#“when did we get all those suppies?”

[astarionancuntnin]

as if he wasn't a clown himself

(more bg3)

[meimi-haneoka]

Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Chapter 71: Comments + JP-ENG translation differences

(pic courtesy of Dyoring on Twitter because the JP one criminally covers the costumes) Looks like I'm still alive after that bomb that was chapter 70, huh? 😂 Welcome back to our monthly appointment with angst with the commentary on Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card, everyone! Last chapter might have bent me, but I'm not broken yet! Mwahaha! And yet, I can't say this chapter completely healed me, far from it! Sure, it's full of fluff and happy feelings...but man, how we feel his absence here. It's so apparent and glaring that it hinders the complete enjoyment of the chapter, which I'm sure is totally the feeling CLAMP wanted to elicit from us. If you care even a little about the new characters, you can't help but feel a sense of "this is not how it's supposed to be", while reading this. Fortunately, the cliffhanger at the end gives us good hope for the kids to start get into action to solve this mess at the earliest, hopefully with the help of someone we were waiting for? In the meantime, let's explore this chapter and all that it talked about...I don't have particular translation mistakes from the ENG version to report this time around (thank god).

Gif of the month, and then we go!

The Color Page

Well, this was a surprise? I didn't expect a color page like this, opening the very last volume of Clear Card Arc, but it's also true that there can be a quite powerful meaning behind those four outfits. They're literally representing the first discrepancies that originated after Kaito's rewriting of everyone's memories. Sakura's eyes are closed, she appears to be very pensive, no, actually as if she's contemplating something. About to make a decision. As she stands literally in the middle of all those outfits, this can be interpreted as way to convey how she's in the middle of these two lives they have lived and are living right now, and she's probably the one who can really do something about this whole mess. The conjunction ring. "Which outfit am I going to choose to wear?" isn't the frivolous question it might seem, but in this case it actually means "which life will I decide to keep?" Tough question, for an even tougher answer. But remember what Touya onii-chan said. "When it's up to me to decide what's real and what's not, then I decide to go with what I don't want to lose".

Besides the hidden meaning analysis, this is also a nice way to have set in canon the colors of *all* the main outfits for the play. (●ˇ∀ˇ●) (nice to know Akiho's Alice outfit actually got a gradient blue on her shirt!)

A New Life

The chapter starts with a very, very familiar scene, which might not have been drawn exactly the same as the original one, but it's definitely designed to remind you of it: the very first scene of volume 1, with Kero (and this time, Suppy) waking Sakura up to go to school!! I see what you did there, CLAMP 😏 In their latest Twitter Spaces where they talked about Clear Card, they did mention how the last volume would serve as a way for things to come full circle, and what's better than making a reference to the very first pages of chapter 1? We have the same Sakura introducing herself to the readers (breaking the 4th wall), same Kero shouting that it's time to go, same Sakura getting ready (this time she's evidently in a hurry though). We're clearly being introduced to her new life (that only we know is new) after Kaito rewrote their memories thanks to Momo's book. And well well well, what do we have here?? It's the very first panel of the chapter, no, of the volume, and we're already spotting something off, here??

Oooh, the Kinomoto home....grew an additional portion of itself?? Or did they build it in the few months that passed from the school play? I wonder what for...? heheh...(already knows)

But that's not the only surprise! We just need to turn the page and we are immediately taken aback by Sakura getting ready...with a new school uniform, which represents her second winter uniform (the one reserved for the colder months, just like it happened in Tomoeda Elementary) while she tells us she soon will be attending the 2nd year of Tomoeda Middle school!!! I was completely shocked when I saw her total-black new uniform!! I have to say that the idea of unifying the top and the skirt in a one-piece dress is definitely good, I really like it, but I thought that having even the black tights might be a little bit too much. Later we'll discover she's got black boots too. I'd need to see this in full color to judge! I predict the tie and decorations will be red! 👀 I want to point it out now, since Sakura says it immediately, but the French translation made it sound like she's already starting the second year of middle school, and honestly the ENG translation with the choice of words kinda infers the same: but from what we'll see in a few pages, we're in full winter (it's about to snow too) and Japan usually gets spring vacations between March 25th and April 5th (right between the end of a school year and the beginning of the next) so it cannot be really that imminent. I predict this could be February/early March at best. The JP text says もうすぐ which means "soon" but that can also only mean they're just in the last month of the school term.

So we basically had another mini time skip of about 5/6 months, considering the play very likely took place in September (kids were already wearing their long sleeved uniforms but some guests to the school event still wore short sleeves). If you ask me, it doesn't look like Sakura grew much in these 6 months. 😂

And when she quickly goes downstairs, that's where we find the other surprise (which was actually expected): AKIHO IS COOKING IN THE KITCHEN, apron over her uniform and all!! Yeah, remember? Thanks to the rewriting of their memories, now they're living their life as sisters! In fact, we see them interacting in a friendly and comfortable way, which is totally reminiscing of how they were interacting even before this big change happened. And yet, personally, I have a hard time getting used to the new arrangement. 😅 Sakura introduces Akiho to us as her twin sister, confirming they live together with Touya and Fujitaka too.

Sakura tells us people often comment about how they resemble each other very much, and as if on cue, Mokona sensei provides us with yet another very cute double feature of Sakura and Akiho smiling happily and lovingly at eachother. As much as I want Akiho to go back to her real family, I have to admit this panel totally melted me. ❤️ My lovely Akiho looks so happy....and that's why it also hurts a lot. Well, here come the first explanations of how this hell of a change can work at all, in this situation!! Apparently, Akiho has always suffered of fragile health ever since she was young (....) so she always lived with great-grandfather Masaki to get treatment and rest. With some friends we have been joking that, if this is the result of what Kaito wrote in the story he wanted for Akiho, he must have watched lots of soap operas, because the justifications totally seems at the writing level of one! 😂 Sakura says Akiho came back home to live with them only recently. And while Akiho excitedly yells that she's cooked the no-fry croquettes that Sakura taught her the recipe of, we also find out from narrator Sakura that this is probably the reason why Akiho still addresses her in a very polite way, with suffix -san and all. And sigh, my heart here broke a little because the no-fry croquettes....was the recipe Sakura taught Akiho specifically for Kaito, and that she successfully prepared for their date, eliciting a delighted comment from him. ☹️☹️Now she's still cooking them for her loved ones...but it's different. ☹️ Aaaaaa but here comes Fujitaka, ready to have breakfast and go to work, greeting both his daughters.........gosh, this sounds so weird. Will I get used to this madness before this chapter ends?? As it normally would be expected from him in this situation, Fujitaka addresses Akiho with a -san suffix too, so narrator Sakura says that probably that's also where all Akiho's politeness comes from. Fujitaka says that Touya conveniently left very early for his job, and Sakura adds that he'll go straight to his university classes afterwards. Uh uh uh, I wonder why CLAMP didn't want to show us Touya's reaction yet. Did he notice anything...? Fujitaka-papa gets ready to taste Akiho's croquettes....and with a delighted face he says they're delicious!! ......I mean, this totally works. Look at these two dorks faces, they light up in the same way. 🙈😅😅

Narrator Sakura keeps telling us about Akiho and how she transferred to her school before summer (and behind her, in the flashback, we can see the name Kinomoto Akiho written on the board), that she participated to the play for the school event and all...and that she wants to make so, so many happy experiences now that she's with her sister, to make up for the time they spent apart.

The girls leave the house and we get a chance to see the coats of the second winter uniform too: they're very pretty and compliment the whole outfits very well (they got big scarves and gloves too!). Some snowflakes start to fall down and Akiho just needs to sneeze once to unleash the scariest kaijuu in Sakura: ....that of the fussing big sister! 😅😅 she gives her her own scarf on top of Akiho's one and feels with her own forehead if she's getting a fever, demanding to know immediately if she starts feeling unwell! 😅😅Akiho worries that Sakura would get cold in this way, but she doesn't want to hear any of it!! Awwww, how can I not melt in front of this? 🥹My gosh Sakura really is super protective of Akiho here...and we immediately get another character to remark that: our dear Tomoyo!! She comments on Sakura's behavior in JP with this funny way which could be translated more or less with "powerful big sister manners", and I cannot really disagree! 😂 Akiho states that she's feeling better now, that she doesn't experience pain like before...but Tomoyo just knows that Sakura will worry no matter what, and the girl in question confirms so herself: because Akiho is someone important to her. Akiho cannot really do much else than blushing with happiness and thank her...😊 Tomoyo gives the final touch to this scene with one of her kind but sharp comments: "Maybe sister complex runs in the family!", making reference to a very early joke in CCS where Yukito teased Touya telling him he had a sister complex for how he's always so protective of his younger sister: well, guess what, now said sister gets to have the same complex towards her twin too 😂😂

We proceed with the chapter and we have Sakura meeting Syaoran in front of the school, showing us how nice and elegant the male second winter uniform (well, we mostly see the coat) is! Syaoran comments how cold it got overnight and as the caring and loving boyfriend he is, he inquires his girlfriend about her health. Luckily she's super healthy, and apparently, as she says herself, the Cards are too! Yessss, folks, it seems the Sakura Cards are back with Sakura, now!! Sakura didn't have a particular reason, but apparently the previous night she summoned Mirror to have a chat! Syaoran asks what she wanted to discuss about with him, and Sakura announces that she was thinking about telling everything to Akiho. Everything that happened while they were apart...about Tomoyo and her costumes, about Kero, Yukito and Yue, Kaho, Eriol, Nakuru and Suppi....and most importantly, about the Cards.

Now, before we proceed, I would like to talk about two different aspects that really stood out for me from this couple of pages. First: the relationship Sakura's got with her Cards. As I was saying, it seems the Sakura Cards are back with Sakura, and judging by the panel where Sakura says she wants to tell Akiho about them, the Clear Cards don't seem to be part of this scenario. The panel shows both Clow and Sakura Cards (because of course Sakura would need to tell her the whole story), but no Clear Card is present at all. We can only infer that probably everyone forgot about the Clear Cards too (although I still think they exist somewhere, it's just that they're hidden/sealed for now), and that Sakura might not have her problem with the uncontrollable powers anymore. Did Kaito fix that problem for her too, in some way?? Did he really go that far to ensure everyone's happiness...? And another thing I noticed, is that Sakura seems more...comfortable with the Cards and her own powers. Summoning a Card just to have a nice chat is the complete opposite of what she was doing at the beginning of chapter 1. She had put away her key, saying "I don't use it much anyway...and maybe it's better like that". The next thing you know, the day after she started producing incidents and Clear Cards. You see, I'm not sure how accurate this is, but ever since this started I've always thought that the problem with Sakura's rampant powers was caused by something of psychological nature. Since the production of the Cards seemed to be so connected to her emotions, in the beginning her power was so chaotic that the Cards were pretty much originating randomly (Gale does seem really random and not based on any thought or memory Sakura had), to become more and more connected with her thoughts and desires along the way. The more she got in touch with herself and her desires, the more the Cards were produced as a result of those, and eventually Sakura found out on her own that the Cards were originating from her own wishes. But that did not end there, because the Clear Cards started to change again when Sakura started to finally listen to Syaoran's advice to look into herself and listen to the stirrings of her heart, and started trusting her intuition and powers more: from merely following her wishes, the Cards started to take the appearances of her loved ones, which would become important later on in Clockland to help her remind who she was. Basically, anticipating her needs. Even if we didn't see an immediate reaction from her, finding her loved ones on her way contributed to wake up her conscience, with the final coup de grace from Akiho and Syaoran. So where I'm getting at is....could it be that Sakura's connection and trust in her magical powers, in this gift she's been blessed with, has become so strong that it ended up stabilizing it? While she was detached and almost refusing it before, dismissing her intuitions as "it's just my imagination", now she's learned to accept it as a part of herself and trust it more? If this is the case, I think that would be a very lovely character development for her. We'll see if I got it right.

The second thing is that I cannot help but noticing again how Kaito really avoided changing any important part (save for adding a sister) of Sakura's life: everything is still as it was before, the events in her memories still happened as they happened, it's just that everything that concerns Akiho has been staged differently, in order to fit her in.

Syaoran, as the honest and straightforward boy he is, comments that probably what Sakura wants to tell Akiho will be a shock for her twin, Sakura doesn't deny that but confidently replies that knowing her, she'll accept the situation just fine. Syaoran wonders if that will really be the case since she doesn't have magic (he poses the uncomfortable but necessary questions), he's evidently worried she might feel somehow less for not being blessed with that gift....and here Sakura replies something that I publicly thanked CLAMP for on my twitter account, because it was time for a character to spell it out:

JP: (Yes), because Akiho-chan is...a very kind and strong person.

Kind, because she would accept whatever concerns her dear sister with the purest heart, devoid of any jealousy. And strong, because she'd be able to withstand the inevitable feeling of comparison that would ensue. Yes, because Akiho IS strong. She's resilient. She wouldn't have survived her trauma and abuse if she wasn't strong. She wouldn't have that single crumb of information about her parents that connects her with them, if she didn't keep stubbornly insisting with her clan to tell her something about them. She wouldn't have stubbornly insisted when she saw her most important person shutting a door in her face because he couldn't share his burden with her. I beg you to not reduce her character to just a girl we should pity on, because she's nothing like that. Let's drop the narrative she's "passive" right now. Otherwise when we'll see what is probably about to happen, she'll seem "out of character" for you. When she's always been like this, all along. Syaoran comments that Sakura really trusts Akiho, and wonders if it's because they're twins... Again, Sakura shows how wonderful she is, but most importantly, how her emphathic nature helps her amplifying her foretelling powers without even realizing it. Because she makes a very relevant comment: JP: "Even if she weren't my twin, I'd still believe in her. Because feelings and emotions aren't measured with time"

Again, let me clap my hands till they hurt. Because I can't count how many times, along the years, I've seen Sakura's bond with Akiho being dismissed or questioned just because they've been knowing eachother for short time. "Why does she fusses about Akiho so much? She's barely arrived shortly ago!" This is Sakura crossing the T's and dotting the I's for everyone. The value of her bond with Akiho isn't measured with the length of time they've spent together. If she feels she loves her very much despite knowing her since short time, that love is true and genuine nonetheless. As for someone who's able to experience very strong bonds with people in short time, what Sakura says here feels extremely validating on a personal level, too.

This reminds Sakura that she wants to talk to Akiho about someone else too....with a blush, she says she wants to tell her about Syaoran, how they met, how he's always coming to her rescue, and also...that he's her most important person ❤️ (the trademark definition!)

