I'm not sure how to explain this. I turned 18 a few months ago and I just graduated, my dog was nearly 18 as well when she passed yesterday. I absolutely love the outdoors and it's because of her, we grew up together and would run around in the woods behind my house. The rest of my family doesn't really understand my devastation, my mom called and tried to make me feel better by explaining how ancient she was (she is a gsp mix). But I see her as an equal - seriously I would have full on conversations with this dog. My entire childhood is just her because I never had any friends until Sophomore year of high school.
Leading up to the accident her health was declining pretty fast. Over the last two years, her arthritis got really bad. We would give her meds to help the pain, but the meds made her drowsy and she would fall a lot so I always kept an eye on her so she wouldn't hit her head. She was also incontinent so I would spend a few hours a day cleaning up after her, it made it hard to keep the house clean but that never bothered me. She was blind, couldn't smell anymore, she was just really old. You'd think I would know that it's time when she wasn't able to stand up without help, but I was being delusional and selfish. And I'm pretty certain what happened is my fault because I didn't get off my ass earlier.
My father has a lot of mental issues: anxiety, ptsd, ocd, etc. and he's getting help. These issues cause him to be forgetful. And yesterday, I was upstairs folding laundry and cleaning my room while he was downstairs working. I heard him leave but didn't think anything of it because he's always running errands. About thirty minutes later I walk down to see my little dog (the still alive one) pacing outside. Behind her was my gsp, completely dead. No one tells you what death actually looks like, she looked so different so quickly. I can't even explain it, but her fur didn't even flow in the wind. It was like she was frozen in time. I tried to keep my composure but it didn't really work because my mind was racing. Picked her up with a blanket and gently set her down on a carpet inside. I knew she was gone, but I was desperate so I grabbed a water bottle to try and make her drink it. Obviously, it didn't work and that's when I kinda lost it and started throwing things.
Eventually I straightened up and called a pet hospice and asked if they had any partnered crematoriums. They did, and thats when I called my father and told him what happened. While I was waiting I just sat there petting and talking to her. It's gross now that I think about it, but it didn't cross my mind then what I was actually doing. He did get home really quick, and we dropped her off at the vet for a private cremation. The entire ride there I was praying that she would just move and she never did.
I hate myself right now. I know it was my dad that forgot about her and didn't tell me she was outside, but if I got downstairs sooner I could have fixed it. I never wanted her to die alone, I wanted to be there with her like she was with me. She must've been in so much pain under the sun, wondering where I was to pick her up. My little dog is probably traumatized too for seeing it. She hasn't been eating much unless I give it to her. I haven't left her side since it happened, and I gave her one of the blankets my gsp used to sleep on. Not sure if that helps or not. I didn't sleep last night - I just keep remembering her body laying alone. Anyway, if you made it this far thanks. She's my best friend and I'd give anything to have her back.

I’m aware that this is unconventional. Believe me, I’ve tried conventional – it didn’t end well for anyone. I require a certain open mindedness that I’m hoping I might find here, but more importantly, I need my future husband to know the rules. Meet-cutes are well and good on the screen, but they don’t guarantee a partner’s ability to follow basic instructions. That was my mistake the first time.
So, begging your pardon for my bluntness, I’m going to be clear about my requirements. Please read carefully – if you can’t meet them, there’s no point in going any further.

• Must want children. At least one child, anyway. I’m open to the idea of more, but one is an absolute must.
• Must be in it for the long haul. Until our child turns eighteen, to be precise. I understand that level of commitment is a daunting prospect, particularly when we have not yet met. After our child is born, you are welcome to ignore me, if you please, or take your pleasure elsewhere – though I will warn you that it might be difficult to come by. But you will live under my roof until our child is an adult.
• Homebody preferred. It will make the next two decades easier on you.
• Must have impeccable manners. I will provide a manual outlining the required etiquette, but you must at least have a grasp of basic courtesy to begin with. If you let your tongue run away with you, or don’t bother to wish your neighbours a good morning when you pass them in the street, stop reading – this is not the opportunity for you. Seriously.

This is the part where I should talk about myself, but let’s face it, this is hardly a romantic proposal. I require commitment up-front and there’s no guarantee that, once we do meet, we’ll really even like each other. If we do? Fantastic! It’ll help the years fly by. If we don’t, you’ll still have the main prize – years of rent-free, expenses-free living at The Old Oak Hotel.
A sanctuary has stood in this spot in one form or another since before the ley lines. During its tenure, it has been flooded, put to the flame, and pounded into dust. Time and again, it has been reimagined and rebuilt. Most of the current building dates back to Victoria’s reign, though the oldest parts were constructed in the 13^th century. At the very bottom of the garden, cut into the surrounding hills, there is a cave bearing handprints of red ochre.
There has always been an Edwards at the hotel, though of course we haven’t always gone by that name. You would think a family so tied to one place would do a better job of keeping records, but no one is certain of our origins. Perhaps it was a cosmic bargain, or perhaps mere luck – whether good or bad, I have never been able to decide. Either way, our presence is required. Throughout our spotty past, there’s a story here and there of an Edwards deserting their post, and it always coincides with a particularly brutal period of history.
I inherited the position five years ago. At midnight on my eighteenth birthday, my parents took their already-packed suitcases and left. I don’t blame them for their abandonment; I intend to one day do the same thing to my – or, hopefully, our – child.
They send me postcards and photos from time-to-time, always smiling on sunny beaches. Money isn’t a concern for them. That’s part of whatever mysterious deal our ancestors made – when a caretaker leaves in good-standing, they will never want for anything again. They could travel the world for the rest of their lives, always sleeping in the softest sheets and dining in the finest restaurants, and never find their pockets empty.
Keep this point in mind, for if you can meet my requirements, you will share my good fortune.
And what must we do in return? I can all but hear you scream the question. Why, very little. The presence of an Edwards ensures that the guests can’t stray from the hotel grounds. Most of our guests are live-in residents, though we do get the occasional walk-in. Where they come from, I don’t know, for we are not visible to most people who stumble upon our lonely corner of the world. I’ve come to believe the hotel chooses to reveal itself when its lacking entertainment, or to fill a need.
Jimmy, my first husband, was one such guest.
For the most part, the guests are harmless. They’ll give you a little fright from time-to-time, popping out from a wall or turning your bathwater into blood, but I find it hard to hold it against them. I’ve found twenty-three years here dreary; I can’t imagine how bored I would be after five hundred.
There are a few exceptions you should be aware of:

• Eric. Our resident serial murderer. He claims to have been Jack the Ripper while he still drew breath, but I think he’s just a blowhard. He knows better than to harm an Edwards, but I’m afraid spouses are fair game. Years ago, my grandmother managed to confine him to the fourth floor, so you will be perfectly safe from him as long as you never set foot there. Occasionally, the lift will stop on that floor even though you haven’t pressed the button for it. Do not get out. Even if the lift appears to be on fire or starts filling with murky water. Wait for the doors to close again, then go to another floor. It should only take a few hours.
• The Thing in the Cellar. I don’t know what It is; no one ever has. We only know It eats rats and must be fed once a day. If I’m ever ill or incapacitated, this task will fall to you. Harvest the rats from the traps in the garden, then stand at the cellar door and throw them down the stairs. Do not walk down the stairs and do not forget to feed It. You don’t want to be the first person to see Its’ face.
• Mrs Jones. Old fashioned and a stickler for manners, she’s the reason I’m advertising for a husband rather than a boyfriend. She won’t abide a couple living in sin under the same roof as her. Really, though, she’s a sweet old thing. Full of stories about the war and always ready to help if I get stuck on a recipe. I don’t blame her for what happened with Jimmy at all. I’d warned him enough times.

Guests aside, there are other rules you will need to follow to ensure a safe, satisfactory stay at The Old Oak Hotel. They are listed in a book that has been re-penned many times over the centuries. If you choose to accept this opportunity, I will insist that you read it until you can recite the pages word-for-word.
However, there are some rules so critical for your survival that I feel compelled to list them here:

• With the exception of the fourth floor, you are welcome to roam the hotel and its grounds as you please. But you must never set foot outside of our land – not until our child is old enough to fulfil their duties. If I were to do so, it would unleash pandemonium – plague, peril, perhaps another world war. I’m afraid you would be less crucial to the fate of the world, but it would certainly be a personal disaster.
• Never look in the mirrors in room 33.
• I’ve touched this point already, but it bears repeating: never be rude to Mrs Jones.

Failure to observe that last rule is what got Jimmy.
She doted on him. I think he reminded her of her long-dead son, for she pampered him as if he were one of her own. Each morning, she had breakfast ready for him before I had so much as opened my eyes, and she developed a habit of trailing along after him, complimenting his skill as he oiled rusted hinges or set a crooked picture straight.
At first, Jimmy basked in the attention. But by the end of his second month, he was growing bored of Mrs Jones, me, and the hotel itself. We pride ourselves on our facilities. If you need more activity than a turn around the garden, we have a lovely indoor pool – it freezes over every now and then, but most of the time it’s perfectly usable. Our library is unmatched. Although the room is cramped, it has every book imaginable; you only need to think of a particular title, and it will appear on one of the shelves. And now that I’ve dragged us kicking and screaming into the 21^st century, we have a wide array of streaming services.
It wasn’t enough for Jimmy. He wanted to go out – eat in a restaurant, watch a film in the cinema, see any faces other than the ones he was surrounded by every day. He began having a drink each evening. One drink turned into several, and after a few weeks, the bar became his permanent residence between dusk and midnight.
He wasn’t the only one getting bored. I had been thrilled when he first arrived; ecstatic when he agreed to stay. How marvellous to feel real flesh beneath my fingers after five years of only the dead for company. What a relief to have some assistance in the many tasks required to keep the hotel running as it should.
The more he drank, the less inclined he was to help – or even spend time in my company. He no longer visited my bed, choosing a room for himself on the opposite end of the floor. When our paths did cross, at best he would ignore me. At worst, he would nitpick or outright rail against me, blaming me for his captivity.
Still, I made an effort to be present whenever he frequented the bar. As lovely as Mrs Jones can be, she does have a tendency to nag. Before and after her death, she was close to teetotal, only consenting to take a single sherry at Christmas, and drinking outside of special occasions is something of a bugbear of hers.
“Think of your health, dear,” she would tell Jimmy brusquely. “You’ll miss it when it’s gone.”
Or, “How about we switch to a nice apple juice now? You’ve had quite enough to drink for one night.”
Most of the time, Jimmy managed to pull himself together enough to flash a charming smile and distract her with a compliment about her latest meal. But after one drink too many, I’d noticed him gritting his teeth and just barely managing to hold his tongue.
It was better if I was present. Playing the doting wife, I insisted on pouring his drinks, watering them down out of his sight. When Mrs Jones’s nagging bordered on relentless, I could always distract her with a game of gin rummy.
On his final day, I was running behind. The ghoul on the second floor – usually the least demanding of our guests – had come down with some dreadful illness, or else decided he wanted to inconvenience me. Either way, I had woken that morning to the foulest stench I had ever experienced. I followed it to his room and found every surface covered in putrid green-blank gunge, its consistency somewhere between mucus and vomit.
All day I scrubbed, taking only brief breaks to step outside before I fainted. By the time the room was restored to a passable state, and I had filled several bin bags to bursting with filthy rags, it was already deep into the night. Mindful of the time, I paused only long enough to wash the streaks of muck from my arms and face before racing to the bar.
I arrived just in time to hear Jimmy’s last words. After he spat them at Mrs Jones, she only stared for a small eternity, her mouth frozen in the motherly smile she wore whenever she scolded him.
Then, like melted wax, her face began to shift.
I shouted at Jimmy to run, but he didn’t need to be told. Before the words left my mouth, he leapt from his barstool and streaked through the door. Mrs Jones followed him seconds later. Her lips were already peeling back to reveal rows upon rows of long, wickedly sharp fangs, while claws sprouted from beneath her lace-edged cuffs.
I sprinted after them, but Jimmy was fuelled by fear and Mrs Jones by whatever force propels the Mrs Joneses of the world. I followed the screeching to the lobby. Breathless, I arrived to see he had arrived within mere feet of the entrance before Mrs Jones grabbed him.
Claws wrapped around his throat, she lifted him into the air. As I watched, her jaw unhinged, the lower part dropping so that it was nearly level with her chest.
That sight drove all the sense out of my head. Forgetting every rule my parents had ever drilled into me, I lunged at her.
She batted me away as though I weighed no more than a fly.
I crashed into the reception desk, the breath bursting from my lungs in a great woosh. I was certain that I would die, for no amount of effort seemed to force air back into my aching chest. At last, as my vision began to dim, I managed to take a small gulp – then another, and another, until I was able to draw myself together enough to regain my feet.
By that time, Mrs Jones had nearly finished her dinner. Jimmy’s chest was splayed open, muscle and shattered ribs protruding every which way from his flesh, and she was devouring the last few bites of his heart.
His head was angled towards me. The light had winked out from his eyes, but they still held his final terror – and an accusation which, I was quite certain, was directed at me. I would like to say I felt only horror, but I couldn’t help my sudden jolt of irritation. How may times had I told him to mind his manners?
Mrs Jones gulped, the sound thick and wet in her gullet, and dropped what remained of Jimmy to the floor.
Then she turned to me.
Here’s another rule for you, one which I hope you never have cause to use: never interfere with a kill.
The Mrs Jones who used to kiss my grazed knees, who argued with my mother for the right to read me bedtime stories, was no longer at the wheel. No amount of pleading or reasoning would move her.
I could only run.
Spinning around, I vaulted over the reception desk and raced for the office behind it. If Jimmy had not been out of his mind with fear and booze, he might have remembered the rules and survived; it was one of several staff-only rooms throughout the hotel warded to keep out unwanted guests.
Just ten steps from desk to door, yet it was the longest journey of my life. My hard-won breath burned my throat; my heart pounded in my ears, deafening me to all other sounds than Mrs Jones’s heavy, pounding footsteps.
Grasping the handle, her hot, copper-tanged breath was on my neck. Fire exploded in my flesh as she raked her claws down my back. A step further away, and I wouldn’t have made it; the pain would have been too great. But I managed to throw myself into the office and slam the door before crumpling to the ground.
Before I passed out, I heard her grunting and shrieking outside, furious that she couldn’t get in.
Three days I spent in the office, emerging only to feed The Thing in the Cellar before scurrying back to my hiding place. Whenever I left, I tried not to look at the mangled heap that used to be Jimmy. There was no avoiding the smell, though.
With no small difficulty, and the help of a first aid kit, I managed to treat and bandage the wounds on my back. They bled sluggishly all throughout the first day, but thankfully didn’t fester.
On the morning of the fourth day, there was a tentative knock on the door followed by the sound of rapidly retreating footsteps. I waited until they had disappeared down the corridor before cracking the door open. On the floor was a freshly baked Victoria sponge and a beautifully written note of apology.
It took every ounce of courage I possessed, but that evening I forced myself to go to the dining room. Mrs Jones was waiting for me, her eyes red-rimmed, a steaming cottage pie on the table. I tried not to flinch as she took my hand, re-iterating the apology she had already delivered in writing.
The next morning, she helped me clean Jimmy up.
We treated each other cautiously for a while, but eventually we got back to playing gin rummy again. When the scars on my back twinge, as they sometimes do, she helps me rub a soothing ointment into them. Even though I’ve told her it’s not necessary, she apologises every time.
So, you’ve heard my story and you have my proposal. If you think you could be the man for me, I invite you to visit. You will need to drink a cup of ram’s blood (a pinch of nutmeg makes it a little more tolerable) and light a black candle before bedtime. When you next wake, you will find yourself at our gates. As travel arrangements go, it’s hardly the Orient Express, but it beats the airfare.
If you have read this without flinching, if you can stomach the journey to get here, if you walk up to our door and find the nerve to open it, I have one more instruction for you.
Just as you enter, look to your right. You will see a deep brown stain on the lobby carpet. I’ve scrubbed and scrubbed but it just won’t come out. Perhaps that’s for the best. It’s a good reminder of what will happen to you should you call Mrs Jones a “nosy old bat”.
And when you run into Jimmy – as you will, for he still likes hanging around the bar in the evening, his silvery wounds glistening as though they had just been inflicted – don’t let him convince you he was some sort of victim.
He knew the rules.

