V words that describe a person

Hi Horror fans! I am back with a few more reviews. I normally try to mix up the new and the old the classic and the atypical when I can. My success varies depending on which books call to me. Let me know what you think!
Lowest reviewed to highest.
Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay
Premise- A new rabies virus is running rampant in Massachusetts and Nats is running out of time. Almost ready to give birth and exposed to the rapidly advancing virus she needs help before the baby arrives or she succumbs…
Thoughts- This book almost broke my DNF record. It has been a long time since I gave up on a book and this was close. If it wasn’t a relatively short book (around 300 pages) I don’t think I would have powered through. I disliked one of the main characters throughout (Nats) finding her grating and her attempts at humour embarrassing. It also employs just about every cliché ever put into the apocalyptic or outbreak genre and then makes it worse by being self referential about the cliches. Then towards the end the other main character who I didn’t mind as much becomes so selfish (I understand she’s trying to help her friend but come on) that she willingly endangers a busload of people just for her own ends. All of this is without delving into the awkward and awful kid “slang” Tremblay employs for about 50 pages in the middle of the book. My wife really enjoyed the audiobook for his A Head Full of Ghosts so I will probably try that before writing him off as an author who is not for me but he has a really difficult hill to climb after this. A final thing to note much of this book even when action was occurring felt plodding and slow somehow which I can’t even wrap my head around because rabies infected people chasing down our main characters should be exciting but I could barely keep my eyes open.
Rating- 2/5. Not a 1 because I finished it. Do not recommend. Read any other apocalyptic or outbreak book The Stand or Swan Song comes to mind.
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman
Premise- The Black Death ravages the French countryside and evil lurks behind every corner. A former knight turned brigand encounters a young girl who is more than she seems. Can he find redemption? Does he deserve it?
Thoughts- This is another horrorlit darling. I actually picked up Buehlman’s fantasy novel The Blacktongue Thief first in anticipation of this this novel because it was the only novel of his available at my book store. I enjoyed that and appreciated the author’s humour and dark side. This novel came with a lot of hype as it has to be one of the most recommended books in this sub. The premise of a medieval horror which features demons and devils was incredibly appealing and my wife and I decided to read through it at the same time (her on audio). We both found it pretty underwhelming which I know might be controversial. It’s strange because its well written, I enjoy the characters and the setting but somehow it did not gel with me. The best way I can describe it is it felt almost like a horror show with say 22 episodes. Like most shows with 22 episodes a lot of them are filler or freak of the week episodes and that is how a lot of the middle of the book felt to me. We would travel along with Thomas and Delphine, they would encounter something strange and remarkable (occasionally horrifying) and move on to another area where another strange or remarkable thing would happen. It felt oddly disconnected. Now I need to talk about the ending which didn’t redeem my feelings about a large portion of the book but it was my favourite thing about this novel for sure. It ends in a fantastic way and encapsulates what I think the author was going for throughout the book but didn’t land for me until the end with themes concerning sin, redemption and second chances. This might be the definition of a book I appreciate and can see what others love about it but didn’t register with me for large portions. That ending though, so good.
Rating-3.5/5 stars. An interesting setting for a modern horror novel let down by some meandering adventures which caused it to lose me somewhat before ending on a high note.
Little Heaven by Nick Cutter
Premise- Three hardened mercenaries team up for what seems like an easy job, rescue a woman’s nephew from a cult down south. What it turns into is a fight for their lives which will haunt them down through the years and will make them wonder if they ever really escaped Little Heaven?
Thoughts- My second foray into the work of horrorlit darling Nick Cutter. I enjoyed The Troop and found it suitably disgusting and chilling to earn the reputation it has in the wider horror fan annals. I actually think I prefer Little Heaven overall. One of my biggest gripes with The Troop was its lack of meaningful characters and many of them felt like stereotypes and while some of the characters in Little Heaven fall a little into that category (the Reverand in particular is just a straight black heart) the main group were all well realized in my opinion and despite their obvious shortcomings I came to root for them. Cutter per usual is a master with description, creeping the reader out with every mention of things slimy, crawly or looming. In this book he has included some pages of art which further the atmosphere and really burn some of the images into your mind (one rather tall character in particular). I enjoyed the back and forth between the two timelines, one during the initial trip to Little Heaven in the 60’s and the ugly return in the 80’s. It had almost an It like feeling of needing to overcome your fear when you know what is awaiting you but finding the courage decades later to face it regardless. Similarly to The Troop, Cutter doesn’t give us the Hollywood happy ending either which I enjoy, you get your elements and take what you can from such an evil place. Without going into spoilers there were things about the ultimate confrontation which I disliked (mostly the reveal of what is within the black rock itself) and things which I enjoyed a lot (the ultimate fate of one of the main characters). I think that I have now read what I would consider his two most applauded books I can move onto the one which splits horror audiences in half, The Deep. Overall though Cutter writes horror that really is a page turner and I will continue to read him until he proves otherwise.
Rating-4/5 stars. Another fast-paced creepy jaunt evoking elements of Heart of Darkness (and modern horror takes like Children of Chaos) and the two timeline split involving children obsessed evil like King’s It, Mr. Cutter continues to impress and make it his own.
Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff
Premise- The sun has gone dark and the great empire of Elidaen is at war. Not with their neighbouring countries but the great unholy horde of undying monsters that make up the vampiric kingdoms. Gabriel De Leon will learn what it means to survive and battle against these creatures on his journey to becoming a member of the Silversaints, the great brotherhood of warriors who try to keep the darkness at bay.
Thoughts- Let me start by saying that putting this into my horror reviews is a little of a stretch. This is really more of a dark fantasy book with horror trappings. If you just want straight horror and are not into fantasy as a genre maybe give this one a pass, but if you do enjoy fantasy even a little please check this out. It is epic in scale with fantastic characters and really fun dialogue. If I am being reductive it is like 70% Witcher, 20% Blade and 10% Interview with a Vampire. I happen to enjoy all three of those things quite a bit so I loved this book. The story bounces between three time frames, the framing story in the “present” where Gabriel is imprisoned and telling his life story to his vampire jailor, his origin story taking place when he is around 16 telling of his upbringing and becoming a Silversaint and finally him as a 32 year old on a quest for the holy grail. Kristoff does a really good job at least early on keeping the reader engaged on each story as they bounce back and forth and I never felt too much like I needed to go back to the other time line even though I was always interested in what would happen next. There was one sequence which dragged a little for me (basically the sequence going to and time in Redwatch) but it is a minor gripe in a hell of a book. I am very excited for the sequel which should be out in first half of 2024. This book looks from the title and cover a little juvenile but it is very adult (many brutal murders, battles, amusing and creative cursing and a fair bit of the sexy stuff) so do not be scared off by appearance alone. A definite recommend from me. I could see some people finding the dynamics and themes well trodden from other recent media as mentioned Witcher and things like The Last of Us, but the world and characters Kristoff creates makes it work despite the familiarity.
Rating-4.5/5 stars. A brilliant start to what I hope will be the and amazing vampire series.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patick Suskind
Premise- Jean-Baptise Grenouille is born with a unique ability, the most extraordinary nose of all time. He can remember, store and create any scent he wishes. To that end he “collects” as many as possible and aims to create the greatest perfume known to mankind. Unfortunately, the best scents that he wishes to capture for his perfume comes from virginal teenage girls and he will take their odour no matter the cost….
Thoughts- I prepared myself for this book based on comments from fellow readers by expecting it to fall into the more distinguished “literature” side of the horror genre. It did but it still surprised me with the directions that it went in. I was expecting more focus lets say on the murders themselves and Suskind does such an amazing job detailing the inner workings of Grenouille’s mind that when we finally get to that part of the book we absolutely understand why they are not really the focus of the novel but merely a means to an end. The descriptions of odours are amazing and a few times I felt myself almost gagging at some of the images Suskind conjures with his prose. I am not a prose person but he does a wonderful job detailing scents in a way you would never think of. The journey Grenouille goes on is utterly unexpected and fascinating. You truly get a strange insight into this broken creature and why he is doing what he is doing and how ultimately the murders mean nothing to him but a way to capture or collect his perfume which is his ambition. The last few pages erupt into a madhouse of defied expectations just when I thought we would have a fairly basic ending Suskind pulls the rug out once again. It also really underlines how animal humanity can be and what we can be reduced to based on our senses.
Rating-5/5 stars. A truly unique novel which defied all expectations. Very different and easy to recommend to horror readers who want something out of the ordinary.
THANKS FOR READING!
If you want to read my previous horror reviews I will post the links here:
Devil in the White City, The Troop, The Damnation Game, Swan Song, The Fisherman and Something Wicked This Way Comes
https://www.reddit.com/horrorlit/comments/15a7jvq/review_sixpack/
Playground, Ghost Story, Red Dragon, The Exorcist, Children of Chaos
https://www.reddit.com/horrorlit/comments/17a3s9t/halloween_season_reviews/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters, Mongrels, Strange Weather, Let the Right One in, The Final Girl Support Group
https://www.reddit.com/horrorlit/comments/18282lx/fall_horror_reviews_feat_graham_jones_hill/
Potential Options Upcoming books:
Owned- Old Country by Query, The Fireman by Hill and Carrion Comfort by Simmons (started this one got about 1/3 through and put it down wasn’t clicking despite me loving his Sci-Fi).
Wishlist- The Imago Sequence and Other Stories by Barron, Boy’s Life by McCammon.