And here Ohkawa is finally paying her dues by writing this cute lovey dovey moment between SyaoSaku in the chapter, where the two lovebirds hold hands (scandalous!! 😂) and share a romantic forehead touch that shows an intimacy that is unrivaled by what we've seen of them till now, while Sakura says (with a hint of sadness?? Am I imagining things, or are her intuitive powers at work again?) that she would like to hear from Akiho about her most important person too. Yeah. I would like to hear about that too....

And as if to say "WELLLL, ABOUT THAT-" Sakura suddenly falls into a dream-state, and guess who she finds in front of her, in a scene that is a complete reference to a panel from chapter 6?

YEA, you guessed it, it's MCF!! 😂 our Mysterious Cloaked Figure just can't avoid bothering Sakura even in her new, rewritten, happy life, but lo and behold, when Sakura asks them who they are, they remove their hood without any drama!! And who could it be under that hood? Dear CCS fans, this chapter was shorter than usual with just 25 pages, but oh my gosh, if it didn't end up with a surprising cliffhanger that actually makes you go "WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT BEFORE?" 😂

Young Lilie to the rescue!

A young Lilie stands in front of Sakura, introducing herself:

"I'm Lilie. I've crossed [time] and [dreams] to meet you"

Oh my gosh how cute she is, smiling brightly as usual! 😍 Since here she's clearly Sakura's age, we can see how young Lilie used to have her hair slightly longer than her daughter Akiho at the same age. ❤️ What is happening here? For those confused, or who aren't familiar with CLAMP's other manga, I'll copy-paste here what I've already written on my Twitter thread. What Lilie did here is customary in CLAMP's manga. People with lots of power are capable of crossing dreams, even in a different point in time. That's why Lilie says "I've crossed TIME and dreams to meet you". Lilie is already a Yumemi, so it isn't suprising at all that she can work her magic on dreams. She probably attempted this when she was still alive, of course, and about 13 (Sakura's age). Think of it as a "videocall from the past". Lilie is, at current state, of course still very much dead. She isn't revived or anything. This is a "communication" Sakura received from Lilie from the past, because of course she already knew how things could go and she made sure to reach out and help however she could. Remember Clow at the Final Judgement? He also left a "message" for Sakura from when he was still alive, through a dream. Time travel with your physical body might be another story altogether, but visiting people through their dreams is very "customary" in CLAMP's manga 😂

Now, we only need to see what Lilie will tell to our dear heroine. If she will spill the entire story, or if she'll give the necessary basic info but will wait for the girls, or rather, for her daughter to remember about Kaito on her own. Maybe with a little push. Of course I had already imagined (and even warmly called for) an intervention from Lilie, in some kind of way, but I guessed she would go talking to Kaito, as a ghost or something. That's where CLAMP surprised me again, making her go to talk to Sakura instead, and also revealing that MCF was her, or rather, one of the MCFs we have seen throughout the story. Because I'm still convinced that, basing on the scene, MCF wasn't the same person everytime. We have seen how sometimes it was Syaoran (and we'll probably find out why). Sometimes we have seen them outside Sakura's room, on a lamp post (and I imagine that one could've been really Akiho, maybe in a moment in her dreams when the artifact took control of her). We have a MCF often accompanied by a Dragon, we'll need to see who exactly that one is, too. Well, all in all, a few hours later I can say I digested this chapter a bit better, but man at first it was really hard. All this fluff, all this blushing, these warm feelings...people doting on Akiho, seeing her so happy....and I couldn't stop thinking about him....our Kaito who gave everything he could give of him to make this become true....where are you now...? ☹️ If I pause long enough to think about it, the stinging feeling comes back. I'm sure they'll come rescueing you soon. And you'll be so shocked, because the last thing you're expecting is that anyone would come searching for you. Claiming you back. Oh there's so much you're gonna learn, very soon, Kaito. And I can't wait to see it!!

Okay, let's now recap the next release dates for what concerns chapter 72:

April 1st, on CLAMP’s Youtube channel (digital, JP and other languages) April 3rd, on Nakayoshi (paper and digital, JP)

The situation is still the same with the digital releases, so for now we'll have to make do with reading the chapters on Youtube, first!

I remind you that there's also volume 14 getting released on March 31st! And on April 1st there's also SAKURA FES 2023!! Yay!! See you for next chapter and as usual my inbox is open for your asks!

[atheniaami]

Best Practices for US Exporters to Navigate High Inflation

Inflation has been a concern for most people and there are constant reminders in our everyday lives. From milk to gasoline to hotel rates it seems that prices are on the rise wherever we look. What does this mean for US exporters? Is this the right time to focus on international trade? Let’s explore the major causes of recent inflation, how it is affecting US Exporters, and what can be done to best manage export efforts. The Cause How did we get to this point? While the conflict in Eastern Europe has exacerbated inflationary conditions especially with regards to food and energy commodities, it’s necessary to go back to the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. The US economy rebounded quickly but increased demand stressed already tenuous supply chains. The disruptions to the global economy, particularly supply chains, lead to the enactment of large government stimulus packages. Some countries such as the US chose to issue stimulus checks to citizens and assist firms with unemployment insurance. Other countries, such as many in the EU, chose to extend loans to firms in order to mitigate unemployment and bankruptcies. These economic shocks and policy responses are the main contributing factors to the highest US and in some cases global inflation levels in 40 years. The Effect To some it may seem that the trade winds are blowing in the wrong direction but the greatest opportunities can arise from challenges. Recent policies enacted by the US Federal Reserve, such as raising interest rates, will cause pain in the short term but will help to restore price stability. For US exporters rising material costs, labor shortages, freight increases, and diminished purchasing power in international markets are all contributing to export challenges. This in turn has caused many firms to evaluate their international programs. The Solution How can US exporters thrive in these conditions? Play the game smarter, focus in on those strategic opportunities as opposed to planting flags around the globe. The current US inflation rate as of January 31st is around 6.5%. When evaluating international markets in 2023 it would be best to consider a market’s inflation rate as part of your due diligence. Is now the time to launch in the UK with 9.2% inflation or would another market such as Saudi Arabia be more attractive at 3.3%? Perhaps offering credit to your international partners will help sweeten the deal? Easing cash flow constraints could greatly improve the chances of activating a market. Partnering with the Export-Import (EXIM) Bank of the United States may offer a way to mitigate overseas credit risk while providing terms to your international partner. Now is the time for patience, focus, and clear strategic thinking. Sources: 1. “The US economy’s inflation challenge ” International Monetary Fund.org, July 12, 2022 2. “Suppy Chains, trade, and inflation” Centre for Economic Policy Research.org, January 7,2023. By David Deslauriers info@athenaintl.com Athena Marketing International www.athenaintl.com

[haro-hawayu]

CCS: Clear Card Ch. 64

Wooo~chapter 64! The latest chapter is currently available on CLAMP-net’s YouTube Channel. As always, do check out @meimi-haneoka's post on the latest chapter for any EN-JPN translation differences. 

Links for previous chapter reactions can be found here.

Play-by-Page

Loving the cover page featuring Sakura & Syaoran. 

I wish YT would just put the full double page together so we get the full picture.

The coloring scheme of Syaoran’s outfit reminds me of Clow (even tho the motifs are clocks and such).

Is that Syaoran WITH A TAIL??? I didn’t notice it last time!!

Okay, so I was... over-reacting last chapter when I thought Syaoran seemed a bit too sus.

Awwww Syaoran!! Syaoran’s so kind. So 優しい ♥

Of course besides the obvious, “I want to be by her side when things go down, but I want to support everyone who’s working so hard on this play.” (Edit: Okay so apparently the JPN ver of the ‘helping everyone else’ line is a little different)

LOL @ Touya’s “I have to record this... with him in there too?”

“You can never go back” again... not... creepy... at... all *dead*

Akiho’s outfit looks so gorgeous!

It’s TIME! Things are a-going!!

TOUYA!

TIME!

WHAT!

HOW?!!!

Wowwww of all the things I expected. It was not this!!

Nadeshiko!!! 

Wow, so Sakura had the same ability, except she sealed/suppressed it.

Wowww.

I’m... speechless. Not in a bad way or anything. 

Thoughts~

The cat is out of the bag!!! We finally find out what Touya’s new ability is and this is great. I was afraid Touya’s secret powers were going to be kept in the dark for as long as the whole egg-situation in Holic (still brings me heartache when I think about it). We got that revelation and a little more--such as his conversation with Nadeshiko & finding out more background info about Sakura’s powers, and how he & Yuki have been practicing together so that Touya’s powers can be used for a longer time.

I’m actually very curious about Touya’s powers. Like, why Time of all things, and how did he discover it? Also, with the revelation about how Sakura had the ability to see ghosts but unconsciously suppressed those abilities, does Sakura also have similar powers? I’m now even more curious about the whole “magical world” of CCS, and wondering what is the nature of Sakura’s magical powers (before she got gotten the Clow/Saura Cards) had things went differently? Is it just clairvoyance? Dream seer? The ability to manifest things as she desires? Would Time Magic be one of them as well??? Very curious.

LOL, also, I was so distracted by Touya Time Magic reveal that I didn’t realize  (until the second reading) the moment with Kero & Suppi not being a “secret” anymore hahaha. I mean, then again, we knew that Touya knew, it was just a matter of when it was revealed lol.  

Finally, can I just say... I got major TRC vibes with how they just send Syaoran off to the other side? I’m just glad he’s not holding an unconscious Sakura, don’t think my heart would be able to handle that.

[drops-of-moonlights]

Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Cards Manga Chapter 44 Thoughts, Reactions and Emotions

HELLO IT’S BEEN LIKE A YEAR AND A HALF OR SOMETHING SINCE I MADE ONE OF THOSE BUT THIS CHAPTER LEFT ME LIKE “WISDAUHCDHJ” SO IT GETS A POST.

The tag to block is #Clear Card spoilers!

OKAY SO YUKITO HAS FUCKING MAGIC NOW? OKAY?????

I am. legitimately surprised at this??? Like what the fuck?

So apparently the Tsukimine Shrine can just... grant people a wish if they’re moon-themed enough... okay then... weirder shit has happened in CLAMP works idk why I’m so surprised. I am just as confused as you Sakura.

I like the reinforcement that Yukito and Yue are different entities even if they share a body, and that’s how Yuki got to make a pact to get magic, that even if it wasn’t Clow’s intention he truly is his own person. Is this why Toya was so secretive with him? Because Yuki was being secretive back? because I can believe that.

“okay but what did you give in exchange” “it’s a secret lol” AND AGAIN WITH MEN KEEPING SECRETS IN THIS GODDAMN SERIES OH MY GOD

Surprised Yuki is powerful enough to block the fuckin sun so easily even if it’s just covering a few blocks. Then again part of the contract was probably also being able to tap a little into Yue’s magic? Especially since I’m sure now he can FINALLY remember what goes down when he’s being Yue. I legitimately like that.

ALSO OH MY GOD I’VE NEVER RELATED TO KERO MORE IN MY LIFE. “TALK ABOUT YOUR TRUE FEELINGS!!! FOR FUCK’S SAKE!!!! WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS!!!!!!!!!” MOOD MY GUY, MOOD.

...Is this the first time Kero becomes Kerberos in the entire manga run actually? cuz I remember the running theory was that Kero was physically incapable to return to his true form due to how tired he was in earlier chapters. Then again that could have been a side-effect of Sakura’s subconscious magic making all the cards behind her back, I guess.

Suppy and Nakuru I’m sorry I haven’t talked about you you’ve just been sharing my expressions. Well Suppy was with how we was also surprised. Nakuru probably already knew.

“GodDAMNIT YUKITO NOW I CAN’T EVEN BE ANGRY BECAUSE THIS IS TO BE CAPABLE OF HELPING US EVEN WITHOUT YUE. WHY ARE YOU SO NICE” - this is more or less what Sakura said and mood girl, mood. I do like that her threat is “fuck this up and I’m telling your bf”, which, to be fair, WOULD prompt Yuki to ask Toya what HIS big secret- wait.

... w a i t.

Yukito sacrificed something very important to him in order to gain magic of his own.

... Did he give up the magic Toya gave him/Yue years ago? Is THAT why Toya has powers again? IS THAT WHAT HAPPENED OR AM I MAKING THINGS UP

CUZ I CAN DEFINITELY SEE THAT HAPPENING

OH MY GOD????

Also, “Promise” as the Yukito card, huh? I’m with Sakura it feels like one of those random cards that may or may not be actually useful. Sakura so far has cards that equal Rika, Meiling (if we count the anime ones for a quick second), Mirror, Tomoyo, Shaoran and now Yuki. Will she end up getting cards that match Naoko, Chiharu, Toya and maybe even Eriol, Kero and Akiho? and could the Akiho card be the one Yuna’s after?

SPEAKIN’ OF HELLOW YUNA I SEE YOU’RE MAKING FOOD. Bitch you’re not alone you have Momo literally right next to you don’t be rude.

Wow it’s not even subtle anymore Ahiko straight up dreams of Sakura creating cards and using magic framed as Alice. I still wonder how this link between them will play out. Next month we have a little short story, huh? I may talk about that, and may make this a regular thing again, to break off the usual Winx dump. Why not, really?

[cardcaptorcoconut]

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Arc Chapter 32 Translation

Hi guys!  Long time, no see.  I’d first like to apologize for the long absence on here and for missing several chapters.  But I also want to offer my sincere thanks to those of you who have supported me and been there for me through the past few difficult months.  I’m not quite back to 100%, but I’m trying little by little everyday. :)  And I’ve really missed being part of the community.

So with that, here’s my translation for chapter 32!  If I can get up to it, I would like to try and catch up on the chapters I missed as well, but I also don’t want to be overly ambitious again.  However, I’m going to try to pick up from here and stick to translating the new chapters monthly as best I can.  I hope I can stick to it!

Special thanks to @meimi-haneoka​ as always for proofreading!

☆★Translations Notes Reminder★☆

Disclaimer: These are just fan translations. Please support the official release.

Chapter 32

Cover Page: “The most wonderful of dreams for you.” [Alt: (Sending) the most wonderful dreams to you.]

P1 Nakuru:  And so, that means… Nakuru:  I’ll be staying here while I’m in Japan.

[Note:  Possibly “We’ll be here while we’re in Japan” because Suppie is there too, but since they’re still pretending that Touya doesn’t know anything about magic – including Suppie – “I’ll” and “I’m” would fit better.]

Yukito:  Wha? Nakuru:  You have a lot of (spare) rooms right? Yukito:  <nods> Yeah. Nakuru:  And so (I’ll) be staying here. Yukito:  Okay??

P2 Touya:  Nah, it’s not “okay.” Suppie: … Nakuru:  I wanna eat oden tonight!

[Note:  This link describes what Oden is. It’s found a lot more often in winter, particularly in convenience stores.]

Yukito:  Oh yeah, oden’s delicious in the summer too! Touya:  What?