I have fully got over my reddit drama so i'm gonna try to avoid commenting on reddit hashtag try to but if I have someone try to get my attention don't bother I won't respond even if I do decide to respond it would probably be a one time thing and now to say I can confirm I am a former victim of mental abuse I won't explain it in full details but I will explain what I had to go through when I was living with my grandmother I had to go through mental abuse I never felt safe in my grandmother's home my grandmother always yelled at me even when I did nothing wrong my grandmother was mentally abusive to me she constantly yelled at me even when I did nothing wrong she always believed any lies that was told about me like one example I can remember was on March break 2018 my uncle told my grandmother that I stole the school snacks when I was at my mom's house laying in her bed sick all throughout March break then when I turned 20 years old on July 15th 2019 my grandmother decided since i'm almost an adult she could use my credit card I didn't know I had to buy smokes and made me go in debt then in 2020 which I admit became a very bad year for me first on twitter and deviantart I got accused of defending a youtuber called Cryaotic second I decided to push myself at school due to how I took my teacher's words which I now realized that she didn't mean her words how she worded them my teacher told me if I don't try my hardest then I won't succecced in life which I took her words that if I don't try then I will never become anything in life so I spent all my high school year doing school work I took no breaks aside from washroom breaks but drinking water didn't seem important to me it got to the point where my teachers kept telling me that it was great that I'm refusing to give up on school work but you need to take a water break or else you're gonna dehydrate yourself they told me that everyday but it eventually got to a point where my teachers knew that I wasn't gonna get out of my seat and resolve to give me a water bottle everyday then one day I decided I didn't want to live with my grandmother anymore so I went to my mom crying to her saying things like mom I don't wanna live with my grandmother anymore she's mentally abusive I want to live with you which my mom responded to me saying sure you can live with me you're 20 now you're old enough to make your own decisions then when I went to my grandmother's house we got into a fight and argument and I made the mistake of telling my grandmother how I felt about her and my grandmother kicked me out of her house she stopped doing things for me the last thing I remember my grandmother doing for me was her taking me to the doctors when I twisted my ankle my grandmother didn't even celebrated my 21st birthday with me during July when my mother asked my grandmother if she had anything planned for my birthday cause my mother wanted to know which my grandmother responded nope I don't need to celebrate your daughter's birthday you can celebrate your daughter's birthday by yourself I guess my grandmother thought me and my mom were gonna celebrate my birthday by ourselves but on the day of my 21st birthday my mother invited my siblings my boyfriend and friends of my mom to come to my birthday but my grandmother decided to be a bitch and complained to my mom about her friends cars blocking her driveway so they had to move their cars my grandmother even had a habit of throwing my friends and my boyfriend into blame when they had nothing to do with whatever my grandmother was blaming them for I haven't talked to my grandmother for years now and I tend to keep it that way I don't see my grandmother as family anymore all I see her as is someone who was a mental abuser and someone that abused my trust one thing I will admit is I believe in ghost and guardian angels cause I have seen them same with spirit animals which my spirit animal by clan is a wolf and that wolf spirit is everywhere with me I even own wolf items such as a wolf necklace a wolf blanket a wolf hat a wolf poster and wolf plushies I won't say all of the names of my wolf plushies but I will admit I name most of my wolf plushies after youtubers again I won't say all of their names but some of the names of my wolf plushies are Dawko(named after the youtuber Dawko) Jackmanifold(named after the Dream smp member Jackmanifold) Skydoesminecraft(named after the youtuber Skydoesminecraft) Punz(named after the Dream smp member Punz) and Foolish(named after the Dream smp member Foolishgamers) the last time I saw my grandmother was at my great uncle's funeral which I first heard about my great uncle's death was from my mother on that day I loss my story on wattpad to a false report my gaming chair broke and I broke my thumb nail off my gaming chair so I called my mom crying my eyes out telling her that my gaming chair broke and I broke my thumb nail and it was hurting which my mother told me that she's at the hospital with my great uncle and will talk to me when she gets home so I ended up calling my mom's friend to help me cut my thumb nail then when my mom came home she told me that my great uncle died and I took his death the hardest which I also realized on that day me losing my story to a false report on wattpad my gaming chair breaking and me breaking my thumb nail was spirital signs that I was gonna lose someone on that day and I loss my great uncle then when my mom asked me if I was going to my great uncle's funeral and that my grandmother was gonna be there which I responded to my mom saying that I will go to my great uncle's funeral but I'm not talking to my grandmother which my mom responded to me saying that's fine Destiny that's your choice if you want to talk to your grandmother or not so I went to my great uncle's funeral I talked to my family members that went to my great uncle's funeral but my grandmother cause I wanted to stick to my word which I barely shed a tear at my great uncle's funeral which I believe is probably cause I spent all of my time greiving for my great uncle at home but that's all I have to say about myself plus to add if I see a comment saying something about my grammer or puncation I will delete the comment and block you but to those who choose to stay and listen thank you

It’s a bit long.
Ok. So, I came here because I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THIS TO PEOPLE WHO KNOWS WHAT IM SAYING AND WOULD UNDERSTAND WHAT I MEAN.
Yesterday or so (it was midday for me where I live idk when it was announced at the event) the date of Agatha All Along, its final title and a teaser trailer were apparently released and it’s said that (I say ‘it’s said that’s because only the people at the event saw exactly how the teaser video was and because no one filmed so currently it’s just talk) scene starts out with Agatha as Agnes wearing one of the hex decade outfits from wanda vision trying to solve a murder about a Jane doe. Apparently Agatha is in like a morgue and on a metal table lies the body of a woman who’s covered up and the tag on the foot reads W. Maximoff, death 13 of October.
Now I have a bunch of things to say about this part and why everyone is too quick to jump to the conclusion that wanda is really dead. One, the whole time MoM happened Agatha was under the hex, there’s not much way that she could know that Wanda is ‘dead’ (if she is dead that is).
Two, back in the day marvel used to do this thing where the year of the movie that it gets released in matched up with the year the characters were living in the movie. Like 2012 avengers. If they kept this up the date of Wanda’s ‘death’ wouldn’t make sense as she would’ve ’died’ in May. Also other than strange, Wong, the people at the sanctum and America (and maybe the other reality Christine) no one really knows of her ‘death’. So it would leave a huge plot whole to who brought Wanda there.
To continue they said that rio vidal shows up and tells Agatha some things that ultimately lead her to break out of the hex.
A post that was made 6 months prior to these announcements that were made yesterday kinda points to that not being wanda. On tik tok a creator by the name @lizzie_clan had shared a slideshow post last year on November about some Twitter posts made by a well known leaker (spoiler-content leak) explaining that the body on the table is only there to symbolize Agatha breaking through the hex and said that at some point Rio says that there are two Jane does in this case and with that the name tag changes from w. Maximoff to a. Harkness. Considering it had been said long ago and now we see this scene in the teaser I do give it possibility that it really isn’t Wanda.
To follow this up I will give the similar arguments I’ve given on this subreddit before.

1. To start things off, we never saw the body of Wanda Maximoff. In marvel except for a few, many people who died, and we saw their bodies, they stayed dead.
   
2. The huge CGI explosion of red at the ends of MoM. I think if Wanda had really died it would’ve either been a much bigger explosion or no explosion at all. I’m pretty sure that the explosion that was made was there for a reason. Like aiding in her escape in a way.
   
3. Wanda has big parts in multiple different characters storylines. Let it be in Agatha’s, or in visions or in her sons or x men or house of m or in the upcoming avengers movies. Killing her off in such an obscure way makes no sense.
   
4. Wanda is a ridiculously strong character. I really don’t think a nexus being was killed because of some rubble. It doesn’t fit the story they made for her.
   
5. In the 2016 scarlet witch comics we see Agatha helps Wanda get to the witches road and we do clearly see that Agatha and her coven goes there as well. It wouldn’t be a shocker if we got a glimpse of her there.
   
6. The official marvel book that was released that didn’t had Wanda on the cover. Now marvels all about being clever and sneaky. The book says that when Wanda collapsed Wundagore it got rid of two big problems and threats on the multiverse but never explicitly says that Wanda is dead which is more important than you think. They have no reason to hide the fact that a character is dead. And that’s maybe because she isn’t.
   
7. Elizabeth Olsen is currently booked for 5 or so projects and last year she never confirmed her returned and said that she wanted to play other characters. However she never explicitly said she was done with marvel or she was fired or left or she was done playing Wanda and that she didn’t know if she’d return but didn’t say much to not give any potential spoilers.
   
8. Wanda and Elizabeth playing Wanda is a huge selling point for marvel. They’d really have to be a bit dense to let go of such a character with such a big fan base.
   
9. Also like Wanda can resurrect herself, she has done so in comics.
   
10. Marvels clever marketing. In the span of 3 years Agatha’s show had a total of 4 name changes that kept people talking. It was later revealed that those names were the names of upcoming episodes in Agatha’s show and the series name was Agatha all along, probably being a nod to her song in WandaVision. This was so cleverly executed. Which brings me to my point; marvel actors don’t spoil movies.
    

To clarify the NDA’s (none disclosure agreements) these people have to sign are darn right crazy. Very tight and very secretive as each leak can cost them a lot of money. And marvel does run on making big bucks. So an actor like mark ruffalo or Tom holland going and spoiling something is not likely to be an accident but a cleaver marketing technique. I mean they’re a list actors. We’d believe them if they acted surprised over revealing some spoilers on ‘accident’.
What I’m trying to get to with this is a comment that was made and later deleted by the actor Asif Ali who played Abilash Tandon or better known as norm in WandaVision and who will return for Agatha all along. In 2023 on Instagram a user asked the question: Will Wanda be in Agatha’s show, bro ? Please..’ which Asif responded with a ‘yes!’ Which was later deleted. Again considering the NDA s and the secrecy I do believe it’s a marketing stunt.
Of course at the end of it all these are pieces and theories put together I can’t be sure of anything (just like everyone else) until I see the show.
Now of course I want Wanda’s return. And I really do believe that she will be back. What I do hope is that she will appear in the last episode or at an end credit scene or instead of seeing her we’ll see a magic cgi effect indicating her return. Cause as much as I love Wanda this is Agatha’s show and I don’t want her to be overshadowed by Wanda. Like in Hawkeye series how when Yelena came to the scene she overshadowed Clint who is the protagonist of the show.
Anyways yeah, these are my thoughts on these and I’d like to hear everyone else’s who took time to read this whole blabbing of theories and reasons.

I have been thinking about different aspects of this a lot lately, and wanted to get some people’s perspectives. There are a few patterns to Middle Earth history that I think drastically reduce the load placed on world building. At the same time, I feel like it sort of limits the amount of deep dive we can do into the setting. I am on the fence as to whether these techniques offer a valuable toolkit to modern authors, or if the genre is sort of specifically responding to the detriments of this strategy.

1. History is carefully segmented. Tolkien appears to have very intentionally killed off every elf with a voiceline from the first age, except Galadriel who has symbolic and allegorical significance. And he worked hard to develop her history into something he was happy with, as Christopher has noted in his discussions of Galadriel and Celeborn. Then the geography and political reality of Beleriand disappears. The second age does the same thing. Even in the third age, we get the sense of a very limited “free world” which our heroes travel just about all of.

Hitting reset on a limited history obviously allows an author to have far more control over the reader’s experience. If Thingol was still cheerfully being a dick in Doriath in the third age, I would constantly want to know more about the mighty king of old, even if Tolkien wanted the story to move away from him. Likewise, I would be fascinated to hear duelling opinions about life from surviving heirs to the house of Finwe in the Third Age. But dozens of immortal elves all talking about Fingolfin’s death like it happened last week would get tedious. Careful pruning allowed Tolkien to make the few “Wise” characters we meet really feel that way.

1. We don’t meet normal people outside the Shire. This isn’t entirely true. Houses of Healing, Beregond, Labadal, maybe Erendis, etc. but mostly everyone we meet comes from power and wields power as a matter of course. No farmers, no traders, no Jim the spearman who just knows he is going to be troll stew.

The benefit here is that Tolkien doesn’t have to develop the social problems of everywhere we travel. A farmer in Rohan might talk about their problems with Theodan’s tax policy or grumble about changing fashion and Gondorian social influence. Tolkien has a very nuanced but clear moral message in his writing, like many authors.
Sanderson, for example, has very graspable messages in his books. But Sanderson clearly struggles to offer a good discourse on that message. The “heroes” all think loyalty and trust and honor are sacrosanct, and the people who disagree change their minds or are villains. And, much as I love Sanderson, it is a weakness of his writing.
Tolkien evades that somewhat clumsy message sending by simply avoiding the discourse. Aragorn never gets told that farmers would rather live as “slaves” under Sauron if it meant their kids could come home alive. Frodo is never reminded that some people bear unbearable burdens all their lives with no songs or friends or volcanic relief to speak of. A “fantastic” cast allows Tolkien to stay on message and remain more Romantic than a GRRM style chat with urchins might permit.

1. The main quest is the only but-for part of the story. Sure, Tolkien tells us lots of stuff happens we don’t know about. But in each age, we read about the significant events, they are driven by a small cast of “elites” and the rest of the world sort of doesn’t matter. If Lothlorien had fallen, little about the story would have changed. So we see the whole “effective” world through the character’s eyes, with very little concurrent causation developing events.

I think of this as the difference between developing an open world sandbox game and a carefully curated linear RPG. Both have value, but Tolkien had far more control because he didn’t have to worry about what the blue wizards were doing while the fellowship crossed Karadhras or what the Umbadite political scene looked like around the battle of Helms deep.
I could write a lot about how these and similar choices impact storytelling but I really just want to know if other people have had similar takes and, if so, how they feel these elements effect their engagement with Tolkien and other authors in the genre.

I was giggling through a very funny subreddit I stumbled upon (foundsatan ) until this one popped up and took my breath away.
It felt like someone had put my loss into such succinct words, and the comment section also validated a bit of why this loss has hit me so hard. I read it and re-read it until I had to put my phone down, and I couldn’t stop leaking tears like a weepy idiot while I was walking the dog, grateful that at least it was dark outside.
It got me thinking about the post & follow up conversations here from the other day on grieving, and the reasons why some of us are still here.
I think it might be partly because we have all experienced some kind of “ambiguous grief” or loss. I will link to the full article in the comments - but wanted to validate anyone who has felt a need to justify why they find support here. It’s not because we’re mired in bitterness or hatred, or because we want to stay sitting in our pain or anger. ”The experience of ambiguous loss can bring unrelenting confusion and unending torment as the mind tries to make sense of the nonsensical. Paradox and contradictions abound.“
I’ve been really struggling with why I’m still so sad about losing my best friend of 30 years almost overnight. I’ve been through deaths of loved ones, a heart-wrecking divorce with a heaping dose of betrayal trauma. This is not my first time on the grief roller coaster, not by a long shot. I’ve been wondering: why does this feel just as hard as the other losses, but in an entirely different way?! I think it’s because I’m well familiar with those other kinds of grief. I know how to do those. I know how it works. Society has names for it and customs around comfort & support for grieving loved ones. It’s acceptable to talk about. But that’s not the case with ambiguous loss; it’s just as intense (for me) as the other losses, but somehow also entirely different. I had no clue that the end of a friendship could be this painful! Maybe because I never saw it coming. Knowing that her QuietBPD explosion had been building for decades while I was completely unaware of what was brewing rocked my world.
So - I’m not angry or bitter or wallowing. I’m just incredibly sad, almost a year into this, and can’t explain or express this to anyone in my life without feeling like an over emotional hot mess.
I genuinely appreciate the community and compassion found on this sub. It wasn’t until I found this sub that I started to be able to make sense out of the senseless. I wish all of you joy and healing no matter where you are in the process. Thanks, y’all.

Throw away account for obvious reasons. Let me preface this by saying I am not delusional, I know this is a bad road to be on and the guilt is already kicking in. I am single, and he is 10 years married with three kids.
I’ve been working at my current job for a little over a year. I am 100% not looking to leave, it is very niche and if I leave now it will be extremely difficult to get another job that pays well in this field.
When I first got hired, my manager immediately caught my attention. He is funny, sociable, caring, and attentive.
A few months in and we had formed a good work friendship. He told me about his marital problems, his mother’s death, his children’s activities, his fears and passions. I shared too, not as much or as deep but we had a good bond. Friends at work, strangers at home.
Then I felt myself catch feelings. I would think about him all the time, but I kept it friendly and professional, no boundaries were crossed. I kind of distanced myself a bit to try and get rid of the feelings but it didn’t work.
After months of trying to get my feelings to dissipate, I noticed he was paying me more mind than usual. Intimate jokes came into play, he complimented me emotionally and physically. He went out of his way to be in my presence and say something to me. I really grew to love his presence. The way he loves his children, his personality and lifestyle, etc. I wanted him, and he made me feel wanted.
One day we were talking and I shared something a little more vulnerable, completely unrelated to him. But he said he related and was experiencing the same thing. He really made me feel seen and validated. (This was about two weeks ago)
After that conversation our whole dynamic changed. Suddenly things were much more intimate and vulnerable, the energy shifted. He would go out of his to find excuses to touch my legs, arms, hands, back. He complimented me emotionally and physically many times. He made “jokes”. At one point he touched my behind in an obvious and intimate way, not a hand brushing past. I’ll be honest and say I did indulge and reciprocate a good amount. I took part in some joke making and found excuses to rest my hand on his back or arm or leg. I tried not to compliment him too personally the way he did to me but he does a lot for me as a manager and I make it known to him and others that I appreciate his efforts. He is a great, unbiased manager. Our situationship never comes into play when we are genuinely working and I love that it stays professional when others come into play but we can still joke and talk when there is room for it.
I’ve met his wife, kids, and father on multiple occasions and although his wife is a pretty rude character, I don’t want to do that to her.
But we did. At this point there is no doubt that some form of cheating is going on, emotionally and slightly physically. He asked me about a week ago if we could start talking on the phone and I told him no. I realize that we have overstepped many boundaries and created a bad situation.
The problem is, I really do have genuine feelings for him. Throughout the last year and a half ish I’ve tried seeing other people. Humbly, I am an attractive person and am desired by a good amount. I have no problem in that context. But none of them are him, I don’t consciously compare but it’s not fair to say none of them are good enough. They’re just not him. And he knows about these attempts. Some have come in to see me and I’ve told him stories.
Now I don’t know about him but I’m not willing to throw away this career for him. I know this needs to stop, but…
He is literally on the brink of divorce and not confident about his career path. A part of me wants to wait, don’t abandon these feelings because in a year or two I would be 100% willing to give it a shot with him (assuming by then he is single). But then it’s like, if he stays with his wife then what we are doing is way messed up. I mean it’s already so messed up but even more so. I do have guilt. I was talking to my therapist the other day and they used a man cheating on his wife as an example for something and my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. I have never talked to my therapist about my manager, I feel a bit of shame.
Only because he is married though.
In other ways, we are compatible. I don’t want kids of my own. I’ve always told people I was going to adopt older children (and don’t say “you might change your mind.” I won’t, I firmly don’t want children of my own). The age gap doesn’t bother me at all so long as he stays conscious of his health. We have extremely similar beliefs and habits. Obviously he isn’t perfect, I try to focus on his flaws but they’re just not bad enough to make me lose attraction. I mean, would I really love him if I didn’t accept him as he is?
I’m feeling a bit lost right now. I got a side job just to have a crutch in case I have to leave my current job but I deeply don’t want to leave. I love my job, with or without my manager there. I don’t want to have a direct conversation with my manager about it because I don’t want to crash the work environment. I need to subtly detach and somehow get him to detach, too. I don’t know how deep his feelings are but he has talked about a fantasy world where we are together.
TLDR: My manager is in a failing marriage and him and I have developed feelings for each other. At this point some form of cheating is going on and I am wondering what to do. Highly advise reading the paragraph above this one for accurate advice giving.
How do I fix this without ruining it all?
EDIT: Fix this as in end this toxic situation while still keeping my job. As much as I might enjoy the idea, I know this has to stop. THATS what I’m asking advice on, not how to fix my relationship with him. I just want to keep my job and end what’s going on between him and I.