Its really rare to see 2 characters be called as very op in the story. Some says its the side char, some says its the protag. Words that are often used to describe these 2 are genius, versatile, phD, battle art, copying, one shot, teleport, Heal etc...
Nearly all relationships on a action fantasy story always have this troupe, MC is extremely powerful while their partner is just powerful enough. Their partner, no matter how much they train they always feel just powerful enough.
So it is nice to see MC and their partner's power level to be close or atleast on par.

I just hope that everyone who is stuck in entry level IT hell sees this and feels a bit encouraged. Granted, Sysadmin can still be a little entry-level and every company is going to be different, however:
In my old tech support job, we weren’t actually expected to come up with solutions or really do anything fulfilling for a tech minded person. We were all part of this well-oiled (“Hah…”) machine that was just supposed to run just fine with the automated systems and knowledgebase with the near unusable search system.
You know what wasn’t automated very well? Our ticketing system and logistics data entry. That was our real job, if I’m being honest. Entering serial numbers manually, documenting our every move, hauling around heavy monitors, swearing about our catalog offering desktops without SSDs… Really we were warehouse workers at the highest tier of local tech support. When it came to actual OS support the call center got to close out all the easy tickets, and we got stuck with the stuff that required bending the rules to fix and then choosing our words carefully in the documentation. If any of us wrote a helpful script, we knew it would be dismissed as a potential security vulnerability by people that didn’t have the time to look it over. I really could write pages and pages ranting, but this is more about the good parts of my next job.
Then it finally happened for me, I got out. I was hired onto a System Administrator role. Suddenly every PowerShell script I make is appreciated. My work and opinions are valued. If I find that a policy needs changing for my customer, I can make my case and be heard. When a patch breaks, I have full access to try to fix it and run it again. I only have to reload the OS when I see it fit, not when there’s still potential solutions left behind rights I don’t have. Years later I’m seeing procedures that I helped change, workloads that I helped reduce, and systems that I helped build. I’ve made a change, and that helps work not just feel like an endless grind against a brick wall. Sure, patching and scanning is super routine and a bit boring, but hey, I’m no longer worried I’m going to come back and find three toner delivery tickets on the clock like my last job. And, I don’t have a customer breathing down my back while I’m running those scans.
It feels like I’m actually working on computers again and using my brain. I’ve been a system administrator for a few years now and I’m really not burning out.

Alright, so long time member of reddit since the good old days, first time posting. So this morning, while attempting to unlock a phone linked to my live in girlfriend, ended up in one of what looked like many message threads that involved what most would describe as a honeypot(not sure if this is the correct terminology) essentially what looked to me like ~10 different threads with men going back and forth flirting very sexually, with the first one finding the most explicit of the content, full nudes of her, as well as plenty of non naked pictures sent to these males, most of which I have to assume that she has indeed met in person, due to the fact that she often will disappear with my vehicle to go to the casino(she never tells me this, always excuses that she is actually not at the casino, generally lying pretty badly as I am not stupid and have been in a relationship with a frequent cheater before.) Full disclosure, it is not like I completely made a real stand against this type of thing, and in fact before at one point I was complicit and gave her a picture that I had received from a female that was essentially an ass shot with lace panties on. This fact had made me I guess just assume that the boundary was set that I would most likely not be ok with this type of thing happening with real pictures of her, although that conversation was not really ever had. So now while I am a firm believer of the fact where if you feel the need to go through your significant others phone at all, the two of you should not be together in the first place. Therefore in the multiple years we have been together (admittedly, the relationship was fairly casual at some points, and some people had referred to her as my dog watcher in the past. Even I was someone who made some comments in this vein but this was many years ago now.) Generally it would go in a cycle of becoming more serious, then her doing something such as taking the car to get groceries, but disappearing for days. This fact being a serious red flag and not to mention that I basically have PTSD from my previous ex taking my vehicle to go have sex with and seemingly short(?) relationships with other dudes, which I had most definitely disclosed to her many, many times, which was a fact that was most definitely ignored, and had zero effect on her actions. It would seem a lot of the time that when things would get more serious between us, shortly after there would be something in which I would feel as a betrayal, and once again things would become more casual. That being said, I am certainly guilty of talking to other females, such as my ex, during these times. So, all of these facts, leads me to today, where I am feeling like this should be the much needed end to a series of events filled with a lack of honesty, and a general disregard on her side for my boundaries, that I have made sure to communicate. She is of course taking the stance that since I knew that she got money from guys, that I should have basically known and put two and two together. While I had definitely kept that thought in my mind, I was basically just trying to trust her and thinking that maybe she is just really good at talking, or maybe using other girls pics like the time I gave her the pic to get money from the one guy. Now, as for physical interactions, it is up in the air as I was pretty disgusted by what I saw and didn't feel like reading every word in every thread in order to see if anything physical had actually happened. There had been a recent attempt by an old acquaintance of mine to basically come onto her in I assume his car at the casino and she said she denied him completely, and that was at least corroborated by a mutual friend that I had ask the guy in a way that he wouldn't lie. On top of all of this, she has been without a job for ~6 months now and money is very tight. The money she got from these guys has in no way been disclosed to me or shared with me, while as I am currently a full time student (wasted 7 years of my life homeless and using drugs, currently recovering addict, same as her, except when we started living together she was still using.) . I was wanting to kick her out and move on when she began disappearing with my vehicle, just due to the fact that I communicated so many times what my ex had done, and how this would affect me. Basically to this day I have to more or less physically keep the car keys from her, or else she will disappear to the casino. So, my fellow redditors, is this a dumpster fire that should have ended years ago like I truly believe, or was the fact that she had gotten money from guys in the past and I was "ok" with it (with her definitely knowing that I would never be okay with her doing anything with them, just never specifically talked about the sending of explicit pics that are actually her.) She says the pics are like 5 years old and is taking the stance that that makes it better in some way and that she has never cheated on me. Sorry about the long and complicated backstory, and we have been more or less together for 4 years now.
TL:DR Girlfriend who I knew received money from males, turns out was sending nudes and overall going way further than I know for a fact that she knew I would not be okay with this, at all, this also being proven by the fact that in a similar past situation, I gave her a picture I had received in the past of a different girl, to satiate the guy, to receive money.
Also sorry about the formatting and kind of just vomit of text, my headspace is not great right now as I have also been up all night working on homework, to then now find this all in the early morning. Thanks in advance reddit. As a user of this site since its infancy, I decided that you scholarly gentlemen would be able to diagnose this situation much better than I would. Should this be over, as I truly believe, or have I just been naive and have too high of expectations?