[Note: Touya’s already saying this with a “wtf” sort of annoyance.]

Nakuru:  Tsukishiro-kun, do you cook? Yukito:  Yeah, but Touya’s better at it. Touya:  (The hell)!?

[Lit:  What!?]

P3 Nakuru:  Well then, Touya-kun, (thanks in advance for) the oden tonight.

[Alt:  Well then, Touya-kun, (we’d like you to make) oden tonight!]

Yukito: <quietly and starry-eyed> Oden… Touya:  WHAT THE HELL!? Nakuru:  Go buy the ingredients! Oh and make sure you add those!  Fish cake and (mochi tofu pockets……)

[Note:  I translated 餅巾着 (mochikinchaku) as “mochi tofu pockets”, but to see a clearer explanation of what they are and how to make them, check this link for a recipe.]

Touya:  Why (are you being) that specific!! Nakuru:  I saw it in a recipe online!  I’m so excited! Nakuru:  Hurry up ♬ Hurry up♪ Yukito:  I’ll (go) with (you). <Nakuru grabs Yukito’s arm>

P4 Yukito:  <quietly> Whoa! Nakuru:  Tsukishiro-kun, could I please get a refill on the tea? Yukito:  Sure. Touya:  I’ll be making it from scratch when I get back, so it’ll be (ready pretty late).

[Lit:  …so it’ll be late when you can eat.]

Nakuru:  (You’d better get a move on then).

[Note:  The text is そこはまきまきでー which is a short, casual version of 巻きでお願いします – a phrase used to urge someone to hurry up when they’re pressed for time.]

Touya:  And you’re gunna help out. Nakuru:  Whaaa!?

P5 Suppie:  What’s with this (weird) sequence of events.

[Alt:  Unnatural flow of events]

Nakuru:  Wasn’t this as natural as could be?

Suppie:  <casually looking at the sweets>  It seems Touya Kinomoto has taken notice of (a lot of things). Yue:   So?  (Why) have you come here?

[Lit:  What’s the reason you’ve come here?]

P6 Nakuru:  Eriol said it was okay to come to Tomoeda. Eriol:  If our methods of communication have been cut off, then (you) should (head there) firsthand. Eriol:  Yuna D. Kaito doesn’t have it in him to crash a plane bearing someone he doesn’t want to come. Kaho:  (He) doesn’t have the power…? Eriol:  No. He does.

P7 Eriol:  However, there would be too many people (caught in the crossfire) and an investigation would be carried out to find a realistic cause of the accident.

[Lit:  ...too many people wrapped up in it…]

Eriol:  He wouldn’t risk a hazard like that.

[Alt:  He wouldn’t risk something dangerous like that.]

Eriol:  Not me, but… Nakuru: …if Suppie and I (were to come), {*he’d be even less likely to do it.*}

P8 Suppie:  It’s Spinel. Nakuru:  So what?  It’s cute! And Kaho is calling you that too recently. Suppie:  It’s (disappointing)!

[Note:  不本意 (fuhoni) literally means “involuntarily” or against one’s will.  I think the nuance is that it’s against Suppie’s will, rather than Kaho doing it against her will.]

Yue:  What did he tell you to do? Nakuru:  He said “Stay close by.” Yue:  To (our) mistresses’?

P9 Nakuru:  By yours’… Suppie:  ��and Kerobero’s (sides). Yue:  …… Nakuru:  Tsukishiro-kun has (been falling) asleep a lot recently, right? Suppie:  As has Keroberos, hasn’t he?

P10 Nakuru:  Sakura-chan is certainly Yue and Keroberos’ master and the contract is being (upheld), but the cards you protect are currently in the hands of Li Syaoran.

[Alt:  …but Li Syaoran currently holds the cards that you protect.]

P11 Nakuru:  It’s reckless to take and use cards originally belonging to someone else without (first) passing them over through a formal magic ritual. Nakuru:  {*And to actually be able to do it is even more reckless.*} Nakuru:  But as expected, even the successor of the Li Clan has his hands full with the cards. Suppie:  In other words…

P12 Suppie:  The reason you’ve (been) drowsy, is because (your) magic isn’t enough.

[Note:  The implication being there isn’t enough magic to support them, so it could alternately be “…because her magic isn’t enough”.]

Nakuru:  Just like when Touya-kun was so sleepy-weepy in high school. Suppie:  In that state, when the time comes that your mistress needs you… Nakuru:  …you won’t be able to (do anything) because you’ll be sleepy-weepy too.

[Alt:  …won’t be able to move because…]

P13 Yue:  Even though her magic is strengthening to the point that she’s unconsciously creating new cards? Suppie:  She can’t control her magic to the point that she’s unconsciously creating new cards. Suppie:  You could say that as well, couldn’t you?

[Alt:  We could also say that, right?]

Yue:  ……

P14 Nakuru:  And that’s why… Nakuru:  I’ll (stick with) Yue and Suppie will (stick with) Keroberos. Suppie:  So we can split the magic (we have) from Eriol (to share) with you. Suppie:  The Sakura Cards are formerly Clow Cards.  Clow Reed is the one who made the Clow Cards.  And Eriol is half of Clow. Suppie:  (As he put it), the root of the magic is the same, so it (will be) alright. Suppie:  Of course, those (would be considered) emergency measures.

[Lit:  Of course, these would be emergency measures.]

P15 Yue:  …… Yue:  Understood.  In other words, Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun, (you) are… Yue:  …“Batteries.” Nakuru:  Ahahaha! Suppie:  What the hell!?

P16 Nakuru:  <cracking up to herself> Ahahaha!! Yue said batteries!! Suppie:  That’s so incredibly rude!! Nakuru:  <shoves sweets in Suppie’s mouth> Suppie, if you get too angry, you’ll (make yourself) hungry.

[Alt:  …you’ll get hungry.]

P17 Suppie:  <bounces everywhere> DE-LI-CIOUS!!! ❤ Nakuru:  <recording it on her phone> When I get back, I’ve gotta show this to Eriol and Kaho. Yue:  Keroberos.  Get over here now and (get control of) your battery.

[Lit:  Get over here now and stop your battery.]

P18 <Scene changes to Akiho’s> Kaito:  I see.  So they’ve come. Momo:  Quite the schemer, that Hiiragizawa Eriol. Kaito:  It’s for Sakura-san’s sake that they’ve gone this far, right?

P19 Kaito:  She is dearly loved by (all of) those around her. Momo:  …Akiho loves (her) too.

[Alt:  …Akiho loves that girl too.]

Kaito:  …… <Doorbell rings>

P20 Akiho:  I’m home! Kaito:  Welcome home! <Text around Momo reads “Pretending to be a stuffed animal”> Akiho:  I’m home, Momo. Kaito:  I’ve just put on some milk tea.  Would you like to have some with a snack? Akiho:  (I’d love some!)  I’ll go wash my hands.

P21 Akiho:  Whenever I come home, you always have tea and snacks prepared for me. How do you know?

[Note:  The nuances is “How do you know when I’ll be home?”]

Kaito:  Because (I know you).

[Alt:  Because (I know) about you. / Note: Nuance is he knows everything where she’s concerned.]

Akiho:  <blushing> I-I-I-I-I’ll go wash my hands!!!

P22 <Momo falls over> Momo:  …… Momo:  Ahh… Momo:  Yuna D. Kaito, I want to jump kick (you) when I return to my original form. <Scene changes to Syaoran’s apartment> Syaoran:  Are you alright?

P23 Sakura:  Yeah.  Thanks for the cool towel.

[Lit:  Thanks for cooling the towel for me.]

Syaoran:  …… Sakura:  (We’ve) made all of the cards worry too. Syaoran:  (It’s because) my power still isn’t enough to support all of the cards materializing for so long...

P24 Sakura:  So even though your letters said it would take time, the reason you came back from Hong Kong was for this… Syaoran:  That’s not the only reason! Syaoran:  I…

P25 Syaoran:  …wanted to see you (as soon as I possibly could).

[Lit:  I wanted to see you even a day sooner (if possible).]

Sakura:  …Thank you.

P26 Sakura:  I’m really happy we’ve been together like we’ve been since you came to Tomoeda in the 4th grade. Sakura:  But if we’d met when we were even younger, I would’ve been able to see (even) more sides of you.  And we (would have made) more and more memories with each other… <Suddenly Syaoran is engulfed in light>

P27 Sakura:  Syaoran-kun!? Narration:  Syaoran has somehow (become) a child…!? The new development (you) can’t peel (your) eyes from!!

<To be continued in the May issue of Nakayoshi, on sale in April>

[lilover131]

Chapter 34 Thoughts

OH BOOOOOOOOY DO WE HAVE THINGS TO TALK ABOUT Y’ALL. I’M SO READY. I can’t wait to read the chapter next mo-

Translation: To be Continued 

W-well then...since we’re not entirely sure when the next chapter will be, we’ll have to be patient and solidify our theories! Chapter 35 will be out before we know it, but until then, here are my thoughts about Chapter 34 under the cut!

So it seems we have finally moved on from Syaoran’s apartment (damn!), and Sakura and Syaoran are explaining to Tomoyo what happened with the last card, as is tradition. Tomoyo really is persistent with her desires to film Sakura, and it cracks me up that she’s so heartbroken to have missed the opportunity this time around. She also voices what all of us were thinking in “Damn, it would have been so cute if he was a child in the mind too!”. Can I also say how wonderful it is that Sakura is so honest about her feelings? She didn’t hesitate for a moment to tell Syaoran that she would have liked to see him that way, and of course he was just a tomato every moment after that. LOL. 

Tomoyo didn’t seem very surprised at all about Sakura creating the cards at all. Or rather there was hardly a reaction. Period. @meimi-haneoka said this too, but I agree with her in that it was probably a little unrealistic how little she reacted to the situation. Of course she is observant and maybe figured it out without really knowing for sure, but if she had addressed that, I think it would be a little more acceptable for her to be as nonchalant as she was. But she didn’t address it...at all. All she did was remark on the similarities of the cards to her friends and regret once again not having been there to film Sakura with baby Syaoran. Regardless, I still love her to pieces and feel she is the embodiment of us fans. 

It’s so nice to see Kero and Suppi together again. I found it really funny how serious they were before Kero was like “LET’S PLAY A GAME”. He really doesn’t seem worried at all, but I mean...he probably should be? At least a little? Then again, I’m the type of person who loves to try and push my worries down deep and drown myself in the things I like to help me forget about it, so who’s to say Kero can’t feel that way too? Even though he trusts Sakura, he can still worry about her. But when he says “If something bad happens to her, then that’s our time to help out!”, it’s his way of saying “No need to dwell on our worries. Let’s tackle it as things come and trust that things will be all right.” 

Also, gamer Suppi is so so so so so great. I love that he has really opened up in personality and gets along so well with Kero. He’s not just a serious bookworm anymore who sticks his nose up at sweets. Lol. 

AND CAN WE PLEASE TALK ABOUT COLLEGE NAKURU? It’s so like Eriol to have already planned how she could stay close to Yukito, though I wonder how transferring to a different college at this time of year works. I feel like she’s probably already missed a lot of class, but also will she be taking all the same classes as Yukito then? How did that get managed? Meh. I guess I shouldn’t think too hard about it. It’s gonna be a fun time watching her bug Touya in college! 

Next up is Sakura’s class talking about pool day in P.E. As someone who didn’t experience swimming classes in her schools either, I found Akiho’s excitement very relatable. But the really really important part of this scene is how Sakura actually turns to talk to her and doesn’t even finish her sentence due to the uneasiness she suddenly feels around Akiho. This is important, because it is the first time Sakura has actually felt uncomfortable around her, and we have no idea why. Why now of all times? Has something changed in Akiho that Sakura can sense? Either way, the tense expression on Sakura’s face is very telling and deeply concerning. 

It likely had been a couple of hours since they first arrived at school to when they had P.E. class, and Sakura still looked uncomfortable. This means it was not a fleeting feeling that just came and went. It has stuck with her ALL DAY. And leave it to Syaoran to notice right away that something was wrong. Sakura can’t hide her feelings from him at all. 

When she asked him if he felt anything off about Akiho, it was kind of nice in the fact that she was asking him to help her compare and contract their magical senses so she could try and better analyze the situation. Our girl is really growing up in her problem solving skills! However, poor Syaoran really had his hands tied with his answer. Yes, he technically wasn’t lying when he said he felt nothing, but if he had been able to tell her about Kaito, I’m sure it would have served to validate Sakura’s feelings a little more. Instead, she probably feels like something is wrong with her, and this must be agonizing for Syaoran to witness. However, it seems like Syaoran doesn’t think of Akiho as a danger at all. I think he thinks she is being manipulated by Kaito somehow, and I worry that this will be dangerous for him if he keeps his guard lowered too much around her.

The tense moment was broken for a brief moment by Yamazaki’s ADORABLE comment about Chiharu’s hair, and I laughed out loud when she decided to hit him anyways out of embarrassment. Those two really are cute, and Syaoran and Sakura’s faces were just the perfect addition to that scene. 

CUE KAITO. DUN DUN DUN. You know when Kaito shows up, nothing good can come from it. He’s ripping off Eriol sitting up in his tree, but he’s looking real good in those more casual clothes! Momo comes out to play too, and I love how every conversation she has with him sounds more like an interrogation than anything else. She clearly seems to care about him, like when she commanded him to rest after using his time magic before, but when she showed up to talk with him this time, her words came off like “Ugh...this guy again...” 

Another first in Clear Card was that now we have Kaito actively working to create tough situations for Sakura! He states that this is because she knows she’s creating the cards now, but I’m not sure what that has to do with it. Perhaps it’s because of what Syaoran mentioned before about overpowered magic getting even more chaotic once a person was aware of it, and Kaito is now using that to his advantage. Or perhaps he’s trying to manipulate just the perfect scenario to have her have a specific thought which will then spawn a specific card. I guess we’ll just have to find out. 

He stops time, which is no surprise really, but this time, Sakura and Syaoran can move around freely. Sakura instantly worries that this is her fault, and Syaoran just can’t get the words out to warn her. He looks really pissed off about this, and I don’t blame him. This time, he knows it’s not Sakura and can’t even tell her otherwise. But I’m so proud of Sakura because she seems to figure it out all on her own that this magic belongs to someone else. Thank goodness! 

It’s hard to tell what’s going on in the scenes after that, but from what I gathered, the water in the pool was attacking her and was easily stopped by REFLECT. Some think the arrow things are something other the whirlpool, but the arrows had a sheen to them in the way they were drawn, so I’m pretty sure it’s water as well. 

