All through the month of August

[qingofcats]

Who: Da Qing and YOU
Where: All around the Clipper, especially the tree and the catwalks
When: throughout the month
Warnings: none atm, will add any if they come up

Da Qing has yo-yoed from Assistant to Patient a good few times already in the time he's been here--he's a very cute kitty, after all, but he's also cynical, snarky, mouthy, and prone to clawing up people who irritate him. Which means he never manages to stay an assistant for very long. Honestly... he's not happy here? But he's not happy at home either, and it's not such a bad life. At least he doesn't have to see Zhang Shi walking around wearing Zhao Yunlan's body like a badly fitting suit, with all the mannerisms and expressions that made Zhao Yunlan himself, and Da Qing's master and best friend, gone or badly parroted. Or go home to Lin Jing living in the apartment that he and Zhao Yunlan had shared for so long, knowing he and his mess and laziness, or Shen laoshi and his neatness and good cooking, will never be there again.

So maybe this is kind of like living in some saccharine children's show half the time, and a rabid free for all some other part of the time, but at least it's away from that. And the food's not bad, even if there's never quite enough fish. The food at home hadn't seemed like anything special without lao Li's dried fish or Shen Laoshi's exquisite cooking anyway.

None of that, of course, means he has to be nice, or well behaved... which is a big part of why he keeps bouncing back to being a Patient every time he 'graduates'. (Graduates, what a joke. He's the ten thousand year old King of Cats, and he's never graduated from anything and never needed to before this.)

He shows up at the morning singalongs just because it's an excuse to sing the song of his people at the top of his lungs and drive everyone, especially the Assistants who take it seriously, up a wall, and no one can say he isn't trying or being 'well behaved', at least at this. He's singing, isn't he?

He naps in various spots (and positions) on the great tree, as well as the catwalks and the garishly colored furniture... and in other peoples' rooms. And on other people if they sit still long enough and he either likes them or wants to irritate them (and knows they won't do something awful to him in retaliation).

He offers running commentary on other peoples' activities, no matter where they are or what they're doing, usually snarky. And loud.

And at meal times he has to (annoyingly. The WORST part of being stuck in this form is NO THUMBS, though otherwise he'd rather this than stuck on two-legs) prevail upon someone else to carry his food to a table... and then more than likely harass them for some of theirs, or simply make the rounds begging, quietly or loudly, from anyone who has something that looks interesting, or looks like they could use some harassment (either because they're an asshole or because they're not and maybe need some company). (Fork he hates that he can't even swear in his head. Or even in cat.)

And speaking of cat, he's also known to occasionally perch on the rails, or a branch of the tree, and caterwaul at the top of his lungs, running through every curse word he knows in every language he knows (which is quite a few, now that he has his memories back. He's been alive for ten thousand years of Chinese history, after all, and even if almost everything between his youth and the present is still blurry and indistinct, because Yashouren minds aren't meant to hold thousands of years of memory, he does remember bits and pieces of a lot of languages) and then yowling about how there's not a single language that the Nurse doesn't censor curse words in. And since he can't curse in any language, he rotates through an assortment of, more or less creative, insults--he's currently partial to 'stupid monkey humper' or telling people they look like the wrong end of a baboon. (And that's just almost as frequent for people he actually likes.)

[For Zhao Yunlan]

The clumsy Taylor person with the butterfly whiskers told him his stupid, thoughtless, self-sacrificing, neglectful, suicidal idiot of a Master is here somewhere, and Da Qing is going to find him. Now. And then he's going to rip his face off. And then he's going to never let him out of his sight again. Which is why he's currently running up the stairs to the catwalks above where she'd said she'd last seen him, yowling at the top of his lungs. "Zhao Yunlan! ZHAO YUNLAN! WHERE ARE YOU YOU MONKEY-FACED PIECE OF STINKY TOFU!" (Tofu is a complete waste of time and energy to fake being food, it's the worst insult he can think of right now, all right?!)

Comments

Absolutely! How old is he?

[qingofcats]

Da Qing finds the boy in his usual seat on one of the ludicrously bright sofas and leaps lightly up onto the seat next to him before insinuating himself under the book in his lap and sprawling inelegantly in its place. He's just finished lunch and, even if it wasn't up to his very high standards, he's comfortably full and it's time for a nap.

Oldest he *can* be is 13; 12 is more likely.

[hisblueskies]

Under the book is better than over for all involved, in this case; Alfredo doesn't quibble.

Granted, the boy himself may have tried to skip lunch again - certain habits from home die hard, he supposes - but there's nothing happening now to indicate that.

A moment or two after Da Qing settles in, Alfredo flips another page before letting one hand drift to the cat king's side.

Not the belly, though. That's the sort of mistake he'll only let himself make once.