A few weeks ago I requested help prepping a DCC hexcrawl and received a lot of excellent suggestions. To that list I'd like to add this great youtube guide which goes into the nuts and bolts of running a hexcrawl in a simple and matter-of-fact way.
u/CurrencyOpposite704 suggested I check out the hexanomicon, which was an excellent idea, in more ways than one. I'd been searching for inspiration for a loosely connected campaign. Which I found on the title page of the hexanomicon, which features a giant 'island turtle'.
The idea is that the party is shipwrecked on a large island that is much more than it seems. The island is a turtle-shaped vessel--a titan--built eons ago by a long-vanished race in order to traverse the astral seas, or whatever. When the party first lands, they have no idea that the island is anything other than what it seems. Centuries have passed; the surface of the island appears completely nature. Exploring the island, particularly the dungeons deep beneath it, will reveal the mechanical heart of the island, and thus repair it, if they choose to do so.
Of course, they aren't the only inhabitants of the island. They won't be the only ones trying to get control of it.
A quick image search led to this map, which works for me. I ran it through gimp and overlayed it with a hex pattern, and now I'm good to go.
I've already run the party through Starless Sea, which was awesome and really set the tone. I'm going to have them wash ashore in the inlet on the southern side of the island, with a path leading up from the shore to the east side of the inlet.
I'd like to seed the island with some adventures. From the small beach on the inlet is a path that winds up the cliff. At the top of the cliff is a painted sign that points north and south. The sign is a warning. North is death and south is not death.
South leads to the village of Hirot and the Doom of the Savage Kings adventure. Once the village is saved the party can use it as a base of operations to explore the island. North I'm not sure about yet, but I'm imagining that something dangerous lives in the swamp north of the inlet.
There are several other points of interest on the map I'd like to get some input on. There are the mountains east of the inlet. The scarred area NW of the inlet screams 'chaos' to me. What's going on it those chasms that seems to be killing the surrounding flora? Whatever it is is probably corrupting the wildlife and poisoning the swamp.
In the NE corner is a large swampy area. I'm considering setting Moon Slaves there, or perhaps even in the swampy area closer to the inlet. Really, I'm open to ideas, though generally I'd like the danger, and thus the level, to increase as the party ventures north.
Finally--and this is the part I really need help with--there is the mystery at the heart of the island. The large mountain chain near the center of the island contains the entrance to a dungeon that leads to the control center of the titan. The control center is guarded by sentient AI, constructs, clockwork guardians, and things of that nature. Perhaps corrupted over time. One idea is that the Patrons/Deities of this island are all different and conflicting personalities of the same fractured AI overmind. The keys to this dungeon are scattered about the island, encouraging exploration and making it so the party can't access the dungeon until the island has been fully explored.
Any suggestions with the control dungeon would be greatly appreciated. Once the party explores the surface and conquers the main dungeon, they gain full access to the titan. The campaign ends with them sailing off on the cosmic seas to future adventure.

My MIL is not a nice person. I can't even recount all the times she's been horrible to my husband, me, and even my kids. I can't diagnose her as a narcissist but she ticks all the boxes. My kids and I are NC with her. My husband stays in low contact to keep tabs on his dad. They live far away from us and he stays in contact via phone (all one sided- husband calling them).
MIL is currently in the hospital and her "kidneys are shutting down" even though she just got there and has not been diagnosed. If I sound callous it's because this isn't the first time she's been at death's door, as a matter of fact it's like the 10th time.
Husband's brother is the golden child and has been calling and texting husband, acting like their mom is taking her last breaths. SIL (brother's wife) is acting weird too, almost like excited that someone is having medical issues so she can call me up and tell me the latest news. Her and I are friends and she knows that I'm NC with MIL and you'd think she'd realize I don't want to hear about it, and yet she's calling me non stop.
In the middle of all of this I'm feeling like the world's biggest asshole because I truly have no sympathy for the woman. That's the exact opposite of who I am as a person. I cry when I hear that some stranger's been hurt on the news, and I can't even muster up any feelings for MIL being in the hospital.
I don't know what to say to my husband other than the most lame ass "I'm sorry." He seems at a loss on how to mentally deal with all this too, but damn as his wife I should be able to muster up some words of encouragement and I've got nothing.
I'd be so thankful to hear others' stories from going thru this and any advice you care to give.