BUT THEN AKIHO MOVES, AND HOLY SHIT IS IT TERRIFYING. Can you imagine how surprised both Sakura and Syaoran must have been to see that? First, there was probably that initial panic of “OH GOD, OUR CLASSMATE SAW US USING MAGIC”, but I think it becomes pretty clear by the 5 different voices (yes, FIVE), coming from lips that it isn’t her. This may not be the first time Sakura has seen possessed Akiho, but it will certainly seem that way since time was turned back the first time. And for Syaoran, it is definitely a first for him and probably going to stun him quite a bit. 

The mysterious voices coming from Akiho mention again the strength of Sakura’s power and seem to want to obtain it by locking her in a book. It’s hard to tell if they mean Alice in Clockland, but when the book pages sprout from under Akiho and start to wrap around Sakura, it definitely looks like a dangerous situation. 

Since the chapter ends there, we don’t know for sure if this means that she will get sucked into the book. After all, she could still manage to escape, however we also have no idea what the book does and what lies inside of it. 

I must say though that I am deeply concerned for not just her, but Syaoran too. And yes, I know I’m always saying I’m worried about him, but it’s been heavily implied both in the manga and anime that something bad is going to happen to him, and it’s only a matter of time. You might be asking why I’m worried now when Sakura is the one getting swallowed by a book. Well, if Sakura gets pulled in, this leaves Syaoran alone with both Kaito outside AND creepy possessed Akiho. Neither of them have to hide from him, since he can’t tell Sakura about them. Additionally, we know from previous chapters that Kaito can stop Syaoran’s time without any issue. He could have frozen him just like the other students, but he chose not to. Why?

It could be nothing, but I honestly refuse to believe that the heir to the Li clan, whose existence helped stir the pot with Akiho’s sad situation with her family AND the current holder of the Sakura cards would be of no interest to them. Some believe that possessed Akiho is being controlled by members of the Association, and if that’s the case, wouldn’t it just be sweet victory for them to take the Li clan heir out of the picture? CLAMP specifically mentioned Syaoran in Akiho’s backstory, and I feel like it if wasn’t relevant in some way, they could have left it out and simply gone with the “Akiho has no magic, and we’re ashamed” plot idea. But no...Syaoran’s existence fueled it. 

Moreover, we still don’t know what Sakura’s dream about Syaoran entailed. Why was he wearing Akiho’s robes? And his eyes seemed cold and lifeless just like Akiho’s do right now in her possessed state. It’s all really worrying. 

Anyways, we’ll just have to wait until next time to find out what happens!! I’m looking forward to it!! 

[one-last-puku]

Finally finished watching clear card with Rocky!

Some random notes:

I love it!

Sakura really is growing up, you can see it in how she doesn't keep plushies out, doesn't roller skate (although I'd argue it's because those died shortly after the 90's), she doesn't try to go to school with Touya and Yukito anymore (probably also because Syaoran and the fact they're in University now), etc. She even sometimes makes comment about how she's in middle school now and "when I was in elementary school..." (which is sooo cute and such a middle schooler thing to say. :'3). Voice is a bit deeper and calmer.

Meilin in the anime was one of my least favorite in the old show, even if she was a lot better by the end, but I'm so glad they brought her back and really developed her character for the anime, she's only so much more amazing now! I'm also happy to see Wei and etc. I like Meilin because out of all the characters in the show, she's easily the most likely to show selfishness, which is nice because I'm sure we can all relate to that sometimes. She seemed more human in that way sometimes.

I'm so frustrated by the inconsistencies in both the anime and manga! Especially the anime! Why does Sakura suddenly know who her great grandpa is now? I was looking forward to a shock moment where Sakura's all like "Holy cow, you're that guy I met at the summer house!" MOST OF ALL, WHICH I CANNOT GET OVER!: So now the movies are truly anime canon, ok cool soo... Akiho moved to Eriol's old house, y'know.. the one that burned down. Y'know that place where you specifically saw Sakura do that play at the amusement park that was built right on top of where your house that was supposed to have been destroyed is...!? How can you possibly be this bold!? What, did Kaito somehow duplicate Eriol's house and replace that theme park with it? How did they build a whole amusement park off of one mansion!? How is no one confused that Eriol's house is up again, in the anime where the movies are now canon!? Also the prologue doesn't fit the anime universe because the original ending of the anime became the canon, but they both still trade bears?? I guess it doesn't matter that much, but wow that's bold.

Random in note note: Yamazaki is my birthday buddy! He's awesome!

Tomoyo seems to have grown in some ways too. At first, she actually seems really out of character. She seems to have become somewhat yandere about filming, which is a bit weird. She was always really calm and pretty mature, now she seems a lot more playful. I have a theory though, her mom seems to be around more now even since the end of the last series. I suspect that before she had a bit more of a lady/princess like way about her because she grew up in a rich home, but was usually alone because her mom was always busy, so she was also not as social due to that. Now not only does she have Sakura, which reminder they'd only been friends for a somewhat short time before the start of the first series, she's now friends with more of her classmates and her mom seems to spend a lot more time with her now. (I think there was a scene like this in the manga, but it's probably been 10+ years ago that I read them. Oh no, now I remember, it seemed like this realization hit at the time where Tomoyo lost her voice). So because Tomoyo has more support and a way to be more like a child, I feels like a new side of Tomoyo has come out that was suppressed before.

There was also funny moments with Rocky where, at first I saw Syaoran was dressing up pretty nice and I know, as usual, that in Rocky's mind, if a guy dresses well or likes purple, it's gay. So, first time I was like, "ooh what a nice outfit! So -Rocky-, is it gay then?" She was like "Yep, pretty gay." It became kind of like a game after that. Everytime Syaroan dresses up dapper I'd be like "So Rocky? Is it gay?" And she'd be like "Mmm. Yep." Only in the second to last episode with the grandpa, he was wearing a cute suit and she was all like "Aww, look at how cute, he's all dressed up for his date." And I was like "so... is it gay?" And she was like "No, this is a suit, it's different."

As another note, Rocky's only experience with CCS anime before we watched it all together before was Cardcaptors. She really disliked Li, but now she says he's probably one of her favorite characters, and vice versa, she liked Kero a lot as a kid but gets easily really annoyed with him now (we watched the Japanese dub just before watching clear card). One notable moment is during the latest ending theme where Kero steals all of the takoyaki from Suppi. She's gets all frustrated and is like "ugh he didn't even enjoy/appreciate them. He just inhaled them and stole them from Suppi! It's just like my sister when we were kids!" She even compared it to her late cat, who'd eat everything so fast, trying to eat before any other cat could get to it, she'd throw it up after. It's funny what we tolerate from others when we're kids. X"3 Also cat influences.

If I think of anything else I'll add it, but I just felt like sharing!

Edit: oh yeah! I'm pretty sure the people in the end card/or well the corresponding part of that episode with the Piffle Princess mascot must be the same people who were employed at Piffle Princess in Angelic Layer.

Edit 2: We had one last episode. I guess they're going to try and retcon the amusement park thing. Let's see if they can explain it somehow. :9

[starlit-scifi]

Chapter 9

First•Previous•Next

With just a week to go, your plans start coming together, much to your collective relief. You’ve solidified the route you plan to take, the experiments you’re going to do, the equipment and supplies you’re bringing with you. Lori’s just gone along with it for the most part, since she’s more preoccupied with writing programs for your airscreen as well as making sure you probably won’t die. As you’re entering the final stages of your preparations, she disappears often. Sometimes you don’t see her for days, and she only messages you to ask for details or data. You get it: from the little bit of programming you did for your lower-level classes, you know it can be a tremendous pain in the butt, and you feel guilty every time you message her because you’ve forgotten something else that she should add. Manda’s said she’s making sure Lori’s getting enough food and sleep—sometimes by force, which she assures you is just what a good roommate does— but you can’t help but worry when Lori doesn’t message back.

“She just gets really focused,” Manda reassures you when you ask about her over dinner. “She’s having fun, really. Mostly.” She frowns. “I should ask if she wants me to bring her something to eat.” She pulls up her messages, and you return to picking at your vegetables.

“Hey. Aurie.” You barely catch Hay’s soft voice over the dining hall chatter.

“Hm?”

“You know, you might be better off letting Lori know how you feel.”

You almost choke on what might have, at some point, resembled spinach. After a big gulp of water, you ask, “What do you mean?”

She smiles gently. “Tell her that you worry about her. That you care about her… and you really want to have a dynamic where you truly work together, not just lock yourselves away for days at a time. After all, you’re going to be together pretty much all the time.”

“Oh, yeah,” Manda says, having picked up on the end of your conversation. “It won’t be like it was on our mission: we shared a room but that’s pretty much it. We didn’t even eat together most days since our schedules were so different. You guys get to do what kids dream of when they first hear about the humans who left the Solar system! Not just some glorified internship, adventure.”

You’re relieved that the topic has turned away from anything having to do with feelings, because you don’t even know where to start with those.

“That’s the problem though, I’m really not suited for adventure. I barely pass the PT test suppies take,” you mutter at your dinner plate.

“You know she knows that, right? She wouldn’t have let you give yourself a goal you can’t handle. And you’re much more fit than you were a month ago.”

“I guess.”

“You are. Almost as good as our second-worst first-year.” You stick your tongue out at her and she cackles. Her airscreen goes off; she looks up and then grins widely. “Look who’s come out of her cave!”

A weary “hey” comes from your right and you quickly scoot over. She stares at you expectantly until you realize you should probably move your food as well.

“Long time no see,” you say lamely once she's settled down. She shrugs.

“Just busy. I finally finished though.”

“Oh, with the…”

“The map filters, yeah. That’s the last thing we needed, right?”

“I think so…” You try to remember, but suddenly your thoughts are a mess.

“Great,” she says with a tired smile. “And with just three days to go. I think we did pretty good.”

“'We'? You did most of the work! I just kept making more work for you…”

She shakes her head. “I’m comp sci, remember? Of course I’m doing most of the work up here; I won’t exactly have access to the school servers when we’re in the middle of the rainforest.”

“I… I guess, but…”

“Don’t worry. I liked the challenge.” She covers a yawn. “Please don’t ask me to add anything else though, unless it’s absolutely critical. I don’t think the airscreen can handle anything more… and honestly, neither can I.”

“Got it.” You take a deep breath before you add, “Thank you. For everything. I really couldn’t do this without you.”

“Me either,” she says softly.

Across the table, Manda and Hay exchange a glance. Manda gestures and mouths that she and Hay are going to go; Lori notices and mouths back, “good riddance”.

She busies herself with eating like she hasn’t eaten in days while you stare at your own plate of potatoes and protein chunks. Finally, you decide there’s no point in sitting there in silence, so you start to get up to leave.

“Hey, hold on,” Lori says. “I actually needed to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“Just…" She shrugs. "I know I’ve been really bad about, well, actually talking to you. Not about the mission, about…" She pokes at her food. "Everything else."

“There’s nothing to talk about,” you say quickly.

She frowns. “...I think there is.”

You shake your head. She sighs, and somehow manages to look more tired than she had a few seconds ago.

“Look, I… I don’t want you to feel like I’ve… I don’t know, abandoned you or anything,” she says with a shrug. “I’ve just been busy and—”

“It’s not that,” you snap.

She blinks, puzzled by your forcefulness. “Then…”

“It’s not anything. I’m fine.” You brush a strand of hair behind your ear, trying to collect yourself. “I’m fine. I need to go.”

And you manage not to let the tears fall until you've made it to your room.

---

-Hey

-Are you okay?

-Please respond.

-Please

Your airscreen buzzes again and you open your bleary eyes. It's way past your normal sleep time, not that you're probably going to be able to sleep tonight, but it still annoys you that she won't just leave you alone.

-I don't want to talk right now.

-Can we talk tomorrow then?

-I don't want to go into this if we can't stand being around each other.

-I don't know what I did wrong, but I need you to please just tell me.

-Let me try to fix this

-Please let me try to help

-You can't

-Why not?

Your chest aches.

-I don't want to talk about it.

-At least not over text

-Voice call then?

-No

Your fingers tingle. You wince and adjust the control bracelet.

-Meet me at the third level observation deck

--Ten minutes

---

When you get there, she's already waiting, idly poking around on a star map. It's late enough that the lights in the room are in night mode, so the soft blue glow of her airscreen display is the brightest thing besides the actual stars. She looks back over her shoulder as she hears your footsteps.

"Hey," she says, swiping the screen away.

"Hey."

You sit beside her, electric nervousness filling your veins as you stare out into the vast nothing beyond the thin bubble of safety of Unity's walls. She doesn't say a word, and you're as grateful as you are sorry for letting things get to this point.

"I don't want this to end, ever," is the best you can give her out of all the tangled thoughts you've had for hours and hours. She shifts in her seat but says nothing for a long moment.

"What do you mean?" She asks finally.

"This project. Our partnership."

"We have more than a year left. We can still be friends after we graduate. I'm not sure if it'll be easy to keep in touch, but we can try."

"That's not what I mean," you murmur. "At least, not exactly."

"Then… what?"

"I don't know," you lie. "But it scares me." And that's the truth.

She's quiet. It's so quiet that you can hear the vents come on. She pulls up her star map again, setting it to highlight the Alliance planets. A flick of a finger sets the constellation of blue dots spinning.

"I get it," she says softly. "It's like… the one nice thing you have, the one place you can feel safe, not alone, like you almost have a little bit of power over your life—it all goes away so quickly, right?"

"Yeah," you murmur. But that's not what I meant at all.

"I've been there. It's not easy, leaving behind the one place where you know people care about you. I'm sure your parents do, of course, but…"

"We aren't close."

"I'm sorry,” she whispers.

You shrug. "I can't change how they are or where work takes them. They love me, but… You're honestly closer to me than they are. And I…"

It's there. It's just there, on the tip of your tongue, but it evades you yet again.

"Aurie." You look up at her, startled. "I get it," she says, looking at you with a gentle smile. "Everyone needs family. Genetics don't make a family, being there for each other does."

You nod silently.

"And I'm here for you."

You nod again.

It should feel good. It should feel good, but you still feel hollow.

"Thank you," you whisper anyway.

There's no more words worth saying right now.

She plays around with her map, fingers dancing from planet to planet as you stare out into space, the hollowness punctuated by stars whose names you don't know.

"Aurie, look."

You turn towards her. She's marked four points on the map. You stare blankly for a couple seconds before you recognize one.

"Yanna… and Irthtu," you murmur.

"Yup. And Lotanak, and here's us, and that…" She touches the last yellow point, and the now-familiar description pops up.

"Bernubos-3."

"Yes. And all of these are home, in a way." The glow of the screen is reflected in her eyes as she gazes at you through the cloud of tiny stars.

"I guess so," you mumble.

Though the map of this side of the galaxy could fit in two outstretched hands, you know the distances between the planets are unfathomably great. Even going through hyperspace it would take a day to get home from here. With your current technology, it would take weeks to close the distance between her face and yours...