Hi All,
I've recently come across a very interesting topic NDE. A little background about me and my faith. I wasn't really raised in an immediate religious family meaning my mother and father weren't dedicated to religion. However, my Grandfather was a devout catholic and for whatever reason my Father strayed away from that as he grew. So i would attend church with him at times when I was very young. My mom throughout my life must've known the importance and made several attempts at taking me to church consistently, but she never stuck with it likely because as I grew older my interest wasn't there (sadly). I would pray as a child and my faith was strong enough for that, as I grew into my teens with school and all the bad I saw I started thinking How could a god be real that allows such evil to occur here on earth (this from what I know now was complete ignorance in not knowing his word) at any rate this lead me down a path of not necessarily being a non believer but also not being a strong believer for a very, very long time. I didn't know what I believed in but I believed in a higher power. I lived a life of sin (drinking, partying, drugs, judgmental etc) I always thought well if there is a god he'd understand and forgive (how naive). At any rate this was my life, a life without Christ.
An interesting thing occurred not long ago, I came across a recommended video on youtube about a very intense NDE where the person explained meeting Jesus, a life review all of that. Its interesting because I never watched anything closesly related to this on youtube ever. Now I take it as a sign. I researched it, watched more and it eventually led me into more and more religious related content. The thing for me as a very analytical person was I needed something like this to open me up to the reality that there is indeed a god. A lot of interesting research has gone into some of these experiences. John Burke has done substancial research on the topic and draws the parallels from some of these experiences to scripture. A lot of scientists can't explain how some of these people have been clinically dead for hours yet can recall events, conversations that happened when there was no brain activity etc. A lot of these experiences have so many commonalities so much in fact that I have a hard time believing it can be explained by chemicals released by the brain upon death I.E DMT. The psychelic experience is all over the place and never follows a consistent theme. These near Death experiences are not of that.
I am thankful for finding this as it has brought renewed faith to my life. I've accepted Jesus into my life. I've bought a bible and started reading the word (something I never imagined i'd do). I have a lot of work to do in order to make him even a small percentile happy with me, but I feel good knowing that I'm trying.
What brought you to Christianity? What is the Church's thoughts on NDEs? Do we believe that these are experiences our creator has allowed. I don't believe every single experience, but some of them are to real to discount imo. Also, I plan on attending a local church or churches until I find a place that feels like home. Any other tips navigating youtube or podcasts that you feel are good to follow? There's a lot of stuff out there I've had to learn to navigate around people talking to spirit guides and all this new age stuff which is dangerous bc it sounds all good in well to a new follower until you start realizing the differences and that this is not gods word. Anyway, thanks for a space allowing me to get some thoughts off my mind.

Hello! Recently me and this other girl had called out a friend for lying to us about serious issues such as therapy and the death of our friend and even things like who she was & where she worked. While talking with her the only thing she chose to say was i’m sorry and stayed silent. This is scary because recently she had already gone through one friendship loss. After we discussed with her why we can no longer be friends we ended the call. Me and the other girl collectively decided to tell the other friend who was in the friend group why we weren’t friends with her. This brought light to her and realizing that she as well has also been lied in various ways such as ours. I am asking advice for this friend because she is also wanting to not be her friend but with the girls history (the liar) of BPD and lying we are scared that she will do something bad. Should she go the route of telling the truth or just tell her that she feels they are growing apart. We just want to be safe so please let us know!

Here's the situation: the father of a couple of friends (brother and sister, European nationality, living in Europe) spent his last 20 years in Vietnam, where he got married, had a child, and later passed away. That was about 10 years ago. Obviously his older children in Europe never saw a penny, even though he was somewhat wealthy (probably a few hundred thousand dollars net worth). Recently I've met my cousins (in Europe), and they are telling me that they have bank documents about an account in Vietnam, and apparently his wife (widow) couldn't access this account (everything else was officially owned by her anyway), so now they hope they'll be able to inherit the money in this account.
How realistic is this? I see the following problems: Even if they present all the necessary documents (like the death certificate of their father, papers proving that he was their father), is there a chance that a bank will grant them access to this account? Especially given that there are other potential heirs? Btw how do you prove that there are no other rightful heirs, if there's no will?
But let's say that they find a good lawyer and somehow manage to retrieve that money, it will certainly be Vietnamese Dong, right? Or could he have had an account in a foreign currency, eg is that even possible in VN?
But just to think it through, let's say that it's Euros or US$ (or they find a good way to convert the Dong into that), how would they go about bringing that money home? Can you carry 10'000 US$ (or equivalent) over the border, as in most countries? And could you do this trip a number of times, and would that be legal? Or what other legal way is there to export your money?
Thanks for any insight. I was trying to talk them out of it, because im afraid they'll just lose money to a lawyer and he won't be of any use. But if there's a way, I'll gladly help them

Have you ever witnessed the first formation of life? I mean, I've seen my children, I was there for every step of the process if you know what I mean. Hah. But what I'm talking about is from beyond the beginning. The molten slag of a planet forming over millions or even billions of years into a habitable plane. Have you seen, from that very point, chemicals coalescing and reproducing? Amino acids and the forming proteins?
Well today, I found out, when you die in the crypts, you don't see a light in the end of a tunnel. You witness something truly beautiful and pointless.
I watched the birth of life from nothing. Short molecular protein chains. No cell walls, no encasing membranes. If DNA or genetic code of any kind was in their descendant's future, it wasn't present now. I watched it cling to the surface of rock, self-replication fueled by the warm free energy of a sun, millions of generations, hard work, decay, and new growth, only to be destroyed by a crashing wave. The weak hydrogen bonds were broken, as simple as that. The ancestor's hard work gone in a single blink-and-you-miss-it moment. Somehow I knew, wherever this was, that was all the life that planet would ever see until it was swallowed up by its star.
It was a quick fleeting spark. All the dramas and soap operas in the world could have taken place in a single raindrop. A unique potential, unlike any others, this planet's chosen ones, snuffed out before it could evolve to breathe its first breath. Rather grim isn't it? I don't know why I dreamt it, but there it was, a pointless creation followed by an equally pointless destruction. I guess it was a nice commercial break from the missing-arm-induced pain i was suffering. A wonderful hilucination, if a bit mocob.
Anyway, back to my unimaginable blood-curdling, mind-wrenching torture porn session. My eyes were closed a very long time, but when they did open, I was finally where I should be. Horizontal in a hospital bed, surrounded by trained surgeons. That said, it was on an alien world, and the surgeons were not trained in human biology. What's worse, they had no way to dull the pain.
Death would have been a blessing, unfortunately, the doctors were good, in spite of the unknown make, model, and engine size laying before them. 5 hours under an experimental knife, and I think an arc welder, is what it took to reattach my arm and fix my internal organ damage. 5 hours of poking and prodding and searing and stitching and pulling and zapping. All things considered, I am impressed it only took 5 hours. Ted's species was remarkable when it came to taking in new information and applying it in the real world. All their extra brains probably didn't hurt either.
If you remember, Ted's species came equipped with five extremity brains, and a central one. That's three for all three of his legs, two for both of his arms, and one in his central body. Ted would have had six individual minds within him before I found him dead in a ditch beside that interstellar sidewalk. By that point, only one, Ted, had survived.
After my, let's say, unique experience, I was left alone in a dark room to rest. Ted came by to visit. Oh yeah, he had a body now. He wore that "Tall, dark, and extraterrestrial" look well. He was easily 7 feet tall in his real body. Those Ted-fu moves should pack a real punch in a body like that.
"That reminds me. You wanted your fighting moves back, right?" My voice was terribly parched after my morning shouting sessions.
Shouting obscenities at medical proffesionals was about all I could do when Ted's doctors were busy inventing a new form of torture. Seriously, take notes. Good stuff in there.
"Keep them. That isn't going to be my concern here. It's hard to even walk now, let alone fight." He admitted. "I'm used to having secondary brains do all the work. I would only take over when the situation required. Now, I'm all I've got."
"Just another one of us handicap one-brainers," I taunted. "How does it feel to be on my level? Could you say you're just 'too single-minded?"
He laughed. I don't think I've ever heard Ted lower himself to laughing at one of my jokes. It wasn't even a good one. I know I could have come up with something better. Hold on. I- huh... well, I guess the moment has passed.
Instead, I teased him again. "so, you have a sense of humor after all."
"Always have. You just aren't funny." He shot back.
Then it was my turn to laugh at a bad joke.
"Bad idea!" I realized aloud. "Laughing hurts. Don't make me laugh."
There was an awkward silence before Ted finally spoke again. Our whole conversation was full of them.
"You're going back there aren't you?" He asked.
"I have to. I have a family somewhere, and I have to know if they're still alive. Something bad is happening on earth and I just want to be there to protect them."
"I don't think you ever will find out."
"Blunt and to the point today are ya?"
"Always have been. You just never listen. Im serious. I dont think you'll make it home."
There it was again, that quiet that kept creeping back up into our conversation.
"What if you run into Brad again?" He asked. "I won't be there to reboot your brain next time. You will either die or-"
"Don't tell me."
"Or you will suffer greatly, then die." He continued while checking his version of fingernails.
"I told you not to tell me. Now I can choose which option I like better."
"I'm being serious." He shot back at me. "You have no defenses against him."
"I know. I'm hoping he's dead. That's three shots from a Tedidian gun he has taken now."
Neither of us were convinced.
"Tedidian? That's the name you gave my species? I'm honored."
"I'm the first of my kind here, I get the naming privileges."
If our conversation took place over the radio, the host would be mortified. Not by the subject matter, no. The silence would be dubbed "dead air" and the host would desperately clamor for a new topic to keep the dialogue active and dynamic. We didn't have that luxury. I think Ted was sorry he couldn't have done more to help, but he would never admit it. I actually might miss him after all- Nah... Too stuck up his own butt to admit his shortcomings. I dont need a guy like that tagging along.
"Do you- mourn the loss of your secondary minds? Were they separate thinking entities?"
"I mourned their loss eons ago. I have moved on. Now I have to re-remember how to walk and talk and do math equations without them. I will be slower than my academic peers, but I have with me knowledge of the unknowable. That should make up for some of my deficiencies."
Eventually, Ted was ushered out. I needed the rest. The doctors here were good. They had managed to piece together this broken puzzle written with a completely different alphabet, and accelerated my healing a great deal. Not really a surprise, given they could build Ted a whole new body. I was back on my feet in a matter of 2 days, using my arm in 3, and back to 70% at 4. I dont think I'll ever make it back to 100%, but all things considered, this is pretty good.
It's hard to tell how long I have been away from earth, but given this trip was meant to last a very long time, I don't suspect I should miss my flight, so long as I find my portal. As long as I can find Eddy. So long as I can find all of them; Eddy, Rook, James, even Jyong and Me-Yan.
Ted's people had a similar arrangement to earth's at first. When Ted was an explorer, their portal was at the edge of the system, but they brought it down to their planet with rockets and parachutes after he and a few others never came back. The history was fascinating. They were a united planet, far and above the most advanced I have come across so far, but in spite of that, the portal slowly leeched off the planet, and spat out horrors beyond their imagination. What they once used as an interstellar fast travel, quickly turned into a speed bump, then a health hazard. There was a reason the builders set this portal so far away from the planet. It wasn't meant to be here, so Ted's people had to build a wall, with poor old lost Ted on the other side. They closely monitored the other side though, and were shocked to find the brain activity of a Tedidian coming from yours truly. That would be Ted's mind, shoulder to shoulder with mine, in my head if you weren't following along. Then they rescued me from Brad.
Speaking of, I asked around about Brad. Someone shot him, so that someone should know if he survived. I had to know if he would be waiting for me on the other side. Eventually, I asked the right person, who introduced me to my rescuer. He wore a white uniform and carried a big gun, even for Tedidian standards. I was kinda jealous. I like my pew pews, but these things were on another level.
He confidently told me that Brad was indeed "dead." I had Ted translate for me whenever I spoke to a native, but they were quickly learning on their own how to speak Sean-ese. That's the language I told them I speak. Might as well leave a lasting mark. That confidence, however, did not come from a place I liked.
"But did you actually see it dead?" I pressed.
"Nothing survives a plasma arc, even a graze, let alone two." He scoffed. Or I think he scoffed. There is no universal interplanetary sign that someone is scoffing at you. You just have to pick up on subtle undertones of pride, shock, or snood. Ted had lots of snood. Luckily, he broke the mold. The people here were as different as people are on earth. I just happened to get the most insufferable one imaginable. Just my luck.
"Then call this thing 'nobody,' because it survived one before." I suggested.
His eyes widened, glad to see that was an interplanetary sign of surprise. "Th-that isn't possible."
"Oh, but it is." Ted interjected
Oh good, that thing could be waiting for me for all I know. I never thought I'd be scared to be without a Ted in my head, but there I was, terrified. He was right. Without him, I had no defense.
We were walking back to Ted's place when I began replaying the past events in my head. My vision was something I couldn't shake. It was real. I felt like I was one of those chains of self-replicating chemicals. That's almost all they were, chemicals, but they had every marker required to classify life. They even responded to change in the environment. They were short-lived bonded protein chains that consumed, produced waste, even grew by self-replication and bonding.
"Hey Ted," I started. "I wanted to run something by you."
"I'm listening, but let's keep it under 280 characters. I'm not in the mood for a marathon today."
I rolled my eyes. "Glad to see you're back to your old self."
"My old self? I've been trying to get back to that, but every time I open my eyes, there you are."
"Look here Dane Cook, I saw something after the attack. It was on another planet. I think someone is trying to show me something."
"You were also close to Brad at the time, who we know can alter your perception."
"Maybe, but this felt different. The first time he affected my mind, he put me in a dreamlike state. Then he used something familiar to me to disguise himself. This was different. I wasn't me, I was this green amino-acid chain with no protective coating. All I could sense were chemicals, no light, no sound, but I knew what was happening too, like I was watching from the outside at the same time."
Ted learned how to roll his eyes just now from me, and mimicked the action to an exagerated end. "Don't think much about it. Many Tedidians see a light at the end of a tunnel when we are close to death. Perhaps this is just your version."
"Perhaps." One thing is certain, even if it scares me, I would be glad to be without Ted. I almost forgot how annoying he was after our little bonding session.
"But I have a question for you. Who is Dane Cook?"
"My planet's worst comedian. Thats not the point."
The day did come that I had to leave, and Ted, in his usual fashion, refused to say goodbye. Instead, all he would say is "I won't be far behind." Cryptic, right? Like, what is that supposed to mean?
At first, I thought "Great. And right after I thought I got rid of him." But then I thought about it. It would be an interesting cultural slang to say "we will meet again." Does Ted believe in an afterlife?does he think I'll wimp out and come back?
Pointless questions aside, there was some good news. He gave me a new gun. This one made an even bigger "kaboom!" It was really fun. Heh. Haha. Gimme-gimme.
I was happy to see Jim-Bob waiting for me at the portal. I hadn't seen him since I set off that sonic weapon. Their feet are so sensitive to vibrations and sound, that weapon really messed with them. The Tedidian doctors had their work cut out for them fixing 5 listening organs per Jim-Bobidian. Together, all 20 odd Jim-Bobs and I, stepped through the portal to the nightmare world.
Now that I was on this side of the portal, I could see that Brad was gone. Oh boy, what fun. You know what else? I held onto that old piece of alien tech that Ted had his brain shoved into. I thought it would make a neat souvenir. Wouldn't you believe it if as soon as the doors closed behind me, I heard that S.O.B's voice saying "So, where to next?"
Ted copied himself yet again into that stupid thing. Didn't take long to figure out what he meant by "I won't be far behind."
"What the hell, Ted?" I shouted.
"Surprised to hear my voice?" He asked?
"More pissed than surprised. I thought I finally got rid of you."
"Oh stop it, you are happy to see me, admit it."
"I thought you wanted to go home. What happened to me just being a pair of legs?"
"Ah yes, but there's a crucial difference between that Ted and this one. This one is artificial, and doesn't get lonely. I am merely a copy of a personality. That way, when you die, I won't get homesick."
"I smell bullshit," I said.
Surprisingly, he didn't make an astronauts and diapers joke. Instead, he said "Got me. I am an explorer, remember? Even if I was homesick, I still yearn for the other-worldly. My adventuring days are not yet over, and this way, I can never die, unlike someone I know."
"News flash, Ted, you did die, and give me that self-aggrandizing crap you pulled in the beginning, and I'm throwing your immortal ass down the throat of the next giant monster I find."
"My path will remain rectilinear, and true."
"Rectum what now? I thought you only knew words I used in front of you. I don't even know what you said."
"True, but now I have learned how your language works, thus am able to intuit new words. You cannot convince me that was not a word. Go- 'look it up' or whatever when you get back to Earth. It means 'I'll stay on the straight and narrow.'"
"Then why didn't you just say so? You're already teetering on the edge of being too annoying to keep around, buddy." I threatened, but I had to admit, a translator would be nice.
I have to say, the next leg of the journey went on without a hitch. The Jim-Bobs, Ted, and I were making good time. Find a monster, kill it, find a planet, explore it, find another monster, kill it too. I found so many new planets, although most were dead or never had life to begin with. The odd part was, Ted was sure he had visited some before, and interacted with the residents, but there was nothing but rock where I stood.

