Aypierre just said his mods will ban any idiots in the chat being stupid about the QSMP situation, lmaooo. Absolutely based, get their asses.

Hello! I've been inactive due to the current events in the mcyt community, but I've been keeping up with the qsmp admin situation and I thought I'd share some opinions because the amount of doomposting I've seen the last few weeks has been more than I've seen in any fandom in a while and I feel like it's reached the point where people really need to chill the fuck out because they're not thinking straight and actively not helping. Everything I'm gonna say is based on stuff I've seen on both tumblr and twitter.

they should not promote/release merch! : one of the things that baffles me the most tbh; how do you expect any employee to be payed then? Merch is so far the only big source of income for the server besides q's own cc salary or whatever income they get through the official qsmp channel on twitch and youtube (which I don't think is a lot). "I get that they said they have no funds, but still it doesn't feel right"... sorry but at this point I don't know what to tell you, do you expect them to pull money out of their asses? You can't demand that they stop making merch and then complain that they can't afford the twitter admins at the same time. If you don't feel comfortable buying anything from them it's fine obviously, but if your reason for it is that you're helping the admins then I have bad news for you. I have seen people propose that quackity sets up a patreon, and while I think it would be a good idea, I understand why he's not doing it, since with the merch he can at least give something back to the people that choose to support his project instead of people just giving him money for free, especially with what's happening now. Also with how much hate he's been receiving simply for the merch I can't imagine that a patreon would be recieved well.

we don't know if the money is going to the admins/ they should not use pomme's likeness! : the money is definitely going to go to the employees and admins because otherwise the server would not last. And as much as I understand people feeling protective over pomme's admin, quackity studios is very much allowed to sell merch of the character because it is not the likeness of the admin, it's a minecraft model made by the people that work there. Would you have rathered they skip her character entirely? Do you really think that would have been okay?. Also correct me if I'm wrong, but I've seen posts and tweets saying that pomme's admin has been confirmed to come back with the other eggs whenever it happens by pierre, who talked with her admin.

the admins of the update accounts got fired, it means they want to fire everyone, they aren't making things better! : it sucks that the updates accounts had to end and I feel bad for every twitter admin that clearly cared a lot about the project, but unfortunately it had to happen if there simply isn't enough money to pay them adequately like they deserved and ultimately the update accounts were not essential to keep the project going, so it makes sense that they were let go unfortunately. This is not gonna be the case for the egg admins because if they got fired (which they didn't), the server would basically end. Just because a cc does not know when they will be back does not mean it's not gonna happen. Just because tubbo randomly said that he's not sure if they will be back does not mean they were fired; tubbo is normally not a reliable source of information, even less so when he's been live nonstop for the past 20 days, which is prior to everything happening. If you genuinely didn't expect a reduction in non essential staff considering everything, then you have unreasonable expectations on how this stuff goes. As I write this, I'm seeing people saying that "they would understand this decision if q had set up a patreon to pay the admins", and once again I don't understand how people don't realize why quackity might not be keen on the idea of having his fans pay his own employees for his own project instead of, you know, doing it himself; and, again, do not fool yourself into thinking it would be recieved well. That being said, it's fair to criticize how everything was communicated to the admins, but I'll get to this in more detail later.

quackity should not have uninstalled social media, he's trying to avoid everything! : he's not avoiding anything, he's been off social media for a while now, which is why it took him that long to remove wilbur from the server. He has every right to not want to look at social media, as his focus should be on restructuring his server instead of doomscrolling on twitter because people think he needs to see how much people dislike him. The only people that he should talk to are those that have important information to tell him, like josè with the document. He explicitly said on stream where to contact him if you have helpful information and I'm sure that despite multiple well liked posts saying not to spam his email, people are definitely doing it anyway, which is probably gonna slow the whole thing down even more. I hope josè's document is able to be seen with pierre's help as well.

quackity studios is not communicating with their employees and leaving them in the dark and that's not okay : I agree with this. i think a huge chunk of doomposting lately has been due the lack of communication not with the audience, but with the admins, and they deserve to know what is happening behind the scenes more then us since this is about their current or future job.... that being said, I do kind of understand why they're being so secretive and shutting everyone out, and that's due to all the "leaks" that have been spread online. I understand the anger but I really wish some people would realize that discussing leaked bts lore stuff in ccs discord servers does not help the situation at all and instead makes it seem like they're only doing this to rile up the fandom against quackity studios by using the lore of people's fav characters.

At the end of the day, I think people just aren't used to dealing with a situation that does not have a clear cut solution and someone to clearly hate, so the result is this doomposting and the over aggressiveness toward anything related to the project. Personally, I haven't witnessed anything that made me lose faith in the qsmp like some people have been saying, as every change that we've seen so far coincides with what quackity said on stream a while ago. I only wish things were communicated properly to the admins clearly, as they're the ones most affected, so I hope that's resolved soon. Ultimately quackity is singlehandedly restructuring the server from basically zero, has had to fire people that were misusing money and power and, depending on what josè's document said, is probably gonna have to fire some more. This is not an easy process, nor a quick one, you're not gonna hear about sunshine and rainbows for a while and doomposting about everything you hear because you expected quick change is useless. Think before you speak, have a clear head and most importantly have empathy.

HOSAB SPOILERS!!!

So we know that SJM herself said that CC3 will set up the next acotar book.

I think it’s clear with the events of CC3, it’s going to have an impact on the next acotar book, it just makes sense. & I think that the events of acotar 5 will take place after the events of CC3. And we know it’s going to be a time jump from acosf to CC3, but Im not sure we know the exact timeline.

We know that with CC3, it picks up like almost right after CC2 and SJM has changed her stance on whether or not you should read acotar when it comes the CC series and she now has said yes, you will want to read acotar before CC. And if she’s saying that about CC then she might want readers to read CC before the next acotar book as well. Could be wrong tho, but we’ll see once we read HOFAS.

And I think that it’s clear that SJM wrote CC & acosf around the same time. She uses the same wording in certain parts of both stories and I think acosf directly connects to CC the most out of all her books so far.

With this recent teaser we see once again, Nesta and Azriel are being pushed in front when it comes to the acotar characters in CC3, especially since we’ve seen that Nesta and Azriel are a part of a bonus chapter with Bryce. But if you read acosf, I think it just makes sense why Nesta and Azriel are in the forefront. A lot of people keep freaking out about Cassian, saying where is he. He’s probably around but just not with Bryce, Nesta, and Azriel. That doesn’t mean any thing bad has happen to him.

It’s just that Nesta & Azriel’s plotlines are directly connected to CC already, more than Cassian. More than any other acotar characters in my opinion.

Nesta’s story arc is the one that really connects acotar to CC. We heard about the daglan from Rhys in acosf and SJM confirmed that the daglan and the asteri are one in the same.

In acosf Nesta went against a daglan/asteri, Lanthys, in the prison and killed him with her death sword. We also know that the sword gwydion in acotar is the starsword Bryce now has, which was dipped into the cauldron so I also think it’s considered a death sword since that’s where nesta got her power from.

We know that Nesta still has death magic in her. So I wonder if she can still create death swords to help Bryce in some way. Or maybe what if the asteri/daglan can be killed by death magic and that Bryce uses trove since they were cauldron made too and they are also death magic?

Also, the 8 pointed star. When Nesta & Cassian made a bargain, it appeared as a 8 pointed star on their bodies. The harp in the prison sat on top of a 8 pointed star when nesta went to go retrieve it. Bryce has a 8 pointed star on her chest. We got more about the star in CC2 but I think SJM will tell us more about it in HOFAS as well. But this is what Rigelus said about the star:

That star on your chest—do you know what it is?” “Lets assume I know nothing.” Bryce said grimly. Rigelus inclined his head. “It’s a beacon to the world from which the Fae originally came. It sometimes glows when nearest the Fae who have undiluted bloodlines from that world. Prince Cormac, for example.” “It glowed for hunt,” Bryce shot back. “It also glows for those who you choose as your loyal companions. Knights.” “So what?”Bryce demanded. So that star will lead us back to that world. Through you. They overthrew our brethren who once ruled there—we have not forgotten. Our initial attempt at revenge was foiled by your ancestor who also bore that star on her chest. The Fae have still not atoned for the deaths of our brothers and sisters. Their home world was rich in magic. I crave more of it.”

We see that Bryce’s bloodline hails from prythian. And the fae are originally from there. And the asteri want to use Bryce to get back to prythian. Rigelus is also speaking on the war that went on when Enalius, the Illyrian in acotar who fought against the daglan to protect that black stone on top of ramiel. The asteri wants to go back to Prythian to slay the illryians and the fae.

I personally believe that Bryce, Nesta & Azriel are in the prison in the teaser. I could be wrong because obviously illryia can come into play because the Asteri/daglan wanted to get to that black stone so bad during the war for some reason. But here’s why I think they’re going to the prison:

“Danika realized that the shifters are Fae.” Bryce blinked. “What?” “Not your kind of Fae, of course—your breed dwelled in a lovely, verdant land, rich with magic. If it’s of any interest to you, your starborn bloodline specifically hailed from a small isle a few miles from the mainland. And while the mainland had all manner of climes, the isle existed in beautiful, near permanent twilight.” (CC2, 762)

Rigelus is talking about the prison isle. It’s an isle away from the mainland of the night court. We know that the prison isle was there before high lords existed. And we learned that the daglan/asteri were in control before the high lords became a thing until they were slayed by both the fae and illryians. I’m pretty sure Bryce would want to go there to get some answers.

“You are Starborn, and have the Horn bound your body and power. Your ancestors wielded the Horn and another fae object that allowed them to enter this world. Stolen, of course, from their original masters—our people. Our people, who built fearsome warriors in that world to be their army. All of them prototypes for the angels in this one. And all of them traitors to their creators, joining the Fae to overthrow my brothers and sisters. A 1000 years before we arrived on Midgard. They slew my siblings.” (CC2, page 761)

So I wonder if the other fae object is the harp that helped them into this world. We’ve seen that it has many strings and can open doors to places. It makes sense for the harp to be used for them to get into the CC universe. And I of course think that Bryce’s horn is the fourth dread trove. And we see here that rigelus says that they created fearsome warriors that were prototypes for the angels in CC, who are fearsome warriors that already have wings in acotar? The illryians.