I am new to this mbti and enneagram stuff, but I did look into cognitive functions a bit but I still am not sure which fit me, it might be because I am still pretty new. This is mostly a hobby for when I am bored and want to think, because I like to play with outside systems like this.
• How old are you? What's your gender? Give us a general description of yourself.
I am 16 years old, male , just your average quiet teenager that sucks at introspecting and wants to look cool to others yet does nothing to impress others (other than looks)
that sounded oddly specific.,.....
whatever
• Is there a medical diagnosis that may impact your mental stability somehow?
not really, not that I know of..
• Describe your upbringing. Did it have any kind of religious or structured influence? How did you respond to it?
I grew up in a poor family (duh), then just like your average adult couple they divorce, usually I'd stay a lot with my mother and she would teach me about morals which I now see some as stupid but either way I kind of "took" her morals and my dad's too. Kind of had to grew up early and take care of my smaller brother by substituting being a dad , and I have a lot of influence over my brother , and we would switch places a lot but the only comfort I had was in games, interacting with others on the games ,making fun of others and overall having a good time being accepted
• What do you do as a job or as a career (if you have one)? Do you like it? Why or why not?
At the moment I have no job, I do karate and I could teach others but I don't have the stuff necessary like: a place to train others, I am not at the highest level yet, customers and this is mostly the main things.
But I would really like to continue on this path of gym and karate since I already have an edge and kind of be under someone's wing to help me
• If you had to spend an entire weekend by yourself, how would you feel? Would you feel lonely or refreshed?
Mostly depends, on my mood sometimes I despise being alone and feel miserable being alone with my thoughts(and is mostly why I spend a lot of time on my computer despite not wanting to do so) or if the people in my circle kind of make me have a bad time then I would want to withdraw and get my energy back , usually I am very loud after I get comfortable with the other person and know what they are capable of
• What kinds of activities do you prefer? Do you like, and are you good at sports? Do you enjoy any other outdoor or indoor activities?
Like I said above I do Karate , I recently reached the brown belt ( YIPPPIE me) and me and the outdoors have a bad history but as of now I prefer to have a balance of both but mostly I would like to focus on real life things, especially when it comes to careers
• How curious are you? Do you have more ideas then you can execute? What are your curiosities about? What are your ideas about - is it environmental or conceptual, and can you please elaborate?
I am not too curious of stuff that is deep , it makes me feel miserable, but usually I get random questions sometimes and it makes me search , but not too deep into it just enough to have the idea cause I see no point in diving deeper. Usually when I even get these questions is from either talking out loud or just looking around me so it's mostly environmental (I think not too sure of this)
• Would you enjoy taking on a leadership position? Do you think you would be good at it? What would your leadership style be?
The only time I like leading is when I have knowledge and know I am the best to do it, if someone else is better then I'll let them do their thing but usually I wouldn't fully obey them I would kind of give some counter-arguments if there is room for some.
Even when I lead, others do listen to me and usually I am confident in doing it, kind of like that one quote of Sun Tzu:" Go to war only if you know you will win" , which my friend told me recently.
As for the style not too sure what it would really reference, but I would say I think of people as cogs in the machine
• Are you coordinated? Why do you feel as if you are or are not? Do you enjoy working with your hands in some form? Describe your activity?
Not too sure what to say on the "coordination" part but I for sure love working with my hands, especially when I cook for myself or others, and like I already mentioned I do karate so of course I like practicing with my hands improving my technique
• Are you artistic? If yes, describe your art? If you are not particular artistic but can appreciate art please likewise describe what forums of art you enjoy. Please explain your answer.
no I am not artistic at all , I don't really look into it at all since I don't consider it worthwhile but as a kid I did like drawing cause I was good at it and I got recognition for my drawings from other classmates and that would fuel me to make me like drawing cause the teacher liked it, others too and yeah.. Untill it kind of stopped receving the feedback and such
• What's your opinion about the past, present, and future? How do you deal with them?
I don't like to think of the past too much , especially when I think of myself, it's mostly negative things but I try to see the bright side of what I've achieved and such, because I wasn't healthy (even now I feel like I am not healthy but it's clearly better), I used to be chubby kind of fat , and before getting into karate I did handball where we trained physical condition and other things , and we had to do sit ups but due to me being fat I couldn't and others looked at me and started joking even the trainer and because of that I quit..
The present could be good but I am indifferent towards it I don't really work towards anything specific I like to remain a little reactive and eventually get help from others into shaping my future life.
And like I said I try to remain reactive of the present, I don't like planning too far ahead because it could be too early to plan and there might be more to do
• How do you act when others request your help to do something (anything)? If you would decide to help them, why would you do so?
I don't get asked for help frequently but it's either I help the person because I see they are struggling or they asked me and it goes two ways: 1. I agree and do the job or 2. I tell them "no" and go back to what I was doing (eventually feeling guilty I didn't help but I don't like being used for other's advantage)
• Do you need logical consistency in your life?
Yeah , it's pretty important people shouldn't only run on feelings but kind of fit some systems into some kind of framework, not really think about it 24/7, but make sense of it that is how I like to do it.
Even with this system of cognitive functions I try to understand it but sometimes it's a bit too abstract, I prefer more practical examples to fully understand the idea behind it
• How important is efficiency and productivity to you?
Not too much but not too less, usually I prefer it to not be feeling sad that I am "closed off somewhere" and not doing something, isolated from the world , especially with no computer atleast to go on the internet and joke around and chill with others(but of on a common task or else I will mind my business).
But I strive to be efficient in what I do over time , even if it's for a game that is pointless
• Do you control others, even if indirectly? How and why do you do that?
Simply no, I never was able to do this exactly , well maybe after I get to know the person a bit and see what they could do.... but I am not.
Also just read what controlling others mean , and I could see myself taking charge and just doing everything myself....
But I still feel like I don't, but I can see how I could, but I won't because I don't have the skill and it wouldn't be good
• What are your hobbies? Why do you like them?
Well probably just ,out of boredoom, playing games but not a wide variety which gets boring quick but familiarity bias is a thing.. and doing karate which energizes me almost everytime and anytime even if I don't feel like it and force myself. I just like when it goes well with others it and being liked by others, energizes me
• What is your learning style? What kind of learning environments do you struggle with most? Why do you like/struggle with these learning styles? Do you prefer classes involving memorization, logic, creativity, or your physical senses?
To be honest I didn't really pay attention to how I learn I just learn to get good grades in school and make it, yeah not too much here but I struggle with things that don't really add up to me or I don't see the logic behind
Usually I don't need explanations from the teacher I kind of tend to see the logic behind everything mostly without asking much information since some subjects have systems that are easily to juggle with(like math but I sometimes struggle with calculating in my head)
• How good are you at strategizing? Do you easily break up projects into manageable tasks? Or do you have a tendency to wing projects and improvise as you go?
I try to simplify strategizing, yes having a plan in depth is good but people for sure won't like if you are gonna stick to one rigid plan , which is why you have to make it kind of like a team thing even if I do make a rigid plan I try to make it sound simple and to the point based of data that others and I know, even making decision off the data my group knows
• What are your aspirations in life, professionally and personally?
Probably to feel happy I achieved something and doing something in the outside world, eventually influencing others
• What are your fears? What makes you uncomfortable? What do you hate? Why?
Mostly personal stuff , and emotional situations, my emotional inteligence is bad and I am bad at emotions too, atleast handling the emotions of others, but sometimes I try to let them vent to me and help them a bit and try to be empathetic even tho I don't show it too much, mostly I show it through acting tho
• What do the "highs" in your life look like?
Positive outlook on life, relationships are well but I don't worry about them too much unless there is an obvious problem and really liking to hang around others, and especially having something going on for myself
• What do the "lows" in your life look like?
the first thing that comes to my mind is: withrdawn, melancholy and just starting to critique everyone in my head but not really telling them, yeah sometimes I may start bluntly joking about other's and stuff and even situtations, I try to poke fun and when it kind of fails I feel like withdrawing from others since it doesn't work Melancholy litteraly makes me feel miserable about everything, mostly makes me feel depressed. I do tend to feel it often but I try to supress it trough doing things, like playing on the computer , youtube and such (everyone does this to some extent)
• How attached are you to reality? Do you daydream often, or do you pay attention to what's around you? If you do daydream, are you aware of your surroundings while you do so?
I find myself daydreaming when bored and not really anything is going on but I do tend to be mindful of what others do in case they try to harm me...
But even if I daydream it's mostly about what everything could have been, kind of like what I could have done or what I could do and how it would end up/ ended up, but it does happen quite a lot
• Imagine you are alone in a blank, empty room. There is nothing for you to do and no one to talk to. What do you think about?
Not too sure if I would ever get there but thinking out loud here so , probably about some random stuff in my head unrelated to my situations untill one thought hits close to home and I go into some deeper stuff , and usually when I get deeper into things I tend to feel miserable, my friend (who is INTJ btw) said that my negative depressing thoughts that I hate match the thinking of the philosophy of "Nihilism" which is kind of true....
• How long do you take to make an important decision? And do you change your mind once you've made it?
I try and not stay too long on it but sometimes I might run back and forth if I am not too sure, but I try to stay decisive , because being indecisive a lot is bad..
• How long do you take to process your emotions? How important are emotions in your life?
I kind of look down on emotions , yes I feel them but I just tend to ignore and repress them sometimes, but I vent to closer friends from time to time, but this is mostly because my parents would misinterpret my emotions...
My mom would just over moralify everything and bring it to a stupid extreme which is unrelated..
and My dad would just make fun of them , but sometimes he would give me spot on answers which are exactly what I need
• Do you ever catch yourself agreeing with others just to appease them and keep the conversation going? How often? Why?
Not really , even if I do it's in a way to shut off the conversation, because I don't like having conversation with no point
• Do you break rules often? Do you think authority should be challenged, or that they know better? If you do break rules, why?
I don't really mind rules , but I don't pay attention to them too much(because no need to worry if you don't go out of your way to try something that could count as "breaking the rules") mostly to the general ones which could punish you very harshly but overtime they could be exploited and I do that when I am confident I won't be caught or it won't punish me
I also took the mbti test from Michael Caloz site (I saw people doing this one a lot so I figured I might give it a try for this post :D)
statistics of functions
the top result (followed by ESTP and then ESTJ, in that order)
I saw other posts also mentioning this, and I figured I would too
I took this test a bit rushed cause I needed to do something..