Have you ever witnessed the first formation of life? I mean, I've seen my children, I was there for every step of the process if you know what I mean. Hah. But what I'm talking about is from beyond the beginning. The molten slag of a planet forming over millions or even billions of years into a habitable plane. Have you seen, from that very point, chemicals coalescing and reproducing? Amino acids and the forming proteins?
Well today, I found out, when you die in the crypts, you don't see a light in the end of a tunnel. You witness something truly beautiful and pointless.
I watched the birth of life from nothing. Short molecular protein chains. No cell walls, no encasing membranes. If DNA or genetic code of any kind was in their descendant's future, it wasn't present now. I watched it cling to the surface of rock, self-replication fueled by the warm free energy of a sun, millions of generations, hard work, decay, and new growth, only to be destroyed by a crashing wave. The weak hydrogen bonds were broken, as simple as that. The ancestor's hard work gone in a single blink-and-you-miss-it moment. Somehow I knew, wherever this was, that was all the life that planet would ever see until it was swallowed up by its star.
It was a quick fleeting spark. All the dramas and soap operas in the world could have taken place in a single raindrop. A unique potential, unlike any others, this planet's chosen ones, snuffed out before it could evolve to breathe its first breath. Rather grim isn't it? I don't know why I dreamt it, but there it was, a pointless creation followed by an equally pointless destruction. I guess it was a nice commercial break from the missing-arm-induced pain i was suffering. A wonderful hilucination, if a bit mocob.
Anyway, back to my unimaginable blood-curdling, mind-wrenching torture porn session. My eyes were closed a very long time, but when they did open, I was finally where I should be. Horizontal in a hospital bed, surrounded by trained surgeons. That said, it was on an alien world, and the surgeons were not trained in human biology. What's worse, they had no way to dull the pain.
Death would have been a blessing, unfortunately, the doctors were good, in spite of the unknown make, model, and engine size laying before them. 5 hours under an experimental knife, and I think an arc welder, is what it took to reattach my arm and fix my internal organ damage. 5 hours of poking and prodding and searing and stitching and pulling and zapping. All things considered, I am impressed it only took 5 hours. Ted's species was remarkable when it came to taking in new information and applying it in the real world. All their extra brains probably didn't hurt either.
If you remember, Ted's species came equipped with five extremity brains, and a central one. That's three for all three of his legs, two for both of his arms, and one in his central body. Ted would have had six individual minds within him before I found him dead in a ditch beside that interstellar sidewalk. By that point, only one, Ted, had survived.
After my, let's say, unique experience, I was left alone in a dark room to rest. Ted came by to visit. Oh yeah, he had a body now. He wore that "Tall, dark, and extraterrestrial" look well. He was easily 7 feet tall in his real body. Those Ted-fu moves should pack a real punch in a body like that.
"That reminds me. You wanted your fighting moves back, right?" My voice was terribly parched after my morning shouting sessions.
Shouting obscenities at medical proffesionals was about all I could do when Ted's doctors were busy inventing a new form of torture. Seriously, take notes. Good stuff in there.
"Keep them. That isn't going to be my concern here. It's hard to even walk now, let alone fight." He admitted. "I'm used to having secondary brains do all the work. I would only take over when the situation required. Now, I'm all I've got."
"Just another one of us handicap one-brainers," I taunted. "How does it feel to be on my level? Could you say you're just 'too single-minded?"
He laughed. I don't think I've ever heard Ted lower himself to laughing at one of my jokes. It wasn't even a good one. I know I could have come up with something better. Hold on. I- huh... well, I guess the moment has passed.
Instead, I teased him again. "so, you have a sense of humor after all."
"Always have. You just aren't funny." He shot back.
Then it was my turn to laugh at a bad joke.
"Bad idea!" I realized aloud. "Laughing hurts. Don't make me laugh."
There was an awkward silence before Ted finally spoke again. Our whole conversation was full of them.
"You're going back there aren't you?" He asked.
"I have to. I have a family somewhere, and I have to know if they're still alive. Something bad is happening on earth and I just want to be there to protect them."
"I don't think you ever will find out."
"Blunt and to the point today are ya?"
"Always have been. You just never listen. Im serious. I dont think you'll make it home."
There it was again, that quiet that kept creeping back up into our conversation.
"What if you run into Brad again?" He asked. "I won't be there to reboot your brain next time. You will either die or-"
"Don't tell me."
"Or you will suffer greatly, then die." He continued while checking his version of fingernails.
"I told you not to tell me. Now I can choose which option I like better."
"I'm being serious." He shot back at me. "You have no defenses against him."
"I know. I'm hoping he's dead. That's three shots from a Tedidian gun he has taken now."
Neither of us were convinced.
"Tedidian? That's the name you gave my species? I'm honored."
"I'm the first of my kind here, I get the naming privileges."
If our conversation took place over the radio, the host would be mortified. Not by the subject matter, no. The silence would be dubbed "dead air" and the host would desperately clamor for a new topic to keep the dialogue active and dynamic. We didn't have that luxury. I think Ted was sorry he couldn't have done more to help, but he would never admit it. I actually might miss him after all- Nah... Too stuck up his own butt to admit his shortcomings. I dont need a guy like that tagging along.
"Do you- mourn the loss of your secondary minds? Were they separate thinking entities?"
"I mourned their loss eons ago. I have moved on. Now I have to re-remember how to walk and talk and do math equations without them. I will be slower than my academic peers, but I have with me knowledge of the unknowable. That should make up for some of my deficiencies."
Eventually, Ted was ushered out. I needed the rest. The doctors here were good. They had managed to piece together this broken puzzle written with a completely different alphabet, and accelerated my healing a great deal. Not really a surprise, given they could build Ted a whole new body. I was back on my feet in a matter of 2 days, using my arm in 3, and back to 70% at 4. I dont think I'll ever make it back to 100%, but all things considered, this is pretty good.
It's hard to tell how long I have been away from earth, but given this trip was meant to last a very long time, I don't suspect I should miss my flight, so long as I find my portal. As long as I can find Eddy. So long as I can find all of them; Eddy, Rook, James, even Jyong and Me-Yan.
Ted's people had a similar arrangement to earth's at first. When Ted was an explorer, their portal was at the edge of the system, but they brought it down to their planet with rockets and parachutes after he and a few others never came back. The history was fascinating. They were a united planet, far and above the most advanced I have come across so far, but in spite of that, the portal slowly leeched off the planet, and spat out horrors beyond their imagination. What they once used as an interstellar fast travel, quickly turned into a speed bump, then a health hazard. There was a reason the builders set this portal so far away from the planet. It wasn't meant to be here, so Ted's people had to build a wall, with poor old lost Ted on the other side. They closely monitored the other side though, and were shocked to find the brain activity of a Tedidian coming from yours truly. That would be Ted's mind, shoulder to shoulder with mine, in my head if you weren't following along. Then they rescued me from Brad.
Speaking of, I asked around about Brad. Someone shot him, so that someone should know if he survived. I had to know if he would be waiting for me on the other side. Eventually, I asked the right person, who introduced me to my rescuer. He wore a white uniform and carried a big gun, even for Tedidian standards. I was kinda jealous. I like my pew pews, but these things were on another level.
He confidently told me that Brad was indeed "dead." I had Ted translate for me whenever I spoke to a native, but they were quickly learning on their own how to speak Sean-ese. That's the language I told them I speak. Might as well leave a lasting mark. That confidence, however, did not come from a place I liked.
"But did you actually see it dead?" I pressed.
"Nothing survives a plasma arc, even a graze, let alone two." He scoffed. Or I think he scoffed. There is no universal interplanetary sign that someone is scoffing at you. You just have to pick up on subtle undertones of pride, shock, or snood. Ted had lots of snood. Luckily, he broke the mold. The people here were as different as people are on earth. I just happened to get the most insufferable one imaginable. Just my luck.
"Then call this thing 'nobody,' because it survived one before." I suggested.
His eyes widened, glad to see that was an interplanetary sign of surprise. "Th-that isn't possible."
"Oh, but it is." Ted interjected
Oh good, that thing could be waiting for me for all I know. I never thought I'd be scared to be without a Ted in my head, but there I was, terrified. He was right. Without him, I had no defense.
We were walking back to Ted's place when I began replaying the past events in my head. My vision was something I couldn't shake. It was real. I felt like I was one of those chains of self-replicating chemicals. That's almost all they were, chemicals, but they had every marker required to classify life. They even responded to change in the environment. They were short-lived bonded protein chains that consumed, produced waste, even grew by self-replication and bonding.
"Hey Ted," I started. "I wanted to run something by you."
"I'm listening, but let's keep it under 280 characters. I'm not in the mood for a marathon today."
I rolled my eyes. "Glad to see you're back to your old self."
"My old self? I've been trying to get back to that, but every time I open my eyes, there you are."
"Look here Dane Cook, I saw something after the attack. It was on another planet. I think someone is trying to show me something."
"You were also close to Brad at the time, who we know can alter your perception."
"Maybe, but this felt different. The first time he affected my mind, he put me in a dreamlike state. Then he used something familiar to me to disguise himself. This was different. I wasn't me, I was this green amino-acid chain with no protective coating. All I could sense were chemicals, no light, no sound, but I knew what was happening too, like I was watching from the outside at the same time."
Ted learned how to roll his eyes just now from me, and mimicked the action to an exagerated end. "Don't think much about it. Many Tedidians see a light at the end of a tunnel when we are close to death. Perhaps this is just your version."
"Perhaps." One thing is certain, even if it scares me, I would be glad to be without Ted. I almost forgot how annoying he was after our little bonding session.
"But I have a question for you. Who is Dane Cook?"
"My planet's worst comedian. Thats not the point."
The day did come that I had to leave, and Ted, in his usual fashion, refused to say goodbye. Instead, all he would say is "I won't be far behind." Cryptic, right? Like, what is that supposed to mean?
At first, I thought "Great. And right after I thought I got rid of him." But then I thought about it. It would be an interesting cultural slang to say "we will meet again." Does Ted believe in an afterlife?does he think I'll wimp out and come back?
Pointless questions aside, there was some good news. He gave me a new gun. This one made an even bigger "kaboom!" It was really fun. Heh. Haha. Gimme-gimme.
I was happy to see Jim-Bob waiting for me at the portal. I hadn't seen him since I set off that sonic weapon. Their feet are so sensitive to vibrations and sound, that weapon really messed with them. The Tedidian doctors had their work cut out for them fixing 5 listening organs per Jim-Bobidian. Together, all 20 odd Jim-Bobs and I, stepped through the portal to the nightmare world.
Now that I was on this side of the portal, I could see that Brad was gone. Oh boy, what fun. You know what else? I held onto that old piece of alien tech that Ted had his brain shoved into. I thought it would make a neat souvenir. Wouldn't you believe it if as soon as the doors closed behind me, I heard that S.O.B's voice saying "So, where to next?"
Ted copied himself yet again into that stupid thing. Didn't take long to figure out what he meant by "I won't be far behind."
"What the hell, Ted?" I shouted.
"Surprised to hear my voice?" He asked?
"More pissed than surprised. I thought I finally got rid of you."
"Oh stop it, you are happy to see me, admit it."
"I thought you wanted to go home. What happened to me just being a pair of legs?"
"Ah yes, but there's a crucial difference between that Ted and this one. This one is artificial, and doesn't get lonely. I am merely a copy of a personality. That way, when you die, I won't get homesick."
"I smell bullshit," I said.
Surprisingly, he didn't make an astronauts and diapers joke. Instead, he said "Got me. I am an explorer, remember? Even if I was homesick, I still yearn for the other-worldly. My adventuring days are not yet over, and this way, I can never die, unlike someone I know."
"News flash, Ted, you did die, and give me that self-aggrandizing crap you pulled in the beginning, and I'm throwing your immortal ass down the throat of the next giant monster I find."
"My path will remain rectilinear, and true."
"Rectum what now? I thought you only knew words I used in front of you. I don't even know what you said."
"True, but now I have learned how your language works, thus am able to intuit new words. You cannot convince me that was not a word. Go- 'look it up' or whatever when you get back to Earth. It means 'I'll stay on the straight and narrow.'"
"Then why didn't you just say so? You're already teetering on the edge of being too annoying to keep around, buddy." I threatened, but I had to admit, a translator would be nice.
I have to say, the next leg of the journey went on without a hitch. The Jim-Bobs, Ted, and I were making good time. Find a monster, kill it, find a planet, explore it, find another monster, kill it too. I found so many new planets, although most were dead or never had life to begin with. The odd part was, Ted was sure he had visited some before, and interacted with the residents, but there was nothing but rock where I stood.

I'm copying a comment I made elsewhere because I realized it could help here.
I'm totally cool with sharing my experience because I think it's important that people know about it, especially with how effective it's been to me. There are many ways it's delivered and I'll list from cheapest and easiest to most expensive and highest time commitment.

1. Troche/lozenge: doable at home. Cost me $90 for a 6 week course
   
2. Spravato: do this in the office, usually covered by insurance.
   
3. IV: this is incredibly expensive $600-$1k a session but the most effective.
   

I only have experience with the troches, but they were amazingly effective for me. For best results, you need a totally controlled environment that's as dark and quiet as you can get it. Put on sleep shades and put on headphones/earbuds. The heaviest effects last about 3 hours but you won't be able to really do anything productive for another 4 hours, so it only makes sense to do it in the evening.
Not all people have the experience I have, but for me it's INTENSE in a good way. It's borderline psychedelic where I enter a pseudo-dream state and my brain shows me new insights, flips through memories I had locked away, and serves as an "angel on my shoulder" telling me what a good friend or therapist would say. Really, for me it feels like an insanely effective and intense therapy session and it has about the same lasting effects. However, it's no free lunch. My body hurts like hell the next day because it makes my joints feel like they're falling apart. If you have interruptions during it, you WILL have a VERY bad time. It also makes you dizzy, loopy, and definitely unsafe to do stairs or drive. Absolutely only do it at the end of the day.
I'm not sure what other peoples' experiences are, but for me it's great at both kinds of trauma. It's just harder to dislodge chronic lifelong trauma and that will take much more time. It was easier for me to direct it to work on the acute trauma of things like the car accidents, my son in the NICU, my son's seizures, etc. But lately in the past few sessions it's been able to help with the lifelong trauma like neglect, the weird dissociative thing where I locked away basically all memories throughout most of my life, etc
So I have been diagnosed with C-PTSD because of all this crazy stuff and I was unable to function after my son's seizure because that was the breaking point. The event that made it necessary to start this was when I got in a huge fight with my wife insisting she hadn't told me about her life and career plans (??? obviously she had) even though just a few days ago I was actively participating in planning it. I had been getting mad at my wife and son for totally innocent nonsense reasons which I had NEVER done before and I had NEVER acted like that my whole life, which is how my wife knew something was very wrong.
It then exploded into realizing I had been behaving like an Alzheimer's patient because my memory from one day to the next was not continuous: I literally didn't recognize my work documents, where I put things, what I was talking about to people, that I had met people, etc. Every time I opened my work computer it was like I was looking at someone else's computer and I had to piece together wtf I was supposed to do. I didn't remember most major life events (couldn't remember my own wedding, graduation, what my college campus looked like even).
I also could barely go outside because every time sirens from an emergency vehicle went by or even if I just saw flashing lights that vaguely reminded me of such, I would straight up black out or go into "caveman mode."
Post-ketamine, I no longer have random rage. I can access so many more memories and they don't immediately hurt me. I'm able to stay much more present and no longer black out. I have become more patient and tolerant to stress. I have been able to make BIG gains in therapy because blocks in my brain shifted and I became more receptive to outside help. I've learned how to be kinder to myself and take care of myself better. I've hugely enhanced my coping skills. Honestly, before this I was on the fast track to divorce, relationship destruction, and death before this pulled me out of it.