You shake your head and laugh.

"What?"

"No, um…" How could you even begin to explain that completely foolish train of thought? You scramble for an alibi. "At… At this point I think I know more about the soil biology of B-3 than my own home planet. It's just… weird, that's all."

"Same," she says with a shrug. "Though to be fair, I'm not a bio person. I'm just learning all this from you through osma— um—"

"Osmosis."

She chuckles. "Yes, that." Her expression turns serious again, but she can't hide the worry in her eyes. "But you're okay?"

Even the question is nearly enough to shake you apart again.

"I'm okay. I just need sleep."

"Okay. Me too." She flicks the display off again, and you start to get up. "Hold on," she says, and you turn back to her and your heart is suddenly going too, too fast…

"W-what?"

"Aurie… I just really need you to know that I'm here for you. That you can talk to me… about anything. Not just because we need to work together for Colab, but because I truly think of you as a friend." There's this genuine passion in those beautiful grey eyes and it breaks your heart. "I���I know you don't want to talk about whatever's going on, but I just want you to know that I'm here to support you. I really care about you."

And as you're staring at her, lost in this unnameable emotion and her eyes, she raises her hands. For a moment, you stare numbly at them, before you realize what normal is supposed to be, not some imaginary starship shooting across the galaxy but your cold fingertips pressed against the warmth of hers.

And now you truly crumble, and with her holding you, you've never felt more alone, yet so at home.

"You're going to be okay."

"Yeah."

"Everything is going to go smoothly."

"Definitely."

"You're not alone."

"Thank you,” you say, but it’s lost in a sob against her shoulder.

You're all cried out and she's falling asleep on her feet but she still walks you back to your room.

"Aurie?" she asks as you’re about to unlock your door.

"Hm?"

"Please try to get some sleep. Eat. Treat your body right. We only have two days now."

"You too."

She chuckles. "Trust me, Manda's making sure of that."

“Good.”

You stare at her for a long time, because there’s still something you need to say, but you don’t quite have the words. Finally, you just settle on,

“Goodnight,”

the same word that leaves her lips. She blinks, then laughs, and you laugh along with her, as tired as you are.

“We both need sleep,” she says finally, rubbing her eyes.

“We do.”

She hesitates, then asks, “See you tomorrow?”

You smile.

“Sure.”

First•Previous•Next

[lenin-it-to-win-it]

Teamwork Makes The Meme Work

Summary: Kunikida and Dazai express their deep affection for one another the only way they know how: matching meme outfits.

Notes: This is my first kunikidazai fic and i wrote it specifically for my good comrade @thelampisaflashlight​! Happy early birthday emil! May u get plenty of hot beef and breakfast milky hallelujah amen 420 blaze it

*****************************************************************************************************

“Good morning, Kunikida-kun! Rise and shine!”

Kunikida groaned and turned over on his side, squeezing his eyes shut. While he recognized the value in waking up early and never once stayed in bed past the ideal time, Kunikida had zero tolerance for Dazai’s abominable habit of examining the alarm clock each night and waking up precisely five minutes earlier. His only possible motivation was spite. “Go back to sleep, Dazai.”

Even with his eyes closed and covered, Kunikida could picture Dazai’s pouting face. “Oh, but Kunikida-kun, am I not a sight worth waking up for?”

Kunikida buried his face in his pillow, scowling. Of course, Dazai was rather handsome, with his rich chocolaty curls and deep, dark eyes, but Kunikida would’ve sooner torn every page out of his Ideal and eaten them than admit it out loud. “Nothing is worth waking up for at this hour.”

Long, slender fingers began working their way through Kunikida’s hair. “Not even—” Dazai kissed Kunikida’s neck. “—this?”

Kunikida jerked upright, batting Dazai’s hand away and hoping the flush he felt rising on his cheeks wasn’t visible. “Have you even brushed your teeth yet?” Kunikida grumbled, crossing his arms.

Dazai grinned. “Nope!” He pounced on Kunikida and began covering his face in kisses, then working his way down his neck. When Dazai tugged at Kunikida’s shirt and began sucking on his collarbone, Kunikida pushed him back.

“At least let me shower first before you start with the shenanigans!”

Dazai flashed his infamous smirk. “Are you sure you wouldnt’s shower after? I plan on making quite a mess.”

“You better plan on getting dressed, you bandaged buffoon,” Kunikida retorted, tossing off the covers and getting out of bed. “Or did you forget we have a mission today?”

Dazai moaned, but his eyes quickly lit up. “I almost forgot something far more important.”

Kunikida shuddered in apprehension. He had no idea what Dazai had forgotten, but he knew he didn’t want to find out. “Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes!” Dazai slipped off the bed and struck a seductive pose against the bedframe. He blew a kiss at Kunikida, then gestured toward his boxer shorts. “Do you like what you see, Kunikida-kun?”

Once Kunikida stopped wondering what he was supposed to find engaging about Dazai’s flat ass, he noticed the writing on the boxers.

“Absolutely not!” Kunikida cried. “You take those off right now!”

Dazai batted his eyelashes. “Oh, Kunikida-kun, how forward!” He hooked his fingers around the waistband of the boxers. “Well, if you insist-”

“No! Stop that!” Kunikida’s face burned. “I meant put on a different pair!”

“You’re no fun at all!” Dazai whined, putting his hands on his hips. “Don’t you want to stroll around town showing off our matching outfits?”

Kunikida covered his ears and headed for the bathroom. “You’re going to be showing off a broken jaw if you don’t shut up.”

As he prepared to get in the shower, Kunikida slid out of the t-shirt he had been sleeping in, turning it right side-out before placing it by the sink. It was an old shirt he had gotten with Katai as a joke a few years ago: plain white, worn by frequent use, ordinary in every way except for the lettering across the chest that spelled “Hot Beef”. Katai’s matching shirt read “Breakfast Milky”.

Kunikida didn’t know- and he hoped he wouldn’t find out- how in the world Dazai managed to find a pair of boxers that had “Hotter Beef” written across the rear.

***

Kunikida checked his watch as he and Dazai climbed the stairs to agency headquarters after their mission. Early afternoon light filtered through a lone window in the stairwell. “We’re a few minutes ahead of schedule,” Kunikida remarked, almost smiling. “Which will give us some time to get a headstart on that paperwo-”

Kunikida’s words were cut off by a kiss. Kunikida gave into the kiss for a moment, then forced himself to break away. “For crying out loud, Dazai, not out in the open like this,” he said, glancing over his shoulder to see if anyone had witnessed their moment of indiscretion.

Dazai’s eyes sparkled, and Kunikida immediately regretted his choice of words. “Don’t worry,” Dazai whispered, tracing a hand along Kunikida’s cheek. “I know somewhere no one will see us.”

Approximately six stairs, two left turns, and one closed door later, Kunikida found himself in a dark, dingy supply closet. “Not here,” he protested, crossing his arms. “This would not be a proper use of agency space and property, and besides it’s too. . . cliche.”

Dazai chuckled and dug through one of the suppy bins until he found a permanent marker. “Speaking of cliche. . .”

Kunikida’s arm lashed out toward the marker, but Dazai was too slippery, too evasive, and by the time Kunikida was able to pry the marker out of his bony fingers, Dazai had already succeeded in drawing “D + K” surrounded by a childish cartoon heart.

Kunikida lectured Dazai about the evils of graffiti and the intricacies of human anatomy, on how the heart was far more complicated than it was often represented pictorally, replete with chambers and passageways neglected by such a simplistic representation, but the blush on his cheeks was unmistakable. The flow of condemnatory words was just beginning to peter out when Kunikida felt Dazai’s lips against his once again. Protected by the darkness, Kunikida allowed himself to savor the kiss this time, entwining his fingers in Dazai’s hair and melting beneath the warm, subtle pressure of his lips and hands.

“Finally,” Dazai panted, left breathless by passion. “Now, where did we leave off this morni-”

Kunikida’s watch started buzzing. “Dammit!” he exclaimed, brushing past Dazai and flinging the door open. “We should’ve been back at our desks by now! What were we doing?”

Dazai smirked. “Stuff.”

“Stuff.” Kunikida rolled his eyes. “Right. When Fukuzawa-san asks what we were doing I’ll just tell him we were doing-”

Yosano appeared in the hallway, cradling a knife in her arms like it was a newborn child. “Oh, hey, Kunikida-kun, Dazai-kun,” she said nodding. Upon taking in Kunikida’s undone tie and partially unbuttoned shirt and Dazai’s tousled hair, she raised an eyebrow. “What were you doing?”

“Stuff!” Kunikida blurted out. He coughed to clear his throat and averted his eyes. “I-I was doing. . . stuff.”

Yosano laughed, covering her mouth with a knife. “Oh, I’ll bet. See you later,” she called over her shoulder, continuing down the hallway toward her office.

Kunikida’s brow furrowed. “‘I’ll bet’,” he repeated, eyes narrowed. “What did she mean by that?” It was only then that he turned around and saw Dazai with an uncapped permanent marker in his hand and the word “Stuff” hastily scrawled on his collarbone.

“DAZAI!”

***

As Dazai was leaving the office for the day, he heard the tail end of a conversation some younger members of the agency were having.

“-and I guess someone really likes playing Donkey Kong because when Ranpo-san sent me to get him some pens out of the supply closet, someone had written ‘DK’ in a heart,” Atsushi concluded.

“We didn’t have any donkeys back on the farm,” said Kenji a bit sadly. “But we had plenty of cows, and they’re way better than donkeys, anyhow,” he added with his usual cheer.

“We didn’t play video games in the mafia,” Kyouka murmured, eyes downcast.

“Thing’s must’ve really gone downhill since I was there,” Dazai thought to himself, reflecting on the many times- both innocuous and inopportune- he had spent playing video games while he was part of the Port Mafia. He made his way downstairs and found Kunikida already waiting for him in the car.

Dazai couldn’t help but smile at Kunikida’s expression. He was clearly planning something, and clearly trying to hide it. “Looking forward to heading home, are you, Kunikida-kun?” Dazai teased, leaning over the glove compartment to flick Kunikida’s cheek.

“Um, actually. . .” Kunikida scratched his head. “I have to stop at the store first.”

“The store?” Dazai widened his eyes in false innocence. “Why, do you need to pick something up for dinner?”

Kunikida stared out the window. “Yes.”

Dazai laughed, sticking the key in the ignition. “If you say so.”

After a rather uneventful trip to the store where Kunikida wouldn’t let Dazai out of the car and a dinner where Kunikida wouldn’t say a word, instead opting to shoot furitive glances at the shopping bag in his lap, Dazai had given up trying to pry anything more out of Kunikida. He read in silence for about an hour before Kunikida materialized and tossed a bag at him.

“Open it,” Kunikida demanded.

Dazai realized Kunikida was wearing a white t-shirt similar to the one he had worn to bed, but instead of reading “Hot Beef”, it said “I’m with stupid”, the words clearly written by Kunikida himself in permanent marker. A smile spread across Dazai’s face as he dug into the bag; he had a pretty good idea what was inside, but when he pulled out a shirt that said “I’m stupid”, he still couldn’t keep from laughing. “Thanks, Kunikida-kun. I’ll wear it every day,” he said, wrapping his arms around Kunikida.

Kunikida huffed as if annoyed, but Dazai knew he was pleased. “That’s hardly necessary. I’ll know you’re stupid with or without it.” Kunikida answered Dazai’s hug with a crushing embrance. “And I’ll always be with you, stupid.”

[dragynkeep]

1) He didn’t turn the heat back on, but we don’t know if he even tried because the whole heating subplot has been completely forgotten. We got information from Weiss that without Aura, the natural cold would kill an average person in just a few hours, but we see none of this widespan devastation at all despite it being over a day since the heating got turned off. 

2) His original plan WAS to get the message out to the world about Salem, with the added protection from his armies when panic inevitably happened because people now know there’s a magical witch who control the very monsters that tried to wipe them out since the beginning of time. When Salem arrived and there was no time left to finish Amity, Ironwood decided to turn his attention to getting his kingdom and people the hell outta Dodge, because there’s no way he and his exhausted soldiers can fight a magical witch that he JUST learned was immortal because RWBY kept that information from him. 

RWBY’s plan, by logic, SHOULDN’T work. Amity wasn’t finished, it was made obvious by Watts’ comment, by Ironwood’s silent confession, and then Yang straight up saying he lied about Amity being finished because he wanted to lure Watts there. Now by Volume 8, we found out that Amity was actually super close to being finished and just needed Ironwood’s authorisation to launch! So... why didn’t he launch it before? There’s no valid reason for him not to, so Amity being almost done was a retcon so RWBY had some validity to their stupid plan. 

And how can the other kingdoms prepare? Vale is destroyed, Mistral has lost most of their Huntsman, and if the books are anything to go by, Shade has just gone through an invasion by the Crown. There is NO ONE left to either come to Atlas’ aid like RWBY wants, or to try and prepare themselves for a massive army headed by Salem that’s just on the horizon. 

3) The hole in the wall is a stupid excuse. Robyn stole multiple van loads of supplies and the hole was no different after that than it was before, and since Weiss can summon a massive wall of ice or stone with just a bit of Dust, it makes this problem even MORE dumb because there’s simple solutions to it! Use Dust! Use the supplies you stole to do it, Robyn! Why would the suppies that are needed for a complicated machine like Amity be the same for repairing a simple wall, anyway? They’d be completely different but the show went vague with just “supplies” to get around this point. 

Also, Ironwood didn’t steal supplies. He had supplies to either do Amity or the wall, and decided at that time with the information he had, that building a communications tower so everyone in Remnant can band together with him against Salem was more necessary in the long term than repairing a wall. It’s not stealing when it’s your own supplies, it’s distributing them. Add onto the solutions I stated before, and this problem is just really dumb in the hindsight of things.

4) He didn’t ban people from self-defense, ffs. It’s past curfew where people are meant to be inside so that they’re safe from the same Grimm, and RWBY were arrested for unlawful use of weapons, not just for the use of weapons in general. There’s soldiers and huntsmen already in Mantle since the Ace Ops, and Penny, were already there in Mantle. 

5) How did you think he got those injuries? Doing paperwork? Just because he’s too young to have thought in the Great War doesn’t mean he hasn’t fought in a war period, otherwise soldiers who haven’t fought in WW1 haven’t actuall thought in wars either. Lesser known wars exist, and he’s still fighting in a secret war against Salem.