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So I watched Jesse’s latest YouTube vid on his second channel and him and Claudia talk about getting a puppy…Jesse grew up with dogs and you can tell by his words he really wanted to get this dog…Claudia on the other hand didn’t seem interested at all. She mentions that the cats are easy to take care of and having a dog would be actual work. (Her face seemed almost annoyed at the discussion of having the dog) Also what really annoyed me was that she spoke for her and Jesse in saying they never talked about wanting a dog. Pretty sure on Jesse’s YouTube he spoke about missing his dogs so much and that he is a dog person. Claudia is obviously trying to run the house. Now Claudia is using this puppy for content on her TikTok because puppy content always does well. (millions of views) It grosses me out the fake persona while she is on TikTok…talking about how she’s a puppy mommy now and she’s so happy to have their new puppy. Please, all you want is to have groupies blindly following your fake ass for money.

Just something I've been wondering. Do you think having GDM and developing an eating disorder post partum are related? As someone who has always struggled with my relationship with food and toxic diet culture I've noticed that GDM brings up a lot of tough issues for me. I'd like to see research done on those who had GDM and their likelihood of developing an eating disorder post partum. While on this diet/navigating this diagnosis these are the tough issues I've encountered that bring up a lot of buried feelings about food

1. Constantly thinking about food
   
2. Hyper focus on nutritional labels, servings, calories and grams
   
3. Exercising more than I'd like to because I feel like I have to
   
4. Shame or guilt after eating
   
5. Using toxic words when labeling foods like "good vs bad"
   
6. Feeling like a failure if I get a high number (vs feeling like a failure if I didn't lose weight)
   

Just some things to consider - as if making your way through the newborn phase wasn't tough enough, pay attention to your attitude towards food. Talk to a support person about your thoughts and feelings and try to identify a negative pattern if one starts to emerge. I've already alerted my spouse that I'm having some troubles mentally with this.

I had an intense situation where the person seemed all into me from the start with regular communication and inquisitiveness about me. They met my family and friends and a little bit later they said they thought we were so well matched that actually they were ready to propose and get married. we shared the same values the same future outlook in life. everything was just matched. we could talk for the whole day at a time and we did activities together.
i started taking part in their hobbies because I enjoyed doing things together. soon i realised that i was the one doing their hobbies more than they were caring or asking about mine. i noticed the stuff i was proud of like a few of my hobbies and activities they said were silly. they called me dumb and stupid as a joke on several occasions. they even called me a swear word as a joke also. when i expressed i didnt like it they carried on saying it about someone else. apparently they said this stuff to people they care about/it’s their friendship groups humor. they made a joke about my ears as a joke my clothes too there was always something to say about them. i had an intrinsic feeling a few times that they was rushing things and didn’t really care who i was as a person but they kept reassuring me that we were right. we talked about the proposal rings honeymoon future moving in everything. sometimes they were supportive
we met again after a little while of being LDR different states and all of a sudden they had completely changed and were cold with me. they just didn’t care and my jokes were annoying and they seemed happier with everyone else but me. i asked the issue and they said they don’t feel anything for me romantically and we’re nothing more than a checklist. i was shocked and although i accepted things amicably i’m really distraught. it’s been a month and has had a significant impact on me. i just don’t know how i’m ever going to get the consistency they gave me again / they wanted to talk all the time even from the start and I’ve only ever talked to people before who were very low effort with me. We matched on everything and I was so excited about the future and I just don’t know how I can move on after we had planned so much. how else am i going to find someone with this level of communication?

I’m sure a lot won’t agree, I personally jumped off the Manson train when it docked in EMDM station so I’m not super well versed in what happens after ( I climbed back aboard and stayed aboard from TPE onward) I am really really well versed in all albums previously, I personally think GAOTG has the best lyrics which involve a lot of of wordplay and aren’t really all linked to a particular narrative ( apart from grotesk burlesque ) previous albums where more shocking, conceptual and tended to be more emotional paining pictures,. The word play on GAOTG is very clever blending words together and each song is a signature postcard of this, the lyrics and delivery are different are different from all other albums I have really overplayed and have the most using vocal lines as a melody away from the melody approach,. Anyway I might be wrong but music is subjective and that’s my take, what is your opinions?

I was in the Navy for a bit over a year. Never dealt with any mental health issues prior to service. At my duty station, due to a very bad duty section and chain of command (slander to varying degrees, given orders and then reprimanded, and the person who gave the order denying they gave it to me, intentionally left out of being notified of important information, amongst other things.) I had become incredibly stressed out and in down right fear of having to go to “work” every day. One day I had a very bad panic attack that turned into a psychotic break. The next thing I remember I was in the base hospital.
From that point, I had to see the chaplain, a therapist at fleet and family, and the base shrink in the hospital. I saw the shrink weekly over the next couple of months for about an hour per visit. I would describe the panic attacks, the anxiety I felt, and even started experiencing mood swings. When I would ask, he would always tell me, “I’m not convinced that you have anything” or “I need to see you more before I can give you a diagnoses.”
At the end of the 2 months, he told me he’d recommend me for discharge and that even if he wanted to give me something, he couldn’t because I carried a firearm and I couldn’t do that on “mind altering medication.” I was eventually out processed and continued dealing with the panic attacks, mood swings, and depression; all whilst thinking it was just a normal thing at that point. I was talking to another person and said I had been medically discharged. They asked how my med board was and I told them I didn’t know what they were talking about. They said if I had been medically discharged, I would’ve been given a med board. When I looked at my DD214, while an honorable discharge, it was placed under the code of “failure to adapt to military life.”
I had begun seeing another doctor and talked about the things I had been dealing with and they immediately gave me a diagnoses of anxiety and bipolar disorder and told me they didn’t know why the military shrink didn’t diagnose me. I have people who are willing to write buddy statements for me attesting to the things they’ve seen or had seen at the end of my service while I was still in.
I just don’t know if this pudwack of a shrink who didn’t diagnose me could screw me out of potential benefits.
Thanks!
TL;DR Base shrink denied to diagnose me with anxiety/bipolar while I was in the Navy and was diagnosed later by a doctor outside of the military. Don’t know if I could miss out on benefits because he wouldn’t diagnose me.