Ok, I don't have enough time to fully talk about this, but I just had an idea about Caine's origin, which I will entirely hold onto until proven otherwise. But, so that I don't forget about it, I'm posting it on here.
So, I ultimately think that, when we do see Caine's origin, it will be a direct modern parallel to the Cain and Abel story, as I feel like that in of itself could have so much potential - with Caine and his brother "Abil" being the owners and faces of a company who, in the 90s, decides to create a revolutionary form of digital reality that would become the Circus as we know it.
Caine would be in charge if growing and programming it like a farmer growing his crops, meanwhile Abil would be in charge of leading the company like a shepard leading a flock. However, as a result of this arrangement, Abil would receive much of the praise and credit from the board of directors.
So, out of jealousy and for not being given any of the credit, Caine would confront Abil and ultimately kill him after a dispute. However, in an attempt to cover it up, the Board of Directors would forcibly trap Caine inside of his own creation, then shutting down the project and, from then on, using the Amazing Digital Circus as a place where they'd trap unsavory employees or people against the company, meanwhile Caine and Abil were declared as accidental deaths with their younger brother Seth later being appointed as the new face of the company by the board, much like how Seth in Abrahamic Faith was suspected of being sent by God as a replacement for Abel.
(For those who don't know, in Abrahamic faith, Seth is the third son of Adam and Eve and was suspected by Eve as being a replacement for Abel sent by God)
It'd make sense for Pomni to have been part of the company at some point, given her reaction to seeing the desk with a computer while running through where the exit door lead. Also, given Caine's expertise in programming and power within the realm, it would make sense if he atleast lead in creating it. Plus, in the pilot, at one point we see the company logo for "C & A", which could very well stand for Caine and Abel (or Abil), which could hint at not just Abel's existence but also that Caine could have at one point been in charge of the company that created the Digital Circus. This would also help explain Cain's fixation of being seen like a ringmastegod (I mean, he literally constructed a world where he's worshipped in episode 2), him trying to compensate for how little praise he was given before killing Abil and being trapped in the Digital Circus.
But tell me, what are your thoughts?
View Poll

Ted- smiling widely before waving. "Hey there! I'm Ted, the head of marketing and HR. I'm so glad to see all of you new recruits. Before we get to the important stuff, lets get into some of the boring important stuff."
Laura- "Hey there, I'm Laura. I am in charge of administration and propaganda suppression. Please wave at your instructor."
Pause
Ted- Enters shot and stands next to Laura. "Thank you for your cooperation. If you waved you will now be shot. Next, Laura will go over the basic rules."
Ted exits to the right of the screen.
Laura- Smiling warmly while talking. "Rule number one: You may not leave at any time. You will be executed and your internals will be repurposed into product flavouring.
Rule number two: Do not spread propaganda(e.g, us killing people, us using executed people as food, any other true, compromising information, ect...). You will be sued, robbed and executed.
Rule number three: Maintain a healthy environment. We pride ourselves on a healthy workspace. That concludes the general rules."
Ted- "Wow! Laura sure knows what she's doing! But lets get on to something more important." Ted smiles before walking off camera, the shot switches to Ted standing in front of a facility map.
Ted- "I always like to begin by describing what it's like to be selected for machine use for the first time. It's so thrilling! You'll feel nervous at first, but then once you get sent into the processing chamber you'll be buzzing with excitement. Some people even run away screaming because they're so excited. I remember my first time..." Ted gazes off to the side as if reminiscing. Screaming sound effects and mechanical whirrs begin to play. Run... run... Ted returns to talking and you return to safety. The noise stops.
Ted- "Let's head over to see what Eugene is doing. He is head of Agriculture and Heavy Machinery at Maelstrom."
Eugene- "H-hey there. I'm Eu-Eugene Thomas. If you get selected for the machine, stay c-calm. Nothin' good comes from havin' a-a panic... And if you can, RUN! RUN AWAY AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN AND HIDE OUTSIDE OF THE EMPIRE AND COMMONWEALTH! THEY HAVE AGENTS EVERYWHERE!" The video cuts.
Laura- Unfortunately Eugene was a problem, so we eliminated him. Expect to see this a lot at your new job. We will use an AI generated course that we used to use instead of Eugene.
HELLO AND WELCOME TO THE MACHINE USE MINI TRAINING COURSE.
TODAY YOU WILL LEARN HOW TO OPERATE THE BASIC NECESSITIES OF THE MACHINE SO THAT THE MACHINE MAY FUNCTION PROPERLY. FIRST I WILL TELL YOU ABOUT THE MACHINE.
THE MAELSTROM EHC DEVICE ALSO KNOWN AS THE MACHINE IS A DEVICE USED TO CREATE THE CHOCOLATE DELICIOUSNESS THAT IS SHAPED INTO MAELSTROM BARS AND VARIOUS MAELSTROM PRODUCTS. IT USES THREE MAIN INPUTS THAT IT MERGES INTO ONE DELICIOUS CHOCOLATY MIXTURE. THE MIXTURE IS COMPOSED OF A FEW THINGS.
FIRST OFF IS THE MECHANICAL INPUT. METALLIC AND MECHANICAL DEVICES ARE PLACED INTO THE MIXTURE OF CHOCOLATE SO THAT THE PROBLEM DISSASEMBLY SYSTEM MAY BE IMPLANTED INTO ALL THE CHOCOLATE BARS AND VARIOUS MAELSTROM PRODUCTS.
NEXT IS THE ORGANIC INPUT. A COMBINATION OF HUMAN AND ANIMAL FLESH IS GROUND UP INTO A TASTY SAVOURY CONCOTION ADDED TO ALL MAELSTROM BARS AND VARIOUS MAELSTROM PRODUCTS. SOME ORGANS ARE KEPT IN TACT BEFORE BEING PROCESSED BY THE MACHINE OPERATOR.
FINALLY THERE IS THE FLAVOURING INPUT. THIS INPUT CONSISTS OF SYNTHETIC FLAVOURERS AND SWEETENERS. THIS IS WHAT GIVES THE MAELSTROM BARS AND SOME VARIOUS MAELSTROM PRODUCTS ITS SIGNATURE FLAVOURING.
IF YOU ARE THE PROCESSOR YOU ARE IN THE MAIN EHC DEVICE CHAMBER IN THE CENTRE OF THE EHC DEVICE. YOU MUST CONTROL THE VARIOUS CONVEYORS AND PULLY SYSTEMS WHILE COMPLETING INCOMPLETE CODES THAT ARE OUTPUTTED BY THE STRING OUTPUT TERMINAL IN THE CHAMBER.
RULES:
ONCE THE MACHINE BEGINS TO PROCESS YOU WILL HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO COMPLETE. YOU MUST BE S.M.A.R.T.
Super vigilant
Maelstrom friendly
Active
Rigorous
Terrific worker
IF ANY MISTAKES OR BLEMISHES GET THROUGH THE BATCH WILL BE RUINED DUE TO EXCESS [REDACTED].
PROCESSING IS A DIFFICULT TASK FOR OUR MACHINE, SO YOU WILL HAVE TO REPAIR IT FREQUENTLY DURING THE SIX HOUR PROCESSING SEQUENCE. NOT DOING SO RISKS YOUR OWN BODILY HARM OR DEATH.
UNKNOWN PEOPLE WILL TRY TO ENTER THE CHAMBER YOU ARE IN AND STOP THE MACHINE. THEY SAY THEY WILL SAVE YOU BUT THEY WILL NOT. DO NOT LISTEN OR RISK BODILY HARM OR LETHAL EVENTS.
IF SOMETHING BAD IS ABOUT TO GET INTO THE BATCH, EXECUTE THE KILL CODE. THEN THE BATCH WILL NOT BE RUINED. HOWEVER YOU MUST NOW DO DOUBLE MACHINE DUTY AND WILL GET A STRIKE ON YOUR PERMANENT RECORD. FALIURE TO DO AS THIS RULE SPECIFIES WILL RESULT IN DESSASEMBLY OF YOUR MUSCULAR-SKELETAL PARTS.
REFRAIN FROM CONSUMING UNPROCESSED PRODUCT. HUMAN MEAT, TITANIUM ALLOY, ARSENIC, CYANIDE, BONES, HUMAN CRANIAL STRUCTURES, RAW FLESH, ASBESTOS, AND HAIR IS NOT SUITABLE FOR CONSUMSTION AND MUST BE SAVED TO CREATE DELICIOUS MAELSTROM BARS AND VARIOUS MAELSTROM PRODUCTS.
WHEN THE PROCESSING IS OVER YOU WILL BE RELEASED FROM THE CHAMBER. CRAWL BACK THROUGH THE MACHINE INTERIOR TO THE EXIT HATCH AND STATE YOUR FULL NAME, BIRTH DATE, PLACE OF BIRTH, AND EMPLOYEE NUMBER AND TITLE.
THAT CONCLUDES MACHINE TRAINING. THANK YOU FOR CO-OPERATING.
END PROGRAM(EHCDTRAINING)
EFFECTIVE IN_
3
2
1
PERMISSION FROM MealOS.
GRANTED_GRABSTATUS
STATUS == TRUE.
Ted- "Thanks for listening to us today!
Laura- "That concludes our lesson. Goodbye and:"
Ted and Laura- "Welcome to Maelstrom!"

ive seen on twitter that people didnt want gojo to revive specifically because people would stop paying attention to yuji and todo's performance and that it somehow takes away from their performance.
i understand arguments about gojos character and whether it is good for the story or not, but why are yall mad that people are more concerned about one the most iconic characters in new gen animanga may be coming back to their respective series as opposed to yuji jumping and fighting sukuna, of which we have been seeing for 10-15 chapters by now?
Dont get me wrong, Im really liking the recent chapters and yuji standing his ground against sukuna with the help of others AND by himself, but what do you think gege wrote this cliffhanger for?? its easy to imagine that the reaction of the fanbase was the exact intention gege had, as that what a cliffhanger like that, and what cliffhangers in general are FOR. Not only was gojo constantly being talked about after his death but there were a ton of people praying for his revival. Any mention of gojo to this magnitude was BOUND to cause a reaction like this, so why are you upset that people are giving the exact reaction that gege INTENDED?
I feel like some of you put way too much stock in what the fandom is paying attention to, because gojo having a potential comeback does NOT take away the impact of the masterclass that yuji and todo has been putting up and doesnt take away from the efforts that yuji has been putting in by himself. so what are you upset for?

Ted- smiling widely before waving. "Hey there! I'm Ted, the head of marketing and HR. I'm so glad to see all of you new recruits. Before we get to the important stuff, lets get into some of the boring important stuff."
Laura- "Hey there, I'm Laura. I am in charge of administration and propaganda suppression. Please wave at your instructor."
Pause
Ted- Enters shot and stands next to Laura. "Thank you for your cooperation. If you waved you will now be shot. Next, Laura will go over the basic rules."
Ted exits to the right of the screen.
Laura- Smiling warmly while talking. "Rule number one: You may not leave at any time. You will be executed and your internals will be repurposed into product flavouring.
Rule number two: Do not spread propaganda(e.g, us killing people, us using executed people as food, any other true, compromising information, ect...). You will be sued, robbed and executed.
Rule number three: Maintain a healthy environment. We pride ourselves on a healthy workspace. That concludes the general rules."
Ted- "Wow! Laura sure knows what she's doing! But lets get on to something more important." Ted smiles before walking off camera, the shot switches to Ted standing in front of a map showing a complex maze of narrow pipes, leading directly into a large chamber in the centre
Ted- "I always like to begin by describing what it's like to be selected for machine use for the first time. It's so thrilling! You'll feel nervous at first, but then once you get sent into the processing chamber you'll be buzzing with excitement. Some people even run away screaming because they're so excited. I remember my first time..." Ted gazes off to the side as if reminiscing. Screaming sound effects and mechanical whirrs begin to play. Run... run... Ted returns to talking and you return to safety. The noise stops.
Ted- "Let's head over to see what Eugene is doing. He is head of Agriculture and Heavy Machinery at Maelstrom."
Eugene- "H-hey there. I'm Eu-Eugene Thomas. If you get selected for the machine, stay c-calm. Nothin' good comes from havin' a-a panic... And if you can, RUN! RUN AWAY AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN AND HIDE OUTSIDE OF THE EMPIRE AND COMMONWEALTH! THEY HAVE AGENTS EVERYWHERE!" The video cuts.
Laura- Unfortunately Eugene was a problem, so we eliminated him. Expect to see this a lot at your new job. We will use an AI generated course that we used to use instead of Eugene.
HELLO AND WELCOME TO THE MACHINE USE MINI TRAINING COURSE.
TODAY YOU WILL LEARN HOW TO OPERATE THE BASIC NECESSITIES OF THE MACHINE SO THAT THE MACHINE MAY FUNCTION PROPERLY. FIRST I WILL TELL YOU ABOUT THE MACHINE.
THE MAELSTROM EHC DEVICE ALSO KNOWN AS THE MACHINE IS A DEVICE USED TO CREATE THE CHOCOLATE DELICIOUSNESS THAT IS SHAPED INTO MAELSTROM BARS AND VARIOUS MAELSTROM PRODUCTS. IT USES THREE MAIN INPUTS THAT IT MERGES INTO ONE DELICIOUS CHOCOLATY MIXTURE. THE MIXTURE IS COMPOSED OF A FEW THINGS.
FIRST OFF IS THE MECHANICAL INPUT. METALLIC AND MECHANICAL DEVICES ARE PLACED INTO THE MIXTURE OF CHOCOLATE SO THAT THE PROBLEM DISSASEMBLY SYSTEM MAY BE IMPLANTED INTO ALL THE CHOCOLATE BARS AND VARIOUS MAELSTROM PRODUCTS.
NEXT IS THE ORGANIC INPUT. A COMBINATION OF HUMAN AND ANIMAL FLESH IS GROUND UP INTO A TASTY SAVOURY CONCOTION ADDED TO ALL MAELSTROM BARS AND VARIOUS MAELSTROM PRODUCTS. SOME ORGANS ARE KEPT IN TACT BEFORE BEING PROCESSED BY THE MACHINE OPERATOR.
FINALLY THERE IS THE FLAVOURING INPUT. THIS INPUT CONSISTS OF SYNTHETIC FLAVOURERS AND SWEETENERS. THIS IS WHAT GIVES THE MAELSTROM BARS AND SOME VARIOUS MAELSTROM PRODUCTS ITS SIGNATURE FLAVOURING.
IF YOU ARE THE PROCESSOR YOU ARE IN THE MAIN EHC DEVICE CHAMBER IN THE CENTRE OF THE EHC DEVICE. YOU MUST CONTROL THE VARIOUS CONVEYORS AND PULLY SYSTEMS WHILE COMPLETING INCOMPLETE CODES THAT ARE OUTPUTTED BY THE STRING OUTPUT TERMINAL IN THE CHAMBER.
RULES:
ONCE THE MACHINE BEGINS TO PROCESS YOU WILL HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO COMPLETE. YOU MUST BE S.M.A.R.T.
Super vigilant
Maelstrom friendly
Active
Rigorous
Terrific worker
IF ANY MISTAKES OR BLEMISHES GET THROUGH THE BATCH WILL BE RUINED DUE TO EXCESS [REDACTED].
PROCESSING IS A DIFFICULT TASK FOR OUR MACHINE, SO YOU WILL HAVE TO REPAIR IT FREQUENTLY DURING THE SIX HOUR PROCESSING SEQUENCE. NOT DOING SO RISKS YOUR OWN BODILY HARM OR DEATH.
UNKNOWN PEOPLE WILL TRY TO ENTER THE CHAMBER YOU ARE IN AND STOP THE MACHINE. THEY SAY THEY WILL SAVE YOU BUT THEY WILL NOT. DO NOT LISTEN OR RISK BODILY HARM OR LETHAL EVENTS.
IF SOMETHING BAD IS ABOUT TO GET INTO THE BATCH, EXECUTE THE KILL CODE. THEN THE BATCH WILL NOT BE RUINED. HOWEVER YOU MUST NOW DO DOUBLE MACHINE DUTY AND WILL GET A STRIKE ON YOUR PERMANENT RECORD. FALIURE TO DO AS THIS RULE SPECIFIES WILL RESULT IN DESSASEMBLY OF YOUR MUSCULAR-SKELETAL PARTS.
REFRAIN FROM CONSUMING UNPROCESSED PRODUCT. HUMAN MEAT, TITANIUM ALLOY, ARSENIC, CYANIDE, BONES, HUMAN CRANIAL STRUCTURES, RAW FLESH, ASBESTOS, AND HAIR IS NOT SUITABLE FOR CONSUMSTION AND MUST BE SAVED TO CREATE DELICIOUS MAELSTROM BARS AND VARIOUS MAELSTROM PRODUCTS.
WHEN THE PROCESSING IS OVER YOU WILL BE RELEASED FROM THE CHAMBER. CRAWL BACK THROUGH THE MACHINE INTERIOR TO THE EXIT HATCH AND STATE YOUR FULL NAME, BIRTH DATE, PLACE OF BIRTH, AND EMPLOYEE NUMBER AND TITLE.
THAT CONCLUDES MACHINE TRAINING. THANK YOU FOR CO-OPERATING.
END PROGRAM(EHCDTRAINING)
EFFECTIVE IN_
3
2
1
PERMISSION FROM MealOS.
GRANTED_GRABSTATUS
STATUS == TRUE.
Ted- "Thanks for listening to us today!
Laura- "That concludes our lesson. Goodbye and:"
Ted and Laura- "Welcome to Maelstrom!"