Now with Azriel, we know that truth teller is the twin knife to Bryce’s sword. Just for that alone he’s connected to CC. I now believe that Azriel would permanently give Bryce the knife. I just don’t see any acotar characters leaving prythian to go to Bryce’s world. They would literally be out of their element and the knife completes the prophecy in Bryce’s world.

Especially when at one point SJM said HOFAS was split in between prthyian and CC (and I know that could be subjected to change) and I don’t think the acotar characters need to take up many more page time in this story with so many open plot points from the other 2 CC novels that need to be solved.

But anyway, Azriel is an Illyrian. Rigelus (the asteri) himself stated that he and the other asteri bred fae & the demons from Hel in CC to make the illryians. We see that the demons in Hel had leathery wings and so does Apollion, the 7th prince of Hel and that’s why Bryce thought she was in hell when she saw Azriel because of his leathery wings.

We see that the illryians were the prototypes for the angels in CC. And that the asteri want to go back to Midgard and pretty much slay the illryians because they turned against the daglan/asteri in the war and aligned with the fae to take the daglan/asteri down. And the daglan/asteri were trying to get to the top of ramiel for that black stone, which is sacred to the illryians.

The illryians & Illyria are obviously a plot point for CC & could be for the next acotar book. The asteri literally created them. I might be wrong, but I could have sworn I saw some where that SJM pushed back the illryian storyline in regards for Azriel’s story, I could be wrong, but it’s clear that is in unrest in illryia with what happen with the war in acowar and how they’re not happy. Then Cassian and Azriel having illryians come and watch the valkryies in the blood rite qualifier and we know how they feel about women being warriors, and then the valkryies being thrown into the blood rite, the illryians aren’t going to be too happy and I can see a rebellion happening with them.

And if CC3 sets up the next acotar book then to me it’s just seem more likely that’s its Azriel’s, especially since he’s literally going to be in it with nesta, helping Bryce.

In non-emergent cases, should i take complete Hx before PE using an exam sheet or do both simultaneously without writing down collected Hx or PE findings at the time of consult? That approach seems professional but i worry about forgetting important details. I created a comprehensive sheet with sections for various information, including Hx and blank areas for PE findings, DDx and Diagnostic and Therapeutic plans. but, i fear being perceived as socially awkward or beginner for using this sheet.

Hello, It's Sueanoi here

I am going to hazard a guess that you're probably a vetling. You're training to become one very soon, that or you're a very fresh vet. A comprehensive sheet is very useful. It's like a manual paper. Like a gaming guide, a cheat code, a training wheel. Use it often times enough, and you will eventually be able to draw that sheet from inside your head. It would feel like learning to ride a bicycle. Or learning a difficult game like cheese. It's a skill with a very steep learning curve, but once you get to a point you never really forget how to do it.

For me, the first thing I get is Chef Complaint. It's like the start of a branching thought paths. Once you get which tree to follow, the amount of thought that you need to carry will not be so overwhelming.

History will help you prioritize branches on that throught tree. Lessening the load further.

Physical exam will sometimes confirm or deny your thought. but it's ok, because you already pulled up the relevant thoughts, you simply move on to the next most possible in your priority.

When you're training, you are taught to do each of these in order, one by one. But in practise, the process is much more complicated, because people are complicated. They might remember some information they forgot to tell. they might start another thought tree altogether. History might make you want to explore outside of the chef complaint. physical exam might pull you to another problem that's more urgent than CC, and so on.

I'd say there's no right or wrong order of work that you do, when you're talking to people. You can take history, start PE, then history again because you found something suspecious and you need more information. If you're fluent, you can start PE while the owner talks. but I personally don't like to do that only because they like to talk when I'm listening to thorax sound. Now I can't hear the lungs OR the information. So I don't like to do both at the same time.

I hope that helps a bit. You can do it!

Report of CLAMP’s Twitter Space ~ May 5th, 2023 (part concerning Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card)

On May 5th, CLAMP opened two Twitter Spaces, one as a late celebration of Ohkawa's birthday and one as an "afterparty", dedicating this second one both to the Holic stage play and Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card. Actually, the mentions of Sakura-related stuff started already in the first Space, so I'm going to write the report starting from that one!

The first mention of anything CCS related is past halfway the first Space, when a question from a fan prompted CLAMP to talk about their current favorite Sakura costumes! (It seems one of them - I think it was Mokona - was about to speak about a certain costume and Ohkawa interrupted her, laughing: "That's too soon!! That's a spoiler! 😂" what a tease!) For Satsuki, her favorite costume is the classic cat one with the apron, from Clow Card Arc (side note, it seems she still had a strained back and that's also the reason why they couldn't celebrate with a Space on the actual day of Ohkawa's birthday), while for Nekoi it's the costume with shorts and diamond shapes all over it from the Clow Card Arc (when she had to sneak into a museum). For Mokona it's the bat-themed coat she had designed for the manga chapter (Sakura Card Arc) when Sakura went out with a fever, and she wore over her pajama this coat Tomoyo made her to keep her warm. Lastly, for Ohkawa it's the costume from volume 3 / the Clear Card anime OP, even though she knows it's one of the most complex ones (but she loves that it mixes both cuteness and a more mature vibe)! If she had to choose a simpler one, then it would be the classic Clow Card anime OP! Mokona also mentioned the fan favorite frog costume from Clear Card Arc, which it seems got a very slight criticism by Ohkawa because it looked too "childish", but Mokona was glad that in the end they used it anyway. Ohkawa actually explained that what she meant was more how it looked too "simple" and more reminiscing of a raincoat than a proper costume. And this is when the first interesting info comes!

A fan indicated the costume of chapter 36/37 of Clear Card as one of their favorite, and Ohkawa confirmed that they got a lot of praises for that....and then...

Ohkawa: This will become slightly spoilerish, but there is actually a reason why Sakura didn't wear (officially) this costume yet! 😉 Please stay tuned!

A few minutes later, a fan asked Ohkawa about what is usually “the driving force” that pushes her forward when she’s writing her stories. Ohkawa replied: “The end. The end is what’s most important to me. Even in Clear Card Arc’s case, the only reason why I’m doing it is because of the finale, that I decided right away and came to me like a spark. When that doesn’t happen, I get bored halfway through. To be honest, with Clear Card Arc it’s not even exactly the finale. There’s a certain event I wanted to write for it at all costs. If it wasn’t for that, I would’ve never given the OK to restart ‘CCSakura’ once again.” Nekoi: “So for the sake of the end, the story spun on itself and started once again.”

Another fan asked right after if there was any highlight they are looking forward to for the sequel of the Clear Card anime, and here CLAMP confirmed that the cast of voice actors will of course be the same! So they said that’s certainly a highlight. They also mentioned how the peak of the story will come all in the part that’s going to be portrayed in the anime from now on, so all of that is another highlight in itself. Ohkawa looks forward to hear Sakura Tange as Sakura once again. Then, talking about the source material for a moment: Ohkawa: “It took a long time, and we’ve been told that the story is kinda boring, but please trust me. They tell me I take long time to reveal all the “tricks” beneath the story but there’s a reason for that. Just wait a little more~ 😊”

Mokona mentioned that she personally looks forward to see how the director (Asaka, I guess) will portray the world inside the book where the kids go to halfway though the play (She’s talking about Clockland, of course 😊). They also wondered how they will portray the Mirror Card and the important role she will have in the later part of the story, Ohkawa in particular said Mirror has always been a very special Card (it’s one of the only 3 who can speak).

This is the content for the first Space! Only a few minutes later, CLAMP opened one more Space to focus on the Holic stage play and to talk about Sakura. Skipping to the Sakura content, a fan asked if Meiling is going to appear in the sequel of the Clear Card anime, since they liked her relationship with Syaoran, particularly the scene where they fought together. Ohkawa: “She won’t probably join a battle, but of course she’s going to appear!” (everyone clapped their hands) Mokona: “The funny thing is, when we started working on the Clear Card manga, I was wondering why Meiling didn’t appear...and then I remembered she was an anime-only character!!😂I had my memories messed up!”

Following that, Ohkawa announced something we were all hoping for as if it were nothing of importance 😂 Ohkawa: “This is something no one cares about, and I know they haven’t announced it for the new anime adaptation yet, but the script writer will be me, Nanase Ohkawa” (everyone clapped) Ohkawa: “It’s really nothing important” Mokona: “It is, instead! Thank you very much!” Mokona: “You’ll be working again with that director…” Ohkawa: “Yep, it’s real. I said I would’ve never written any more anime scripts, all on my own…” Mokona: “But since we’re rooting for you…! 😂” Ohkawa: “I’m saying this just to laugh a bit, but when I write the anime scripts, I enter my ‘nursing care mode’, I just can’t do anything else, I’ll be causing lots of trouble to the other CLAMP members who will have to take care of me...I’ll have to do this job alone, it’s a solo trip! 😅” Mokona: “The Costume design…” Ohkawa: “That’s going to be yours, who else? (to the audience) Mokona-san is going to be in charge of that.”

