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sid_guardian2024-05-05 11:46 am
china_shop) wrote in sid_guardian2024-05-05 11:46 am
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Picspam: Da Qing talking to kittens!
trobadora already did a gorgeous Da Qing picspam; I want to focus on just one particular aspect of his character: talking to kittens!Episode 14, 38:33 in an alley, being spied on by Cong Bo.
I told you many times, don't touch that rubbish. The cat is the most superior creature in the food chain. We should always maintain our elegance and pride. This way, people will come to ingratiate you.
我跟你们说了多少次了那么脏的垃圾少去碰猫 是食物链上最顶层的 我们要时候保持着优雅和骄傲这样才会有人类来献殷勤
By the way, have you ever heard of Kunlun?
顺便问一句你们有没有听说过昆仑这个名字
As the king of the cats, I can't even handle a few stray cats? How come I can't speak cat language?
我堂堂猫界霸王连几只野猫也搞定不了为何我不会说猫语啊
Episode 16, 19:50 in a park, gathering info for the Bao Laosan case.
As expected, it didn't work. Did I know how to speak cat language before? Why can't I remember at all? I'm forgetting things more and more.
果然不行我之前会说猫语吗怎么完全也记不起来了怎么忘记的东西越来越多了
Questions
- When Da Qing schools the alley kittens and asks them about Kunlun, does he expect them to understand him? Does he think he'll be able to make sense of their replies?
- Standing there in patched and worn overalls, he tells them cats should maintain their elegance and pride. What does he really mean by this principle?
- Does he talk to adult cats, too? If not, is it because he's ashamed of his language loss and doesn't want to lose face, or for some other reason?
- When Da Qing miaows at Shen Wei in the street in episode 34, is he speaking actual Cat? Maybe a single word or phrase he remembers without realising?
- If Da Qing used to speak Cat, does that mean Ya Qing can speak Crow and Fourth Uncle can speak Snake? Do you think Yashou treat their non-Yashou counterparts as lesser or just different? How do Flower Yashou feel about salad?
- Any other thoughts about Da Qing speaking Cat? Any fanworks showing him talking to kittens? Self-recs welcome!
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When Da Qing schools the alley kittens and asks them about Kunlun, does he expect them to understand him? Does he think he'll be able to make sense of their replies?
If he didn’t bring up Kunlun, I would have said no. Telling animals not to touch certain things is something even humans do all the time. But he does ask about Kunlun – maybe he’s giving it a try, just in case? He doesn't seem surprised the cats don’t understand him, only dismayed.
Standing there in patched and worn overalls, he tells them cats should maintain their elegance and pride. What does he really mean by this principle?
Eating trash doesn’t meet the standard, but the overalls do. So is it more about behavior than appearance? Makes sense for cats(especially non-yashou), since they don’t usually wear clothes. Pride is the heart of the matter here, I think.
If Da Qing used to speak Cat, does that mean Ya Qing can speak Crow and Fourth Uncle can speak Snake? Do you think Yashou treat their non-Yashou counterparts as lesser or just different? How do Flower Yashou feel about salad?
That would be logical, wouldn’t it? And yet we get exactly zero information in canon XD
I like to think they do anyway.
Humans are not in agreement whether other species are lesser or just different either – maybe the Yashou are also divided on this issue?
The salad question is going to haunt me from now on.
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I know! *pets him*
Ha, good point about telling animals not to touch things.
But he does ask about Kunlun – maybe he’s giving it a try, just in case? He doesn't seem surprised the cats don’t understand him, only dismayed.
Yeah. I feel like if he were really seriously looking for information, he should try older, more street-wise cats, instead of hapless kittens.
Pride is the heart of the matter here, I think.
That makes a lot of sense. Cats! :D
That would be logical, wouldn’t it? And yet we get exactly zero information in canon XD
I like to think they do anyway.
It does imply that regular crows, snakes, etc. have pretty advanced intelligence in Haixing. I wonder what they make of their weird, shapeshifting were-cousins. *g*
The salad question is going to haunt me from now on.
Hee! Sorry! :D
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Personally, I like to think that maybe Da Qing feels a bit responsible for the stray kittens. Like he needs to be a good role model for them or something, they're impressionable. So that's why he keeps talking to them instead of adult cats. He might have a more complicated relationship with adult cats.
