By means of the ode one may inspire

[extrapenguin]

Still reading The Analects and writing MDZS fic. I have more words, but it is not yet complete. I should probably sleep more.

qikiqtarjuaq showed us some bts photographs. From there, I could read the clock wall!

Top to bottom, left to right, the hanzi + latin text:
肖都 – Kiyoto City (? can't read) ETA: actually it's 清都 (thank you, zeest)
千首城 – Thousand Cities
明日山 – Tomorrow Mountain
龙城 – Dragon City
鹿岛 – Kashima
寒城 – Cold City
水原 – Suwon City
Of these, Kashima is a number of places in Japan, and Suwon an actual place in Korea. The rest are fictional. 肖都 is likely the capital, as 都 means capital. The pinyin would be Xiaodu. (Hilariously, it translates to "resembles a metropolis".) 清都 might be the capital, and it's named after the place the Heavenly Emperor lives. The pinyin is Qingdu.

Guardian fandom has also produced interesting posts on high-context communication and the show's expansion-reveal flashback technique.

I made two icons for the song set challenge; thank you to tinny for helping me with text placement! Next I'll tackle the poll-winning "In blood and tears / a thousand times / we'll stand against / we'll always hold the line". I have ideas for the caps I'll use for the final three ones, but does anyone remember an episode where Da Qing or Guo Changcheng bleeds or cries (actual) tears?

(I have also figured out whom I'm voting for in the parliamentary elections. Now I just need to find my polling place and go vote...)

Comments

[trobadora]

(Hilariously, it translates to "resembles a metropolis".)

OMG! That is delightful. :D

Thank you so much for this post!

[extrapenguin]

It is! :D And if I ever find a clearer cap where I can read the top city's English name, I'll edit it in.

[riventhorn]

Does Da Qing cry when Lao Li dies? Otherwise I can't think of any.

[extrapenguin]

Thank you! I'll look at that episode and take some screencaps. It seems I'll have to provide an alt for that icon in which Shen Wei is the one in blood and/or tears; such hardship...

[jo_lasalle]

Oooh, thanks for the list of cities! That could be useful for fic. (Also is generally interesting.)

[extrapenguin]

It is! I'm also pretty sure that the real Kashima and Suwon cities' time zones are completely different to those of the clocks...

[floating_hell]

ooh, what pairing are you writing the fic for? Or is it gen?

[extrapenguin]

This is actually the fic for which I won't put on pairing tags, because pairing tags are a type of spoiler and I want to see how people react to things unspoiled! It's so far 30k long, missing maybe 7k + an additional few k of transitions and scene wrap-ups in edits. It will be my longest fic to date, and might break novel length!

(Set during/around the Sunshot Campaign and in a canon setting to which omegaverse has been added. I've shared a few snippets here on DW.)

[floating_hell]

I'll be looking forward to seeing it, then!

[zeest]

I’m pretty sure the topmost name in the wall of clocks is 清都. The first google result for that name is a hotel in Japan called Kiyoto :D More interestingly, the baidu baike entry says that in mythology, it is the imperial palace where the heavenly emperor resides.

[extrapenguin]

I’m pretty sure the topmost name in the wall of clocks is 清都
...OOPS. I'll, uh, edit it into the post, along with the link to baidu.