Re: Oldest he *can* be is 13; 12 is more likely.

[qingofcats]

"Mmmm, left shoulder blade," Da Qing directs sleepily, though at the moment he's still keeping one eye open to make sure of where lao Zhao is... the need to keep track of his human at all times is really cutting into his napping schedule, but it is what it is.

[hisblueskies]

Alfredo follows on, waiting a minute or so longer than usual before moving to the next page.

"Not sleeping this time?" he asks, voice quiet, though not enough to leave any echoes of whispers.

The wall materials of the Clipper aren't the greatest for that, really.

[qingofcats]

"Mmmmm, have to keep an eye on my stupid human," he answers. "Can't trust him not to get himself in trouble otherwise." He sounds a very strange mix of fond and frustrated, and is very clearly looking towards the Chinese guy across the room with the neatly trimmed goatee and he lollipop sticking out of his mouth.

[hisblueskies]

The tone behind those words is enough to draw a smile from the boy.

"I know the type..."

Much as he's been the type; though between him and his small circle of friends, they'd somehow always gotten in more trouble together. (Usually on purpose.)

Thinking that perhaps the two are similar, he continues,

"It's better when it's shared, at least."

[qingofcats]

"I suppose so," he agrees grudgingly. "But it'd be better if he could keep his nose out of it in the first place."

He shifts enough to look up at Alfredo past the book in his lap. "What are you doing trying to sound all old and wise anyway?" he asks. "You're just a kitten."

[hisblueskies]

Alfredo does his best to downplay it.

"... I've had to grow up quickly, back home."

But if he's giving Da Qing the treatment he deserves, well, some details are probably required.

"I had a sister to protect. And others. ... They wanted to look out for me, too."

Until it had been his time. At that point, it'd been better not to drag things out.

[qingofcats]

"Huh." His whiskers and tail both twitch. "Well, you don't have to be grown up or look after people here, you should take advantage of it."

[hisblueskies]

Alfredo gives the cat a wry smile, book going ignored for the moment.

"But there are many things I like about 'being a kid' that I can't do here."

At least he could still read, if he was careful how he picked new books. Go swimming, practice more on the piano.
But he'd never be as free as he'd wished he, his sister, and the Black Brothers could - should - have been.

[qingofcats]

"Yeah, well, join the club," he grumbles. "There's a lot of things all of us'd like to do we can't do here. But you could at least chase the other little hellions through the tree or... or play tag or try to drown them in that puddle or something." Kid things, right?

[hisblueskies]

Alfredo chuckles, self-deprecation creeping into his next words.

"I've never been much for drowning people, but... those other ones, maybe."

He offers Da Qing another scratch, this time behind the ears.

"As long as I don't stop making time for this, huh?"

pretend that was 'little heckions' or something? XD

[qingofcats]

"Pfft, they'd recover. Just cough it up and walk it off." he scoffs, then tips his head a little to encourage blunt-nailed little fingers to find the exact right spot.

"You'd better not," he rumbles, purr kicking up. "Little down and to the left."

I'm sure Alfredo's adjusted his mind to all the corrections. ;) Also: thread wrap?

[hisblueskies]

Alfredo moves his hand as requested, rolling his eyes briefly at Da Qing's other suggestion.

"Still," he says into the silence, after some minutes.

"Maybe the Clipper can change. Not just me, or any one of us."

That the world could change, and not just that it should; that was something that these newcomers had him wanting to believe in again.

Re: I'm sure Alfredo's adjusted his mind to all the corrections. ;) Also: thread wrap?

[qingofcats]

Da Qing flops down and closes one eye, at least, purr ratcheting up in bliss.

"Not unless someone makes it," Da Qing mutters without opening his closed eye. "Lao Zhao says that these ships have hearts, and you can hurt them by hurting it," he adds after a moment.

[hisblueskies]

That makes Alfredo sit up straight - incidentally altering the state of his lap.

"A heart? ... Could we talk to that heart, as well? Show it why we feel how we feel?"

If they could get the ship to see that they needed more help, of a kind different to what was available...?

[qingofcats]

Da Qing grumbles and sinks his claws through the boys trousers just enough to barely prick his leg. "Mind your lap!" he scolds.

"Dunno if it thinks or feels, you'd have to ask lao Zhao," he adds after he feels confident of his stability. "Figured he just meant the central bit that keeps it alive and working."

[hisblueskies]

With a belated, "Sorry," Alfredo settles again. At least he's gotten used to making unconventional repairs to his clothes...

"That does seem more likely," he admits.

"Though it could still be both, given how... atypical, everything else about here is."

[qingofcats]

"Could be," he allows, wriggling a bit to get comfortable again. "No clue how you'd talk to it even so, though."