I don't think he necessarily expects any answers. I sure used to talk to cats a lot and never expected them to say much in return. :) Sometimes you just need someone to talk to.
But I also find it entirely plausible that there's no such thing as a cat language and Da Qing at some point just blatantly lied to Zhao Xinci and then forgot that. And then when Zhao Xinci mentions Da Qing being able to talk to cats it it makes Da Qing think he should be able to understand cats even when he never actually did.
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OMG!!!!! I love that theory, this is amazing. :D :D :D
(But also, aw, poor Da Qing for not remembering!)
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Right? Or pre-canon. He might be the sole remaining member of the Cat Tribe, but he can still hang out with other cats in cat form...
Personally, I like to think that maybe Da Qing feels a bit responsible for the stray kittens. Like he needs to be a good role model for them or something, they're impressionable.
Oh, I love that. And yeah, adult cats might be less willing to acknowledge his status as King of the Cats. ;-)
But I also find it entirely plausible that there's no such thing as a cat language and Da Qing at some point just blatantly lied to Zhao Xinci and then forgot that.
Ahahaha, that's amazing! I love it! :D :D :D
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When Da Qing schools the alley kittens and asks them about Kunlun, does he expect them to understand him? Does he think he'll be able to make sense of their replies?
I don't think so? I think he's mostly talking to himself when it comes to Kunlun. Why would tiny kittens know about Kunlun? Even if he could actually talk to them - they're babies!
Standing there in patched and worn overalls, he tells them cats should maintain their elegance and pride. What does he really mean by this principle?
优雅 is grace, not elegance - and I think clothes figure into that for a cat. *g* It's not about appearance, anyway, I'd say it's about cats' inherent dignity. If that makes sense?
Does he talk to adult cats, too? If not, is it because he's ashamed of his language loss and doesn't want to lose face, or for some other reason?
Hmmm. It's really interesting that we only see him with kittens! He probably feels protective of them.
When Da Qing miaows at Shen Wei in the street in episode 34, is he speaking actual Cat? Maybe a single word or phrase he remembers without realising?
It sounds to me pretty much the same as when he meowed at Zhao Yunlan to wake him up in episode, which was before he remembered anything. So I don't think so.
If Da Qing used to speak Cat, does that mean Ya Qing can speak Crow and Fourth Uncle can speak Snake? Do you think Yashou treat their non-Yashou counterparts as lesser or just different? How do Flower Yashou feel about salad?
OMG!!!!!
I always wonder what "speaking Cat" entails, since I don't think we're supposed to assume that Haixing animals all have human-like intelligence. *g* But yeah, if Da Qing could speak Cat then it stands to reason that Ya Qing should be able to understand Crow etc. Can Flower Yashou communicate with plants???? That sounds like it would be useful.
The lesser or different question - I guess it'd be similar to how humans look at apes, and varies between individuals.
As for the salad question, I guess it depends on whether Flower Yashou can be all kinds of plants, or only some. If it's only some, they probably feel different about other kinds of plants. The other Yashou are only a few specific animals; maybe it's similar with Flower Yashou?
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Yeah, that makes sense. I guess it's compressed story-telling -- a scene where we see Cong Bo spying, get the character note of Da Qing talking to kittens, AND we find out Da Qing is thinking about Kunlun but can't remember. *pets him*
'd say it's about cats' inherent dignity. If that makes sense?
Oh, yes, that makes so much sense!
It sounds to me pretty much the same as when he meowed at Zhao Yunlan to wake him up in episode
It might sound the same to our uneducated-in-Cat-speak ears... *g* I thought maybe some of the more obvious stuff might have stuck, even without him realising what it is.
But yeah, if Da Qing could speak Cat then it stands to reason that Ya Qing should be able to understand Crow etc. Can Flower Yashou communicate with plants???? That sounds like it would be useful.
Idk, I don't know how much plants really have to say. Maybe lots, or maybe they just talk about the weather. *g*
As for the salad question, I guess it depends on whether Flower Yashou can be all kinds of plants, or only some. If it's only some, they probably feel different about other kinds of plants.
Or maybe eating plants is different than eating animals anyway -- it's not like the whole plant dies when you pluck a leaf or a fruit...
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Oh, I wonder how much influence they might have on the environment they live in if they're living in a forest.
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Oh, I wonder how much influence they might have on the environment they live in if they're living in a forest.
