5th Time Stacker Read Aloud

June 2016
==Text==
Stacker hasn't been a Ranger for over a month and, apparently, has been getting underfoot for long enough. 
"Have a baby," says Acting Marshal Lo, depositing Fei Yen in his arms. 
Fei Yen gurgles happily and grabs at his nose. 
Stacker deftly dodges the attack. 「What?」
Fei Yen giggles, tries again. 
"Your Japanese is getting better!" Tugs a keycard attached to the snuggy. "Combination to the Marshal's quarters—"
Stacker lifts his head out of range, thinks 'Cantonese'. 「What?」
"Still Japanese." Nang sneaks out from under the shoulder strap. "—and diaper bag." 
Doesn't stop Fei Yen from trying. 
"Marshal and Hubby are on date and now you can put Fei Yen to bed. She likes cloth books at the beginning so she can make blankets out of them and finish with a board book. Three max." Nang stoops to Fei Yen level (which doesn't require much stooping), smiles more genuinely. "You don't like books sitting down, do you?" 
Fei Yen burbles. 
Nang straightens. "So be sure to lie down before you start or she'll wail." 
Fei Yen tries chewing Stacker's thumb.
Stacker adjusts his arms. 
"Bedtime's nineteen-thirty. Snacks are in the fridge; help yourself. Her bottle's in there, too; get it to temperature in boiling water. Microwave it and I'll drip water in your ears. Marshal should be back around twenty-one hundred. Bye now!" Nang closes the door to LOCCENT in his face. 
Stacker blinks. 
Fei Yen boops herself in the nose with her foot. 
"Onward, I guess." He wanders down to the Marshal's quarters, unlocks the door, and steps inside. 
This's weird. 
Stacker pries an arm away from Fei Yen (she's in a snuggy, she won't fall), takes off his boots. "Shall we get something to read?" 
Fei Yen's trying to eat her fist. 
"Okay." Stacker tiptoes deeper into the suite. 
Fei Yen's door's painted like a stylized city map, complete with two-D buildings. Flat Jaeger magnets patrol the wide streets with butterflies, cars, the odd constellations—and there, flanked by Gemini, a collection of stars he doesn't recognize, and the hanzi for 'dog', is /Coyote /Tango. 
Stacker swallows, slides open the door. 
The lights flick on; Fei Yen makes grabby hands for the lower shelves of her bookcase. 
""Ranger Pentecost.""
Stacker totally doesn't almost drop Fei Yen but he does put her down gently. "AGNIS?"
Fei Yen scoots over alarmingly fast and gleefully yanks out books. 
""Why are you here with Mx Xiong?""
"I'm babysitting?"
""Officer Lo is babysitting.""
"Officer Lo stuck me with F—Mx Xiong? About ten minutes ago? In LOCCENT?"
""Confirming.""
Stacker sighs, 'okay, then', folds himself down beside Fei Yen. 
She beams, vocalizes 'happy' (or 'you're here!', he's not sure), and waves a book in his general direction. 
""The modification to the duty roster has been noted. Good evening, Ranger.""
Stacker looks at Fei Yen, points to himself. "Night, AGNIS." 
A closing chime. 
Fei Yen drops the book in his lap. 
Stacker clears his throat. "Thank you." 
Fei Yen smiles a gap-toothed smile, pats a pile of more books. 
"All of these?" 
Fei Yen tilts her head.
"All of these." Stacker pushes them into a stack, rolls Fei Yen on top, and scoops the lot up. "And you like to read lying down."
Fei Yen giggles against his chest. 
Stacker pokes his head into the Marshal's room. 
This is really weird. 
Stacker leaves quickly. "Couch it is." 
Fei Yen giggles harder. 
Stacker arranges the throw pillow and lies down. 
Slightly less weird, but [it] still feels overwhelmingly like creeping around his friend's parent's bedroom. 
Fei Yen thumps his chest, squawks a sound starting with something 'N'-ish. 
"Not 'down' enough?" 
Another squawk. 
"Up we go." He sits, shuffles over a cushion, pulls it off with his free hand. 
A sofa bed. 
Fiiiine. 
Fei Yen and books on an easy chair, Fei Yen beside the books on an easy chair, sofa bed into a ... bed sofa. 
"Better?" 