Eivor is a bit of a strange protagonist.
She’s basically flawless and without blame. She’s brash and bold, proud and unashamed — brave and wise far beyond her years, yet able to be soft and compassionate when not brandishing spears. She’s got a knack for leadership, a strong moral compass and an even stronger muscular system with which to enact justice.
And she’s got bars?
As someone not deeply versed in medieval European histories, imagine my shock and confusion upon discovering that Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla included rap battling.
My first experience with Flyting had me asking so many questions about what I just witnessed that I couldn’t wait to begin Googling. I figured flyting probably was historically accurate, but if that’s the case, then what else can it tells us about the medieval warrior and about Eivor’s characterization?
I set off to find out.
--
Wikipedia and howstuffworks combined gave me a robust definition of flyting.
A ritual, poetic exchange of insults practiced mainly between the 5th and 16th centuries. Examples of flyting are found throughout Scots, Ancient, Medieval and Modern Celtic, Old English, Middle English and Norse literature involving both historical and mythological figures. The exchanges would become extremely provocative, often involving accusations of cowardice or sexual perversion.
The idea behind flyting was to influence public opinion of the participants and raise both of their profiles. And each participant wanted to make himself look better than the other, even if they were friendly.
Not only that, but flyting’s also the first recorded use of shit as an insult. That right there is worth this whole essay and then some.
--
I came away from those definitions with some small Euphoria, as they reinforce what I already expected from Ubisoft — historically accurate and (arguably) immersive side activities grounded in realism.
Unfortunately, none of the flyting foes that Eivor faces in this fantasy are founded in any real-world flyters. I was particularly frustrated when I realized Fergal the Faceless and Borghild the Alewife’s Bane were fictional features, not real historical fiends of rhythm and rhyme.
Two of Eivor’s syntax competitors are “real” in some sense, however.
In Norse mythos, Odin, Thor, Loki, Freyja and more would handle their Family Matters over a flyte from time to time, dueling wits and words as competition and entertainment.
In fact, one flyte we do see in game — Odin as he flytes over the river with Thor in the Asgard Arc — is likely a reference to a real medieval Norse poem; The Hárbarðsljóð.
In it, Thor jaunts back to Asgard after a journey in Jötunheim. He comes to a junction in which he must jump a large river, and thus hunts down a ferryman to shepherd him across. The ferryman, Hárbarðr, is Odin in disguise. He then begins to diss guys.
Ahem. ‘Guys’ being Thor, obviously.
First, Odin drops a yo-mama joke:

Of thy morning feats art thou proud, but the future thou knowest not wholly; Doleful thine home-coming is: thy mother, me thinks, is dead.

He keeps going, taking more shots than a First Person Shooter, this time saying Thor dresses like a girl:

Three good dwellings methinks, thou hast not; Barefoot thou standest and wearest a beggar’s dress; Not even hose dost thou have.

Thor says watch your mouth before I clap back:

Ill for thee comes thy keenness of tongue, if the water I choose to wade; Louder, I ween, than a wolf thou cryest, if a blow of my hammer thou hast.

Odin replies by saying Thor’s wife is fucking another dude:

Sif has a lover at home, and him shouldst thou meet; More fitting it were on him to put forth thy strength.

The version we play out in game isn’t identical to the real-world poem, but carries some similarities; Thor’s threatening to cross the river to fight Odin as well as his boasting of slaying giants are present in each.
Ratatosk is the only other ‘real’ flyting enemy in Valhalla. While Odin doesn’t flyte with Ratatosk in Norse myth to my knowledge, the flyting against the squirrel is thematically accurate, at least.
Ratatosk’s purpose is to scramble up and down Yggdrasil, scurrying spoken messages from the eagle that sits at its peaks to the snake that slithers at its base. The nature of Ratatosk’s messages is in line with the act of flyting — the mischievous rodent carries falsehoods and aggressive statements to stir up drama and distrust between bird and serpent.
Flyting took place not only in poems and folklore, but in town squares and royal court. It was a facet of medieval life and social interaction. This weaving of prose then, in this time period, seemingly was just about as much of an admired skill as the swinging of a sword. It’s no wonder our unbreakable warrior Eivor is so proficient with word.
--
Like, really proficient with word.
I mean, I know it’s me choosing the dialogue options, but sheesh, is there anything she can’t do?
Actually, Eivor’s expertise in flyting is strange to me. It feels random and unearned — out of character, even. It comes more unexpectedly than Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us.
It probably only feels out of character, however, due to our modern understanding of proficiency with words versus proficiency with might. Our current interpretation of verbal ability compared to physical ability would perceive verbal ability as the ‘softer’ of the two skillsets. Physical strength is typically interpreted as tough and more dominant. You don’t expect to see an MMA fighter composing poetry, do you? The qualities that modern thought attributes to writing and physicality don’t mesh.
But in reality — and historically accurately in Valhalla — medieval warriors weren’t just blind berserkers. They were actually artists, poets and writers.
We’ve already demonstrated how Odin and Thor — Norse myth’s most famous warriors — carried out flyting. Thus, medieval Vikings would’ve surely done the same. Beyond Vikings though, the Illiad contains instances of public, ritualized abuse. Taunting songs are present in Inuit culture while Arabic poetry contains a form of flyting called naqa’id. Further, Japanese Samurai were known to be frequent composers of haiku, while Japanese culture also gave birth to Haikai, poetry in which vulgar satire and puns were wielded.
This historical accuracy ends up eliminating the randomness of Eivor’s flyting ability. Despite her verbal finesse feeling unearned, we can surmise historically that Eivor has practiced the wielding of words plenty in her life before we take over as the player. She’s dedicated time to this.
Now that we know why she has it, we can take a closer look at what it does for her.
--
So, Eivor can rap. She can match you with her axe or she can match you with her words. She’s just about unbeatable.
Her mastery of words demonstrates on some level that she’s not all Push Ups and might is right. She’s not all bruiser and bluster, burn and berserk. She’s an appreciator of the finer things — the more abstract, mental skills that require brain power, deftness and finesse.
This duality of strength and genius rounds out Eivor into a deeper, richer, more admirable character. More than just raw muscle in pursuit of glory, Eivor’s mastery of verse demonstrates her prioritizing not just her body, but her mind.
And it goes a long way for her.
Eivor can use her prowess with prose to progress past pointless plot points throughout Valhalla’s plethora of arcs and missions. It’s just a stat check in the end, but with enough practice flyting and enough charisma gained, Eivor unlocks new dialogue options that bend the world around her to her will.
Witch hunters in Eurvicscire on the brink of terrorizing Moira can be dispersed verbally rather than brawled or killed. There’s an entire riddle-solving fetch quest in Wincestre that can be skipped completely by telling King Aelfred’s abbot fuck off (figuratively). Eivor’s sharpening of her mind protects her body, saves her time, and allows her to frictionlessly fell her endeavors.
Her articulate advances don’t just alter her into admirability, they allow her to influence people and progression. With semantics from her mouth and twists from her tongue, Eivor can have her way whenever she wishes. In a game this large, I’m only left longing that the opportunity to make use of this charisma wasn’t relegated to niches.
Regardless, if medieval England is butter, Eivor’s tongue is the hot knife that behooves her move through her subduing more smoothly.
It all just goes to show that ̶m̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ flyte is right.