Ooh, that's a very cool thought! :D ETA: It inspired me to write a little Yashou legend:
The Yashou Story of Ye Guiren, as written by Fu You
Ye Guiren, great-great-great-grandfather of half the Flower Tribe saplings, no longer enjoyed being in human form. Knees and spine had grown knotted and gnarled, and the quick movements of hands and tongue might as well have been leaf flutters in an autumn breeze. When his favourite great-granddaughter came to invite him to her grandson’s wedding, he creaked a stiff bough and transformed barely enough to say, “My dear, I’m far too old for festivities. Let me be.”
His great-great-granddaughter, weathered by the years and scarred by a lightning strike, but still active in the daily life of the tribe, sighed. Tears glistened in her teak-coloured eyes. “Who will bless the bride and groom if not you?”
It was sadness but not reproach, and Ye Guiren didn’t reply, absorbed in a different, wordless communion through the thirsty roots he’d dug deep into the earth and the hungry branches reaching for sunlight.
But later—that night, or the next week, or maybe the next full moon, he remembered her soft lament, and a seed of resolve germinated in his heart. He would give his tribe one last gift.
Slowly, deliberately, he sent a message through his heartwood and began to grow—not up or down, but outwards. Seasons passed, and his bark-clad body swelled and thickened, broader and wider, broader and wider. He was so busy reshaping himself, he barely noticed rains, winds, or even visits from his young offshoots.
A long time later, when he was satisfied with his huge circumference, he called to small burrowing insects, to squirrels and sharp-beaked birds in the ancient forest language which needed no tongue. He gifted them sap, seeds and fruit, and he requested their help. They were eager to please, those small flitting things. Together, at his direction, they hollowed him. They gnawed and nibbled, and they pecked curlicues and veined, leaf-shaped windows, and an intricate arched doorway until he could feel the breeze inside his body. Until he encompassed a chamber, stained with glowing resin.
Then, while he waited, he adorned the chamber with thin delicate vines, trailing tiny whispering leaves in all shades of green.
Finally, his favourite great-granddaughter returned to visit. Tall and willowy, though her face was lined with age, she stood at the entrance to the chamber he’d become. “What is this?” She pressed her human-shaped hands to her cheeks. “Dear Great-Grandfather, why?”
Because it was her, because he loved her, Ye Guiren expended tremendous effort and opened his mouth one last time to speak with her in the common language of Yashou and humans.
“My roots are sunk too deep for me to travel.” His voice had always been heavy and dry, and now reverberated like a drum. “I’m content just to taste sunlight on my leaves and feel the sweep of the seasons. But I would like, once in a while, to share your joys and your sorrows. To see my tribe.”
“Great-Grandfather.” She laid her fingertips on the right-hand side of the arched doorway and peeked in. “You’re so beautiful.”
“Hold your rites here,” said Ye Guiren. “I’ll celebrate with you, and bless the newlyweds even when I’m silent.”
“We will,” promised his favourite great-granddaughter. “Your great-grandchildren’s great-grandchildren will come here, and their great-grandchildren. We will always come to you.”
And with that promise, the last tension left Ye Guiren. There was no longer any part of him resisting his natural inclination, and he let his tree form consume him and lived happily that way for many many more generations. All the Yashou—Flower, Snake and Crow—held their rites in his arms, and he did indeed bless them all, and so they prospered.
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That's a very cool thought, lots of potential for very interesting worlbuilding! :D
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Yeah, good point! I can't imagine them having any objections to fruit-eating, anyway.
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Kunlun tangent...
I think Da Qing talking to kittens is only the second time Kunlun has been mentioned in the series [ep. 14]. The first time is poor Shen Wei reading Zhao Yunlan's personnel file (?) in episode one, trying to figure out why Kunlun doesn't recognize him (sobbing.) No one else has said a word about him that we know of ... but apparently Da Qing has been brooding about it. Probably ever since he saw Shen Wei? And then when Zhao Yunlan is listening to Zhu Hong reading from the book of ancient secrets, and Kunlun's name is said out loud in front of Da Qing [ep. 21] is when poor Da Qing just loses it, poor kitty. 10,000 year old post traumatic shock?
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PS thank you for the gorgeous pics spam
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Oh yes, yikes! 😱 poor kitty (so many reasons to keep rewatching forever)
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