Fei Yen waves her legs. 
Stacker picks her up, deposits her in the middle of the bed sofa—much to her delight—gathers the books, and lies down. "Let's see, what've we got ...." Shuffles the pile. "Cloth books ... 'Peek-a-Boo'—it has puppets!" Looks at Fei Yen. "Can I read this one?"
Fei Yen gurgles. 
>where do I have this written?<
After one page, she takes the book away and gives him another. 
He reads a page of it; she replaces it. 
One of the triplets shows up. 
Stacker gets through the first page of the third book and Fei Yen gives him back the first book. 
A second triplet peers in, grins, takes a running start for the bed—
Stacker attempts a 'Look'. 
Second Triplet's face falls; his vector changes slightly and he sails over the corner of the bed sofa and crashes to the floor. 
Stacker picks up the book. 
Second Triplet jumps to his feet, dusts himself off. 
As Stacker reads the second page, 
Second Triplet makes himself comfortable at the end of the bed. 
Fei Yen offers the first book. 
Miss Mori and Max ask to join them. 
Stacker reads from the first book; Fei Yen gives him the third book. 
A third triplet wanders in. 
Stacker picks up from where he left off in the third book, Fei Yen gives him the second book. 
Chuck storms in, but Max won't leave so he grudgingly makes himself comfortable. 
Stacker and Fei Yen's 'game' continues until two of the books are finished, at which point it's time for Fei Yen's bottle which Stacker was going to prepare but Cheung’s already got it perfect. 
Tamsin appears. 
Stacker reads the third book while Fei Yen's feeding and then she falls asleep and he doesn't want to wake her by moving and then he realizes pretty much everyone's fallen asleep.
Li-hua and her husband return an hour later to find two adults, one infant, one dog, two preteens, and one triplet asleep on the sofa bed and another two triplets asleep in the easy chairs.
「This is our life now,」 sighs Li-hua.
Husband squeezes her hand. 「At least they're cute,」 he offers, going in search of blankets.
Li-hua concedes.
They each tuck in a triplet, then Li-hua gathers Fei Yen, Husband floats a blanket down on the sofa bed, and then they head to bed.
==Notes==
The onset of reduplicated babbling typically occurs when the infant is about 6 months old. (Stark, 1980). The hallmark of this stage is a long string of nigh-uniform consonant-vowel syllables whose timing bears a much greater resemblance to adult speech than the infant's productions thus far (Stark, 1980). Her use of velar stops has decreased considerably—they may disappear from her production repitoire completely for some time—and she produces consonant-like sounds at the front of her mouth, such as /m, n, p/, or /d/ (Hoff, 2013). Her vocalizations show the first signs of language-specific characteristics, though at this point, the effect is only obvious to phoneticians as only vowels and suprasegmental factors are affected, though by the time an infant is 8 months, a typical adult may be able to distinguish two infants babbling in different target languages (Goodluck, 2001).
Between seven and eight months, children begin to grasp the concept of a dialogue by playing "games of exchange" (Clark, 2009); an infant will give an object to a playmate and then replace it with another.
== Sources ==
alighterwithlove (2014). Out of Alignment. Retrieved from http://alighterwithlove.tumblr.com/post/93515234828/apocalypsecanceled-asked-cheungstacker-stacker
Clark, Eve. (2003, 2009). First Language Acquisition. Cambridge University Press.
duvallon (2014). Seriously though someone talk to me about mako -> cheung -> stacker. Retrieved from http://duvallon.tumblr.com/post/90728485038/seriously-though-someone-talk-to-me-about-mako
duvallon (2014). Cheung/Stacker - onesided crush. Retrieved from http://duvallon.tumblr.com/post/92612294823/cheungstacker-onesided-crush-where-cheung
Gillen, Julia (2003:74 (e87)). The Language of Children. London: Routledge.
Category:Ficlet
Category:5 Times Stacker Read Aloud (Plus 1 Time Someone Read to Him)
Category:Stacker
Category:Stacker (ficlet)
Category:Nang
Category:Nang (ficlet)
Category:Fei Yen
Category:Fei Yen (ficlet)
Category:Coyote Tango (mention)
Category:AGNIS
Category:AGNIS (ficlet)
Category:Stacker learns Japanese
Category:Work in Progress
Category:Ficlets with images