Cup

## Text

1. Cheung, Jin, and Hu (17:11.8, Chinese, Cadets) sprawl on their crash pad, going over the almost last-minute details of *Shaolin Rogue*, due to launch in less than two months. ~~[1]~~
2. A knock.
3. They attend.
4. Mr Xiong’s got the half-perturbed look that says they moved so perfectly in sync so as to be eerie. ([2]; del Toro, 2013)
5. “/h/!” waves Fei Yen (0:10.26, Chinese, marshal’s daughter) as they scrambled to their feet. (Clark, 2003, 2009)
6. “Sir,” greets Cheung, bowing with Jin and Hu.
7. Mr Xiong (late 40s, Chinese, marshal’s husband) bows back, a little distracted by Fei Yen tugging his hand.
8. “/ɛ/?” she asks, patting, at hip level, the air beside her.
9. “Might Fei Yen stay for a bit?” he asks.
10. “Of course!” says Jin.
11. “We’ll be happy to have her,” adds Hu.
12. Fei Yen beams, “/dæn/!”, and kisses the air in Mr Xiong’s direction.
13. Cheung steps forward for the diaper bag.
14. Fei Yen toddles full-tilt into Jin’s arms.
15. “We gotta work on /*Typhoon*, though,” warns Jin, scooping her up. [3]
16. “/ækiə/”, says Fei Yen, making herself comfy.
17. “Awes—” Jin grunts the grunt of someone finding a tiny, plastic-shelled work boot digging into their stomach as a means of propelling a tiny body higher on the someone’s person. [4]
18. “I’ll be with the Marshal,” says Mr Xiong.  ”Have fun.”
19. “We’ll do our best,” replies Hu.
20. “/bæ/!” waves Fei Yen.
21. Cheung and Hu bow, Jin sort bows, Mr Xiong replies, blows a kiss to Fei Yen, and heads off.
22. Cheung sits back down on their crashpad, Hu flops, and Jin falls backwards, much to Fei Yen’s delight.
23. She wiggles free almost immediately and beelines—
24. “No!” squeaks Jin, throwing himself after her. “Shoes!”[5]
25. —for the diaper bag and tries to get it open.
26. Jin pulls off one shoe, Hu grabs the other.
27. “Would you like help with that?” asks Cheung.
28. Fei Yen smacks the bag and sits back with a huff and a glower. [6]
29. Jin tosses Hu a tablet.
30. “Here you go.” Cheung opens the main compartment—
31. Fei Yen dives in.
32. –and abandons his attempt to free any of the smaller ones.
33. Fei Yen rummages around.
34. “Have they picked a colour yet?” asks Hu.
35. Jin taps away. “I think so—they did and Marketing cleared it.” Shows off the screen. ~~[7]~~
36. Cheung asks Fei Yen, “Can I help?”
37. She continues rummaging.
38. “That’s a lot of orange,” Hu remarks. ~~[8]~~ (encycolorpedia)
39. “Yes, yes it is,” says Jin. "At least it matches the /Braves." (artbook)
40. Cheung sits back.
41. “Are we ordering it?” ~~[9]~~
42. “We are, and the Marshal wants us to wait until after the other ‘Domes open.” [10] (Novelization)
43. Cheung offers, “Would you like me to dump it out?”
44. Fei Yen makes a frustrated sound.
45. Jin squees, “We get to paint soon!!!” (alighterwithlove​, 2013).
46. Hu huffs a laugh. “It’s gonna end up being on our birthday.” [11] (Novelization)
47. “I know! Best. Present. Ever.”
48. Fei Yen exclaims, holds up her sippy cup triumphantly.
49. Cheung, Jin, and Hu cheer.
50. Jin asks, “Would you like something to drink?”
51. Fei Yen hums, presents her cup.
52. “Water okay?” Jin takes it. ~~[12]~~ (Babycenter)
53. Fei Yen hums again, calls, “/dæn/!”, and kisses the air.
54. Hu asks, “Did you sleep well?”
55. Fei Yen snores, giggles, and grins.
56. “We did, too.”
57. Cheung grumbles, “Jin kept kicking me.”
58. “Did not!” scoffs Jin.
59. “I have footprints!”
60. Jin hmphs.
61. Fei Yen giggles.
62. Jin bows with a flourish. “Your water, Mx.” [13]
63. “/dæn/!” Fei Yen takes it with both hands, leans forward—
64. Jin shuffles closer.
65. –kisses his nose.
66. “Aw, sank you, Feiby!” Jin kisses her forehead.
67. Fei Yen makes a sing-song-y sound, mouths her sippy cup, and crawls into Hu’s lap.
68. “Hallo,” he greets.
69. Fei Yen replies with a high, nasaly sound and a happy face.