It’s more than what ‘raised in the era of peace and are first year dropouts’ RWBY are. Ironwood does get that excuse that he knows more than them about war and fighting because he’s a veteran who sports the scars of fighting on his fucking body. With the decisions he’s made too, I’d say he’s more fit to lead than our heroes lmfao

6) There, an actual flaw! Ironwood does care about his kingdom but he does put their wellbeing over anything else, including himself given the line in his song being “I would die/Without regret, I would offer up my life”. His flaw right now is that, if it meant the safety of his kingdom, Ironwood would sacrifice everything, including his own morality, because he would rather be hated by people who were still alive to hate him. 

Add onto the fact that he does do morally grey things, I ain’t gonna sit here and say he’s a perfect saint because he’s not, and I’m glad he’s not. A perfect saint would be boring. 

7) I don’t get the idea that everyone has where he wanted to elevate Atlas forever. He never said that. What he did say was that they had enough resources to last months, which would give them enough time to think of a new plan without Salem literally breathing down his neck. He wasn’t abandoning Remnant or leaving everyone to defend for themselves forever, he was making a tactical retreat, which is something you gotta do sometimes when you’re in a position where if you stay and fight, everyone dies.

RWBY can’t tackle real world problems and say they want realistic reactions and such to events, like the Fall of Beacon, and then in the same breath come out with this idealistic bullshit that Ruby will win because she really wants to. Even though she had no logical plan, no way to protect everyone, and was willing to endanger not only Atlas, but the innocent refugees that managed to get there, all because she can’t save everyone.

That’s a dangerous mentality. You shouldn’t be looking for a perfect solution, you should be looking for a solution that costs the least amount of lives, and as horrible as it is to abandon people, Ironwood’s plan was the lesser of two evils. 

Now Salem is here and everyone is in danger, because Ruby wanted to play the hero and prevent anyone from escaping.

8) Yep, his injuries would mean he was not in the right state of mind, on top of his declining mental health and PTSD being triggered by Cinder and her chess piece, he isn’t as kept together as he could’ve been. But even with that, the fact that he came up with a solid plan that ensure at least some people would survive says a lot.

Also let’s not forget that Ruby was having a full on mental breakdown not five seconds before that because Salem said a Yo Momma joke. But no one questions her ability to make decisions based on her mental state? Sure. 

If Ironwood’s plan would doom the world, so would Ruby’s. At least his had a logical reason for people to make it, whereas Ruby went on retcons and plot conviences. Of course Amity is close to being finished even though it literally was nowhere done only a few hours ago, of course Salem is just sitting there doing nothing for a whole day while the heroes were running around and Oscar got kidnapped, of course Penny has complete control over the Maiden Powers even though she only had them for a few hours and all the other Maidens had to train their powers, to the point that Amber was able to be taken down by Cinder and her two teen henchmen because she was only a rookie Maiden.

I ain’t saying Ironwood is perfect, I’m just saying that he ain’t a dumbass who relies on the power of friendship and plot armour for his plans to have a chance of working. At this moment, I’d rather side with him than Lil Miss Perfect and her gang of jackasses :////

What Ironwood feared and tried to prevent happen, happened thanks to Ruby's meddling. FNDM: See Ironwood this is all your fault. Insert bewildered blinking guy meme here.

shocking; the thing ironwood said was going to happen & why he wanted to retreated, happened & he’s apparently still to blame !!

[ringusscully]

@gifsourcefed made a little post detailing about how she felt about all the hosts and I thought it would be a good way to show my appreciation as well! 

My story is pretty much like every others, I started way back in 2012, right around the time of the fall, and from then on my life was forever changed. SourceFed has always been my home, some place I could leave for a bit and then come back and things were a little different, like the furniture had changed around and maybe we got some new members, but it was still home, it still had the heart and the love that I always remembered.

Lee Newton, the sweetest, funniest, dinosaur loving woman I’ve ever seen. I connected with her Make-A-Wish story and being sick and having surgeries all the time as a kid with my own past being similar, and from then on she felt like a new mom, one complete with hilarious voices and a bright smile.

Joe Bereta, the dad I wish I had, so athletic and fearless, and Joe knew how to tell a story like nobody else, I always wanted to learn how to tell a story like Joe Bereta, even if he did almost die in half of them.

Elliott Morgan, the dry humored, silly guy who had the tendency to go a little dark, Elliott was filled with endless talent and entertainment, there truly was nobody like Elliott Morgan, and never will be. 

Steve Zaragoza, this silly, joyous, funny, fantastic man. I love Stee, even when I disagree with him, because Steve is so magical, so special in the way he exudes happiness. Zabagoobler has always been the kind of guy I wanted to be friends with.

Trisha Hershberger, this small, dramatic, tech loving woman. I love Trisha Hershberger. Trisha reminded me of myself, in drama and wanting to be an actress, and so very tiny and optimistic and loved games and technology. Trisha is the sweetest little lady, and I know she’s going to be a fantastic mother.

Meg Turney, this red haired force of nature. Meg was hot and quick and full of life, so casually cool and fun it almost hurt. Meg seemed so effortless in everything, like that being that amazing was just easy. She made being a nerd girl in a t-shirt be hot.

Ross Everett, although far from a favorite of mine personally, always added a little spice. I actually did come to miss him when brought up the last few days, missing the dynamic he had, and I think that’s how Ross shined: he was good with people, good with bouncing off of them, good at creating a fun energy and a good time. I could only hope to have that much energy as Ross.

And then came our first round of newbies. Admittedly, these are probably my favorite hosts, ones I connected with the most.

William Haynes, the unpredictable, creative, wild Naruto Shippuden loving boy. I had a crush on Will when he first popped up on Anime Club. Will was awkward, but well spoken and characteristic, and funny? Will was so funny. And he changed, right before our own eyes, Will went from this awkward boy, to this amazing, cool, funny man. Will showed me that even in the void, you can always find the light at the of the Tunnel (Vision). Speaking of Anime Club...

Reina Scully, this small, beautiful Asian woman. God do I love Reina Scully. Reina was small, just like me, and loved anime, and was actually pretty disgusting and lewd, in the best of ways, things that I was afraid of showing, but Reina brought me out of my shell. Reina is by far my favorite host, coming into her own from sitting quietly at TableTalks to yelling to my favorite soft chicken boy. Never did I have to think about liking Reina, because she was so likeable right from the moment she popped up. Somebody else that brought me out of my shell?

Sam Bashor, meek and sweet in the beginning, now a still sweet, but amazing man who is so full of ideas and passion that he seems like he’s going to burst. Sam was also somebody I had a crush on, the old Doctor Who outfits were so charming, and the privilege of seeing Sam (and Will) grow from boys my age to these incredibly talented men who are living their dreams and their passions, has always given me hope and something to strive for, that you can change but still be yourself at heart, especially if deep down you’re actually just the Flash.

Matthew Lieberman, this boy! God I love Matt. It was so popular to dislike Matt, but I loved him. I love the crazy stories Matt always brought to the table, and he always knew how to tell them, the details and specifics, and in story reactions almost unbelievable and amazing. And cooking! The man can cook. Amazingly so. I’m so upset we never got to see more of Matt’s skills, and that SourceFeed is never going to happen now. And on top of that, an actor and a writer? Matt is so talented, and I especially loved him on Nuclear Family.

Around late 2014 early 2015 I fell off SF, but not for long. I came back home, just like always, and there were even more new hosts. 

Bree Essrig, this feminist fireball, Bree is everything I wish I could be. Talented, outspoken, funny, beautiful. Bree is the complete package, topped with hair just as fiery as she is. Bree’s skills were brought to the forefront on Nuclear Family, and not getting to see those anymore makes me so sad. God damn do I love Bree Essrig. Know who else I love?

Maude Garrett. Maude. Fucking. Garrett. When Maude Garrett enters a video, enters a single frame, this is Maude’s show now. Maude brings the light to the room, draws all the attention in with that tall blonde Australianness that only she could exude, somehow contained in a Star Wars dress. Maude is so ridiculously funny, you might as well just sit back and let her go at it. The dynamic with Sam is so amazing, so perfect, lightning in a bottle that could never be recreated. I can’t wait for the Smaudecast.

Steven Suptic. This soft chicken boy. This boy grew on me. I watched SPF for Reina, she’d always been my favorite, and now she did games? Full time? Hell fucking yeah I was in. But then this boy came in. This weird white boy with greasy hair who said all the wrong things. I don’t know how long I wouldn’t watch a video that didn’t feature somebody else that involved Suptic. But somewhere along that way, that boy got a haircut, and I’m pretty sure some new glasses, and eventually found his voice and his stride, and GOD do I love Steven Suptic. Suppy is a grower, somebody that’s so bombastic you’re off-put by him. But then you watch more, and you realize that boy that jokes around all the time? Is sentimental, and kinda sweet, even if he still says the wrong things sometimes, but now it’s a little bit endearing, especially if his dick is just, y’know. Out.

I was pretty consistent with keeping up from now until the end, and luckily, I’d already been keeping up with a few of the new hosts.

Ava Gordy, a sweet, funny, short haired lady with legs more bendable than I thought possible. Ava’s been somebody I knew since 2012 as well, I saw a video she did for Taylor’s Swift’s “RED” album reviewing it, and had been watching “HALT, I am Ava.” ever since. Seeing Ava here was a surprise, a good one, Ava’s talents finally having the coolest of platforms I could think of to be shown off. Ava is funny, her timing and storytelling impeccable. Ava Gordy is a masterpiece.

Mike Falzone, this sweet, funny man was also somebody I knew, having been around the YouTube block, knowing of Tonjes and Gunnarolla. Mike was like Steve, hilariously funny, always doing something to get a laugh, and this man is so genuine it seems almost impossible. Mike is so sweet, so good to this world, and so funny on top of it all. The world does not deserve the Calzone, but we get to enjoy him anyways.

Candace Carrizales. Oh Candy. Candace is someone that took the most to grow on me. Her humor is so different from the others, her demeanor so unexpected from this office that’s known to be out of this world loud and exuberant. Not Candy. Candy’s just hear to be here, and have a good time, and to give a laugh. I wish I could’ve appreciated Candace sooner, seeing her grown more comfortable and more into her voice and comedy has been amazing, and I wanted nothing but to see her more, considering she’s made me laugh so much in the last few months than I ever expected.

Yessica Hernandez-Cruz, God damn do I love this lady. Yessica and Will were dynamite, bouncing off each other, feeling like the PBL duo to SFN’s Maude and Sam, it was impossible to not smile seeing these two do magic together. Yessica on her own, is even more magical, proud of who she is and unapologetic, and holy shit can Yessica make me laugh. I’m going to miss Yessica, but I have hope for the PBL trio, considering John’s promises. Speaking of...

John Ross, I love this man. John is somebody I want to hang out with, to teach me all that he knows about food and camera work and everything he’s familiar with. John has such an aura about him, so friendly and positive, John is the calming member of this amazing trio, just wanting to spend time with his friends and have a good time and make amazing content. John Ross is a gift.

Whitney Moore, another gift, was the perfect person for Nerd. Whitney was a slightly familiar face, and she felt just so right to be there. Whitney brought a cool meal edge to the channel, her slightly darker tones of interest so contrasted with her bright and bubbly personality. I always smiled when Whit was on screen, so funny and cool, ready to take on the world. 

Filup Molina, the biggest surprise for me, was just on Nerd one day. Just hanging out. And I’m glad that he did, that hat wearing, funny boy. Filup’s always been slightly out of place for me, in the best way, his references falling on deaf ears because they didn’t make sense to others, jokes that the viewer caught going unnoticed by others, I loved him. Filup was a breath of fresh air for the channel, a sparkling gem that I feel not many noticed.

Aside from the hosts, I wanted to note a few BTS staff:

Rickey Mizuno, handsome, talented Rickey boy, beautiful behind the camera and in front of it. This man exudes charisma, and we didn’t get to see him nearly enough. Dani Rosenberg, the HBIC, funny and badass, Dani was one of my favorites to see. She really made SF what it was, and I want to see her do more awesome shit. Sophia Lorena, that curly haired beauty, dealing with Will’s shit every day was truly a lot for her to deal with, and I think for that alone we should be praising her. Also, have you seen her blog? Sophia’s amazing. Starline Hodge, the beautiful, talented graphic designer, Star’s vlogs and art have never not caused me to smile. Star was always subtle in things, but I always wanted more of her. And Audrey Davy, hearing Reina scream her name in SPF videos was always hilarious, and seeing her in Phil’s vlogs and in the Drunk Co-Workers series confirmed that Audrey is a dime a dozen, hardworking and sweet, Audrey was one of my favorites always.

To all of those in this list, and on staff, thank you for these 5 years. They were wonderful, and funny, and God, I will never forget them or the people that made them. And I will never forget the amazing community that thrived from it. I love every single one of you. 

See you, you hot little daddy’s.

[meimi-haneoka]

Hi! I have a quick question about the Clear Card manga & the English translation. When Nakuru first explains to Yue why she & Spinel are back in Tomoeda, she refers to Yukito as "Tsukishiro-kun," but when we get to volume 9 and she's explaining she and Yukito made sweets, and later, when she's explaining his contract with the Tsukimine shrine, she calls him "Yukito." Is that change present in the original Japanese, or is it just in the Eng. version? Thanks!

Hello anon! Thank you for sending me this question, which is completely legit because we KNOW how the Eng translation sometimes can mess up, especially with names and such (Shinomoto turned into Shinohara, Hiiragizawa turned into Hasegawa, Syaoran being back to be "Li" for Sakura for one panel, naming Kaito as Mana out of the blue etc), but I'm happy to say: this time it isn't a mistake! 😁

Let's briefly show to everyone the visual proof of what you're talking about: I personally checked the tankobon scans because those are the definitive version of the story that we should always keep in consideration (yes, sometimes CLAMP or the editors themselves mess up on the serialization on Nakayoshi, or they change their mind on something, and they fix those mistakes in the tankobon release, which is the definitive one, unless stuff gets modified in further prints/releases).

Volume 7, chapter 32: Nakuru just arrived in Tomoeda and she holds Yukito back in order to have a private talk with Yue about why she and Spinel are back in town. We can see here she calls him indeed "Tsukishiro-kun".

Volume 9, chapter 43/44: Sakura and Kero are at Yukito's house for a snack after school, and Nakuru is there with them too, along with Spinel. She'll be the one explaining to the beast guardians what Yukito did at Tsukimine Shrine. We can see in the panels above that she consistently calls Yukito "Yukito" now, and what's more surprising is that she straight up ditched any kind of honorifics for him, while she still keeps calling Touya "Touya-kun".