My love my world Dive into this tale of mine which would take you back to the days of my adolescence. I belonged to a world which didn't lack the least in ways to enjoyment. A place abundant in fun, activities, joy and peace. One day, something happened. Something that would change me, my way of life and my perspective all together. On my way back home, I saw a valley of flowers. A backdrop of beauty which can't be described in words. I got fascinated and decided to enter it. It led to a narrow lane which seemed like gateway to heaven. After walking for a while, I realised that I had ventured into the Palace of witches. It took me a while to believe what I was seeing. It looked as if I had entered a dream land which had everything but reality. Being lost, I decided to wander around hopelessly, trying to find a way out. Suddenly, I stumbled upon a girl. She looked like an angel disguised as a human. But to the contrary of her heavenly aura, she seemed to be surrounded by loneliness.She claimed to be all alone in this world. I couldn't bear to see such a pure timid soul all alone. I made up my mind to take her to my world. She guided me on our way out and we were able to leave that mysterious world. A few days passed by and she had finally started to blend in. She felt at ease with me and started enjoying my company the way I did. Months passed like minutes and we never realised that it had already been 2 years since that fateful incident of our meeting. It was 1:00am at night, she was in my arms. She felt like my comfort cocoon as if my entire world could confine in her. She whispered in my ears about something that had been troubling her since the day we left. She expressed her insecurities and fear of this new world. She wished to return to her world but was reluctant because she didn't want to loose me. I was stunned. I didn't want to let her go after how far we had made it together. That night, I made the decision to set my world on fire.Anything that troubles her will face the consequences is what I thought to myself. The next day, she went missing. I searched every nook and corner but could not find her. My heart began to ache. I was in utter pain. My world was falling apart but the little hope within me sparked. I rushed towards that valley again, crossed the lane again and re entered the palace of witches. I found her yet again. She was asleep. She looked more beautiful than an angel. I approached her and softly woke her from her deep slumber. She hugged me tightly and kept me close for a while. Later, she smiled and said "the world you set fire to was the place I burnt up for you. My life was yours to begin with. You were destined to meet me, feel in love with me and finally burn that world of yours along with me. That's the curse of the palace of witches. That's what your fate has brought you into. Here onwards, you'll have to live in that burnt up world of yours while I find another boy and burn another world".Her words pierced my heart. I stood there without uttering a word. My world had come to a standstill. Tears were rolling down my cheeks and I thought to myself. "I wanted to burn the world but I ended up burning my world instead. The city was on fire but the one burnt was my entire world." Maybe we were not meant to be together in this world. Maybe let's make it in some other where I'm the one who burns and you're the one you gets to live, my love, my world.

So like everyone here I watched the yesterday's presentation, new lightweight "GPT-4 level" model that's free (rate limited but still), wow great, both the voice clarity and lack of delay is amazing, great work, can't wait for GPT-5! But then I saw (as always) excellent breakdown by AI explained, started reading comments and posts here and on Twitter, their website announcement and now I am left wondering why they rushed through presentation so quickly.
Yes, the voice and how it interacts is definitely the "money shot" of the model, but boy does it do so much more! OpenAI states that this is their first true multi-modal model that does everything through single same neural network, idk if that's actually true or bit of a PR embellishment (hopefully we get an in depth technical report), but GPT-4o is more capable across all domains than anything else on the market. During the presentation they barely bothered to mention it and even on their website they don't go much in depth for some bizarre reason.
Just the handful of things I noticed:

• It's dramatically better at generating text on an image than dalle-3. As everyone who has tried it, dalle-3 is better than anything before it, but the model falls apart after at most 5 words. This is a massive improvement, but not only that but it also is able to iterate on the image. There are still mistakes (eisé instead of else, keyboard letters are not correct) but boy it's such a big jump. And I am willing to it's not just text but images also will have dramatically less errors in them
• You are able to generate standalone objects and then give it to interact with, what's strange to me is that they hid the fact it's a new conversation under a hover icon! You know what that means, you can give it any image and ask it to manipulate with! And the model does a fantastic job of matching the style of the thing given.
• It's able to generate images to create 3D reconstruction
• It's able to generate images with modifications, if you look closely it's you'll notice it's not the same coaster, it's not doing inpainting or anything, it's generating it from scratch but the fact it's able to make it look like the original shows so much potential.
• It's able to summarize 45 minute video with lots of details (I am very curious if this if this will be possible on chatGPT website or only through API and if so how much would 45 minutes cost and how quickly would it able to do it)
• The model is as good or better than SOTA models

And of course other things that are on the website. As I already mentioned it's so strange to me they didn't spend even a minute (even on the website) on image generating capabilities besides interacting with text and manipulating things, give us at least one ordinary image! Also I am pretty positive the model can sing too, but will it be able to generate one or do you have to gaslight ChatGPT into thinking it's an opera singer? So many little things they showed that hint at massive capabilities but they just didn't spend time talking about it.
The voice model, and interaction with you was clearly inspired by movie Her (as also hinter by Altman) , but I feel they were so in love with the movie they used the movie's version of presentation of technology that they kinda ended up downplaying some of the aspects of the model. If you are unfamiliar, while the movie is sci-fi, tech is very much in the background, both visually and metaphorically. They did the same here with sitting down and letting the model wow us instead showing all the raw numbers and all the technical details like we are used to from traditional presentations that Google or Apple do. Google would have definitely milked at least 2 hour presentation out of this. God, I can't wait for GPT-5.

