposed. “Boonie," he said, sitting himself down in front of his son.
Elias smiled, eyes wide as pie plates. "Baap!"
"Hindi, beta?"
"Baap," said Boon, and then he was off.
"So?" said Charles, who spoke rather less Hindi than his toddler.
"Er. Sounded like 'Daddy, vermillion redoubtable funicular bungee daddy?'"
"So it's....."
"A bit of glossolalia, yes," said Ganesh definitively, as he stood, lifting Elias at the same time.
"Which is a medical term meaning, let me guess, babble?" asked Charles, who was now madly gripping the bridge of his nose, that it would not explode from sheer frustration.
"Er, more or less," Ganesh admitted.
"Baap!" giggled Elias.
"Are you gonna tell me this is a phase?" asked Charles, his eyes narrowing.
"Well, more or less."
"I'm so glad we have a qualified medical professional in the family,” Charles grumbled, snatching up his grinning son.
“You realize, this anomaly might possibly be related to his prior acquisition of some Common Angelic,” Ganesh theorized. “Perhaps-“
“Common Angelic?” asked Charles.
“Well, yes, but-“
“I gotta idea,” Charles told Elias, stalking off. He ended up in his office, where he plonked Elias down on his desk and hit his speed dial. “Raziel!”
“Yeah?” came a voice over the speaker. “Be quick! It’s time to wash the tiger.”
“Wantie Was!” burbled Elias.
“How’s my best baby?” she cooed.
“Raziel. You gotta tell me what he’s saying.”
“Eh. Probably that he wants peanut butter or needs to be changed.”
“No! Ask him in Common!”
“Haven’t you picked up Common yet? Even your kid speaks it!”
“Raziel, just ask!”
“OK. Boon-Boon!” she said.
“Wantie!” he giggled.
“Common, Little Brother?”
“Sis!” was all Charles recognized, and then some Angelic patter.
“So?” he asked.
“Uh,” said Raziel. “Did you guys by any chance order a chocolate fire hydrant? Or are you telephones eating ice cream?”
“No. Neither.”
“Then, no clue.”
“Gods damn it!”
“Muddafukka!” cooed Elias helpfully.
“What’s the DEAL?” asked Nathan, as he watched Charles stalk distractedly along the corridors of Mordhaus, his son in tow.
“Nate-Nate!” cooed Elias.
“My kid is talking, but I can’t tell what the fuck he’s saying!”
“Oh. He’s just BABBLING,” suggested Nathan as he hoisted the kid.
“What does everybody know this but me?” Charles grumbled as they made their way to the media room, where Toki sat cheerily knitting something.
“Nate-Nate,” said Elias, and then something about watermelons and hydrangeas.
“Uhhhhh,” said Nathan. “Did we forget to simonize our unicorns?”
“I thought he wants us to investigate penumbras,” Charles sighed.
“He ams says dat dere ams da architectural faults in dis parts of Mordhaus,” Toki said.
“What?” demanded Charles as Nathan handed off Elias to the guitarist.
“Tok!” said Elias, who then rattled off what seemed to be a list of relief pitchers for the Dodgers.
“Oh, ja. Boom says it ams not safes here,” Toki told them. “Da retainsing wall ams not properly engineered.”
Nathan and Charles looked at each other. Charles grabbed his phone. “Ganesh? I need to talk to some of your engineers. Now.”
“So, approximately how long will that portion of Mordhaus be under repair?” Ganesh inquired as Dethklok made themselves at home in his media room.
“Your engineers figure pretty quick. Like a week,” said Charles, bouncing Elias on a hip.
“Hrm. Better restock the beer, cinnamon buns and pornography then,” Ganesh noted, heading for the kitchen.
“How the fuck did Boon know?” Charles asked, following after him.
“Oh, I was showing him some architectural drawings and explaining the process. He obviously gathered quite a lot from our chat.”
“You picked that up from some blueprints?” Charles asked Elias, who was currently trying on a cinnamon bun as a beret.
“Dada!” Elias agreed.
“My question,” said Ganesh, “is how Toki was able to interpret his speech, when we had all failed?”
“You are wondering how my guys are able to do stuff? Really?” asked Charles.
Ganesh blinked. “You’re right. Silly question. Shall we make martinis?”
“Shakastir!” agreed Elias.
“Not for you. You’re wearing a pastry as a hat,” scolded Charles.
“So was William,” Ganesh noted.
“Dada, redoubtable geothermal!” Elias told Charles, handing him the delicious and stylish headwear.
“Yeah, you make a lot of sense, kid,” Charles told him, taking a bite of cinnamon bun hat.
Author: tikistitch
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Language acquisition
Warnings: Slash, AU, OCs
Notes: This was sort of for Tam, as I sometimes feel I neglect Toki. Also, yeah, I know, cliffhanger. I got most of the next chapter written, so I’m gonna try and get it posted this week. Trying to close out a job, so it’s been a little busy here.
Children tend to acquire language in a predictable pattern. They first form words, and then, having a sufficient vocabulary, will string words along in small sentences. If you cared to ask him, and had sufficient time to kill in withstanding the undoubtedly erudite answer, Ganesh could probably point you to a number of scholarly papers on the subject, all of which he had read and committed to memory upon the acquisition of a small test subject of his very own.
Elias, the test subject in question, who was an unusual being in many ways, seemed to have miraculously leapfrogged over this stage and gone straight from repeating simple words to essaying entire passages, amazing multiword pronouncements that seemed well beyond his years.