As a side note, it takes you back to a bygone era. When American leaders were larger than life figures. Powerful men, who for whatever their faults were, cared about the country and its future. Today we have feckless dotards with soy hipster handlers.
Professor Woodrow Wilson once said that every man sent out from a university should be a man of his nation as well as a man of his time, and I am confident that the men and women who carry the honor of graduating from this institution will continue to give from their lives, from their talents, a high measure of public service and public support.
"There are few earthly things more beautiful than a university," wrote John Masefield in his tribute to English universities--and his words are equally true today. He did not refer to spires and towers, to campus greens and ivied walls. He admired the splendid beauty of the university, he said, because it was "a place where those who hate ignorance may strive to know, where those who perceive truth may strive to make others see."
I have, therefore, chosen this time and this place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived--yet it is the most important topic on earth: world peace.
What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children--not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women--not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.
I speak of peace because of the new face of war. Total war makes no sense in an age when great powers can maintain large and relatively invulnerable nuclear forces and refuse to surrender without resort to those forces. It makes no sense in an age when a single nuclear weapon contains almost ten times the explosive force delivered by all the allied air forces in the Second World War. It makes no sense in an age when the deadly poisons produced by a nuclear exchange would be carried by wind and water and soil and seed to the far corners of the globe and to generations yet unborn.
Today the expenditure of billions of dollars every year on weapons acquired for the purpose of making sure we never need to use them is essential to keeping the peace. But surely the acquisition of such idle stockpiles--which can only destroy and never create--is not the only, much less the most efficient, means of assuring peace.
I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary rational end of rational men. I realize that the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war--and frequently the words of the pursuer fall on deaf ears. But we have no more urgent task.
Some say that it is useless to speak of world peace or world law or world disarmament--and that it will be useless until the leaders of the Soviet Union adopt a more enlightened attitude. I hope they do. I believe we can help them do it. But I also believe that we must reexamine our own attitude--as individuals and as a Nation--for our attitude is as essential as theirs. And every graduate of this school, every thoughtful citizen who despairs of war and wishes to bring peace, should begin by looking inward--by examining his own attitude toward the possibilities of peace, toward the Soviet Union, toward the course of the cold war and toward freedom and peace here at home.
First: Let us examine our attitude toward peace itself. Too many of us think it is impossible. Too many think it unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable--that mankind is doomed--that we are gripped by forces we cannot control.
We need not accept that view. Our problems are manmade--therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man's reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable--and we believe they can do it again.
I am not referring to the absolute, infinite concept of peace and good will of which some fantasies and fanatics dream. I do not deny the value of hopes and dreams but we merely invite discouragement and incredulity by making that our only and immediate goal.
Let us focus instead on a more practical, more attainable peace-- based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions--on a series of concrete actions and effective agreements which are in the interest of all concerned. There is no single, simple key to this peace--no grand or magic formula to be adopted by one or two powers. Genuine peace must be the product of many nations, the sum of many acts. It must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation. For peace is a process--a way of solving problems.
With such a peace, there will still be quarrels and conflicting interests, as there are within families and nations. World peace, like community peace, does not require that each man love his neighbor--it requires only that they live together in mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a just and peaceful settlement. And history teaches us that enmities between nations, as between individuals, do not last forever. However fixed our likes and dislikes may seem, the tide of time and events will often bring surprising changes in the relations between nations and neighbors.
So let us persevere. Peace need not be impracticable, and war need not be inevitable. By defining our goal more clearly, by making it seem more manageable and less remote, we can help all peoples to see it, to draw hope from it, and to move irresistibly toward it.
Second: Let us reexamine our attitude toward the Soviet Union. It is discouraging to think that their leaders may actually believe what their propagandists write. It is discouraging to read a recent authoritative Soviet text on Military Strategy and find, on page after page, wholly baseless and incredible claims--such as the allegation that "American imperialist circles are preparing to unleash different types of wars . . . that there is a very real threat of a preventive war being unleashed by American imperialists against the Soviet Union . . . [and that] the political aims of the American imperialists are to enslave economically and politically the European and other capitalist countries . . . [and] to achieve world domination . . . by means of aggressive wars."
Truly, as it was written long ago: "The wicked flee when no man pursueth." Yet it is sad to read these Soviet statements--to realize the extent of the gulf between us. But it is also a warning--a warning to the American people not to fall into the same trap as the Soviets, not to see only a distorted and desperate view of the other side, not to see conflict as inevitable, accommodation as impossible, and communication as nothing more than an exchange of threats.
No government or social system is so evil that its people must be considered as lacking in virtue. As Americans, we find communism profoundly repugnant as a negation of personal freedom and dignity. But we can still hail the Russian people for their many achievements--in science and space, in economic and industrial growth, in culture and in acts of courage.
Among the many traits the peoples of our two countries have in common, none is stronger than our mutual abhorrence of war. Almost unique among the major world powers, we have never been at war with each other. And no nation in the history of battle ever suffered more than the Soviet Union suffered in the course of the Second World War. At least 20 million lost their lives. Countless millions of homes and farms were burned or sacked. A third of the nation's territory, including nearly two thirds of its industrial base, was turned into a wasteland--a loss equivalent to the devastation of this country east of Chicago.
Today, should total war ever break out again--no matter how--our two countries would become the primary targets. It is an ironic but accurate fact that the two strongest powers are the two in the most danger of devastation. All we have built, all we have worked for, would be destroyed in the first 24 hours. And even in the cold war, which brings burdens and dangers to so many nations, including this Nation's closest allies--our two countries bear the heaviest burdens. For we are both devoting massive sums of money to weapons that could be better devoted to combating ignorance, poverty, and disease. We are both caught up in a vicious and dangerous cycle in which suspicion on one side breeds suspicion on the other, and new weapons beget counterweapons.
In short, both the United States and its allies, and the Soviet Union and its allies, have a mutually deep interest in a just and genuine peace and in halting the arms race. Agreements to this end are in the interests of the Soviet Union as well as ours--and even the most hostile nations can be relied upon to accept and keep those treaty obligations, and only those treaty obligations, which are in their own interest.
So, let us not be blind to our differences--but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.
Third: Let us reexamine our attitude toward the cold war, remembering that we are not engaged in a debate, seeking to pile up debating points. We are not here distributing blame or pointing the finger of judgment. We must deal with the world as it is, and not as it might have been had the history of the last 18 years been different.
We must, therefore, persevere in the search for peace in the hope that constructive changes within the Communist bloc might bring within reach solutions which now seem beyond us. We must conduct our affairs in such a way that it becomes in the Communists' interest to agree on a genuine peace. Above all, while defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy--or of a collective death-wish for the world.
To secure these ends, America's weapons are nonprovocative, carefully controlled, designed to deter, and capable of selective use. Our military forces are committed to peace and disciplined in self- restraint. Our diplomats are instructed to avoid unnecessary irritants and purely rhetorical hostility.
For we can seek a relaxation of tension without relaxing our guard. And, for our part, we do not need to use threats to prove that we are resolute. We do not need to jam foreign broadcasts out of fear our faith will be eroded. We are unwilling to impose our system on any unwilling people--but we are willing and able to engage in peaceful competition with any people on earth.
Meanwhile, we seek to strengthen the United Nations, to help solve its financial problems, to make it a more effective instrument for peace, to develop it into a genuine world security system--a system capable of resolving disputes on the basis of law, of insuring the security of the large and the small, and of creating conditions under which arms can finally be abolished.
At the same time we seek to keep peace inside the non-Communist world, where many nations, all of them our friends, are divided over issues which weaken Western unity, which invite Communist intervention or which threaten to erupt into war. Our efforts in West New Guinea, in the Congo, in the Middle East, and in the Indian subcontinent, have been persistent and patient despite criticism from both sides. We have also tried to set an example for others--by seeking to adjust small but significant differences with our own closest neighbors in Mexico and in Canada.
Speaking of other nations, I wish to make one point clear. We are bound to many nations by alliances. Those alliances exist because our concern and theirs substantially overlap. Our commitment to defend Western Europe and West Berlin, for example, stands undiminished because of the identity of our vital interests. The United States will make no deal with the Soviet Union at the expense of other nations and other peoples, not merely because they are our partners, but also because their interests and ours converge.
Our interests converge, however, not only in defending the frontiers of freedom, but in pursuing the paths of peace. It is our hope-- and the purpose of allied policies--to convince the Soviet Union that she, too, should let each nation choose its own future, so long as that choice does not interfere with the choices of others. The Communist drive to impose their political and economic system on others is the primary cause of world tension today. For there can be no doubt that, if all nations could refrain from interfering in the self-determination of others, the peace would be much more assured.
This will require a new effort to achieve world law--a new context for world discussions. It will require increased understanding between the Soviets and ourselves. And increased understanding will require increased contact and communication. One step in this direction is the proposed arrangement for a direct line between Moscow and Washington, to avoid on each side the dangerous delays, misunderstandings, and misreadings of the other's actions which might occur at a time of crisis.
We have also been talking in Geneva about the other first-step measures of arms control designed to limit the intensity of the arms race and to reduce the risks of accidental war. Our primary long range interest in Geneva, however, is general and complete disarmament-- designed to take place by stages, permitting parallel political developments to build the new institutions of peace which would take the place of arms. The pursuit of disarmament has been an effort of this Government since the 1920's. It has been urgently sought by the past three administrations. And however dim the prospects may be today, we intend to continue this effort--to continue it in order that all countries, including our own, can better grasp what the problems and possibilities of disarmament are.
The one major area of these negotiations where the end is in sight, yet where a fresh start is badly needed, is in a treaty to outlaw nuclear tests. The conclusion of such a treaty, so near and yet so far, would check the spiraling arms race in one of its most dangerous areas. It would place the nuclear powers in a position to deal more effectively with one of the greatest hazards which man faces in 1963, the further spread of nuclear arms. It would increase our security--it would decrease the prospects of war. Surely this goal is sufficiently important to require our steady pursuit, yielding neither to the temptation to give up the whole effort nor the temptation to give up our insistence on vital and responsible safeguards.
I am taking this opportunity, therefore, to announce two important decisions in this regard.
First: Chairman Khrushchev, Prime Minister Macmillan, and I have agreed that high-level discussions will shortly begin in Moscow looking toward early agreement on a comprehensive test ban treaty. Our hopes must be tempered with the caution of history--but with our hopes go the hopes of all mankind.
Second: To make clear our good faith and solemn convictions on the matter, I now declare that the United States does not propose to conduct nuclear tests in the atmosphere so long as other states do not do so. We will not be the first to resume. Such a declaration is no substitute for a formal binding treaty, but I hope it will help us achieve one. Nor would such a treaty be a substitute for disarmament, but I hope it will help us achieve it.
Finally, my fellow Americans, let us examine our attitude toward peace and freedom here at home. The quality and spirit of our own society must justify and support our efforts abroad. We must show it in the dedication of our own lives--as many of you who are graduating today will have a unique opportunity to do, by serving without pay in the Peace Corps abroad or in the proposed National Service Corps here at home.
But wherever we are, we must all, in our daily lives, live up to the age-old faith that peace and freedom walk together. In too many of our cities today, the peace is not secure because the freedom is incomplete.
It is the responsibility of the executive branch at all levels of government--local, State, and National--to provide and protect that freedom for all of our citizens by all means within their authority. It is the responsibility of the legislative branch at all levels, wherever that authority is not now adequate, to make it adequate. And it is the responsibility of all citizens in all sections of this country to respect the rights of all others and to respect the law of the land.
All this is not unrelated to world peace. "When a man's ways please the Lord," the Scriptures tell us, "he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." And is not peace, in the last analysis, basically a matter of human rights--the right to live out our lives without fear of devastation--the right to breathe air as nature provided it--the right of future generations to a healthy existence?
While we proceed to safeguard our national interests, let us also safeguard human interests. And the elimination of war and arms is clearly in the interest of both. No treaty, however much it may be to the advantage of all, however tightly it may be worded, can provide absolute security against the risks of deception and evasion. But it can--if it is sufficiently effective in its enforcement and if it is sufficiently in the interests of its signers--offer far more security and far fewer risks than an unabated, uncontrolled, unpredictable arms race.
The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough--more than enough--of war and hate and oppression. We shall be prepared if others wish it. We shall be alert to try to stop it. But we shall also do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success. Confident and unafraid, we labor on--not toward a strategy of annihilation but toward a strategy of peace.

(continuation of part 5)
Post-OG Cloud ruminates on what he could have done to save Aerith. Had he not been so lost in his own mind —distracted by Sephiroth and Jenova, consumed by his need to fulfill the emptiness at the core of his identity—, would he have paid more attention to Aerith’s sadness and anticipated her plan to go to the Forgotten Capital alone? Could she have survived if not for his obsession with what tormented him at the time? Could he have figured it out and kept her by his side? He’s angry with himself in retrospect, drowning in guilt, just like in Advent Children.
Here are the choruses, which usually contain the thesis main message of a song:

“Shine bright once more
Guide me to you
Smile bright once more
This time I will never let you go”

&

“Hear me once more
Show me your smile
This time for sure
I'll see the truth hidden inside your tears
But I, I know
That you're long gone
But I, I will
Go on, howling and hollow”

In these choruses, Cloud asserts that he will get it right this time (“this time” referring to the second chance that is the Remake trilogy). He will make sure he saves Aerith and never lets her go. He knows she’s gone, but he will fight against time to get her back. He longs for her smile and her light again, and he cannot bear the guilt: so he doesn’t. Post-OG Cloud embarks on a new adventure: ”I want to go to a place where everything is new,” said Cloud to Wol and Echo in Eclipse Contact before facing his past and being launched into Remake. “Hollow” makes far more sense now, doesn’t it? It’s a song not only about Cloud’s loss, but also about his determination to save Aerith this time. Given that it’s the theme song of Remake, the fact that “Hollow” fits with our theory perfectly is a very good sign: a theme song is meant to reflect the main plot of a story, indicating as our theory states that Remake is principally, albeit secretly, about Cloud saving Aerith. Because of this hope being set up, I’m confident that they will be together in the end, reunited for good. My dear Clerith friends, this is the hidden purpose of the Remake trilogy. Cloud and Aerith will be reunited.
VI. e) ii. “No Promises to Keep” Lyrics
This is quite obvious. Aerith is resigned to her fate, but still harbors hope that she will meet Cloud again in a permanent reunion:

“Till the day that we meet again
Where or when?
I wish I could say
But believe, know that you'll find me
[…]
Till the day that we meet again
On our street, I want to believe
[…]
Till the day that we meet again
At our place, just let me believe
In the chance that you'll come
Take my hand and never let me go
Take my hand
And believe
We can be
Together evermore
[…]
Still I hope someday you'll come and find me
Still I know someday you'll come and find me”.

VI. f) The Theme of Reunion Explained?
The last point I want to hit on is the concept of reunion. In OG, this theme was pretty much dominated by the Jenova Reunion. To an OG fan back in 1997, “reunion” meant “Sephiroth and Jenova’s evil plan”. However, in the Remake trilogy, the theme is expanded into something more. The first time Cloud meets Aerith in Remake, she gives him a flower and tells him something she didn’t in OG:

“Lovers used to give these when they were reunited...”

In addition, we’ve already talked about how part 5 of “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” from the Remake OST tells the story of Cloud and Aerith’s reunion (see section “V. b) ii. 2)”).
Many moments exclusive to the Remake trilogy serve the same purpose: linking the theme of reunion to Aerith. This expansion of the theme is highly significant. Our theory is that the Remake trilogy exists to reunite Cloud and Aerith, so the fact that the trilogy would implement so many Clerith-centric references to reunion is great support for our theory.
VI. g) i. The Leslie-Cloud Parallel
Let’s consider another instance involving the reunion flower in Remake, more precisely, the chapter 14 subplot surrounding Leslie’s lost lover. In case you need a refresher, Leslie is one of Corneo’s lackeys, although he secretly plans to betray him. He once had a fiancée and things were looking up until she was selected as one of Corneo’s brides. The day before she disappeared (presumably taken by Corneo), his fiancée broke up with him with no explanation. It was confusing and left Leslie perplex. As she broke up with him, she returned a necklace to him, one with a flower pendant. Of course, that flower is the very same reunion flower Aerith gives Cloud in chapter 2.
Evidently, Leslie and Cloud are going through parallel situations. At this point in time, Aerith was just kidnapped by Shinra, and Cloud is on his way to get her back. Both their loved ones have been taken by tyrant rulers, one being slumlord Corneo and the other being the Shinra government. In fact, even Leslie and Cloud’s attitudes share similar disillusioned, cold and stoic qualities. Leslie’s fiancée would evidently be paralleled by Aerith.
The most obvious proof of the Leslie-Cloud parallel is written plainly on the list of Remake’s chapter 14 main scenario objectives. Objective 7, called “For the Reunion”, consists of receiving the grappling guns needed to reach topside and save Aerith. The description of the objective reads as follows:

“Leslie gives them grappling guns, and they wish each other luck in reuniting with their respective loved ones. Leslie walks off, and the three prepare to climb the wall.”