So yes, this isn't a translation mistake! If I can take this opportunity to make a couple of considerations about it, I'd say it's a beautiful way to show how close she grew with Yukito in the matter of the 2 volumes' time that passed ever since she came to Tomoeda. We haven't always seen them "on screen", but those two pretty much never separated this whole time, due to the "battery" remedy, and they had the chance to deepen their acquaintance of eachother and their bond too. I happened to come across some criticism about this depiction of their relationship in the past, or rather, of the "triangle relationship" depicted between her, Yukito and Touya, accusing Nakuru of being an "hindrance" to Touyuki's lovestory and crossing lines she shouldn't cross. Personally, while everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I've never seen their relationship that way. Nakuru's got literally the personality of a 5 years old little girl, she's loud, cheeky, always wants to be at the center of the attention, and so she wants to be "at the center" of TouYuki's attentions too, but I don't see malice in it. Suppi gently tried to make her understand when she was intruding too much (like with her proposal of the three of them going on a date, which to some might have even looked like a proposal for a threesome 😂and maybe it was, who knows), but I don't really see her behavior as an attempt to separate them or anything, more like a playful "hey, pay attention to me too". TouYuki's relationship keeps going strong, if the latest "power couple" developments are any indication! And in the middle of all of this, I really think she grew fond of Yukito as a brother, to the point of switching from last name to first name basis, and calling him without suffixes. And if you think about it, they somewhat are, brother and sister. They're both magical creatures, not really human, but taking human appearances and living as such. Both created by a strong magician, whom in his past life was called "Clow Reed", and now after being reincarnated is called "Eriol Hiiragizawa". Their particular bond, even magically, is basically what made possible the "battery remedy" that's saving Yukito's life and thus making him an active player/actor in this fateful story that is currently being told.

Off-topic but, I also want to briefly mention what a cute nickname Nakuru found for Kero-chan, which was left out from the Eng translation: Keroppi! 😂

[wingsporkhalo]

A Collaborative Spork of “Why?”: a Lord of the Rings Fanfic-- Chapter 4

Time to “enjoy” chapter 4 of this mess with @icykalismsts!

Special thanks to Liz Lemon and Castiel for helping me as snarky as possible.

Chapter 4: Not Quite Home Sweet Home

Hey, it's Nyanko-chan again. I'm writing this next half chapter for my friends.

(Damn the influence you have on me!) However, I'm considering pulling down

this fic.

W: You can’t pull it down any further than it has already sunk.

I put this fic for others to enjoy, and if they don't, well obviously I could

just give the rest of the fic to Crystal-chan now instead of putting her in suspense.

::sigh:: There goes all the fun.

W: That’s my line, buster.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A little girl from the group walked up to Crystal.

~ Onee-chan (sister), what are we going to do with him? ~

W: For once, author is right about the translation, but it actually means more specifically “Big sister/older sister.”

Sarcastically, she said, "Well jeez, why don't you tell me? YOU'RE the

one caught him!" The girl blushed.

~ Hai, hai. (can mean anything between yes, agreeing, or agreeing in an

offhand way) ~ What do yall think? ~

K: That these “translations” are incredibly intrusive.

W: That “y’all” doesn’t seem like very sophisticated language. And oops, if the author’s translations are intrusive, mine are probably even more so. Sorry, guys.

Several murmurs were heard, saying things

like, "Why not do to him what he did to Crystal-sama?" and such. Comments like

these made Legolas a bit nervous.

Crystal hushed them up with a careless wave of her hand.

W: It was careless because she had knocked over a nearby flower vase.

"No matter what

we do with him, no one, even an ordinary elf deserves this kind of treatment. We'll

take him to the camp, and THEN decide what to do with him."

K: Is it bad that I immediately thought of a prison camp? W: Well, I thought of a concentration camp, so really yours was better than mine.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Aragorn hurried and woke the others as soon as he got up. As they packed,

they all thought about what could have been bothering Legolas so much about this

stranger that he took off after her without telling anyone.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

When they arrived at the elves camp

W: --which is where young elves undergo training to one day assist Santa in his workshop--

around 10:00 a.m., they closed the

gates and untied him.

K: It is an Elf prison camp! W: Oh god, no!

Crystal gave a mock bow. "Welcome, Prince , to our humble lodgings." As

Legolas looked around, he thought, "I'll be damned if this was humble! This place

puts shame to the city of Mirkwood!" (Was that correct?)

K: No, that’s rude. He should be grateful that he’s in a prison camp, duh.

W: Man, Mirkwood’s really changed, I guess.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

As they were walking down a corridor to Legolas' room, a little thing ran

down the hallway, screaming, ~ Oneeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-chan! You're back! ~

K: Oh. Good thing I didn’t need those eardrums.

Crystal turned around a millisecond too late as the thing, which happened to be an

Elf,

W:

tackled Crystal in a bear hug. They both landed with a big thump on the floor.

~ Iiiiiiiiita!!!

W: She means “itai,” which pretty much is the Japanese equivalent to “Ouch!”

Suppi-chan, what did I tell you about doing that to me while

I'm walking in the MARBLE FILLED rooms?! ~ she mock-scolded.

K: That’s where people’s marbles go when they lose them.

~ The girl

blushed. ~ Gomenasi.

K: Is this what you say when you’re apologizing to a Nazi?

W: Oof. That joke makes me feel guilty after my mentioning the concentration camps. I have to go lay down and think about happy things for a bit. (Also, she means gomen nasai.)

I wasn't thinking when I did. Demo (but), I was so happy

you're safe from your travels! ~

Legolas stared at the girl. * She must be no older then 25 to be that small! *

W: ??? Do girls have a growth spurt after age 25 or something? If so, I better prepare myself, since I’m 25 now, and in fact will be 26 in a few months.

(Okay, I was thinking, "I want Crystal to have a little sister, but I want her to be

more skilled than the average person."

W: “Okay, I want my Sue to have a five-year-old companion, but she has to be better than all the other five-year-olds.”

So I decided that in this fic, and elf may

choose how old he/she likes,

W:

as long as they have already lived that age in human

years.)

W: I have read so many stupid things. But this is still one of the stupidest.

Crystal began get annoyed when he didn't answer her. ' Hello?! Are you coming? '

Than she added slyly. ' Or does the almighty Prince know his way around everywhere,

even when he's never been here before? '

Legolas snapped out of it. When he realized the two were staring at him

oddly, he blushed, and apologized.

Crystal took him to a room, and showed him around it. There was a queen bed,

a view that over looked a beautiful lake, and a nice bathroom with towels, soap, etc.

W: Thanks for that totally not-lazy description.

"You're probably tired, so I'll leave. Feel free to go anywhere, except our

rooms, outside the gate, and wherever the others tell you not to." With that, she left

him to sort out the emotions that he hadn't felt in years.

W: “Well, I’ll put this one in the Sadness pile, and this one in the...hm...Embarrassment or Happiness?...”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

She went into the meeting room where the others were waiting. Actually, it

was a patio in the garden they had.

W: Actually, no one gave a shit.

'What DO we do, Crystal? We can't just let him stay here all happy when it

was HIM that did that to you.'

Crystal thought. ' First thing's first. We need to gain his trust. I want him to

feel the pain that I felt al those years ago.

W: You felt up someone named Al?? How could you??

K: Poor Al. You can call me, Al. And you can call me Betty.

Until then, we need to capture his friends

as well. They're on their way. I left a quite noticeable trail once we entered the

woods.' She smiled.

K: Hansel and Gretel taught her well!

'We should send a welcoming party. It's not nice to leave

your guests in the dangerous forest all by themselves.' The others laughed.

W: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EverybodyLaughsEnding

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The other rode through the forest. All were wary about the place, even the

Hobbits. Why would the trail that was Hell to follow at first, all a sudden

K[sarcastically]: Hey, you can either have one sudden or all of them. Make up your mind.

be as clear

as day?

W: Worst poem ever, I’m telling you.

As they made their way, they never felt the tiny wires begin their trek around

their bodies.

W: Well that’s disturbing. Are they alive??

Nor did they feel each one slowly and lightly knot around them...

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

As the wires wrapped around them, the Fellowship was oblivious. Boromir,

Aragorn, Gilimi,

K: I get it now! The author didn’t mention a Dwarf in chapter one because he’s canonically a mini-Balrog in this fic.

and Frodo DID sense something wrong though. * What in these

peaceful forests could possibly make me tense? There's nothing seemingly wrong.

So why am I wary? * thought Aragorn. * Probably because whatever was in here

was able to get Legolas * he thought wryly.

Suddenly, the hobbits began saying odd things. Things such as, "Can

someone give me a hand? I'm stuck," or, "Hey! I can't move!"

W: I mean, I’ve heard much odder things before, but whatever.

The others turned

W: ...to stone, and then a sudden lightning strike utterly obliterated them. The end.

to the hobbits, thinking they were joking. Boromir strode up to Frodo. "Come on,

lets not mess around anymore." As he neared Frodo, he lost the ability to move

his legs. "What the Devil?!"

K[Boromir]: Yeah, what is the Devil? I’ve never heard of such a thing, so why did I shout about it?

Soon, the others stopped moving as well. Their mounts sensed something

was amiss, and high-tailed it out of there.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

~ Crystal-sama won't be pleased. ~

~ Doshta? (why?) ~

W: “Doushita.”

The elf smiled. ~ Because these two men are giving me a hard time, keeping

them still. ~

The other laughed. ~ Someone hasn't been training lately, huh? ~

~ I guess you could say that. ~

After the 4 elves were positive that the Fellowship couldn't get loose, they

hopped down from their hiding place.

' My, my. Aren't we lucky, Yura? We set our traps for animals, and here

we caught ourselves some celebrities. '

W: Why would you name a character a Japanese name that means “farmer”? Or I guess it could be the onomatopoeia for swaying gently but whatevs

Strider thought it would be best to act calm. ' We apologize for setting off

Your

K: ...bear...

traps. Could you help us out? '

W: “This leg is pretty much done for, so you can just cut it off or something.”

The girls thought about it. Then they conversed among themselves.

K: They threw converse shoes all over.

W: It’s a hipster parade!

~ How about this. We'll let them go, but keep the wires on them. We'll

take them near the city, and when we're about 100 yds. away, we tie them back

up? ~ The others nodded.

"Why not?" Yura took a comb out of her clothes, and touched a certain

tooth on it.

W: Holy fucking shit. She did not. [sighs] Okay, guys, the author has once again stolen from InuYasha. There’s an early villain called Yura of the Hair who can control unbreakable, razor-sharp hair that is invisible to most mortals. Her true form is a cursed comb, so her “human” body is p much indestructible. This has been Wing’s Frustrated Crash Course in InuYasha, lesson 2.

The wires "magically" came off.

"Thank you..."

Diamond cut off whatever Strider was about to say. "We know what you

came for. Would you like us to show you the way?"

Gimili cut in before Aragorn could say anythiing.

K: Gimili’s special power is to cause misspellings wherever he treads.

W: Yeah, I don’t know why Aragorn would say “anythiing” otherwise.

"Wait a minute. You

wouldn't trust these four, would you? For one, they're elves. For another, they're

FEMALES.

W: “Calm the fuck down. No need to shout.”

Thirdly, they're wearing masks on their faces that give me the creeps."

K: Come on. It’s no Eyes Wide Shut situation.

(For an example of the masks a few of the masks, e-mail my friend, Crystal, at [REDACTED]@hotmail.com)

W: I bet she’s talking about Noh masks, another thing that is focused on briefly in InuYasha.

Aragorn thought. "It's the best lead we have. Might as well follow it." The

girls simply smiled. ~ Jeez, this was easier than I thought. ~

K: Okay. I can almost understand an author saying “God” or “Hell” in a LotR fanfic by accident. But “jeez?” Really?!

W: Speak for yourself, author. I’ve got a headache this big.

~ No kidding! ~

W: BUT THAT’S THE ONLY WAY I’LL SURVIVE THIS FIC!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A while later, curiosity got the best of Aragorn. " Why do you wear those

masks?"

The girls shot him a glare.

W: Aragorn crumpled to the ground with a groan of “I’VE BEEN HIT!”

~ If you must know, it is

K[girls]: ...because we miss Mardi Gras.

to hide our emotions. ~

"Pardon?"

Yura rolled her eyes. "If you don't understand what we said, that is your

own fault." Then she added slyly, "Maybe you could get..."

Diamond clapped her hand over Yura's mouth. ~ Unasi baka! (shut up stupid!)

W: “Urusai, baka.” Once again, the correct spelling AND my current sentiments towards the author.

K[Yura]: What?! You’re calling me a dummy and claiming I’m a Nazi?! What’s wrong with you?!

If you provoke them like that, he'll actually ask about it later. And we know he'll

tell him the Royal language!

W: How the fuck do you tell someone an entire language???

Crystal will choke you! ~ Yura shut up the rest of the

trip. The tense aura returned after that.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Legolas was walking around, when he stopped.

W: Bahahaha, oh my god, that’s the best sentence so far.

His jaw would be on the

floor if that were possible.

K: It’s possible… but the circumstances would have to be pretty horrific.

In front of him was the most beautiful garden in the

whole world. It wasn't kept trimmed, but it was a wild garden, so to speak.

W: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

As

he walked around, he noticed the figure near the lake. He walked toward it,

trying to get some sort of companionship.

W: “Oh, lake. You’re my only friend in the world.”

~ May I sit here with you? ~

The figure jerked with surprise.

W: “Holy shit, put yourself away!” the elf cried, hiding his scandalized eyes of undetermined color.

It was none other than Crystal herself.

~ I hope you're enjoying yourself, Legolas. ~

W: “Not as much as you just were! Holy shit!!”

~ It's been a while, hasn't it? ~

K: Well, at least it’s not a mean while.

Crystal laughed. ~ I guess you could say that. Of course, to an elf that

was nothing. A mere, what? 1,000 years or so? ~

~ That's true... ~ Legolas was relieved. It seemed that the pains had

been forgotten.

Crystal, on the other hand, was in a whole new ballgame.

W: New indeed, since I don’t think there are any ballgames in this universe.

Her

emotions reeled. It was torn between sadness, hate, betrayal, pure bliss, and

Uncertainty.

W: That’s too many fucking things, yo.

Legolas' question caught her off guard.

' Why do you wear a mask and cloak Crystal? It is as if you are hiding

from something. '

W: Uh, yeah, that’s what a mask and cloak are for. Hiding yourself.

* Or someone, * she thought wryly. Still though, she said nothing.

Legolas was confused. One moment, she was more or less talking to

him,

W: Can it be less?

and then she suddenly cold-shoulders him.

K: Well, she is Frosty.

W: YES!!

Then he asked a question

that had been plaguing him ever since the last time they met.

W: “Did you know there’s a piece of broccoli stuck between your teeth?”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Cliffhanger! In order to find out what he says, you must review! ::laughs

evilly:: Before I set up the next chapter, I want at least a total review count of 25

reviews.

W: What are you, a fucking English teacher? “I want two pages, double-spaced, 12-point font!!”

Five per chapter or half chapter that I put up.