The trouble was, at least to Charles, that the pronouncements tended to sound something like, "Dada, sassafras quotidian elixir geothermal dada!" Charles could not quote scholarly theories of language development; however, he rather detested mysteries. In addition, to be honest, he was a bit of a hypochondriac by proxy, always inflating his beloved son’s most banal burps and twitches into terrible childhood maladies as yet undocumented by idiot scientists.
And so, Charles found this state of affairs troubling.
As a matter of redress, he first turned to Ganesh, whom he found annoyingly sanguine on the matter. In fact, Ganesh’s first utterance, “I’m certain everything will sort itself in time,” hardly inspired confidence in his parental earnestness.
“I just wanna know what the kid is saying! What if it’s important?”
“He probably wishes to express his preference for his Lelefun toy over that angel thing,” Ganesh joked. But, seeing his partner’s relatively murderous expression, he decided it might be a good idea to at least feign concern.
"All right, let us try an alternative!” Ganesh proposed. “Boonie," he said, sitting himself down in front of his son.
Elias smiled, eyes wide as pie plates. "Baap!"
"Hindi, beta?"
"Baap," said Boon, and then he was off.
"So?" said Charles, who spoke rather less Hindi than his toddler.
"Er. Sounded like 'Daddy, vermillion redoubtable funicular bungee daddy?'"
"So it's....."
"A bit of glossolalia, yes," said Ganesh definitively, as he stood, lifting Elias at the same time.
"Which is a medical term meaning, let me guess, babble?" asked Charles, who was now madly gripping the bridge of his nose, that it would not explode from sheer frustration.
"Er, more or less," Ganesh admitted.
"Baap!" giggled Elias.
"Are you gonna tell me this is a phase?" asked Charles, his eyes narrowing.
"Well, more or less."
"I'm so glad we have a qualified medical professional in the family,” Charles grumbled, snatching up his grinning son.
“You realize, this anomaly might possibly be related to his prior acquisition of some Common Angelic,” Ganesh theorized. “Perhaps-“
“Common Angelic?” asked Charles.
“Well, yes, but-“
“I gotta idea,” Charles told Elias, stalking off. He ended up in his office, where he plonked Elias down on his desk and hit his speed dial. “Raziel!”
“Yeah?” came a voice over the speaker. “Be quick! It’s time to wash the tiger.”
“Wantie Was!” burbled Elias.
“How’s my best baby?” she cooed.
“Raziel. You gotta tell me what he’s saying.”
“Eh. Probably that he wants peanut butter or needs to be changed.”
“No! Ask him in Common!”
“Haven’t you picked up Common yet? Even your kid speaks it!”
“Raziel, just ask!”
“OK. Boon-Boon!” she said.
“Wantie!” he giggled.
“Common, Little Brother?”
“Sis!” was all Charles recognized, and then some Angelic patter.
“So?” he asked.
“Uh,” said Raziel. “Did you guys by any chance order a chocolate fire hydrant? Or are you telephones eating ice cream?”
“No. Neither.”
“Then, no clue.”
“Gods damn it!”
“Muddafukka!” cooed Elias helpfully.
“What’s the DEAL?” asked Nathan, as he watched Charles stalk distractedly along the corridors of Mordhaus, his son in tow.
“Nate-Nate!” cooed Elias.
“My kid is talking, but I can’t tell what the fuck he’s saying!”
“Oh. He’s just BABBLING,” suggested Nathan as he hoisted the kid.
“What does everybody know this but me?” Charles grumbled as they made their way to the media room, where Toki sat cheerily knitting something.
“Nate-Nate,” said Elias, and then something about watermelons and hydrangeas.
“Uhhhhh,” said Nathan. “Did we forget to simonize our unicorns?”
“I thought he wants us to investigate penumbras,” Charles sighed.
“He ams says dat dere ams da architectural faults in dis parts of Mordhaus,” Toki said.
“What?” demanded Charles as Nathan handed off Elias to the guitarist.
“Tok!” said Elias, who then rattled off what seemed to be a list of relief pitchers for the Dodgers.
“Oh, ja. Boom says it ams not safes here,” Toki told them. “Da retainsing wall ams not properly engineered.”
Nathan and Charles looked at each other. Charles grabbed his phone. “Ganesh? I need to talk to some of your engineers. Now.”
“So, approximately how long will that portion of Mordhaus be under repair?” Ganesh inquired as Dethklok made themselves at home in his media room.
“Your engineers figure pretty quick. Like a week,” said Charles, bouncing Elias on a hip.
“Hrm. Better restock the beer, cinnamon buns and pornography then,” Ganesh noted, heading for the kitchen.
“How the fuck did Boon know?” Charles asked, following after him.
“Oh, I was showing him some architectural drawings and explaining the process. He obviously gathered quite a lot from our chat.”
“You picked that up from some blueprints?” Charles asked Elias, who was currently trying on a cinnamon bun as a beret.
“Dada!” Elias agreed.
“My question,” said Ganesh, “is how Toki was able to interpret his speech, when we had all failed?”
“You are wondering how my guys are able to do stuff? Really?” asked Charles.
Ganesh blinked. “You’re right. Silly question. Shall we make martinis?”
“Shakastir!” agreed Elias.
“Not for you. You’re wearing a pastry as a hat,” scolded Charles.
“So was William,” Ganesh noted.
“Dada, redoubtable geothermal!” Elias told Charles, handing him the delicious and stylish headwear.
“Yeah, you make a lot of sense, kid,” Charles told him, taking a bite of cinnamon bun hat.
