Oh, my goodness, writers on child language acquisition, why can't you just agree and write a nice little list of the order in which children learn to produce simple/complex/compound sentences? I feel that I am trying to draw conclusions on a tiny platform perched on top of a wobbly pole in a high wind.
On the plus side, I dreamt last night that I was in a
ménage à trois relationship with David Mitchell and Robert Webb. Thanks, subconscious!
I probably won't be able to answer the rest of the questions from the
character-number meme of a month or so ago (remember that?) until after May, but, just to prove that I haven't forgotten about it entirely, the answer to a question from
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nevcolleil:
Dean Winchester, David Mitchell, Yuna, and the Master are the only people left on the planet. How do they handle being all that's left of civilization?The Master, of course, was the one who destroyed the rest of civilisation in the first place. He is sitting with his feet up on a desk somewhere, smirking smugly and occasionally broadcasting unsettling messages to every radio and television in the world, just to play with the possible survivors. Yuna and Mitchell are appropriately unsettled; Yuna especially so, as her first reaction upon hearing the broadcast was delight at the possibility that someone else might be alive before she realised that the message was hostile. All Dean cares about is what the messages can tell them about what they're dealing with.
Dean tries to stay focused on finding the son of a bitch who did this and not to think too much about the fact that he wasn't able to
stop it. He is more successful at deceiving his two companions than he is at deceiving himself.
Yuna is surprisingly optimistic, or at least she tries to appear so outwardly. They may be the only ones left, but, so long as there's
someone left, there's hope. She's not quite as certain of this as she would like to be, but she keeps smiling for the sake of the other survivors.
(One night, Mitchell wakes and realises that Yuna is crying; he hesitates, wondering whether he should try to talk to her, but he knows he's terrible at being comforting, and eventually he just closes his eyes again and tries, unsuccessfully, to go back to sleep.)
David Mitchell spends quite a lot of time thinking about the fact that, as Yuna appears to be the only woman left, perhaps they should try to impregnate her in an attempt to keep the human race alive. He's far too embarrassed to actually bring the subject up, though. As Dean is obviously flirting with her, perhaps he won't have to. Really, they should both try to father children, in order to ensure that the gene pool retains at least a
tiny bit of variation and thus reduce the chances that their efforts will be scuppered within two generations by horrible genetic diseases, but he can't even
consider suggesting that aloud; it would be absolutely mortifying.
Some part of him hates himself for remaining constrained by the chains of embarrassment imposed by society even when the society that imposed his mental restraints has disappeared. Really, the future of the human race should matter more than meaningless social convention, but he cannot overcome his fear of awkwardness. (He also hates himself for the possibility that he might just want sex and be trying to justify it.)
I like this question because it makes me think about the possibility of David Mitchell/Yuna as a pairing, which I think could be bizarrely adorable. Yuna isn't a particular wit, and so I don't imagine she would make a great bantering partner for Mitchell, but she's intelligent and brave and lovely, and, whilst Mitchell might underestimate her at first, in the face of adversity I think he could be a bit awed by her strength of character. For her part, I think she'd rather like Mitchell. I think he would make her giggle a lot. THIS MENTAL IMAGE IS SO CUTE I CAN BARELY COPE.
(On the subject of women who
could make good bantering partners for Mitchell: David Mitchell/Donna Noble? I'd read it.)