SO we got three important confirmations (+ the seiyuu cast one in the first Space) for the new anime sequel in the matter of a few minutes!! 😂And all of them are “spoilers”, meaning that none of this has been announced through official channels 😂But they were pretty expected...Ohkawa later in the Space said that she’s perfectly aware that Kodansha will probably get mad at her later for doing that! She said “They’re going to kick my as* right after Golden Week….but it’s okay!” 😆

After this, CLAMP were kind enough to read my message of deep appreciation for the story (Mokona said she wants to go to Italy! I wish conventions planners in Italy could take the hint…! 😂), and Ohkawa made me laugh as usual with her comments about Kaito:

Ohkawa: “This person...doesn’t think something like ‘come on, grow a pair and do the right thing!!’ towards Kaito?” Mokona: “Ah, I think it’s because she actually loves him a lot, at least that’s what it looks like! 😁” Ohkawa: “I see, I’m really grateful then 😁” Mokona: “Kaito-san should really stop messing around, though 😆”

Mokona then remembered that back when the old Sakura anime was airing, they had 2 manga serializations + the anime series to work on at the same time, and her blunt comment was “it was hell, back then”. Ohkawa: “I’m sure there are people out there who would’ve wanted somebody else as scriptwriter...sorry about that, but it’s going to be me! 😅 Actually, I haven’t even asked permission to anyone to announce these things, after all, isn’t it taken for granted at this point? Only me can do it” Mokona: “You’ve been doing this since the beginning, after all”

Ohkawa explained that there are several not-so-small differences between the anime and manga storylines, so the fact that she’s the only one writing the scripts makes everything simpler. She brought up a thing that many fans are interested in, the fact that Nadeshiko’s pendant watch from the manga is actually a key in the anime. If somebody else were to take over at this point, they wouldn’t know how to deal with that difference, because they wouldn’t know why the change was made in the first place. But since Ohkawa is taking care of it, it’s all right! Mokona said that she’s really curious to know what’s going on with Nadeshiko’s key in the anime, and what would be the developments from that. Ohkawa: “You have to trust Sakura-chan for that, not me!” Mokona: “But I believe in your storytelling skills! 😆”

Mokona then said that since the anime and manga storylines end up mixing up in her head, she’s refraining from watching the anime till everything is over. She brought up the example of Meiling of earlier on, and Ohkawa took the chance to express how wonderful the anime adaptation is and how much Meiling is loved by the fans, despite not being present in the manga.

Surprisingly enough, they also mentioned how fastly the season changed in the latest part of the story, jumping suddenly to winter. Satsuki pointed out that for most of the story the season didn’t change at all, and that the seasons actually reflect the situation of the story. When Satsuki said that, I realized it’s really true. And thanks to this comment, I think I might have understood even better why there’s a swallow coming to little wintery Kaito in the color page of chapter 62. Swallows announce the spring, after all… A fan asked a question about the handwritten text that appears in Cardcaptor Sakura, whether it’s Mokona’s real handwriting or it was created that way specifically for the manga (particularly, some kana have a little swirl that makes them cuter). Mokona confirmed that it was created specifically for the manga: in the old series she used to make it more round and cuter, but for Clear Card Arc she realized that a text like that impaired the readability, so she used more straight lines (though in the comedy parts she still tried to make it more rounded, but she admitted that there aren’t that many comedy parts in Clear Card 😅). Another fan sent a message saying they really love Lilie and would like to live with a person like her and Ohkawa was really curious to know what kind of person they thought she is, and what it is they like about her. Mokona: “Maybe she likes her assertiveness, which is very reminiscing of Akiho.”

That was for CLAMP an opportunity to talk about magicians in CLAMP world and how strong magic can distort their personality quite a bit! Mokona wondered if even Lilie is affected by this peculiarity in CLAMP world, since it is a thing (she remembered Momo talked about it in the manga), and in the end they decided to not reveal clearly whether her personality is distorted or not to not spoil the volume-only readers, because it became clear only in the chapter published last month, but invited them to guess the correct answer with a hint: “She became Nadeshiko’s friend, after all”. 😁 They also said that Lilie’s “pushy” nature is an interesting and nice trait of her. That lead CLAMP to make a list of their characters who are considered magicians:

Clow Reed – Yuuko – Fay – Syaoran (CCS) – Yuna D. Kaito – Sakura Kinomoto – Watanuki

and those who haven’t their personality “messed up” are Sakura, Syaoran, Watanuki (they say he’s on the edge, though 😆) and Ohkawa was surprised to find out that it’s almost half of them! Mokona also mentioned King Ashura from Celes country, but Ohkawa reminded her that his powers had severely messed up his personality. Then someone reminded them of Fei Wang, and of course he’s one whose personality was distorted greatly by magic, Mokona commented that the distortion went as far as it could go with him 😅

Ohkawa went further with the topic, telling a fun trivia about powerful magicians with distorted personality. She established that all people with very strong magic powers bear a burden on themselves. Supposed someone were to ask them to act properly in a situation without messing around, they’re people who don’t understand how to do that. They end up thinking 'what a bother, though'. Some of them, among that confusion, make up their own rules and become people like Clow Reed. Others just keep thinking 'it’s a bother, just a bother' and eventually end up thinking 'I don’t give a damn about it': those are the people like Fay or Yuna D. Kaito. 😆

Ohkawa: “Those two had a completely different life, though. Because Kaito had Akiho. So I guess for him it’s a bit different. But if someone were to tell him ‘You, sit down there’ he’d be like ‘Damn, I don’t want to sit down, I want to go back home’. Kaito wouldn’t just ‘sit down’. 😆Fay neither!” Mokona: “Those two are really similar” Ohkawa: “Yet they’ve lead a completely different life. My bad, but in my story Kaito became all ‘what a bore this, what a bore that’ 😅” Mokona: “I guess that can’t be helped for him, because he was severely abused and faced very rough life situations” Ohkawa: “Yeah, that’s right” Mokona: “Fay had Sakura-hime with him, so I wish those parts of him could be tamed for what it’s possible, much like it happened for Kaito with Akiho” Ohkawa: “That would be good, although I don’t know if those parts can ever settle down 😅” Mokona: “Yeah, after all, no one knows what goes through the minds of those magicians 😆”

A fan pointed out that Seishirou could be also included in the list of magicians, but Ohkawa explained he’s more of a shaman than an actual magician and those two shouldn’t be mixed up. It seems the kind of magic they summon is different.

The Space was supposed to end, but then Ohkawa had the sudden idea to ask her colleagues what’s the Card (from any arc) they would want to use the most! For Mokona it’s Fly or Flight (because she’d like to fly like a drone to somewhere, at least once 😆), for Ohkawa it’s Mirror from Clow Card Arc (because she always wanted to have a twin!! No one realized that, sensei), for Satsuki is Create and for Nekoi it’s Lucid (because she’d want to hide in uncomfortable moments 😆).

CLAMP also ended up mentioning, in their chat about the Cards, that it’s sad the Flight Card disappeared, due to its closeness to Sakura and the fact that it’s almost as if this Card had feelings of its own, even more than the old Fly Card.

Ohkawa, throughout the Space, reiterated her request to the fans to keep reading Clear Card’s story till the very end, even if right now they’re thinking ‘I would’ve wanted it to be more like this, instead’ or ‘This isn’t the kind of story I like’. She said in an earlier part of the Space that she’s aware there might be some parts difficult to understand, but that this is at the very core Sakura’s story. For her, as Cardcaptor Sakura’s writer, what makes Sakura the protagonist of this story is the fact that she’s the one deciding what to do within the story. That’s what a main character is for her, even when the “camera” of the storytelling is aiming at someone who’s not the protagonist. She talked to the volume-only readers, saying “If you keep reading and see what Sakura has decided in the next volume, I think you’ll realize just how much she’s grown up”. Mokona agreed, saying that Sakura has always chosen for herself, even in the past arcs.

Ohkawa: “In Cardcaptor Sakura’s story, Sakura always chooses how to take action, so I think it’s ok for me to variate a little bit what kind of main character she’s going to be. My partners Mokona, Nekoi and Sacchan are drawing this story with lots of care, so I’d like for you to keep reading it. Right now volume 14 is out, and when you’ll read it, I’m sure many of you will think ‘Kaito, you…!!! 💢’ 😂” Mokona: “They’re going to feel the same way Momo is feeling 😂”

And here sensei switched to another very important topic.

Ohkawa: “Apparently, the translation abroad is completely different” Mokona: “I guess it’s very difficult to convey the right meaning of some complex words” Ohkawa: “I’ve been told once ‘I just can’t translate it like this’ by the person who’s in charge of the translation. I think it’s great that they still want to try their best with a script like this one.” Ohkawa: “It’s just, you know...I can’t ask people who don’t understand Japanese to read it in our language. Therefore, I’m really grateful that they’re uploading those versions on Youtube, despite the translation being different. Especially with CCSakura right now, if the translation is different, it will end up conveying a different meaning (to the story) 😅(note: her tone right now suggests she’s uncomfortable about this) But still, I’m grateful they’re delivering the chapters to the whole world.” “I’m aware there’s someone (else) who’s writing blog posts about the translation because they feel uncomfortable about those differences, and if you can just look at those, I think it’s already enough. For example, something that really surprised me is how the word わからずや (wakarazuya) cannot be translated properly. (note: she’s referring to the ‘insult’ Momo yells after Kaito before he’s engulfed by the book at the end of chapter 70, and that Lilie mutters in chapter 72). It seems like there isn’t a word to express it. This is really a subtlety, though… There seem to be many words that aren’t perfectly translatable into English. Like 頑張れ！(ganbare!)” Satsuki: “よろしく (yoroshiku) too.” Ohkawa: “That’s right. Or 仕事 (shigoto).” Mokona: “Since the culture is different too, they have to look for a word that’s got the closest meaning to that one.” Ohkawa: “I think the people in charge are really doing their best, but when I’ve heard of (how they translated that word), I didn’t really feel good about it.” (Mokona: “yes, it’s true”). Mokona: “Even the official translation can be wrong! It’s totally understandable” Ohkawa: “I know. I guess translating わからずや is really difficult, but I think you’ll still able to understand it if you consider the feelings of that character in that moment.” Nekoi: “It's more like ‘blockhead’ ” Ohkawa: “When re-translating the word they chose back (in our language), I felt like it got translated into something closer to 馬鹿 (baka).” (note: the ENG used "dolt" which indeed got more of a "stupid" nuance) Mokona: “Ah, that’s not what she meant…” Ohkawa: “And to us, 馬鹿 means something completely different”. (Mokona agrees)

Ohkawa: “Even so, I think it’s still worth uploading the chapters officially on Youtube, so please keep checking them out. At the same time, I’m really grateful to those who point out where (the translation) got it wrong.” Mokona: “There’s really a language barrier!” Ohkawa continued saying that she’s often told by translators that it’s difficult to understand what’s the subject (of a sentence) in her writing. She brought as an example how, to this day, Yue still doesn’t have a personal pronoun he uses to refer to himself, so that makes difficult to establish the subject when he talks. Mokona wondered how the translations abroad are dealing with translating how non-human characters are referring to themselves, when in Japanese they don’t use pronouns such as “ore” or “watashi”. Ohkawa guessed that probably in foreign languages it doesn’t really matter. Despite being really grateful to all the people who are translating her work with care, she expressed lots of interest on this topic and would also like to talk to them freely about this matter, because it’s true that there are parts that are translated differently (note: or wrong, the word used can indicate both).