Hello! I wanted to share my analysis on how Cloud & Aerith represent the Ancient Greek legend of Orpheus & Eurydice, one of the most well known tragic love stories. There have been many different variations of this story from Hadestown to Moulin Rouge. I will reference the broadway show Hadestown a lot, because I’m a huge fan of the show and it represents Orpheus & Eurydice’s story very well. With this analysis, I’m going in with the belief that Hollow and No Promises to Keep are Cloud and Aerith’s songs that are about each other, who those songs are about is a whole different argument, but to ME, it’s obvious who they’re about and I’m using them to push this analysis further.
In the Greek legend, Orpheus & Eurydice fell in love, and one day Eurydice died from the bite of a viper. Orpheus was so ruined by grief that he traveled to the underworld itself to find Eurydice and bring her back. Orpheus sang about his love for Eurydice to Hades and Persephone, who were so moved by it that Hades gave him the opportunity to bring Eurydice out of the underworld, he just has to take the long walk out of the underworld with Eurydice behind him, and he cannot look back at her the entire walk until they are out of the underworld, or else she will be sent back down. Towards the end of their walk, Orpheus is worried that Hades had tricked him because he could not hear Eurydice behind him. He loves her so much that he is driven mad by the fear and doubt that enter his mind. So much so that he ends up looking back at her, and she is sent back to the underworld.
Now for the comparison to Cloud and Aerith. Obviously, we see their relationship become a precious and cherished thing, until Aerith is suddenly killed.
Now Cloud is not a singer or a poet, but he does have a song in the Remake. This song is heavily theorized to be about Aerith, and makes the most sense to be about her. It describes how lost and hollow he feels without her, which is so unbelievably Orpheus of him. In the lines;
“Bloody and bruised Brought to my knees When beaten down When broken up You would appear, Reach out to me, Heal every wound, And make me whole”
It makes me think of a scene in Hadestown, where Orpheus gets beaten up while in the underworld trying to get Eurydice back. Persephone is inspired by Orpheus’ determination to get Eurydice back, she keeps him going even when he’s beaten down.
Throughout Hollow, he says a lot of words like “Guide me to you” “I’ll never let you go”. He still wants to find her somehow after feeling so empty from her death. Again, very Orpheus.
Let’s look at the lyrics for Wait for me that Orpheus sings in Hadestown;
“Wait for me, I’m coming Wait, I’m coming with you Wait for me, I’m coming too I’m coming too”
Before Aerith even dies, she is kidnapped by Shinra, and Cloud makes it his personal mission to go get her back. After she is kidnapped in Remake, he has a vision of her, where he tells her, “I’m coming for you” In Rebirth, after she “dies” he tells her “I’ve got this” in English, but in the Japanese version, guess what he really says?
“Wait for me”
There’s also the Loveless play in Rebirth, where Cloud and Aerith play Alphreid and Rosa, whose story is very reminiscent of their real story. (I’m aware of how Rosa’s part can also be played by Tifa and Yuffie, but the story of this play fits Cloud and Aerith the most, as well as Rosa’s character fits Aerith the most. I could go into more evidence as to why the whole gold saucer section and Loveless play is very Aerith-leaning even while its player-choice but that is besides the point)
There is a line that Alphreid tells Rosa;
“You needn’t promise that you’ll wait. For I know that I will find you here”
Key words: Wait and Find
In Hadestown, Eurydice sings a song called Flowers. And guess who in FF7 is a flower girl? Aerith. The song ups about how Eurydice regrets becoming a worker for Hades (in this version she is very poor and hungry, and Hades convinced her to sell her soul for the safety of it all) but she misses the world above and remembers Orpheus and her happiness with him in the fields of flowers. Aside from the obvious flower connection, this almost makes me think of how while Aerith had a responsibility in dying and saving the world, she may have regrets since all she wants is to be happy with Cloud (we see her wishes on her dream date with him, spending time with him is how she wishes her life would be without the burden) and in the Advent Children script, when Cloud rides his motorcycle by a field of flowers where her ghost is standing and watching over him, it describes her feeling lonely.
Another thing to note, in Hadestown, a flower is used a symbol for the whole show. Most notably for this analysis, Orpheus uses it as a reminder of her as he travels to the underworld and tries to give it back when they REUNITE. And guess what happens when Cloud and Aerith meet? She gives him a flower that represent REUNION of lovers.
In Aerith’s song, No Promises to Keep, Aerith describes this burden while also saying lines like,
“Till the day that we meet again Where or when? I wish I could say But believe know that you'll find me“
Also:
“Take my hand And believe We can be Together evermore”
And don’t forget:
“Still I hope someday you'll come and find me“
This just screams Eurydice waiting for Orpheus in the underworld, knowing he’ll come find her. Shes saying, come and find me, while he’s saying, guide me to you. Pair that with how Cloud keeps saying Orpheus lines like “Wait for me” and “I’m coming for you”
In the original FF7, Cloud gets a glimpse of Aerith after the final battle, and that’s when he says:
“the Promised Land... I think I can meet her...there.”
Now we don’t have a clear answer as to what exactly the Promised Land is. Since Aerith is dead at this point when Cloud says this, it makes you wonder if it’s related to where you go when you die, or maybe just where Aerith goes since she is a Cetra. Regardless, she is still dead and Cloud still wants to find her, much like Orpheus when Eurydice dies.
In the Advent Children film that takes place two years after Aerith dies, Cloud himself is dying from geostigma, and sadly enough, is pushing away his friends, accepting death rather than fighting it, seemingly searching for Aerith amongst it all with how he sleeps in her church. Orpheus was known to have never been the same after Eurydice died, completely swallowed up with grief until he had the idea to see her again in the underworld.
Another interesting detail in AC, when he has visions of her, Cloud cannot look at Aerith because of his guilt until the very end where he decides to keep living on.
In the FF7 Remake, it takes a little different approach than the original FF7 did. There are multiversal aspects that have made people question if Aerith’s fate is final this time. Since we don’t know how Part 3 of the trilogy will play out, some of this is theorizing. But what I believe is that there was a new timeline where Cloud saved Aerith, it’s not the current timeline that Cloud and the rest of the party are in, but Cloud knows of this other timeline where Aerith is alive because he is the only one that can see into that timeline.
No Promises to Keep plays when they part at the very end of the game, the same song that talks about how she wants him to come and find her, just like he did when she was kidnapped by Shinra. This makes me wonder if maybe he will try to cross between different worlds (much like Orpheus with the underworld) to try and get her back. If this will be successful or not, we will see, he is Orpheus after all.
I am one that does not mind either way if Aerith lives or dies by the end of this new trilogy. Simply because the tragedy of their romance was already great, it would be emphasized even more with this hope that maybe we can get her back. Getting that hope then getting the same result is very reminiscent of Orpheus and Eurydice. But I will say I am hopeful that Cloud can defy fate and get his Eurydice back, I would love to see them happy together by the end.
And that is the end of my analysis, Cloud and Aerith’s romance were always my favorite not just because of their great dynamic but their story represents a beautiful ancient Greek Tragedy that shows how much a man can love a woman.

I literally have no one else to vent to so I'm gonna write this here. Well pretty much the title. I'm from India and here in college all branches have common subjects. So the first years are divided randomly into sections instead of their core branches/disciplines. We were in the same section. We randomly met and became friends. Then we became close friends. It was the first time someone showed so much affection to me. The way we spent hours together daily. The way she would skip over to the empty seat beside me before it was taken. Then we were seperated by our branches, meaning other than one common class, we didn't have any classes together. But we only grew stronger. We dated for almost 2 years. Reached levels of intimacy to the point there really wasn't any private space between us. And comes another guy, let's call him "S", into the picture. One day she tells me that S likes her and she gets uncomfortable from the attention she gets from him. I say I want to confront him but she keeps me from doing so as S is a dear friend to her. I didn't think much about it as she was someone I trusted with my life. I should point out that the 2 years we were together, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. We went through many fights and arguments. Ig she got closer to S during these times. Come April, we had our college fest. On the final night of fest we snuck out and went over to the less populated areas of the campus and made out. Then we spent about an hour with my head on her lap talking about things. I was sure this was it. The turning point from which everything would only get better. How fucking wrong I was. 3 days later I get a call from her, which by itself felt weird cause 90% of the time I initiated the calls, and she tells me S kissed her. I was dumbstruck. We kept talking and ultimately I asked her to make a choice between him and me. Ig most of you would have seen this coming (I didn't but no surprise there) but she chose to end things with me then and there. The entirety of the time between Jan to April, she must've told me she loved me atleast 10 times. And then she does this. To make it worse we had our finals that week itself. Needless to say I fucked it up, probably gonna fail a few subjects. But me being the weak pathetic fuck I am, kept begging her to talk things out and meet atleast once. Today (May) she says she might start a relationship with him. I'm honestly surprised beyond what I can described with words. It's like the girl I loved and treasured with my life died and there was an imposter in her stead. Because the girl I knew wouldn't break up with someone over text. She wouldn't act like this and she definitely wouldn't date someone else after saying "I love you" to someone within one month. This is honestly gut wrenching and I don't know if I'll ever date again.
Thank you for spending time out your life to listen to my little tragedy.
TLDR: My gf of two years dumped me and is looking to get into her next relationship within one month of the breakup