70. “We’re looking at paint.” Hu indicates the tablet.
71. Fei Yen attends.
72. “We’re not getting it ‘til later, though,” Jin sighs.
73. Fei Yen hums a sigh.
74. Hu remembers something. “Hey, when’re the left gyros coming?” [14]
75. “I don’t even know,” Cheung says tiredly, reaching for his tablet. Taps away— “They’re in transit!”
76. Jin and Hu cheer.
77. Fei Yen looks at her cup.
78. Cheung flops back. “/Never using that supplier again.”
79. Hu taps away. “Making a note of that.”
80. Cheung grumps, “Thanks.”
81. Fei Yen navigates from Hu’s lap, plunks down at his side.
82. Jin studies his tablet. “If the map’s right, they should be here by the end of the week—”
83. Cheung continues, “Installation’ll take a day—”
84. Hu says, “Everything else’s already there.”
85. “—and then /*Rogue*’ll go for her test walk….” mutters Hu.
86. Fei Yen abandons her cup, takes hold of Hu’s sleeve, heaves herself to her feet.
87. “Armour’ll go on—,” Hu adds thoughtfully.
88. “And we’ll paint!” cheers Jin.
89. Cheung rolls his eyes.
90. Fei Yen wiggles Hu's ear.
91. Cheung continues, “I was gonna say, ‘And then we’ll have data for /*Typhoon*’.”
92. Fei Yen pulls his ear—and his head—from side to side.
93. “But it’s /painting day!”
94. Fei Yen tugs Hu’s head closer.
95. Hu complies.
96. “But data! For /our Jaeger!”
97. Fei Yen streeetches, pats Hu’s crown.
98. Hu says, “You want to get /*Cherno*, don’t you.” ~~[15]~~ (Novelization)
99. Fei Yen tilts Hu’s head this way and that.
100. Jin puffs up. “How could you even /think such a thing?”
101. Fei Yen rubs Hu’s crown with the heel of her hand.
102. “I just like to paint, ‘s all.”
103. Fei Yen yanks Hu’s ear.
104. Hu lies down on his side, props himself up.
105. Fei Yen presses her mouth to Hu’s crown.
106. “Using /*Rogue’s*paint for pranks.” Jin huffs.
107. Hu deadpans to Cheung, “He’s totally gonna get /*Cherno*.”
108. Fei Yen pats around with more force, brow furrowed.
109. Cheung says, "If you restart the prankwar, Tall Sasha and I are gonna get the Marshal and she's /not going to be happy." (Novelization)
110. Fei Yen mouths Hu's head, taps with her front teeth.
111. “Traitors,” grumbles Jin. “The lot of you. Traitors.”
112. Fei Yen digs in her teeth.
113. Cheung says, “You’ve got, uh….”
114. Hu touches—pokes Fei Yen’s nose—
115. She exhales angrily.
116. —his head, looks at his bloody fingers as he sits up.
117. Fei Yen reaches after him, “/mmm/!”
118. “What’s up?”
119. Fei Yen trills angrily.
120. “Why’re you biting him?”
121. Fei Yen goes pink, face scrunching.
122. “Feiby?”
123. “/mmm/!” Fei Yen reaches again.
124. “Feiby, what’s wrong?”
125. Fei Yen stomps her feet.
126. “Fei Yen?”
127. Fei Yen sits down heavily, bursts into tears.
128. Jin squeaks.
129. Cheung flutters. “What’s wrong?”
130. Fei Yen throws her sippy—”Cup!”
131. They watch it bounce away, landing face-side up. [16]
132. Jin giggles.
133. Cheung says thoughtfully, “You think we’re cups.”
134. Fei Yen reaches for Hu, cries, “Cup!”
135. Cheung rolls off their crashpad, leaves in search of a washcloth.
136. “I’m not a cup, sorry,” Hu says gently, offering a hug.
137. Fei Yen wails.
138. “Guys,” says Jin. “She thinks we’re /cups.”
139. “Clearly,” says Hu softly. “C’mere, Feiby.”
140. Cheung gets Fei Yen into something of a gentle armlock--
141. Fei Yen howls and goes wiggly--
142. --and scrubs her mouth.
143. “She /said cup.”
144. Hu’s brow wrinkles.
145. Cheung lets Fei Yen go, dabs at Hu's head with a clean corner of the washcloth.
146. “Have you said an actual word before?” asks Hu. (Stilwell-Pecci, 2006) ~~[17]~~
147. Fei Yen keeps wailing.
148. Cheung tapes up Hu with a /*Cherno Alpha* bandage. [18]
149. Jin beams. “Pretty sure you haven’t.”
150. “Holy s—” Hu scoops up Fei Yen, Cheung grabs the diaper bag, Jin snatches up the cup, and they fly for the Marshal’s office.