She extended her gratitude also to people who give their comments and impressions about every single chapter, reading them on Nakayoshi or Youtube, even when those comments are really harsh towards them and their work. Ohkawa: “I’m also very grateful to those who tackle the translation differences every month, saying things like ‘This is not right’ or ‘This is not what they’re actually saying!’” Mokona: “We could call it ‘collective knowledge’, or rather, we could really say this world is built by what everyone is saying, in a collective effort” Ohkawa: “It’s my fault, but since Momo’s wording is a bit difficult to translate, she might have been misunderstood (abroad).”

Changing topic slightly, but always staying in the CCSakura area, Ohkawa reiterated how this is Sakura’s story, and she would like us to read it till the end to witness how Sakura figured out what she can do for someone she’s just met (like Akiho), coming from a position of someone who’s always been protected and guarded by other people till now. She wants us to see how much she’s grown up going through that process. Ohkawa: “Mokona praised a lot the conversation between Sakura and Akiho in the script I’ve written for the latest chapter, which hasn’t been published into volume format yet, so I can’t say much about it…. All four of us are taking good care of portraying properly how both Sakura and Akiho will do what they can, each in their own way, so I really want you to see it.”

While repeating the fact that Ohkawa will be the one writing the scripts for the sequel of the anime, Mokona commented that she really doesn’t think anyone but her can do it. Ohkawa said “I know this myself, but if you’ll end up saying 'This is not ‘Sakura’!' because of the direction it’ll take in the future, well...sorry about that”. She saw some fans commenting in the hashtag that they were happy and relieved that she’s at the script writing again, and Mokona said the same. She was very grateful.

Ohkawa: “Sakura-chan will always be the same Sakura-chan (you’ve known till now). Cardcaptor Sakura is the story of the main character Sakura who will choose for herself what to do within the story.” Mokona: “Please watch carefully Sakura’s choice ❤️”. Ohkawa: “Really...Someone might end up telling Kaito 'Ugh, Kaito, sit down there!' (in reference to the magicians discussion earlier on) 😂” Mokona: “I really think that will happen! 😂 I think so too about him” Ohkawa: “And Syaoran...Syaoran will still have a little role! He really did his best, till now.” Mokona: “It’ll be good if he can get to have a say in this” Ohkawa: “I think he will. Really, everyone is doing their best, so...I really hope you’ll stick around to see it.” In response to a fan comment, saying how they like Sakura’s character because she is who she is, they said “We have no intention to betray that. That’s what makes her the main character and betraying the main character is not okay”. Satsuki mused that Sakura-chan was still an elementary schooler till the other day, she’s worked hard and she’s grown up so much now.

At this point they finally started wrapping the Space up with one last birthday wish for Ohkawa from each CLAMP member, while she jokingly (?) asked everyone to write again “Happy Birthday” in the hashtag. 😂 Mokona wished her the best with the imminent work on the anime scripts (judging by her words, she’ll start as soon as the scripts for the manga will be over), which she could already predict it’ll be a difficult job, even more so than the first time around. Satsuki also wished her to take care of her health since she’ll be very busy from now on, and that she hopes to be able to drink some delicious drinks with her soon. Nekoi expressed her love for her “boss” telling her that she still keeps a hat she got from Ohkawa when they weren’t professional mangaka yet ❤️ Ohkawa: “Do you love me?” Nekoi: “I do, a lot ❤️” Ohkawa: “Thank youuuu! 😂” The last message of course was from the boss herself. She mentioned the end of Clear Card which is imminent, and again invited everyone to watch the story unfolding till the end. She was talking with Nekoi earlier about how even Eriol and Syaoran were really hated while the old arcs were still ongoing: apparently back then, dozens of fans told Kumai-san (Syaoran’s VA) that they hated her because her character was being mean to Sakura! 😂Mokona sounded really apologetic towards Kumai-san and how hard it was on her back then, but she was grateful that she could endure and shake all of that off with a smile😅 Ohkawa said that the same thing happened to Eriol, both for the anime and manga versions, for how he caused trouble (to Sakura) 😆And it’s not over! Ohkawa continued saying that even Nakuru received her good share of hate because she was standing between Touya and Yukito 😂 Mokona yelled her “indignation”, because ‘Nakuru is such a good kid!!’ 😂 and expressed her wish to see more affectionate scenes between her and Yukito, since now they get along as good friends. All things considered, Ohkawa expressed her hope everyone can wait for the end to see things change. Of course, she’s well conscious there’s no 100% guarantee that people won’t hate Clear Card even after it’ll be over, and she’s ok with that. She defined herself a “selfish writer”. 😆 Mokona asked everyone to have a little bit more of patience (implying it’ll be worth it).

“Whether you laugh or cry, whether you want it or not, soon it’ll be over, so please read it till the end” ❤️

TOMMY,S LORE STREAM RECAP 3…

(Again, this lore stream DOES contain c! and cc!Dream).

The opening, instead of the usual discs and Zelda music, is pure black and has one of the songs SAD-IST used in their animatics playing.

Clingyduo have been dragged into the prison by Punz and Dream. They admit they’ve lost and surrender. They're only alive because they’ve begged for their life.

Dream makes Clingyduo give everything. Dream beats and burns Tommy until he complies and Tommy is terrified, dropping everything even if it’s in his enderchest. It’s all burnt, except the discs which Tommy hides.

They’re taken to a hidden area of the prison, a platform above lava, and beaten until they agree to fall in. Tommy apologies and Tubbo accepts, but Dream and Punz come along, call it cute, and Dream starts monologuing.

Dream claims he wasn’t focusing on Tommy, instead on Sam, Quackity, and Wilbur (even though the reason he was focused on Wilbur is the discs, which is about Tommy by proxy) and says they doomed the server by nearly destroying the revive book. Tommy says that maybe that’s not bad, and talks about the times Dream went out of his way to harm him.

Dream calls Tommy and Tubbo caring about anything physical when there’s the metaphysical and revival. Tommy says no man should become a God, and Dream asks why not. He mentions continuing the revive book and wanting to become immortal, and knowing everything, and dismisses friends and countries as pointless. He says a life without immortality is pointless.

Punz reveals the staged finale. Dream blames the server hating him on Tommy, and Tommy points out that Dream ruined his life the past two server. Dream blames L'Manberg and Tommy mentions it was uninhabited before and a community.

Dream reveals he mind controlled Ranboo, and that he used him to trap Tommy with him in the prison. He also mentions Lazar and Vikkstar, and Tommy's horrified. The experiments went on for months, and involved EVERY form of death possible.

Dream's discovered the End while playing God, and reviving people has something to do with that. Punz and Dream have also revived each other.

People showing up on the server is a part of death, and revival has screwed it up horribly. The world could end, even. So, Dream's decided he's going to kill EVERYONE and restart the server.

Limbo changes based on how you die, and what happened beforehand. To test it more, and be test subjects. One of them will selflessly sacrifice themselves for the other, by falling onto a pressure plate that will kill the one who lands on it and spare the other.

Punz and Dream leave, and Tubbo and Tommy discuss it among one another. They both insist that they’re going to sacrifice themselves. However, Tommy instead throws the discs on the pressure plate. Out of character, he accidentally missed and he has to get discs spawned in his inventory to do so.

They jump down the hole formed to freedom (there’s another blooper here where Tubbo doesn’t know where to go and dies in lava). Tommy's incredibly distressed, both because the discs are gone and everyone’s gonna die anyone, and loads Punz's house with TNT, blowing it up in anger. Tommy fully thinks of Dream and Punz as Gods at this point.

Tubbo takes Tommy to a safe bunker in Snowchester. Tommy talks about all the things he loves that Dream destroyed- not just the discs. Tommy fully believes they’ve lost, while Tubbo refuses to give up.

Tommy cries beside the sea, about everything he’s lost and how he’s going to die. Tubbo reassures him that they didn’t die today, but Tommy can’t be consoled.

Tubbo takes Tommy into the bunker, and shows him the nukes. He says once Dream was dead, he was going to start developing rockets and explore the stars, hence why he wanted L'Moonberg.

Tommy asks if it’s active, and Tubbo confirms it is, but it’s unstable, and takes a long time to set off and fly. Tommy gets the idea to nuke Punz and Dream, as they’d die together, by Tommy luring them away and having all three of them die together. That way, not everyone on the server will die. He believes it’s all his fault. He thinks he’s even at fault for exile.

He, however knows Dream doesn’t want him dead at all, and is planning on letting Dream kill and torture him until the nuke kills all of them. He wants Tubbo to make a home in his memory, calling it Tommyburg and living happily with his son. Tommy continues to blame himself for Dream doing everything.

Tubbo thinks maybe being tortured is better than dying, and someone can save them, but Tommy says it’ll just be worse, and they’re the adults now. Tommy thinks no one would believe or help them.

The two of them go to look at L’Manberg, and Tubbo tries to cheer him up, and make his last moments pleasant, but Tommy's too caught up in his own self hatred and numb acceptance. Tommy goes to see the flag wave one last time, and asks for Tubbo to build the flag up high when he’s gone, so it flies in the wind, and asks Tubbo to carry on his legacy and tell everyone both of their stories. He takes the L'Manberg photo, says he'll be with Henry, and sits on the bench with Tubbo one last time, watching the sun set without music.