The grappling guns are “For the Reunion”, because evidently, the loved one Cloud wants to reunite with is Aerith.
All this is simple and apparent enough. Just the fact that the theme of reunion is linked to Clerith in this way is proof enough, but there’s another layer to the Leslie-Cloud parallel. Not only does Leslie’s situation reinforce the concept of a Clerith reunion, it also mirrors the specifics of our theory: namely that Cloud will save Aerith from specifically Sephiroth (represented in Leslie’s scenario by Corneo) and that Cloud will take the initiative to accomplish this reunion. These two specific aspects of our theory are reflected by Leslie’s circumstances, meaning the Leslie-Cloud parallel not only pushes the theme of reunion, but also supports our specific theory.
VI. g) i. 1) The Separators: Corneo and Sephiroth
I’ll first prove that Leslie’s scenario is not meant to echo Cloud’s separation from Aerith at the hands of Shinra —or at least not exclusively—, but rather Cloud’s separation from Aerith at the hands of Sephiroth. Corneo would therefore be paralleled by Sephiroth rather than the tyrannical Shinra government.
The first piece of proof for the Corneo-Seohiroth parallel lies within the way in which Leslie’s fiancée broke things off: by lying. Aerith also lies to Cloud to create distance between them, but not pertaining to her kidnapping— rather, pertaining to her fated death. Since Sephiroth is Aerith’s killer and not Shinra, Corneo’s role in the Leslie-Cloud parallel is analogous to Sephiroth’s rather than Shinra’s.
There are two pieces of evidence that the Corneo-Sephiroth comparison makes more sense than the Corneo-Shinra one. The first lies in the fact that Leslie’s breakup resembles Cloud’s resolution scene: the topic of Cloud’s resolution scene is Aerith’s fate at the hands of Sephiroth rather than her kidnapping by Shinra, meaning Corneo and Sephiroth are the antagonists of both heartbreaks.
Let’s examine Leslie’s breakup. Here is how his fiancée broke things off, taken from the English script of Remake’s chapter 14, with tone indicators added by me in bold:

“Fiancée: It was all just a dream, wasn't it[?]
Fiancée: (Hopefully) But one day…
(She trails off, then shakes her head and stops herself.)
Fiancée: (Sadly, hopelessly) — no. Time to wake up. And forget.
(She walks away.)”

Now, here is a more literal translation of this quote from the original Japanese (verified by me via DeepL), with tone indicators added by me in bold:

“Fiancée: It was only just a dream we had / We were only dreaming...
Fiancée: (Hopefully, as though as a hail Mary) In the language of the flowers...
(She trails off, then shakes her head and stops herself.)
Fiancée: (Sadly, hopelessly) — no. You should forget about me.
(She walks away.)”

Leslie’s fiancée is clearly breaking up with him to spare him the pain of blaming himself for not being able to protect her from Corneo, as she knows it’s too late for her to escape from the slumlord’s clutches. We know this because we understand that the pendant she gave back to him symbolizes a reunion (especially between lovers, as Aerith told Cloud in chapter 2). In fact, the Japanese version of the script reveals that the fiancée was about to reveal the meaning of the flower, perhaps in the hopes that they would find each other once more, but she lost her nerve at the last second. Notice that she tells Leslie two specific things. One: their love or their future together was only a dream, meaning that it wasn’t real. Two: he should forget about her, because the dream is over now and it’s time to wake up from it.
If you’re finding this familiar, then you might be ahead of me. Let’s take a look at what Aerith says to Cloud in his resolution scene, also in the English script of Remake’s chapter 14, with tone indicators added by me in bold:

“Aerith: […] you can’t fall in love with me. [It]’s not real […]. (With a sigh, as though from sadness or difficulty, but resolutely) It’s almost morning. Time to go.”

Now, here is a more literal translation of this quote from the original Japanese (verified by me via DeepL), with tone indicators added by me in bold:

“Aerith: You can’t let yourself fall in love with me. [It]’s only your imagination […]. (With a sigh, as though from sadness or difficulty, but resolutely) Looks like it’s already morning. Time for me to go.”

Just like Leslie’s fiancée, Aerith is rejecting or denying Cloud’s love for her in order to spare him from the pain of not having been able to be with her before her death, as she believes it is inevitable. Just like the fiancée, Aerith also tells Cloud two things. One: their love is imaginary or isn’t real. Two: it’s morning, and she has to go (she says this right before Cloud wakes from the pseudo-dream).
In both cases, the women know something about their fate that the men don’t and are hiding this impending tragedy from them. Just like Leslie’s fiancée, Aerith uses well-intentioned deception to protect her loved one from the pain that will come from her fate— the lie, of course, is that their love isn’t real. Both women are hopeless, and both men are initially clueless. Aerith’s resolution can’t be about her kidnapping, because Aerith thinks her rescue is anything but hopeless— she’s sure Cloud will come save her from Shinra. She says so herself in OG’s disk 1, chapter 8:

“Cloud: Aeris!? You safe?
Aeris: Yeah, I'm all right. I knew that [you] would come for me.”

What Aerith is so resigned about in Cloud’s resolution scene isn’t her kidnapping, but instead her fated death at the hands of Sephiroth. Nojima hints at this in FFVII Remake Ultimania:

“If you know Aerith’s fate, then this line would really pull at your heart strings […]” (section 08 “Secrets”, “Development Staff Interviews, Part 2: Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshinori Kitase, Yoshinori Kitase, Kazushige Nojima”, page 744).

Here is what codirector Toriyama had to say on Aerith’s words:

“[While] these words are intended for Cloud, I think Aerith is partly speaking them to herself. The contents of her request may be at odds with how she truly feels inside” (FFVII Remake Material Ultimania Plus, VA Script Notes, “A Dream Shown by Aerith”, “Scenario Staff Q&A - Answered by Motomu Toriyama”).

These two quotes by the devs show that Aerith is trying to protect Cloud from her death. Therefore, the Corneo-Sephiroth parallel is far more apt than the Corneo-Shinra parallel.
The second piece of evidence supporting my belief that Corneo mirrors Sephiroth and not Shinra in the Leslie-Cloud parallel is the inclusion of the theme of revenge that crops up in the following piece of dialogue:

“Tifa: Why did you wanna come down here?
Leslie: Revenge. I know I need to let go, but I can't. I need closure, 'cause without it... I'll never be able to move on” (Remake, chapter 14).

Leslie’s sentiment toward Corneo resembles Cloud’s feelings toward Sephiroth after Aerith’s death. Revenge links Cloud to Sephiroth, not to Shinra. Corneo and Sephiroth reflect each other in that, as a consequence of their actions toward a woman, the man who loves her desires revenge.
Additionally, it looks like Leslie’s obsession with revenge as a means to closure is the reason he didn’t bother trying to understand the message his fiancée left him with: he’s focused on his hate rather than his love, and it’s hindering him. He doesn’t succeed in killing Corneo either: his focus and energy are misplaced. Cloud’s desire for vengeance against Sephiroth is also depicted as an obstacle to accomplishing his goals (see how in section “III. c)” of my previous literary analysis). Once more, the Corneo-Sephiroth parallel fits far better than a Corneo-Shinra perspective.
VI. g) i. 2) The Reunion Seekers: Leslie and Cloud
The other aspect of the Leslie-Cloud parallel that supports our theory is that in both scenarios, they both take charge of the situation and decide to actively seek reunion with their respective lovers. The following dialogue excerpt, supplemented by the VA script notes, shows Leslie’s initiative:

“Tifa: [Your fiancée] could still be out there.
Barret: Can never be sure how much someone means to ya till they're gone. Don't give up on her yet.
Leslie: (Looks at the flower pendant, [recalling his lover’s words) A message in the language of flowers… I wonder what she meant by it.
[…]
Tifa: Reunion.
Leslie: Huh?
Tifa: In the language of flowers, it means ‘reunion.’
(Leslie shifts his gaze from Tifa to the pendant and stares at it for some time. At last he understands the words his lover left him. With that, as if his mind has been made up, he clutches the pendant and hangs it around his neck.)
Leslie: Then I guess I’ll just have to find her first” (FFVII Remake Material Ultimania Plus, VA Script Notes, “Other Notable Stage Directions - Chapters 14-16”).

Take note of Leslie’s final response and the determination with which he speaks: “Then I guess I’ll just have to find her first”. Remember that we’re searching for evidence that Cloud is going to be the one reaching out to Aerith in the Remake trilogy, and that it’s his turn to take his future into his hands. He must be more attentive, more active this time. And Leslie’s words of determination reflect this perfectly. Leslie must find his fiancée first, just like Cloud has to be the one to offer his hand to Aerith in the Remake trilogy and fight for her. This is exactly what our theory is all about.
VI. g) i. 3) Delayed Realizations
Interestingly, not only does Leslie’s determination mirror Cloud’s, but both men are depicted as realizing the truth too late. Just like Leslie only began searching for his fiancée six months after her disappearance, Cloud only realizes he loves Aerith in OG once she’s died. It took him this long to actually get somewhere in his mission to reunite with her— “somewhere” being the Remake trilogy.
Even Barret’s words highlight the lovers’ delay: “Can never be sure how much someone means to ya till they're gone”. Barret would know: he lost his wife Myrna, whom he loved dearly. The devs have Barret comment on the situation as a man whose lover died, mirroring Cloud’s situation in OG. Just as Barret says, Cloud only truly realized the strength of how he felt for Aerith in OG once she was gone. The gunman’s words apply to both Leslie and Cloud’s tardy initiatives. Regardless of this delay, both men are now determined to see their respective reunions through.
The degree to which the Leslie-Cloud parallel fits our theory is a great sign of its validity: even the details are lining up!
VI. g) ii. Reunion in the Theme Songs
Too easy: in our analysis of the lyrics of the theme songs, we covered how both texts include the theme of reunion. “No Promises to Keep” is especially relevant (see section “VI. e) ii.”), as the entire song is Aerith hoping against fate for a reunion with Cloud (even if you believe the song is about all her companions, that still includes Cloud).
On top of these reunion-themed lyrics, during Aerith’s in-game performance of “No Promises to Keep” at the Gold Saucer production of Loveless, her yellow blossoms signifying reunion bloom all around her as Cloud watches her, captivated.
Another great sign for our theory: the highly significant theme songs are on our side!
VI. g) iii. Waking Up Reunited
The thing I want to juxtapose to our theory is a small yet special moment in chapter 2 of Rebirth that stuck out to me like a sore thumb and got me really excited about sharing it with you. This moment occurs after the battle against the Midgardsormr. We’ll be comparing it to two other clips, describing all three in chronological order, and making deductions based on their similarities.
The first clip I want to address occurs in chapter 8 of Remake (1:32-2:12). There are a couple of things I want to point out in this scene. First, Aerith wakes Cloud from unconsciousness with a cute call of “Hello~?”. Second, despite pretending that he doesn’t, he immediately recognizes her. The VA script notes prove it:

“Aerith: Nice to meet you again.
Cloud actually remembers Aerith, but he pretends not to, perhaps wishing to make himself look cool.
Cloud: Again, huh?
Aerith: What? You don’t remember? How about…the flowers?
Cloud looks at the flowers at his feet and pretends as if he’s only just remembered.
Cloud: Oh, the flower seller” (FFVII Remake Material Ultimania Plus, VA script notes, “Reuniting with Aerith”).

So: she wakes him with a cute call, and he recognizes her. Also note that these two elements also apply to the OG church reunion scene.
Now onto the Rebirth chapter 2 scene that stuck out to me. After Cloud is saved from the Midgardsormr by Sephiroth, Cloud wakes from an unconsciousness spell with Aerith calling for him (7:20-7:34).
Once more, Aerith wakes him with a cute call (this time, it’s “Wakey, wakey!”), and Cloud recognizes her. In this Midgardsormr clip, unlike their reunion in the church, Cloud verbalizes that he remembers her. This time, there’s more: next, Aerith tells Cloud “おかえり, クラウド”, or “okaeri, Cloud”, which translates to “welcome back, Cloud”. “Okaeri” is what you say in Japanese when someone has returned home. In the third clip we will analyze, Aerith says “okaeri” to Cloud once more. But first, let’s break down this second clip.
I don’t know about you, but this cutscene felt extremely weird to me when I first encountered it. That is, it would have been, if not for the theory I’d begun formulating at that time.
You see, the devs could have chosen for Aerith to ask Cloud if he remembers his own name or where they are, if he’s okay, or check if he responds to his own name. In fact, asking someone who’s been hit on the head to say their own name is a much more common reaction to them finally waking up than asking them if they remember you. Even stranger is Cloud’s reaction: he could have answered “Yeah, you’re Aerith,” or “I remember everything, I’m fine”. Instead, he says her name with this airy and wonderstruck tone. He sounds like he’s opening his eyes to something mystic rather than his comrade leaning over him, like he’s seeing someone unexpectedly for the first time in a while… or rather like he’s waking from a trance of some kind— a trance in which he did not remember Aerith, and now he does. You may see where I’m going with this.
Let’s examine the third clip, wherein Aerith tells Cloud “okaeri” again. More specifically, in chapter 14, Aerith welcomes Cloud back when he snaps out of his zombified, Sephiroth-controlled state and runs toward her. Of course, it’s the sight of her and his memories of meeting her in chapter 2 of Remake that shake him awake (2:17:43-2:18:02).
For a third time, Aerith wakes Cloud. This time, she’s pulling him out of a trance and back to himself. And for a third time, Cloud remembers her. In fact, it’s remembering her that wakes him up. Cloud calls her name and Aerith says “okaeri” in both the post-Midgardsormr cutscene and this third clip. And in both scenes, not only does Cloud return to himself the way someone returns home (recall that “okaeri” is used to welcome someone back home), but he’s also returning to her, recognizing her as his home.
Now we’ve got three scenes lined up: the church reunion scene (both in OG and Remake), the Midgardsormr scene and the hand-reach scene. All three of these recognition scenes feature Cloud being woken up by Aerith and remembering who she is. The main difference is that, in the scenes among these three that are exclusive to Rebirth, Cloud’s return to Aerith is far more meaningful, as he already knows her name, and knows more about who she is to him. Evidently, in the OG church reunion scene, Cloud only remembers being sold a flower by this girl. In the Remake version, he remembers the same thing, plus the attack of the whispers. So there’s something much more weighty about the Rebirth recognition scenes: he remembers more, and he remembers deeper. These aren’t just recognition scenes, they’re also mini-reunions. Of course, as we’ve already analyzed pertaining to the hand-reaching scene, Cloud remembering Aerith is followed by him being the one to take action and run toward her, eager to save her, because she means the world to him. When you place the Midgardsormr scene between the church reunion scene and the hand-reach scene, an evolution of Cloud waking up and remembering Aerith is formed. Each mini-reunion scene adds a piece to the story: the church scene informs us that Cloud and Aerith are meeting again, the Midgardsormr scene tips us off that something mystic is going on from Cloud’s tone when he says Aerith’s name, and the hand reach scene tells us that as a consequence of remembering who Aerith is, Cloud saves her from falling to her death and saving her. “Meeting again”, “mystic”, and “saving Aerith”: these are the keywords of the mini-reunion scenes. They are also the keywords of our theory on Cloud’s mission to save Aerith. This time around Cloud knows more and is more conscious about how he feels for Aerith, just like he feels more when in the hand-reach scene in Rebirth compared to the church reunion scene in Remake. From the latter scene to the former, Cloud gradually wakes up and remembers his love for and loss of Aerith in the OG more and more. Each mini-reunion brings him closer to saving her when he blocks the masamune. This is why I am certain that in part 3, whether Cloud comes to his full senses or not, whether he remembers the events of OG or not, he will save Aerith this time. The Remake trilogy is centered around Aerith, after all. In fact, don’t take it from me, take it from Nojima:

“Aerith's the most important character in the remake so we paid special attention to her lines” (FFVII Remake Ultimania, section 08 “Secrets”, “Development Staff Interviews, Part 2: Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshinori Kitase, Kazushige Nojima”, page 744).

I have full confidence in this fact: one way or another, these two will have a happy ending. This is Cloud’s second chance, and as he swore in “Hollow”, he is not losing her again. That is why I don’t think you should fret, and that our Clerith hearts will be very happy to see these two together again for good in part 3.
VI. h) Zooming In
In fact, this zooming-in method of directing players’ attention to important narrative beats is far from new.
VI. h) i. Changing Fate
Let’s divert our attention to Nanaki’s Skywheel date (2:28-3:30). The dialogue goes like this: Nanaki brings us the Whispers and suggests the party might eventually forget about their existence, and Cloud says that frankly, if it’s impossible for them to change fate either way, then it would be better for them to forget to Whispers altogether.
This is a very clear message from the devs: “There would be no point in including the Whispers in the Remaketrilogy if we did not make use of their defeat”. They’re telling us through Cloud’s dialogue that they know it would be foul play and bad writing to introduce the theme of defying fate if it didn’t eventually pay off.
As if it weren’t clear enough what the devs are referring to, Nanaki brings up Aerith’s death directly after Cloud delivers the devs’ message to us. He actually makes Cloud promise to save her. This is pretty on the nose. By promising Nanaki he will protect Aerith, the devs are promising us the same. I’m certain that part 3 will deliver on this promise.
If you still aren’t sold, I’d like to direct your attention to the framing of the shot where Cloud says “If we can’t change [fate]” (2:49-2:51). There’s a zoom-in on his mouth, which is a visual cue that translates to “what this character is saying right now is important to the plot”. It’s very indiscreet in theory: the camera literally hones in on the invisible words as though the script has them highlighted, italicized triple-underlined and in bold.
VI. h) ii. Aerith’s Knowledge
We’ve seen the Remake trilogy use this camera framing at least twice so far. The first time occurs in Remake’s chapter 8, before it becomes clear that Aerith knows things from the OG game that she wouldn’t normally know if this were just a remastered version of the same 1997 plot. I’ll let Remake Ultimania‘s description of this moment speak for itself:

“When Cloud and Aerith return the rescued children to Oates, the man in the tattered black cloak shows up again at the hideout. The moment the man grasps Cloud’s arm, he’s overcome by another violent headache and sees a vision of Sephiroth. Cloud wonders if this man who supposedly died five years ago could possibly still be alive. When he says as much to Aerith, she gives him a vague reply” (FFVII Remake Ultimania, section 04: “Scenario”, “Chapter 8 Main Story Digest”, page 256).