## Analysis

Fei Yen has reached the “pre-linguistic schema” (Clark, 2003, 2009) stage of development where she uses consistent vocalizations and gestures in highly constrained ways (the 'constrained’ aspect is not as obvious in this piece).

* “/h/!” + waving ([5]): “Hello!” She made this one watching people try to get someone’s attention from a distance as she cannot yet bow.
* “/ɛ/?” she asks, patting, at hip level, the air beside her ([8]): “May I stay, please?”; Fei Yen picked this up from people asking variations of, “would you like to sit (here)” and patting the seat beside them.
* Fei Yen beams, “/dæn/!”, and kisses the air in [x]’s direction ([12, 53, 63]): “Thank you!”; Fei Yen created this one by watching her parents at the breakfast/supper table; one would get something for the other who would thank them and kiss their cheek.
* “/ækiə/” ([16]): Proto-version of “All clear!” which, to Fei Yen, means everything from “Let’s go!” to “as you were”, “that’s okay”, “we’re good” etc. (Should this be /ækə/ (no /i/)?
* “/bæ/!” waves Fei Yen ([20]): “Goodbye!”
* Fei Yen hums, presents her cup ([51]): “Please”
* Fei Yen snores, giggles, and grins ([55]): How Fei Yen says “I slept well” which she picked up from roleplaying games and books as both have denoted sleeping deeply with snores. She finds the sound of snoring funny.
* Fei Yen makes a sing-song-y sound ([67]): Intonation contour of “you’re welcome”
* Fei Yen replies with a high, nasaly sound and a happy face ([69]): "I like you!“, happy sounds
* Fei Yen hums a sigh ([73]): Sippy cup + ‘I’m sad, too’
* Fei Yen reaches after him, “/mmm/!” ([116, 122]): Pre-linguistic schema for a request (Clark, 2003, 2009)

Stops like /k/ and /p/ are both early-developing sounds, and /p/ is a sound that consistently appears in children’s early words (Hoff, 2013).

At this point, Fei Yen is still breastfeeding, so to her, humans are still her primary source of nourishment.

## Additional Information/To Do

[i] *Shaolin Rogue* launches January 1st, 2017 for a number of reasons I’ll happily go into.

[ii] The Drift

[3] Crimson Typhoon, the triplets’ in-development Mark-IV Jaeger.

[4] Rules about footwear in the Shatterdome and Fei Yen’s 3D printed gear

~~[5] Just because this isn’t their bed doesn’t mean they don’t sleep here~~

[6] Fine motor control isn’t all that great yet. (PDF on phone)

~~[7] China’s series of Jaegers are painted according to a pre-determined colour scheme: yellow (Horizon Brave), orange (Shaolin Rogue), red (Crimson Typhoon), and purple (unnamed, unbuilt Mark-V).~~

~~[8] Shoalin Rogue orange, http://encycolorpedia.com/f5a242. It took a lot of searching to find a shade of orange that wouldn’t be a 250ft, potentially blinding in the sun, eyesore.~~

~~[9] Cadets Wei are in charge of the ‘organic fighting’ project which includes both their Jaeger, Crimson Typhoon, and the former “proto-Typhoon”, now Shaolin Rogue.~~

~~[10] The Vladivostok and Tokyo Shatterdomes open December 11th and 15th, 2016, respectively (Novelization?)~~

~~[11] Triplets’ birthday, December 24/25, 1998 (Novelization)~~

[12] Pre whole-milk beverages (Babycenter)

[13] Pronounced “mix”; gender-neutral and less confusing version of mister/miss/ms/mrs.  Fei Yen’s gender identity won’t really be formed until she’s 3, (source) and the boys’ have had this drilled into them in ‘Dome-mandated charms’ school.

[14] Find the gif and meta

~~[15] Weis vs Kaidanovskys prank war (shmoo92.tumblr.com/tagged/weis-vs-kaidanovskys)~~

[16] Babies don’t really care about colours until they’re about 18 months old.

~~[17] “meaningful adult words” (Gillen, Julia?)~~

~~[18] Jin will notice the bandage and he will make it very clear to Cheung that it is not. funny.~~

## Sources

alighterwithlove​, miikkaa\_xx. (2013). *Fighting for Air*. Retrieved fromhttp://archiveofourown.org/works/1073436.

Clark, Eve. (2003, 2009). *First Language Acquisition. C*ambridge University Press.

del Toro, G. (Producer), & Beachman, T. (Director). (2013). Pacific Rim [Motion picture]. United States: Legendary Pictures.

del Toro, G. (Producer), & Beachman, T. (Director). (2013). Pacific Rim: The Drift [Featurette]. United States: Legendary Pictures.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rGVxfP8n4U

duvallon. (2015). *We dont live for the fame, we live for the journey*. Retrieved from http://duvallon.tumblr.com/post/117066041078/we-dont-live-for-the-fame-we-live-for-the

duvallon. (2015). *Also their ears are super cute, they’re like cup handles*. Retrieved from http://duvallon.tumblr.com/post/117067107088/also-their-ears-are-super-cute-theyre-like-cup

Hoff, Erika. (2013). *Language Development*. Wadsworth Publishing, USA.

Stilwell-Peccei, Jean (2006). Child Language: A Resource Book for Students. Psychology Press, 2006

Tokyo Otaku Mode. (2015). *Kamoji-kun Mug.* Retrieved fromhttps://otakumode.com/shop/52d7ba11d924a3767e00002a/Kaomoji-kun-Mugs