It ends with Tommy saying, numbly, “I’m going to die tommorow.” and Tubbo, crying, saying “Yes, you are.” and the Minecraft OST plays on the end screen.

C!PRIME CRUMBS HOLY SHITTTTTTTT C!PRIME C!PRIME C!PRIME C!PRIME

also I’m actually tearing up Tommy and Tubbo's acting was INSANE.

Ramiel stone - The meteor

this is my crackiest crack theory to date.

So in every cc book it is mentioned that Gwydion is made from a meteor that fallen to their world. And in hofas we learn that Truth-teller is also from that same meteor.

That sword was currently strapped across Ruhn’s back, its black hilt devouring the glaring firstlights. Isaiah had once heard someone say the sword was made from iridium mined from a meteorite, forged in another world—before the Fae had come through the Northern Rift. (Hoeab)

“The sword was part of a pair,” Ruhn said to him. “A long-bladed knife was forged from the iridium mined from the same meteorite, which fell on our old world.” The world the Fae had left to travel through the Northern Rift and into Midgard. “But we lost the knife eons ago. Even the Fae Archives have no record of how it might have been lost, but it seems to have been sometime during the First Wars.” (hoeab)

“It’s an ancient sword,” the Autumn King said at last, drawing Ruhn from his wandering thoughts, “from another world. Made from the metal of a fallen star—a meteorite. This sword exists beyond our planet’s laws. Perhaps the Reapers sensed that and shied away.” (hosab)

“This was unique. It felt like … like an answer. My sword blazed with light. That dagger shone with darkness. Both of them are crafted of the same black metal. Iridium, right?” She jerked her chin to Azriel, to the dagger at his side. “Ore from a fallen meteorite?” Azriel’s silence was confirmation enough. (Hofas)

we dont know any meteor in acotar. But azriel confirms it with his silence. That Truth-teller is indeed made from a fallen meteorite.

So what could it be? This is the crack part of the theory. What if it is the ramiel stone?

The blades are black. Ramiel stone is black.

These are the same examples of the Truth-Teller and Gwydion. I can't add every one of them.

Another shift of memory, and Fionn pulled a long blade from the Cauldron, dripping water. A black blade, whose dark metal absorbed any trace of light around it. Bryce’s knees weakened. (Hofas)

Bryce threw her power into the Starsword, light ripping through the black blade, willing it to tear this fucking monster apart—(hofas)

“Some major prophecy fulfillment,” Bryce said, hoping to Hel she was hiding the tremble in her arms from keeping the black blades steady, from ignoring that instinct murmuring to her to bring them together, not keep them apart. (Hofas)

And this is the ramiel stone.

But Cassian paused before a landscape painting of a towering, barren mountain, void of life yet somehow thrumming with presence. Snow and pines crusted the smaller peaks around it, but this strange, bald mountain … Only a black stone jutted from its top. A monolith, Nesta realized, stepping closer. (Acosf)

Far up, too far, lay its peak with the sacred black stone. Three stars glinted above the mountain: Arktos and Oristes to the left and right; Carynth crowning them. Their light flared and waned, as if in invitation and challenge. (Acosf)

Snow drifted across the image, and then Theia was standing atop a mountain, a black monolith rising behind her. (Hofas)

So what if ramiel stone is that meteor?

And in acofas Cassian says this

Who had put that stone atop the peak, he didn’t know, either. Legend said it had existed before the Night Court formed, before the Illyrians migrated from the Myrmidons, before humans had even walked the earth. Even with the fresh snow crusting Ramiel, none had touched the pillar of stone. (Acofas)

So maybe someone didn't put it but it fell to their world.

And fionn dipped the blades to cauldron on top of the cauldron too where the ramiel stone is so maybe they are more connected than we thought?

Again this is CRACK.

Why (i think) the pairing for the eggs would of always been Bad & Wilbur and Quackity & Luzu

The whole point of the egg event was to get the english and spanish speaking streamers to talk and communicate to showcase the new global translations, which was why they were paired off to one spanish and one english speaker. 

However with Quackity and Luzu, they are both fluent in english and spanish so if they were paired off to english speaking streamers, such as Wilbur and Bad, they would of just ended up only using english and the translation mod would of been kind of useless. Not only that but this would of meant that there would of been 4 streams only using english which wouldn't of been fair to the spanish fans of Quackity and Luzu.

So the solution to this, in terms of balancing the amount content for spanish and english fans, would of been 2 spanish streams and 2 english streams. Quackity and Luzu speaking spanish and Wilbur and Bad speaking english.

I’ve checked this against most of the pairs. While a lot of the spanish streamers know english to an extent, they still speak more spanish and used the translation mod a lot during the first day. I checked Spreen/Max/Roier and they did speak english sometimes but used the mod more. To precis this is hindsight, the pairing would of been picked before the admins would know how they would act so assuming the fluent ccs who has done content with english content creators before would speak more english makes sense.

This also makes sense when considering the competency and experience in Minecraft against the different streamers. I love Wilbur and Quackity but my guys aren't the best when it comes to the craft. Wilbur only really uses Minecraft as a vehicle to roleplay, and has even bragged on stream to Phil that he hasn't gone mining once on the QSMP server, and it took Quackity 14 swings of a diamond sword (most of which missed) to kill an unarmoured weaponless qsmp worker. So it would make sense for the pairs to be one experienced and one not. 

This is kind of evident when compared to the other parents with the exception of Vegetta and Foolish both being builders, so they would have a common interest, Spreen and Fit, who are both good but have different Minecraft experiences with 2b2t and pvp, and Max and Dan who both have experience in modded minecraft, again common interest. (Please correct me if any of this is wrong, a lot of these are what I’ve gathered from recent streams and what I could find on quick search results).

So it would only make sense for Quackity to be with Bad or Luzu to make a balanced set of parents and as previously mentioned, being paired with Luzu would help balance the amount of spanish content for fans.

Moreover the spanish community are big fans of the Quackity and Luzu pairing so this would make them a popular pair. Also Wilbur knew very early on during qsmp planning that he wouldn't be readily available due to his band and has told Quackity as such when he was invited. So his absence was predicted which makes pairing him with Bad, the person whose streamed everyday since the egg were introduced a good choice. (This doesn't take into account the other absent parents but a lot of those were just creators becoming busy were as the tour was planned way in advance).

So these are my thoughts on the reasons behind the parent’s pairings. A big part of why I wanted to post this was because I kept seeing people saying that Wilbur HAD to be Tilin’s father because he's english and Quackity speaks spanish. But with Luzu having Tilin’s other matching ticket and Dapper confirming last night that Wilbur WAS going to be his other parent, I wanted to talk more about why it would make sense from the admins perspective for these pairs. (I’m more than open to criticism if I’ve gotten anything wrong or misunderstood something in the post so feel free to correct me in reblogs or tags :D)

(Can I treat this askbox like an actual email?)(I have conflict to create)(if this is too meta, tell me so I can adjust future asks ^_^)

To: Pink

Cc: Blue, Spamton

Hi guys! How's everyone doing? Are things going good? Here's a pretty photo that I took, of a city from the Pacific Northwest of the "light world"

Being dramatic and cryptic is really fun! Here's some more pompous and /totally/ nonsense statements that I can make. Don't take it seriously. Don't listen too closely. Why would I tell the truth? But then, why would I lie?

:)

Pink, there is an abandoned machine that, in the light world was a drawing of the dream of a Lightner (presumably the dream of a certain ghost monster—who I will not name at this time).

But here (cyber world) it's a big robotic machine with wings, abandoned and tangled in vines and rotting away in a hidden room in the queen's mansion. If you ask Swatch (mansion butler) about it, they will likely refuse to tell you much of anything about it, but they know about the machine because they helped in making it.

For some reason (which I know but won't explain) spamton really really wants to get this machine (he's not meant to get it)(and probably banned from the mansion for repeatedly attempting to steal it)(from what I've seen, he's also scared of swatchlings for similar reasons)(hard to say for suresies)(I'm kind of working with literal actual subtext—like the storytelling kind—here. So. A lot of uncertainty.).

Funny thing is—it's doomed from the start. The vines that I mentioned, will become green cables or strings like a marionette, and while he would be powerful, he wouldn't be free. And, cutting the strings will just cause him to fall, and the machine to break, and killing him to the fullest extent that darkners are capable of dying. (In the versions of events that I can "read," he gets turned into an item) (hard to explain)

If I got enough of the details correct, you'll be able to confirm soon. But, I'm sure it's so blatantly obviously a lie, that it won't have any truth at all.

Of course, you won't believe a word you hear from me. Right?

I'm really just here to have fun, and sounding pretentious is tons of fun! So, once again, that was a nonsense story with zero actual meaning, just meant to waste everyone's time ;)

Have a wonderful day.

Bye!

- Marrow

Wh- hey!!

He doesn't need to see this.

Not yet, anyway.

(It functions more like mail, so only the recipient and nearby ppl can see it. They're still "emails" but it's bc they're already "e" yknow?)

Back at it again at Krispy Kreme!

Ok, so I’m just sharing some more alternate EC chapter 5 translation insight with you guys since people definitely seem curious. Um…small notice, I am still trying to paraphrase what my friend has tried to explain to me, so if I make any mistakes that someone uncovers later, I do apologize in advance.

An interesting Japanese tidbit in the beach scene where Seph says that it’s his first “field mission” helps us get a clearer picture of what he means.

In Japanese, he says that he “has never had much contact with people and this is his first real battle/first time on a real battlefield, so he doesn’t know what he is doing.”

I suppose this confirms that he hasn’t been exactly on the frontlines, although there is that info blob from the Crisis Core guide about him having been “on the frontlines of battle” since before he was ten years old. My guess is that this is either Shinra propaganda, or else it refers to his training, which would still be referred to as “battle,” I guess. He clearly states that he learned to kill without hesitation throughout his training, so whatever they were throwing at him, it was basically “real” but in a controlled environment, perhaps.