Aerith’s “vague reply” is accentuated by a very deliberate zoom-in on her mouth (1:18:05-1:18:09), and therefore her words.
The framing of this shot indicates to us that what Aerith says provides an important hint as to the plot’s direction. Sure enough, with hindsight, it’s easy to see that’s true.
VI. h) iii. Tifa’s Question
Another time this framing is used is in chapter 1 of Rebirth, after Cloud recounts the Nibelheim incident. Tifa asks the group why Sephiroth is choosing to come back now, after five years (37:55-37:58).
Once more, we are being signaled that the reason Sephiroth chose to return at the moment he did is significant to the plot, but cannot be revealed explicitly yet. The reason why Sephiroth took five years to return is because that’s how long it took for Cloud to get back on his feet after the Nibelheim incident: Sephiroth wants and/or needs to manipulate Cloud in particular rather than all the other people with Jenova cells in them. It took five years for Cloud to not only go through Hojo’s experiments but also escape Shinra and make his way to Seventh Heaven, where Tifa nursed him back to health— therefore, it took five years until Sephiroth’s favorite pawn was available to be used. There are a few reasons why Cloud is the one Sephiroth wants to use, and all of them would be spoilers at this point in Rebirth to players who don’t know the OG plot. The devs can’t reveal any of them yet, but they do indicate via a close-up shot of Tifa’s mouth that her question is important.
VI. h) iv. The Takeaway
As you can see, this framing of characters’ mouths when they speak signals a plot-significant piece of dialogue. This means Cloud’s words on his gondola date with Nanaki can’t be brushed off as a red herring or an unimportant or throwaway line: it has narrative weight.

VII. The Devs

I think it’s important to remember the devs and their commitment to the world of FFVII. They know best for this story, and they’ve proven it to be true many times over. There are many things about the devs’ intentions that the fandom don’t seem to know that I think would give you confidence to find out.
VII. a) Shifting Themes
Good storytellers don’t introduce themes as a way to pull the rug from under audiences’ feet by later rendering them completely irrelevant to the plot.
In other words, the devs would not have introduced the notion of fate as an antagonistic force in Remake, nor allowed the players to defeat it in chapter 18, had they planned for these themes not to pay off at all. Think of how good FFVII OG and FF stories in general are, how strong the writing is from a narrative point of view. Nothing is included for no reason or for a cheap reaction— especially not a central theme of a story. Fate and defeating it is a huge point of Remake, and not for no reason.
I mean, think about a storyline all about defying fate ending with a shrug and a “Oh well, we tried.” It would be ridiculous! The devs are better than that.
VII. b) What the Devs Want
The devs are well aware that fans of FFVII have been begging for Aerith’s resurrection since 1997. All those petitions, all those myths of a revival hack… SE knows about them all too well. They were even referenced by FF’s 30th anniversary expo, which partly promoted Remake:

“No one expected [Aerith’s death] in the middle of the story. Rumors of a secret way to revive Aerith spread, and it was clear players were having a hard time saying goodbye to her too. Even now, twenty years later, it still feels like a shocking turn of events” (Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Exposition Pamphlet, page 36).

Hamaguchi, codirector of the Remake project, commented on these rumors:

“Interviewer: Do you have a favorite fake rumor about the original FFVII?

Hamaguchi: I hear a lot about Aerith coming back to life and that's something that's very interesting to hear” (Hamaguchi interview: “129 Rapid-Fire Questions Answered About Final Fantasy VII Rebirth”, by Game Informer).

The devs are also aware of how beloved Clerith is to the FFVII fandom, especially in Japan— in fact, the only FFVII ship name that is an official iOS search term on the Japanese Apple Store is Clerith’s (“クラエア” or “kuraea” in Japanese). Aerith herself is a widely beloved character, particularly, once more, in Japan. For instance, Famitsu and NHK’s recent polls on the best FF heroine and on the best FF character in general both resulted in Aerith ranking number 3, beaten only in the latter poll by Cloud at number 1 and FFX’s Yuna at number 2.
The devs know how well-loved both Clerith and Aerith are. And in fact, they love Aerith at least as much as we do:

“Cloud's feelings [of guilt] cannot be resolved by anyone other than Aerith. I tried to convey [that Aerith is saying to Cloud] ‘I'm still here for you’” (FFVII Reunion Files, Nojima’s note on Aerith’s character file, page 58).

&

“When I saw the finished product of [Aerith’s face in] CG, I thought, "Oh, isn’t she so cute?” (FFVII Reunion Files, Nomura’s note on Aerith’s character file, page 58).

&

"The idea of having Aeris die during the story had a great impact on all the dev staff," Toriyama explained, "and personally I decided to dedicate my efforts to depicting Aeris in as appealing a way as possible, so that she would become an irreplaceable character to the player in preparation for that moment" (Toriyama interview “Final Fantasy anniversary interview: Toriyama speaks” by VG247).

The devs care about Aerith, and they’re fully aware we do too.
I think a lot of people have it in their heads that the devs don’t want anything to change from the OG story, but there’s a lot of evidence that says otherwise. Codirector Toriyama spoke on this, stating the following about the production process of Remake:

“[…] there were times the original version became a hindrance. Specifically, staff members with a strong attachment to Final Fantasy VII would often hold themselves back for fear of deviating too much from the original. When we created the original game, we obviously didn’t feel bound in that way. We were passionate about creating a brand new Final Fantasy title, and so we dove in and embraced whatever seemed most interesting to us. We wanted to take that approach this time as well, so we made a special effort to liberate ourselves whenever we held back, remembering that it was okay to do the things we wanted to do” (FFVII Remake Ultimania, section 08 “Secrets”, “Development Staff Interviews, Part 1: Motomu Toriyama, Naoki Hamaguchi, Teruki Endo”, page 737).

Codirector Nomura said the following:

“When I asked Nojima if he’d write the scenario, I was clear about my demands up front. I said, ‘If we're going to remake Final Fantasy VII, I want it to be done like this.’ At that point, I was intent on making something more than just a remake. [Similarly to how] the battle system this time incorporates elements of the original game’s ATB mechanics [while] also been reborn using a real-time approach […], I wanted to make a story that players would feel is fundamentally Final Fantasy VII but also something new” (FFVII Remake Ultimania, section 08 “Secrets”, “Development Staff Interviews, Part 2: Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshinori Kitase, Kazushige Nojima”, page 745).

Clearly, the devs don’t want to be bogged down by the OG, and are making efforts to do things the way they want to rather than the way they were previously done. The newer generation of developers such as codirector Hamaguchi is also involved in these story changes:

“Interviewer: There are also drastically more scenes with Sephiroth than there were in the original game.
Nojima: We weren't planning on having him appear so much at first— the idea was only to hint at his presence. But we changed our approach partway through and became more proactive with having him appear, after which the number of scenes he features in rapidly increased.
Nomura: Hamaguchi [codirector Naoki Hamaguchi] came up to me one day and said in a mysterious tone, ‘I'd like to talk to you about something.’ He asked me about having there be a battle with Sephiroth in Midgar. In the original game, Sephiroth’s true body is located elsewhere, so he didn’t think I'd give in to the idea so easily. I think he even prepared materials to persuade me. But in the end I agreed readily [laughs]” (FFVII Remake Ultimania, section 08 “Secrets”, “Development Staff Interviews, Part 2: Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshinori Kitase, Kazushige Nojima”, page 746).

Kitase, the producer of the Remake trilogy, even says that after working on this project for so long, and after spending almost 30 years on the FFVII project and getting to know the characters, he has realized that:

“The more [he works] on it, the more [he wants] to make all these characters happy. [He wants] to give them a happy ending. The rest of the team’s opinions [obviously] also have to be taken into consideration, so it won't be all happiness and rainbows. But [he] just [wants] to make [the characters of FFVII] happy” (Kitase and Hamaguchi’s interview “Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s Producer Just Wants 'the Characters to End Up Happy'”, by Vandal, translated by me).

Kitase is indeed only one developer, but he’s the producer of this project: that’s the very top position. He oversees everything and nothing goes without his approval. That counts for something. Of course, Kitase is fair and values the input of all the devs, so of course it won’t be “all happiness and rainbows”— but I sincerely believe there’s a big chance that Cloud and Aerith are heading toward their happy ending. Even if this theory is completely bogus, I want to have faith that the devs would not sacrifice good storytelling for nostalgia and a conservative attitude toward preserving the OG story, as that would be cheap of them, and we have not known them to be cheap. This game truly matters to them, so I think they deserve our faith.
(conclusion in

I made it to lvl 94 Solo Offline with my Hardcore Summon Druid on what feels like a year ago, but it's actually only been a week. I only have a bar left til 95 (about 30-40 million XP) and I'm hitting a wall.
I've been trying on and off, a couple months at a time, for about two years, to reach 99 on a HC character. I've lost a couple druids around lvl 80 (never play tired), a summoner Necro at 90 (screw them Javelin cats), and a Trapsin at 92 (didn't know Pindleskins could 1 shot me) in that time; along with a handful of low levels.
I've got to the gear point where I'm mostly decked out - Jalal's Mane, Spirit shield, CtA swap, Sandstorm Treks, Skin of the Vipermagi, Chance Guards (Haven't found jack for actual gloves). I have Deaths Toll and Andi's Visage on my Merc, along with bramble (it's eh). I even found a Gheeds, Perfect Bone-Break Charm, and a Ondel's Wisdom staff for a little bit extra XP gain.
Pretty much all Id hope for as a drop is SoJ or other good rings, Mara's Kaleidoscope, or some skillers grand charms - I also am waiting on a Ber and Lo rune for Beast and Fortitude for merc. It's gotten kind of stale, drop-wise, for this character.
I just need some encouragement, a pep talk, maybe a personal anecdote about your journey - I can't imagine doing the climb before Terror Zones. Heck, AMA about my journey - I was thinking about making a long form video guide on it trying to bring all the stuff I've learned about it together (hard to find the type of concise guide for it on YT) so it'd help to have some good questions or ideas for it.
I don't have anybody to talk to about this IRL so I just need to reignite the passion to propel me to that last 1 Billion XP lol.
Please help!

Hey everyone! I'm a TFT streamer and Competitive player, hit challenger every set since 4 (not this set! I'll tell you why). I've never posted on Reddit, but I felt like I had too many things I wanted to break down and have a conversation about. These thoughts were just too much for a Twitter post, and I'm really curious to hear how everyone else in the community feels :)!
Disclaimer: I love everyone at the TFT team, and have immense respect for everyone on it, and I know for a fact they all strive to make a product they are proud of. This post is out of love for the game.

1. Novelty in TFT / Set Mechanics: Regarding Novelty in TFT / Set Mechanics: In recent sets, it's clear that the TFT team is determined to create unique and memorable moments for players, which I appreciate. However, in their pursuit of these moments, they seem to have lost sight of the essence that made TFT so magical from the start.

We can all agree that Set 10 was a huge breath of fresh air coming off the turbo-boring set that was 9.5 where everyone equipped URF legend and popped tome 2-1 and prayed. Set 10 is, in my opinion, one of the greatest sets ever designed. Everything aligned perfectly and harmoniously (music pun!), the unit and trait design was near flawless, the set mechanic was a huge upgrade to Set 4/4.5's Chosen mechanic, and the 5 Costs really did feel like premium units. It was a homerun for TFT. (The numbers show that too for all you numbers people)
Moving on from 10 and coming into 11. It was glaring to me that in an attempt to reach the destination of creating novel moments in TFT they took the wrong road. Encounters might just be one of the worst types of game mechanics to ever exist (second only to shadow items). It's a disaster lottery draw every single time it shows up that you dread won't destroy the path that you calculated was the most optimal path based on what you've gotten so far in terms of units, items, augments, etc... The main reason why Encounters are bad game design is because they take away player agency in an unhealthy way. That doesn't mean that there can't be potential encounter type mechanics that borrow player agency that are healthy. It just means this one is bad. It's a lot of quantity over quality and it leaves the player in this weird middle-ground where they're not too impactful to create a sense of excitement and awe when they pop up, but they're just useful enough to be extremely annoying when they don't benefit you at all, and accelerate other people's boards. (Obviously this isn't ALL encounters, but definitely most)

1. Unit and Trait design: Set 11 brings some of the most lackluster / boring feeling units and traits I've ever had the un-pleasure of playing. If you named all your favorite TFT units / Traits of all time do you think any of set 11's Units / Traits would make it into your S-Tier category? (Maybe Lissandra, but she's just a worse Set 6 Tahm Kench lets be real) and apart from the idea behind Exalted (It needs more work, but can be an amazing way of introducing infinite comps) not much in Set 11 stands out to me on that front. I'll delve deeper into a few things I don't want to bloat this post, but just know there's a lot more. Kayle is one of, if not the worst summon unit we've ever had in TFT. The idea behind build your own summon unit is fantastic and I genuinely hope they give this another go, but the execution was suboptimal at best. Sets 3 / 4 / 6 / 10 All had extremely life-like and memorable summons Giant Mech Garen that thrusts down sword into the arena, Giant Galio slamming into the arena and punching units to death, Bears and dragons to buff your team and fight alongside you, and even a Hecarim that gallops onto your board and buffs your team and slashes enemies. Summoned units SHOULD feel, sound, and look impactful, and not act like any unit I could buy from the store. Or else they just end up being a glorified 2 cost. Stats aside (I love stats, but this post isn't about them), my primary aim is to ensure a fun game before delving into statistical analysis. Kayle feels like a filler unit that you mostly just plop in the back and forget about, doesn't do much unless you hit the crazy (mostly unobtainable) 10 Piece trait. Speaking of unobtainable traits. It seems to me the TFT team has come up with this bandage solution of gatekeeping a lot of really fun and exciting moments behind these extremely hard-to-obtain 9-10 Piece traits. We've never had this issue in TFT; why are we now gatekeeping a lot of the exciting moments behind 100+ hours of playtime. You can tone down a lot of the exciting moments, and still keep them accessible, but challenging to obtain. You've done this for the longest time; why fix something that isn't broken. Personally, I think there needs to be a revaluation of what makes a Set engaging and fun, and what players really want to see and play around with for hundreds of hours way before you start delving into the mindset of "How do we add as much divergence, nuance, and novelty". Those roads can meet and intertwine, but they aren't the same road.
2. Items, Augments, and Orbs!: Items - Here's a little brain exercise for everyone, what would happen in TFT if we removed all item components, and strictly dropped only Ornn anvils all game? (Take a minute to think before you click the spoiler!) If you guessed it would ensue chaos, bugs, and a balancing nightmare. OR be a hell of a lot of fun! you'd be correct both ways! (New portal idea!/s) Luckily for us, that isn't the case. However, I do think we've reached a point with items where we're too comfortable with what they wish to achieve on units, and this creates a dynamic where TFT units are always being designed with items in mind, and how the items would make the unit work. Rather than creating fun and engaging units in a vacuum and worrying about the items later. It's a scary prospect to experiment with the tried and true (Think back to Set 7 when they made Rage-wing trait experimenting with units that had a different fuel source than mana, but it was a total miss or when they created the dreaded Shadow items), but it's just food for thought. Just because you didn't get it right once, doesn't mean the idea is flawed, just means you didn't get it right that one time. A time where you definitely did get it right however, is Radiant items Look how those turned out! Some of the most beloved items of all time. This is sort of what they wanted to achieve with the new expansion to the Ornn anvil items, and support items. It's definitely a step in the right direction, but can definitely be explored more.

Augments - Augments really was a happy little accidental shift in TFT's life cycle. They created the perfect concoction of how to add an almost infinite amount of variability to a game that was missing just that. (Which also adds to why Encounters are redundant and frustrating) Since then they've time and time again created really fun and engaging augments each set, that without I'm almost certain TFT wouldn't be as popular as it is. Please keep doing this, this is really good. Another little thought exercise before we continue. What would happen if most of the Encounters were just turned into Augments instead? (Think a little before you click spoiler!) If You guessed it would just create a healthier way of interacting with said encounters. You'd be correct!
If you're trying to create a new set mechanic (encounters) it shouldn't overlap with something that already exists that's just better than the new thing you're trying to create (augments). However, getting back on track. It does feel like things have gotten a little too comfortable in the Augment space, and feels like there hasn't been much room for innovative change. There's an untapped reservoir right in front of you of infinite variability at your disposal. Why aren't you experimenting harder, instead of looking for other means of adding variability that will always be suboptimal to the one you've already created almost 6 Sets ago...?
Soft Sample Examples: A new type of Augment called Radiant Augments that provide a wide range of very strong / borderline insane combinations of items and stats, but the catch is after every player combat if you lose you can choose if you want to swap your Radiant augment with the player you just faced. (Like multiple random hexes of strong stats, or 3 tailored Orrn items / Support items, or given 3 zephyrs and knowing who you're fighting next or given a 2Star-dragon that adopts your top-most trait?!) (The design space is infinite)
Orbs - Lastly, I'd like to talk about Orbs! Orbs are a lot better, good job! That's all I have to say :)!
Thank you for reading this far into my post if you have. Again, this comes from an immense love for the game and the people creating it. I have nothing but positive interactions with Mortdog on Twitter / Discord and would appreciate if you guys keep it civil and friendly :)! I really do have a lot more thoughts, and things I'd love to share, but I feel like I've already bloated this post a lot! (Assassins, Higher Cost units than 5, Midsets, system changes, loot management, meta knowledge, Portals etc..)
I've just been really bored playing this set, and that's the reason I've retired from seriously competing or climbing for this one set, and I'm very keen to read what other people have to say about my thoughts, and looking forward to discussing it thank you!