K: She’s holding people ransom?! I hate it when fanfic authors do this. The sad thing is, it sometimes works...

Two more things. I'm working on the story on how they met from Crystal's point

of view. The other thing is that I've finished the story. Yay! I've typed all the

chapters. All I have to do is post them. That means I'll post a new chapter up every

time I see I have 5 new reviews.

W:

Please remember that I don't get on everyday

anymore,

K: With an attitude like that, I’m surprised you get on with anyone.

so if my request if fulfilled, I'll probably have about 2-5 chapters a week.

Look for Chapter 5 sometime before next Monday!

[haro-hawayu]

CCS: Clear Card Ch. 53

New chapter time~~

Chapter 53 is currently available on the CLAMP-net’s YouTube Channel. Do check out @meimi-haneoka‘s chapter comparing Japanese vs English versions because "lost in translation" can be a thing sometimes.

Links for previous chapter reactions can be found here.

Chapter reactions:

We are blessed with the beautiful Yelan Li aka Mama Li aka 李媽媽 (Li-mama, my inner Chinese will speak first) for the cover, in color, and IT! IS! GLORIOUS!

I know this info was probably available before, but this is the first time I'm reading her Chinese name. It's Night Orchid.

Now I vaguely remember all of Syaoran's sisters has some flower or another in each of their names too XD

Lol, Kero-chan and Suppi are each their own MOOD.

I wish I had more dreams about food, lol.

Awwww Sakura packing bento for their dateeeee <3

Lol for some reason, Sakura making extra for the two... I immediately thought (1) these are test batches for new food items, (2) she made extra so Kero-chan has no reason to sneak into her bento bag for foods, when it's most likely that (3) she's just being sweet and thoughtful XD

Suppi being the responsible one. As always.

Ahhh!! Looks like Akiho's getting ready for a date too <33 she's so cute <33

BOLD AKIHO! I SUPPORT THIS!! GO GO GO!!!

I just realized Sakura has braid in her hair too... not a coincidence I guess...??

LOL Syaoran is red XD

AHHHH SYAOSAKU ARE SO CUTE. I'm... melting from this wholesome cuteness.

A part of me fears what's ahead though... T^T

Run-in with Akiho!

Even their clothes... kind of match.

Momo in her true form, just watching~she thinks something might be up too.

Dang, my unease levels are cranking up...

Momo, munching away at the chocolates and warning Kaito ^_^

Now it's... Syaoran and Kaito's turns to matchy match with matching smiles... lol?

Awwww, it's so cute that the guardians are having their own video chat time together. More wholesomeness I say!

LOL OF COURSE TOUYA IS PART-TIMING AT THE SAME LOCATION XD

Although... I feel like it's been a while since Sakura had a run-in with her brother on his jobs... can't recall the last time but... hmmm =/

Why did Sakura get a bad (??) feeling the end when Akiho recognized Touya?? ovo

Dang... apparently in the Japanese version, Akiho says "Oniisama" oof.

~~~~

Thoughts, theories, and other things:

Okay, so first is first... is it possible that Kaito used Time Magic again or something to manipulate this meet-up? I hope not, but if it's not Kaito, what are the chances that he's unaware of Sakura's newly created Time Card?? And if it's not Kaito... I'm fearful of what's causing all this cosmic... synchronicity happening with the girls here.

Next, this synchronicity thing is really freaking me out because get this: Sakura going to be feel A. LOT. OF. FEELS. Like, she's still confused about what in the world was happening to her last time when she got whisked to that alternative universe where her loved ones don't recognize her! Her confusion, fear, unease, and anxiety will just cause her to unconsciously create another card. We don't know how disastrous things will be, especially with Kaito around. He's just ready to make things worse (for others) for his goals. I sense more pain in the horizon...

And we have Touya and a... forced-to-smile Syaoran. Lol. I hope Touya sees through this because if THAT'S not going to cause alarm or red flags, I don't know what. We still have Touya's "restored, new powers" still hanging around like Doumeki's dreaded egg in the air and we still have a "MISSING" MIRROR CARD. If all that's not enough, there's Akiho going "Oniisama" at him. One of those things has to set off his senses... I hope.

We've reached their awaited date... but now there's all this impending doom and drama... whyyyy?? T^T

[bloojayoolie]

Af, Being Alone, and Animals: but i dd spend about 2 months looking ater a small dude ranch oper碵on dring the winter months artednh intemet hookup, onine stuf handled by small ofice in town hang around, shoot funs 게ttledaknow,more pay and-phone ine but tostay durngan e during summ card the costco a d load up on food because %ck dealing ith that road more than neccesary out meals and such have all the food, need for the 2 months but forgot sham g suppies always forget so ething fuck t week one i started talking to the horses week two, they started talking a half spam cans of by hand, used shovel and dug trench and tunnel nelwork theough the ever deepening snow Ip9 a master of moving within my winter hours in attempt to tack, wrestle and ho e de deer for domestication, brethy entertaned idea of using said doe as tckpuppet ala 222897 nearly succeeded, doe managed to break loose before i could finish the kno DO manage to succeed in knäing coyote to death one night, shoot others and brain tan hides into fur cape for other unnasnow escapades many strange things those nights, some creatures one might call a skinwalker, wendigo or worse onger fear these beasts for i have become frozen death itsel from the snow cappad peaks of each building the the tunnel system beneath the snow around the property i have absolute dominion i need othe merest hostile act against the ranch is met by thundering death from my Mosin 거 rout ely catch small animals by hand and either play with them for a short while before setting them loose or silently dispatching them with my hands before they go into the stewpot but alas, al good things must come to an end one moming i hear a faint sound, one i havent heard in a long time, ike the fragment of a lyric to a forgotten song sound about like that hibernating bear i found roof of the bam i see i gaze down upon my crystal world, the shot, bayoneted, kniied, clubbed and sodomized remains of the snowman wars, the harse herd looling to me their leader for guidance, all along the treeline, creatures both large and small cowering beneath my finty gaze, twin chips of ice peering out from my coyote skin cloak guest cabin habt with the snowmen before i attempt to speak and let him know im right behind him im close enough i could bayonet him and must resist the urge my voice cracks in an attempt to say helo from long under use thought i was going to get fired, and nearly dd, but ater he asked about everything that went on and seeing that tha ranch was in perfect order he decided that as long as i showared i could keap the look and we incorporated a whole "mountain man workshop" for the guests, teach them a lttle bushcrat, simple survival stuf and i got a raise out of t. i)00 23.10 No 1:17:42 No.20980609 (36 KB i would gueSS Bam was gambrel style, lot has hay and feed storage, snow pilled to the sides and with a ltle work i managed to build a set of stairs to the pesk and set up a smal snow hut, just big enough for me, my mosin and some smal snacks to lay down in. had small windows al around soi being alone for that long does strange things to you, you gain an intimate knowledge of everything around you. the moment somathing doesnt jve, you are instantly aware of it >be chilin ith my newest addition to coyate fur cloak up on the roof, chowing dowm on some jerky, almost late aftemoon, overcast can hear the satt movements af the horse herd below me a tant knacker n0w and then maxed with their ating and breathing -hear one of them give a brief snort and the rest go silent, no movement giancing to my left i can see one of the roans looking intently to the southwest, into the wind an instant later it hits me, a smell lie rotten meat mixed with an teenagers gym clothes locker that got left over the summer with some kind of a musk to it as well -crouching in my snow hut i pull out my monocular and scan the treeline on the other side of the pasture to the south, that last coyote i bagged was in that direction i find the spot where i had skinned it out, and i know right where the carcass should be i look down the the horses and can see them ail still looking in that direction, not moving no neighs or even nervous wickering between them > pop open the ammo can i keep up there, grab a few fresh stripper clips to tuck into my coat and slide down the slope i set next to the stairs on the north side of the bam snowghost my way along the fence line still keeping my ears open, the smell has faded somewhat, but the musk still lingers like greasy ingerprints on a reshly poished 1911 at a store malke my way to the southen Sence lne, al i can make out is the faint indentations of where snow has fallen to cover my tracks from two days ago yards away, c decide tuck it and walk over to where the coyote was, i can see the drag marks clearly, right over the tracks of whatever grabbed it stracks are deep, but obscured by the drag and whatever took it left by the same path i arrived, cutting east, deeper into the woods, you go far enough and you hit the bob marshall that deep musky scent is stil strong, sticks in your nose the the ofactory equivalent of peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth, but not nearly as tasty can see from the way the tracks are spaced whatever it was had a long, bipedal stride, sinking almast twice as deep as my own bootprints into the snow fuly intended to leave the carcass tor scavengers and the like, but seems we have a new player n the game made my way back to the bam,horses are stil fiocated on the southerm pasture line, figure ill stock a few provisions in the haylaft othis marks the start of many a night spand buried in the warm hay pretty used the the night noises around the place, coyotes yowing, maybe a cat screetch and owls caling out dead fucking sience, even the horses kept close to the bam and quiet as snowal didnt get much sleep that night, that musky smell had finally worn off by about dark next few days were uneventful, not a whole hell of a lot happening. second wave of snow fascists attemped to take the stronghold that is my snow fortress and were repelled by a wave of glorious 7.62x54 musk smell slamming crouched low and took a snow trench to the bam stairs and made my way fort, peering over the edge i could see something movng by the treeline down had dark brown fur coering t at least thats what it looked ike, it stayed low whle it moved othe head appeared elongated ending in a blunt muzzle, almost like a bear, but almost like if you took a rottweilers head, took off the ears, scaled R up and covered it in coarse brown hair a deer fronm son of a bitch, that one was MINE exe and its up and looking around, stil with a slight hunch but this thing is BIG, like &- after a momenttgrabs its prize around the nock with a single long arm and takes of into the woods again, i give it a whle before investigating fuck trying to find this thing in >茁the same time, im pissed this thing has the GALL to malest my territory, a strange thought comes into my mind this is my tentory ill mark it how i like, right slong where ts tracks go from the treeline to the clearing before the fence, i piss all along it, took a steaming dump right in one of its foot prints over the next couple af days wat and observe the whole time i cant shake the feeing that im being watched as well also starting to figure out why the boss managed to buy this ranch bunk house making some combread to go with my chǔ when i hear the horses start raising 9 lands of hell, 2 types of chaos and a side of mayhem throw on my coat, grab my mosin and afix the bayonet as i charge out the door towards the corrals in almost knocked ormy feet by the smell first of. smells like a wookie in heat, but i cant see anything looming まof the growing darkness o i make it the main corral attached to the bam and i can see all the horses are panicking, shying away from one side of the comal, the one part of > cant be sure but i would bet money ts he head of the same one i saw it take a few days ago, trn of the neck、just below the head -looking to the treeline i can see a form fading into the pines >bury the head and get the horses calmed down, head back to the cabin othis spooked my horses, made me bum my combread and kiled a deer in MY temitory the next day i keep an eye out, head towards the northem pastures and manage to back another coyote, but i bring the whole carcass back with me this time mother fucker >skin it out carefully, made sure to leave the guts intact, save the hide for later use and bury the carcass underneath some old straw to let it ripen bloated and mpe cayote gather a few pine bows and use an E tool, did a bed to lie down in, cover my tracks with the pine boughs and line the bed with them >Open up cayote and leave it about 10 ft in front of me, cover up my last tracks, fox bayonet, chamber a round and cover my sef with snow now the wating game begins >manage to get used the the rotten coyate smell ater awhile, toes are cold but not the numbness that heralds the numbness of hostbite, thank god for redwings the my □ Anonymous 02/19/16(Fn)03 1056 No 28981228 File its footsteps were barely making a sound in the snow with that musky odor getting stronger with each footfal a hard time controlling my aven wth could see moving through the trees now but my first thoughts on a bearike or dog head and muzzle were wro g. andi ealized where had sr elled something like this musk before long legs and torso leading to powerul shoulders what i guess at a hunch was the neck of an oversized goat head, easily almost 3 meters tall black beady eyes wth a malevolence in themn and stumpy homs pushing theough the hair above ts brow i could see the greasy hair of its chin dripping with saliva leaking from the coners of its mouth as it snifed the air sounding for all the world ike an enormous set of bellows it snorted out a fetid plume as it raised it head and looked past my position to the bam and ranch seemingly satisfed, it stepped out of the trees, crouched and moved towards the coyote, i wated as it got closer 30 s15 sucking in as much air as i could i leap from my concealed position, bringing my mosin up over my head and shouted for all i was worth that sound that came out ofl me i dont think i could ever replicate, Ei did it would have t everything was contained in that scream, every shouted order to for bayonets and charge, every screaming bails on fre rush across no mans land, every howl of fury as blades met, and every roar of primitive fury that another dare take what is mine stopping dead in its tracks i reared up to its full teerible height, almost twice mine in boots and coyote coat >summoning up another shout i shouldered the rifle and took a pace forward, how, i dont know, i was ready to piss mysef with my own stupidity this was something alse, this was a force of nature, and i was going to stand aganst it File ducking its head it glared at me with those obsidian orbs of primordial hunger, this creature was contesting its claim s own, the bass loose the tenuous hold i had u ears i couldet move forward everything in me was screaming to cut an run, but as i stood there gazing down the abused wooden length mosin, the dings and pts in the stock stood dont lonow how, i dont know why, but i took strengh in that, this weapon had faced monsters before, faced an unstoppable machine and brought with a snort of fetid breath it moved to take another step forward anawering with another cro-magnon hol i stode forward, standing over the offending ple of guts that had become the Ine in the snow a scarce few yards from me stood a creature out of forgotten legends, a nightmare made mandest glaring at me with hatred a low rumbling growl bat that i could feal in my chest as its lips skinned back over foul teeth in twisted parody of a grin, baring teeth that had no business in even an over sized goats mouth a third primitive scream escaped my lips as i sighted just over its shoulder and ired my mosin erupted from the i stepped forward, past the coyote, and raised the rifle above my head, stretching upwards on the balls of my feet for as much extra height i could muster, screaming at the top of my lungs for whatever reason, that was enough, backing up and fnally tuning around, it stalked off into the woods somehow deep down in that primitive part of my bran knew i had won, but the ratonal part of my brain stil wanted to piss myself 02/19/16(Fr003 40 50 № 28981350 the barn with a bottle never came across another kill anywhere on the property ater that, found tracks, but never aywhere near the perimeter clearing between the fence and the tree line. even sighted it from a distance a few times after that, but alwarys from a long ways i made the barest mention to the boss ater he had been back for awhile, but he just chalked it up to al the other crazy shenanigans id been up too while i held down the fort for 2 months, but wasnt realy interested. tried talking to a few tribal elders, but none of them wanted anything to do with me thats pratty much it for spooky stones from that tima gave each other a fairly wide berth.