Also, when he says “Nothing, it’s never going to happen anyway,” about living a normal life, it reads in Japanese more as “I don’t care anymore/It doesn’t matter, it’s never going to happen.”

It seems like a direct reference to the Nibelheim scene where he laughs off the questions about his parentage because “What does it matter?”

He has really lost heart about both things, but it’s obvious he still cares.

Also. When Sephiroth says that he knows asking about his everyone about his mother isn’t “cool,” Glenn laughs and says “You know it, haha!” which seems fairly translated in the English, but what may be missing is the nuance of Sephiroth’s next response.

He basically says, “Yeah, that’s everyone’s reaction,” but it comes off like he is referring to Glenn’s laughing and dismissal. Basically, we get the impression that people tend to mock Sephiroth’s inquiry because it’s supposedly childish, like a kid lost in a supermarket asking for their mom.

My friend really thinks it’s because of his hero status, i. e., people laugh at the idea of this young super solider asking about something so “normal?” She also suspects it’s a bit of a reference to the fanbase’s joking about Sephiroth’s obsession with his mother in general. Both in-game and in the actual world, Sephiroth is not really seen as human, so people are amused or fascinated when he shows glimpses of it…or else they dismiss it.

The Japanese version of that photo scene apparently gets this message across better. Seph is used to being laughed off or dismissed when asking about his mother. I also would not be surprised if Hojo was someone that laughed at him over it a lot.

Once again, sorry for extra pain, but we may be getting the idea that it wasn’t just a general “Don’t ask about your mother” vibe at Shinra for Sephiroth, but also a long history of people mocking the question. Poor kid. (I will share a few more translation details soon).

Hhhhhh these are SO interesting.

For Seph's training, I'm of the mind that they've probably been having him undertake mock skirmishes/drills under a controlled setting, as you mentioned. Sephiroth has apparently already been killing, so it wouldn't surprise me if they've been plucking enemies for him to slay while still in their custody. Interesting that it contradicts CC's lore. But at the same time, that could have all been propaganda. It's reasonable to assume that Sephiroth's training was likely extremely psychologically warping, and, for him, as real as an actual battle considering he's developed a paranoia and survival instinct. Shinra is so fucked up.

His line about not wanting to be a hero sounds WAY more checked out in the Japanese dialogue here. He sounds completely hopeless.

The Mother stuff...ASDFGHJFDGHBFDX

Keep these coming! They're really enhancing the context of these scenes!

I myself, am an ACOTAR girlie through and through, but I agree on everything you said regarding SJM and her writing now.

HOFAS was all over the place. I still enjoyed it but it’s nowhere near as good as other books. She was just throwing every information she could possible think of, even in fight scenes, there was too much of a dump info. HOEAB stays superior in that series imo.

I still think she knows and can do much better, but started relying too much on others, on her new editor if I recall correctly? And that’s why she rewrote HOFAS in five weeks.

but I do think this is why TOG is superior for the majority of people in this fandom. It’s finished long ago and 90% of things that happens in that series in the beginning, especially AB comes back towards the end. And again, different editor.

When asked questions about series, next book etc. she tiptoes a lot. No one expects for her to reveal her plans and plots regarding books, but there are things that still aren’t clear to the good part of this fandom and she should come clean about it.

I really want to put all of my trust in her for next ACOTAR book, but I am honestly scared she will somehow ruin it. Not with the romance and ships, but rather storywise.

As for romance part, I don’t want it to be ACOSF 2.0 with overused smut scenes. I love Nessian but their relationship in this book is more about physical attraction rather than emotional depth. We had great love confessions but still, both of them haven’t matured enough and grew as a couple and BC in HOFAS just confirms it imo.

I think TOG is superior in plotting, because she knew what she was writing from start to finish. Kind of same with the 3 first ACOTAR books.

She had a beginning, middle and end. There was a clear vision.

Now, it's so disorganised, I can't even believe it.

She is switching mid-series between YA and Adult.

She started writing another series in the middle of an unfinished older series--which is okay in itself, but then she needs to be able to write BOTH at once. There shouldn't be an expectation that everyone wants to read both series. If I am an ACOTAR reader, I expect reasonably timed updates (annual book) and not a 4 year break, so she can devote herself to writing something else entirely.

At this point, unfortunately, I am almost convinced that she will ruin it. I want to stick around and finally read Elain's book, after all these years, but my expectations are tiny now. 3 huge books back to back of questionable quality, a muddled plot, unclear antagonist, unclear protagonist, unclear LI, unclear setting--all don't give me much hope for anything amazing. Elain, I am sure, will be ruined, as will be the Elriel romance. SJM hasnt written much smut in CC, so I am sure all of it will fall on ACOTAR5's shoulders.

hii!! I was wondering, do you have any headcanons for FFVII? I'd love to hear them 🩷

hi!!

I do have a lot of hc but i haven't thought about any of them in forever. I have some shipping hcs in general for clack/aerti/asg somewhere on my blog i think.

depends also on which type of hc as in like, "stuff i hc the character feels in canon" or "what if" hcs

On more general headcanons that i can think of... (and it's going to be very OG/CC/AC centric) (there will also be major spoilers)

-You can buy a villa in the Costa Del Sol. I like to imagine that the whole Avalanche crew goes there to recharge every once in a while, even after the events of the OG. Each of them have their specific room to rest up. After Aerith's death they left her room as it is and turned it more in a memorial. Once in a while they come back to put flowers in it. Cloud and Tifa have the hardest time coming back into the room for the longest time.

-It's such a trope from the Old Days but i love the idea of Cloud learning some mechanic knowledge from Cid. Like he'd need something to focus his mind on to forget the horrors and Cid would give him some tips while they work on cars or bike together. That way, Cloud customized Fenrir fully thanks to everything Cid taught him. I feel like he would have his own garage in the back of the new Seventh Heaven, but once in a while he'd drop by Cid just to work on some things together. And when they do work they don't really talk much which really help Cloud out.

-In one of the post-canon book, Vincent and Nanaki make each other a promise that, due to Vincent's immortality and Nanaki's lifespan being much longer than anyone else in the cast, they will meet every year when everyone is gone and it's only the two of them remaining, that way they can remember the old days. It's not really a HC but this is something i hold very, very dear to my heart. I like to imagine the two of them constantly coming back to the places they used to go to, Vincent being made emotionally unstable by the amount of loss he went through but Nanaki being a rock to be able to support him through it as they try to make those grieving memories good memories. It means everything to me.

-The remake more or less confirmed it but i love the idea of Barret being genuinely invested in the planet on a academical level. Like he actually read everything he could find to figure out why things went wrong in Corel and how to stop it from happening again elsewhere.

-Also liking to think about the time Tifa and Barret met each other. Nibelheim and Corel's tragedies happened around the same time and i could imagine the two of them meeting before they even reached Midgar, while they're still both major messes from what happened. They would bond easily over their shared trauma and i feel like, both of them working together to raise Marlene was the major motivation for the two of them to sort themselves back together, because even if they're miserable, they need to give Marlene the best of the best. I kinda see Barret and Tifa's friendship like Edgin and Holga from the D&D movie, if that rings any bell. I also think they're each other's rocks more than anything else. Like they may have lost everything again with the Sector 7's collapse, but they have each other so they can get through it. If either of them had died i feel like neither would have managed to move forward from it, regardless of if Cloud and/or Marlene were motivator for them to hold it together.

-I imagine the girls (Aerith, Tifa and Yuffie) would regularly take time off from the group just to have "girl time" together. Aerith would joke like once about how Cloud could join them for having been an honorary girl and Yuffie tries to get all the details and it's Tifa who had to hold the conversation back. Aerith would clarify it's then just a joke and they'd have fun together in town. Post Game, Tifa and Yuffie still see each other and have fun together, but thinking about the old times too much really sour the mood.

-When Reeve is running on 5 all nighters post-game when he's busy trying to organize WRO, he casually slips into himself having a very thick scottish accent. If he does so in front of any Avalanche members they mostly give him a look and don't comment on it, but Yuffie would totally make fun of him for going back to his kitty's habits. Cloud eventually drops a bad "he can do whatever he wants, he knows the cat is out of the bag" pun once and Reeve now just tries really hard not to slip again.

-Speaking of Reeve, based on On Your Way To A Smile - Denzel episode, i think Reeve would drop by regularly at the new Seventh Heaven just to chat up with Denzel, and by extension with Marlene. His mother died to take care of Denzel all while she was talking about how her son didn't have time for her anymore, so i feel like Reeve would therefore try to be there for Denzel to make it up to his mother on that level. I feel like he'd be awkward around Marlene at first considering what he has done, but she wouldn't leave Denzel alone so he had to get used to it.

-Not /my/ headcanons per se but i'm obsessed with a fanart i once saw of Zack as a child holding a toad in his hands, knowing that around Gongaga is where you meet the toads who can change you into one. I like to think Zack used to get into all sort of troubles training to be a hero when he was a child that he'd often come back home with toads in his hands. His parents would have to gently tell him to please stop picking up dangerous toads every few days, but he always gets so excited he forgets about it. Also i like to HC that the fact Zack never gets affected by the toad debuff isn't just because of CC's limitations but just because he's from Gongaga so he's Just Like That. too used to frog to be debuffed.

-Also definitely thinking that it's failing to save Zack that had Tseng being even harder on the rules by the time of the OG. He softened a lot around Zack and he put his own job on the line to try to save him and he couldn't, and i truly think it's what hardened him as badly as he does in the OG.

-HCish? but i think Sephiroth really wanted to be Zack's friend in the way back. Like Angeal would always be complaining about him but with clear affection in his voice that Sephiroth would really want to get to know Zack, but he would be awkward at first except when training him. Like Zack is the "normal" friend of the group. When Angeal and Genesis left i feel like Sephiroth wanted to rely on Zack more, but after he passed on to Zack the mission Angeal ended up dying in, Zack just couldn't take Sephiroth's way to show attempts at friendships. Like he knew it's not something he could hold against Sephiroth but it's something Zack was bitter enough about that he set distances with Sephiroth at the time. And that is why he didn't pick up any of the cues Sephiroth was going mad in Nibelheim because he was still reeling from what happened to Angeal.

-Also linked to that i like to imagine Sephiroth as some sort of spite added to all the other reasons about the way Cloud took over Zack's sword and stuff, and it's why he broke him the way he did as well (like, on top of just regular Cloud obsession reasons). esp since Zack's sword was also Angeal's, i feel like this would add so much spite to everything Cloud is doing.

-Also thinking indulging Yuffie when she was sending him emails to trick him is probably what got Zack to really understand the weight of his actions with Wutai, and that he let her ask him more and more outstanding things mostly because the guilt was taking him over. I read a fic about it once and it still hasn't left my mind.

-Still on the Zack train but i think about the months in the run Zack and Cloud had to be in and think about how Zack probably was really damaging his health by really trying to be hypervigilent and careful about Cloud. Like he'd make sure to have Cloud sleep between him and his sword, and he himself would be half awake most of the time to be hyperaware of his surroundings. Or when looking for food, Zack would ration his parts to make sure Cloud himself get to eat something, even though Cloud is barely responding. So not really in the healthiest state of being.

-Random? but i like to think Kunsel has a big facial scar under his helmet and it's why he's never seen without it (what? could it be because of CC's limited graphisms? perish the thought, obviously--)

-When Angeal disappeared, Zack tried to take care of his plants for a while, but failed pretty hard, not having a green hand at all. He tried to get tips from Aerith but he was totally hopeless. Eventually he brought Angeal's plants to Aerith and she took care of it herself.

that's all that's coming to my mind right now but i know i have more stuff. just nothing comes to mind right now.

Hope it was a fun read! ;) take care!

the drm situation is so scary because there is not a single circumstance on earth in which his following will even consider the POSSIBILITY of drm having done harm to anyone, "legal" or not. they hope for his innocence for all the wrong reasons!!!! so they can be a "superior" "good" fan who never left, and not because they hope for no one to have truly been harmed in the end. in the process they only hurt MORE with their victim blaming rhetoric, their misogyny, every disgusting word they've directed towards those hurt and betrayed but ESPECIALLY the victims, all to defend a man who can afford a lawyer and who needs to be held accountable for his own actions. why are they arguing over such a sensitive topic in the first place? as if it's anyone's place to debate what happened? it is so scary that the only thing they'd accept as proof is EXPLICIT confirmation from an egotistical cc who is playing victim HIMSELF and a part of me worries that even if he DID confess, his fans wouldn't care. a part of me is probably right, considering that "I believe the DMs were real" wasn't enough. how the fuck is three victims, two who were MINORS and the third in which they were told that he was glad to talk to people "his age" for once, not enough? I hope theyre ashamed. I hope they change. I hope more than anything that they realize the weight of all they've said and done, but I also hope something sincerely opens their eyes, because this blind faith in anyone is horrifying. who knows how many others there are that haven't said anything? isn't that the worst part?

it is truly unbelievable how little drm's following cares. to a worrying degree. they can't even pretend to. not even the antis do!!!! not for the right reasons!!! once again!!!! they only care that "annoying popular youtuber I don't like is 'cancelled'", not that any real person got hurt. that multiple did. it's all so fucked.

I hope that the victims find peace. I wish drm nothing but irrelevancy and the power stripped from him that allows him to hurt others like this. I hope that soon enough I'll never have to hear his name ever again. I hope the victims get any sort of justice and holy shit do I hope they don't doomscroll and see all the horrid things people have said. god damn dude.

cracks in the merry thieves, or, some issues a tsc fan sees in tsc, pt. iii

A nomad needs space to breathe in order to heal. A dismissed shadow fights for oft-denied recognition. And an exchange student outgrows his friends. Not the picture of the Merry Thieves we're used to, I know, but it's what I see when I see Matthew, Christopher, and Thomas in the context of that group.

I've seen lots of people analyze Matthew and his past actions far more deeply and intelligently than I ever could do, but I'm going to talk about his future actions instead, as he's reconciled with most of the other Thieves by the ending of Chain of Thorns—save Christopher, in worlds where he both a) lives and b) sticks around in London long enough to hear Matthew out—and thus what he's about to do now has more consequence here. He's going to travel the world. And not just a cross-cultural exchange like Thomas is going on. He's expatriating from England. It seems pretty clear to me that he's not coming back. London is a place that hurt him, badly, and it's a place in which he hurt other people badly. Alastair and Charlotte, people he'll likely never look at again without carrying grief and guilt, are in London. To truly heal he needs to leave this place that will always remind him of pain, and that means leaving the friends he loved and hurt behind. He's already moving on.

Christopher I've talked about before. I have a whole long vent-post about him. TL;DR direct quotation of that, "He's consistently dismissed, even by those closest to him, as the cinnamon roll, the mad scientist, the one who's bad at social interaction, the one who's definitely not interested in romance, with no input from Christopher himself whatsoever at all to confirm or deny any of these stereotypes.

"He's belittled, his friends and even his sister treat him like he's six, not sixteen (upon hearing of his death Charles calls him 'Little Kit' as if the person in question wasn't two years away from being a legal adult). They seem to think he can't take care of himself just because he's absentminded, nobody ever tells him anything important (Thomas only realizes he should've told Christopher about Alastair once Christopher's gone), and any time he tries to step out of the 'mad scientist' box his decisions are questioned and he's thrown right back in."

He spends the entire series with very little validation or recognition from the narrative and its characters (we really only get one scene in his point of view, in Chain of Iron) and this is epitomized in how he's barely mourned. You might be alive in my version of events, but even so, ave atque vale, you brilliantly adorable bastard, since nobody in CC's canon said it.

And then there's Thomas. He's going through something I've experienced more than once in my life, and that I've watched many other people experience. You change in some way, whether that's an obvious milestone growing-up like starting college or something more personalized; say, switching program tracks in school (honors, STEM, fine arts, general track, etc.) to pursue a goal, or leaving a fandom, or in my case, becoming a publishing internet author. You grow out of the friends who don't follow you in taking that step, or a similar one (I remained friends with the visual art kids I know, but lost the theatre crowd), and you make new friends that fit your new life.

This isn't about age maturity, really, it's not about the fact that Thomas is legally an adult now. We can see Christopher begin a similar process in Chain of Thorns as he discovers Grace (who shares his interests in a way most of the Thieves do not) and chooses spending time with her over attending the Institute's Christmas ball. Thomas has made major steps away from the worldview of the rest of the Thieves: he's done what's essentially the TSC version of a cross-cultural exchange program. He's exploring romance in a way far more complicated than what we see, say, James going through with Grace and then Cordelia: as not only falling in love but also as a process of reconciliation and deep understanding between two people who have fundamentally changed since they first met six years ago. He's spent time away from his friends, gaining new experiences they haven't gained, and while he is in some ways no more more or less mature than his other friends his lifestyle and worldview are very different. Think about how changed you would be after spending most of a year in a country your friends haven't visited.

I can see in the series that he's slowly starting to outgrow the friends with whom he does not connect. They still get along but they're starting to go in different directions. He's already losing his connection to Christopher by the start of Chain of Thorns (he doesn't think to bring up Alastair until after that door is closed). James has settled down with Daisy (for as long as that lasts) and will therefore likely never get a cross-cultural experience like the one Thomas had. Matthew is getting one (his Voyage) but, while his relationship with Thomas seems to be okay at the end of Chain of Thorns, I don't see him sending notes to anyone but James. And all of them are quickly approaching real, functioning adulthood.

Most "real adults" I know in this world (not just people who are legally adults but are at an age where they're done their schooling and have lives of their own beyond it) don't keep in touch with their childhood friends much after college or high school. Like in the real world, I can see that, while they're still close at the end of Chain of Thorns, the Thieves will inevitably change so much that their differences pull them apart and, like real adults do, they'll scatter to the four winds and find new friends who speak to their new experiences.

In worlds where Christopher lives, I struggle to see him continuing his relationship with the rest of the Thieves much past that final London battle anyway. To fully realize all that potential he has, he needs to break from these people who treat him more like a baby brother than an equal friend on equal footing and move on to people like Grace who not only share his interests but make attempts to connect with him as an intellectual and a mature adolescent, and not just as a beloved hobbit who lives in Henry Fairchild's laboratory.

Thomas needs more friends who share his broad horizons: people like perhaps Cordelia, who like her brother has traveled extensively in her life, or like his cousin Anna who has spent years observing people and developing an analytical skillset that would make her an excellent therapist should demon-hunting ever not work out for her.

And as much as I love James and Matthew's dynamic, and as much as the dream is that parabatai will remain close as brothers always and forever, Matthew needs to travel the world. It's clear that this is his path to fulfillment as chemistry is for Grace and moving out of the house is for Arati. And I struggle to see him, after a long time spent traveling the world, as someone still able to connect to a friend who's chosen to not go anywhere at all.

TL;DR: I love the Merry Thieves. But they're not destined to stay best friends forever.

"some issues a tsc fan sees in tsc" is an attempt to break down the unacknowledged things in tsc that i unearthed reading chain of thorns, rereading the rest of the series in preparation for it, and writing two longform fanfics (one of them a genderbent canon reworking) for the last hours. click on the "some issues..." tag to see more of these.

𓏲 * ( pat chayanit, cis woman, she & her, lisa manoban cc ) ⸺ pictures of MAY RENITA ATCHAREE , the twenty - seven year old singer, have been showing up all over my feed, and considering the last time they were #trending, it was due to a performance fancam from their concert — i’m not likely to unfollow anytime soon. with their baggy jeans and basic crop top, they’ve managed to garner a reputation for being more hard-working than forgetful. their critics say that they’re more conceited than out-going when they aren’t too busy focusing on their at least styling long dark colored locks in styles waves, laughter that fills the room, putting her all into everything she does. reputation.com has taken to calling them COOKIE in order to avoid a lawsuit ( again ).

THE BASICS.

full name: renita atcharee. nickname(s): may. age: twenty - seven. date of birth: february 16. gender & pronouns: cis woman, she & her. orientation: pansexual. languages: english, thai, mandarin, korean. occupation: singer ( solo / girl group ), rapper, & dancer .

THE HEADCANONS.

with two parents who are successful in their own right, may had always known that she, too, was going to be able to make a name for herself... which ultimately came in the form of performing.

being a singer was the only thing may ever wanted to be and because of that, she tirelessly worked to be able to make her dreams become a reality. plus, with her parents being entertainers as well, they were supportive in all of her endeavors.

eventually, she worked up a name for herself after debuting in a south korean girl group and it's been amazing ever since. may loving what she does and it shows whenever she's on stage.

personality wise, may is pretty much a woman who thrives on vibes. she used to be someone who conformed to what the audience wanted, reading through what everyone would say about her and try to please everyone. but, of course, no matter what she did, it didn't seem to matter. eventually, taking a toll on her until she decided one day that she was simply going to be herself. didn't care what people said, what they thought of her, may was going to be herself and everyone else was going to have to deal with it.

overall, she's a pretty happy person. loves hanging out with friends, meeting new people, partying, etc. may truly lives her life to the fullest and her positive outlook on life seems to reflect in everything around her.

WANTED CONNECTIONS.

other members of blackpink ( stealing the actual group name bc i am uncreative).

friends: best, close, etc. after extending into the american market, may could've made a lot of friends within this industry.

worked with: collabs, photoshoots, sponsorships, etc. they could've either gotten along pretty well or couldn't wait for it to be over.

fake enemies: someone the public thinks hate each other, but in reality, they're pretty decent friends and laugh about it every time they hear something new.

assumed friends: much like the previous, it would be polar opposites. everyone thinks their good friends, but in reality, they can't stand each other. maybe it's because their often seen in the same places or even have the same friends.

ex-friends: they used to be close once upon a time, but eventually they stopped. could've ended badly or they simply drifted apart for various reasons.

exes: most of may's relationships have been hidden from the public eye and even when leaked, it was never confirmed nor denied. could've ended on bad/good terms. these would be short term ones.

public relationship: the first relationship she's ever went public with and they lasted for a little while before calling it quits. again, could've remained friends or simply don't want anything to do with each other.

a pr relationship: something may probably didn't want to do, but for the sake of traction for both of their respective careers. they could've gotten a long ( actually really good friends behind the scenes ) or couldn't stand each other.

hookups/one nighters/etc.

Thanks for answering Cinzia! No, you are right 😂. I should not be using older art style as any standard of indication of timeline. That was an interesting exposition. I had never read the CCS manga (or doujinshis) as a kid, but the number of *ahem* works which feature junior high aged SS I came across over the past few months is pretty concerning. On a second note, I was also wondering about Akiho's ancestry. As you once suggested, Akiho's clan might be the Reed clan, the clan on Clow Reed's father's side. From what I understand, the Reeds would be (again I am not trying to be politically offensive but still trying to be direct to the point) white-skinned. Clow, from what I understand, was very much biracial. Then if Akiho indeed is from the Reed clan, how was it possible for her resemble Sakura that much, enough for pass off as her twin? Even if we are to assume that Lilie was the Reed (with perhaps white Germanic ancestry) and her husband (who perhaps can be assumed to the one who had Shinomoto name and was thus Japanese in all probability) married into the clan and they had Akiho who was biracial (with presumably German and Japanese ancestry), it is still very unusual. Until and unless of course, one assumes that Sakura herself is not of a fully Japanese ancestry, especially given that her father literally appeared when Clow died (gave up his body?) and Fujitaka (and Eriol) were created from some kind of magical cellular fission (?). So, Sakura (and Touya) are of part-white heritage, that too from the Reed clan, explaining the resemblance. I am just thinking too much, am I not? I should just let it be, at this point. 😰 Also, what ethnicity does Kaito belong to? I originally thought he was some kind of East Asian looking Russian but his real name is of French origin? What even is going on there?

P.S. Dear God, this went into a very different direction from what I originally wanted to write.

Ohohohho this is a topic that has crossed my mind more than once, especially during the "happy sisters" chapters after Kaito activated the forbidden magic!! 😂😂😂

Long story short, the final solution to the dilemma I came up with is: suspension of disbelief! 😂😂😂😂 Yeah, I think this is one of the most prominent cases where you're supposed to look at them literally for what they are "on paper" and not what kind of ethnicity they should represent in the story.

I'll elaborate further; first of all yes, I've always had the theory that "the clan of the most ancient magicians in Europe" might have been the Reed clan, which also Clow came from. I thought it was just the perfect fit for Akiho: it's based in England, and we know the Reeds were an English clan; this clan got rivalry with the Li's in Hong Kong and again it would make sense if they were the Reeds, because those two families have ONE illustrious relative in common: Clow Reed, the most powerful magician of his time! In fact, it's stated in the Clear Card story that the "Squids" do have lots of resentment towards Clow. The reasons are unknown, but if they were the Reeds, we can easily guess them: he ditched that side of the family and decided to get closer to the Chinese side, living in Hong Kong for a time and leaving some of his magical tools with the Li's. And also, it would've made PERFECT sense for Kaito to turn to the Kinomoto family to leave Akiho with them: if Akiho was a Reed, and we know for certain that Sakura in some way does have a little bit of Reed blood in her (she is explicitly indicated as having "Clow's blood" in the story, and that's so important that they made the characters point that out in the anime too, where TECHNICALLY she shouldn't have any blood relations with Clow, since Fujitaka was never confirmed as Eriol's 'other half' of Clow's reincarnation), that would've ALREADY made Akiho a distant relative of Sakura in some way. So it would've felt way less forced and much more reasonable. Everything fit so well that I was almost sure we would've had this confirmation before the end of the story; sadly, we never did.

There's a VERY terrible translation mistake in volume 6 of the English version by Kodansha USA, where they made the Squids say this:

Please be informed that in the JP original the Squids never said "For the blood of Clow Reed...to be bested by the Li Family....is an unbearable disgrace", because that basically made them refer to themselves as "blood of Clow Reed", hence indirectly confirming they are the Reed clan. That's absolute bullsh*t and what they actually said is "THEY are of Clow Reed's lineage. We can't allow to fall behind them" and that connects with what Kaito said in chapter 68: the Squids checked every movement from the Li family because of their resentment towards Clow (and the Li's were connected to him). I know my theory sounded legit, reasonable and could've made everything more interesting and well connected, but a theory remains a theory if canon doesn't confirm it. And translation mistakes should never be so bad that they end up portraying things in a way that makes you believe what it was actually NEVER confirmed in the story.

Up to this day, we don't have a "name" we can call this clan with: they're simply addressed as "that clan" or "the most ancient magicians in Europe" in THE WHOLE the story (trust me, I've monitored that detail very well, because of my theory). They're NOT the Shinomoto clan, as many people like to report in order to simplify things. I honestly not even believe that Akiho's father's last name was Shinomoto, as Akiho seems c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e-l-y foreign to Japanese culture throughout the story. He didn't marry into the clan from "outside", because Lilie specifically says that he's a "distant relative", so he's very much part of this European clan himself. And if we have to go by how awful they are in the story, I'm pretty sure these people would've done anything to keep their blood line as "pure" as possible, without "interventions" from outside, if you know what I mean. Additional to that, Akiho doesn't even remotely mention a possible "tie" she might have with Japan: I know her clan never really answered her questions about her parents, but I'm pretty sure that if she was half Japanese they would've told her and she would've sort of mentioned it along the story. She's portrayed by CLAMP as someone completely foreign to Japan. And with a last name like that, if she was really half Japanese, if would've come up at some point (Sakura doesn't even ask about it, "how come you have a Japanese last and first name if you don't have any connection with Japan?"). I mean, Akiho did "confess" at the end that her true name is Cosmos, and I think that is the only true part of her name that we were allowed to know about her. Just like the rest of her clan, and Kaito, her last name is none of our business, basically 😂 I mean, even Eriol adopted a Japanese last name to fit better, even though he shouldn't really have any tie with Japan (if he's a reincarnation of Clow and got Clow's blood just like Fujitaka, then he should have Caucasian and Chinese traits in himself). As you pointed out, that should be the same with Fujitaka.

As for Kaito, I definitely thought that he could be Chinese at some point: one of my craziest theories was that he was actually a "lost Li", because the shape of his eyes is exactly the same of Yelan. Yeah, check it out if you don't believe me! 😂

The moon power, the fact that he's often portrayed with chinese-style clothes.... Alas, this theory went down the drain too. Or, at least, we were never given concrete hints about it. And then the fact that in his backstory he's potrayed in a cold land with a typical Russian hat made me think that he could've been of Russian's origins too, but that one seems to be even less plausible at this point. His true name is French, so it is legit to infer that at least in part he must have some French genes in him, although it's anyone's guess where exactly he comes from. I do identify him as coming from France, at this point, and that would be reasonable because it would still be in the "area" of the Magic Association, if they operate in the entire Europe (man, CLAMP must think that there's lots of evil people in Europe, wtf 🤣). It wouldn't have been difficult for them to go fetch little Kaito in France, coming from the UK, is what I'm trying to say. But as we never got any other confirmation than his true name (and CLAMP must have chosen a French word instead of an English one for a reason), it's really anyone's guess.

So all of this makes me just conclude that we shouldn't really wonder too much about things like "how is it possible that Akiho and Sakura resemble eachother so much that they could pass as twin sisters, if they're supposedly from two different ethnicities?", because I'm pretty sure that CLAMP didn't go that far in planning all of these details to the situation. 😆 You should just rememember that it's a fictional story (with magic, at that), so we should apply a bit of "suspension of disbelief! 😅